by David Archer
“Ms. Hofmeyr is at home, but she’s got a fair security team of her own. They’re not exactly special forces types, but they have military and police experience. If they give you a problem, let me know. I can lend you a couple of people if you need them, but we have to try not to burn our covers.”
“How many men did she have?”
“Only four,” Jason said, “but they have been known to be pretty tough. You can possibly take them by surprise through one little weakness they have, which is in the back fence on the property. There is an old car parked behind it, in a spot that isn’t covered by her security cameras. You might be able to get over the fence without being noticed, and then it’s just a matter of dropping the bodies.”
“Wish I knew where to find them,” Gabriel said. “I’ve never cared much for hunting expeditions, but sometimes you don’t get much choice.”
“Well, you can usually find two of them in the kitchen. They seem to operate in pairs, with one pair taking it easy and the other sticking close to the old lady. If you take out the two in the kitchen first, then the others don’t have any backup to call on.”
Gabriel nodded. “Yeah, that helps,” he said. “Of course, that’s assuming we get to the kitchen before they spot us.”
“Got my fingers crossed for ya,” Jason replied with a grin. “Besides, aren’t you guys supposed to be the best in the world at this?”
“Even the best can run into a snag. I hate snags, they always come along at the worst possible moment.”
“I know exactly what you mean. Anyway, your people asked for silencer-equipped pistols, but those are very hard to come by down here. However, we got lucky a few weeks ago, when a Russian team was sent here to take down a defector. We were able to intercept them, and captured three PSS silent pistols. Ever seen one?”
“A silent pistol? Never even heard of it. Is it for real?”
“Yep. I gave you all three. Each one holds six rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber, but they’re very special. They have a piston in the sealed cartridge that sits over the charge, so when the gun is fired, the piston is thrust forward at extremely high velocity. The stem of the piston is what shoves the bullet out, and fast enough to make it effective at up to fifty meters. The piston seals the cartridge before the bullet ever leaves the barrel, so there’s no flash, no smoke and no sound other than the click of the hammer striking the firing pin and the recoil action. All three of them are fully loaded and ready. Besides those, I got you two Colt 1911’s and a single Uzi. Best I could do on short notice.”
Gabriel smiled. “Sounds to me like you did a pretty good job,” he said. “I can’t wait to try one of those pistols.”
“Yeah, about those,” Jason said. “When you get done, we want those back. Those are extremely hard to come by, and they come in really handy here in South America.”
“I’ll just bet they do,” Gabriel said.
Jason pulled over a few minutes later and got out of the van, reminding Gabriel to give him a call once they had located Neil. Gabriel slid behind the wheel and activated the GPS on his phone to guide him to Hofmeyr’s address, then followed its directions.
They found the place with no problem, and Gabriel drove around the neighborhood a few times, just to get the lay of the land. When he was confident he knew how to get to that back fence, he pulled over and parked and then turned back to the three men that made up his team.
Nick Wilson was his thug, which was the title given to the backup man on the teams. He was large and powerful, and while he was capable on many weapons, he had not qualified as a team leader. He had been with Gabriel since the team began a year earlier, and was incredibly loyal. He had already taken a bullet for his boss once, but luckily it was only in his ass.
John Lewis was the driver, usually, and like Sarah, he could handle just about any kind of vehicle. He was quick to adapt to foreign traffic patterns, and could usually find the shortest possible route almost as fast as a GPS system can.
Bill Perlman was the intelligence man. He was a brilliant computer hacker who had been caught funneling fractions of pennies from millions of different bank accounts into his own, and had amassed a fortune of more than two hundred million dollars in less than three months. Unfortunately, he hadn’t figured on the IRS to notice so quickly, and then convincing the FBI to prosecute him individually for each bank that was involved in the thefts. That meant he was looking at seventeen consecutive five-year sentences, for a total of eighty-five years in prison. When Allison came to make an offer, he was more than happy to accept.
“Okay, you know what we’re here for,” Gabriel said. “We want to take down her security guards as quickly as possible, then do whatever it takes to find out where our boy is being held. We are not leaving survivors, but we need to be sure that we get the proper location. Nick, you and I will go in first. We take out the security, and then John and Bill can follow. Bill, bring your computer. We may need you to verify things that she says.”
“Yes, sir,” Bill said.
“Grab the box of weapons,” Gabriel said to Nick, “let’s see these silent pistols.”
John reached over the back seat and picked up the box, then set it on the floor between them. He opened the box and pulled out one of the small PSS pistols and handed it to Gabriel, and looked it over and then ejected the magazine. He looked at the top round in the magazine and grunted.
“The bullets are flat,” he said. “Almost like a dum-dum, but even flatter. No wonder they have such a short range.”
“He said they were effective to fifty meters,” Nick said. “I’m betting we’ll be a lot closer than that.”
“Well, the silent part is the most important. I’ll take this one, Nick, you grab another. John, you hold onto the third. Bill, when you guys come in, you can bring the Uzi just in case we need it.”
“Yeah,” Nick said with a grin, “Bill might be able to hit something with that.”
Gabriel and Nick climbed out of the van and started down the alleyway that ran behind the fence. They found the old car parked up against it and climbed up to look over the fence, but saw no sign of anyone paying attention. Gabriel went over first, with Nick right behind him, and they crouched together on the ground behind a bush as they looked over the rest of the grounds.
“It looks clear to the back of the house,” Gabriel said. “I’ll move first, and you wait till I’m against the house before you step out. Watch to see if there’s any reaction, then wait three more seconds and come running.”
Nick nodded his understanding, and Gabriel took off at a crouching run. He made it to the back of the house without raising an alarm, then crouched against it under a window. He could see the back door clearly, and kept his eyes on it as he waited for Nick to catch up to him.
Seconds later, his backup man was beside him. Gabriel motioned silently for Nick to check the back door, and Nick signaled back a second later that it was locked. He laid the pistol on the step beside his knee as he took a set of lock picks out of his pocket, and the door was open less than five seconds later.
Gabriel stood up on the step long enough to look through the glass on the door, and saw no one inside. He tapped Nick on the shoulder, and the man twisted the knob and pushed the door quickly open, and then closed it again after the two of them stepped inside.
The hinges had been properly oiled, and the door made almost no sound. Nick held the knob tightly as he pushed the door shut, then slowly released it to let it latch. The two of them turned toward the interior of the house, and took a few steps along a narrow hallway.
Ten feet further in, they stopped. Voices could be heard talking softly, a pair of men speaking Portuguese. These were undoubtedly the first two guards in the kitchen, and the sound was coming from the doorway just a few feet ahead.
Gabriel pointed to himself and then waved his finger forward, indicating that he would enter the room first. He stepped past Nick and froze beside the doorway for a moment, then spun around through it
and squeezed the trigger twice.
The PSS made almost no sound, other than a clicking noise as the slide racked back and forth. The sound of the empty cartridges striking the floor was slightly louder, but there was no help for it. Both of the guards at the table were down, and the flat nosed bullets had obliterated most of their faces. The whole thing happened so quickly that neither of them had any time to react, and Gabriel scooped up his fallen brass, then rose and listened for any sign that he had attracted attention from elsewhere inside the house.
Five seconds later, he motioned for Nick to join him and they moved through the kitchen. A quick glance around the doorway from the kitchen into the dining room showed that the room was clear, and they slipped into it.
There were two doors leading from the dining room, and each of them took one. One led into a hallway that went toward the front of the house, while the other seemed to go into some sort of sitting room. There was no one in view either way, and the sitting room had no other exits. They moved into the hallway and quietly made their way forward.
A door on the right led into a living room, and Gabriel stepped in quickly. A man sitting in a chair glanced up at him, and then suddenly scrambled for the pistol at his belt, but it was too late. The PSS clicked once and he slumped in the chair, his eyes and nose no longer a part of his face.
There was no one else in the room, and no sign that anyone had heard the action of the gun. Nick moved up beside Gabriel. “Do we really have to give these back?” he whispered softly.
“Probably, but I bet I can find some.” Gabriel picked up the ejected cartridge, and they moved back into the hallway and checked the other rooms on the ground floor, but found no one. “Must be upstairs,” Gabriel whispered. “Stay close.”
Gabriel started up the stairs, keeping his feet close to the edge by the wall. He made it almost to the top step and could see that there was no one in the upstairs hallway, but then the next to the last stair creaked loudly. He froze where he was, and Nick took a position just behind him. They each aimed their weapons in opposite directions up and down the hallway, as a voice called out in Portuguese.
Neither of them responded, and a moment later the fourth guard stepped out of a room and looked toward the stairway. He had been expecting one of his compatriots, and the pistol he was carrying was still in its holster.
Nick spotted him first and fired, striking him in the chest. Gabriel spun and fired as well, his bullet taking the man through the throat and putting an end to his life. His body fell backward and hit the door frame, then fell inside the room he had come out of.
“Okay, let’s move,” Gabriel said, no longer keeping his voice down. They checked the room the guard had come from first, and found Alexandra Hofmeyr sitting up in her bed, staring at the body of the guard that had fallen back through the doorway. It appeared that she had just awakened, probably when the guard called out to them.
She looked up at Gabriel and Nick, and seemed to come instantly awake. “Americans?” she asked. “But, of course you are. I should have been expecting you, but I thought we had taken sufficient precautions.”
“We are Americans,” Gabriel said. “And you have one of our people. I need to know where he is being held.”
“And you honestly expect me to tell you? Do I look like I’m frightened of you? I have lived a long time, Mr. assassin, and the prospect of death is not one that I fear. You may try to torture me, but you should know that I do not even know the answer to the question you want to ask. That was a precaution, just in case we needed to use it. I am now glad that I chose to put it into place.” She looked down at the dead guard again. “You may go ahead and kill me now, because you will, anyway.”
Gabriel moved closer to her and scanned the area around her for a weapon, but saw none. He patted her down quickly and satisfied himself that she didn’t have one concealed on her person, then turned back to Nick.
“Bring the boys in,” he said. “Ms. Hofmeyr wants to do things the hard way. Once you tell them to come on in, I want you to start looking for something we can use for leverage. I figure at her age, she’s got to have grandchildren.”
Alexandra’s eyes widened, but she said nothing. Gabriel turned to her with a smile.
“Did you not understand just how serious I am? I intend to get the information I want, and I personally don’t believe torture is all that effective at getting accurate information. People being tortured, they tend to say whatever they think you want to hear. I actually believe that you don’t know the answer, so I’m going on the assumption that you do know someone who does know where he is. I’m just planning to give you some incentive to call that person and find out for me.”
“You would not stoop so low as to harm my grandchildren,” Alexander said. “The Americans are known for some atrocities, but that would be…”
“Like I said, I’m pretty serious about getting the information I want. If you don’t want to cooperate with me voluntarily, I’ll send a couple of people to round up some of those grandchildren and bring them right here. How long do you think you can hold out when you see them on their knees with my pistol at their heads? Will you make me actually kill one of them, before you understand that I’m not going to give you a choice?”
The old woman swallowed hard, her eyes never leaving his own. She said nothing, and they stayed right there for a couple of minutes until Bill and John joined them. Nick returned a moment later, holding what appeared to be a photo album.
“Look at this,” he said. He flipped the book open and showed Gabriel several pictures of Alexandra surrounded by younger adults and several children. “That looks like somebody playing grandma to me, doesn’t it to you?”
“Why, it sure does. Bill, see what you can find out about the people in those photos. I would just about bet some of those pictures can be found online, and that should lead to who they are.”
“I’m on it,” Bill said. He set up his computer on the table in the room, then held a small scanner out and ran it over one of the photos. The computer broke it down into digital codes that indicated pixels and colors, and it was less than two minutes later when Bill looked up. “Got it,” he said. “Found a match to this photo on Facebook. The account belongs to the second woman from the left, who looks to me to be this lady’s daughter. Give me five minutes and I’ll have an address.”
“And get me a phone number,” Gabriel said. “When you get it, let me know.”
“Only take a minute,” Bill said.
Sure enough, he had a phone number on the screen only a moment later. The address was also displayed, and the GPS coordinates showed that it was less than twenty minutes away.
“Bill, don’t you speak Portuguese?” Gabriel asked.
“I don’t,” Bill said, “but my computer does. I’ve got an AI translation program that does a real good job. I can speak English into the microphone, but the person on the other end of the line will hear what I say in Portuguese.”
“Good job,” Gabriel said. “Call that number and say that you are Inspector Santos with the Rio police, and that you need her to come to her mother’s house immediately. Tell her that her mother is very ill and asking to see her grandchildren, so she should bring them along.”
Bill nodded, then tapped a few keys on the computer. He copied the phone number into a program that popped up, then adjusted the microphone on his headset.
“Is this Mrs. Barbosa?” Bill asked a moment later. “My name is Inspector Santos, with the police department. I am here at your mother’s home, she is gravely ill. Doctors are coming, but she is asking to see her grandchildren and wished me to give you a call. Are you able to come right away?”
“Angelina,” Alexandra shouted, “it is a trap!”
“Yell all you want,” Gabriel said. “His microphone won’t pick up anything more than an inch away from it. She can’t hear you.”
“Very good, and thank you. Please hurry.” Bill cut off the connection and looked at Gabriel. “She and the ki
ds will be here within five minutes, she says.”
Gabriel turned to Nick and John. “You guys go down and play welcoming party,” he said. “Make sure nobody does any shouting. When they get here, bring them right up here to the bedroom, I think it’s the best place to handle this.”
“Madre de Dios,” Alexandra said, “please do not do this. They are only children.”
“You can stop it,” Gabriel said. “I figure you have four minutes to get me that location before it’s too late. Once they come through that door, there is always the chance that none of them will leave here alive.”
“My telephone,” she said. “If I give you the number to the man who has him, you can find him, yes?”
Gabriel looked at Bill. “Can we?”
“No problem at all,” Bill said. “Even if his GPS is shut off, I can get into it and turn it on remotely.”
Gabriel picked up the phone off the nightstand and handed it to her. He pointed his gun at her head. “You call anybody else, and I guarantee your entire family will die. You understand me?”
Alexandria shot him an irritated look. “I am no fool,” she said. She quickly dialed the number and put the phone on speaker so that Gabriel could hear. A moment later, a man’s voice answered.
“This is Michael,” he said.
“Michael, this is Alexandra,” she said. “Is our guest doing well?”
Michael chuckled. “Other than beating me at chess, he’s doing just fine. I find myself wishing we could be friends when this is over, but that seems rather unlikely. It’s really too bad, because I enjoy playing with him.”
“That’s very good,” she said. “I expect to be hearing from his young lady soon, and we will need to let her speak to him for a moment. Be certain nothing happens to him, and I will let you know when she calls.”
“I certainly will,” Michael said. “Have a good night, Alexandra.”
“To you as well,” she said. She cut off the call and handed the phone to Gabriel. “Will it be necessary to kill him? He is my brother’s son, and I hate to be the reason for his death.”