The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,54
at the entrance, according to the architects’ plans. With that much money at stake, they don’t want anybody sneaking in gadgets to help them cheat. The only camera we’d be able to get in there without tripping an alarm would be a skittle.’
‘Excuse me?’ said Bianca.
‘A skittle – it’s our nickname for a micro-video camera and transmitter. It’s about the size of a Skittle; you know, the candy.’
‘Oh, right. Wow, that’s tiny.’
‘Yeah. But because it’s so small, the picture quality isn’t great. It should be able to read cards on the table, but I don’t know about spotting tiny changes of expression on somebody sitting on the far side.’
‘We need more eyes in there,’ suggested Morgan. ‘Someone who can watch the other players as well.’
Tony nodded. ‘We’ve got enough contingency cash to cover a second player.’
Kyle immediately stuck his hand up. ‘I volunteer!’
‘Point one,’ said Holly Jo, ‘you’re not exactly an expert at picking up subtle changes in people’s emotions. Point two, nobody would ever believe you were worth a quarter of a million dollars.’
‘Hey!’ he protested.
‘Besides,’ said Tony, ‘we need you tracking Adam and Zykov with the UAV once they leave the hotel. No, it would have to be someone else. Someone with . . .’ he turned slowly to Bianca, ‘a background in psychology. How are your poker skills?’
‘What?’ she said, almost laughing before realising that he was serious. ‘Wait a minute! I’m only supposed to be here to work out the drug dosages, and now you want me to be an agent? Forget it!’
‘No, it could work,’ said Morgan. ‘Everyone else on the team will have an active role, either during the poker game or in capturing Zykov. But you don’t need to do anything until we actually have him. Someone else at that table working with Adam increases our chances of taking Zykov to the cleaners.’
‘Think of it as a night on the town – with two hundred and fifty k, on us,’ Tony added. ‘All you’ll have to do is make sure you lose to Adam. It might even be fun.’
‘I was thinking more that all that money could do an awful lot of good for society,’ replied Bianca. ‘Rather than risking it ending up in the pocket of some arms-dealing scumbag.’
‘It will be doing good,’ said Morgan, with a firmness that warned Bianca the decision had been made, no matter her opinion. ‘It’ll be helping to prevent the world’s most dangerous terrorist from committing a major attack. I think that’s worth an evening of your time, don’t you?’
She couldn’t come up with any objections that didn’t sound selfish and petty. ‘You seriously want to give me a quarter of a million dollars and have me lose it all at poker?’ she asked instead. ‘How do you know I won’t just run off into the night with it?’
‘Because that wouldn’t be like you,’ said Adam. The quiet comment surprised everyone, not least Bianca.
‘Okay, then,’ Morgan said. ‘Unless someone comes up with anything better by the time you land, that’s the plan. Clean Zykov out, get him mad, set up a car crash, get what’s in his head. Tony, give me an update on the operational details in . . . six hours.’
‘Will do,’ said Tony.
‘All right. Good luck, everybody.’
He disconnected, his third of the screen going blank. Kiddrick followed suit almost immediately. ‘If you guys need anything, let me know,’ said Levon. ‘I’ll get to work on this card-counting program.’
Holly Jo raised an eyebrow. ‘I thought you said you already had it.’
‘Well, I’ve got it in my head – I’ve got to write it, obviously! Don’t worry, it’s just calculating probabilities. Ain’t no big thing. Catch you later.’
He disappeared from the screen. Tony looked at the others round the table. ‘Everyone knows what they’re doing? Good. Let’s grab this guy.’
The meeting broke up, its members dispersing into smaller groups. Bianca watched Adam as he stood. Since the incident with her car more than a day before, he had revealed no more of the brief glimpses of an actual personality behind the expressionless face – until his comment about her personality. It suggested that he was not as disinterested as he appeared . . . but now the blinds had come down again. If he was thinking about anything other than the mission, it didn’t show.
‘Bianca?’ said Tony, gesturing towards the forward compartment.
She nodded and went with him. She hesitated at the dividing curtain, looking back at Adam.