“I want to start building a case too,” I said. “I know Homeland Security is going to take over, but this way we can hold the local authorities accountable.”
“Good idea,” he agreed.
Back at the hotel, we went up to the room. I set the laptop on the coffee table and connected the original hard drive. Then I connected the other two drives and began transferring the data. I’d just begun when something hit me.
“We only needed one more,” I said, more to myself than James.
“What?” he asked absently from the edge of the bed, tapping on his phone.
“We only needed one extra hard drive,” I said, louder. “We can transfer everything to the laptop. We can save the extra drive for later.”
He looked up. “No, copy it to all of them. The more backups, the better.”
Having four copies felt a little paranoid. Then again… maybe it wasn’t paranoid enough. “Yeah. Okay.”
He stood. “I’m gonna take a shower and wash this stuff out of my hair,” he said, grabbing a change of clothes. “Let me know if you need me. I won’t be long.”
“Okay.” I realized I was still wearing my wig, but I left it on and concentrated on the transfer.
About five minutes later, he emerged in jeans and a T-shirt, his phone in his hand. His hair was damp. “I got an update from Carter. He booked tickets for Dani to Hawaii and put her in the Hilton Waikiki.”
“Wow,” I said dryly. “That can’t be cheap.”
He flashed me a grin. “You jealous? You want to go to Hawaii? I wouldn’t mind seein’ you lyin’ on the beach in a bikini.”
I laughed. “Yeah, lying in the sun with a fruity drink sounds good.” But the second the words left my mouth, I realized what I’d just said.
I’d never have an alcoholic drink again.
James being James, he knew exactly where my mind had gone. “There are plenty of fruity non-alcoholic drinks.”
I made a face. “It’s not a big deal.”
He held my gaze. “It is a big deal. Drinkin’s part of society. You and me—and everyone else—are gonna say things that involve alcohol without thinkin’ about it. That doesn’t mean you’re slippin’, and it doesn’t mean you want a drink.”
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea that I’ll never have one again.”
“One day at a time.”
“Yeah.” I felt foolish for even talking about it while I was transferring files that could bring down a trafficking network. Or at least a hub of it.
“Carter also texted about Natalie and her family,” he added. “They’ve boarded a plane to New York. He doesn’t know where she’s headed after that.”
I still wasn’t sure how to feel about that situation, but I could deal with that later.
I kept copying and pasting, grateful the transfer was moving faster on my laptop than it had on Harlan’s ancient computer.
I was about eighty percent done when my phone rang.
James was sitting on the bed, tapping on his phone. He looked up, his expression turning serious.
I pulled it out of my pocket. The number didn’t have a name. “Hello?”
“Harper?” Bobby hadn’t called me before, but I recognized his voice immediately. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
“Yeah, Bobby. It’s me. Is everything okay?”
“This may be nothing,” he said, sounding nervous, “but it might be something. I figured I’d tell you and let you decide.”
