sup with the devil

Chapter 24

Detective Ortega introduced them to his technician and stood back while he explained what they had discovered in the documents found with Leana Winslow.

"It's a GPS chip. Our forger must be a forward thinker or a scam artist. He can track the papers anywhere they go, all you need are the proper frequencies and bingo, you've got your satellites looking all over the place. GPS determines location by computing the difference between the time that a signal is sent and the time it is received. Time information is placed in the codes broadcast by the satellite so that a receiver can continuously determine the time the signal was broadcast; that allows the receiver to compute locations."

"So how does this help us? We've got Winslow, we don't need no GPS."

"We can trace the code used by this chip then go back and plot the original signal. Our friend is likely using sequential codes for ease of recording. We should be able to find any or all the chips he has out there."

"So you think we can use this to find Jean Travis?" Bettmeir held a thumb up to Ortega.

"Not by name but the location might help us narrow it down."

Jerry shook his head and backed away, leaving the techies to their toys. This wasn't the police work he was trained in. Ortega checked his watch and said if they wanted to grab a coffee his team should have something to show them in about half an hour. Bettmeir was ecstatic; the captain would soon be singing a different tune about he and Jerry.

They all went to the squad room and grabbed the last of the morning pot, flooded it with cream and sugar to cover the burning bitterness and kicked back in an empty interview room sharing war stories.



Jean had an uneasy feeling about the driver shortly after accepting the ride. He seemed to be always smiling secretly with every question or answer and he had an uncanny knack of guessing personal things about her. She clutched the carry-on tighter and looked for a good place to be let off.

"How come you were thumbing a ride on this road? Car break down somewhere?"

"Something like that."

"You look like you had a nasty fight."

"It was a car accident, okay?"

"Hmmm. So where are you headed?"

"How far are you going?"

"Depends."

Jean looked at him. There was the smile again and she suddenly felt she knew what he was hinting at. She thought back to Cresta's method of controlling Vin and she wondered if she had the skill to try that with this guy.

"On what?"

He looked over at her and the smile faded. "On whether we can do business or not."

"I'm not in that business." She laughed and looked out the window.

"No? What do you call screwing your friends then?"

Jean's head snapped back and she stared at his profile. "What are you talking about?"

The car left the road and turned into a small strip mall and up the service lane to the rear, pulling up next to a large dumpster before stopping. The man cut the engine and Jean felt her armpits grow damp.

"What are you doing? What the hell is this? If you think you're going to—"

"Shut up, Rita."

The use of her name did exactly that and she simply gaped, growing paler by the minute.