The Poseidon Initiative (7 page)

Tanner and Danielle made sure not to even look at him as they made their way across the lobby in plain view from the Hofstad contact’s vantage point. Tanner knew to greet the man as Amir. He knew nothing more about him than that, other than what he said he’d be wearing and that he was affiliated in some way with the Hofstad terror organization. He doubted he was very high up, but he would try and find out.

“Small table,” Danielle said just loud enough for Tanner to hear as they approached the edge of the bar. Tanner had noticed it, too. They’d be sitting very close to one another, well subject to personal scrutiny. The Hofstad man made eye contact, first with Tanner and then Danielle as they passed into the bar. Tanner walked up to the high table with four barstools crammed around it, including the one Amir occupied, and nodded at the terror agent. Amir stood and extended a hand.

“Mr. Kohler?”

Tanner pumped his hand enthusiastically. “Yes, and you must be Amir. Pleased to meet you. This is my associate, Ms. Halifax.” Danielle shook Amir’s hand and said a pleasant greeting.

“Please sit,” Amir said, waving a hand at the cocktail table, where a glass of water sat in front of him. “I apologize for the cramped space, but as you can see,” he said, turning around to look at the slammed bar, “it’s a popular place.”

“Not a problem. My briefcase here might take up my drinking real estate, but that’s okay. We’ll celebrate later, right?”

Amir smiled as he watched Tanner lay the case on the table and unsnap its hinges. “I like a man who gets right to the point!”

Tanner shot Amir a serious look over the lid of the open case. “No reason to waste time when we’ve got an antidote that can save people’s lives, right?”

Amir nodded. “Of course not. We are very excited about your proposition. May I see the samples?”

“Certainly.” Tanner swung the case toward him so that he could view the secured racks of test tubes it contained. Within the tubes, a turquoise liquid suggested a antidote.

“Each tube contains how many human doses?” Amir peered intently into the case.

Danielle answered. “Ten.”

“And there are one hundred tubes?”

“That’s right. One thousand doses total.”

“And what is the shelf life of the antidote?” Amir looked at them both expectantly.

“As long as it’s kept out of temperature extremes and away from direct sunlight, they should remain viable indefinitely.”

Amir looked pleased. “And this is a one-time use antidote, not a vaccine. In other words, it does not prevent you from being affected by STX again, correct?”

Danielle nodded. “That’s right. It’s an antidote, not a vaccine.”

“We’re working on a vaccine as well,” Tanner said, playing the part of zealous biotech exec. “But this antidote is a very exciting milestone step.”

“Most definitely.” Amir tore his gaze from the blue vials to look Tanner in the eye. “You have the requested technical data on this antidote?”

Danielle handed him a folder emblazoned with the Helix Biotech logo. “Full specifications for your perusal.”

He took the folder, opened it briefly, then looked up again. “And may I have a small testing sample with which to verify the efficacy of the antidote? Just a simple test. Only a few hours will be required. You will be staying here in the hotel tonight?”

Tanner nodded. He removed a smaller tube, half the size of the others, from the case, and handed it to Amir. “You may use this for testing purposes. I’m sure you will be quite pleased. Are you staying in the hotel as well?”

The question had some risk, as he didn’t want to be seen as pressing for information on Hofstad’s whereabouts, but he thought it was reasonable given that he had just been asked the same thing. He was surprised, however, at how promising the answer seemed.

“Yes, my company put me up in the penthouse. They have a block of dates reserved each year, and happened to have a couple of days left, so…lucky for me!”

Tanner and Danielle expressed suitable “great for you” remarks.

Then Tanner pulled a business card out of his suit jacket pocket and offered it to Amir. He took it, nodding at first as he read the Helix Biotech information on the front, then narrowing his eyes a bit as he flipped the card over and saw the circuitry on back. He looked up at Tanner with a bemused expression that clearly said,
what’s this?

Tanner smiled and tried to act just a bit embarrassed. “It’s a video game. Remember Pac Man? You can actually play it right on the card.” To Tanner, the game was also an allegory. One character being chased around a board by four more, always needing to stay one step ahead or else be captured.

“Really? I must try it right now!” Tanner wondered if Amir’s enthusiasm for the game was genuine, or if he was really only checking to see if the circuit was in fact just a game. He pressed a tiny button on the card and Tanner watched his face alight with amusement as the classic arcade game started up with its jingly music.

“Remarkable! The wonders of technology never cease to amaze me!” Amir turned the game off and pocketed the card.

Tanner nodded at the racks of aquamarine test tubes inside the case as he shut the lid. “I quite agree!”

The Hofstad man stood and glanced at his watch.

“I assume that if we agree to the deal later this evening, you would be able to pay in cash at that time?”

“Absolutely.” Amir gave an assertive nod. “I will text you.” Then he turned and disappeared into the sea of people in the bar area.

Charleston, South Carolina

Tanner opened his hotel door and led Danielle into the room. He wasted no time setting the case of “samples” down and then removing a backpack from the hotel safe while Danielle drew the room curtains.

“Let’s see if we get a signal on the transponder.” Tanner removed a piece of electronic equipment about the size of a smartphone from his backpack and set it up on the single table in the room. He powered the unit on and drummed his fingers on the table while it initialized. He could have had Liam tail Amir right from the bar, but opted not to since Amir was sure to have his own spotters who would notice. They’d let the tracking device do the work.

“Signals transmit through walls okay?” Danielle asked.

“Yes, high frequency, limited range. Walls aren’t a problem, distance is. Let’s see what we get.” He squinted at the device’s LCD readout.

“I recognize that devilish smile,” Danielle said. “You’ve got a hit, don’t you?”

“Yep.” He tapped one of the gadget’s buttons and watched the display for a few more seconds. “He’s off site. Let’s go, before he gets out of range.”

Tanner grabbed the tracker and headed for the door, Danielle close behind. They ran down the hallway to the elevator. They were on the tenth floor so Tanner hit the call button and waited. After an agonizingly long minute the elevator opened and a gaggle of Midwest tourists poured out into the hallway, not sure if they were on the right floor. Tanner and Danielle politely asked them if they wanted to get back in. They didn’t need to be remembered by anyone for seeming rude or hurried.

They rode the elevator down to the parking garage and found their rental car, a white compact SUV. Tanner handed Danielle the tracker and got behind the wheel.

“Still got him, he’s heading north on East Bay.”

Tanner pulled the SUV out of their space while Danielle monitored the tracker. He saw a Vespa scooter pull out of a spot in his rear view. It was Liam, now wearing a black hoodie in place of the sombrero and T-shirt. He was tempted to tailgate the car ahead of him through the gate arm rather than wait to pay the parking lot attendant, but he knew that such attention would be foolish. Tanner calmly pulled up to the window, paid the attendant the fee with cash, and slowly rolled out of the garage.

“Looks like he just turned west onto Queen.” To anyone observing, it would look as though Danielle was Tanner’s wife, using a smartphone or GPS while he drove. Tanner stepped on the gas.

“Wish we knew what he was driving,” Danielle said, eyeing the tracker. “Still on Queen.”

They made their way through the small city, lights coming on for the evening. Tanner made the left onto Queen just as Danielle announced a course change.

“He made a right onto King.”

Tanner accelerated down Queen until he had to stop for a light.

“He’s slowing down,” Danielle squinted at the tracking gadget.

Tanner hit the gas again until he made the right onto King.

“He’s stopped up ahead. Looks like right side.” Danielle looked out the window in that direction. The street was a commercial district, with shops, restaurants and hotels lining both sides, many done in the distinctive Georgian architectural style. Pedestrians crowded the sidewalks. Tanner pulled to a stop in front of a busy crosswalk and Danielle said, “There he is.”

She didn’t point or even look in his direction, but instructed Tanner verbally. “One O’clock. Couple hundred feet. Metallic blue sedan. Porter’s grabbing his luggage from the trunk. Tanner watched as Amir handed his keys to the valet. Green shirt, tan slacks. He’d ditched the hat he wore earlier, but it was definitely him. He walked toward the lobby entrance.

“So much for staying at the Hilton,” he said. He took a left before he reached Amir’s hotel. He didn’t think he knew what they were driving, but were they to be recognized, their cover would be blown. Better safe than sorry. Tanner wondered if other Hofstad personnel were staying here as well.

“What’s our next move?” Danielle wanted to know.

“We know where he’s staying now. We’ll head back to our hotel. I’ll contact Liam and have him maintain surveillance on the entrance so he can follow Amir in case the transmitter fails or if he catches on to it somehow.”

“He probably won’t have need to visit his superiors unless he actually buys the antidote,” Danielle pointed out, still keeping an eye on the tracker where the dot representing Amir’s location remained fixed.

“Right. I was thinking that unfortunately, even if they do fall for it and make the purchase, it’s also possible that he could maintain custody of it himself and not lead us anywhere with it.”

“First things first. I just hope he buys it.”

Tanner picked up a handheld radio and transmitted to Liam that he should maintain watch on Amir’s hotel entrance.

“Copy that. If he leaves, you’ll know about it,” came Liam’s confident reply.

Tanner drove them back to the Hilton and they walked back into the lobby. Tanner and Danielle scanned the bar to see if any of the same people were still there and seemed to be watching them, but neither detected anything suspicious.

Once inside their room, Danielle consulted the tracker again.

“He’s still in the hotel.”

Tanner checked his mobile phone to make sure it was ready to receive texts. It was the only way Amir had to contact him. Satisfied it was operational, he set it on the table next to the tracker and sat in one of the chairs.

“If he doesn’t contact me by ten O’clock tonight, I’d say there’s a problem. Either he detected the surveillance or found out the samples are bogus.”

“Or both,” Danielle added cheerfully. “What time is it now?”

Tanner scowled at his Cartier. He still hadn’t gotten used to an analog watch that had no numbers on the face. “I think it’s seven.”

Just then Tanner’s radio crackled with Liam’s voice. “I’ve got a make on him. He’s walked out of the lobby and he’s heading toward a waiting taxi.”

“Copy that. Stay with him.”

“He’s getting into the cab. Cab is moving…”

They could hear the sounds of traffic emanating from the radio speaker when Liam transmitted.

“Can you follow without being seen?”

“Affirmative. Will do. He’s moving north up King now in the cab.”

Danielle glanced at the tracking device and made a face.

“What is it?” Tanner asked.

“The transponder hasn’t moved from the hotel.”

“Maybe he’s still too close for it to register. I’m not sure what the accuracy is supposed to be for that thing.”

He keyed the radio transmitter and spoke. “Liam you still with him?”

“Copy that. Cab is moving pretty quick, we’re coming up on Calhoun.”

Danielle shook her head, still staring at the tracker. “That’s almost half a mile from his hotel. He left it behind.”

“I saw him put it in his jacket pocket right after I gave it to him. Maybe he changed clothes before he went out.”

“You sure are a glass half full kinda guy, aren’t you Tanner?”

Just then the radio squawked with Liam’s voice. “Bad news.”

“Go ahead Liam.”

“He’s getting on Highway 26. My scooter’s not highway legal. 50cc’s, I won’t be able to keep up anyway if the traffic breaks up. Right now I could, though.”

“Go for it, Liam.”

Tanner pocketed the radio, picked up his keys and looked at Danielle. “Grab the tracker.”

“But he left it in the room.”

“I know. We may have lost him, unless Liam is Evil Knieval on that thing, but we haven’t lost his room. We can see if he left anything interesting in there.”