look and then go in like the other two. He would need a few days to properly plan for that. Kristoff told him to wait until dark and then he could start his planning, which would include reconnaissance.
For now, Gerstner sat with three of Kristoff’s other men at a long metal banquet table in the largely empty warehouse. One man was working through the computer hard drives and e-mail. Gerstner and the other two men worked through the documents they’d taken from Stroudt’s home and The Congressional Page offices.
Kristoff instructed them to look for two things. First, any manner in which they could track down Montgomery and second, any information on how it was Stroudt and Montgomery knew of the Kentucky meeting. All of the information that was gleaned was being uploaded to Kristoff’s technical people, who were sifting through every component of those two men’s lives. Gerstner knew what happened to Stroudt in St. Paul and fully knew what his friend had in store for Montgomery.
When doing research on a mark, if he could, Gerstner always liked to look at whatever billing information he could get his hands on. Billing and financial information told you much about a person. From that information Gerstner learned a great deal about those he was targeting. The thief could determine what security company someone may employ, what security system they had and what features it included. Insurance information could tell him what or how much in valuables someone insured. Billing and financial information told you what kind of safe a person had, what type of computer or Internet provider a person used. With all of this information, he could determine how to best approach a particular job. Not once in twenty years had he ever been questioned by the police.
So when the men sat down to look through the papers, Gerstner gravitated towards the financials. He already went through Stroudt’s and was now looking through the payables for the business. There was rent, office supplies, office equipment, insurance, health insurance, retirement plan and computers. Back in March, the business purchased new Dell laptops through their outside technical support vendor. However, it was what was purchased along with the laptops that caught Gerstner’s attention. The thief reached for his cell phone and dialed Kristoff, who answered on the first ring.
“Henri.”
“My friend, I might have something for your technical people. Are you familiar with the term LoJack?”
* * *
Wire stirred cream into her coffee and picked with her fork at a piece of apple pie as the late afternoon sun began its rapid descent in the crystal clear western sky, contemplating her next possible move. She occupied a window booth at Boo’s Coffee Shop which sat kitty-corner opposite of Montgomery’s five-story condominium building. The booth gave her an unobstructed view of the front of the building as well as the entrance to the underground parking ramp on the south side. She was also well positioned to take in the two men in the navy blue Dodge minivan parked on the opposite side of the street from the parking garage entrance. The van had been parked for fifteen minutes. It was the second time in the last two hours that this specific van pulled up along the south side of the building. As she watched, she thought there was another silver Ford sedan further up the block to the north that was unnaturally in that position for over an hour.
It had been a long day.
It would have been an even longer day were it not for Detective Court. When she was walking out of Stroudt’s condo this morning, she suggested to Court that his next investigative step should be to check out the offices of The Congressional Page. The Alexandria detective readily agreed.
The Congressional Page’s offices were located on the second floor of an aged three-story red brick and white trim office building in Georgetown. The building itself was occupied by small businesses, including a two-lawyer law practice, an accountant, an interior decorator and a temporary staffing firm. Stroudt and Montgomery’s offices consisted of a small reception area, a galley kitchen just wide enough for a small refrigerator, coffee maker and sink, and two reasonably sized offices.
The Congressional Page offices were not ransacked to the degree of Stroudt’s home. However, they had been broken into. The computer hard drives were missing as were the contents of filing cabinets in the two offices. In fact, the tops of the desks were cleaned, which the building manager claimed