No Return

40

Theman called to report in, but after four rings he was sent to voicemail. He hung up before the beep.

No messages. Nothing recorded. If the call was not picked up, he was to try again later.

Great, he thought. The one time he needed to have an immediate conversation, and there was no answer.

Minutes earlier the target and two women-one identified as the target’s girlfriend, the other a coworker-had come out of the motel and walked over to their SUV.

It looked for a moment as if they were all going to get in, then the target had said something, and mounted the motorcycle while the women got into the Escape. When the vehicles left, the SUV headed north and the motorcycle south.

The question was, should the man follow the motorcycle, the SUV, or just stay where he was?

“Dammit,” he said.

He contemplated his choices for half a second, then started the car.

If it was the wrong decision, he’d hear about it later. But he knew he had to do something.

When in doubt, he thought, keep the target in sight.