“I’d never seen Laura in person.”
Samira laid her palms on the kitchen island. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“Holly here is our Trojan horse,” Jamie said. “She used to be Laura’s body double. That’s how she and Angelito met, not that I know the whole story. Someday I’ll get thecapitainedrunk and find out, and I’ll tell you everything.”
Someday.Again, that suggestion there’d be something between them after this.
Rafe’s jaw twitched. Samira guessed he wasn’t keen onsomedaycoming, either. Was that why Holly looked familiar—shedidresemble one of the most photographed women in America? The fine bone structure, the athletic body, the honey-colored skin...
“I was paid to act like Laura,” Holly said. “I studied her closely. The way she talks, the way she moves, the way she holds herself.”
“Maybe with the right clothes and a haircut,” Samira said. “And makeup and sunglasses, and...” She pushed the heels of her palms into her eyes. “No, this is crazy.”
“It won’t fool the senator or anybody else who knows Laura well,” Jamie said, “but I’m hoping it’ll be enough to get us past security and reception, if we breeze in and out quickly. And you said yourself that these diplomatic security agents wouldn’t normally be around her, so...”
Samira released her eyes. Stars actually swam in her vision. “You know that secretaries of state block off an entire secure floor in a hotel when they travel? I’ve seen it. They set up their own security cameras, sniffer dogs—not to mention the dozens of agents and hordes of local police. Plus there’s Hyland’s very own goon squad.”
“But when Hyland and Laura are out, their personal protection will be with them along with the bulk of diplomatic security. So we’d mostly be dealing with police, hotel security and a handful of diplomatic and support staff.”
“And it’ll be dinnertime, so most of them would be off the floor, leaving a skeleton security presence,” Holly said, swinging back on the chair. “So we fabricate a reason that Laura—well, me—pops back to her room at the hotel to grab some forgotten thing, with her security detail.” She nodded at Rafe and Jamie. “And we grab this fob and bring it back. If we don’t find it, we leave again pretty damn quick.”
“You can’t... This is...”
“Ambitious?” Jamie said. “Was that the word you were thinking of? Look, we will consider every eventuality and have it covered—and we’ll make sure we have an escape route if things go to hell. We’re good at this kind of stuff.” His eyes were bright. Helikedthis kind of stuff.
“What if it’s in the room safe? What if Fitz is standing right outside the door? Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m taking this seriously enough to point out all the many obvious flaws.”
“What do you think we came all the way here for, Samira?” Jamie said. “What did you think we would do?”
“It wasn’t my choice to come here. Though maybe I thought I might be able to infiltrate the hotel security systems and... I don’t know. Now that I’ve seen all that security standing around... This just seems all too dangerous.”
“Everything in life has risks.”
“Maybe in your world. But in the world I live in—usedto live in,wantto live in—most people just do ordinary things on ordinary days and have a realistic expectation of not being thrown in jail. Or worse.”
Jamie winked at Holly. “You make it sound so dull.”
Samira threw up her hands. “Dull? I miss dull. I miss normal. I miss average. How many more laws are we going to break today?”
“By bringing down this arsehole we’ll make the world safer for a lot of people. We’ll help a lot of people live happily dull and secure lives—including yourself, if that’s what you want. You want this guy to continue to be one of the most powerful men on earth? Maybe even US president?”
“Of course not.”
“You are in a unique position of being able to prevent it, while securing Tess’s freedom and saving Charlotte’s neck—and your parents. And then there’s you and me.” She shut her stinging eyes. He said it like they were an entity. She knew he didn’t mean it like that. “And anyway, you’ll be waiting here, in safety.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about.” She opened her eyes. He was right. She couldn’t let her lack of courage screw things up now. “We’re talking about a very short window of opportunity.” Her stomach ached like she’d done a hundred sit-ups. “The password is set to expire at eight o’clock. We’d have to get the fob and set the files to copy over before we’re locked out.”
“How long will they take to upload?”
“That depends on what’s there, but it doesn’t matter too much. As long as the processbeginsbefore the password changes, it’ll finish the upload.”
“So it’s going to be tight,” Jamie said. “But we have all afternoon to get our plan watertight.” He was jumpy, wired. Oh God—drugged?
“And if it’s not watertight we’re not doing it,” she said, eyeballing him. How could she tell if he was using? Nicole had seen it in his eyes.
Jamie’s gaze flicked momentarily to Rafe. “Sure,” he said, unconvincingly.
“And there’s one more problem with that plan,” Samira said.
