Chapter 5
Nathan Pierce examined the devices with an independent technician.
They did more than report location.
Each unit stored movement histories locally.
One contained almost six weeks of Lily’s riding-club patterns.
Arrival times.
Paddock locations.
Clinic visits.
Which exit she usually used.
Dante’s anger returned.
Then the technician showed him something stranger.
Several location labels had been manually renamed.
Not Lily.
Not East Paddock.
Not Clinic.
They read:
A1.
A2.
B3.
Dante frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Nathan did not know.
The second tracker contained similar codes.
Then they compared Lily’s movement history with Dante’s calendar.
A pattern appeared.
Whenever Lily attended weekend riding practice, Dante usually spent at least part of the morning at the club.
Her locations indirectly mapped his movements too.
When Lily went to the private dining terrace, Dante often followed.
When she entered the indoor arena, Dante moved to the adjacent council lounge.
When she left, his motorcade usually left within twenty minutes.
Nathan looked at him.
“They weren't just learning her routine.”
“They were learning mine.”
That possibility changed the stakes.
Dante called Leo back into the room.
“Did Marcus ever ask you about my schedule?”
Leo thought.
“Not directly.”
“What did he ask?”
“Stuff like whether you stay for my boxing training. Whether you watch Lily ride. Which car you use if you're leaving early.”
Dante looked toward Nathan.
Marcus had been gathering routine information through both children.
But why?
The simplest answer was threatening.
Someone wanted to know when Dante moved.
That still did not explain the strange labels.
Then Nathan pulled old club-security incident reports.
A1.
A2.
B3.
The codes appeared there too.
They were not locations.
May you like
They were security-response classifications.
Somebody had been using Lily’s movements to test how quickly Bellandi guards reacted under different conditions.
