The Real Estate Connection Ch. 07

From the gym wholesaler it was a short trip to the menswear store of Brian's choosing. Normally it takes me very little time to complete my clothes shopping. This time it was no different although under Brian's guidance I bought clothes that I normally wouldn't have even looked at. Shirts, pants, boxers, socks, a belt and shoes. All I needed for the time being. I still had that male aversion to extended shopping excursions. Brian completed a few purchases of his own and we were back on the road and heading for the mall with plenty of time to spare. I had a childish but fun idea on the way.

"Brian what say we stalk the ladies? Locate them in the mall and just track them from store to store. Then we can surprise them at our leisure. What do you think?"

"Why not. It sounds like it could be fun. Let's do it!" We pulled into the underground parking area soon after and finally found a space in row G. As we walked up the ramp to the mall entrance, I realized that I hadn't spotted our tail during the trip from the menswear store to the mall. It struck me as being a bit strange but then Lee and I hadn't had a tail all day yesterday. I shrugged it off.

It didn't take us long to find Stevie and KJ. They were in a shoe store called Wild Pair trying on shoes. The layout of the mall made it relatively easy to stay out of sight while we watched the girls giggling and flirting with a couple of male shoppers who had apparently drifted into the store behind them as they tried on several pairs of shoes. It took them only a few more minutes to make their final selection and pay for them at the counter. Interestingly it seemed they had the same taste in footwear. The pair of shoes they each chose were identical. With a smile and a wave to the dismayed male shoppers they left Wild Pair each carrying a collection of bags with markings from well known boutiques and chain stores, and wandered down the mall in search of their next destination. Brian and I followed at a discrete distance each of us on a separate side of the mall. From what I could see of Brian's technique, he had been trained well. His fieldcraft was faultless. It would have taken a well trained mark to spot either of us. To my surprise their next stop turned out to be at a men's accessory store; the sort of store that sells gifts for the man who has everything. I glanced across at Brian and was met with a bemused look and a shrug. Whatever they were up to both of us knew that we were in for a surprise. A quick glance at my watch told me that the girls had only twenty minutes left before they were supposed to meet us at Killer Muffins for lunch. I was quietly betting that they would be fashionably late.

They were in the store for quite a while and the way its frontage was set up meant that Brian and I couldn't see what they were doing in there. Still we stuck to the plan. The idea was that we would follow them into Killer Muffins, intercepting them at the counter. As the minutes rolled by I glanced over at Brian again and noticed him watching a different shop front. He was looking at the store frontage for Borders bookstore and from the look on his face he was deeply interested in something or someone inside. I had his cell phone number programmed into mine so I called him. He saw from his caller ID display that I was calling and looked over as he answered.

"Got something interesting there Brian?" What he said next nearly blew me away.

"Craig we're not the only ones following the girls. I'm looking at a guy standing at the magazine rack who has been watching the men's store doorway and reading the same page in his magazine for the last ten minutes or so. He doesn't look like PD. He looks Latin and not nice Latin. What do you want to do?"

I thought quickly. "Keep an eye on him and for Christ's sake don't get caught. I'll call Stevie and get her to come out to the Tahoe. With a bit of luck our Latin lover will tag along. I'm planning on grabbing him and having a little chat with him. You up for this?"

"No problems here pal. I got your back buddy. How do you want to do the take down?"

"Leave it to me man. I need a few minutes. I'm gonna call the girls then disappear for a couple of minutes. Don't move unless our man does. If you can track him safely, do it... but the operative word is 'safely'. If there is any risk to you at all... abandon the tail and fall back to cover the girls. Got it?"

"Got it boss." This guy was as cool as a cucumber. I had a lot of faith in him. What I needed was a quick makeshift cosh... and I knew just where to get it. Less than a minute later I was in a menswear store grabbing the first part of my cosh; a thick pair of socks. As I paid for them I asked if the shop assistant could give me five dollars worth of quarters. No problem. I now had my cosh. It was just a matter of assembling it. The shop assistant had placed the quarters in a plastic Ziploc change bag for convenience so it was a simple matter of taking one of the socks and emptying the coins into it. I stuffed the cosh into my pocket and threw the empty Ziploc bag and the other sock into the trash. All of this was accomplished in less than five minutes and Brian met me with a grin and a nod as I arrived back on station. As I joined him at his vantage point he indicated our mark with a subtle nod of the head and a few murmured words, then moved over to take up my old position. My target had not moved from his original position according to Brian but I couldn't see his face at the moment due to the magazine he was still 'reading'. I still couldn't see the girls from Brian's old position so I left him to watch for them while I watched our target. Pulling my cell phone out I called Stevie.

"Hi sexy... KJ and I are just about finished with our shopping. We'll meet you in Killer Muffins in a couple of minutes." They were on their way out! I had to work fast.

"Hey could you meet us out at the Tahoe first baby? I want to get your opinion on a couple of things I bought before we have lunch and I don't want to drag them into the mall. You could drop off any bags you and KJ have while you're there, then we can go for lunch."

"Sure Craig... told you that you'd be lost shopping for clothes without the help of a good woman. Where are you parked?"

"Underground parking about halfway down row G. We'll meet you there baby." I rang off then called Brian.

"Get back to the car now Brian. Come past me on the way and I'll slip you the keys. When you get there, unlock all the doors including the door to the luggage area. I've arranged for Stevie and KJ to meet us there so hopefully Jose or whatever his name is will follow them. I'll be right behind him. Have the car started and ready to go when we get there." He was already moving and the last couple of sentences he heard without having to use his cell phone. Quickly he grabbed the keys from my hand on the way past and without a work pocketed them and his phone before heading down to the car. Now I could concentrate on watching the two relevant store fronts.

True to her word it was only a couple of minutes later that Stevie and KJ exited the store and headed for the ramp leading down to the parking area. I was grateful that they didn't take the elevator down. It would have made for a logistical and tactical nightmare trying to follow themandthe Latin target without being spotted. As it was it was a piece of cake keeping an eye on both as the target put down his magazine and followed after them. Again I didn't see his face but something about him nagged at me. He was somehow familiar. One thing I did know for a fact about him... his fieldcraft was terrible. He was the most obvious tail I had ever spotted and he was doing nothing to make sure that he in turn wasn't being tailed. Not once did he check behind himself or look into a store window to watch for possible tails in the reflection. Not once did he vary his speed or the distance between him and his targets. He maintained a steady pace and a straight line, his eyes fixed on the targets in front of him. It was easy to follow him and keep my eye on the girls at the same time. Even though they were at least 50 meters ahead of me I could see them easily. Even through the crush of people in the mall they stood out, and when I couldn't see them directly I could always spot them in the reflections of store windows. As we went down the ramp to the underground parking, the crowd thinned considerably until it was down to just the girls, the mark, me and a couple of other shoppers. I could hear the girls chattering away happily over the low strains of the canned Muzak that seemed to be piped in from one central torture chamber to every mall in the world. 'Don't go Changing' by Billy Joel played on the pan pipes is torture in anyone's language. Still the Muzak did serve to cover what sound remained from my attempts at stealth. The ladies and my target walked towards row G. Thankfully the other shoppers headed off in other directions. Still I would have to be very careful and very quick with what I was planning. Being reported to the local cops as a kidnapper wasn't part of my plan.

Up ahead I could see the small plume of smoke coming from the tail pipe of the Tahoe. Brian had done what I asked and more. The tailgate was open and ready to receive our friend. Quickly I closed the distance between me and the target as the girls spotted the Tahoe and veered towards it. The target also spotted the Tahoe and in a flash his hand plunged into his jacket pocket. As he did he turned and I got another surprise. It was the man from the scene photo... the one who had been buddy buddy with Simmons... the one who I had seen myself being dragged off by Lee and his S.W.A.T. team after the failed hit attempt outside Stevie's offices. All this whipped through my mind as he started to withdraw his hand from his jacket. I wasn't about to give him the opportunity to put whatever weapon he was gripping to use. The sock cosh was already in my hand and my hand was in motion as his face registered the fact thathehad been followed... and that I was a threat! It was way to late... he didn't have a hope in hell. My sock cosh caught him just behind the left ear as my left hand gripped his wrist and kept his hand in his pocket neutralizing whatever weapon he was about to draw. The thud of the cosh against his skull sounded clean and his eyes rolled back in his head as he dropped like a shot duck. I grabbed him as he slid to the floor and with a little difficulty managed to hoist him onto my shoulder and carry him in an awkward fireman's lift the rest of the way to the Tahoe arriving just as the girls were loading their bags into the back seat and asking Brian where I was. My shoulder felt the strain of his weight but getting him into the Tahoe quickly and unobserved was more important than a little pain.

"Later ladies! Get in... quick! We gotta get going!" His bark carried enough force that the girl's didn't question him for one second. They climbed in seconds before I dumped our passenger in the cargo area and climbed in after him, slamming the rear door closed after me.

"Drive Brian." At my command he pulled out slowly and made his way to the exit. "KJ... jump up front with Brian." The raven haired beauty hurried to comply while Stevie peered over the back of the seat in wide eyed wonder at our new friend. Quickly I checked his pulse. Strong and steady. He was going to have a headache and a hell of a bump on his head but he was going to live. Then I searched him with very interesting results. The weapon he had been going for was a Taurus 9mm auto. It is basically a cheap Beretta knock off but can still make you deader than hell in the right hands. It carried a full load of hollow points. This guy had meant business. His cell phone was turned on and didn't seem to be code protected. I'd go through his call history later when I had time.

His wallet held more surprises. More than $750 in cash, Visa and MasterCard in the name of Julio Ramirez, a driver's license issued here in Richmond under the same name, a couple of sundry business cards and credit card receipts and finally the jackpot. He was carrying a plain card with a magnetic strip on it, punched for a chain at one end. The only writing on the card was on the bottom right hand corner on the side with the magnetic stripe. It was an identification code; four blocks of four figures with a hyphen between each block of four. The figures were a mixture of letters and numbers and the letters were in a random assortment of upper and lower case. I had seen these cards before. They were key cards and I had seen plenty of them the previous day at CIA headquarters in Langley. Talking to this guy was going to be an interesting activity... and he was going to talk. They all do eventually.