“How did you know about the Zero Go Team?” He told himself it was part of the story, a detail he might need to know.
“I’d heard talk when I was in San Diego at a party with Sunny. There were a couple of SEAL training officers there. I overheard a conversation about a private security outfit that could help in emergencies.”
“We specialize in security and protection. My particular expertise is exfiltrations.”
“I don’t know exfiltrations from pool filters, but I had Sunny get me a number and I was told to go to a place called Fat City in San Diego.” She shivered. “It was so cloak-and-dagger I had to stop myself from wearing a trench coat. I felt like Faye Dunaway inChinatown. I sat at the bar. Two margaritas later, I found a plain white business card with a number on it. I called it. I was instructed to leave a message with the number of a secure phone, then the line went dead.” She touched the glass of wine, but didn’t pick it up. He was about to prod her when she spoke again.
“Secure phone? Really? All I could think of was one of those throwaways like they use in spy movies. So I ran to a 7-Eleven and bought a throwaway phone and called again. I left the message with the number of my brand-new secure phone.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a black cell phone. “I still have it.”
“What happened next? That night.”
“I stayed overnight in San Diego and when I got home my place had been ransacked. I called the police.”
“What about the key?”
“Ever since the news about Salvatore Vito getting out of jail, I’ve kept it on the chain around my neck. Until just now when I gave it to you for safekeeping.” She gave him a look, not a smile, but definitely an invitation. To what, he wasn’t sure. It had to be the wine. Why else would she continue flirting with him? He’d made it clear this was a professional relationship.
“What did the police do?”
“They came out and looked around. I told them it was Salvatore. I told them why—about the wardrobe and the papers—not about the key. For some reason I held that back.”
“Unwise. It could have been a useful clue, given the robbery of safety deposit boxes at the other bank.”
“That’s just it. They’d already opened the safety deposit boxes, hadn’t they? So they didn’t need the key anymore. I figured whatever they were looking for must be in the papers. With my busy schedule, I’d never finished reading them all. I had always figured they were simply love letters he had hidden away from his wife.”
“What did the police do?” he asked again.
“They took pictures, looked for fingerprints. That kind of thing—a crime scene investigation. They seemed to take it seriously since I’d already called before this incident. They said they’d keep in touch and have an extra patrol car swing by the neighborhood, but that I should consider leaving town.”
“And now you have.”
“You bet your ass. I didn’t know when Salvatore would be back, but I knew he would be. I was about to leave when they showed up again.”
“How’d you survive that?” He leaned forward. This was something he really wanted to know.
“I hid. Under the bed.”
“For real?”
She nodded. “They shot the door open and I ran to my room. I heard them come in and my blood froze.”
“They said, ‘Let’s take her alive. Find her.’”
“The same exact thing the man in charge said at the warehouse.”
She nodded.
“Then his sidekick said, ‘What if she’s not home?’ And the man answered, ‘Search the place. We’ll find something.’ “I thought for sure I was a goner. They banged their way through the house until they got to my room. They shot up the closet and then flung the door open. The man in charge told his sidekick to hold the shooting, reminded him that they wanted me alive.”
“They didn’t look under the bed?”
“To be fair, it’s a platform bed. They probably didn’t think there was anyunder the bedoption.”
He squinted his eyes at her.
“One of the panels was loose—had been loose and a pain in the ass for a few weeks. So I pulled it out and squeezed under and pulled the panel back in place behind me. It worked.”
He held up a fist to bump hers. She was damn amazing. She held up her fist. Just as his fist hit hers, the plane suddenly rocked. She opened her hand and grabbed on.