by Mike Ryan
“Why?” he wondered.
“It’s widely known for its abundance of pickpocket teams. Last I heard they averaged over a dozen incidents every day. Quite often children are used as part of the diversion,” Parker told him.
“Don’t worry. I feel someone’s hands in my pants they’ll get a healthy dose of steel across their forehead.”
They took the train from Brussels to Antwerp. Antwerp Central had four levels and fourteen tracks, and was widely recognized as one of the most beautiful railway stations in the world with its glass ceiling and stone architecture. Once they arrived at the station, they immediately went outside to look for their counterpart. They looked around and saw a few people on benches when Parker’s phone started ringing. It was the Mossad agent.
“Are you here?” he asked.
“Yes. My partner and I are standing just outside the station,” Parker informed him.
“Blonde hair? Big fellow in a blue shirt standing to your left?”
“Yes.”
“I’m seated to your left approximately thirty yards away. In the green hooded shirt.”
Parker kept the phone to her ear and turned around, pretending to just be looking at the scenery, making sure not to lock eyes for too long. She hung up then tapped Cole on the arm to follow her. They got to the bench where the agent was sitting and sat to his right. There was a manila file folder beside them. They didn’t make any eye contact and looked around at the crowd.
“The folder’s yours,” the agent said.
Parker picked it up and opened it, revealing several pictures. It was of Davis and a couple other men that he was talking to.
“That your man?” he asked.
“It is. Any idea who he’s talking with.”
“They are high ranking members of The Revolutionary Guard.”
“Any idea where they’re at now?”
“Your man I do not know. The Iranians are currently at a hotel. I have someone on them as we speak.”
“How’d you come across them?” Parker asked.
“I was following a man with suspected terrorist ties. He met with the Iranians just prior to their meeting with your man.”
“Any idea on the topic of their meeting?”
“No. The hotel name and names of the men are underneath the pictures. That’s all the information I have for you.”
“Well that’s a good start. Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. Yosi says you’re the best. I only wish I could tag along with you for a bit but I have my own assignment.”
“Yosi’s too kind. Thanks again.”
The Mossad agent got up and left, leaving Parker and Cole to discuss their next step. The Iranians were staying at the nearby Holiday Inn Express. They figured their only move was to try and tail them, hoping they would lead them to Davis. They went to the hotel and checked in as a couple, trying to be inconspicuous. They contacted Burnett to tell her of their findings. She immediately got working on trying to find out how long the Iranians had been there. It could give them an idea on how much longer they were planning on staying if they just checked in.
“You’d think high ranking members of the Revolutionary Guard would spend the money on a more upscale hotel,” Cole remarked. “I mean, who’d think they’d stay at a place like this?” he asked, not fond of his surroundings.
“I think that’s kind of the point,” Parker replied. “You would think they’d be at a nicer hotel. That’s why they’re here. They’re trying to fly underneath the radar.”
Parker left the room and started roaming around. They already knew the Iranians were staying in rooms 201 and 202 thanks to the information the Mossad agent left them. Parker got down to the lobby on the main floor and was surprised to see the two men sitting there talking. She quickly called Cole to let him know they were there. Cole rushed over to his bag and pulled out a few of his gadgets. He had a couple of listening devices that he could plant in their room so they could listen via Cole’s computer. Cole immediately went down to their rooms. First was room 201. He looked around to make sure nobody was around and listened at the door. He was able to pick the lock, though not as quickly as Parker would have. She was much better at the stealthy entries than him. Once inside, he put the device under the bed, all the way towards the headboard. It was basically the size and shape of a hearing aid battery. It would be able to detect any conversation in the room. He saw some documents on the desk and quickly rifled through them. He took pictures of them and left the room. He then went to 202 to repeat his steps. While he was in there, the Iranians got up from their seats and proceeded to the elevator. Parker instantly took out her phone to warn Cole.
“They’re on the move,” she told him.
“Out in ten,” Cole replied.
Cole didn’t have time to look around the room and simply put the listening device in the same spot as the other room. He quickly left the room and ran over to the steps. He stayed in the hallway and waited for the Iranians to arrive. A few seconds later the men got off the elevator and continued talking as they walked to their rooms. They both went into room 201. Cole rushed back up to his room on the third floor and immediately logged onto his computer. A few seconds later Parker came in.
“Did you get it?” she asked.
Cole nodded. “I planted them,” he said as he brought up the program. “Let’s see how it’s working.”
The bugs were working loud and clear. Unfortunately for the agents, neither one of them spoke the language.
“Is that Arabic?” Cole asked.
“I don’t know. I know most of the population speaks Persian,” Parker answered. “But I know some speak Kurdish, and I think there’s a few other ones as well.”
“We’re gonna have to send it off to be translated.”
“Are you recording it?”
“What am I? A rookie?”
The Iranians talked for half an hour before separating. Each stayed in their room for the next few hours. Both stayed largely silent except for TV and papers being shuffled on the desk. Cole used the break to send the tape back to CIA headquarters to be analyzed. Cole and Parker looked at the photos Cole took on his phone while they waited. Cole emailed those over as well. Once Burnett got the report an hour later, she informed her agents of their findings.
“What’s the good word?” Cole asked.
“The word is that while Davis’ name was never used, it is quite clear that they’re meeting with someone tomorrow night at The Port of Antwerp for an exchange. With the pictures and the price tag mentioned, we’re quite confident that Davis will be there,” Burnett told them.
“Price tag?”
“The number twenty million dollars was brought up. They also mentioned how big a price tag that was though the information was worth it. Knowing what Davis took from us, it’s pretty obvious what that exchange will entail.”
“What’s the play? Take the Iranians out?” Cole hopefully asked. Any chance of gunplay, he hoped for being able to take out the most victims.
“Not at this time.”
“But if they get their hands on the information…”
“That’s why you will not let that exchange take place,” Burnett countered.
“How do you want it to go down?” Parker asked.
“We already know the place. You tail them to the exact location and you take Davis down before the exchange takes place.”
“Easier said than done,” Cole remarked.
“Cole, this comes straight from the top. The eyes and ears of all the brass will be watching you on this one. They don’t want the Iranians killed.”
“I’m just asking how we should proceed in case the exchange happens before we can get there. We obviously can’t let them leave with that kind of information.”
“Then you’ll do what has to be done. But don’t let it get to that point,” Burnett sternly warned.
Cole rubbed his eyes once Burnett signed off, knowing how big of a problem they faced.
The port was the largest in the world. It was over fifty square miles with twenty five bridges and forty eight docks. They couldn’t set up there in advance as there was no way of telling exactly where they’d be. If they tailed them too closely they risked being spotted. It also wouldn’t give them a lot of time to prepare once they saw the meeting spot.
“I don’t see a way of this ending without a huge firefight,” Cole mentioned. “As soon as that first bullet flies, there’ll be a bunch more flying right after it.”
“You’re assuming they’ll each have men there. What if it’s just a small contingent? Just the three of them.”
“Davis ain’t going in there without some backup.”
“All we need to do is get him, then slip out,” Parker said.
“Easier said than done. We can’t just shoot and run,” Cole objected. “We need confirmation, an up close visual that he’s dead. We can’t just shoot and leave, hoping that we killed him, then a year later he turns up in China or something. We need to see the body, which means we gotta get close.”
“I know,” she sighed. “Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless we get to him before tomorrow night.”
“Talk about going from the ridiculous to the impossible,” Cole said. “We’ve been after him for months with no success and you think all of a sudden we can find him and take him out in the next twenty four hours.”
“Why not?”
“Oh, this should be good. I can’t wait to hear this plan,” he sarcastically added. “So let’s hear it.”
“I didn’t say I had a plan yet. I just said it was doable.”
Cole chuckled to himself. Parker knew herself that it was a long shot. Cole was right to be skeptical. She sat down at her laptop and just stared at the screen. After a few minutes of contemplating, she thought of an idea. She ran it past Cole who thought it was worth a shot. They’d have to get Burnett’s approval as she’d be vital in the operation if it were possible. They got Burnett back on the line to go over it with her.
“I have an idea in which we can avoid the port entirely,” Parker said. “The only thing is I don’t know if it is technologically possible.”
“Well let’s hear it,” Burnett replied.
“We know that Heath was tapped into your computer. Is it possible that we can somehow engineer the virus back to him to see his location?”
“No. I already checked. They said it couldn’t be traced back to the source.”
“Yes, but what if we had a fake call? Is there a way they could genetically trace it while we were having a live transmission?” Parker asked. “I mean, we already know he’s somewhere in Belgium. That takes the radius down quite a bit.”
“It’s an interesting theory which seems possible, though the tech people said it’s a very sophisticated virus with extensive anti-tracking measures. They’ve already tried to retrace the virus to its source, unsuccessfully, but I don’t think a live transmission had been considered.”
“Heath has played us long enough. It’s time we set a trap of our own.”
“It certainly seems plausible. I’ll go ask the tech department right now and get back to you as soon as possible.”
“Why didn’t we think of this sooner?” Cole asked.
“Well as soon as we found out about the bug, we found out he was in France. Then as soon as we went there all that other stuff happened. Seemed like we didn’t need it at the time,” she responded.
“The other thing to think about is whether he’d be able to tell if he was being traced. Could that virus program of his tell whether it was being tracked back to him? That’d throw everything back to hell in a hand basket.”
“Guess there’s only one way to find out.”
Chapter 11
While they were waiting for Burnett to get back to them, Parker went to her computer and started searching.
“Looking for something?” Cole wondered.
“Crosschecking the database to see everyone who’s checked into a hotel in Belgium in the last couple days.”
“That could be quite a list. He’s not gonna use an alias that you know.”
“I know. It’s a start though. Even if it means we can narrow it down just a little bit..
“There’s something else,” Cole thought.
“What?”
“Davis probably still thinks I’m dead. He doesn’t know I got out before the apartment exploded.”
“Unless he tried calling Favreau and assumed it since he can’t get a hold of her,” Parker replied.
“Yeah, but even if he suspected it, he wouldn’t know it for a fact. If this charade of yours works and the signal can be traced back, it probably should just be you on screen. Sell it that I’m dead from the explosion. Could give us an advantage if he doesn’t think that I’m still around.”
Parker nodded her head, agreeing with Cole’s point. If Davis thought it was only still Parker chasing him it could give Cole the element of surprise. As they waited for the decision on whether Davis’ virus could be tracked back to him, Parker continued whittling down the list of recent hotel visitors at all Belgium hotels. It wasn’t a short list. She looked at each name to make sure it wasn’t one of Davis’ known aliases. After an hour of getting nowhere with the list, Burnett called to let them know of their findings.
“After careful examination, the techs believe that it is indeed possible to get the coordinates of Davis’ location if we can stay on long enough,” Burnett told them.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Heath will probably stay on as long as we are,” Parker replied. “How much time do they need?”
“They’re not sure. Probably about five minutes.”
“We also talked about just Parker being on,” Cole chimed in. “We figure Davis still thinks I’m dead from Paris. No need to divulge my presence yet. Could be a major advantage for us if we can get a fix on his location.”
“I agree.”
“When will the computer be ready?” Parker wondered.
“They said it should be another hour or so. I will call you on the phone when it’s time.”
Parker looked at her partner with a smile on her face. She felt for the first time like they were in the driver’s seat instead of Davis. They finally had the upper hand.
“What’re you looking like that for?” Cole asked.
“This is gonna work. I can feel it.”
“Hold on there skippy,” he replied, putting his hand out. “We’ve felt confident before that we were close to him only to have the rug pulled out from under us. Let’s not count our chickens before they’re hatched. We don’t even know yet if they’ll actually be able to get his location. Let’s just wait till we have an address before we go getting all giggly and google eyed.”
Parker paced around the room for the next hour, anxious to put the plan into action. Cole sat down at the computer to pass the time, periodically watching his partner walk past him.
“You’re not usually a nervous person.”
“I’m not nervous,” Parker stated.
“Seem nervous.”
“Well I’m not. I don’t get nervous,” she said again, walking around with her hands on her hips. “If this works…”
“Stop right there,” Cole interrupted.
“What?”
“Stop with the hoping and conjecturing. Don’t allow yourself to think too far ahead. That’s how people allow themselves to get disappointed when the result isn’t what they hoped it’d be. Let’s just see what happens, then go from there.”
“You don’t think this’ll work?”
“I didn’t say that. Let’s just wait until we actually have something to go off of.”
A little over an hour went by, Parker anxiously looking at the time every couple of minutes. Five minutes past an hour and she started worrying that something was going wrong. Maybe they couldn’t get it set up right. Cole could tell she was over anxious. The speed of her pacing had increased and she was als
o walking in circles, appearing to be talking to herself. Finally, a few minutes later Burnett called. She told Parker that they were ready and to make sure Cole was silent and out of the picture. She also wanted to remind her that nothing that was said on the video feed was to be taken at face value or assumed to be truthful. They hung up, ready to put their plan into action, and immediately logged into their video conference.
“Alex, how are you making out?” Burnett asked.
“OK I guess. It’s just…I’m feeling overwhelmed right now. With…Ryan gone, and Cole’s dead…I just feel like there’s so much to do and I’m not getting anywhere.”
“I know. It’s been a rough couple of days. That’s why I’m going to be sending you out another agent. He should be there in a day or two. Once he arrives, get him up to speed on everything.”
“I just can’t believe everyone’s gone.”
“It’s been a rough assignment. Do you currently have any new leads on Davis’ whereabouts?”
“Not right now,” Parker told her. “Everything’s pretty quiet. No new chatter. I’ve checked all my contacts and nobody’s heard anything. After everything Heath just did he’s probably laying low for a couple of days.”
“Where do you figure he’s heading next?”
“I don’t know. I’m thinking he’s not staying in France. Maybe Germany.”
They continued some small talk and said anything they could think of to keep the conversation going for a few more minutes. Burnett was in the tech room with the analysts so they could monitor the feed and work on the trace. They motioned to her that it was going well but they needed more time. Burnett stopped for a minute, pretending that a report was just handed to her. She looked at a paper, giving the techs a much needed delay. The techs were frantically working at their computers, trying to get the information as fast as possible. They knew the longer Burnett stayed on the computer, the more Davis was likely to get an inkling that something was wrong. It had to appear as natural as possible. Another minute went by, with Burnett and Parker spewing out more nonsense that didn’t have a shred of truth to it. In just under another minute, they finally were able to get a fix on Davis’ location. The lead tech put both his arms in the air like they just scored a touchdown. He gave a thumbs up sign to Burnett to let her know they got it. As soon as she got the signal she wanted to wrap it up quickly.
