Chapter 11 - The Surveillance Trap
The atmosphere inside the diner shifted instantly, the air growing thick with an unspoken, predatory tension. Arthur instinctively started to turn around to look at the two men near the door, but Sarah reached across the table and caught his wrist with surprising strength.
"Don't look at them," she whispered, her voice dangerously calm as she kept her fingers flying across her keyboard. "They didn't come in here for coffee, Arthur. They came to make sure you didn't leave with those files."
"How did they find us so fast?" Arthur breathed, his heart hammering against his ribs. "I didn't tell anyone where I was going."
"Your cell phone," Sarah replied without looking up. "Even with an encrypted call, corporate tracking software can triangulate an active IMEI signal within a three-block radius the moment you access data. Leave your phone on the table right now."
Arthur didn't hesitate. He pulled the smartphone from his pocket, laid it face down on the laminate table, and pushed it toward her. Sarah quickly removed the SIM card, snapping the tiny chip in half with her fingernails before dropping the pieces into her half-full coffee mug.
"We need to move, and we need to move now," Sarah said, gathering her laptop and stuffing the manila folder into her leather backpack. "There's a service exit through the kitchen. Follow my lead and don't look back."
They slid out of the booth and moved quickly toward the swinging kitchen doors just as one of the men in the dark coats stood up from his table near the front. The diner cook looked up from the grill with a tired expression as Sarah flashed a fake press badge and shoved open the heavy metal back door into the dark, rain-soaked alleyway.
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As they sprinted toward Arthur's car parked at the far end of the lot, a heavy black SUV suddenly blocked the exit of the alley, its high-beam headlights blinding them in the mist.
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