automatically skips the next eighteen words.”
“Doesn’t everybody—” She stopped, her lips forming a circle. “You mean, you don’t—”
“No, Kate. I can’t .”
She shrugged. “Well now that we know the pattern…” She divided the remaining pages in half. “Come on. Let’s see how these gentlefolk are planning to improve our world.”
He wasn’t measuring up to Kate’s expectations. Could she really respect him and like him for who he was? He needed to get focused on their work. The relational stuff would have to wait. Josh sighed and scanned a series of evenly spaced words. “Listen to this, Kate. Western, operations, control, Whistler. Funds, transferred, BOC.”
Kate leaned close to him to examine his findings. Waves of citrus-scented hair lay across his neck and arm. He couldn’t resist slipping an arm around her.
She tensed for a second when his hand curled around her arm, then relaxed as she read. “This message was sent from somewhere in Tehran. Probably from the big kahuna with the money. But that would mean Shiites are funding Sunnis. They wouldn’t do that. At least, I don’t think they would.”
Josh flipped the page. “Then this message came in from Whistler. It could be referencing locations in the Western US, but the wording is strange, certainly ambiguous.”
“That’s probably by design. Josh, we’ve got to figure out where all these US locations are and find out what they have in common, then maybe we can determine what they’re planning. But if…” She stopped.
He waited. “It scares me when you do that, Kate. But if what?”
“If we could find the person in Canada, maybe the whole operation can be stopped. Cut off the viper’s poisonous little head.” Kate turned and looked at him.
Her face so close to his completely destroyed his concentration.
“Josh, you take the US sites. I’ll take Whistler.”
“I’ve got more sites than you. Are you feeling generous? Trying to make me feel needed?”
“Needed?” Kate sat up and clamped a hand on his shoulder.
Her grip was strong. Like Kate, the woman, lithe, beautiful, but deceptively strong and athletic.
She showed him a serious frown. “We’re a team, and that’s the only way we can pull this off, by working together. I picked you because you’re the person I needed.”
“What you needed at the Key was an offense of lineman to open a path for you to get you where you needed to go. Is that what I am to you, a big, obtuse—”
“No.” There was hurt in her eyes. “But did you know that some of the brightest guys in football are offensive lineman. Not all of them, but some.”
“If that was a compliment—”
“Take it for what it’s worth. You know I did ask you to dinner Saturday…to meet my family.”
“Yeah. For your protection,” he said in a grumpy growl.
“Partly.” Kate’s coy smile showed, then faded. “It’s time for me to check out the Whistler connection while you figure out what’s happening on our side of the border.”
Kate could be completely exasperating. She liked him, but allowed things to go only so far, and then she put on the brakes to their budding relationship. But as he had already determined, relational issues would have to wait.
Josh returned his attention to his stack of messages, but found nothing conclusive. “These all sound like vacation plans to visit some national parks and some of the larger cities where a lot of tourists go, New York, Chicago, Seattle.”
“Population centers. That sounds ominous. But I found the SSID of the router in Whistler.”
Kate opened a window and pasted something into it, then clicked with her mouse. “It’s the Pinnacle Hotel in Whistler Village. This Whistler guy could be the director of operations. But the messages seem to use benign sounding words as code words. Or maybe there is another layer of encryption. There’s not nearly enough evidence here to call the police or the FBI. I don’t think they can get a
“Doesn’t everybody—” She stopped, her lips forming a circle. “You mean, you don’t—”
“No, Kate. I can’t .”
She shrugged. “Well now that we know the pattern…” She divided the remaining pages in half. “Come on. Let’s see how these gentlefolk are planning to improve our world.”
He wasn’t measuring up to Kate’s expectations. Could she really respect him and like him for who he was? He needed to get focused on their work. The relational stuff would have to wait. Josh sighed and scanned a series of evenly spaced words. “Listen to this, Kate. Western, operations, control, Whistler. Funds, transferred, BOC.”
Kate leaned close to him to examine his findings. Waves of citrus-scented hair lay across his neck and arm. He couldn’t resist slipping an arm around her.
She tensed for a second when his hand curled around her arm, then relaxed as she read. “This message was sent from somewhere in Tehran. Probably from the big kahuna with the money. But that would mean Shiites are funding Sunnis. They wouldn’t do that. At least, I don’t think they would.”
Josh flipped the page. “Then this message came in from Whistler. It could be referencing locations in the Western US, but the wording is strange, certainly ambiguous.”
“That’s probably by design. Josh, we’ve got to figure out where all these US locations are and find out what they have in common, then maybe we can determine what they’re planning. But if…” She stopped.
He waited. “It scares me when you do that, Kate. But if what?”
“If we could find the person in Canada, maybe the whole operation can be stopped. Cut off the viper’s poisonous little head.” Kate turned and looked at him.
Her face so close to his completely destroyed his concentration.
“Josh, you take the US sites. I’ll take Whistler.”
“I’ve got more sites than you. Are you feeling generous? Trying to make me feel needed?”
“Needed?” Kate sat up and clamped a hand on his shoulder.
Her grip was strong. Like Kate, the woman, lithe, beautiful, but deceptively strong and athletic.
She showed him a serious frown. “We’re a team, and that’s the only way we can pull this off, by working together. I picked you because you’re the person I needed.”
“What you needed at the Key was an offense of lineman to open a path for you to get you where you needed to go. Is that what I am to you, a big, obtuse—”
“No.” There was hurt in her eyes. “But did you know that some of the brightest guys in football are offensive lineman. Not all of them, but some.”
“If that was a compliment—”
“Take it for what it’s worth. You know I did ask you to dinner Saturday…to meet my family.”
“Yeah. For your protection,” he said in a grumpy growl.
“Partly.” Kate’s coy smile showed, then faded. “It’s time for me to check out the Whistler connection while you figure out what’s happening on our side of the border.”
Kate could be completely exasperating. She liked him, but allowed things to go only so far, and then she put on the brakes to their budding relationship. But as he had already determined, relational issues would have to wait.
Josh returned his attention to his stack of messages, but found nothing conclusive. “These all sound like vacation plans to visit some national parks and some of the larger cities where a lot of tourists go, New York, Chicago, Seattle.”
“Population centers. That sounds ominous. But I found the SSID of the router in Whistler.”
Kate opened a window and pasted something into it, then clicked with her mouse. “It’s the Pinnacle Hotel in Whistler Village. This Whistler guy could be the director of operations. But the messages seem to use benign sounding words as code words. Or maybe there is another layer of encryption. There’s not nearly enough evidence here to call the police or the FBI. I don’t think they can get a
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