Kanezaki said, “Entrance of Manzanita at Sand Hill?”
“Yes,” she said. “Maybe fifty feet in, on the side of the road. You’re not seeing a phone there?”
He played with the controls. “That’s right.”
“Then he doesn’t have one,” she said. “Or it’s turned off.”
No one had to say what that meant. It was unusual for someone not to be carrying a powered-up cellphone. Combined with the other factors—the location, the appearance—it made it more likely the man was indeed surveillance.
She took off the riding helmet and field boots and pulled on her shoes. She’d change out of the jodhpurs later. She had to give Kanezaki credit—he’d wanted her to look the part, and she had.
“So what do we do?” she said.
Rain said, “Let’s have Maya make a pass on the bicycle. If the guy’s still there, that’ll settle it.”
The fascination on Dash’s face changed to disappointment. He had badly wanted to be part of the bicycle countersurveillance. Intellectually, Evie doubted there was much if any danger—he would have just been biking in the area, as she had been riding Margarita. And of course Dash had made that case. But intellectually didn’t matter—Evie absolutely refused. Delilah had cushioned the blow, saying to Dash, “Hey, I thought we were going to go take the Porsche for a ride.” Dash had smiled in a way that made Evie wonder whether he had developed a rapid-onset crush. She couldn’t blame him—the woman was certainly stunning. But it seemed that, compared to actually being involved in countersurveillance, Delilah and the Porsche were still a consolation prize. Or, more likely, Dash was wondering why he couldn’t just have both.
Kanezaki unclipped one of the encrypted walkie-talkies, then hesitated. He turned to Rain so Dash couldn’t see what he was saying. “You’re okay taking that guy out, based just on a second sighting?”
Rain looked at him. “It’s more than your outfit uses as the basis for a drone strike.”
Kanezaki seemed not to have an answer for that.
“Besides,” Rain said. “It’s not just a second sighting. That sandwich feels like cover for action. If he’s still eating it after a half hour, we’ll know. And yeah, if Maya sees a sandwich, it could be his second, or even his third. Maybe he’s a sandwich freak. Maybe he’s just a guy who likes to sit by the side of the road for an hour at a time. Probably not, though. And besides, on top of all the other evidence, the final check is me. Before anything else happens, I’ll see for myself. And I’ll know what I’m looking at.”
Evie was surprised to realize she had no objections. She trusted Marvin, and Marvin trusted Rain.
But beyond that, just a day earlier, someone had come for her and Dash. She wasn’t going to let that happen again. No matter what.
chapter
sixty-eight
MAYA
Maya was sitting in front of a place called the Village Bakery when she got the call from Tom. She took a last sip of coffee, closed the chin strap of her helmet, got on the bike, and took off.
She’d felt silly when she first suited up—a brightly colored jersey and matching tights; padded, fingerless gloves; clip-in shoes; a pair of high-tech-looking shades. But Tom had assured her that she’d look right at home in Woodside, and he’d been right; there were a dozen riders in front of the bakery, and everything they were wearing was garishly over-the-top. The only mistake Tom had made was in getting a bike that was a little too fancy—a Trek Madone SLR 9 that had attracted some admiring commentary from the other riders. On the other hand, Tom had explained that excess was the point—as with the Porsche he’d scored for Delilah, it was important to go beyond what an op would require, or what a finance department would ever approve. Maya had noticed Rain smiling as Tom had explained, and Tom had smiled back. Maya realized there was a history there, and maybe something of a mentorship. She wondered whether Tom would tell her about it. And if things would ever be normal enough again for her to have a chance to ask.