Out of the Shadows (Falcon) (27 page)

Tony looked around.
“I don’t know how it happened or why, but we’ve got to get out of this room now.”

While Tony gathered up papers, Frank grabbed his briefcase
and, Glock and darted across the room. When he turned the door handle, it didn’t budge. “We’re locked in.”

“Oh
, shit.” Tony said. “Quick, get in the bathroom and turn on the air vent. Chances are something is being sprayed into the air ducts. The vent sucks in while the ducts push out.”

Turning around,
Frank shouted, “Let’s move.”

Inside the large bathroom
, Tony quickly closed the door, threw towels on the floor, and kicked them to cover the gap. Frank flipped on the exhaust fan. “What the hell now?”

“My phone isn’t working. Yours?”
Tony asked.

Fran
k pulled his cellphone from its case and saw the flashing red No Signal display. “Nada.”

“Be
smart. We’ll find a way out,” Tony said. “There isn’t a place or situation in the world without options.”

“We can’t shoot
our way out. I don’t want the president alarmed, or the authorities involved.”

Tony searched the entire room. Commode, shower, tub, vanity,
air duct
. Tony lowered the seat and jumped up and unscrewed the vent for the heating and cooling system with his pocketknife. The smell of an antiseptic chemical blew in his face.

***

Mac worked the area until he located the hotel where Burr had checked in. Surveillance cameras had him coming out of the airport and getting into a cab. After finding the yellow vehicle, it had only cost a hundred bucks to learn which hotel Burr checked into. Then another hundred for the room number from the desk clerk.

Inside the room, Mac searched the luggage for any clue to where he might be going, but found nothing. Not even a picture of his target or a hint to where he’d purchase
d his weapons.

Annoyed at not being able to find anything, he
called Frank. The phone automatically went to voice mail. The hairs on the back of his neck and arms stood. His stomach flipped, and cold sweat peppered his body. Mac hung up, raced down the stairs and to his car. He drove as fast as the vehicle would go toward the Camino Real Hotel. While driving he dialed Doug Morgan.

“Morgan, here.”

“This is Falcon Agent, Mac McKinsey. I need you to check Tony’s and Frank’s rooms.”

“Check
for what?”

“I don’t know, but I called Frank and got his voicemail.”

“Maybe he’s in the shower,” Doug said, calmly. Obliviously, he didn’t understand that Frank always answered his phone. It was as vital to him as a heartbeat.

“You think Tony is in there with him
? Because he isn’t answering either.”

“No.”

While still on the phone, Mac heard Doug Morgan run across the hall and start banging on doors. “I can’t get either one of them.”

“Use your master key.”

Mac stopped the car in the alley behind the hotel. Ignoring everything, he darted through the back door and up the stairwell taking three steps at a time.

***

Between holding his breath and trying to get the cover off, Tony reached out, and Frank handed him the last large bath towel. Already groggy, Tony stuffed the hole and stepped off the toilet seat. He staggered a little, but Frank caught him from behind, and together they slid onto the floor.

“You recognize the smell?”

Tony shook his head. “No, but there’s plenty of it, and it’s being circulated by the air conditioner. Let’s hope the exhaust fan can pull most of the chemical out of the room.”

Both men
leaned against the tiled wall, Frank rested his arm on his bent knee. “Any idea who’d do this?”

“A couple, but only Doug or Scott
has the authority or the expertise to pull this off.”

“We pretty much know it wasn’t Doug.”

“Let’s just hope someone gets here in time.”

Tony stood and turned on the hot water in the shower. Soon steam filled the room. “Depending on what they used, the steam may
neutralize some of the effects. Just depends on the weight of the substance.”

“On an educated guess, what do you think it is?”

“It isn’t Nitrous Oxide because there’s no sweet smell. However I did smell something like alcohol or an antiseptic. So it’s not Methoxyflurane because that has no smell at all.”

Frank slicked back his hair
. “I doubt they want to kill us, but knocking us out for a few hours would give them free rein to do as they please.”

“I have one feed still working. I
f my phone would come up, I might learn something.”

Frank stood.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m not staying in a toilet while some idiot tries to takes out my government.”

Tony pushed
up the wall and pulled out his weapon. “Let’s shoot the door to the adjoining room. The main door to the hall might be rigged. I don’t think they’d think of the other door.”

“I
have a suppressor on the bed,” Frank said. “We don’t need to draw any attention.”

“
You get to the door. I’ll get the silencer.”

Unsure what waited on the other side, they both had their guns up.
Frank said, “On the count of three.”

With the neck
of his T-shirt over his nose and mouth, Tony opened the door and darted for the bed while Frank, also with his shirt as a mask, ran toward the next room’s door. The dry air of the room slapped him in the face along with a dose of the sleeping gas. Frank focused and edged along the wall until he reached his objective.

Tony waited there with the suppressor in hand. Holding his breath and blinking back watery tears, Frank snapped on the silencer and shot the doorknob.

Frank and Tony fell inside the unoccupied room. Quickly Tony rolled over and kicked the door shut to contain the gas. They both took a deep breath, and Tony clicked on his phone. The screen lit up.

***

Jake drove as fast as the Taurus would go through the busy streets of El Paso. According to the coordinates A.J. was in a residential area just a few miles from their location. Brody wondered if he was still breathing. He hated leaving Kate, but A.J. had to be rescued or he’d be dead, and that wasn’t an option.

Jake drove past Loretto Park to Tularosa Avenue.
“He’s in the third house on the right,” Jake said. “I can’t tell if he’s inside or out.”

“Park
, and let’s go the rest of the way on foot.”

“You think we need to wait until dark?”

“No, A.J. might not have that long.”

Jake walked around to the trunk. “Let’s see what
Zoe has for us.”

The equipment inside the trunk would take out a small army. Brody looked a
t Jake and smiled. “I love Zoe. She’s such a violent person.”

“Better not let her hear you say that.”

Brody pocketed two flash grenades, a small container of C4, and an automatic rifle. Jake packed as much as he could carry, and they lit out on foot towards their friend and fellow agent.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Kate woke with a raging headache and a stranger sitting next to her bed. “Where am I?”

“You’re okay. I’m
CIA Agent Goldberg and Director Colanglo sent me to get you.”

Kate wondered if she’d ever met the agent before, but didn’t think so.
“Okay. Where is Brody?”

“
He and Jake went to get someone named A.J.”

Kate relaxed against her p
illow. They’d gone to get A.J. That was the sweetest sound she’d ever heard. “How long have they been gone?” Kate shoved into a sitting position and then tried to stand. A sharp pain stabbed her in the upper arm, and she looked to see a bandage where the lying padre had grazed her with a bullet. She was lucky he hadn’t killed her.

“Th
ey left about ten minutes ago.” Goldberg helped Kate get to the bathroom on her own two legs, though weak and unsteady.

After she’d w
ashed her face and hands, Kate turned to find the agent waiting for her. “Colanglo has instructed me to stay with you and keep you safe. I told Brody I’d call him when you woke up.”

Kate
pushed her hair back. “If he’s looking for A.J., just send him a text. He doesn’t need a phone ringing.”

“Consider it done.”

“I’m going to have a shower and wash my hair.”

Agent Goldberg pointed to a Dillard’s bag
on the chair. “I think those clothes are for you to change into.”

Kate smiled.
“More reason I need a shower.” She stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. After removing the clothes she’d worn for days, she turned the faucet on. Bending over, she adjusted the water temperature before walking beneath the spray.

When she raised her face, she let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes. Without looking
, she unwrapped the small bar of hotel soap and slowly slid it over her body to wash away two days of grime.

She used all the shampoo and conditioner in the tiny bottles and wished for mo
re. But she was grateful to feel clean.

Finally she stepped
out of the shower and gently dabbed her wound before drying the rest of her body. Covered with a towel, she motioned for Goldberg to turn around while she slid into a new pair of panties, jeans, a nice green top and a pair of comfortable flats. After finger combing her hair, she smiled at the agent and sat on the edge of the bed. Had all this taken place in just two days? It felt like half a lifetime.

“Now
, I feel human.”

A knock sounded at the door. The women exchanged guarded gl
ances. Goldberg said, “That should be the other agent.” Not taking any chances, she pulled her gun and eased toward the door. “That you, Ortega?”

“
Yeah, I got coffee.”

Goldberg
holstered her gun and opened the door. Two burly men crashed into the room. Before the agent could fire her weapon, two bullets, one to the head and one to the chest, dropped her to the floor. Kate looked up to see two men the size of linebackers. “You come with us. Chavez is waiting.”

Kate had no weapon
, and Brody couldn’t help her in this situation. Eying the agent’s body, Kate exited the room. Outside the door, an elderly woman, wearing a maid’s uniform lay sprawled on the carpeted floor. One man reached down, grabbed her by the collar, dragged her into the room, and shut the door.

With
their guns pressed in the middle of her back, they herded her toward the elevator. “Don’t screw up. Chavez said to kill you at the first wrong move.”

“I’m sure he did,” Kate said.

They rode to the lobby non-stop. With a guy at each arm, Kate didn’t do anything that would cause innocent people to get killed.

Outside they shoved her into a waiting car and took off, tires squealing on the hot pavement.

***

As
Mac hit the fifth floor, Tony and Frank staggered out of the room next to Frank’s. Doug ran toward them and helped Frank and Tony into his suite.

“What the hell is going on?” Doug asked, leaning against the door.

Frank holstered his gun. “Did your master key work?”

“No, something must have been jammed in the slot.”

Tony went behind the TV and started pulling out wires. Within seconds he had his computer booted and ready to go. All appeared normal in the president’s room. It showed Davis relaxing while reading the newspaper.

“What do you have there, Tony?” Doug asked, walking closer.

Frank put his hand on Doug’s shoulder. “You better take a seat. We have a situation here and it’s really bad.”

Doug sat and looked at Frank.

“Oh, hell,” Tony shouted and then grabbed his cellphone. Frank spun around to see the screen capture Kate Stone being escorted through the lobby of the Radisson Hotel by two strange men.

“Brody,” Tony said. “Hold everything. They have Kate.”

Tony looked at Frank. “Bring Doug up to speed quick. We have to make our move now.”

***

Monique was tossing clothes in one of her suitcases when the doorbell chimed. Since she wasn’t expecting anyone, she nervously checked her security screen. She blew out an annoying sigh when the system captured her brother standing outside her door.

She groaned, wishing
he’d go away and leave her alone. Today wasn’t a day she felt like putting up with him criticizing her because Ron hadn’t proposed to her yet. Didn’t he know she felt bad enough already? For crying out loud, she’d done everything he asked.

Frowning to show her displeasure at seeing him, she yanked open the door and stepped aside. “I know, you’ve came here to bitch at me, but I’m not in the mood.”