floor. Chloe felt around the edges and the interior, looking for the hidden storage space she assumed had to be there. She had them in all of her luggage.
And there it was, tucked into the base of the suitcase, built into the actual plastic frame. She used the edge of her pocket knife to lever the small compartment open and was surprised to find it entirely empty. She found it very unlikely that Raquel hadn't found any use for the hiding spot. As she carefully replaced Raquel's clothes exactly where she'd found them, and locked the case again, she realized that she probably wasn't the first person to do that tonight. The killer had probably already done the same thing, except he got all the good stuff and took it with him.
"Fuck," she said, looking over at Bee, who was using an Exacto knife to scrape under one of Raquel's fingers, depositing the contents in a small ziplock bag.
"What?" asked Bee.
"There's nothing fucking here," she said exasperated. "No phone, no computer, no PDA. Nothing. Whoever did this already took everything good."
"Does that mean we can leave?" asked Bee.
"Yeah," she said. "Just as soon as we search every last goddamned inch of this place one more time.
They did just that. Bee used an RF detector to look for bugs and hidden cameras. Chloe mentally kicked herself, realizing that they should have swept for bugs before they started talking. Bee probably would've thought of that if she hadn't been so freaked out by the whole dead body thing. Not that Chloe could blame Chapter 08
54
her. She was pretty fucking freaked out as well. Chloe tapped and prodded at every surface that might hide something. A check of the mattress revealed no cuts or sewn seams, so she assumed there was nothing in there either.
After half an hour she finally said, "Fuck it. Let's go."
Bee, who'd taken apart the smoke detector, looking for cameras, said, "This thing's clean. Do you want me to put a camera in here?"
Chloe looked at her, surprised. "You brought a camera that'll fit that thing?"
Bee smiled. "I always have a camera that'll fit things like this. Do you want a bug in the clock-radio too?"
"How long?"
"Ten minutes. Maybe less since I've already got this thing open."
"Let's do it," said Chloe. "They say the villain always returns to the scene of the crime."
"I think that's only in movies," said Bee.
"That's ok; what I've seen in movies is all we've had going for us so far anyway."
Chapter 09
55
Chapter 09
"YEAH, yeah, I get all the anti-corporate, anarchist bullshit. Yadda, yadda, yadda," said Eddie. "But can you please just explain to me how the hell any of this is worth my time?"
Isaiah had outlined his plan in detail from beginning to end, just as he had for Paul. Eddie and his companion (whose name turned out to be Marco) sat quietly and listened. Marco had tried to fire up his laptop to take notes, but Amelia had asked him not to, for security's sake. He had shrugged and shut it off, and still hadn't said a word to anyone. Paul had watched Eddie as his attention had floated around the room, maybe listening to Isaiah, maybe not. Now he'd apparently had enough theory and wanted some practical examples. Paul didn't blame him.
"We have a very specific plan in mind. A plan that will net each participating Crew millions of dollars."
"And you need to form this alliance thing to pull it off ?" asked Eddie, the mention of millions having obviously regained his interest.
"What we want do to is something akin to paradigm ju jitsu. We want to use the corporate power structure to take down the corporate power structure, and forming our own corporation is the first step."
"There are a thousand different advantages and we can go into details if you like, but none of this means anything if we don't have a goal. A target. An enemy we want to take down. To extend the jujitsu metaphor, setting up the shadow corporation is like buying our gear and training to fight. To put it into practice, we need an opponent. We
And there it was, tucked into the base of the suitcase, built into the actual plastic frame. She used the edge of her pocket knife to lever the small compartment open and was surprised to find it entirely empty. She found it very unlikely that Raquel hadn't found any use for the hiding spot. As she carefully replaced Raquel's clothes exactly where she'd found them, and locked the case again, she realized that she probably wasn't the first person to do that tonight. The killer had probably already done the same thing, except he got all the good stuff and took it with him.
"Fuck," she said, looking over at Bee, who was using an Exacto knife to scrape under one of Raquel's fingers, depositing the contents in a small ziplock bag.
"What?" asked Bee.
"There's nothing fucking here," she said exasperated. "No phone, no computer, no PDA. Nothing. Whoever did this already took everything good."
"Does that mean we can leave?" asked Bee.
"Yeah," she said. "Just as soon as we search every last goddamned inch of this place one more time.
They did just that. Bee used an RF detector to look for bugs and hidden cameras. Chloe mentally kicked herself, realizing that they should have swept for bugs before they started talking. Bee probably would've thought of that if she hadn't been so freaked out by the whole dead body thing. Not that Chloe could blame Chapter 08
54
her. She was pretty fucking freaked out as well. Chloe tapped and prodded at every surface that might hide something. A check of the mattress revealed no cuts or sewn seams, so she assumed there was nothing in there either.
After half an hour she finally said, "Fuck it. Let's go."
Bee, who'd taken apart the smoke detector, looking for cameras, said, "This thing's clean. Do you want me to put a camera in here?"
Chloe looked at her, surprised. "You brought a camera that'll fit that thing?"
Bee smiled. "I always have a camera that'll fit things like this. Do you want a bug in the clock-radio too?"
"How long?"
"Ten minutes. Maybe less since I've already got this thing open."
"Let's do it," said Chloe. "They say the villain always returns to the scene of the crime."
"I think that's only in movies," said Bee.
"That's ok; what I've seen in movies is all we've had going for us so far anyway."
Chapter 09
55
Chapter 09
"YEAH, yeah, I get all the anti-corporate, anarchist bullshit. Yadda, yadda, yadda," said Eddie. "But can you please just explain to me how the hell any of this is worth my time?"
Isaiah had outlined his plan in detail from beginning to end, just as he had for Paul. Eddie and his companion (whose name turned out to be Marco) sat quietly and listened. Marco had tried to fire up his laptop to take notes, but Amelia had asked him not to, for security's sake. He had shrugged and shut it off, and still hadn't said a word to anyone. Paul had watched Eddie as his attention had floated around the room, maybe listening to Isaiah, maybe not. Now he'd apparently had enough theory and wanted some practical examples. Paul didn't blame him.
"We have a very specific plan in mind. A plan that will net each participating Crew millions of dollars."
"And you need to form this alliance thing to pull it off ?" asked Eddie, the mention of millions having obviously regained his interest.
"What we want do to is something akin to paradigm ju jitsu. We want to use the corporate power structure to take down the corporate power structure, and forming our own corporation is the first step."
"There are a thousand different advantages and we can go into details if you like, but none of this means anything if we don't have a goal. A target. An enemy we want to take down. To extend the jujitsu metaphor, setting up the shadow corporation is like buying our gear and training to fight. To put it into practice, we need an opponent. We
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