Deep Blue Ch. 12

"Got you, you sonuvabitch," I murmured. I looked up and saw Gretchen had the laptop open at the desk and was looking at the screen intently. "Are you in?"

"That's my line," she said with a snort. "Yes. It wasn't even password protected. This Price must be an idiot."

I set what I suspected was the bug interface on the desk next to it and plugged it into the computer and power outlet. When I turned it on the computer sensed it and opened some kind of program. I rolled my eyes at the program name. Double O. Someone was a James Bond freak.

Gretchen looked at the drop down menus and found the history. It popped open a file list that had several files. "This is on the machine itself, not the computer." One by one we looked through them. All but one were Ted and Lisa, sometimes alone and sometimes with the rest of us, out in public. The remainder was all normal stuff. Oddly enough, the video from the glasses wasn't there. Why remove it and leave the rest? The last one was the orgy.

"Delete that," I said grimly.

She tried, but a password prompt came up. "It's protected. This might take a while."

"Can you tell how many times this file was burned to DVD?"

"Maybe." She pursed her lips in concentration. "There's probably some kind of log here somewhere."

While she was looking, I tried the DVDs one at a time in the room's player. One of them was the orgy. The other was the rest of the surveillance. I pocketed them and returned to the desk to look over my wife's shoulder. She had some kind of text list up.

"I found the log. It shows the orgy file having been burned to DVD twice. The other files were only burned once. They were also copied to the laptop. It wasn't emailed or uploaded anywhere." She looked up at me. "I can't delete them, Hawk. What do we do?"

"I have another copy of orgy in my pocket. We'll have to take the equipment with us. He'll just make more copies if we leave it here."

Gretchen shook her head. "I have a better idea. Grab the laptop."

I unplugged the spy gear from the laptop and watched her gather it and stuff it into the plastic case without latching it. She opened the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the balcony. I knew immediately what she had in mind. I peered over the rail and saw a clear drop to the sea, so long as we tossed it out a little.

Without ceremony, she slung the case and it flew open as it fell toward the sea. I heaved the laptop after it and watched it all splash into the sea and sink into the depths. Well, everything but the case. I didn't think that would matter though. Price was going to be severely pissed.

I dusted off my hands and went back into the room. "We need to get going. No telling when Price might get back from breakfast."

Before she had a chance to respond, the door knob rattled. There was no time. I pulled her back onto the balcony. I yanked the drapes closed and slid the door closed as well.

Temporary safety achieved, I stared at Gretchen. "We're trapped. As soon as he looks for that equipment the jig is up. What do we do?"

Together we turned to stare silently at the rail and the cruel sea so far below us.