Page 127 of Jase
“Do you? I’m not sure you do. I was talking to Agent Sullivan, and he mentioned he has this friend named Blake. I think maybe—”
“Rush, I understand this is hard for you, but now is not the time to go over Tiffany, sex, or Agent Sullivan. You can tell me all about it afterward. Look at the screen. Anything yet?”
“Hold on.”
Rush got quiet. I kept glancing over as I made a turn, putting us closer to Vitor’s location. A good minute passed before I leaned in.
“It looks like he’s moving. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. He was a block over when I looked down, and then he was suddenly back to the original spot. His damn location is jumping all over the place.”
I cursed, stopping at a red light.
“He was a block from us, now? Here?”
“Right around this turn. Get in the other lane and hit the next block up. This is a one-way street.”
“Shit.”
As soon as the lights switched to green, I switched lanes, turning. Loud music broke into the interior as the pedestrian traffic increased on each side of the road. Neon lights shone in some of the windows, and yelling grew as two men faced off from some sort of confrontation.
“I vaguely recall what the son of a bitch looks like. Will you recognize him if you see him?”
My head dipped as I scanned faces.
“Yeah. Short, dark hair. Mid-forties. Average height but bigger build. He reminds me of Cladsky but older.”
“Cladsky. Fuck I haven’t heard that name in forever.” Rush tilted back the screen, pausing. “Wait…we have steady movement again. Take a left ahead. Go slow.”
“That’s all I can do. Have you looked around? I’m boxed in.” Glancing in the rear-view mirror, I took in the headlights right on my ass. We were bumper to bumper. Even if we did see Vitor, it’s not like we could do much without bringing attention towards us. Video I could erase. Eyewitness testimony I could not.
“Once we turn, we can hopefully get a visual. It doesn’t appear he’s moving.” Rush scanned the people ahead waiting at the crosswalk. “If we can find a parking space somewhere in a darker area, we can carry out our plan. We’re going to have to move fast once we make sure it’s him.”
I waited for the people to cross, taking in even the darkest shadows. Vitor or his men could be anywhere. I couldn’t even guarantee that Vitor didn’t use someone else’s phone to contact me. The cloning was the same, but he’d been unknown before.
Turning, I kept a slow pace as the cars behind me drove straight, moving towards the increasing nightlife. There was less traffic this way. The road was darker. A few random people walked here and there in the distance, but it was mostly deserted.
“I don’t get it. It says he’s right here. Do you fucking see anything?”
A sound left me as I shook my head. “Look in cars. Maybe he’s in the actual building. There.” I pointed to an empty space not two car lengths away. “We’ll park and get ready. He’s gotta be somewhere close. When we spot him, we move.”
Rush agreed as I parked. We took out our guns, putting a bullet in each chamber. Looking through my night vision binoculars, I scanned the cars in the adjoining lot not far away. “We have to be positive it’s him. We can’t afford to make a mistake. If we fail, we may not get another chance. We’ll do this short and sweet. Approach. Confirm. Execute. No one lives. We save him for last.”
“Got it.”
Rush went back to looking at his laptop. His head came up and tried peering around me. A good minute passed before I jerked down the binoculars. I quickly handed them to Rush.
“Look down past the gray van. You might need to move more towards me. There’s an alley. I bet you anything that’s where he is.”
“I think you may be right. We can’t see shit from this angle. Unless we’re right up on it, we’re fucked. Ten to one, there’s someone guarding that entrance too. What do we do? Do we wait?”
Before I could answer, Rush stiffened, bringing them down to look at me. I smiled, never breaking my stare as a group of men appeared around the corner.
“Seems we may not have to.”
“Holy shit. Eight men? Why can’t this shit ever be easy?”
“Because it’s us.” I took back the binoculars, narrowing my eyes as I tried to figure out which was Vitor. They were all similar in appearance…all practically wearing the same fucking suit. It was genius, even if it was going to make this harder. “New plan,” I mumbled.
