Page 35 of Complicated Past
“We should. Why?”
“Because I’ve got a software program that can clone his voice. We’ve used it in the field successfully. We can even use images to create a filter to make it look like him on the screen. We make Tawnya think Malloy has Jalen, so Bri will agree to smuggle the drugs.”
“That could work,” Clara agreed. “How long will it take to do the cloning? We don’t want her getting impatient.”
“Not long. If you can cut out everything but him speaking, that will save time, and the longer the clip we give it, the better it’ll match. I’ll need to listen to him to make sure I sound and speak like him, or we’ll blow this. But if Bri knows Jalen’s safe with me and that we know what’s going on, she’ll do what they want, and we get her back here.”
“If she thinks they have her son, she’ll do what they want. She might try to escape or fight,” Clara reasoned.
“Bri won’t fight for herself.” How he wished she would, but she never had. “She will, however, fight for Jalen. She’ll come here.”
“And Jalen’s what, four? You can’t rely on him not to say the wrong thing,” Clara pointed out.
“True.” He hadn’t figured that part out yet. But Bri had to know Linc had come. That he’d help save her.
“And Mrs. Feldman’s in the hospital. What if Tawnya asks about her?” Clara continued to shoot holes in his plan.
“They’re looking for me to get to Jalen, right?” Kendra said. “We make her think he got both of us, and I can convey the message.”
“If she asks about Mrs. Feldman, I say I’m keeping them separated because that would be smarter than putting them all together,” Linc solved that problem.
“But how will you let Bri know that you’re here without tipping off Tawnya?”
“This.” He pulled the black geometric stone on a leather cord from under his shirt. “If Bri sees it, she’ll know that I’m here.”
“Why’s that?” Clara asked.
“She got the set for us after Mom and her dad died. There’s a magnet in each. You put them together, and they form a heart. This is my half. Hers is silver.” He didn’t take his off.
“All right. We can alert TSA and Homeland Security. Have them ask officials in Mexico to let them through security, and then we track Tawnya with the suitcase full of drugs to whoever she’s working for and take them down. We explain Bri is only doing this under duress, and they could catch the real players, and Bri shouldn’t face any charges. I’ll go to bat for her,” Clara said.
“I need to get my computer. You get that interrogation footage, and contact HSI.” His heart pounded with renewed hope. This could work. It had to.
By the timeLinc returned to the station, the tech had distilled a copy of the interrogation recording to just Malloy. Clara gave him an office to work in where he uploaded the file for the program to run on his computer. Then, the two watched the video of Malloy’s interrogation, making notes of specific word choices and speech patterns.
The cloned phone rang just as Linc got deep into character as Malloy. Rather than answer, he texted.
Can’t talk here
Where the hell have you been
Working on getting the kid
I’m close
Close enough to give the program a run-through. He recorded a sample and viewed it, then made some tweaks to the timing.
This could work, especially if he limited his screen time and audio to focus on showing Jalen and let Kendra plead with Bri. He loaded the filters onto his phone and called Kendra in.
He took off his necklace and fastened it around her neck. “I’m gonna want this back.”
“I figured you would.” She touched the stone with her fingertip. “You’re a remarkable man and brother, Linc Porter.”
“I don’t know about that.” He’d let Bri down, and he couldn’t afford to let her down again.
“Trust me, in my line of work, I see a lot of things. Bri has turned things around—in large part because of you. And you’re an amazing uncle to Jalen.”
“That part’s easy. Bri’s the one carrying the load with all she does for him.” Though Kendra saying that, and the way she stared into his eyes, instilled a sense of value and worth that ignited the longing he had worked to suppress. He would have kissed her right here if Clara hadn’t been standing a few feet away.