After Shock (#2 - Semper Fi Series)

Preparing to Face the Enemy

Rob didn’t like this assignment any more than the others, but he needed the money. He opened the hotel room, and placed the things in it directed by the boss. This was not going to be a pleasant meeting, and that was the understatement of the year. He hid cameras in lights and listening devices in the springs under the bed, where they wouldn’t be easily found.

With that finished, he secured the sliding door to prevent an escape. The third floor balcony would prove perilous if anyone jumped, but he secured it nonetheless.

All that was left to do now was make the phone call that would ruin a woman’s life, and possibly her children’s as well. He hated that. He didn’t mind sending threats in the mail, but this? This was sick-minded; and the boss acted like it was the most natural thing on the planet. She was demented to say the least, and he hoped she somehow wound up in jail for this. Rob knew he would go to jail, but when doing the dirty work, the boss would get the big rap, and he would receive a sentence for conspiracy to do harm, or something like that.

Well, it was all set. He called Reynolds to let him know. Rob didn’t actually have the boss’s number. Reynolds was the go-between. Rob had never met the boss, either. This was a good thing, he thought, because the boss couldn’t identify him. With that thought, he let out a little laugh, and left the hotel key at the front desk for Alyssa.

He walked a few blocks where he jumped on his motorcycle, a Harley classic with his own customized high handlebars, put his red helmet on and zoomed off towards the house. He would take his disguise and his “borrowed” clothes and burn them so he couldn’t be traced to the hotel. He was a criminal, but he had brains as well. He used gloves to work in the room, and parked out of sight of the doors and cameras of the hotel. To say he was a practiced criminal would probably be truthful, and to say he was a professional would be a compliment. He really didn’t want to get anyone hurt, though. He crossed enough lines in his lifetime, and he didn’t want murder on his list.

__________________________

Alyssa was conversing with Ryan and the other men when a receptionist called her to the desk from the loudspeaker. She gave them a quizzical look, but stood and went to the desk, Ryan in tow. She didn’t want him to leave her side. She felt more secure with him here. She was sure he had romantic feelings for her, but she wasn’t really ready for that again just yet.

She identified herself to the lady at the desk. “You have a phone call, Mrs. McDonald.”

“Hello?” She said with trepidation and a question in her voice.

“Hi. You’re meeting with your doom has been moved up to tomorrow at 3:00. Don’t forget it. And if you don’t show up, we’ll make sure those babies pay for it!” And the person hung up.

Alyssa looked horrified as she turned to face Ryan. Her face was white as if she’d seen a ghost. “What is it, Alyssa? Who was on the phone?” Alyssa could not speak, she was so stunned. As the shock of the phone call wore off and the reality of it dawned on her, she sank to the floor in front of the desk and began to cry with such ferocity that the nurses came to her to check on her well-being. They took her to a curtained area, and Ryan motioned for the others to join them.

She was so shaken that she couldn’t gather her faculties together again. She needed to call her mom and check on the kids. As if he was able to hear her thoughts in her brain, Ryan handed her his phone with the number dialed already. “Thanks, Ryan.”

“Hello?” Marie Clark answered her phone, not really expecting anyone to call.

“Mom?” Alyssa barely choked out before the crying resumed in full force. She cried hard for several seconds before controlling herself enough to talk. “Sorry. Thanks for waiting. I was just calling to see how the kids are doing.”