This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are used factiously and the product of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to a person, living or dead, or business is purely coincidental

The Interview

© Copyright 2015 Erik A. Dewey

www.erikdewey.com

All rights reserved

This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.

First Edition: May 2015

“When is she going to leave?” Chloe said, emphasizing her annoyance by exhaling at the same time. Emma sat across from her at the small table inside the bar, just staring at the “she” Chloe referred to.

Mercifully, the pulsing dance music the bar piped in was not loud enough to prevent conversation and the glowing blue accent lights everywhere were bright enough to keep the place from having dark corners where their target could hide.

The person currently absorbing their attention was an attractive blonde sitting a few tables down, enjoying her time with an Eastern European man. She didn’t have the look of a party girl, she seemed a few years too old for starters, but she clearly had this man enthralled with both the cleavage she showed and her conversation.

“He doesn’t look too interested in taking off yet,” Emma said back to Chloe, cocking her head towards the man.

“In that case, I’m going to order another drink,” Chloe responded as she walked over to the bar.

Chloe wore tight jeans and a black tank top with a pale blue blouse unbuttoned over it to ward off the Mediterranean breeze coming over the island of Crete. Emma watched as her friend grabbed the bartender’s attention and ordered a drink, playing with her phone while she waited. As she got her drink, she turned around to go back to the table, casually snapping a photo of their target on her phone, and then slid back across from the brown-haired Brit.

“Now, let’s see who you are,” Chloe said, uploading the photo she just took. Chloe had created a program she called Catnip that had access to numerous databases across the world, some of them even knew about that access. It was all part of what made her the tech genius at Acute Operations.

“How long will it take to get a match?” Emma asked.

Chloe shrugged. “A few hours at least. It’s got a lot of databases to try and match to,” the Aussie replied.

They continued to sit at the table, watching the blonde and her, for lack of a better term, date proceed to consume the bottle of wine at their table. Emma sipped her club soda, as Chloe slowly drank her rum and coke.

“We may need a backup plan if we can’t get to him,” Chloe said, watching the two in the reflection of the mirror behind the bar.

“If they leave together,” Emma said, “I’ll need you to intercept her while I talk to him.”

Chloe nodded and sipped her drink. The two sat mostly silent as they waited for their target to grow tired of the woman, but as another hour slipped by, it became obvious that wasn’t going to happen. The woman hung on him, laughing at his jokes, and providing whatever comfort and company he apparently required.

Eventually, the two stood up from their table and headed towards the bar’s exit. Emma and Chloe stood up and followed behind them.

“Excuse me,” Chloe said as their target stepped outside into the Crete evening. The man and woman turned to look at her. Chloe closed with the woman. “I thought I saw something fall out of your purse as you left,” she said.

The blonde put on a cool smile. “I believe you are mistaken,” and turned back to her date. Emma came behind him and accidentally bumped into him.

“Sorry,” Emma said, “I might of drunk too much.”

The man turned towards her, drunkenly smiling. “It is no problem. Especially when the woman is beautiful.”

“Ok,” the blonde interrupted, sliding her arm into her date’s and pulling him down the sidewalk. “We must be going. A pleasure meeting you both,” although her tone indicated no such pleasure.

Emma and Chloe watched them walk down the street together, she supporting him. Chloe pulled out her phone and slid her fingers across it. A map of the surrounding area came up, along with a moving arrow slowly walking away from them.

“The transmitter is working,” she said to Emma.

“Good. We can at least see where he is heading.”

Chloe sighed. “Why can’t any of our jobs be simple?” she said wistfully.

Emma smirked, watching the couple turn the corner. “If they were simple, then they wouldn’t need us.”

“Fair enough.”

****

Emma and Chloe returned to their nearby hotel room to track their target on Chloe’s laptop and also plan their next move.

“What’s the range and life of the tracker?” Emma asked, watching the unmoving arrow sitting on the computerized map.

“About twenty-four hours and four miles, so we’ll need to stay fairly close and hope he heads to his contact soon, otherwise we’ll just need to tail him the old fashioned way.”

Emma nodded as she laid out the duo’s equipment for the next stage. In addition to Emma’s Glock 22 and Chloe’s Astra A-75, two FN P90 submachine guns sat on the hotel room’s desk. Emma checked the fifty round magazines and verified the weapons were clean and ready to be used. A black duffle bag on floor next to her held additional magazines for both the submachine guns and the pistols, some tube-shaped suppressors, and five grenades marked THERMITE in military block script.

A ping came out of Chloe’s phone as she worked on her laptop sitting on one of the twin beds in the room.

“I’ve got an ID on our mystery girl,” she said to Emma. The brunette Brit looked up from her arsenal and gave her full attention to the red-headed Aussie.

“Catnip has matched her picture with a 92% confidence rating. It says her name is Lisa Renard.”

Emma shook her head. “Never heard of her.”

“Me neither,” Chloe said. “So she did time with the Canadian Army, two tours in the Middle East.”

Emma’s brow arched. “Really? Did she see any action?”

Chloe shrugged. “I don’t know. Says she is fluent in English, French, German, Farsi, Russian, and Romanian. She was honorably discharged almost a year ago.”

“That does not seem like the flirty woman we saw hanging on our man earlier. What has she done since she left the service?”

Chloe’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “It looks like she went private, but I don’t know with whom.”

Emma stood up and started to pace in the hotel room. “Send out her picture to some of our friends, see if anyone can say who she’s working with. We need to know which side she’s playing.”

“Already done,” Chloe replied.

“Good,” Emma answered. “Now, how about our target?”

“He’s just sitting in a hotel.”

Emma let out a snort saying “We know what he’s doing.”

“When he does start moving,” Chloe said, “we’ll need to jump into the car to follow him. I don’t want to lose the signal.”

Emma glanced at the open duffel bag at the end of the table. With a single sweep of her arm, all of the weapons would fall into it and they’d be ready to go. “Not a problem. So what now?”

Chloe slumped down into her chair. “Now we play ‘watch the dot’ until it moves.”

Emma got comfortable on the hotel room’s bed and did her best to relax. One thing both police work and the mercenary life taught her was how to deal with copious amounts of down time. She spent significantly more time waiting for things to happen than actually doing those things in the job. As she lay on the bed, Emma went through her many plans once their target started moving. She visualized where her equipment would be and what actions she’d take if any piece malfunctioned. She visualized her target walking down the street, trying to remember his stride, the way he moved his head and arms, and other tags in case she had to chase him in a crowded street. After that visualization, she concentrated on Lisa Renard. She tried to remember how she walked and acted, how she dressed, how her hair looked and any other identifying marks Emma could come up with. This was a woman she wanted to notice if she ever bumped into her again.

Whatever Lisa Renard and their target were doing, they took their time with it. The blinking dot didn’t move for hours. Emma began to be concerned that maybe the transmitter was detected and left there to delay them.

“Maybe we should stake out the hotel lobby?” she asked Chloe.

“That would be subtle,” the Australian answered. “It’s fine. He’s probably sleeping right now. When he wakes up, he’ll grab his coat and we’ll be able to follow him. Trust me.”

Emma exhaled loudly. “Very well.”

****

Around four in the morning, the blinking dot finally moved. Emma lay there dozing on the bed as Chloe continued monitoring her laptop. “Showtime,” Chloe said.

Emma roused herself immediately and swept the weapons into the bag, zipping it up as Chloe pulled the plug on her laptop and grabbed it. The two left the hotel room one minute later and headed for their small rental Chevy Matiz. The little blue economy car was not fast, large, or protective, but it did blend in with the rest of the traffic on the island and would allow them to maneuver down any small streets they came across. Emma slid behind the steering wheel and started it up as Chloe closed the passenger door and slid on her seat belt.

Emma slipped the small car out of the small hotel parking lot and onto the street, following the directions Chloe gave. It only took them five minutes to get a visual on their target, a black Pugeot. Keeping a few cars between them, Emma relaxed a little and let the traffic determine the pace she drove. The large number of cars on the road, coupled with the island’s small streets made it slow going for all.

Chloe kept her eyes on the laptop, double-checking that the car they followed did indeed contain the tracking chip. Emma focused on the driver, silhouetted this far back, and kept an eye out for any traffic that seemed to be following them. Both became focused on their task and didn’t notice the scooter cutting between the traffic, dodging the slow moving cars by swerving into the slim space between them. What caught Emma’s attention was the fact that after a bit, the scooter seemed to hang back and stay close to them, even with their car instead of speeding past the crawling traffic. Emma slid her Glock out of its holster and placed it next to her right thigh in the car seat.

“Three o’clock,” Emma said. Chloe immediately looked up from her laptop and out her window, spying the scooter and its rider. She saw the rider was female, and although the tinted face screen on the full-head helmet prevented Chloe from positively identifying her, the blonde hair sticking out the back of it allowed her to make an educated guess.

“It looks like her,” Chloe said sliding her own pistol out, just in case.

Emma didn’t need to ask who “her” was. “Ok,” she said. “Now this girl is beginning to annoy me.”

Traffic began to pick up and Emma swung the wheel to the right a little. Not enough to hit the scooter, but enough to make the rider squeeze the brakes quickly. The helmet moved to look inside the blue car as Chloe gripper her pistol, ready to return any fire sent their way. The rider turned her head away and gunned the scooter, darting past Emma and Chloe and slipping around the car in the lane next to them.

“Looks like we spooked her,” Chloe said.

“And it looks like she’s following the same person we are,” Emma agreed. “I’m getting very tired of Miss Canada always showing up where we are.”

“The real question is friend or foe,” Chloe said.

****

The duo continued their tail, following the gray car to a café where the driver, the same man they followed to the bar the previous night, met up with another man, this one in military fatigues. The two entered the café as Emma and Chloe parked across the street, ignoring the no parking sign above them. They didn’t dare go into the café themselves since they had been so close to the man a few hours before, the chances of him identifying them was took great. So they sat in the car and waited for them to exit.

Emma craned her head around to look for the mysterious scooter rider but she either wasn’t there or concealed herself too well. Chloe kept her eyes on the café, waiting for the men to emerge.

It took about twenty minutes before the man in the fatigues emerged carrying a briefcase he wasn’t carrying when he went in. Emma started the car and waited for a break in traffic to slip out, just as the military man, driving a black Lexus sedan, pulled out of the café’s diminutive parking lot, right in front of Emma and Chloe. They allowed a car to slip between them, but continued on tailing. Chloe kept a look out for anyone following them, although with the traffic it would be difficult to pinpoint someone.

The military man carved his way through the city until finally reaching a small military base on the outskirts of town. The men at the guard shack raised the striped bar as the black sedan pulled up to them, saluting as the car slid on by. Emma kept going straight as Chloe took a series of photos with her cell phone. They continued a block up the street and pulled into an empty parking spot.

“So it’s in there,” Chloe said pulling up satellite photos on her laptop of the area.

“What are we looking at?” Emma asked looking at the screen.

“Well, it doesn’t look that large. Could be a paperwork kind of place or maybe small storage. Basically a single story office building.” Chloe zoomed around the picture. “Looks like a loading dock in the back, no open fields for drills so small contingent of soldiers.”

“Any obvious entrances for us?”

“Just the front and back doors. We can either bluff our way in or cut through the chain link fence in the back. Your choice.”

Emma looked over the photos from Chloe’s phone, looking at the guard shack and the entrance. She saw video cameras perched on the roof of both the shack and the building. “Any chance you can remotely disable the cameras?”

Chloe glanced at the picture that Emma looked at. “I doubt it. It looks like a closed circuit. No broadcasting or networking, just a direct cable. Only way is to splice into the cable, but you have to physically be there to do that.”

“Ok, then,” Emma said. “We’ll have to go in the back way.”

“They’ll be cameras there as well, I’m sure.”

Emma sighed. “Yeah, we’ll have to shoot them out. What we’re looking for is probably near the loading dock anyway.”

“Ok then. I’ll see if I can pull up some more info while you plan our attack.”

*****

The two waited until dusk before moving on the base. They hoped the sun shining directly on any cameras in the back would hide them long enough to shoot them out. They parked their car a block away and walked down the sidewalk towards the base. Emma carried a black backpack full of their gear while they both wore with dark black and brown clothes to help them blend in both in the city and while they raided the base. As they came nearer to the base they abruptly turned and slipped down an alley between the razor-wire tipped fence and a car mechanics shop. They jogged down the fence line, looking for a good entry point onto the base’s grounds. They moved about three-quarters of the way down and found a convenient puddle of shadow caused by the building behind them and the descending sun. They squatted down as Emma slipped off her backpack and pull open the main zippers.

She slid out a small pair of bolt cutters and began to work on cutting a slit through the metal fence. Chloe reached in and took out the two P90s and slung one over her shoulder after laying the other next to Emma. Reaching back into the bag, she retrieved the two suppressors for the submachine guns and screwed them onto the barrel. They weren’t using subsonic ammo so the bullets would still crack, but they hoped the city noise level would cover it up. As Emma finished the last snip on the fence, she dropped the cutters back in the bag and tossed it over her shoulder. The sound of the metal tool settling in the back pack almost covered the sound of someone coming towards them.

Emma slid up the P90 into her hand and aimed it down the alleyway while Chloe kept a watch out on the base. Out of the shadows came a slim silhouette, the body arms and legs broken up by the distinctive outline of an AR-15.

The figure stopped in the shadows, rifle pointed at the two women. “Why am I not surprised to find you here?”

P90 steadily pointing back at the figure, Emma replied “Because we have similar goals.”

“The question is, are they the same goal?”

Chloe kept her eyes on the base, not wanting to be surprised by a group of soldiers. “You can come out of the shadows, Lisa Renard,” she said. “We know all about you.”

Lisa remained where she was. “You know some about me. I know all about you two. So tell me, what is here that has brought the attention of Acute Operations?”

Emma stared at Lisa, trying to probe her intentions. The blonde’s face stared back, a slight smile on her face.

“Ladies,” Chloe said, breaking the stalemate. “The longer we stand here pointing guns at each other, the greater our chances of getting caught. There is something in that building that was just sold to the highest bidder and we want to make sure it doesn’t get delivered.”

“Ok,” Lisa said. “Now for the big money question. This item, are you here to steal it or destroy it?”

Chloe unzipped Emma’s backpack and opened it up, exposing the five thermite grenades.

Lisa’s eyes jumped from the backpack to Chloe, trying to peer into the Australian’s face. She appeared to make a decision as the barrel of her assault rifle lowered and she squatted down out of the shadows and closer to the two women by the fence. Emma moved her sub-machine gun slightly away from Lisa, but still left it pointing near her.

“So how’s that for serendipity?” Lisa said. “We appear to have been hired for the same job.”

“Then you can bugger off and let us get on with it,” Emma said, coolly.

Lisa glared at the Brit but ultimately ignored the rebuff. “I think we are in a position to help each other, don’t you? The three of us go in, burn up the weapons and get out. We both get paid and mission accomplished.” She smiled at Emma.

“Thanks, love, but we’re good here. We know what we’re doing,” Emma replied.

Lisa’s gaze jumped from Emma over to Chloe. “Surely you can see that having three of us is better than two, right?”

Emma and Chloe exchanged glances. After a moment, Chloe gave a small shrug. Emma lowered her head in defeat.

“Ok,” she said. “But you need to take orders from me, understood?”

Lisa nodded.

“Right,” Emma said, looking back over the open ground they’d need to cover. “The plan is to sprint to the loading dock and secure that entrance. I will take out the cameras, we need you to cover and contain. Since your rifle isn’t suppressed, try to avoid firing, but don’t put yourself in danger because of it. If you need to, take the shot. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Lisa said.

“Once we are in there,” Emma continued, “the plan goes away and we search for the weapon. As soon as we find it, we set the grenades and get out of there. In five seconds it should be slag.”

Emma held open the gash she cut in the fence and nodded to Chloe. The lithe woman slipped through the fence, keeping her gun pointed towards the base. Emma motioned to Lisa and the Canadian slipped through as well. Taking one last look down the alley, Emma slid her arms through and pushed over to the other side.

The trio sprinted across the open area crossing asphalt and zig-zagging towards the loading dock. About halfway there, Emma came up short, kneeled, held her breath, and sent two rounds towards the first camera. The crack of the bullets seemed loud, even with the suppressor, but she didn’t have time to worry about that. She pivoted the gun and aimed at the next camera, double-tapping the trigger and sending two 4.7mm rounds into the electronics. Chloe and Lisa continued their sprint towards the door and took positions on either side of it.

Emma scanned for any other obvious cameras or dark domes, but saw none. She pushed up off the ground and sprinted to join her comrades. As she arrived at the door, it opened with a soldier rushing out, HK G3A3 at the ready. Chloe reached out and grabbed the fore grip of the rifle, yanking it out of the surprised soldier’s hands. Lisa grabbed the soldier and pulled him through the doorway as Emma ran up and slugged him as hard as she could, knocking the man out cold. Lisa lowered him to the floor away from the doorway. Emma gave a Lisa a quick nod of approval and slipped through the open door. Chloe followed and Lisa took up a position outside, grabbing a corner of the loading dock for cover in case more soldiers came from around the building.

Emma listened for any sounds of movement in the area and also scanned for their target. It wasn’t too difficult to find, sitting in the middle of the floor, apparently awaiting a truck to transport it away to whoever purchased it. It wasn’t much to look at, a standard military crate with black Cyrillic writing stenciled on it. Neither Emma nor Chloe could read the lettering, but Emma felt it probably said something innocuous like “turbine parts” or something. The two moved quickly up to the crate, Emma scanning it for any locks or booby traps while Chloe scanned for hostiles. Satisfied it was safe, Emma flipped open the latches and lifted the lid.

The barking of unfamiliar syllables grabbed both women’s attention. Looking up, they saw the military man from the café holding his HK G3A3 at them, yelling some kind of instructions to them that neither understood. He stood about twenty feet from them, using the corner of a shelf as some cover.

Emma continued looking in the crate, seeing the universal chemical agent warning signs plastered on the inside. This was what she was looking for.

“I’m sorry,” Chloe said, still crouched behind the crate, keeping it between him and her. “We don’t speak Greek. What are you saying?”

The man looked confused for a moment. “Hands up!” he yelled in accented English.

Emma shrugged her backpack off and zipped it open.

“It’s against the law for you to have this,” Chloe continued, submachine gun still hidden behind the crate. “You need to surrender now.”

Emma slid out two thermite grenades just as the soldier squeezed the trigger. The entire room echoed with the boom from his rifle as a round skipped down the concrete floor into somewhere behind them. Chloe pulled up her P90 and sent four rounds towards him as he dodged behind some other crates. The bullets chewed up the wood, but none hit their target.

Emma pulled the pin on one grenade, tossed it in the crate, and then repeated with the other. The soldier returned fire from cover, making sure to keep as much of him as possible hidden. The bullets sprayed wide in three-round bursts but it made communication between Emma and Chloe impossible.

Chloe let a long burst rip out of her subgun as Emma tugged on the back of her shirt, silently saying the message “Time to go.”

Emma let out a covering burst as the soldier popped up for return fire, sending his shots wide, but not hitting him either. Chloe sprinted in a straight line out of warehouse and onto the loading dock, slamming the door open. Emma pulled the trigger again to keep his head down and followed her partner.

The two women ran down the field towards the gash in the fence. A few feet behind them, they saw the movement of Lisa following them out. The blonde Canadian turned after a moment and sent a quick three rounds towards the door they just exited. It burst open then immediately closed as the bullets punched into the metal.

Just as they reached the fence, they heard a muffled woomph. The metal door opened again and three soldiers sprinted out. Chloe turned around to see the entire area behind the door engulfed in flames. The escaping soldiers appeared more interested in saving their lives, one rolled on the ground trying to put the flames out that danced on his back.

Chloe returned her attention to the escape. As she dove through the cut fence, she slashed her arm on the jagged metal but otherwise made it through unscathed. The trio paused a moment to make sure they had gotten away, and finding they had, they sprinted down the alley.

They took a moment to stash their weapons, Emma and Chloe’s in Emma’s backpack, and Lisa in a satchel she had hid previously in the alley. They walked around the corner and did their best to appear casual as they walked down the street. No sounds of pursuit followed them.

After two blocks, Lisa looked at Emma and Chloe. “Well, thanks ladies. It was educational.”

“Indeed,” Emma replied. The three stared at each other for a moment and then Lisa turned and walked one direction as Emma and Chloe went another.

When they were safely out of earshot, Chloe asked Emma “What did you think of her?”

“Not bad,” Emma said. “She handled herself well and didn’t try to stab us in the back.”

“Always a plus.”

“She was able to get the same info we got so she seems capable.”

“I agree,” Chloe answered.

They walked along towards their car in silence. “So I’m guessing this is the point where you want me to say we should hire her?” Emma asked.

“She meets the corporate requirements,” Chloe said.

“What, you mean two X chromosomes?”

“Among other assets, yes. You did say we needed to expand our talent pool.”

“I suppose I did.”

“Besides,” Chloe added with a smile, “I think she passed the interview.”