True Conviction Read Online Free PDF Page A

interesting… She glances in my direction. With her glasses on, I can’t see her eyes, but I know she won’t spot me. I’m practically invisible when I want to be, so there’s no way she’ll pick me out of the crowd on a standard surveillance run like this.
    She finally allows Jackson to duck inside and she quickly climbs in after him, slamming the door shut behind her. The limo speeds off, turning left and out of sight at the first set of lights they reach.
    Her thoroughness is going to be an issue… She has a level of professionalism you don’t normally find in your typical bodyguards. Not many people would think to look up and check for snipers. I’m certain she’s highly trained. She might even be in my line of work, I’m not sure yet. But I’m very concerned with her presence in the equation.
    I walk back the way I came, heading for my motel. My recon trip hasn’t quite gone how I expected it to and it’s left me with more questions than answers. This supposedly straightforward job is suddenly a lot more complicated, and I’ve got a nagging feeling it’s not going to get any easier.
10:23
    My recon trip set my spider sense tingling, so I headed back to my motel room to clear my head and plan my next move. It’s a standard-sized room, filled with standard stuff. The window overlooks the parking lot, which is empty save for one silver, four-door sedan. There’s a flat-screen TV mounted on one wall, above a table that has a lamp on it. It’s facing the double bed, which is unusually comfortable, given the price of the room. The bathroom has a shower stall, a toilet and a sink. It’s nothing fancy, but it certainly does the job for a couple of days while I conduct my business. I’m not cheap or anything. If I’m honest, I have more money than I know what to do with—I’m just not one for all that luxurious, five-star, A-list crap. I’m more than happy in a generic, anonymous, no-frills motel, away from everyone else.
    I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, enjoying the air conditioning and running everything through my head. Josh insists I keep a laptop with me when I’m travelling, even though I’m far from competent using one. It’s next to me, booting up. He texted me earlier to say he’s sending me all the information he’s found out so far, so I’ll look through it all now and see if I can start piecing things together.
    Josh Winters is a genius. Sure, we insult each other non-stop when we talk, but that’s just to get us both through the day. When it all comes down to it, the guy is a legend in so many ways, I’ve lost count. The things he can do with a computer are mind-blowing. I don’t pretend to understand half of what he says or does. But he gets results, every time. I need information—Josh gets it. I need a car, a plane or a gun—Josh arranges it. I need fake documents—Josh makes them for me.
    I open up my e-mails and find three, each with multiple attachments. I open up the first one, titled Ted Jackson. He’s apparently a high-ranking employee of a large, multi-national private military corporation called GlobaTech Industries. In addition to having their own army-for-hire, they have numerous subsidiary divisions for weapons development, technological research… even health care. They own the land that Jackson’s meant to be selling to Pellaggio.
    In his line of work, I can understand him being cautious. Military contracts are big business—like, billions of dollars big. Competition for them is fierce to say the least. But handcuffing his briefcase to his wrist for a regular meeting, riding around in a limousine that would make the President jealous and hiring a very hot and probably lethal bodyguard still seems like overkill to me.
    Although, having said that, he’s just screwed over the biggest mob boss in the state… Maybe it’s not so surprising that he’s upped his personal security.
    I turn my attention to the second e-mail about my employer. Maybe there’s