dinged, and Hunter jabbed at the button to hold open the doors. “After you.”
Once he loaded his bag into his rental car and pulled out of the parking structure, she directed him to the next hotel. He maneuvered through the busy streets like a pro, and they left the car with the valet in front of the hotel.
She hovered at his elbow as he checked in, drumming her fingers on the reception desk. She’d played up her fear over returning to her own place, as there was no way in hell she could have him inside her townhouse, but she’d have to explain somehow that she felt perfectly safe returning home on her own. She couldn’t stay in this hotel with Hunter—not again.
She had very little self-control when it came to this man—and she needed her self-control.
“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts. Let us know if you need anything.” The clerk smiled as she shoved a key card toward Sue.
Sue blinked and then swept the card from the counter and pocketed it.
As Hunter wheeled his suitcase toward the elevator, she hissed into his ear, “Who the hell is Mr. Roberts? Or Mrs. Roberts, for that matter?”
“That would be us, dear.” He winked at her. “You’re not the only one who knows how to play spy. I have a whole new identity for my stay in DC. I told you that I’m not here on official duty and I don’t want my actions to be tracked.”
“You have all the credentials?” She tilted her head. “Driver’s license, credit cards?”
“I do. Mr. Roberts even has a passport.”
She held the elevator door open for him as he dragged his suitcase inside. “I feel so humbled now that I know how easy it is for anyone to fake a new ID.”
“Spare me.” He nudged her shoulder. “As if you don’t know all about that. Half the time the Agency can’t locate someone, it’s because he or she adopted a new identity.”
“Just like I’m sure Jeffrey on my phone is not really a Jeffrey.”
“He must’ve followed us back to my hotel and notified the second shift…if he was in on it.”
“I’m pretty sure that was no coincidence—passing out and then the attempted abduction this morning. They didn’t expect you to be there, that’s for sure.”
The elevator settled on their floor, and they exited. Sue got her card out when they reached the room and slid it home. She poked her head inside before widening the door for Hunter and his bag. “Just making sure nobody is here before us.”
“They were good last night, but not that good.” He wheeled his suitcase into the corner and then bounced on the edge of the king-size bed. “Plenty of room for the two of us—your side and my side.”
No time to burst his bubble now. She curled her lips into a perfunctory smile. “Should we get to work on the phone now before it’s deactivated?”
“Do you have any tricks of the trade to find out or bypass the password?” He fished the would-be kidnapper’s phone from his pocket and tossed it onto the bed beside him.
“I might have a few tricks up my sleeve.” She wedged a knee on the bed and scooped up the phone. “In the meantime, why don’t you have a look at Jeffrey’s picture just in case? We could send it in for facial recognition—if I were still in good standing with the CIA.”
“Yeah, I was counting on you having all the Agency’s resources at your disposal. Now I’ll just have to do this the sneaky way.”
She paused as she drew her phone from her purse, holding it in midair. “Are you telling me you have a contact in the CIA? Someone to do your bidding?”
“Do my bidding? I wouldn’t put it like that, but yeah, I have a little helper.”
Shaking her head, she said, “That agency has more leaks than a colander.”
She tapped her photos to bring up Jeffrey’s picture. “Give me your number and I’ll send it to you.”
“I can just look at it on your phone.” He snapped his fingers.
“It’s better if we have a copy, anyway.” She held her finger poised above her display. “Number?”
“Is this your sneaky way of getting my cell? You could just ask, you know.” He rattled off his cell number and she entered it into her phone.
Actually, it was just her sneaky way of keeping him away from her phone. She didn’t keep pictures on her cell, but she didn’t need Hunter looking at her text messages.
She tapped her screen with a flourish. “There. The picture is on its way. Now, I’ll get to work on this phone.”
She dragged a chair to the window and kicked up her feet onto the chair across from it. She powered on the stranger’s cell, which they’d turned off to avoid any tracking, but turning it back on couldn’t be helped.
“This guy your type?” Hunter held up his phone with Jeffrey’s mug on the display.
“Tall, dark and handsome?” She snorted. “You could say that.”
Hunter brought the phone up to his nose and squinted. “How tall was he?”
“Tall enough.” Sue eyed Hunter’s lanky frame stretched out on the bed, his feet hanging off the edge.
With a smile curling her lip, she hunched over the cell phone again.
Sue clicked through the phone to access a few of the backdoor methods she’d learned at the Agency for bypassing a password to get into a phone. These worked especially well for burner phones like this one—and she knew a thing or two about burner phones.
She glanced up as Hunter swung his legs off the side of the bed, hunching over his phone, his back to her. Seconds later, his cell buzzed and he murmured a few words into his phone.
He must’ve reached his secret CIA contact—one who hadn’t been suspended from the Agency. She just hoped he knew to keep her name off his lips.
A few taps later, the gunman’s phone came to life in her hand. She slid another glance toward Hunter’s back and launched the man’s text messages and recent contacts.
Hunter ended his own call and stood up, stretching his arms to the ceiling. “I’m going to grab a soda from the machine down the hall. Want something?”
“Something diet, please.” Tucking her hair behind one ear, she glanced up and pasted a smile on her lips.
When the door closed behind Hunter, Sue began transferring the data from the stranger’s phone to her own—contacts, pictures, texts and call history.
When she reached the last bit of data, Hunter charged into the room, a can of soda in each hand. “Any luck with that?”
She slumped in her chair, clutching the phone in her hand. “Not yet.”
Then she tapped the display one last time to erase everything the man had on his burner phone.
