ALICE Ch 339

“I will say this,” Viv says, removing her sunglasses as she enters the hotel room. This hotel is across town from all the Formula One stuff, and far more modest and reasonable than what she is accustomed to. “The cloak and dagger spy stuff is simply delightful. I haven’t had this much fun in ten years.” She takes the scarf off her head and shakes out her hair, following Bea on to the balcony.

“It’s necessary. And don’t even bother,” Bea adds as she hands Viv a beer. “I wouldn’t sleep with you if you were last woman on earth.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Viv flashes a sparkling smile and perches elegantly. “And so? Did you do espionage on the Russians? Did you seduce a double agent?”

“Oh my god. Look, Irina Orlova has tight security watching for exactly someone like me. Someone trying to use her daughter. It’s the best way in, and they’ll be looking into me now. I need you to do one of your scandals so that when I say I’m here to bust you, there’s something real. My cover has to hold up.”

“A scandal, huh? Hmm.” Viv touches a finger to her lips. “Well, if you insist.”

“Think of something quick. I made contact with Sasha today, her bodyguard thought I didn’t notice her taking my picture. They’ll be all over me, and after today we can’t meet. Use the email address I gave you. I think I see a way to do this. If the working theory is that Irina wants to have influence over F1 drivers, if I can show leverage over F1 drivers, I can be useful. I think I can also seduce her. We know she likes Alice Wilde and Patty Dunham. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. If I can offer her the full package of what she wants, that may cloud her judgment enough to let me get into striking distance.”

“First, full package. Funny. Second, striking distance?” Viv cocks her head.

“I don’t speak Russian and I don’t have the connections to get people talking. Sasha’s a possibility, but I’m not making that my angle. The answers that you’re looking for, or that Alice Wilde is looking for, are all going to come in the form of emails and financial records. I don’t need Irina. I need her devices. But she won’t be sparing any expense on keeping those secure. I’ll need to get my hands on them in person. I’ll have to get close.” Bea shrugs. “It’s that simple.”

“Use Sasha to get to Irina. Use Irina to get to her phone,” Viv says. “Just like I did in Savage Ticket.”

Bea sighs. “Sure. Question is, if we do find what your friends expect us to find, what do you do with it?”

Viv leans over; the TV in the room is on, but muted. “Hold that thought. The race is starting.”