OUTCAST Ops: The Poseidon Initiative

SEVENTEEN

“Under a bed, quick!” Tanner hissed as he jogged out of the bathroom to the nearest of two twin beds. Danielle put the balcony curtain back in place and slid beneath the other twin. From his tight hiding place, Tanner worked his pistol out of his pants pocket so that he was holding it. He knew Danielle would be doing the same. Hopefully it would just be the hotel cleaning service, but they were prepared for anything.

But as the hotel door closed and brown leather shoed feet trod inches away from Tanner’s face, it soon became apparent that this was no room service.

Amir was speaking to someone, on a phone apparently, since Tanner observed only one pair of legs walk past the bed. The conversation was in Dutch, however, and gave neither Tanner nor Danielle many clues as to its content. Amir’s tone sounded matter-of-fact at first, but then seemed to grow sharper, more questioning. Then they heard him slam his fist into the dresser and utter a single syllable.

Tanner wondered if his lab tech had just informed him that the samples were no good. Probably. He shifted the gun in his hand. He hoped he wouldn’t have to neutralize Amir, which would be akin to cutting off the tip of a tentacle of the beast. They needed Amir to lead them back to the head.

Tanner also wondered why Liam had not alerted him to Amir’s returning to the hotel. Surely he must have seen him, or did he take a side entrance? Whatever the case, the last thing he needed was for his radio to make any noise now, so he carefully switched it off.

Tanner saw Amir’s’ legs pacing back and forth while he muttered under his breath. Then the legs stopped moving and Amir stood silently in place.

Had he noticed something amiss in the room? Was he looking underneath the beds?

Suddenly Tanner felt a vibration in his pants. His phone was ringing on vibrate. He quickly reached a hand into his pocket and silenced it, but even that motion was more than he was comfortable with.

Had Amir heard anything?

But then the terrorist’s voice was speaking, in English. Tanner realized he was leaving a voice message for him.

“Mr. Kohler, this is Amir. I am sorry to report that after analyzing the samples you provided us, they have failed to meet our strict quality control standards, and we will not be able to move ahead with the purchase. Thank you for meeting with me, but further contact will not be necessary. Good luck to you, Sir, and goodbye.”

Tanner heard Amir snap his phone shut. The response was professional, Tanner noted. But from the way he was breathing heavy and cursing under his breath, it was clear that he knew they had tried something.

He thought fast. Now that he knew Amir’s intentions were to cease all contact with himself and Danielle, alternate courses of action sprung to mind. A spider crawled over his left wrist, causing it to jump, but he remained silent while he smeared the arachnid into the dusty carpet, his mind staying on track like a freight train. Could Amir be deceiving them — telling them the meeting for tonight was cancelled so that they would let their guard down, only to accost them in the wee hours when they least expected it?

Even if that was not the case, Tanner deliberated from the cramped confines of his place of concealment, perhaps it was best to take action now. If Amir escaped back into whatever network of hiding places he normally frequented, then this little mission had been for nothing. Worse than nothing, Tanner corrected himself — it even had a slightly negative outcome, since Amir and his colleagues would suspect someone had tried to trick them.

He could wait until Amir left the room and then call Liam and have him tail him, perhaps from a cab this time. But that might not work. Amir was here, now, they should do something now. Tanner flashed on the gasping victims in Miami, the confused looks on their doomed faces, the panic spreading through the stadium crowd like wildfire…knowing a scene just like it was set to be repeated tomorrow…and suddenly his mind was made up.

Tanner gripped his PM9 and raised himself onto his two elbows for a low crawl. He watched from under the bed as Amir’s legs walked out of his field of vision to the left, toward the closet. Then he heard the swipe of a coat hanger off the rack.

The card!

He’d almost forgotten about it. He could just let him leave with the tracker in his jacket. But the battery in the transmitter had a life of “hours, not days,” he recalled his techie saying.

Tanner made up his mind.

He heard Amir pull his jacket on.

He watched his ankles travel past the bed toward the door.

Tanner slithered toward the edge of the bed. Left elbow. Right. Left. Right…silently, until he could tilt his head to the right and see Amir entering the short hallway leading to the room door.

Tanner put his body into rapid motion, squirming the rest of the way out from under the bed and springing to his feet in one fluid motion.

“Freeze or I shoot!” Tanner leveled his gun at Amir’s back just as his hand landed on the doorknob.

“Open the door and I shoot!”

Behind him Tanner heard Danielle emerging from the bed she was under.

While Amir was frozen, Tanner reached for his radio with his free hand and brought it to his mouth. “Alpha to Bravo, 416, now.”

“Copy that, Alpha.”

To Amir he said: “Back away slowly from the door. Right now! Don’t turn around or I shoot!”

“Is that you, Mr. Kohler?”

“Shut up and do it!”

Amir took a careful step backwards.

“What is the meaning of this? Why are you in my room?”

Danielle walked up next to Tanner, her gun also pointed at Amir’s back.

“Do as we ask and you won’t get hurt,” she said.

“Both of you are in here? If you needed a place to stay, you need only have asked!” He roared with fake laughter.

Tanner pantomimed to Danielle where he wanted to move Amir.

“Step backwards, slowly, into the main room. There are two guns trained on you. Do not try to fight or we will kill you. Is that understood?”

“Yes.” He began walking backwards.

Tanner backed up into the space between the two beds, by the wall. Danielle retreated to the foot of the second bed that she’d been hiding under, giving Tanner a hard stare as she passed that said, what the fuck are we doing?

Tanner removed a folding knife from his rear jeans pocket and used it to cut the cord from one of the nightstand lamps. He took the cord over to Amir.

“Clasp your hands behind your back.”

Amir did so.

Tanner bound his wrists so fast that it surprised even Danielle, who moved over to the other bed in order to cover Amir from the front. He scowled at her while Tanner cinched the cord tight.

“What are you doing with me?” He was yelling now, starting to panic. “What do you want? You want the ten thousand dollars? I will get it for you.”

Tanner opened his mouth to say that this wasn’t about money, it was about protecting innocent lives, but then a thought struck inside his brain that caused him to close his mouth before having spoken. Did Amir have ten thousand dollars in cash on him right now? He carried no briefcase or bag with him, and he was preparing to check out of the hotel so he wouldn’t have left it in the room safe…An envelope containing hundred dollar bills would fit in a pocket, though.

Tanner started to frisk Amir, first his back pants pockets, then the front, then the suit jacket.

“You think I would carry that kind of cash on me to a meeting with people I’ve never met before?” Amir spat.

Tanner stepped back having found nothing. So far this was going exactly the way he hoped it would.

“If you don’t have it, why should I believe that you can get it?”

If Amir thought he was just a high class thug out for money, so much the better, Tanner thought.

The Hofstad agent laughed. “I can get it. You should have told me sooner you needed the money that badly. I would have gladly paid it not to have gone through this ridiculous ordeal. Now release me and I will see about providing you with the funds.”

Tanner looked over at Danielle and grinned like a Cheshire cat.

It was time to follow the money.