“Maybe.Your eight o’clock.Guy was seated after we were and won’t stop looking our way.”
Jamie knew better than to turn around and look.“Any tech in use?”
“Tablet is out on the table.He keeps picking it up and putting it back down.Odds of him taking a picture are high.”
Jamie grimaced, careful to keep his face averted from their watcher.Since they were off duty right now, accessing the team’s encrypted comms was inadvisable.Instead, Jamie called Katie through a private, similarly secured line.She answered almost immediately.
“How’s Manhattan treating you?”she asked.
“I wouldn’t know since I’m not there.”
“Well, shit.I owe Donovan a hundred dollars now.I told him you’d at least make it to the second day.”
“His lack of faith in me would be terrible if he wasn’t right.That’s not what I’m calling about.I need a favor.”
“Small or big?”
“Big.”
“Who am I hacking?”
Favor was the team’s code word for needing Katie’s skill with computers when it wasn’t authorized by the MDF.Most of the time, their requests fell within legal parameters, but not always.Katie was their communications specialist for a reason, and most of that stemmed from her hacking abilities.
“Kyle and I are at Café Eloise.We’re being watched.”
“Jamie’s eight o’clock.Male, late thirties, M-pattern baldness, and terrible taste in clothes,” Kyle quietly added.
“Since when are you an expert in clothes?”Katie wanted to know.
“Since Jamie.”
“Too much information.”
“You asked.”
“And I’m regretting it already.”
CCTV saturated all fifty states, especially in megacities.Privacy outside the home was nonexistent these days.That didn’t necessarily mean crime kept to a low threshold.Any dedicated hacker could bypass the firewalls protecting the mazelike security systems authorities controlled.Crime didn’t stop merely because people were being watched.
“I’m in, and I see him.You’re right, Kyle.Who thinks orange-and-blue paisley print is a good idea?”Katie said after a minute or two of silence.“Running facial recognition now.”
Jamie continued to eat his breakfast in an unhurried manner as Katie worked her magic from a different location in DC.
“Got it.”She paused, humming a bit.“You’re not going to like this, Jamie.Your admirer is Adam Dixon.He’s an investigative reporter forThe New York Times.”
Jamie’s breakfast churned uncomfortably in his stomach.He was careful to keep his expression blandly neutral as he picked up a croissant and broke a piece off.“Thanks, Katie.”
“Want me to erase his tablet’s memory?Pretty sure he’s been taking pictures of you guys.If he’s hooked into the café’s system, it won’t take me very long.”
“You do that and he’ll know there’s a story to follow with me.”
“If you’re sure.I’ll see what I can pull up on my end about him and get back to you.”
She ended the connection, and Jamie looked up from slathering jam on his croissant to meet Kyle’s shuttered gaze.“Let’s finish up here and head out.”
Kyle nodded easily enough, even if Jamie could read the anger in the tightness of his jaw.“What if he follows us?”
“I’ll handle it.”
