Egress Point

Chapter 18

Arebecca woke to a ringing sound -- the room's doorbell. She pulled on a dressing gown from the wardrobe and went to the door, expecting to see Em. It was housekeeping, so she told them to come back later and wandered back to the bedroom. She picked up her new iPhone and saw it was nearly 9am and she had a message. It was from Em:

Had an idea. Be back in a while

Arebecca felt a rush of panic. If Em disappeared like Nick and Patey there would be no one left but her to save them all. She quickly texted back:

Are you ok?

Seconds later she got a reply:

Yes! Don't worry, get some breakfast

Still feeling apprehensive, Arebecca climbed into the shower. Her legs ached a little and it took her until halfway through washing to remember the dancing in the beer hall. She pulled her jeans on as well as a fresh t-shirt. Perhaps she should get the hotel to dry-clean the dress? She took it down with her and left it with reception on the way to breakfast.

During her second cup of coffee, Em came in and sat down. She looked tired, but pleased with herself.

"Okay, I don't want you to get upset about this, but I stole your work phone last night and went fishing for Russians."

Arebecca put her cup down.

"What? Are you crazy? One of the things keeping us safe was that they don't know we're here!" She glanced around nervously. "And I thought they weren't interested any more since Max told the police I was a terrorist."

"I think they just wanted you out of the way, and using the British police meant they didn't have to worry about finding you. Now you're here, they can't ignore you. Plus I think it's our only way to find the hackers and rescue Nick."

"Our only way to get caught you mean! They'll probably be here any minute!"

"It's dangerous, yes. I agree. But hear me out. I got up early and drove out to the Tiergarten. It's a big park with lots of people around all the time. I turned the phone on and left it under a bench, then got a coffee and watched from a cafe. Two Russians -- a big one and a small one -- turned up after twenty minutes and looked all around the bench. They were here already in Berlin."

"Could they have seen you?" Arebecca looked at Em.

"No, not even nearly. They don't even know who I am, they're looking for you. I want to do it again, we'll use the phone to lure them and this time we'll follow them."

"What? That's crazy! And how can you do it again?"

Em smiled. "They didn't find the phone. I've still got it. I really think this will work."

Arebecca understood. She wanted to object, but she had no better options to put forward. As crazy as it sounded it really was their best hope. Still, Arebecca didn't like it. And it was dangerous.

"What if we lose them?" Arebecca was skeptical about that part.

"I'll put a tracking device in their car." Em said

"A tracking device, are you actually some kind of spy?"

"No, we can do it with a mobile phone. They all come with 'find my phone' or 'share your location' apps. I'll just turn it on and hide it in the car. That way if we do lose them, we can still find them again."

"You're crazy," Arebecca said. "There's no way we can sneak something into their car without them noticing."

"Leave that part to me." Em grinned.