Chapter 19
Eagleton was so glad to have good news. “We have them!” he told Aiah, “they are in a resort house in Branson, Missouri. I have people on their way already. The lead outside of St. Paul proved to be the one. We got a confirmation from the check-in and they had a video camera with a great picture of the guy.” Eagleton continued, “The camera was not hooked up to anything except a tape machine in the back, but we got it. Once we found them we just needed to follow the credit card to the next place.”
Aiah was thrilled. Hopefully they would be able to get the information so he could make his move. He would soon be able to let everyone know he was the most powerful man in the world.
Melanie and Jeremy almost danced around the house they had rented. Love was in full bloom! “Let’s go on a picnic,” Melanie said. “We can wear our masks until we get to where we are going and then relax in the quiet comforts of nature.”
Jeremy was reluctant, for about 48 seconds. “Well, ok, but we need to be really careful,” he said thinking only about how much fun it would be. “What should we have for our picnic?”
“Why don’t we go and just drive through somewhere,” Melanie said. And with that they were off, masks on, holding hands, heading out to spend some time together.
The man from the surveillance team held a personally modified military issue scope, watching for any movement. There were 3 drones in the air in a triangle pattern covering all sides of the house. All video was being sent to the equipment laden van in the driveway and back to whoever had tasked them to watch the couple.
He wished he needed his sniper rifle, but no kill order had been given. He was about 200 yards from the entrance to the house in the passenger side of a Suburban waiting for the marks to leave. He could shoot a dime on end at that distance; all he needed was opportunity and permission. This was the hardest part of the game, he thought, waiting for action.
He had arrived with the rest of his team late last night. They were to watch and advise if there was any movement, ANY movement. The goal was to get into the house if they left, copy any information they have, and forward it on. He would follow the couple; other team members would search the house. This is what his team did. The key is to get what they want, but not let the mark know they got it.
He saw the couple coming out the front door. They were not worried at all about being seen, this would be easy. He alerted the team and his driver. The group that would penetrate the house, just a few a few blocks away, were scrambling as he watched the car turn south. His driver pulled out slowly, tailing from a distance.
“Scramble,” called out the leader. “They are on the move. We need to be in that house in two minutes!”
The group grabbed their gear, guns, cameras, and break in tools, and started the jog through the grove of trees to the back of the house. Once at the rear of the house the French door was picked no problem. They moved into the house, confirming each room as “clear”. The document expert found the packets in backpacks on the living room floor. These two idiots had no thought they were being followed, he thought.
He took copies of the documents that were instantly uplinked to a location on the web. There was a lot of interesting stuff here, things he did not know. All these people are part of a special organization; this may come in handy for him someday! Uploading all the documents took about 15 minutes, and then they were out. The house was cleaned for all prints and everything was back where it was when they entered. Piece of cake, he thought, as he returned to home base. The knife in his back was a total surprise. “Sorry man,” said a teammate that he had known forever, “I have no choice.” He guessed he would never get to use that information, it must have been important.
After driving through a local chicken fast food joint, Melanie and Jeremy headed to the country. They followed the river road looking for a secluded spot to hide the vehicle and themselves. Jeremy saw a pathway that they could drive down and he headed in that direction. The spot by the river was perfect! Only one way in, down in a slight valley, and the flooring was a beautiful bluegrass. They put down a table cloth they removed from the rental, laid out the food, and then met in the middle to kiss. The food took second place to being alone in the woods.
“Have you ever done it outside?” she asked?
“Maybe a time or two,” he said.
She moved in on him and started to touch his arm, his chest, and his hips. He responded and they touched and enjoyed the great outdoors for an hour prior to being hungry. They had cemented their love for each other. Neither now had any question. They could hear thunder in the distance as they picked up to get ready to go back.
The sniper was watching from the other side of the river. This is a perfect scenario, they are in the country, if he shot them no one would find them for a while, and all evidence would be across the river and up a hill from where it happened. When he cleaned his area there would be no record of him being here.
“Suspects are sighted sir,” he said “permission to fire?”
“Negative,” came the response, “now is not the time.”
“Doesn’t get much better than this, sir,” he continued. “This is almost too perfect”
Negative,” came the response, “Not at this time.”
The view was pretty good. Her body was better than he expected. Amazing how skinny athletic women seem to have no curves until the clothes come off. He was enjoying himself but hated the thought of having to kill her; ah, who was he kidding, he loved killing, killing her would not bother him one bit.