2- Cake Walk

2

Cake Walk

Eliza Adams watched the lobby of the Hotel Northwood like a hawk.  She took note of everyone coming into or leaving the hotel as well as the guys at the bar which could be seen from the cushy lobby chair where she sat.  She had to be vigilant now, more than ever.  This was her first field assignment with the Department of Homeland Security after finishing her 22 week training program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia.

“Relax.”  Her partner and mentor Barkley Samuels spoke easily next to her sitting on the plush couch that was arranged with the chair in the hotel’s lobby as if it were a living room.  “You are watching the room like you are watching the room.  Just relax and pretend we are waiting for someone.”

“We are waiting for someone.”  Eliza fired back and knew she shouldn’t have.

Eliza, Liz for short, was twenty five years old, with an athletic build and a hard angled face.  The Feds had recruited her out of college with no experience, which was very rare in the business.  Usually, five years’ experience was required.  She had known she wanted to be DHS since she was fifteen and now the dream had come true, but she was far from out of the woods.

New agents usually had a partner with significant years in the field so they could learn the ropes first hand.  More than that, they also had significant input on whether the new agent remained an agent.  One bad word from Barkley and everything fell apart.

She sat back in her chair and sighed.  “I’m sorry sir, I didn’t mean to…”

Barkley waved his hand.  “Don’t worry about it.  I know the pressure you are under but this is going to be a cake-walk bust for us.  Trust me.”

Barkley was pushing forty with a short buzz cut of blonde hair that was reseeding back into a widow’s peak.  He kept himself in good shape despite his age.  He had broad shoulders and a good amount of muscle in his arms.  Coupled with a beer belly, the short man reminded Eliza of what a wall of human would look like.

“You say that, sir,” Eliza replied with more respect now.  “But Lentz is becoming a legend.  One of our own, a guy who has been here since the formation of the Department, selling secrets?  It’s unfathomable.”

Bill Lentz had been an analyst for the DHS since its formation in 2002 after the attacks of September 11. The background checks that went into getting into an organization formed almost primarily to stop terrorist attacks where rigid.  Back then they were nearly impossible to pass, yet somehow Bill Lentz had passed it all and made it into the ranks of America’s elite, only to spend the next twelve years passing info on to the highest bidder.  Only recently had information come to light that pointed the finger at Lentz.  No sooner than that, Lentz had gone into hiding and been off the grid for almost twenty days within the United States of America.  Now they had received intel that Lentz was going to be meeting group of Russian mercenaries to give out confidential information on covert operatives working within the United States in exchange for safe passage out of the country.

“There.”  Barkley said, interrupting Eliza’s thoughts as a man in a burgundy suit with bleach-blonde hair and dark sunglasses walked in the front door toward the desk.

He was lanky. The unshaven the coarse black stubble revealed that the man had bleached his hair in order to make it blonde.  Upon close inspection, Eliza realized that Barkley was right.  It was Lentz.  She made a move to stand but Barkley’s arm shot up and stopped her.

“No, not here.  We follow him to the Russians, call in the troops and hit them all at the same time.” Barkley said calmly and Eliza slowly sat back down.

“I’m telling you, Adams,” Barkley said.  “Nothing is going to mess this up.  Nothing.”

****

“You can go your own way!”

“Go your own way!”

“You can call it another lonely day!”

“Another lonely day!”

 The Devereuxs sang the Fleetwood Mac song loudly as they drove their SUV up US Highway 31, slowly coming to a close on the Northwoods Hotel on Grand Traverse Bay just outside Traverse City, Michigan.  The recent millionaires had been overwhelmed with possibility over the last two weeks since they had won.

Thanks to Josephine’s cool head, they had collected the $50,000,000 through an attorney, anonymously so none of their friends or family knew yet.  This was amazing since Leonard had a very hard time keeping secrets, especially one that was worth that kind of money.  Nonetheless he had and they had taken an impromptu vacation to get away and decide exactly what they were going to do with it.

They pulled into the hotel as the song ended.  It was an amazing summer day.  The hotel itself overlooked the beach with a long dock on the other side of the parking lot that stretched into the water. The dock offered parasailing, tours, and Jet Ski rentals.

“Oh, they have jet skis.” Joe purred as they parked, her facing lighting up.

Leonard had to smile at her.  As cynical and logical as she was, she still had the ability to get as giddy and silly as a school girl when the mood struck her.  “Not a chance.”

She rolled her eyes at him.  “You and your irrational fears, I swear.”

He scoffed.  “Irrational?  I think not!  I’m not getting on anything that does not have brakes!”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”  She replied, “The water stops you when you let off the gas.”

“That or the hard object you slam into at ninety miles an hour.”  Leo muttered as he got out of the car and stretched after the eight plus hour drive up from Ohio.

He looked out over the water and smiled.  They had always wanted to come up here, and they were not regretting it.  The water was a bright blue, framed by the green wooded land that surrounded the great bay.

“This was a good idea.” Joe said, coming up on his right side and hugging him tightly.

He smiled at the warm embrace and kissed the top of her head.  “Damn right it was.  Let’s check in and go see that penthouse.”

They turned and walked through the front door to the lobby.  Leo knew nothing could go wrong.

****

“He just entered the lobby.”  Petroff spoke Russian into the cell phone to his commander upstairs.

“Good,” The deep voice on the other end said.  “Watch him and make sure he speaks to no one.”

Pertoff was one of six Russian mercenaries that had been hired for this job.  They had entered two days prior and checked in last night under false names as researchers.  Now they had two objectives, get Lentz, and get his files.

“There is a problem Yuri,” Petroff said into the phone.  “There are two agents here watching him.  They look to be federal.  Maybe C.I.A.”

Petroff had worked many different missions with Yuri.  He knew the man to be a consummate professional.  He was collected and calm on the other end even if he was cursing under his breath, “Have they made a move?”

“No,” Pertoff replied. “They are just watching.”

“They are waiting for him to make contact with his buyer.”  Yuri stated on the other end.

“Yes.” Petroff confirmed.

“Follow him.  If you get the chance to get him alone, take him and get what you can.  If the agents move in, back off.  Nothing we can do.” Yuri said and then hung up.

Petroff hung up his side and slid the phone into the pocket of his sport coat and continued to watch the scene.  Lentz suddenly seemed to get more nervous during the check in process, as if he had seen a ghost.  Petroff frowned, still watching from the bank of elevators.  He tried to assess the situation and realized that Lentz must have made the agents.  This could get ugly and Petroff would have to make a move.

It didn’t.  Instead, Petroff’s prayers seemed to be answered when Lentz flipped through his bag at the table and pulled a flash drive out of it.  Could these be the files Yuri’s team had been sent to find?  Was this what Petroff needed to acquire?

Lentz checked his bag and headed to the lobby’s men’s room.  Petroff had to make a judgment call.  He looked to the agents.  They had watched Lentz enter but made no move to intercept.  Petroff decided it was now or never and followed him in.

****

Lentz stepped into the bathroom in a near panicked state.  He couldn’t believe he was here.  After everything that had happened, Lentz had just been trying to make a buck.  Was that so wrong?  Hell, it was the American dream.

“Come on, get a grip,” Lentz said to himself.  “What’s he going to do, kill you in cold blood?”

He had asked himself the question to settle his nerves but it only made it worse.  He bent down in the sink and turned on the cold water, splashing his face.  As he reached for the paper towels the door creaked open and shut.  An average sized, well-built, bald man entered in a loose fitting sport coat.

The man stopped and let the door shut behind him.  Lentz was screaming at himself in his own mind, ‘don’t look him in the eyes!’ over and over but he couldn’t help it.  The two locked eyes and the piercing blue eyes of the man narrowed at Lentz.  He then reached his right back and switched the dead bolt in place.

When he did, Lentz saw the gun in a shoulder holster under his jacket.  Lentz knew he had to act or die here and now.  He screamed and charged the man.  The man was caught off guard by this tactic probably assuming Lentz’s obvious fear would make him docile.  It had instead turned him into a raving lunatic.

Lentz’s punch caught the man on the right side of his jaw and he grunted more out of surprise then pain. He staggered into the wall and Lentz clawed past him reaching for the door getting the deadbolt unlocked and…

The man was on him before he could finish his escape, grabbing him around the waist and dragging him backward throwing him back into the bathroom.  Lentz watched the door get father and father away and he despaired.

Lentz refused to give up.  He thrashed his arms and legs wildly and although Lentz went down so did the would-be assassin in an awkward fall.  Lentz scrambled to his feet and so did his assailant, the bald man going for his gun.  Lentz threw himself at the man again, grabbing the man’s gun arm with both hands by the wrist and shoving backward.

They both went down again, this time crashing through the sink.  Porcelain and pipes and smashing water sprayed freely from the ruined pipes.  The impact knocked the hand gun free of the bald man’s hand and sent it sliding away.  They were drenched in the next instant, and Lentz knew it was no time like the present.  He leapt off the bald man and slid on his belly across the now slick tile floor to the door and desperately pulled himself to his feet grabbing for the handle.

He heard the man behind him going for his gun.  Lentz pulled the door open when he heard the first bang echo through the bathroom like thunder.  He felt the impact in his upper back and lurched forward out the door into the hallway, the door swinging closed behind him.

****

Josephine and Leonard stood at the front desk speaking with the front desk clerk about their reservations when the first shot rang out.  They jumped and everyone in the lobby seemed to gasp, unsure of what was happening like collective deer in headlights.

That’s when the Deveruexs saw a man stumbling across the lobby toward them.  He was drenched in water, wearing a burgundy suit with a white undershirt that seemed to be stained with red wine.  He was charging for them as fast as he could.  Leonard instinctively stepped in front of Joe.  Suddenly, another man, soaked in water as well, stepped out of the bathroom behind the man dressed in burgundy.  This man hand a gun.

“Freeze!  Put down the gun!” A woman yelled to Joe’s right.

A guy screamed.  “Everybody get down!”

Two shots rang out and the man in burgundy stumbled forward and crashed into Leonard and Joe, all three off them crashing to the ground in a heap.

A hail of shots rang out after that and the bald man’s chest and abdomen was suddenly ripped open in multiple places before he fell backward to the floor.

Leo watched in awe and the looked into the face of the man in burgundy who now lay on top of him. Leo saw only dead eyes in front of him and knew the body on top of him no longer housed the spark of life.

He began to scream like a girl.  It would not be his finest hour.