He pulled the radio out of his pocket and muted the microphone. “Maya. Can you put a new administrator password on Grimble’s laptop? Just nod or shake, I don’t want your mic to pick it up.”
She looked at him, obviously still shocked from what they had all heard in their earpieces. And the failure of her camera hack.
“They must have gotten into the camera system themselves,” Rain said. “Injected a loop into the network, something like that. It doesn’t matter now. Can you do a new password?”
She nodded.
“Get the laptop out of the safe and do it.”
Maya disconnected the laptop, took it from the safe, and started working the keyboard.
Rain looked around. Livia and Larison had their guns out and had angled off so they could see more of what was outside the window. Kanezaki had his gun out, too, and was looking at Rain for instructions. Evie had pulled Dash close and was signing to him. Diaz was looking at Rain, like Kanezaki apparently waiting for guidance. Grimble was staring at the ceiling.
“Everyone stay cool,” Rain said. “That’s what gets us through this. Okay?”
Evie, Dash, Diaz, Kanezaki, and Maya all nodded. Livia and Larison scanned—window, door, and back. Grimble seemed to have no sense that anything new was happening.
Diaz pulled out her radio and muted the mic. She said, “But how do they know which structure we’re in?”
“I don’t think they do,” Rain said. “They probably tracked Grimble’s phone to the residence, like we did, with the rest as guesswork. Or saw Delilah and Larison close by. It doesn’t matter now.”
“I know you can hear me,” Rispel said. “You really don’t want to keep me waiting.”
“Diaz,” he said, “put that Noh mask back on the wall.” He would have preferred to smash the mask to bits, but that only would have drawn attention to it and interfered with the appearance of ignorance they needed to claim. They could have put it in the safe, but then there would be the empty hook on the wall and the remaining two masks, uncentered. Obviously Grimble was sharper about computers than he was about where to hide a passcode, but nothing to be done about that now.
“I’m going to give you a three count,” Rispel said. “Let’s hope I don’t get to the end of it.”
“Livia,” Rain said. “Under this building is something called an ennoshita. It’s a kind of crawl space, part of traditional Japanese architecture. This one looked tight to me, but I think if you prone out you can squeeze through.”
“Three,” Rispel said.
“It’s concealed by lattices but they should be removable,” Rain said. “Go out the window and make your way forward through the space. If we lose contact, use your judgment.”
Livia nodded and went to the window.
“Two,” Rispel said. “One—”
Rain unmuted the mic. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”
“Who am I speaking to?” Rispel said.
“My name is Rain.” He didn’t care what they talked about. He just wanted to give Maya time to lock anyone else out of Grimble’s laptop. And Livia time to get under the structure.
“John Rain?”
He heard Dox in his ear. “John, I switched to only your channel. Rispel can’t hear me. I can’t see her from here. You need to get her and whoever she’s with to move north on the pathway, past the trees. Probably no more than fifty feet. Let me know if you understand.”
“John Rain?” Rispel said again.
“Yes,” Rain said. And then, for Dox’s benefit, “Is this going to be like one of those action movie standoffs?”