Page 19 of Silent Watch
"Until now."He put the phone away."The question is why.What changed?"
Harper was quiet for a moment."Sattler showing up at the library.She saw him test my cover, ask about my background.Maybe that scared her more than my questions did."
"Or maybe it reminded her what happens to people who know things and stay quiet."Caleb watched her face."She called you after he left.That timing matters."
"You think she's been waiting.Waiting for someone to show up who might actually do something with whatever she knows."
"I think it's possible.I also think it's possible she's bait."
Harper's fingers loosened on the cup.Then tightened again."I know."
"If Sattler suspects you're more than a travel writer, setting up a meeting with a local who 'wants to help' is exactly how he'd flush you out.You show up alone, they're waiting."
"I know."
"And you're going anyway."
It wasn't a question.He could see it in the set of her shoulders, the steadiness of her gaze.She'd already decided.
"Isak had a source," she said quietly."Someone who was going to give him the name.The person at the top of the network.They were supposed to meet the day after he called me."She paused."He never made it to that meeting."
"Harper."
"I'm not saying Geri is that source.I'm saying I've spent fourteen months running from the people who killed Isak.Hiding.Surviving.And the only thing that's changed is that now I'm hiding somewhere new."Her voice didn't waver."If there's a chance Geri Crane has information that could break this open, I have to take it."
"Even if it's a trap."
"Even if it's a trap."
He watched her across the table.The lamplight from the pendant above their booth caught the hollows under her cheekbones, the set line of her mouth.She looked like someone who'd already done the math on dying and found the numbers acceptable.
"You're not going alone," he said.
"She said?—"
"I heard what she said.And you're still not going alone."He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small device—black plastic, no bigger than a button."Tracker.Subcutaneous adhesive, waterproof, good for seventy-two hours.I'll know where you are within three meters."
Harper took it, turning it over in her fingers."You just carry these around?"
"I carry a lot of things around."He pulled out another device."Panic button.Press and hold for three seconds.I'll have people at your location inside five minutes."
"What people?"
"People who owe me favors."
She looked at him for a long moment.He could see the questions forming—who are you really?What is this operation?How deep does it go?Questions he couldn't answer yet.Questions that might get them both killed if he answered wrong.
"Okay," she said finally."Tracker and panic button.But I go in alone.If she sees backup, she'll spook."
"Agreed.I'll be parked two blocks away.Anything goes wrong, you press that button, I'm there."
"And if nothing goes wrong?"
"Then we have new information to work with."He paused."Either way, you don't leave that house without checking in.Text when you arrive, text when you leave.If I don't hear from you by nine-thirty, I'm coming in."
"That's very thorough for a professional alliance."
She said it lightly, but her eyes stayed on his face, reading him the way she read everything—carefully, looking for what was underneath.
