“Oh!Iapologize.That’sa bit whiffy,” she says, pressing a knuckle under her nose. “Iwasn’t expecting that.Um, if you’ll excuse me,I’vegot to get to a lunch date.”
Iturn toZoe, who is looking down at her phone.Shelifts a shoulder in a shrug. “It’snot perfect, but it’s probably enough.”Shemeets my eyes. “Youdid good.”Shetakes the bouquet to the back of the booth, reaches into the middle of the bouquet, pulls out the scanner, and then slips it into her bag, all whileI’min shock at the compliment.
I’min the middle of selling a woman some flowers when the owner comes back.Heapparentlydoesn’t agree with the amount of money the woman is offering— andI’maccepting— and starts to say something inSerbian, but then he sees the bouquet thatZoemade, and he seems even more upset about that.Anda little overdramatic.
IfIhad to guess the translation of his words, it would be along the lines of, “Whywould you put those flowers together?Areyou trying to make people’s noses sad?Maketheir eyes want to cry?Icannot occupy this space for one more second with such a travesty in my midst!”Hetakes off the paper thing wrapped around the bouquet and starts putting each of the stems back where they go.Oncethey’re all back, he calms, like the world was made right again.
Thenhe seems to remember that we don’t speakSerbianand talks toZoeinCzech, glancing over at his jewelry-making neighbors.I’mguessing that she’s telling him that they weren’t the gem thieves we thought they might be.Henods a few times, and when the people look over, obviously sensing that they’re being talked about, he smiles big and waves.Butwhen he looks back atZoe, he seems disappointed that he wasn’t part of some big dramatic thing.Shepats him twice on the shoulder before we leave.
Wehead over toDamjanand hand him the scanner.He’sgoing to take it back to his contact, the contact is going to make the mask, andDamjanwill get it to us later tonight.
Aswe walk away,Zoesays, “Weare going to have a difficult time finding something for me to wear asIimpersonateMonaLiza.Shehas a distinctive style that we aren’tgoing to find just anywhere.Ithink that if we want to be successful in the morning, we need to break into her hotel room and borrow an outfit.Wealready know where she’s staying.”
“True,”Isay. “Doyou have a plan for how to break in?”
Zoegrins as she pulls a keycard from her bag and holds it up. “Iswiped it from her purse whenIbumped into her.We’lljust need to find a hotel employee to cozy up to so we can get them to give us her room number.”
CHAPTER 18
THE SPY WHO STOLE MY HEART
LEDGER
Ilike sneaking around withZoe.It’sactually pretty enjoyable when we have the same objectives and are working toward the same goal.It’smaking me feel connected to her in a way thatIhaven’t felt for a long time.ProbablybecauseI’vepurposely stayed away from situations whereIcould, but it’s nice.
Aswe walk toward our car,Damjansays through our earpieces, “Ifyou two are going to sneak intoMonaLiza’shotel,I’llstay here for a bit and keep an eye on her.”
IthankDamjan, then tap the back side of my button mic, which mutes me so thatZoedoesn’t have to hear me double as we drive.Shedoes the same.MonaLiza’shotel is only a seven-minute drive away.Andsince it is just across the street from ours, we park at our own hotel and leave the outlandish clothes we’d put on over ours in the car, along with the hats and sunglasses.Thenwe head across the street toMonaLiza’shotel.
Thehotel lobby is much bigger and more open than ours.Ithas high ceilings, ornate plaster work, vintage tiles, and classical sculptures along with more contemporary furniture.Notonly does it have several restaurants on the ground floor, but it also has quite a few shops.Basedon how many employees are manning the check-in desk alone, this place has enough rooms that we can’t exactly just try the key at several rooms to find the right one.
“Okay,”Isay. “IfigureIcan go up to one of the check-in clerks and convince them that we were just called in to fix an urgent computer issue and that we need to install some virus softwareASAP.Ican probably throw in that we got word of a credible threat to their network and have to act quickly.”
Zoeshakes her head. “I’llgo up to an employee who speaksEnglishand seems susceptible to charm.I’lltell him thatI’mEliza’sassistant and thatI’msupposed to go to her room to take her some headache medicine, butIforgot her room number and that she’s not answering her phone or responding to texts.I’llshow that she gave me her room key, and say that she’s probably not responding because she’s lying down.I’llprey on his desire to help by saying thatIreally don’t want to get into trouble by not getting the medicine to her because she has an important meeting this afternoon.”
“Orwe can go with the computer virus idea,”Isay.She’snot the only one with good ideas here.
Zoeglances toward the clerks and, without looking back at me, says, “Actlike you don’t know me.”Andthen she walkstoward them.
Okay, we’re doing it her way.Iamble over to a rack of sunglasses that’s sitting just outside a little shop next to registration and start trying some on, pretending to check how they look on me in the little mirror.I’mreally just watching how things are going withZoe, though.
She’sstanding just outside of the check-in area but in full view of the six employees helping guests, looking like she’s typing something into her phone.Thenshe moves the phone from hand to hand like she’s impatiently waiting for a response, as she glances from the elevators in front of her to the doors behind her.
Aftera moment, she does something on her phone again before putting it up to her ear.Myguess is that she’s eavesdropping on the employees checking in guests, listening for any of them to speakEnglish.Maybetrying to judge which one seems more likely to bend rules.It’simpressive— it doesn’t look like she’s paying any attention to them at all.
Sheacts like she’s hanging up her phone, bites her lip, looks down at her watch, paces a little bit, and then pulls the keycard out of her purse as if she’s looking it over to see if there is a room number on it that she didn’t notice before.
Shemust’ve found a good target because she turns to look at the check-in desk like it suddenly occurred to her that they might be able to help.Shegoes right up to a man in his lower twenties with his dark hair in purposefully unruly curls.It’sobvious that he finds her attractive by the way his entire expression changes when he sees her coming to his check-in area.IwishIhad thought to ask herto turn her mic back on so thatIcould hear their conversation.
Theychat for a moment, clearly both flirting.Theyeven laugh a bit.Zoeputs her hand on his arm a total of three times, and each time,I’mpretty sure the guy is so taken by her that he’s forgotten the name of the hotel.Shehas worked quite the spell on him, and he is appreciating every moment of it.
Sheholds up the keycard and glances in the direction of the elevators, looking worried.Idon’t need to be able to hear what either of them is saying to know that the guy has bought in to everything she has said, and he is very invested in her plight.
Thisis whyIcan’t ever fall forZoeagain even though every part of me is so drawn to her.Notat all because she’s flirting with a guy to get information in order to do her job well.Butbecause she’s so good at it thatIcan’t tell that she’s faking.Sinceshe knows so much about reading body language, she knows exactly what to show to make everything seem authentic.Noone looking at this exchange would think it is anything but genuine.
IfIdidn’t know any better,Iwouldn’t be able to tell that it’s all an act.AndifIwouldn’t be able to tell that she was faking interest in a complete stranger, how couldIever tell if she’s faking interest in me?
Itlooks likeZoeis at the thanking-him-profusely stage, moving into theI-owe-you-a-drink-for-coming-to-my-rescue stage.Thenshe turns and heads in my direction, a big smile on her face.
