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"He didn't need to. All he needs to do is put out a general physical description of us and then stipulate that the woman was French. How many male/female teams do you think there are?" He stared at her waiting for an answer that he never got. "Not a lot to start with, but add the fact that he now knows the woman is French and he's narrowed the search down to only a few people."
"Then let's quit. Let's just walk away from it and keep the German's money."
Gould didn't speak for a second. He just gawked at her stupidity. "Have you lost your mind?"
"Then give the money back. I don't care…just leave me alone. Can't you see I'm not in the mood to argue with you right now?"
"You sure picked a hell of a time to get pregnant."
She lifted the corner of the pillow and looked out at him with an angry eye. "Believe me, you had something to do with it."
"Why now? We've been having sex for years and it's never happened before." He had wanted to ask this question, but until now had been too worried about how she might react. Now he simply didn't care.
"It happens," she replied with a tinge of anger in her voice.
"Bullshit," he growled. "You stopped taking the Pill, didn't you?"
"Va-t'en. Je ne me sens pas bien."
"Speak English," he snapped.
"Go away. I don't feel well, you bully."
Gould's jaw clenched in anger. He hesitated for a second, fighting the urge to press his point. He decided he needed to get away from her before he said something they would both regret. He marched across the room and grabbed one of the backpacks. He threw the pack over one shoulder and left without saying another word.
HE STOPPED AT a nearby gas station and filled the tank. He also got some coffee and a donut that he regretted buying soon after he'd wolfed it down. Before pulling out of the lot Gould checked the GPS tracking device he'd placed on A
Gould plugged an earpiece into his Palm Pilot and dialed the number to co
Gould put the car in drive and pulled out onto A
He had spent zero time, however, in the area where Rapp lived just south of A
Gould continued south for approximately five minutes and then turned east. Most of the cars were headed west at this point so traffic was light. He continued to play the recordings as he went, half listening, half thinking about how quickly the ebb and flow of the operation had turned. Everything had gone so smoothly until this morning. They'd had no trouble entering the country, all of the money was safely transferred into untraceable accounts, and they had followed Rielly home without incident. And then they had come face to face with Rapp and Claudia had opened her mouth. This was exactly what Gould was thinking when a snippet of the recorded conversation caught his attention. He could scarcely believe what he was hearing. He was still in a surly mood, upset with Claudia and believing firmly that she had gotten pregnant intentionally. He was lamenting how quickly things had turned when lady luck came roaring back into his life via a simple phone call. The conversation had taken place between A
Gould pulled over to the side of the county road and checked his map. Now that he thought back on it Rapp had been walking with a slight limp when he'd seen him earlier in the morning. Surgery, he thought to himself. Could I be so lucky? If Rapp had to go under the knife, he'd be laid up for a while and Gould's job would be made significantly easier. Gould yanked the car back into drive and waited for a small tanker truck to pass. Gould was already plotting, exploring any possible way he could make Rapp's death look remotely like an accident. A car crash would be difficult with the type of vehicles they drove. As long as they were wearing their seat belts both the BMW and the Audi would protect them from any crash Gould could help orchestrate.