and scrolled down to the message. It was from his uncle. His jaw tightened as he read it. He handed the phone to Alena. “You better read this.”
She grabbed it and read aloud. “Tell Al danger. Alert. Move quick. Compromised. PU at birdcage midnight. “ She lowered the phone. “This is tsuris…bad trouble.”
He stared at her. “What does it mean?”
She glanced up, frowning. “A breach in our security. We’re to meet Joe and the others at the airport at midnight tonight. Bring your new identification and leave everything else behind. Old ID, clothes, everything that’s not new. I’ll lock them up in the safe here until we know we can retrieve them.”
“My old ID? What are you talking about?”
“I mean…everything…can be tracked.”
“Aren’t you a bit paranoid?”
“That’s what keeps us alive,” she snapped. “I don’t have time to explain everything right now. Use your brain, Gerrit. You know what tracking capabilities are out there. Oy vey! All your scientific background should be good for something. Right?” She turned toward him, angry. “I don’t have time to hold your hand.”
“I never asked you to hold my hand.” He drew himself up.
She ripped Gerrit’s cell phone apart, tossed the parts on the ground, and stomped on each one. “If I had not been watching your butt, they’d be fishing out parts of you from the lake. Who knows, maybe they would have whacked you before you even got home.” She shook with rage.
He had never seen this side of her. She looked like she could take his head off. “Cool down, Alena. I only meant-”
“Save your excuses. Right now, we need to move.” She wheeled around and withdrew a small gym bag from a closet. She carried it over to him and opened it. “I’m waiting, Gerrit.”
He handed her his old wallet and felt the pocket watch in his pocket. Hesitating, he slowly withdrew it, rubbing his thumb over the smooth finish. Reluctantly he placed it in the gym bag. He had carried that watch every day since his father first gave it to him. Just clutching it would give him a feeling of connection, a link to his past. Now, that link must be severed. Just like everything else in his life.
She took the bag and flung it into the safe. “Anything else? Watch, jewelry, clothing? Anything we did not give you after the explosion.”
He thought back and shook his head.
“Okay, let’s get moving.” She pushed the safe door closed and locked it. “We need to leave this place and never return until we know it is safe.”
“Safe from what?”
“From surveillance, tracking devices, you name it. Until we know no one can link us and this place together. Same with my place in the Haight.”
“Just like that. Up and leave everything behind?”
Her expression seemed to soften for a moment. “Look, I am sorry for being so uptight, but Mr. J’s message is serious. It means something is really, really wrong. And until we know what the danger is, we have to run and leave everything behind. It is hard, but you will get used to this.”
“Have you gotten used to it?”
Alena’s eyes tightened. “It seems I have been running my whole life. It is just the way things are. Now, let’s move.”
Chapter 31
Shop till you drop-or die. Gerrit smiled as he watched Alena eyeing Macy’s. They climbed out of a cab in San Francisco’s Union Square and entered the large department store, searching for clothing they might need on the run-coats, jeans, shirts and blouses, even shoes. He watched her trying on a black, sporty leather jacket.
“So, this is what you do every time Joe says to run? You go shopping?”
Once they put some distance between them and the office, Alena seemed to relax, although he could see she was as vigilant as a lioness catching the scent of danger. Alena glanced around for the millionth time. “This is the upside of our kind of life. You get to do a lot of shopping.” She took off the jacket and tucked it under her arm.
“I have to wonder why you leave everything behind. Kane and the others got close enough to put trackers on us? I mean, I know I met him face-to-face overseas, but don’t you think you’re a bit dramatic?”
Her face flushed. “Dramatic? You’re kidding, right?”
“Look, I’d already be dead if they are tracking me. The fact they didn’t find me in Idaho after the bombing tells me they did not have RFID and GPS trackers in place. Otherwise, I would be sucking up dirt right now.”
“But they could have tracked us in any number of ways-satellite surveillance, location sensors, you name it.”
“I know all that, Alena. My point, they haven’t come yet. We might be going through all this for nothing.”
“I…Joe and the others can’t take that chance. And right now, Joe’s calling the shots.”
“Maybe he is too careful. Look, Alena, we have to look at this practically. There are endless possibilities for them to track us, but we must look at the percentages. Right now, I’d say the odds are slim they have locked in on us. I think they’re just fishing. The net they cast is so broad, going back all those years.”
“You may be right, but I trust Joe’s instincts.” She ran her fingers over an alpaca off-the-shoulder sweater displayed on a faceless mannequin in the aisle. “So, smart guy, dazzle me with your science.”
“Dazzle you, huh?” He smiled. “Okay, say I was your husband-”
“My husband? Fat chance.”
“Just pretend for a moment. I’d want to keep an eye on your spending spree. I might start with slipping a chip on you. A Radio Frequency ID tag. You have an ATM card, right?”
“Had an ATM card. Left it with the rest of our stuff.”
He nodded. “Good, because that’s one way of getting to us.”
“I thought they had limited tracking capabilities.”
“Technology’s changed. Now, almost every bank, every financial institution, has the capability of tracking you with that card. Small RFID tags have been inserted in those ATM cards, particularly VIP customers so when you enter a bank, a sensor hidden in the doorways alerts when this card is carried into the bank. A signal is transmitted to bank representatives-such as the manager or tellers-that would allow them to greet important customers by first name and allow them to scan a summary of current transactional history and other information generally only known to the customer.”
“I thought Wal-Mart and others just used them for product identification and tracking.”
He nodded. “RFID use has been expanded. Theoretically, those tags can be tracked anywhere. Using RFID technology, a manufacturer can trace razor blades you purchased right down to your bathroom shelf. In the past, they’ve been limited by the signals emitting from the tags and scanners powerful enough to track and locate their product.”
She moved farther down the aisle. “So if they know I bought this jacket I’m holding, they could track me anywhere I take it-theoretically?”
“Exactly. That’s why Joe wants us to dump our old things and buy new. And this is just the start. RFID and other tracking capabilities have flooded the market. It’s in everything. Cell phones, clothing, even woven into our money.”
“They track money?” She shook her head. “You are an expert in this technology? I must have missed that in your file.”
“It was never my area of interest-I focused in nanosystem integration as it pertained to warfare and nanoelectronics. I knew this technology was out there, but I never paid much attention.”
“Well, now would be a good time to start learning. Our lives may depend upon how much you grasp.” Her words carried a hard edge. “So, tell me about tracking money.”
“I’ll let Joe go over all that later when we catch up to them. But I want to look at this with a practical and objective eye. Study the data and determine appropriate responses. To simply toss our belongings every time we
