“I don’t know, sir. I was directed to deliver the message.”
There was nothing concrete here, but I was suspicious. “I’m only the messenger” is an evasion I’ve used myself. She had a pretty good knowledge of some cursory details, and seemed confident enough. It did fit in with the fact that I only knew my part, and didn’t have any current codes or other info to use to verify things. However, going to the embassy was not a necessary part of the equation. I was perfectly trained and experienced in the art of changing identity and E&Eing an area.
I could see an ambassador with limited military experience wanting to ensure discretion. I could see them wanting to meet me. I could also believe there was something larger and more critical—intel I needed or such—at the embassy, and this was a misdirection to cover that.
It was also quite possibly a setup to funnel us to a kill zone.
“Can I see your ID again, please?” I asked.
She handed it over at once. She presented as very comfortable with it being examined. So, it was either real, or a good fake, or she at least thought it was.
“Where’s your sidearm?”
“I’m not carrying one.”
That was three discrepancies and prompted me to try a test. I lobbed a punch, fast enough to cause someone to trigger, slow enough for interception. She ducked back and cringed but did nothing practical.
I grabbed her, shoved her down into the chair. That clinched it. She had no knowledge of any combat martial art, certainly no Freehold Forces form, and I levered her down. Silver moved fast, handed me a cable tie, and I bound her to the back of it.
“Okay, so where is he?”
“Who?”
“The man who hired you. Dark skin. Slightly Afroid features, eighty kilos. Sound familiar?”
She said nothing. She knew she couldn’t bluff on it, so she just stared sullenly.
I pointed for Silver to watch her, grabbed a couple of items around the suite, and came back. I carefully and neatly laid out a knife, a pair of pliers, a bowl of water and a friction buckled belt. I looped the belt over her throat and snugged it just enough to get her attention, grabbed the pliers in one hand, then used that hand to shove her face down into the bowl.
She was smart. She held still, saved oxygen, and lasted twenty seconds before she started thrashing in panic, surging against the restraints. My arm was stronger than her neck. I gave her another fifteen seconds, watching to see if she actually aspirated any, then let her up.
I put the pliers about a millimeter from her right eyelid and asked, “Where?”
She shook in fear and spewed intel in a hurry, nerves broken. She spluttered through the water.
“GenSuites Room one oh five, north side of town, I don’t know the address. Yes, that’s what he looked like, close enough, he paid me a thousand and you can have it if you let me go unhurt, please. He said it was a scam and it sounded a bit intense and this is some high-end spy shit and I really don’t know a fucking thing more and don’t want to, just please let me go, I never saw anyone, I’ll even scene with you if you like but I want out of it, okay?” Her eyes remained locked on those pliers throughout. She was afraid to pull away in case I took it as a hint, but clearly didn’t want to face them. A moment later, she started shivering. I could sense her pulse and blood pressure rip off the scale, and smell fear. She trembled all over and her lips quivered.
“Tell us everything and you can walk out of here. Lie and they find you in the river.”
She nodded vigorously as her lips trembled and eyes watered even through the rivulets of water from her hair.
Silver asked, “Where did you get the ID?”
“He made it,” she said. “Capped an image and took ten minutes.”
“How did you find out about the embassy?”
“He had a map and some names.”
That was interesting. Good thing we were avoiding it. Either there was a leak or he had probes.
“What did he tell you to do?”
“Drive you to the embassy, park a couple of blocks away. He named a garage. Walk the rest of the way and we’d meet at the front gate.”
“He’d kill us, and you. I just saved your life.”
She didn’t seem to doubt me at this point.
I said, “Okay, Courtney. This is some high-level spy shit, and you don’t want to be involved. You’re going to lie face down in that pillow and count slowly to a thousand. Then you’re going to sit here thirty minutes and do nothing. Then you can go. We still have bugs on everything, which will deactivate at that time. Don’t beat the clock, don’t try to call, don’t get smart. You do that, you walk out unhurt and keep the money.”