Free Edge of the Heat 5 by Lisa Ladew

she take a taxi? Jerry nodded as he read. This is what Gagne should be doing. But would he? Jerry ticked off a few in his mind that he could check out himself. But could he really? Not being a cop would people even talk to him?
    An idea came into his mind. He knew it was a bad idea, but he had to ask anyway.
    “Craig, would it be super horrible if a civilian like me borrowed a friend’s badge. Say a police or FBI badge, not for personal gain but to investigate a crime?”
    Craig nodded. “Yep, it would be more trouble than the person or the friend ever wanted to deal with if they were found out. But I know a way that nobody would get in trouble for, and it would work almost as good.”
    Jerry leaned forward. His tongue snaked out and wet his lips.
    “You can get fake press credentials. And as long as you use your real name and don’t access anything you shouldn’t like actual video, it’s not even a crime. And people will talk to the press even more eagerly than they do the police.”
    Of course! Jerry thought. What a good idea.
    “Thanks man, I owe you one.” Jerry stood up and put out his hand.
    Craig stood up too and shook it. “Not even close Jer, not even close.”
    “Lock the door on your way out, OK? And tell Emma I said bye. And have a great time on your honeymoon.”
    Craig nodded. Jerry disappeared into his bedroom and fell asleep as his head settled into the pillow. His sleep was deep and dreamless and when he woke he knew what to do.

Chapter 9
    S ara became fully awake in less than a second at the sound of footsteps stopping at her apartment door. Her dream evaporated into nothing. She rolled silently out of bed, fully clothed, and slid her feet into her shoes. She ran noiselessly out of the bedroom, through the sitting room and to the door, threading her eye to the peephole without touching the door itself. Just a maid, consulting her chart. Sara took a moment to watch the maid and make sure she was what she seemed, and then padded silently back to her room. 8:45 a.m. Time to get up anyway.
    Surveillance the night before had gone well, although she hadn’t liked what she saw. The neighborhood was rough. The yard was non-existent. There were people walking outside even at 1 in the morning and almost nowhere to bed down and hide. The house was small, but every shade had been pulled. A parabolic microphone probably wouldn’t work, and neither would a laser microphone. She had forgotten to get Manny’s cell phone number from Jessica, and so she hadn’t been able to use her ultra-secret spy gadget that had cost her $550,000 two years ago and that the U.S. government wouldn’t even admit existed. They wanted to use the technology for themselves without the courts interfering, so they just denied that such a tool had invented yet and spied on whoever they liked with impunity.
    She had an idea though, of how it could be done with little fuss and no mess, if she was willing to use the last of her business drug stash. She was. She could always get more. These days it was easy to get the worst street drugs that money could buy, even the drugs that are generally rare in the United States.
    Sara showered and got ready for the day swiftly, checking her alerts, then gathering her things and heading out to implement her plan in her usual, merciless way. She put aside her thoughts of pimps and murder and walked swiftly in the unbearable heat until she found a used car lot just off the strip. Planet Reliable Used Cars took up prime real estate any casino would have paid millions for. As she walked in the front gate she saw at least 20 salespeople with customers and 5 or 6 without. Las Vegas visitors must love to fly in, buy a car instead of rent, and then what? Did they abandon the car? And did Planet Reliable manage to get the cars back somehow? However they did it, it was working for them.
    Sara felt eyes on her and looked up in time to see 3 salesmen closing in on her. She picked up her pace and did a quick jog