Page 67 of With this Ring
“I appreciate you letting me bounce things off you. If there are any new developments, I’ll reach out to you.” She flashedhim a half-smile as she reached for the door handle. “Thanks for everything. I’ve got it from here.”
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t respond. Instead he exited the vehicle.
“Gregorio…” She started to protest, then she clamped her mouth shut. Why waste the energy? Once she’d packed up her belongings, she’d be on her way.
As soon as they entered her room, unease crept up her spine.
She gave the room a quick glance, then she froze when she saw her luggage. A shirt wasn’t rolled exactly the way she’d left it, with the logo up.
“What is it?”
She grabbed her gun. “Someone was in here.”
He didn’t ask how she knew, he simply gave a tight nod. Then he nudged aside the blinds to glance outside before checking beneath the bed, the wardrobe, and the bathroom, each movement fluid, precise, reminiscent of the predator she sometimes glimpsed beneath his controlled exterior.
Finally returning to her, he slid his gun back into place. “Clear.”
“There’s no way I could have been followed yesterday.”
Gregorio inclined his head toward the door. “Let’s check your car.”
“I’ve been doing that more than once a day.”
“Good.”
“Even with an RF scanner.” She shrugged. “I haven’t found anything.”
Outside, he grabbed a bag from his SUV. From it, he pulled out a sleek black case. Inside was a compact device she didn’t recognize.
“New toy?” she asked, arching a brow.
“Military-grade spectrum sniffer. Picks up low-emission transmitters—stuff you don’t find just anywhere.”
He powered it on with a soft beep and began a deliberate sweep of her vehicle, pausing near the rear quarter panel.
The handheld vibrated.
“Got it,” he muttered. A moment later, he pulled a tiny device—no larger than a postage stamp—from beneath the weatherstripping near the taillight.
Sasha’s stomach dropped. “That’s not consumer tech.”
“No,” he agreed, examining the tracker. “Whoever planted this knew what they were doing. Passive until pinged. Encrypted. Tiny emission footprint. You wouldn’t have caught it unless you stripped the whole car.”
Mouth set in a grim line, he crossed the parking lotand pressed the tracker onto the metal frame just under the luggage compartment. The bus rumbled to life and pulled away.
“That’ll throw them off for a time,” Gregorio said. “Leave your things here. We’ll go to Denver in my car.”
Her frustration mounted.
“This is bigger than you, Little Petal.”
As much as she hated to admit it, he was absolutely right.
Taking charge, he pressed his palm to her spine and led her back inside. “We’re staying a few extra days,” he told the clerk.
She blinked. Even though she wasn’t paying ski-season rates, the hotel was expensive.
Once an extension was arranged, he told the woman he wanted to see the head of security.
