Page 75 of Run

“Clear,” Dimitri answered from the car behind them.

“I’m not seeing anything either,” David added, his eyes still scanning their surroundings.

They took the turn into yet another one-way street without incident, their car in the middle of a three-car procession. It would have seemed impressive and very importantifthe three cars hadn’t looked like they’d driven straight out of a junkyard.

“Couple more minutes, and we’ll be there,” David said. “Ryan, keep your gun handy. Just in case.”

“Your Spidey-sense tingling?” Ryan asked.

“Just in case,” David repeated.

“Roger that, superspy.” Ryan unholstered his weapon.

* * *

“This is mind-numbing,”Rachel complained at the laptop screen in front of her. “It’s like searching for a rusty needle in a haystack made of needles.”

“So…nota haystack then.” Joe grinned from the opposite side of the kitchen table, where he had his own laptop open.

“I don’t see why we couldn’t have done this at TayFor or, even better, my apartment. We’d be much more comfortable there.”

“Security,” Julia muttered from the seat between Rachel and Joe. “We can’t risk using your company building too much. Someone will notice us, and it would put all your hard work as CEO in jeopardy. Also, the James Family might be watching your apartment.”

“It has fabulous security,” Rachel pointed out. “Much better than my last place.” Which the Benson Security team had bypassed on several occasions, purely to annoy her. “Harvard checked it out himself and says it’s practically titanium.”

“Practically being the operative word.” Joe lifted his mug. “Refill?”

“Dear Coco Chanel, please, no.” Tapping at her keyboard with one of her signature red manicured nails, she scrolled through yet more names that meant absolutely nothing to her. “Why can’t we wait until Elle’s written a program for this?”

“Because we might find something useful in the meantime.” Julia checked the list she’d printed out and placed on the table between them. “Just open one of the lists Elle gave you and make a side-by-side comparison with the police list I gave you. Any name that’s on both will turn yellow. Once you find a name, add it to the central list on the cloud.”

“Why are there so many different police forces in London?” Rachel complained. Because, seriously, her brain was beginning to atrophy.

Julia seemed puzzled. “Is that a rhetorical question, or do you actually want me to answer?”

“She’s complaining, Jules. Let her be. It’s how she copes with anxiety.” Joe sat back down with his filled coffee mug.

“I’m not anxious,” Rachel lied. “I’m bored.”

They all had their different coping mechanisms. Hers was being a bitch. Julia’s was pointlessly combing through data lists rather than waiting for Elle to do it a fraction of the time.

She glanced at her iPhone, which sat within reach on the table beside her. “Shouldn’t they be at the lawyers’ offices by now?”

“Around now,” Joe agreed. “But London traffic can be a bitch.”

“Really, Joe?” Julia said. “That word is rude and an insult to women.”

“Sorry, baby.” His eyes sparkled. “London traffic can be a bastard.”

Julia rolled her eyes. Something Rachel hadn’t even been aware she knew how to do.

Rachel glanced back down at her laptop screen and startled. “Oh, I think I may have done something wrong. My lists are glitching.”

“No,” Julia said. “It isn’t you. My screen’s acting up too. Joe?”

He tapped a key on his laptop to wake it up. Then said some words that Julia definitely didn’t approve of. “We’re being hacked. Are we connected to the internet?”

“Of course,” Julia said. “We’re working on cloud documents because we need to share.”