22
“Do exactly what I tell you and everything will be fine,” a red haired man told
Anthony. He slowly trod behind the man. The man’s eyes narrowed and it became difficult for Anthony to comprehend what happened. The eyes expressed the opposite of the man’s voice, which was calm and comforting.
The plan, keep to the plan, went through Anthony’s head, but there wasn’t much of a plan. The whole situation appeared peculiar to him. With his head still aching from the operation he answered, “I don’t think we can just barge in there; what if there is a guard”? He was sweating and drops of perspiration appeared at the edge of his woolen hat. His companion insisted he wore a baseball cap, Anthony believed those only suited young people and rappers. He wasn’t a rapper and he sure didn’t want to be compared with one of them.
“Of course there are security guards. Don’t you worry we’ve got that part covered. Let me tell you a little secret, I am a member of the team. But to be on the safe side, you better keep your voice down.” Although the man didn’t wear a woolen hat, Anthony noticed sweat drops on his head too.
Satisfied of how they were going to get past the guards, they could be anywhere in the building, Anthony loudly said, “What a relief.”
“Shut your fucking mouth! Do you want everyone to hear we’re here? Why don’t you take off that stupid hat”? This is the 21st century not the 70’s.” The scarlet man hissed.
They reached the lobby of the hotel after they walked through a terrace and conservatory. With his friendliest voice and face the scarlet man approached the desk where a young man busied himself with writing some notes in a diary. Next he punched several keys on the keyboard of his \Mac.
“Excuse me,” the scarlet man uttered.
“Just one moment sir,” the receptionist interrupted the man. He gave the impression he didn’t care to leave hotel guests waiting. Most of them booked their rooms on line and came from overseas.
“Excuse me I said,” Grabbing one of the arms of the receptionist the scarlet man looked him deeply into his eyes. This un-conversional method seemed to get the attention of the receptionist.
“Take your hands off me. What do you think you’re doing?” The receptionist said. His face turned bright red and his eyes blinked repeatedly.
“We are from the Special Force Unit. We are here to protect the subject.”
“The subject, I don’t know of any subject? Do you mind telling me what you’re talking about?” The receptionist asked. The scarlet man let go off his arm.
“This is top secret and you shouldn’t know what we are talking about. However I can see you’re not completely stupid so perhaps you have noticed some guests with little or no luggage. They are from the force too but from another department. Now it must also be kept a secret for them we are in the building. As you can see we are here incognito,” the man pointed at Anthony, he was still sweating under his woolen hat.
“May I see your identification please?” the receptionist asked more politely than usually.
“You may indeed.” The scarlet man produced a plastic card and held it in front of the receptionist’s eyes. “So there we are then, just pretend we’re not here. We will take up our posts now.”
“Not so fast sir, I haven’t been able to read your name. I will have to notify my superior about this.” The receptionist was about to dial a number but the scarlet man grabbed his arm again. Other guests waited for their turn, some patiently other less patiently, but no one saw what happened or at least they pretended to.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the scarlet man whispered. I told you before no one is to know we are in the building. We have reason to believe the subject is in great danger, there might be a change he’ll be attacked during his stay in this hotel. You don’t want to be responsible, don’t you?”
“I find this an extraordinary story sir; may I at least have your name?”
“My name is Agent Wight and this is Agent Crow,” Wight pointed at Anthony.
“Work away gentlemen, one little tip, Mr. Crow, I hope you don’t mind saying this but you look ridiculous in that hat and as a matter of fact hats like that are not allowed in this hotel. Please, will you be so kind to take it off.”
“There is a bit of a problem mate; he has undergone an operation recently.” Wight said.
“I’ll take it off if you want me, but I rather don’t,” Crow spoke for the first time. Without warning he pulled off the hat showing a bald head.
“Well now you don’t look too bad….” Before the receptionist could finish Wight’s mobile rang.
“Yes? Yes we are in the hotel. No, that’s fine we are about to take our posts, we will contact you if there is any news.” Closing the phone Wight turned away from the reception desk followed by Crow, to the delight of the waiting guests.
At the sixth floor the men got out of the elevator. Wight quickly scanned the corridor for any living soul, nobody. Searching inside his blazer he pulled out a 42 revolver. A soft click was all they heard when he placed a silencer on the weapon. Next the men walked towards a door with the word EXIT on it.
“Keep low,” Wight whispered, he peeked through the glass in the door. He held his weapon with both hands aiming at the floor he made sure no one at the other side of the door was able to see him.
All seemed quiet on the other side. Wight opened the door and walked through. Patiently he held the door open for Crow. The two men ascended the stairs. On the second flight, Wright put his arm out to stop Anthony behind him.
“Wait here, till I call for you,” he ordered. “Don’t move until I tell you.” His cold blue eyes looked straight into Anthony’s. They stared right through him. Anthony shivered. He feared the man in the suit who called himself Wight. He nodded and sat down on one of the steps, glad to be able to rest for a while. All those stairs were killing him. Wight moved towards a door with the number seven on it. Peeking around the corner Wight hold his weapon stretched in front of him. This time, he saw two body guards standing at the other side of the corridor. They had their backs turned to him. One of them showed something to his mate. They were a perfect target. Wight put his weapon inside the waistband of his slacks, opened the door and walked towards the men.
“Your pass please sir,” one of the body guards said.
“Chill out, I am part of the security, here is my pass.” With a swift movement of his hand Wight yanked the 42 out of its hiding place and pulled the trigger. Before the second guard knew what was happening, both were shot. The bodies of the two body guards fell lifeless on the floor. Their blood colored the carpet dark red.
*
Four months into the pre-elections Senator Tobias Collins attracted new voters everywhere he went and he’d raised far more money than his biggest rival, Kate Blanchfield. Winning the polls in eight states gave him even more confidence in winning the presidential elections in November. Life could not be better. Tobias took off his bathrobe and stepped into the bath of his five star hotel suite, the warm water soothed his athletic body.
Although he was only in his late forties, running for office took a lot of energy. Stretching his full 5ft. 11 inch body in the bath appeared impossible. Nevertheless, he made himself comfortable. The candles he’d put alongside the bath radiated a pleasant fragrance. A CD of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons played in the back ground. Spring, the season he was born in, was his favorite track on the CD, when it came on he closed his eyes and leaned his head against a folded towel.
The second the lukewarm towel touched his hair, Tobias mind transferred to the previous night. He’d spent it with Rose, his personal assistant. Lying naked beside him, he touched her breasts, they were round and soft. Rose sighed contently as he gently stroked her nipples. Thinking of her naked body, Tobias’s genitals began to swell.
Her soft hands stroked him, but then they suddenly became hard and rough. Someone was hurting him. There was something drastically wrong with the picture. He opened his eyes and saw a man. A second man pushed a cold object against his neck. The man in front of him wore a woolen hat and was seriously overweight. The man appeared lost and drugged to do Senator.
“What are you doing in my room? What do you want from me?” Tobias asked in bewilderment.
“Shut up. Get out of the bath,” the Senator recognized one of his own men barking at him. Victor Rogozihn, he thought. The man’s rosy hair struck against his sweaty forehead.
Nervously Tobias eyed his intruders. ”But I’m naked.”
“Well what has that to do with us? Come on, we don’t have the whole evening. We have more to do than taking care of you.”
“What do you mean by that?” Tobias frowned.
“You’ll find out soon enough. Now, get out of the fucking bath,” Victor slapped Tobias across the face. Blood dripped down from his nostrils.
“Can’t we leave him in the bath?” Anthony asked. He shifted from one leg to the other as if the weight of his body was too much for him to carry. While doing this he looked repeatedly over his shoulder.
“No we can’t” Victor said. Again Tobias was slapped across the face.
“All right, but give me that towel over there,” Tobias pointed at a towel, which hung over a radiator. With a quick movement of his head Victor ordered Anthony to come nearer. “Get that towel.”
“I’m not going to warn you again,” out of the blue Victor put his gun under the Senator’s chin. “You don’t have so much to say now, do you?”
Obedient, Tobias rose from the foam. He was shaking, not from fear but out of anger. “They’ll get you for this,” he hissed between his teeth while he put the towel around his waist.
Subsequently Victor forced his victim into the bedroom and ordered Anthony to tie the Senator. Although he wasn’t sure whether he did right or wrong, he was doing what Victor told him.
A short while later Victor forced the Senator to stand on a chair. Anthony practically lifted him onto the chair while Victor held the piece of furniture steady. His gun resting safely between the belt of his slacks.
“Don’t you ever think we can put up with a nigger for president,” Victor snarled.
Something inside Anthony told him what he was doing was wrong, although the voices in his head kept saying otherwise.
“He has done well, hasn’t he”?
“Indeed he has”.
Anthony stepped away from the chair, for a moment he gazed at his companion. He saw the cold stare in Victor’s eyes. The man gave a little nod and in a trance Anthony kicked the chair. The body of Senator Collins, the future president of the United States dangled from the ceiling. His body moved and twisted in all directions.
While the assailants made their way out of the building, Anthony’s mind worked overtime.
*
When Anna and May left the restaurant they witnessed a man rushing out of a hotel. However it couldn’t be Anthony, he would never let his beard grow. However for a moment May thought it was her husband. The man didn’t even notice her. He walked like Anthony, lifting his feet as if about to jump. But it couldn’t be Anthony because he would recognize her. In an even greater hurry another man followed him. He virtually pushed the man with the beard into a taxi.
Back at her hotel room May Baker gazed at her TV set. This late in the evening there wasn’t much on. Her attorney seemed to be very certain of the situation. Could it be true, were things so simple like he suggested during dinner? Would the advertisement he placed really bring them to Anthony? If finding Anthony was that simple why didn’t I think of it myself? Anthony rarely read a newspaper at home. However, you’d never know, someone could have seen him.
Even though she was in the same city as her husband, it felt like she was a million miles away from him. May was well aware that finding Anthony wasn’t going to be easy. She knew, she needed all the help she could possible get. When the news came on she recognized the Ensenada.
“Look,” she said to Anna. Isn’t that the street where we had the dinner? “
“It sure is,” Anna confirmed. Curious about what the reporter had to say, both women leaned forward in their chairs.
“A few hours ago, Senator Collins was found murdered in the five star Saturn hotel behind me,” the reporter spoke into her microphone.
“What?” May exclaimed. “He can’t be dead, he is my favorite candidate. I can’t believe it!”
“Shush, be quiet,” Anna ordered.
“Senator Collins was found by his secretary and was announced dead on the scene,” the reporter went on.
Upset by the shocking news, May switched off the TV.
Down stairs at the bar, May said, “No, honestly I would have sworn it was him.” Sipping her orange juice, she looked at Anna. “I should have gone after him, but they were gone before I had the chance.”
“What do you think he was doing there?” Anna asked. “And who might have been the other man? He didn’t look very nice to me.”
“Hm, so you too think it was Anthony?”
“Perhaps, they both came out of the Saturn.”
“You’re not saying my husband has anything to do with the murder do you?” May asked, she was feeling agitated.
“No, of course not, I just thought it to be a coincidence,” Anna quickly replied.
“Anthony might be a lot of things, but he sure isn’t a murderer.”
*
The dreadful news about Senator Collins death travelled fast. Frank Clark sipped from a cup of coffee at Joe’s when a news reader interrupted a program on TV. The place which was crowded with patrons fell silent for a moment. They all expressed their disbelief. Clark left the establishment without finishing his coffee. While a cool breeze blew outside Frank made his way back to the Aphrodite.
*
The thought of getting a chip placed in her head frightened Anika. Although it would be temporary, still it sent cold shivers over her body every time the idea entered her mind. She listened to the music on the radio allowing her thoughts to run free. Alone in her room in the Delphi Clinic, she felt the lonely. She regretted her parents couldn’t be with her. In the eleventh hour before her own operation, she needed someone to comfort her.
“I’m doing the right thing. Where is David?” It been days since I heard from him.