Page 38 of Wild Fever

“If your employer had you poisoned before you completed the job, I don't think acquiring the data was their primary motivation."

Kara's brow wrinkled with confusion. "What are you getting at?"

"What if this whole thing was never about the data?”

"What was it about then?"

"Somebody wanted to set you up for the murder of Yan Zheng. I think this whole thing was designed to create tension and turmoil.“

"Why? What's the point?"

"Think about it,” I said dryly.

We drove by the newspaper dispenser at the corner of Willow and Basswood Street. There were two on the sidewalk—one for theCoconut Times, the other for theIsland Weekly. I surveyed the area as we passed by. Pedestrians walked up and down the sidewalk. Traffic buzzed on the avenue. A homeless guy slept on the sidewalk not far from the dispensers. Everyone ignored him as they passed. He could have been an operative. It was the perfect cover.

I made a left at the next intersection and drove down the boulevard.

A frown tightened my face. "I don’t like this.”

"I don’t like it either. Tell me what you saw.”

"Two guys sitting across the street at the café with earpieces. The homeless guy. The guy on the other corner panhandling. They all had earpieces.”

Kara looked at me, astonished. "How did you see all that?”

I shrugged. "It pays to look.”

"What does that mean?”

"It means we’re not pretending to make the drop.”

"Who do you think they are?"

I kept driving. "How well did you cover your tracks when you were on Zheng’s computer?”

"I didn't worry about covering my tracks. I just needed to get the files and get out of there.”

"The feds have had that laptop long enough to figure out the Chinese server was breached and something was downloaded. You didn't have time to clear the logs. They know data was stolen.”

Kara put all the pieces together. "And you think someone tipped off the feds that the drop was going down today at the newspaper dispenser.”

"I think so. Whoever hired you knows you'll be dead before you can testify. If you get picked up, that's a speedy resolution to this situation. The feds can prosecute you, close the case, and give the Chinese what they want. A scapegoat. A nongovernmental actor. Those feds are just waiting to see who shows up to make the drop."

"That’s a good theory," she said, "but that's all it is.”

"You got a better one?”

“I’m still not putting it all together.”

“It’s a work in progress,” I said.

We drove back to Diver Down, parked the Porsche, and hustled back to theAvventura.

We found Jack on the sky deck, catching some sun, listening to classic rock while Piper sat at the bar in the shade, hacking away on her laptop.

"How did it go?" JD asked.

"It didn't," I said, then filled him in.