There were two taps followed by another frustrated attempt to speak. He tried several times repeating over and over again the same three words.
She felt terrible that she couldn’t help. “Oh, Randy!”
There were two taps. She paused and it began to dawn on her. “Randy?”
Two taps.
“Are you Randy Kingdom?”
There were two taps, and her heart sank. Who was next door? He began to repeat two words over and over, the first with two syllables and the second word with three.
“Are you Ramon Ramirez?”
One tap.
She was confused and, temporarily, her life fell apart in front of her. But Ramon Ramirez is part of all of this, she kept saying to herself, He’s key to finding Randy. Don’t give up. “Do you know Randy Kingdom?”
Two taps.
Her heart sank. She felt even more devastated, but she tried to keep herself together. “You’re CIA?”
One tap.
“And you work for Leonard in London?”
One tap.
“I’m ex-CIA, and I’m working for Leonard too.” She was trying to think what the important questions were. She might have only a few minutes. “I found your flat in Málaga and your room at the riad in Marrakech. I found the time and address of the meeting with Aksil Zadi in the back of your copy of 1421. You understand?”
One tap.
“You were obviously compromised. Leonard sent me to get you to stop what you were doing and to ring him. Had you found out anything important?”
One tap.
Now what? How could she find out anything if she didn’t know the questions to ask? He could only tap yes and no. At this point, he started tapping. She counted seven taps.
“Do you mean seven or the letter G?” She realised he couldn’t reply to that question. “Do you mean the number seven?”
Two taps.
“Do you mean the letter G?”
One tap. And then, he began tapping and tapping.
“Was that twenty taps?”
One tap.
“For the letter T?”
Two taps.
“You mean the number twenty? … Oh, G20!” She calmed herself so that she didn’t raise her voice unnecessarily.
One tap.
She paused. How to find out what he knew? “Is there a threat to the G20?”
One tap.
Now what? “Can you tap the first letter of the threat?”
Two taps.
“Was that a no or the letter B?”
Two taps.
“You mean the letter B?”
One tap.
“What’s the next letter?”
There were fifteen taps.
“Shit! A bomb?”
