“That’s… a good question. They should have stopped to finish the job and get this chip.” She poked at the box. Her hand shook. “I can’t worry about that now. I need to tell you what you need to know.”
Jamie looked at her. “I’m a computer programmer, I don’t know shit about your business. How can I help?”
“Don’t worry, you only need to be involved for two hours, to get this to a contact in the South Bay. You just need to drive your car and meet someone.” He looked at her skeptically but she must have mistook his silence for agreement because she went on. “This chip is, well, it’s something special, don’t worry just what. I work for a division of the CIA and that guy on the phone was my boss back in DC. I need to get this back to him but I’m out of the game now.”
“What about the men your boss said would be here in 15 minutes? Can’t one of them do this?”
“He’s sending medical help. The people that are coming aren’t Agency, just a medical techs on contract. We don’t have anyone working in this region right now.” A car drove past and Jamie turned his head away, as if he could hide, but the car didn’t even slow down. Just another geek looking for his morning java. Just like Jamie thought he was when he left the house an hour before.
“Who would shoot a CIA agent in plain site like this Lara? Do you have any ideas?”
“Don’t be naive. There are people willing to do anything for a few dollars and plenty of people willing to pay them to do it. If I had any thoughts that I’d be shot after stopping for coffee, I’d never have stopped, much less walked out with some guy I never met before. Listen, there isn’t much time left–are you gonna help me? What should I tell my boss?”
Jamie looked at her face, at the box in her hand, at the blood still seeping from her side. He looked away, back at the coffee shop. He thought about how different this was from the clowns he worked with, had worked with for so many years, so different from punching at the keys on his computer. He looked back at her and nodded.
“Good. The meeting is at noon at Villa St. Roasting Company in Mountain View, right off Castro. The person to meet will be sitting there by himself with a Thai coffee and a Toshiba laptop, with a web browser open to the New York Times. The only thing I know about him is he isn’t white.”
BillSaysThis 