The Gaze of Caprice (The Caprice Trilogy Book 1) (71 page)

The building’s entrance lobby was served by a long counter.  The counter had two split screen monitors with nine camera angles each.  There was a microphone for the PA system, a trigger switch for a silent police alarm, two phones for an inside and outside line, a checklist and a holder for radio transceivers.  There were two security guards stationed at the counter during the day and one at night.  The security guards weren’t allowed guns but one was tucked away in a safe behind the counter.  The guard noticed the camera at the side entrance no longer had a live feed.  His phone rang.  He was asked by his colleagues in the security room if he had noticed the disrupted camera feed.  He had.  It was decided that two guards sitting in the security room would investigate.  A third guard remained in the security room while a fourth was on routine patrol.  The front entrance of the building was quiet.  The quiet was interrupted.  There was an abrupt sound like a child stirring the pot banging the spoon against every side.  It was loud.  Then it stopped.  The guard at the front desk heard the sound.  He picked up the phone receiver to be sure he wasn’t the only one.  The phone rang in the security room.  There was no answer.  He set the receiver down and looked around the lobby.  He pressed the red button in front of him and spoke into the microphone. 
Front Desk calling Backroom, please pick up the phone
.  His voice didn’t show any panic.  If anything it was a joke.  It had to be.  But one part didn’t fit.  The guard looked up and saw three men approaching the front door.  One had a dark vest and tattooed arms.  A large assault weapon was cradled in his arms.  The other two were holding duffle bags in one hand and guns in the other.  One of the men swiped a black card across the magnetic reader then swipe the same car in a small black device.  He swiped the black card again on the magnetic reader and the glass door was unlocked.  The tattooed man pushed through the glass door entrance.  The door didn’t resist him.  The guard sat at the desk.  He was stunned.  If it was a prank he wanted to be a man about it.  He didn’t want to break.  If it wasn’t a joke the silent alarm was overdue.  Mr. Li walked toward the counter with the muzzle of his
MP5
aimed directly at the security guard—not a prank.

              “Did you do it?” asked Mr. Li.  The guard shook his head.
I don’t know what you mean
.

              “Do it,” said Mr. Li, “Hit the alarm.”  The guard sat still with his hands up in the air, full surrender.  Mr. Li squeezed the trigger.  The shots weren’t as loud as would have been expected.  The sound of the guard hitting the floor with his keys was just as loud.   Mr. Li walked around the counter and hit the silent alarm switch beneath the counter.  He could hear footsteps in the hall.  Mr. Li called out in Mandarin to the Sheltered Ones.  There was no answer.  A security guard fired a shot with a gun he wasn’t supposed to have.  The shot hit Mr. Li in the right of his chest.  The strap of the
Kevlar
vest took the blunt force but the bullet grabbed some flesh.  Mr. Li caught his balance and aimed his muzzle at the corner and opened fire into the space leading to the elevators.  Mr. Li sent Wang Xi and Yi Le around to the other side of the foyer while he stayed low to the ground.  Mr. Li advanced slowly with much of his body weight on his forearms.  His advance was slow but steady.  He kept his muzzle aimed forward.  As he moved he thought of his opponent, an old habit.  The shot had been fired with minimum readiness and maximum accuracy.  If the shot had rang out to the right it would have hit Mr. Li in the neck—fatal.  Mr. Li barely got a glimpse of the guard’s uniform as he ducked back down behind the wall.  He was effective.  Effective had to be practiced.  Effective had to be taught.  Mr. Li knew the guard had training—not for security detail—for combat.  He realized sending Wang Xi and Yi Le to the other side was a mistake.  It was a good move to flank.  It was a bad move when it cut off communication.  Wang Xi and Yi Le still thought they were dealing with a run of the mill security guard.  Mr. Li took it upon himself to correct his mistake.  He took his shoes off and walked along side the wall.  He threw his shoes out toward the elevators.  The security guard was around the corner crouched against the wall.  It wasn’t sophisticated but it was enough.  The flying shoes distracted the guard’s attention just enough for Mr. Li to reposition himself against the opposite wall spraying bullets at the guard’s position.  Several bullets hit the guard.  It was the natural outcome of Mr. Li’s actions.  The guard was still breathing.  Mr. Li could hear it.  His breathing was labored as if he was breathing around his lungs, not through them.  Mr. Li’s next shot was fired out of mercy.  But Mercy Rules didn’t last long.  There was still one more guard.  He had retreated into the security room and locked the door.  Mr. Li wasn’t sure if there were anymore surprises in the security room so he instructed Wang Xi and Yi Le to fire through the door.  They did.  Shooting the lock off the door Mr. Li kicked open the door.  He moved to the side of the doorway and threw his
MP5
on the floor in the security room.  The door swung shut. 

Inside the security room, a middle-aged man had a look of utter anxiety on his face.  His heart beat so fast it hurt.  He was unarmed against automatic weapons, weighing his options.  When the
MP5
landed in the room, he instinctively grabbed it.  Like a sailor turning to seawater, it was better than nothing.  Mr. Li looked at Wang Xi and Yi Le.  He put his index finger over his lips.  He opened the door again to see a scared look on the security guards face and an
MP5
in his hands.  The security guard aimed at Mr. Li and opened fire.  The bullets either bounced off Mr. Li or went right through him.  Mr. Li was unaffected.  The guard realized the magazine was empty.  All rounds were spent.  He realized it too late.  Mr. Li rushed in kicking him in the bridge of his nose.  The force of the kick and the breaking of his nose were enough to render him all but unconscious.  He was still awake when he felt the weight of a foot on his throat.  The foot sank deeper blocking the flow of air to his brain.  He slowly went under, slowly.  It was peaceful, except for the intended consequence.  Wang Xi destroyed the surveillance equipment and the camera feeds, otherwise leaving the security room in tack.   

              Mr. Li went back to the counter in the main lobby and used the PA system.  He spoke in Mandarin and told Liu Ping and Huang Sitian to meet by the elevators.  They met by the elevators but they took the stairs.  It was twenty-two floors up to the sky mezzanine and they did it by foot.  They rested in the lounge area of the mezzanine for a prescribed five minutes before continuing.  The stairwell shifted.  From the mezzanine floor to the offices of
Costas & Yeager
was another eighteen floors up.  Mr. Li promised them it would be easier on the way down.  He also promised they would get to make the trip down.  A layout of
Costas & Yeager
wasn’t available.  The Agency had setup the office and made sure the office was kept private. 
Costas
was like
Caprice
; few had access to the file.  Mr. Li, Liu Ping, Wang Xi, Huang Sitian and Yi Le went on a room by room search for the server room and they did it on the hop. 
Costas & Yeager
had a three-floor office suite.  The search took time.  They went floor-by-floor but never thought of a simple idea,
heat rises
.  The server room was on the third floor of the
Costas & Yeager
suite, the 42
nd
floor overall—the top.  The server room got hot.  It was designed with a ventilation system to let heat do what it naturally did, rise.  The fan system was minimal.  It blew the hot air steadily upward and outward coming out of vents on the roof of
The Reis Center Building
.  The system didn’t require much energy, which saved
Costas & Yeager
some money, Venezuela’s money. 

• • •

              The door was slightly smaller than the other doors, a deception.  The server room was somewhat bigger.  Mr. Li found the administrative hardware and stroked a few keys to activate the dormant screen.  The system required a password.  Mr. Li didn’t need one.  Wang Xi was behind him with his duffle bag.  Wang Xi set the duffle on the floor, unzipping it from the top.  He removed a single unit hard drive from the duffle and gave it to Mr. Li.  Mr. Li fit the USB cable extending from the hard drive into a USB port on the server.  That was all he had to do.  The hard drive had a single program on it and it was self-executing.  The program lobotomized the server and went to work.  Mr. Li looked at his watch.  Liu Ping, Huang Sitian and Yi Le watched the windows.  Police cars began to show up two and three at a time.  Liu Ping ran to the server room to see Mr. Li and Wang Xi as still as the server itself.  Unlike the server, they were cool. 

              “
The police
,” said Liu Ping.

              “
Ok
,” said Mr. Li looking back at the screen.  The program finished uploading.  Mr. Li pulled the USB cable from the server.

              “
What do we do
?” asked Liu Ping. 

              “
Wait
,” said Mr. Li.

              “
For what
?” asked Liu Ping, “
You said we’d be gone by the time they get here
.”

              “
We will
,” said Mr. Li.

              “
They’re here already
,” said Liu Ping.

              “
No
,” said Mr. Li, “
They’re not.  It only looks that way
.”  Mr. Li patted Liu Ping on the shoulder and walked off.

              “
Stay here
,” he said.  Mr. Li kept walking.  He walked down to the end of the hall and found himself alone.  He pulled a small object out of his pocket.  He held the prepaid phone in his right hand and dialed, calling a public official on a private number. 

              Umberto Sosa was Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States, four years running.  His private number was for personal business.  He didn’t expect a long distance call, outside the range of his personal circle.  The time was 6:45am in Washington D.C.

“Hello,” was managed through slumbering vocal cords.  Ambassador Sosa was used to early mornings but not used to speaking during the early morning.

              “Good morning Ambassador,” said Mr. Li.

              “Who is this?” asked Ambassador Sosa.

              “Your new banker,” said Mr. Li.

              “Are you a joker?” asked Ambassador Sosa.

              “Rarely,” said Mr. Li.

              “How did you get this number?” asked Ambassador Sosa.

              “Don’t worry about this number,” said Mr. Li, “Worry about 308 billion, the wealth of your country.” 

              “What are you talking about?” asked Ambassador Sosa.

              “Your country has $308 billion under management at
Costas & Yeager
,” said Mr. Li.

              “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Ambassador Sosa.

              “Good,” said Mr. Li, “Then you won’t miss it.  Call your country’s treasury.  Tell them to check their account.  They’ll see that it has been zeroed.”             

              “Why would you bother to tell me this?” asked Ambassador Sosa.

              “Because I don’t want the money,” said Mr. Li.

              “What do you want?” asked Ambassador Sosa.

              “Mason Keig,” said Mr. Li.

              “What?” asked Ambassador Sosa.

              “Not what,” said Mr. Li, “Who.  Your government is holding an American man on charges of espionage.  Mason Keig is his name.  I exchange the money for the man,              nothing else.”

              “I can’t do that,” said Ambassador Sosa.

              “Call the treasury, tell them to check the account.  When you want to talk dial this number,” said Mr. Li.  Mr. Li hung up the phone.  He had nothing to do.  He told his five men how they would breach the building.  He didn’t tell how they would get out.  It was the part better left unsaid.  His exit strategy was logical.  In game theory it was probable.  That didn’t mean it was possible.  So he said nothing.  The five men were nervous but not as nervous as Mr. Li.  His plan would flow if everyone involved behaved rationally.  But rationality was not the flow of human behavior.  So he waited to see.  All he had was the wait.  His phone rang twenty-seven minutes after hanging up.

              “We want to handle this in the best manner possible,” said Ambassador Sosa. 

“So do we,” said Mr. Li, “But I need a favor.”

              “What favor?” asked Ambassador Sosa.

              “We’re in
The Reis Center Building
at
Costas & Yeager
,” said Mr. Li, “The money has already been dispersed to separate accounts but we’re still stuck here.  If we’re arrested it’ll be public record along with so much else we might say.  If you want the sovereign wealth fund to remain secret and get your money back, get rid of the police for us.  Then we’ll deal.”