Gone Missing by Camy Tang Page B

station.”
    â€œYou bet.” Clay shook her hand. “Thanks a lot.”
    Joslyn watched the lawyer walk away. “She was nice.”
    â€œAnd effective. The police could have been stubborn and kept me locked up.”
    â€œNot all policemen are like that.”
    â€œIt’s because of what I used to do. I’ve never had a good relationship with cops.” And it looked as if he never would.
    Joslyn leaned forward on the bench. “So what kind of trap did you want to set?”
    â€œWhere’s your cell phone?”
    â€œI left it on, like you wanted me to, but at the hotel so they wouldn’t know where I was going.” She blew out a breath. “It didn’t matter because they probably just followed me from the police station.”
    â€œBut since it’s still on, those guys may not realize we suspect the phones are trackable.” Clay held up his own phone, which the officers had returned to him. “I want to lure them in. We’ll drop the cell phones somewhere, make them think we’re there, while we hide nearby. We can find out their license-plate number, maybe snap some photos.”
    Joslyn narrowed her eyes at him. “Tell me you’re not also hoping to capture one of them.”
    Clay thought he’d be able to take them, although it would be a tough fight, but there was always the chance one of them would grab Joslyn. He didn’t want to put her in danger or allow the men to use her as leverage. But he hesitated a fraction of a second too long before saying, “No.”
    â€œClay—”
    â€œReally, no. It’s too dangerous. But it might be dangerous to set this trap for them, even if all we’re doing is getting a look at them.”
    â€œGet me a good photo,” Joslyn said. “I have a facial-recognition program I’m working on that can scan the web to try to find them.”
    â€œReally? I thought that was only on TV.”
    â€œYou’d be surprised what real-life hackers can do.”
    He nodded and stood. “You ready?”
    They tossed their trash and then got into Joslyn’s rental car, although Clay got behind the wheel. “Let’s get your phone and then make sure we’re not being tailed,” he said. “We need to be a few minutes ahead of them.”
    They went to Joslyn’s hotel where they picked up her cell phone, and she gathered her things and checked out of the room, just in case. She seemed to have very few things—she’d bought new clothes at the mall today, and only had one other change of clothing. As she was looking through her stuff, she suddenly held up a small electronic device.
    â€œIs that a...?” Clay said.
    â€œGPS tracker.” Her skin flushed. “They went into my hotel room and pinned it under the collar of my jacket.”
    â€œDon’t ditch it yet,” Clay said. “That way the men won’t know that we discovered the trackers just yet. We can get rid of all that stuff later.”
    Then he spent some time driving in circles and scouting out some of the parking lots in the Phoenix area. He looked at an empty business park parking lot, but decided against it. Once their pursuers saw it, they’d know something was up because there was no reason for Clay and Joslyn to be there. If the men suspected a trap, they wouldn’t fall into it.
    Then he saw a rather run-down Mexican restaurant with faded yellow walls and a dark brown roof. The parking lot at Casa Rafael was only partially filled, maybe because it was still early for dinner, but it was the type of cars and the men Clay saw near the building’s front doors that decided it for him. He passed the restaurant parking lot, but turned in to the lot next to it, which was attached to a paint supply store. He parked in the farthest corner of the lot.
    â€œWhy here?” Joslyn asked.
    â€œWe don’t want them to see our car and know we’re near. Come