Chapter Sixty-two
Sloan had to stop himself from following the sexy diva, scooping her into his arms and locking them in his bedroom away from the world. But it wasn’t possible. In the future, the way he envisioned it, he had plans where Kean would have a lot of overnighters with his faux grandpas, while he and his little missus could have the house to themselves. And do whatever they pleased, whenever they wanted to.
His body reacted to his imagination and he had to drag his mind away from the wonderful notions. He called the bureau and got the lowdown on the images they’d recently fired over, only to be disappointed that nothing had come up.
Neither did Homeland Security have anything in their data bases.
Shit! It looked like they’d be playing the game without having any real knowledge about wrongdoing by the people who were involved.
One thing the agent he’d contacted was able to tell him: they’d tracked Janna’s brother’s family from Pakistan, and it seems that they were settled safely in California under new names.
Her brother had asked for asylum with the US Government in exchange for some badly-needed information about ISIS informants, and now that the dust had settled on the issue, he and his wife were safe and well. And so were his two children. Until it was deemed otherwise, they would be staying in seclusion.
So now they had tangible proof that Yasir and Leah were not who they pretended to be. That alone was a crime: entering the country illegally under an alias.
But the bosses wanted more than just these two. They wanted to know what plans were in place, and who else was involved.
Just then Sam knocked at the French doors and, taking a chance that any damning equipment was out of sight, he let him into the room.
“Hi, Sam. Come in. Has anything happened?”
“No. It’s quiet. Leah and Yasir went for a walk and so I was able to install the listening device in the bedroom also. The earlier one, I could just put in the bathroom because it also has a door leading into the hall and we all use it.”
“Good. We did hear a bit of their conversation. Do you want to listen and tell me what they’re saying?”
“Yes. That’s why I came over. And to let you know that they have made plans to go out again tonight with the same people they were with yesterday. When Janna tried to make them explain to us where they were going, they made excuses to leave the room. I think they’re starting to feel uncomfortable in our home. I wish they’d just leave.”
Sam listened to the brief tape and confirmed what Alia had already translated.
Sloan hesitated to say anything and then took a leap of faith. “I have some information on Janna’s family: her brother, his wife and the real Yasir and Leah. They’re well, and they’ve sought asylum in the United States. Until their special circumstances are changed and the restrictions lifted I can’t tell you anything more, but I thought you should know. It’s probably best not to mention this to Janna until your two intruders have left.”
“You are right. I’m very, very relieved, and I will keep this to myself until you tell me it’s safe to share. Thank you, Sloan. You’ve been a good friend. I will never forget.”
“Alia and Kean have just settled, trying to catch up on the sleep they missed last night. Can Janna’s visit happen a little later in the afternoon?”
“Of course. She is looking forward to it.”
Sloan let the man out and caught up on the video surveillance from the night before. There was a very short scene, where the camera had picked up a male intruder coming through the gardens, most likely Paul. The rest was empty except for the birds, the wind blowing the palm fronds and the moon’s shadows playing over the scene of tranquility.
He set up the binoculars, checked to make sure all was quiet across the street and went to find another cup of coffee. It was going to be one hell of a long shift.