Andrew Grant - Even

Taylor followed, backed by two more Tungsten guys. All five of them were staring at my door. Taylor hit a button on his phone. He lifted it to his ear. I wondered who he was calling. Seven seconds later I found out. It was me.

“I know you can see me,” he said. “Come out of the room. Now.”

I hung up.

He called back.

“I know you’re in there,” he said. “I just spoke to my guy in the lobby. He saw you check in. I’m a little surprised you didn’t come knocking before, with your buddies. I didn’t have you down as a coward.”

I didn’t reply.

“So come out of the room, or this guy dies,” he said.

I didn’t reply.

“What?” he said. “You don’t believe me?”

“No,” I said. “I believe you. I just don’t care.”

“You don’t care. You’re just going to stand there and watch me shoot him?”

“That’s a tempting offer. I do like a good shooting. But I’ve seen eight today, already. So maybe I’ll just lie down, watch a little TV.”

“I will pull the trigger.”

“No you won’t. You’ll get one of your lackeys to do it. But either way, go ahead. Fill your boots.”

Taylor was silent for a moment.

“Got anything else for me?” I said. “Or shall I put the kettle on?”

“If you won’t come out, we’ll come in,” he said, nodding at my door.

The guys either side of him raised their pistols.

“Five seconds,” he said.

“Then what?” I said. “Those are only. 38s. Low muzzle velocity. The silencers will soak up another 10 percent. And this is a fire door. I’ll take my chances, thanks.”

“OK. I didn’t want this, but I’m out of patience. Here are your options. Room 1005. Mother, father, and eighteen-month-old daughter. Room 1015. Mother, and two teenage sons. Come out, or pick one. Then explain to their families why they’re vacationing at the morgue.”

I disconnected him and redialed Varley’s number. It started to ring. Taylor looked at his watch. Varley wasn’t answering. Taylor started to fidget. Then he moved away, to his left. Toward 1005. The pair of Tungsten guys followed him. Their bodies stretched and curved into distorted crescents as they reached the outer fringes of the spyhole’s range, but they didn’t quite disappear. I could still see what they were doing. The phone was still ringing. And still Varley didn’t respond.

So, in the end, I had no choice. This was no dream. There was nothing to hold me back. It was no time to stand around, watching, while three innocent people were murdered in their sleep. Not to mention the 320 slightly less blameless ones who wouldn’t survive the night if I let Taylor walk away. And Tanya. I had to hold on to Taylor to stand any chance of finding her. Even if it meant losing the upper hand.

I let the phone ring two more times.

Then I hung up and opened the door.

Right from the start we knew Navy Intelligence was training us for one thing. Infiltration. The ability to worm your way into a close-knit group, extract secret information, get word back to your own side, and get out again in one piece. So it came as no surprise to find that they’d set up one of the other recruits to spy on us. Especially after all the other tricks they’d pulled. Although, to be honest, she gave herself away pretty cheaply. The type of questions she asked. The places she was spotted. The way she tried to buddy up to you for a few days, before moving on to someone else.

After three weeks an emergency announcement was made. A security breach had been uncovered, it said. We were all summoned to the briefing room, that same morning. I remember everyone sidling past the chief instructor, not making eye contact but feeling smug, confident they were in the clear. And how that feeling changed when everybody was handed a file. It was thick. It gave details of everything that had been leaked. Only it hadn’t come from the person we’d all suspected. The real culprit turned out to be the quietest guy on the course. The one we’d all talked to, trying to bolster his confidence and save him from getting thrown out.

At first I thought the moral would be the usual “trust no one.” But the real point soon became clear. That people will only talk voluntarily if they don’t perceive a threat. Tongues will only wag when people believe they’re in a position of strength.

Even if, in reality, they’re not.

You could see the surprise creep across both agents’ faces when we reached the elevators and Taylor hit the UP button. They fought it back, and gave nothing more away for thirty seconds. Then surprise turned to confusion when the doors opened and Taylor stepped inside.

“Don’t play poker, do you?” he said, as the Tungsten guys herded the agents in behind him. “What did you expect? Down?”

He hit the button for the fourteenth floor.

“But don’t worry,” he said. “Your backup buddies won’t be hanging around long. Any minute now they’re going hear about my car getting spotted on the FDR. They’ll go after it. Chase shadows the rest of the night. Last place they’ll look for you is right here, in the same building.”

The elevator doors opened and Taylor led the way down the corridor. He stopped halfway along. Two of his guys took the agents into 1410. Taylor slipped his satchel off his shoulder and let himself into 1412. That left me alone with the two guys who had done the shooting. The silencers were gone and their. 38s were safely holstered. It was a tempting moment. But Taylor’s confidence was sky-high, and I wanted to keep it that way. I checked my watch. It was 2:34. No time to cover any ground twice.

The guy who’d done the rabbit impression was the first to move. He produced a key and opened the door to 1414. A light flickered on from inside the room. The other guy took my elbow and guided me through, in front of him. He steered me past the thin wooden closet and kept shoving until we reached the foot of the double bed. The rabbit guy was standing on the other side, looking around at the furniture. Then he took hold of a dressing-table chair, picked it up, and thoroughly checked it over.

“An elephant couldn’t break it,” he said. “Bring him.”

I sat down on the chair. Between them the two guys bound my wrists and ankles to its metal frame. They used four of the cable ties they’d taken from me, downstairs. Each one checked the other’s work, pulling all the ties a couple of clicks tighter. They dumped the rest of my possessions-the gun I’d inherited from Lesley’s guy, one last cable tie, my wallet, ID, room key, and key to Tanya’s apartment-on the dressing table. Then they perched on the bed behind me.

I couldn’t help wondering if Tanya was tied up somewhere, as well. Attached to a chair, like me. Or still strapped to one of Lesley’s trolleys…

“Is there a kettle in here?” I said. “I could really use a coffee.”

No one answered.

A picture of Lesley’s shiny wooden box crept into my mind. I could almost hear her voice. All her talk of volts and amps…

“Room service?” I said. “Maybe a snack, while we’re waiting?”

Neither of the guys replied. They seemed happy to just sit in silence. I couldn’t see my watch, but ten or eleven minutes must have crawled past without any activity. I stared at the wall and tried to fend off all the images that kept forming in my head. Then I heard a light knocking sound. It was coming from a door in the side wall, between the closet and dressing table. The rabbit guy jumped to his feet and opened it. A man stepped through. His hair was combed back and he was wearing a black suit with wide chalk pinstripes, like a Chicago gangster. It took me a moment to recognize who it was.

“Taylor?” I said. “What the hell have you got on?”