“My people have the house under watch,” Liam reminded him.
“That’s nice.I’m still going.”
When Jamie didn’t order him to stand down, Kyle climbed the stairs to the second level and grabbed his jacket out of the room he was supposedly sharing with Trevor.He tucked away two guns on his body and slipped a switchblade into his jeans pocket to be on the safe side.
Running back downstairs, he grabbed the sunglasses Katie handed him that had cameras embedded in the frames and put them on.Whatever he saw would be sent back to the system they had set up in the house.Someone yelled goodbye, and he waved over his shoulder before heading outside.
London on a Sunday afternoon was crowded, even in the residential neighborhoods.Kyle played tourist in a circular spiral search pattern that spun away from the home, walking for miles and getting faces on record for their computers to scan.The UMG had people monitoring the home and the surrounding streets, but their protection could only be contained to a limited area.
Kyle knew how far a bullet could fly.He wasn’t going to risk his team because they thought their perimeter was secure enough.
So he walked, casually taking in the stately homes, the rowhouses that had all been converted generations ago to luxury condos.Space in London was worth a small fortune, as it was in any megacity, but the houses in Kensington were owned by the wealthy.Most of them were single-family dwellings, which meant there should have been fewer people about than you’d find in a council estate.
Except Jamie’s family’s home was situated between Hyde Park and Holland Park, which Kyle had vaguely noted on their drive into the city yesterday.That meant an untold number of locals and tourists meandering between in search of winter greenery.The foot traffic was probably why the UMG had kept their surveillance circle small.With so many people passing through, a wider area would be harder to secure.
Kyle learned the surrounding streets over the course of the next few hours, committing the location to memory.He worked in a spiral, slowly widening it before working his way back in to the center.He was on Kensington High Street, having curved around Holland Park, when he passed a string of shops and restaurants.It was the pub on the corner up ahead that drew his attention, and not just because of the advertised happy hour to be found within.
The man sitting at one of the synthwood tables out front was engrossed in his tablet, nursing a beer and what looked like a plate of curry fries.He was alone, hat pulled low over his face to keep the late-afternoon sunlight out of his eyes.It wasn’t enough to hide his features, and Kyle wasn’t surprised when his comms clicked on.
“That’s unexpected,” Katie said, because of course she would be monitoring him while hacking the solid-state drive Jansen had given her.She took her role as their communications specialist seriously, but Kyle didn’t need her help for this.
“Don’t distract me,” Kyle told her under his breath.
Katie didn’t respond, and Kyle picked up his pace a little until he’d reached the table and the man in question.Sliding onto the chair across from him, Kyle smiled sharply at Adam Dixon when the reporter looked up from his tablet.
“The table’s taken, in case you—you,” Adam said, blinking at Kyle in surprise.
“Me,” Kyle said, snagging a fry wedge and dragging it through the curry sauce before popping it into his mouth.“I’d ask what you’re doing here, but I’m pretty sure we both know the answer to that question.”
Adam straightened up and very pointedly biolocked his tablet, the screen going dark.“I’d say I don’t know what you’re talking about, but something tells me you wouldn’t appreciate the lie.”
Kyle stole another fry.“Nope.”
Adam eyed him warily, scratching at the side of his jaw.He’d combed his hair back, showing off his receding hairline.“How did you know I was here?”
“You really expect me to answer that?”
“On or off the record?”
Kyle finished chewing and grabbed Adam’s beer, taking a sip of it.The older man opened his mouth to protest, but Kyle pinned him with a look that made him shut up immediately.
“Word of advice,” Kyle said as he ate another fry.“Go back to New York.”
“I go where the story takes me.”
“There isn’t a story here.”
Adam smiled.Kyle wondered how badly he’d get reprimanded for punching a member of the press.“I think there is.You sitting here proves it.”
“I took a walk, something a lot of people do.That doesn’t prove anything.”
“Really?”Adam unlocked his tablet and tilted it so Kyle couldn’t see what he was doing.“I think these say otherwise.”
When he flipped the tablet around, Kyle had to remind himself to keep stealing the other man’s fries when all he wanted to do was pull out one of his guns and take out the threat.
Adam had set up a slideshow of pictures for him.They were taken from inside Vesuvius, the images a little blurry at the edges in the way that meant the camera was compensating for the darkness.Taken from someone’s tablet, probably posted on a website that focused on celebrities and socialites, sold for who knew how much, the pictures showed them as a group relaxing in the alcove on the second floor from half a dozen angles, the focus on Jamie, which meant Kyle showed up as well in the spotlight.
The last six were taken from a different angle, the person framing them most likely situated on the second level across from the side of the club the team had been on.The zoom was on for those ones, the edges of each picture fuzzy from it.They showed them sitting at Jansen’s table on the third level, though whoever had taken them luckily didn’t get the beginning of the meeting, when Alexei had ground Tomas’ face into the glass and Katie had drawn her gun.One or two did show Jansen with Tomas’ group prior to their arrival, though.It wouldn’t take a great leap of logic to believe they’d been introduced.
