he didn’t have a pen. Li didn’t either. She switched on her phone and handed it to Paulo. He keyed in the number and read it back to Radha to confirm it. ‘That’s really helpful,’ he said. ‘Well done, and tell Sami well done too.’
Li and Hex clearly heard a girlish giggle at the other end of the phone. They looked at one another. Obviously Paulo had made a hit there.
‘You all be careful now,’ said Paulo. ‘ Adios .’ He cut the connection.
‘Well?’ said Li and Hex in unison.
‘The moneylender was back in the village, scouting for business. Sami went through his stuff while he wasn’t looking. She found a card. It had a name on it: Tagore Trilok. She says it’s the kidney man. And,’ added Paulo proudly, ‘she just gave me his mobile number.’
‘So what do we do?’ said Li. ‘Phone him?’
Hex’s fingers were already flying. ‘Pass it over here. We don’t need to phone him, we can do something far more clever. Mobiles work by getting a signal from cells – transmitters that send signals out in a small area. And since it’s all controlled by computer . . . if we find out what cells he’s been using, we can find out where he is.’
‘And where he is—’ began Li.
‘– Bina might be,’ finished Paulo.
‘Exactly,’ said Hex. He tapped Trilok’s number into a website. First he had to find out which phone company he used. No problem. This website would identify it in seconds. He got his reply. From that he knew which website to hack into to track where Trilok was. The website asked for a password. Not a problem. He flipped open another window and accessed a program he kept for just that purpose. In moments, an answer sprang onto the screen. ‘Yes!’ said Hex out loud, and fired the result into the keyboard. A new screen came up. Hex scanned it briefly. A broad smile spread across his features. ‘Well, well, well.’ He turned slowly to the others. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, in the last twenty-four hours he used his phone only in Nayla and Chennai.’
‘And he’s probably not far from here right now,’ said Hex.
Li looked at the screen. ‘How accurate is it?’
Hex looked disbelieving. ‘It’s dead accurate. It’s a computer.’
‘No, I mean, how detailed?’
‘We can narrow it down to a few blocks.’
‘Well, where is he now?’
‘I can’t see right now. But as soon as he makes or receives a call, we’ll see which cells he’s using. And that will tell us where he is.’
Li said, ‘Let’s call him. What are we waiting for?’
Paulo shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think we should. He’ll see the number’s unfamiliar. He might get spooked.’
‘Can we listen to what he’s saying?’ said Li.
‘Not without bugging equipment,’ said Hex. ‘But we don’t need to do anything fancy like that. He’s been making and receiving a lot of calls recently. It won’t be long before he pops up again.’
Paulo thumped the grass emphatically. ‘And when he does we can follow him straight to Bina. I bet he’s not letting her out of his sight.’
‘Hang on a minute,’ said Li. ‘We can’t go running after him. We’ll stick out like sore thumbs. Me, tiny and oriental; you enormous and Argentinian, Hex . . .’ She looked at Hex as if thinking of a way to sum up his appearance.
Hex looked back at her. ‘Yes?’ he said sweetly.
‘I see what you’re saying,’ said Paulo. ‘We don’t look like anyone round here.’
‘Plus,’ said Li, ‘if he was in the clinic when we went there, or he’s been told what we look like . . .’
‘So that leaves me,’ said Hex. ‘The indefinable.’ He gave Li a pointed look.
‘I’m working on it,’ she replied.
‘Anyway,’ said Hex, ‘I hate to sound like a wuss, but this site is going to ask for passwords every ten minutes so I have to nurse the connection. I can’t run around after Trilok.’
‘Indefinable . . .’ Paulo was tapping his fingers slowly on the ground, as he often did when
Li and Hex clearly heard a girlish giggle at the other end of the phone. They looked at one another. Obviously Paulo had made a hit there.
‘You all be careful now,’ said Paulo. ‘ Adios .’ He cut the connection.
‘Well?’ said Li and Hex in unison.
‘The moneylender was back in the village, scouting for business. Sami went through his stuff while he wasn’t looking. She found a card. It had a name on it: Tagore Trilok. She says it’s the kidney man. And,’ added Paulo proudly, ‘she just gave me his mobile number.’
‘So what do we do?’ said Li. ‘Phone him?’
Hex’s fingers were already flying. ‘Pass it over here. We don’t need to phone him, we can do something far more clever. Mobiles work by getting a signal from cells – transmitters that send signals out in a small area. And since it’s all controlled by computer . . . if we find out what cells he’s been using, we can find out where he is.’
‘And where he is—’ began Li.
‘– Bina might be,’ finished Paulo.
‘Exactly,’ said Hex. He tapped Trilok’s number into a website. First he had to find out which phone company he used. No problem. This website would identify it in seconds. He got his reply. From that he knew which website to hack into to track where Trilok was. The website asked for a password. Not a problem. He flipped open another window and accessed a program he kept for just that purpose. In moments, an answer sprang onto the screen. ‘Yes!’ said Hex out loud, and fired the result into the keyboard. A new screen came up. Hex scanned it briefly. A broad smile spread across his features. ‘Well, well, well.’ He turned slowly to the others. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, in the last twenty-four hours he used his phone only in Nayla and Chennai.’
‘And he’s probably not far from here right now,’ said Hex.
Li looked at the screen. ‘How accurate is it?’
Hex looked disbelieving. ‘It’s dead accurate. It’s a computer.’
‘No, I mean, how detailed?’
‘We can narrow it down to a few blocks.’
‘Well, where is he now?’
‘I can’t see right now. But as soon as he makes or receives a call, we’ll see which cells he’s using. And that will tell us where he is.’
Li said, ‘Let’s call him. What are we waiting for?’
Paulo shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think we should. He’ll see the number’s unfamiliar. He might get spooked.’
‘Can we listen to what he’s saying?’ said Li.
‘Not without bugging equipment,’ said Hex. ‘But we don’t need to do anything fancy like that. He’s been making and receiving a lot of calls recently. It won’t be long before he pops up again.’
Paulo thumped the grass emphatically. ‘And when he does we can follow him straight to Bina. I bet he’s not letting her out of his sight.’
‘Hang on a minute,’ said Li. ‘We can’t go running after him. We’ll stick out like sore thumbs. Me, tiny and oriental; you enormous and Argentinian, Hex . . .’ She looked at Hex as if thinking of a way to sum up his appearance.
Hex looked back at her. ‘Yes?’ he said sweetly.
‘I see what you’re saying,’ said Paulo. ‘We don’t look like anyone round here.’
‘Plus,’ said Li, ‘if he was in the clinic when we went there, or he’s been told what we look like . . .’
‘So that leaves me,’ said Hex. ‘The indefinable.’ He gave Li a pointed look.
‘I’m working on it,’ she replied.
‘Anyway,’ said Hex, ‘I hate to sound like a wuss, but this site is going to ask for passwords every ten minutes so I have to nurse the connection. I can’t run around after Trilok.’
‘Indefinable . . .’ Paulo was tapping his fingers slowly on the ground, as he often did when
Similar Books
