John could not risk sending such a message to Neal with the increased attention that was now being paid to him. If a phone pinged while he was being watched so closely it might alert the AI to the fact that he was getting messages from a source other than the ones it was monitoring. It would then only be a matter of some targeted tracing, something the AI was disturbingly good at when it had cause, for it to find John holding the cup at the end of the string.

So John’s second note went to Ayala instead. It had been quick, and it had been the first time any of the team had used the code in question.

Ayala reacted instantly, she was out the door in less than a minute, and was on a plane not two hours later. She had to get to their headquarters, save what she could, and then burn the rest. Then they had to move. Where, she did not know. How, she did not know. They had created the code as a worst-case scenario, an all-else-has-failed option. In truth, they had never thought they would survive very much longer if it was ever used.

Her only solace was that John had not said they were definitely discovered, but that it was imminent and probable. She hoped they were relying on more than just blind luck to avoid it, but didn’t hope very hard.

* * *

Shahim’s bent frame knelt at the hole that linked the basement he was in with what must be the neighbor’s. He looked through. He could see clothes on two racks, the underside of a row of tables with a host of computers on them. He could make out the back of a corkboard. It had been turned to face the opposite wall.

He scanned the room for signs of life. None. He scanned for alarms, electronic or otherwise. No sensors, heat or movement. The computers were all off, though heat signatures showed they had been on recently, and had been working quite hard. He saw the corner of a readout from an Array scan in the trashcan, and signs it was not alone in there.

This was a hidden entrance to a secret room. It was, almost certainly, where Neal had been spending so much of his time, the place he had gone to when he went to the basement. It was not conclusive, but Shahim could think of no reason why the man would have this room other than to hide a secret, a secret he felt could not reasonably be hidden even in his own home.

Neal must know something. Shahim felt more and more certain of it.