A group of men in sterile-looking outfits gently removed the body from the chair and placed it in an ordinary coroner’s bag. Tommy watched as the men carefully zipped the cocoon closed.
“Probably. Have you already done what you need to do to the area?” He looked at Will blankly.
“You want to take a look, don’t you?” Will seemed apprehensive.
“It’s my fault Terrance is dead. I need to know what he died for.”
Chapter 7
Emily cast Wyatt a worried glance. “Whoever that is, isn’t with me” she hissed. The fumbling noise at the door continued.
Sean stepped close to her and whispered in her ear, “Take off your clothes.”
“Excuse me?” She looked incredulous.
“Trust me. Just do it. Hurry up.” Sean said and undid the buttons on her blouse with a quick yank.
“You better know what you’re doing,” she said angrily under her breath.
“Lay down on the couch there,” he pointed to the sofa. “And try to look sexy.”
She shot him a sarcastic stare, while she hurriedly finished undressing down to her black bra and underwear, a move that only took her a few seconds with the outfit she wore. Then she laid down on the couch, propping her head up on her hand in an effort to look casual yet alluring.
Sean had slipped over to the dresser and removed his gun from the drawer and taken up a position in the corner near the bed. He would be out of the intruders’ sight until they moved beyond the wall that separated the bedroom from the foyer and bathroom. Whoever was entering the room would first see a half-naked woman before they would catch a glimpse of his hiding place. He hoped that moment of distraction would give him the advantage.
The sound of the door opening echoed through the room. Sean held his breath. He couldn’t see Emily from his crouching position but imagined she was struggling to stay calm. She’d been a great agent but sometimes fieldwork wasn’t her forte.
For a moment, there was no sign of the intruder. They were probably checking the bathroom first. Then, Emily’s voice interrupted the tense silence. “Come in,” she said seductively.
The man stepped into view wearing a tight, long-sleeved black shirt and matching pants. He looked like he was in his mid-thirties.
In his hand he carried a Glock with a sound suppressor attached, which he lowered slightly at the sight of the nearly-naked middle-aged woman on the sofa.
Sean squeezed the trigger twice, sending two rounds into the left side of the man’s chest. The intruder gasped as he fell against the wall and crumpled on the floor. Suddenly, a muffled popping of shots came from behind the corner creating spider webs of cracked glass through the large window at the other side of the room and sending Emily diving to the floor in-between the coffee table and the couch. There was more than one of them.
James Collack was sipping a cup of coffee he’d purchased downstairs at The Coffee Bean when he heard the distant pop of shots being fired. Something had gone wrong. Both of his men had been sent into the room with silenced weapons. The sound of normal gunfire meant that the idiots had somehow alerted Wyatt to their presence.
He stood from his seat in the Venezia Tower Bridge and straightened his black suit and tie.
“Do you hear that?” The female voice came through his earpiece.
“Yeah, I hear it.” He paused. “Which is why we planned for this.”
From his position, Sean couldn’t tell what Emily was doing. She was pinned down on the other side of the room behind the sofa. Fortunately, she had a little extra cover because the living room portion of the suite was sunken in, about three steps lower than the bed area.
The silent pops ceased for a moment.
Sean wasn’t sure if he should move in to attack or wait for the assailant to come around the corner.
Before he could decide, three loud retorts pierced through the silence from Emily’s position.
He was glad she still had her gun.
Sean used the new swath of cover fire to take a chance and go on the offensive. He hoped that her shots had momentarily thrown the intruder off guard. Deftly, he lurched over to the corner and looked down at Emily. With his hand he motioned for her to fire another shot in the vicinity where she’d been aiming. She accommodated by popping one more round into a painting that hung opposite of the bathroom door. As soon as she had, Sean turned the corner and unleashed two shots of his own at the man crouching by the bathroom door. The invader never had a chance. Emily’s shots had done exactly what Wyatt had hoped. He didn’t even get his weapon raised before bullets pierced the center of his chest and lower neck.
The body slumped to the floor, shocked eyes staring wide at the ceiling as the last few moments of life slipped away. Sean reached down and found an earpiece on the dead man. He pulled it up to his own ear in time to hear the instructions, “cover the elevators and the end of the hall.” He turned his attention to Emily who was already getting her clothes back on. “We have to go.”
She passed him an understanding glance and slipped on her shoes. Her blouse remained only half buttoned and now her hair was tousled. As she reached the railing of the three steps leading to the bed area, she turned around for a moment.
“Hurry,” Sean said.
She reached down and grabbed the glass and finished off the last of the cold drink.
“No sense in wasting good whiskey,” she said nervously.
He just shook his head.
“Ok, what’s the plan?”
“I just heard on the second guy’s radio that they are covering the end of the hall and the elevators. I say we go for the elevators.”
“But you just said there will be men there.” She looked dubious.
“There’s only two ways to go from this room. Towards the elevators provides more options of exit. And we’re going to have a fight either way we go.”
He had a point.
She gave a quick nod.
Sean stepped to the door quickly and eased it open, taking a quick glance at the immediate setting in front of his room. Then, leading with his gun, he aimed first down the hall to the right towards the elevators and then to the left. Closed doors lined the vast, empty hallway.
“Clear both ways. I’ll cover you,” he said. “Go.”
She ducked underneath him as he continued looking both directions and darted across the hall to a doorway about two rooms down. He did the same and wedged in a portal across the hall from her. A muffled shot came from the other end of the hall, tearing into the wall next to Sean. Seconds later, a barrage of more rounds were sent their way.
Emily tucked into the doorway as far as possible. Fortunately, they’d chosen a spot where the walls jutted out slightly, perhaps for load bearing. But that little extra construction provided them safe refuge for the moment.
Sean peeked around the corner and sent a volley of three shots back down the hall, sending the four men at the other end, reeling behind the corner. He looked back towards the elevators. Nothing yet.
She saw him flick his head to move and obeyed while he fired two more shots. Sean gave a quick glance back to make sure Emily had made it to the roundabout where the elevators met four dispersing hallways. She kept her gun trained into the large area and motioned for him to continue.
Why weren’t the men at the end shooting? He didn’t have time to ponder and took off, letting one more shot loose into the vacant hallway behind him as he sprinted into the intersecting hall.