Yeah, like that was going to happen, now that he'd taken her along. He wasn't in the habit of refusing what women like that had to offer.
"If you're looking for a virgin sacrifice, you're a number of years too late," she said, nodding at the ornate dagger.
"Very funny. Got a pair of tweezers in that deadly purse of yours?" he asked.
She pushed off the car. "I thought you wanted me to stay out of the car."
"Just get the damn purse," he said.
She did, rummaging around in its depths before handing over a pair of steel tweezers with slanted tips. Perfect.
He grasped the edge of the cotton and pulled it carefully, sliding out the whole wad from the hollow grip. She watched, curiosity naked on her face, as it came out. He handed back the tweezers and pulled the wadding free, shoving the knife back into his waistband and then carefully unrolling it on his palm. A flat black shape emerged.
"An SD card? That's what you stole?" she said, sounding disappointed. "I hope it has like nuclear launch codes on it or something."
Levi smiled and pulled out an empty coin pouch, slipped the card into it, and zipped it closed. The micro SD card was exactly the kind of thing he'd hoped to find. Until that moment, there was still a chance, however slight, that he'd been wrong, that all the intelligence that he'd gathered had been compromised and he'd fallen for a decoy.
"Something even better," he said.
She raised her eyebrows. "And you're not going to tell me, are you?"
"You wouldn't believe it, anyway."
"I'd believe a surprising amount from a guy with superhuman healing," she said.
He grinned at her annoyed expression and decided, against his better judgment, to give her a small teaser. "The jewels on the knife? They're all real. And the whole reason for the knife was just to disguise this puppy. 'Cause it's worth that much more, in the right hands." He patted his hip. "For you, it'd mean very little. For me, though, it's freedom."
He pulled out the phone, flipped it open, and hit redial, turning his back on her as he headed back into the furniture pile.
"Got it now?" Beane asked.
"Yeah. Just like we thought," Levi said.
"Look, you might as well just tell me everything," Harper called. "I'm going to get it out of you eventually."
"Who is that?" Beane demanded.
Levi winced. "Just a tagalong I picked up."
"Look, dude, if there was ever a bad time to pick up a chick-"
"Yeah, yeah. It's complicated. Look, I've got a micro SD card here. How do I get the contents to you ASAP?"