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The two of us set out from our spot in the empty drive, encountering no humans or animals on our path. Our black uniforms stand out against the white plaster of the building, but we haven’t seen a soul on this side of the hotel.
The target’s window is shut, but Maxen works his knife inside the gap, successfully shoving the latch upward and out of the way.
I’ve kept an eye on our surroundings, and we’re still clear. “We’re in,” Maxen whispers.
The window slides open with a lot of effort, but thankfully, not much sound. With the opening clear, Maxen stands back to let me enter first.
My feet hit the floor inside without a whisper of sound. Maxen comes in next, just as quiet.
“Oh shit,” I hear Birdie say through the radio.
“What?!” I whisper yell.
“Your boy must not have liked the menu. He’s leaving the café and is headed back in your direction.”
“Dammit. Sadie, let’s go.”
“Not without this guy’s phone. Birdie, stay on him. Maxen, go through the door and set up somewhere you can watch in case this guy is expecting company.”
“I’m not leaving you alone. I’ll watch, but I’ll do it right here in this room. Now go find that damned phone!”
“Target taking a different route back to the hotel,” Birdie reports.
“Don’t lose him,” Maxen says as he pulls his gun and takes a sentry position at the door. I jump into action, opening bedside drawers, looking under pillows, and everywhere else. I hit pay dirt when I find a bag underneath the bed. Carefully pulling open the zipper, I peer inside, finding an off-brand smartphone sitting on top of the man’s clothes.
“Birdie, I’ve got a phone here. Can you send an untraceable message to confirm I’ve got the right device?”
“Already on it. You should see something right about… now.”
A message pops up on the screen reading, “Gotcha!”
“This is it. Let’s go, Smoke.”
I zip the bag back up and return it to his hiding place under the bed, hoping it’ll be a while before the guy needs the phone.
“I’ve lost visual of the target under a large awning in an alley access,” Birdie reports.
Maxen heads for the window, looking outside for anyone that might see us. “Find him, Birdie.” To me, he says, “Let’s go, Fate.”
I need to make sure we’re not leaving a trace of our presence, or the guy will sound the alarm to his associates. I smooth out the bed covers, but Maxen is growing anxious. “Fate, move it!”
The room is soon back to the way we found it, and I rush through the opening as Maxen sets a length of dental floss over the window latch. On his order, I shove the sliding pane closed, and he pulls on the floss, lowering the latch into the locked position.
Footsteps echo through the alley beside us, and our only chance at concealment is a row of shrubbery behind the hotel. We make a run for it, vaulting the bush to land in a low crouch on the other side.
“Birdie, check the rear of the hotel. Is this our guy?” I whisper.
“No, and the target hasn’t left the alley. I’ll keep watching the neighboring buildings in case he comes out that way.”
“Copy. We’ll return to the truck to uplink the phone and be ready to move on your command.”
Maxen climbs in behind the wheel again as I pull out my satellite uplink device and plug the phone in. With the push of a button, the phone’s entire hard drive begins uploading to a secure, quarantined server at Knot Corp for Birdie to examine later.
While all this is being set up, Maxen is moving the truck to another part of the city. Likely, closer to where our guy disappeared.
The vehicle stops a short time later, but Maxen doesn’t get out or speak. The uplink screen shows the transfer progress to be almost complete. Maxen sounds strained when he asks, “Birdie, has there been any movement in the alley?”
“None. And your guy hasn’t gone through any of the exits in the buildings flanking that access.”