Shane reached the field office within ten minutes of the director's call. Racing inside, he received a quick update as he headed to the back rooms that housed the Alamain task force. Steve had made his way inside the mansion, had entered the kitchen, dining room, and living room, and was now hiding behind a sofa only a few feet away from Ivan Marais and a maid.
"Can we get a live feed in here?" Shane asked as he entered the control room. Several monitors on the wall lit up almost immediately. Each showed a different room in the Alamain mansion. The center monitor - the largest on the wall - remained momentarily blank, while the field director issued some instructions. Then it came to life, showing a video image of the living room. On the screen, only Marais and the maid were visible.
Shane studied the room. There were several sofas. "Where's Steve?"
The director motioned to another agent, and the camera angle tilted slightly. Now Shane could see the gap between a wall and a sofa, and Steve crouched behind it. Marais had left the room, but Steve was only a few feet away from the maid, who was setting up some cups and dishes on a nearby coffee table. All she had to do was look over the sofa and she would spot Steve.
"What do you want to do?" the director asked. "The extract team is set."
Shane was about to give the order to send the team into the house when the maid turned away from the coffee table and headed for the door. A minute later, the light flicked off.
"Switch to infrared," said the director. Almost as soon as he spoke, the image changed and Shane could see a white figure - Steve - moving about in the room.
"He's moving to the control corridor," said the camera technician, pointing to a side monitor. A moment later, that image replaced the living room on the main screen. The 'control corridor' was the term Shane's team used for the area that seemed to house Alamain's and Marais' offices, though Marais now spent most of his time in Alamain's. The hallway also housed the mansion's security center and all of the electronic controls - controls that the ISA had tapped and could operate remotely.
On the screen, Shane saw Steve approaching a door with a light. "Is that Alamain's office?" When the director nodded, Shane ordered, "Put that onscreen." Once it appeared, Shane's breath caught in his throat. Marais was inside, talking on the phone. All of a sudden, he stopped and lowered the phone as if he had heard something.
Again, Shane started to order the extract team into motion, but he stopped when Marais put the phone back to his ear and began talking again.
"What do you think Johnson's looking for?" the director asked. "Is he trying to find out about the security system?"
Shane shook his head. "I don't know. What else is there?" He listened as the director rattled off a list of rooms - Alamain's study, Marais' study, security control, a couple of spare bedrooms for extra security units, basement access, electronics and weapons storage, computer room, and communications center. No real clue there, Shane thought. Steve could be looking for any of those. Or he could just be wandering around, getting the lie of the land.
He turned to one of the other agents in the room. "Are you monitoring the security system?"
"Yes, sir," said the agent. "He hasn't triggered any alarms yet. He bypassed the exterior alarm-"
"I'm amazed he managed to do that," the field director said. "That's a pretty sophisticated system. Most of our agents would have had difficulty disabling it."
"Don't underestimate him," Shane said. "What about the interior systems?"
The camera technician answered. "Most of the electronic eyes and motion sensors are turned off right now. With Marais and the staff inside, they would be setting them off all the time. There are some operative in sensitive locations, like Alamain's bedroom and the basement."
Shane nodded. "Do we have security control on camera?"
A couple of the monitors on the side changed images. On one, Shane saw a security guard sitting in front of a large monitor. He seemed to have no clue that an intruder was wandering the first floor.
"How is he missing this?" Shane wondered aloud.
The agent grinned. "I tapped into the monitor control. The monitor image cycles from room to room every 10 seconds. I'm having it bypass the rooms Johnson is in. As long as he keeps moving, the guard probably won't notice anything unusual."
The field director chuckled. "Johnson is one lucky S.O.B."
"We'll see about that," Shane muttered. He let out a breath that he did not even know he was holding when he saw Steve move away from the occupied office and enter the room next door. "What room's that?"
"A bedroom," said the camera technician. "Marais uses it sometimes." The main screen's image switched again and they could see Steve in the room with his ear pressed against the wall. Shane said a silent prayer that Ivan Marais decided to sleep in his own bed that night. He glanced at one of the side monitors, which showed Marais still on the phone. He and Steve were only about 10 feet apart, separated by just the wall.
Nothing happened for the next 45 minutes except an agent brought Shane a cup of tea. It was desperately needed as he tried to figure out what Steve was trying to do in the house. Some of the agents more familiar with the mansion offered suggestions - search Lawrence's desk, tap Lawrence's office, infiltrate security control, access the basement, confront Marais - but none seemed more likely than the other. They were just guessing, which was hardly comforting considering Steve's life was in danger and months of intelligence work was in jeopardy.
"He's leaving," said one of the technicians. For an instant, Shane hoped he meant Steve, but the monitors told him it was Marais. Shane held his breath again, hoping he would turn right when he left the office, not left toward the bedroom where Steve was hiding.
You are one lucky man, Shane thought, as Marais locked the office door, turned right, and headed off in the direction of the living room. A few minutes later, Steve left the bedroom, returned to the corridor, and headed for the office. They watched as Steve worked on the lock for a minute before it opened, and then entered the office.
Shane had to be impressed at how quickly Steve went through the locks. When they were in Italy, searching for clues on Ernesto Toscano, Steve had left the lockpicking duties to Shane. Now Shane wondered why. Steve was certainly capable enough.
On screen, a flashlight beam flickered across the room. Shane groaned. If anyone was outside, they would be unable to miss the moving light. "What's he thinking?" Shane muttered.
"Don't worry about it," said the field director. "Anyone who sees the light will just think it's the interior security guard doing their room checks."
"Room checks?" Shane asked. "How often do they do that?" He had seen no indication of any interior security sweeps.
The director took a deep breath. "It should be pretty soon, actually."
Once again, Shane debated sending in the extract team, but Steve's luck had held for this long. If there was any chance of getting out of this without destroying the ISA's work, he had to give it time. On screen, Steve shut off the flashlight and the monitor for the office switched again to infrared. Steve's image turned ghostly white.
"What's he doing?" Shane asked, as Steve's figure circled the room a few times.
The field director shook his head. "I don't know. It looks like he's searching the shelves. I don't know why." The director turned to the technician. "Can we get sound in that room?"
"I'm not sure how clean it will be, but we can try." The technician glanced at Shane. "Most of the bugs are by the desk and the sofa. They may not pick up the entire room."
Shane understood. "Let's see what we can get." Turning his attention back to the screen, he watched as it appeared Steve was pulling objects off the shelves and doing something to the shelves. From the infrared images, it was hard to tell. Over the bugs, he could make out the sound of things being slid around and a frequent tapping.
Was he. . . . Shane looked at the field director, who seemed equally surprised. Lawrence's office housed a hidden entrance to the basement. But how could Steve know about that? Yet that was exactly what he appeared to be searching for.
Confirmation came a moment later, as they heard Steve's voice over the wire. "There's gotta be a door here. . . . Where the hell is it?" That was followed by more knocking against the shelves.
"We have movement," said one of the agents pointing at a side monitor. On it, a figure had entered the control corridor carrying a flashlight. The security guard was doing his room checks, Shane realized. He was at the opposite end of the hallway from the room Steve was in, but Shane could see the guard test each door, open them, and shine his flashlight inside. He would be at Steve's room in a matter of minutes, and that was assuming that he did not hear the sound of Steve knocking.
Shane thought fast. "Can we control the basement door from here?"
"Sure," said the director.
"Open it," Shane ordered. Over the monitor, he heard the shuffling sound of one of the shelves turning. On screen, Steve turned from where he was searching and moved toward the passage. Meanwhile, on the other screen, the security guard had reached the bedroom where Steve had previously hid. Back on the main screen, Steve's white figure shone his light down the passage.
Get in there, Shane urged silently. Get inside.
On the side screen, the guard finished checking the bedroom, and checked the door on the opposite side of the hall. It was locked, so the guard moved to the door directly opposite Lawrence's office.
Looking back to the main screen, Shane saw the white figure in Lawrence's office disappearing into the passage. "Close it up," Shane called out. He doubted there was any way that the guard would not hear the sound of the shelf closing, but that might buy them some time.
Shane was right. As the shelves moved, they saw the figure of the guard spin around and move toward Lawrence's office. It was hard to see in the infrared, but from the guard's movements, Shane suspected he had removed a sidearm.
"Should we send in the extract team?" the field director asked.
Shane did not answer immediately, but called for the basement camera to be pulled up. On the side monitor, he could see the guard entering Lawrence's office and look around. In the center, he watched as Steve made his way toward something that was hard to make out in the infrared.
"Where is he?" Shane wished he had a more complete understanding of Lawrence's house. He had mapped out the upper floors when he and Jack had searched for the tape of Lawrence raping Jennifer, but Shane had never known about the basement. That had only been discovered when the ISA had set up its interior surveillance system.
"That should be the wine cellar," the agent controlling the monitors said.
I doubt Steve went to all this trouble just to get drunk. Shane was genuinely confused. Why was Steve searching for Lawrence's wine cellar?
It hardly mattered. Over the bug in Lawrence's office, they heard the security guard. "Mobile 1 to Base. There's something strange going on in Sector A."
Shane groaned. He had no choice now. Not unless you want to tell Kayla her husband died due to his own stupidity, he told himself. Shane ran his hands through his hair, as he gave the order.
"Cue smoke. Send in Extract."