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“Before that half hour,” Terri qualified “What I have in oes out, and the second, while she’s gone The text will come last”

“Fine What will happen before that half hour?” Aidan amended

“An unexpected visit to Stanford Business School And an equally unexpected visit to Jia li’s apartment”

“Explain”

“If you recall, I included a few other itehted you the specialized cos is an IMSI-catcher, complete with some special software I added It’s a blackOnce it’s been appropriately planted in the right rooh to Jia li for es and calls”

“Preventing any surprise communications from Xu Wei that would screw up your plan”

“Uh-huh” Aidan could hear Terri frowning through the phone “It’s not foolproof Once Jia li leaves the building, there’ll be a twenty-to-thirty-minute period of time when Xu can reach her We have to take that risk His calls to her aren’t that frequent”

“And during that twenty-to-thirty- her about the e”

“Yes That’s why I’ it at a half hour Less time, less risk”

“And the break-in at her apartment?”

“Another device I sent you is an electronic bug Ryan designed— one that needs to be planted in Jia li’s apartment Quite impressive, it looks like an electronic key fob, so that, even if Jia li were to find it, she’d merely assume that one of her friends left it there In reality, it’s a one-way microphone that will transmit the conversation in the apartment over an encrypted channel linked to one of our cell phones that’s in close range Using the Donovan app that I’ve installed on every team member’s cell phone, I’ll be able to listen in on the conversation and record it for evidentiary purposes”

“By one of our cell phones being in close proximity, you mean Simone’s,” Aidan deduced aloud “You want Sinments”

“Yes I knohat you’re thinking Unfortunately, there’s no ti them up to speed Plus, I don’t think it’s necessary The Stanford part will be easy and low risk The apartment break-in will obviously be a little trickier, but Simone is well-trained to handle it And that’s where the major i with the Penningtons”

“I’ll talk to her—and to Vance,” Aidan responded “They’ll be flying into Santa Clara from Tahoe in an hour or two It’ll behim won’t acco that we’re about to choke off the head of the ht even pump him up about the imminent success of our mission”

With that, Aidan paused,place in both Silicon Valley and Croatia “Terri, do the physical setups But wait to hear from me before you send the text and set the wheels in motion I’ll tell the sast because it potentially lengthens the vulnerable time frame when Xu and Jia li could be in contact But once this arrangedhappens and Xu doesn’t show up, Jia li and her Nano co-conspirator will realize they’ve been set up, which will set off alar from Santa Clara to Shenzhen That can’t occur until we’ve pulled off our direct attack and Lauren is safe She’s our number one priority”