Page 63 of Out of Control

They took off running together and sprinted to the end of the block.

“Did everybody make it out?” Spencer panted.

“As far as I can tell.” Still, Drago pulled out his cell phone and dialed 18, which connected him directly to the French fire emergency service. Quickly, he reported smelling gas and seeing an explosion, and rattled off the name of the nearest intersection.

They stepped into the street a block over from the fire. People were starting to run toward the building. They made it another block from the scene before they heard the first sirens in the distance.

“Metro?” Spencer asked.

“Negative. Too many surveillance cameras. We’ll walk for now. Catch a cab in a bit.”

“You’re the expert,” Spencer murmured.

It took them a couple of hours to verify that they weren’t being followed, dodge any passive surveillance in the form of security cameras, and make it back to his flat. But finally the door closed behind them.

Spencer sighed in relief and reached for the light switch, but Drago forestalled him with a hand over Spencer’s. Drago hand-signaled him to silence as well, and pulled out his electronic sweeping device. Spencer rolled his eyes.

Tough. Good tradecraft was good tradecraft. And Drago had learned a long time ago never to skip his personal security routines, no matter how tired he was and no matter how safe he thought he was.

He moved the device in an arc in his living room—

What the hell?

He got a hit. The needle on the face of the device jumped wildly. He scanned again, more slowly, in the guise of moving over to the window to pull the curtains fully closed.

The thin speaker mounted over the flat-screen TV made the sweeper practically vibrate in his hand, the needle was jumping around so hard. There must be something inside it. Without taking off the cover, he wouldn’t know if it was a camera or merely an audio bug. Whatever it was, it hadn’t been here when they arrived earlier today.

Someone had been in here. Who knew he was here? How did they get in without the building manager seeing them? It took time to bug a place. They had to have come in right after he and Spencer had left.Who?

His mind whirling and his gut nauseated, he strolled into the kitchen and set up the coffee maker for the morning, all the while surreptitiously scanning the room.

This time the electronic control panel of his stove made the sweeper lose its mind.

Sonofabitch.

Both bedrooms got hits, and that was when he quit scanning. Someone had completely wired the place.

In a normal speaking voice, he said to Spencer, “I don’t know about you, but I’m beat. I’m hitting the sack.”

“Don’t you want to—” Spencer hoisted the pillowcase full of Khoury’s gear, but he cut off the rest of what he’d been about to say.

“Nah. I’m not hungry. If you want to get a snack, feel free. But I’m crashing now.”

Spencer frowned but played along. “Umm, okay.”

“You know what I could use, though?” Drago said wearily.

“What’s that?”

“A nice hot shower. God, I’m sore after the gym, today.”

“Uhh, enjoy. I guess I’ll just crash myself.”

Drago headed down the hall past his own bedroom and into the one Spencer had chosen for himself earlier. He gestured silently for Spencer to follow him. He headed into the bath attached to Spencer’s room and turned on the shower’s hot-water faucet full blast.

He turned to Spencer, who’d followed him silently into the bathroom carrying the pillowcase of loot from Khoury’s place. They sank to the floor out of sight of the mirror.

He leaned close to Spencer and whispered, “Whole place is bugged. We have to leave.”