Page 62 of Wired Ghost

Still, she had to test that the jammer was working.

Sophie reached into her carryall and took out a small surveillance cam about the size of a dime. She activated it by pressing the button on the back, then set it on her desk. She took out her phone and scrolled to an app, activated it. “Testing, one, two. Testing,” she said into the node.

The monitoring window on her phone remained a staticky white box; if the device was transmitting, she’d have had both audio and video. “Good. Signals are blocked.”

Finally, Sophie turned off her own phone. She popped out the sim cards of both hers and Raveaux’s and set them down on the desk. She activated the desktop fan on the corner of her work area and leaned into the breeze, her hair, now past her ears, tossing in the wind. “Finally. I think you’re safe to tell me what you need to if you keep your mouth in the air stream.”

Just then a knock came from the door.

They both moved away from the fan. Raveaux, who was closer, stood up and opened it. Two men Sophie recognized from the tech department entered. With little conversation or fanfare, they removed the audio/video surveillance devices and wanded the room again for good measure. Sophie noted how Raveaux slid his hand deep into his pocket, concealing the device he wore, and moved away from the security team so it wouldn’t be detected.

Raveaux couldn’t afford for his handlers to know his bug had been discovered. Fear spiked Sophie’s heart rate. He was taking some kind of tremendous personal risk in giving her whatever message he carried.

Finally, the tech team left.

Sophie locked the door behind them and, pressing her back against it, turned to face Raveaux. “This will buy us a few more minutes if there’s someone on the way to detain me.”

“That’s not what’s happening right now, but it could.” Raveaux’s olive skin had gone white around his lips with stress, but his intelligent dark eyes were determined. He gestured for her to come forward into the fan’s air space again. “In case we missed anything.”

Sophie rolled her office chair out from behind the desk and sat down in it, facing him. The blades of the old-fashioned metal fan blew a stream of air between them. Their knees were close enough to touch. Sophie moved restlessly in her chair, uncomfortable with Raveaux’s intent gaze. “Hurry. What is it you have to tell me?”

Chapter Forty-Four

Raveaux

Raveaux reachedinto his pocket and pulled out a paper-wrapped, cylindrical object. He held it out to Sophie. “For you.”

Her honey-brown eyes were wary and her golden tan paler than it should have been, given a month on a Thailand beach, but her hands were steady as she took the package. “What is this?”

“Open it. You’ll need it.” The plain brown paper bag wrapping the spare burner phone Raveaux had brought Sophie annoyed him with its crudity, but it was all he’d had in his apartment to hide the device he’d fortunately had stowed away in case of needing to place any confidential calls—he was sure he was under surveillance in his apartment. Retrieving the phone from a side pocket in his suitcase, concealing it and wrapping it had been a feat of ingenuity involving hiding in the shower. “We’ve made a window to talk here, but make no mistake. We’re both under a microscope.”

Sophie uncovered the phone. “This a burner?”

“Yes. Unused and charged.”

Her gaze flicked up to his. “Who is doing this to you? To us?”

“A multi-agency task force made up of CIA, FBI, NSA, Interpol, and the Secret Service. I’m not entirely sure who’s waiting for you down in the conference room, but in case you didn’t realize it—there’s no deposition today.” He drew a calming breath and shut his eyes, sorting his thoughts as he leaned forward into the flow of air from the fan. “I was given a file loaded with information about a cyber vigilante called the Ghost, aka Sheldon Hamilton, aka Todd Remarkian. Who he is. Where he is. What he’s been up to.”

“Oh no.” Sophie swayed and grabbed the desk for support. He was glad she was already sitting down.

“Yes. These agencies have collected a tremendous amount of information, most of it not provable in a court of law—and until recently, they’d been content to have driven him out of the United States to operate out of that camp in Thailand, or wherever he is. Now, they’ve decided that he’s a threat to national security, and they want him. Badly.” Raveaux had spent many a sleepless night after his meeting with the ambassador until finally, he’d come up with this plan to warn Sophie—leaving out the part about her father’s involvement. He didn’t want to hit her with that unless he had to—she was already dealing with enough. “I was visited by a two-man team consisting of an Interpol agent I knew from my detective days in France, along with a CIA agent. They threatened me with deportation and worse if I didn’t get you back here with an excuse, and use that to help capture Connor.”

“I know why they’ve decided he’s a threat, but I need to warn him right away. How are they planning to capture him?” Sophie’s eyes had gone wide.

“Download the flight plan from the Security Solutions jet and make a raid on wherever you’ve been hiding,” Raveaux said. “They wanted to verify that he’s there first, though, hence my bringing you a burner you can use to warn him. You said you know why they decided he was a threat—why is that?”

“It involves my mother.” Sophie smiled humorlessly. “She’s an assassin and a spy, and she was recently extracted from Guantánamo. I’m sure they suspect Connor’s involvement, and Pim Wat is public enemy number one. They won’t be happy that she got away.”

Raveaux’s mouth hung open at this revelation. Frank Smithson hadn’t said a word about Pim Wat, but the woman was his ex-wife. The ambassador had to have known much more than he’d chosen to share with Raveaux.What were his real motives?

“Pierre. Thank you. You took a huge risk in telling me, and you didn’t have to.” Sophie gazed at Raveaux, and he felt her eyes moving over each of his features, warm as a touch. “Give me a moment alone with the fan. I need to use the phone you brought me for an important call.”

“Of course. I’ll go to the restroom.” Raveaux’s whole body felt lit up from her gratitude, her trust. He exited the office, waved to efficient Paula at her station in the lobby area, and entered the men’s room.

This room probably wasn’t bugged, but he still was, and Voise, who’d been chosen to be his handler, would be wanting a report on his meeting with Sophie. He moved a potted plant in front of the door to slow down anyone entering, and went into one of the stalls.

The cufflink at his wrist was audio only, thank God. He spoke into the tiny hole that marked the receiver. “Subject is on high alert after routine sweep for bugs in her office yielded two discoveries. She turned on a jammer at her desk, quote, “until we go through the whole building with a level three sweep,” and she closed the curtains, as I’m sure you noticed. I stayed on point and helped her review her statement for the deposition. You didn’t miss anything. She should be down to the conference room shortly; I will make sure of it.”

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