Alex’s whole life was a testament to the fact that nothing ever comes easy.
And she had a feeling this would be a very long night.
“How much time before he wakes up?” Deuce asked.
Favreau was heavier than he looked, but carrying him to the bed had been the easy part. Getting the clothes off a guy who was nothing but dead weight had been another thing altogether, an experience Deuce could have done without.
Favreau wore tighty whities, for godsakes.
Nobody should ever wear tighty whities.
Cooper draped a sheet and blanket over him and said, “The drug should last until morning. McElroy says the chemists at Stonewell really know their stuff.”
“Remind me to make friends with those guys. You think Favreau will suspect anything?”
“He’ll wake up groggy and hung over and wondering what the hell happened, so we’ll have to convince him he had the best night of his life.”
“And how are we supposed to do that?”
“By filling in the blanks. Just follow my lead when the time comes.”
Deuce nodded and they crossed to the door, turning out the light as they left Alex’s room.
“I gotta be honest with you,” he said. “This op is giving me no joy. Alex is like a little sister to me, and I don’t feel all that comfortable seeing her dress her up like a Barbie doll and putting her in this kind of situation.”
“She’s a big girl and can handle herself better than most. Look what she did to Warlock.”
“Yeah, I know, but you’re feeling it, too, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
Deuce chuckled. “Come on, Shane, you think I’m some dummy who isn’t paying attention? I saw the way you looked at her when she got off that elevator tonight.”
“You were looking, too.”
“It’s not the same and you know it. You’ve been looking at her like that since I first met you.”
Cooper went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Alex and I may have gone through a lot of shit together in Baghdad, and yeah, we’re friends, but that’s as far as it goes.”
“So why did you almost go ballistic when her real estate agent showed up?”
“I was concerned about our cover being blown. Favreau was sitting right across from them.”
“Or maybe you were reacting to what the guy said about them having a wonderful night together. Sounded to me like they did a little more than talk about property values.”
Cooper huffed and grabbed a Coke from the refrigerator door. “That’s none of my business. Or yours, either.”
“But you’ll check into him, won’t you? You’ve probably already given McElroy the heads-up.”
Cooper shrugged. “That is my job. Gérard’s a complication. And you know as well as I do that I’d be compromising the mission if I didn’t take a look at him, find out if he’s who he says he is.”
“And if he is?”
Cooper popped the top of the Coke can and took a sip. “Then we chalk it up to one of life’s crazy coincidences and hope he stays out of our way.”
Cooper was doing a good job of maintaining his cool, but Deuce had been around him enough to understand his body language. And while the mouth was saying one thing, the rest of him was clearly on defense. Deuce had poked at a wound the guy couldn’t hide. Not from him, at least.
“Listen,” he said, “I only bring this up because I think you’re a pretty decent dude and I feel your pain.”
“You got it all wrong, man.”
“Yeah? Alex never discusses her love life with me, but I just want to say that if she ever decides to hook up with somebody long term, she could do a lot worse.”
Cooper sipped his Coke. “Coming from you, that’s a ringing endorsement. But I’m telling you, there’s nothing to this, okay?”
“Whatever you say. But I’ve got a feeling that seeing her in that dress kinda solidified it for you. Because she does clean up good.”
Cooper sighed. “Oh, for chrissakes, will you give it a rest already?”
“I’m just sayin’.”
“If you want the God’s honest truth, Deuce, the real object of my affection is you.”
Deuce was momentarily thrown.
“That’s right,” Cooper went on. “Didn’t you hear what Alex told Favreau about us? Man bait is what you are. It’s the Hawaiian shirt that solidified it for me.”
Deuce gave him a look, then grinned. “My old man was hardly ever sober, but when he was, you know what he always said to me?”
“What?”
“Don’t knock anything ‘til you’ve tried it at least once.”
They both laughed.
Cooper finished his Coke and set the can on the counter. “On that note, why don’t we go give my new girlfriend and Warlock a hand?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
They searched Favreau’s suite from top to bottom looking for a data chip of one kind or another — every cupboard, every drawer, every closet, every nook and cranny. Under sinks, behind air conditioning grates, between mattresses, sofa cushions, under throw rugs, tables, table legs, and lamps. They searched every inch of Favreau’s suitcase and clothing, including the lining, before carefully returning each item to its proper place.
And they found nothing.
No canisters or tubes of toothpaste with hidden compartments. No secret pouch sewn in the hem of a jacket. No false bottom in a bag—
— Not. A. Thing.
They gathered in Favreau’s living room at three a.m., exhausted after a long night, and Cooper finally called it. “That’s it, we’re done. Looks like Warlock was right. Either Favreau’s storing the information somewhere off campus or on the cloud. This almost makes me miss Istanbul.”
Warlock said, “No worries, mate. If it’s on the cloud, he’ll have to access the data through his computer and I’ve already cloned it. If there’s a connection point, I’ll find it.”
“But what if you don’t?” Deuce said. “We’ll be up a creek without a motorboat.”
Alex shook her head. “Sooner or later he’ll sew up the deal with Valac and make his move. We’ll just have to be there when he does.”
Cooper nodded and said to Warlock, “How are we on cameras?”
“Two in every room.”
“And his jammers?”
“I found one in here and one on the nightstand. I reprogrammed them to let our feed through.”
“Won’t he notice?” Deuce asked.
Warlock looked at him as if he’d asked the stupidest question ever. “This is not my first time in the field, Mr. Jones. No, he won’t notice.”
“But if he does?” Deuce persisted.
Before Warlock could answer, Alex said, “If he does, he’ll likely think it’s Valac’s men. He’s already suspicious of them.”
Deuce grunted. “He’s suspicious of everyone, including you. You’d better watch your back around that toad.”
“It’s the front I’m most worried about.”
“That, too. Did I mention he wears tighty whities?”
Alex groaned. “Just kill me now.”
CHAPTER 20
Favreau’s head hurt.
It was nothing too painful, just one of those underground headaches he sometimes woke up with when he hadn’t slept all that well. Yet, oddly enough, he felt as if he’d gone down hard last night and stayed there.
The last thing he remembered was making a move on Alexandra Barnes on her living room sofa. But the champagne, along with the scotch he drank at dinner, had done a number on him, and he could barely even visualize the moment, like it was some crazy dream that was already slipping away from him.