Mindtease

Chapter 33

The man sat nervously in the conference room, smoking a cigarette. His superior officer, his manager had suddenly retired, and overnight he'd gone from supervisor to a manager on the special project. Alone, waiting for his associates, and his mission control...he was uncomfortable in the unofficial uniform of the black suit, and more so sitting alone in the conference room...undoubtedly being watched by others.

A man in a similar black suit came into the room, followed by another man in a grey suit, with horned rimmed glasses.

"You have had a full briefing?" the grey-suited man asked the newcomer to the triad of black ops agents.

"Confirm...yes."

"Excellent," the grey-suited man said. "My associate had to...neutralize an off mission op that exceeded orders. The controller for that...was retired from this project."

"I understand," the newcomer said...shifting nervously in his chair.

"We want one of the targets...the primary target...dead or alive, but he will be taken intact. No particle beam, missile, or liquidation...the other is useful in luring the primary target for capture. Otherwise is...expendable."

"He is useful because of his relationship to his friend...the primary target." the black suited man sitting at the conference table.

"Right now," the grey-suited man said taking a seat, "we have the problem that the targets...have vanished electronically, leaving no trace..."

"Off the radar," the other black suited man said. "Although the two are difficult to track since they use others electronic presence for their needs."

"Yes," the grey-suited man said. "The two targets...according to eyewitnesses, left their hotel unexpectedly and drove off...without any purpose. Other eyewitnesses have seen the two driving in one direction, others in the opposite direction. So they are...on the run without any particular destination."

The man sitting nervously answered.

"They are searching for something, so wandering erratically."

"Yes," the other black suited man said, the grey-suited man nodding in agreement.

"The question is the what for which the two targets are searching...our data mining automation is on the lookout for...unexpected patterns in various circles of distance from their last known location."

Both black suited men nodded, agreeing.

"We wait for a sign..." the grey-suited man said, taking out his pipe, for the ritual of packing, lighting, and smoking. After a few moments of inward reflection and contemplation, the grey-suited man spoke.

"Or a signal..."

# # #

"I'm bored," Josh complained from his bed in a suite at the Hide-A-Way hotel.

"The question is," Kirk looked up, "are you bored with me...or bored with our accommodations?"

Kirk smiled as his quip from the laptop computer on his chest, where he had positioned it for maximum comfort while scrutinizing the contents of each DVD they had found in the storage unit.

"Just bored..." Josh said pouting, his facial expression like a little boy.

"The accommodations are then..." Kirk asked, letting his question trail off.

"Fine," Josh said, moving around on the bed in irritation. "This is like living in a luxury hotel, made from pieces of an old white elephant mansion from a bygone golden age."

Kirk snorted, and smiled, focused on going through the content of a DVD. The Hide-A-Way hotel was a mix of an old luxurious mansion, but with modern amenities...wireless Internet, high definition television, and many other luxuries...but included such amenities as full meal room service at any hour.