Pike came back, saying, “You have positive ID?”
Knuckles said nothing else, knowing that Pike wouldn’t pester him in the middle of an assault. He bent down, held the Flipper Max against the RFID pad on the hotel door, and waited. It flashed green, he heard the lock disengage, and he pushed the handle down, swinging the door wide, then bending backwards out of the way.
Brett entered the room, the darkness chased by the beam from the light on his pistol. Knuckles rushed in right behind him, seeing Brett swinging the weapon looking for a threat, the light painting the room in a jagged glare wherever the barrel aimed.
He was their initial security, his mission to eliminate any lethal threats they hadn’t planned against. It was up to Knuckles to find the target. He heard Veep slam the door closed behind them and saw a shadow rise on the other side of the bed, next to the sliding door for the balcony.
Brett swung the pistol to the movement, pasting the figure in the harsh beam of the weapon light. Knuckles slammed into him, bringing the shadow to the ground in a linebacker tackle. The man began fighting and Knuckles wrapped up his arms, slapping a hand over his mouth. Brett joined the fight, holstering his pistol and cinching his arms around the figure’s legs. The man began to buck, both of them fighting to keep him from coming free, Knuckles shouting louder than he intended, “Hit him, hit him!”
Surprised to find the target fully clothed, Veep jabbed the thick syringe through the cloth in the man’s leg, then punched the plunger home. The man continued to fight, Knuckles and Brett controlling him, the time for the drug to take effect seeming to pass in slow motion. Gradually, the man grew weaker, his attempts becoming feeble. After about another minute that seemed more like a year, Knuckles released him, letting him flop onto the floor.
He said, “Man, that shit took forever. What the hell.”
Brett let go and said, “I told you that wasn’t going to be like Hollywood. Hit him with a needle and him falling over in a second doesn’t happen in the real world. Intramuscular injections take a while.”
Knuckles said, “Next time I’ll just use a club.”
Veep hit the target’s face with a light and said, “Uh-oh.”
Knuckles followed the beam and thought, Shit.
It wasn’t the Ghost.
Brett said, “What do you want to do?”
“Continue the mission. Veep, conduct SSE and collect everything we left behind from the recce today. Get all receipts and anything else you think is of value. Brett, let’s get the harness on him.”
Brett lowered his own pack and said, “You sure about this? We could exfil and call it a day. Leave this place and just let him wake up and wonder.”
“We might end up doing that, but I don’t want to waste any time. Let me call Pike while you get him ready. Get pictures of him first and send them to Pike.”
He let the two men get to work and clicked on the net, saying, “Pike, this is Knuckles.”
“This is Pike, go.”
Knuckles gritted his teeth and said, “Target secure, but dry hole. I’m packaging now, unless you want us to exfil.”
In a voice as calm as someone buying ice cream, Pike said, “Understood no jackpot on the Ghost. How secure is the target AO?”
Knuckles was grateful that Pike didn’t waste time trying to figure out what had happened. He only wanted the facts to make a future decision. The past could be dissected later. He breathed a sigh of relief, saying, “Our heat state is good. No compromise. We can remain until daylight if we need to. The only concern is the real jackpot returning. We can Charlie Mike, or break contact.”
Pike said nothing for a second, then, “Did you find anything useful in the room? Something that points to the Ghost?”
Knuckles turned to Veep, and he clicked on the net, saying, “Got some receipts and a touristy maté drinking kit. Nothing else.”
Knuckles said, “Blood, what about you?”
“Got a wallet with some credit cards, a passport, and an old-school flip-phone. Other than that, he’s clean. No pocket litter.”
Knuckles went back to Pike saying, “We could leave now and call it a robbery. He’ll know three men entered and he was drugged, which is a little extreme for just a wallet and some credit cards, but it is what it is.”
Pike said, “What do you think?”
“I say we take him. We’re eating a shit sandwich with the Oversight Council as it is. Might as well get something out of it.”
“Okay. I agree, not the least because Shoshana will kill me in my sleep if we captured him and let him go. Exfil him. I’ll turn him over to the Israelis, let them interrogate.”
That made Knuckles smile, something he was sure Pike intended. He said, “Roger all. We’ll meet you at the RV in less than twenty minutes.”
