by Abhishek Roy
On entering the Tropicana he was startled to see the large number of people that had already gathered inside. Lucas went straight to the slot machine and started playing. He wanted to know about the place in utmost detail ensuring minimum exposure. The casino was evenly distributed in two floors. The big games and the grand bar cum lounge were on the first floor while the ground floor contained mainly the slot machines and other small games. The first floor also had a part reserved for live performances of famous artists which took place every Friday evening. However it seemed quite clear that the big guns went to the first floor for their deals. Alpha K must have seen Rosmus and Suleiman there. He looked all round him while playing the last game on the slot machine. He tried to memorize every position which had a security camera and also where the guards were exactly placed. As the Serpent had mentioned, Lucas was well known for his photographic memory. He left the slot machine after losing a few games and slowly strolled toward the first floor. He had to make sure that the plan of the casino was ready in his mind with utmost detail in order to carry any operation there.
He moved to the airlift and went up to the first floor with few other guests. The first floor was truly majestic…it had blackjack, roulette, poker, baccarat and several other major games. There was also a lounge on the other side of the floor. Lucas could see two sheiks discussing something with a group of men in the lounge. He ordered a scotch from the bartender and sat in a recliner just behind the table where the sheiks were sitting. He could clearly understand what they were speaking. Lucas was trained in six different languages namely Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin and Pashtu apart from nearly all the Indian colloquial languages. The sheiks were speaking in Arabic while one of the men was translating the same into Spanish. The guys seemed to belong to some Latin American country…maybe even Mexico. They were discussing about a big consignment that was to be transported somewhere. Lucas wanted to hear the details, however he could not risk getting caught as this time the stakes were really high. He needed to get hold of what Rosmus and Suleiman were planning and also what Alpha K had discovered.
Lucas went up to the bar and ordered another drink. The bartender was a young man in early twenties named Alberto Lopez.
‘Good Morning Sir. You seem to be in a mood for drinking quite a lot today and that too so early in the day.’
‘Yes, I want to quench my thirst before trying my hands on that fabulous game of blackjack going on there.’
Lucas opted for some more scotch as he continued talking to Lopez.
‘So man, how long have you been working at this place?’
‘Well about four months now. Earlier I used to work as a tender in the Cabaret Nacional bar in Centro Havana. When this casino began its operation last year, the owner Mr. Romanovich demanded for the best staff available in the city to be hired. After all he had promised jobs for localites before the government gave him the permission to build a casino here. That’s why I am here. Mr. Romanovich pays a visit time and often whenever he comes for some business trip in Cuba. He seems to appreciate my work a lot and had presented me his watch the last time he came here.’ Lopez pointed to a Rolex kept safely in a glass box at the end of the counter with the engraving- ‘The best bartender in the world’.
Lucas congratulated him on the seemingly amazing feat and continued the conversation. ‘So Lopez…this place is just wonderful. I would just love to come here no matter where I would be in the world. There must be big guests coming from all around all over the time. How do you guys manage such tremendous pressure all the time?’
‘Well Sir, the job is tough but we work in shifts. I have a partner named Marcelo from Mexico. He takes over the bar at night when I work in the morning like today. However whenever important guests are expected, my duty is shifted to night. Romanovich wants nothing but the best for all his acclaimed guests. Two days ago we had Madam Secille, the renowned singer from Puerto Rico. And a day before that we had Mario, the famous soccer player and Rita Haynes, the latest beauty from Hollywood. I was personally chosen to serve them all.
Apart from these we have special tasks for taking care of political personalities whenever they arrive.’
‘Today we have Sheikh Bakhtiyar from Kuwait Oil Corporation who is a personal friend of Mr. Romanovich sitting there with his friends from Mexico. Last Saturday we had a large number of guests including Mr. Romanovich’s compatriot and new partner Yuri Rosmus. I was on special duty that day along with Marcelo. Mr. Romanovich wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. And perfect it was… a really gala celebration with wine, girls and money flowing all around. They provided all of us a really hefty tip. It was really a great night…a night to remember. We will be having a similar one tomorrow night with Rosmus and his friend coming here once again. Mr. Romanovich will be present here personally to attend them. A lot of government officials will be coming too, as always. Sir, I believe you should also try to visit the casino tomorrow if you really want to experience the extravaganza Tropicana Casino is.’
Lucas was quite pleased with all the information he had gathered in the short span of time. He thanked Lopez for the drink and gave him a hefty tip. He also promised to come back the next night to witness the real essence of Tropicana Casino. Before moving back to the ground floor, Lucas made sure he had a list of where the security cameras were and the position of the guards in the casino. He also played a round of roulette and won the game. After moving around for about an hour, Lucas left the Casino. He took a cab and decided to visit the nearby beach. He needed to get hold of any information that Alpha may have acquired.
When Annie finally woke up and came out to the windows, the streets of Vedado were filled up with buses, Ladas and an awful lot of busy looking people. She returned to the bed to get her gown. On moving the pillow she found the piece of note that Lucas had left her. She went through the list of points mentioned and then crushed the paper after sending a short curse for Lucas. Annie took up her towel and moved to the shower. In between she dropped the crumbled piece of paper in the toilet and flushed it to make sure no one would ever know what it was. Operatives just could not leave any trace.
Annie moved through the reception in her elegant blue dress. As she tossed the security card of their suite to the manager, she gave Alfred a friendly smile. The guy came up immediately knowing what to expect…another high profile rich customer meant another car for hire from his father’s company. He quickly arranged for the best he could get hold of…their prized possession for such customers… an old Mercedes with a chauffeur. Annie handed a few currency notes to Alfred which he was more than delighted to accept. According to Lucas’s orders she had to complete three tasks. Firstly she needed to visit a lady named Maria Rosario Morales. She would be having information about their consignment of arms and anything else they may need during the mission. Next she would visit Julio Antonio Villena in the Indian Embassy. With his help she would send a message regarding their current status to the Serpent. And lastly she would visit the Tropicana casino to get an idea of things going on there.
Annie decided to visit the Indian embassy first as it was in Vedado itself. On visiting the embassy, she went up to the reception and said that she was a visitor for Julio Villena. She could not reveal her true identity as she was supposed to be a Dutch national according to her passport. The receptionist told her to wait for some time as Julio had still not arrived at the office. He was hired by the Indian government to enable smooth understanding between the two governments when needed. Julio was a specialist in negotiations. He had six other family members involved in Cuban politics. It was said that two of them were very close to Castro. Annie shuffled through her purse while waiting for his arrival. She seemed to have nothing else in the purse apart from the daily amenities a woman is supposed to carry. However there was an inner chamber at the bottom which carried a small device which looked like a small pager. It was a security key. Every ANTT agent possessed one. It gave them randomly generated code re
quired to access the ANNT network over wire or in wireless mode. She needed to use it in order to speak to the Serpent.
Julio Antonio Villena was a well-built man in his early forties. He had prior information of Annie’s arrival. He led her to his office and asked her a series of questions to make sure it was really her. After being satisfied with his inquiries he led her to the shelves in his office. A gentle push caused the book shelf to move aside and reveal a state of the art radio transceiver. Annie took out her security device to check the exact code she needed to call to. The job was done within quarter of an hour. She left the place thanking Julio for the support. Julio handed her a bunch of papers so that when she went out it would seem that she had come for an official matter. This way there would be least amount of suspicion. Annie thanked him one more time and left the embassy…next stop… Maria Rosario Morales.
Maria Rosario Morales had worked in sync with the Indian Assembly ever since she was hired in the late nineties. Her father had played a big role in exchange of arms and supply of ammunition during the cold war era. It is said that he supplied arms to Che Guevara’s guerrilla warriors. He was eventually killed by CIA agents. Maria had taken over the business ever since. She had undergone a critical cardiac surgery on behalf of the Indian government after the hospitals in Cuba had given up all hope and the ones in US refused to treat her. Since then she has been Indian Government’s accomplice and has been helping the Indian operatives’. She lived in plot number11B, 25th Avenue, Marianao. Annie’s car speeded over the highway in her journey to Marianao. However, the journey took her over an hour owing to the poor traffic conditions for the last few miles.
The house that Maria lived in was a well maintained duplex. The ground floor had been turned into a coffee shop named ‘Café de Havana’. All the tourists visited her coffee shop for its trademark preparations. Annie strolled inside the shop and chose to seat near the window. A waitress came up to her table. Annie decided to order a cup of strongly brewed cappuccino. After the waitress left, Annie turned around to take a closer look at the place. A Russian couple sat in the opposite corner sipping their coffee and discussing loudly about their course of action while looking into a guide book. There were few guys singing along with one of them strumming a guitar. Their strong Yorkshire accent was highly prominent. There were a few odd couples seated here and there. Apart from that, the place was relatively empty. A staircase beside the main counter led to the first floor where Maria’s office was probably located.
The waitress brought her the cup of coffee. As Annie raised the mug to take a sip she found a card attached to its bottom. She slowly detached it. It had the code word for accessing Maria’s office. She sipped off her coffee quickly and paid the check. Then she moved beside the main counter and started walking up the stairs. On the first floor, a huge man with a shotgun awaited her in front of a hallway. She was allowed to proceed when she told him the pass code that was written on the card. The man led her to a door at the end of the hallway. It was Maria’s office.
Maria was a small elderly woman in her late fifties. She was delighted on seeing Annie. She was especially excited on seeing a woman operative from ANNT…..the very first one. After initial conversation, the more important matters were addressed. Annie ordered anything and everything she could think of………… couple of silenced M9s and MP5s, few smoke and flash bang grenades, C4s, couple of walky-talkies and GPS devices, night vision goggles, a silenced SV-99 sniper rifle, gas masks, deep sea diving kits, an inflatable rubber dinghy, bullet proof vests, army knives, binoculars and ample ammunition for all the guns. It was more than enough to start a full-fledged war against the terrorists in Havana. Maria also handed her a sealed envelope which belonged to agent Alpha K. He had handed it over to her two days before he was killed. Annie took the envelope, and ordered for all the other equipment to be packed.
Maria made sure that the 3 boxes containing all the equipment carried a few paintings and stuff from her curio collection. Maria’s curio collection was famous in all of Cuba. Owing to her contacts with Government officials and also various other important people during her entire life, she had collected various types of stuff. This would make the whole scenario appear as if Annie was a big art enthusiast who had bought the stuff from Maria’s curio collection thereby causing least amount of suspicion among the visitors in the Café as well as the chauffeur. After all the boxes were loaded, Annie started for her final destination for the day…Tropicana Casino. At this point, Annie’s security device started to beep with a yellow light. It meant that plans had been changed…she needed to return to the hotel. Annie ordered the chauffeur to turn around and return back to Hotel Nacional.
Annie returned back to the hotel and headed straight for her room. Lucas must have been in the middle of something really important…otherwise he would not have turned on the security device. To her utmost amazement, on reaching the room, Annie realized that Lucas was not there. Lucas had not come back ever since he had left the hotel that morning. The room had been cleaned and rearranged by the room service personnel. The sheets had been changed and the curtains closed. A bunch of fresh tulips adorned the flower vase. It was not there last night, probably Alfred had arranged for the flowers to please them. Annie could not ponder around anymore, she needed to look for any clues or instructions that Lucas may have left for her. She pulled out the data pad from Lucas's bag and logged in to the ANNT network. She had to try and locate Lucas's location and shut off the device to ensure no one else could intercept it. While she was concentrating on using her security key to get into the network, she suddenly felt a warm air kissing her neck. As she tried to turn around, a heavy thud on her head silenced her.
The Trap
After visiting the beach Lucas decided to head back to the hotel. He needed to get his plans chalked out for the next night for his encounter with Rosmus and Hussein. He would try to get as much Intel as possible and then look for an opportunity to take both of them down before they could cause any more harm to the innocent civilians around the world. In the cab, he noticed that the security beacon on his watch had started flashing. Annie must have had found out something important which she intended to tell him.
On reaching the hotel, Lucas moved hastily through the lobby towards the elevator. As he moved past the reception, he noticed that Alfred was not present there; even the guys at the reception were missing. The lobby looked unusually empty in the middle of the day. That was really strange considering the fact that Hotel Nacional was one of the biggest hotels in entire Cuba. As Lucas headed towards the elevator, he couldn’t help but notice that the security cameras were pointed straight towards him. Lucas entered the elevator and headed towards the 7th floor. The camera in the elevator was also looking straight at him. Something was not right. Someone was watching his every move very closely.
The elevator came to a screeching halt at the 7th floor and Lucas walked out of it. He walked out on the hallway and moved towards his room. Room number 702 was just round the corner. Lucas walked halfway and looked up for the security cameras. The two cameras were at opposite ends of the hallway. If his assumption was right, then he was standing at an eclipse zone where none of the cameras could track him down. He needed to perform the vanishing act. He could neither go forward nor backwards without avoiding the cameras...the only way to travel undetected, was to move up. He could use the air conditioning vents for this purpose. It could lead him straight to his room.
Lucas pulled out his left shoe and opened a secret chamber from the sole. He pulled out a thin wire and a mini grappling hook. It didn't take him long to pull down the cover of the vent and pull himself up. He turned the dial of his watch to activate the location system. He had to find the way to his room. As Lucas moved forward through the vent, he could see four masked men with automatic rifles waiting below him around the corner. He would have been shot as soon as he got close to his room had he kept walking all along. It was a death trap set for him. He needed to move to his room qu
ickly and check on the whereabouts of Annie… for the first time, he felt worried about that girl.
Lucas slowly moved forward to ensure that he didn’t make any noise in the vent. He could not make his presence felt. When he entered the room he could see only a part of it from the vent. He took out his pen and started unscrewing the cap. The pen extended into a foot long thin metallic rod with a small camera on its tip. The video feed would be shown on his watch. He lowered the camera from the vent and turned the cap to move it around. There were two armed men in the room. One was guarding the windows while the other was waiting near the door. The room was empty with no signs of Annie. Annie’s suit cases along with the weapons obtained from Maria were lying on the floor. Annie must have been in the hotel to drop off the bags. Probably the assailants had her in custody or in the worst case, had already executed her. Lucas took a closer look at the room once more and pulled up the camera. He had tagged the location of the two armed men in his watch. He needed to take them down silently without the slightest of fuss.