27 |
27 |MGM Grand Hotel Las Vegas, Nevada Present Day
Leroux shook his head. “This is déjà vu all over again.”
“You’re telling me,” agreed Sherrie, lying beside him, naked as the day she was born, a quick session of send-off sex completed just in time, Sonya Tong interrupting the post-coital bliss only moments after it had begun.
Leroux pointed at the tablet feeding the secure footage from his team at Langley as Tong provided context over the speaker.
“He doesn’t look too happy,” said Sherrie.
“No, he doesn’t,” said Tong. “This is Professor Karlsson entering the embassy, and as far as we know, he went voluntarily.”
Leroux leaned closer. “Have you reached out to his wife?”
“No, we didn’t want to risk that she might be under surveillance. For now, we’re hoping the Saudis don’t know we know something is going on.”
“Okay, so just like Istanbul, we have him going in, and I assume we haven’t found anything showing him coming out?”
“Nothing. But about half an hour after his meeting was scheduled to begin, these three SUVs”—the image changed to show the rear gates opening, three vehicles with blacked out windows surging through and out of frame—“leave in a hurry.”
“Track them.”
“Randy’s on it.” The footage changed again, the timecode showing a couple of hours had passed. “And here we have the money shot.”
Leroux shook his head as the footage showed Acton entering, bold as brass. “Is that a cellphone in his hand?”
“Yes.” The image zoomed in on it. “It looks like it’s connected to a call.”
Sherrie grunted. “Clever guy. He figures they won’t touch him as long as someone on the outside can hear everything that’s going on.”
Leroux agreed. “And I assume he leaves?”
“A few minutes later.” The footage changed again to show him leaving, phone still in hand, then climbing into an SUV, Laura Palmer behind the wheel. Leroux pointed at the image, a man on a phone stepping onto the sidewalk, staring at the SUV as it rolled past. “Identify the man on the phone.”
“Already done. His name is Abdullah Al-Jubeir. He’s the Ambassador’s Chargé D’affaires at the embassy, his righthand man.”
“See if you can trace that call he just made.”
“That’s going to be difficult.”
“We just need to know where the call was made to. Even just the country will help us narrow down who’s pulling the strings.”
“Okay, I’ll get on it right away.”
“Where is Acton now?”
“His telephone shows him at their hotel, the Nobis.”
Sherrie looked at Leroux. “Do we call him?”
Tong replied. “I wouldn’t. He left Agent Reading specific instructions not to, which suggests they’re under electronic surveillance.”
Sherrie shook her head. “And this is all over a ring?”
“That’s what the message from the professor said. They have to steal the ring to free their friend.”
Leroux exhaled loudly, his lips jutting out. “Are the locals aware?”
“No, not so far as we can tell.”
“The wife hasn’t contacted them?”
“There’s no indication she knows yet, though the Actons talked to her before they went to the embassy, which suggests she’s the one who told them that’s where he went. I’m guessing he was supposed to meet them at the airport and didn’t show.”
Leroux chewed his cheek. “Which means she knows he didn’t, so could be calling the police at any moment.”
Sherrie put a hand on his thigh. “She needs to be spoken to.”
Leroux agreed. “Yeah, but what if they have her under surveillance?”
“Send someone in undercover.”
Leroux thought for a moment, then nodded. “You’re right. We need to get a discrete message to her, otherwise she could blow this entire situation up into another international incident.”