[Quinn 02] - The Deceived

For a moment, the entire screen went full black. “Maybe it didn’t work,” Nate said. He’d come around the table and was leaning in over Quinn’s shoulder.

After several more seconds, the black screen was replaced by a dark gray background. Superimposed over the background was a series of bright yellow lines depicting Asia from a point south of Indonesia to a point north of Mongolia. East and west, it took in Japan, all of China, and most of India. The only other color on the screen was a tiny blue pinprick in the upper right quadrant.

Quinn smiled. “You got it.” “Maybe,” Orlando said, not looking happy.

She worked the keys for a moment, blowing up the area around the blue dot. As the image zoomed in, more lines appeared, denoting country borders, then major roads and cities.

The dot was in northeast China. “Beijing?” Nate asked. Quinn shook his head. “Farther north.” “It’s in Shenyang,” Orlando told them. “You don’t sound convinced,” Quinn said. She frowned but said nothing. The image on the screen continued

to zoom in, getting closer and closer to street level. Suddenly the blue

dot started flashing yellow. “Son of a bitch,” Orlando said. Quinn tensed. “What?” Nate asked. Orlando opened a smaller window on the screen and began rap

idly scrolling through a list of data. “What is it?” Nate asked again. “False signal,” Quinn said. Jenny’s phone call had been rerouted to

look like she’d been calling from northern China. “You think you can pin it down?” Quinn asked Orlando. “I’ll get it. Just give me a minute.” Though she sounded annoyed,

Quinn could tell she actually was enjoying the challenge. “How did she fake her location?” Nate asked. “She’s not a pro.” “Markoff,” Quinn said. “He must have given her one of his

phones and instructions on how to remain hidden. It’s something he

would have done.” After two more bogus locations, Orlando said, “Got it.” “Where?” Quinn asked. On the screen was the outline of a peninsula caught between the

South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca. On the left side of the peninsula, not quite on the coast, was the shape of a city. The blue dot was within the city limits.

“Kuala Lumpur,” Quinn said. “You’re sure this time?” Orlando nodded. “I’m sure.” She continued the zoom, moving in as far as she could. “Somewhere near the towers.” She was referring to the Petronas Towers, at one time the tallest

buildings in the world, but moving further down the list every few

years.

“Is that as close as you can get?” Nate asked.

Orlando looked up at him, annoyed. “No, not at all. I could go in a lot closer. It’s just a lot more fun if we have to guess exactly where she is.”

“Right,” Nate said. “That’s as close as you can get. I was just checking.”

“I’ll put a tracer on the number,” Orlando said to Quinn. “Since we know basically the part of the world she’s in, it’ll be easier. Next time she turns on her phone, we’ll have a record of it.”

“Real time?” Quinn asked.

“Close. But not as if we were tracking her on the ground.”

As Orlando began typing on her keyboard, Quinn’s eyes remained on the screen. They weren’t focused on the current image; instead, they were remembering an earlier screen, the one Orlando had entered the data on. There was something there that felt familiar.

He stretched his arms back, then rolled his head trying to clear his mind. It wasn’t until he was walking toward the bathroom that it came to him.

The numbers on the entry screen. He remembered now why they seemed familiar.

He rushed back to the kitchen. Orlando was the only one there.

“Where’s Nate?” Quinn asked.

Orlando looked up. “He went outside.”

Quinn ran over to the rear door and pulled it open. Nate was sitting on the back steps, holding his cup of cold coffee. He looked up as Quinn stuck his head out.

“What?” Nate asked.

Two minutes later, they were gathered in the kitchen again. Nate had retrieved a piece of paper from his bag upstairs and had given it to Quinn. Quinn compared it to the copy he had in his wallet, just to be sure he hadn’t gotten anything wrong.

Written on each piece was the same line of numbers and letters. It was the sequence that had been on the wall of the shipping container Markoff had died in.

45KL0908NTY63779V lP

To Quinn, they looked very much like the line of data Orlando had used to locate Jenny’s cell phone.

“Punch this in,” Quinn said.

He handed the original to Orlando. She looked at it, then looked back up at him.

“Is this...?”