Red Princess

61. Assassin 101 - The Kissing Tactic

"What are you getting so worked up about? You don't even have an important job in this entire mission."

The sudden chill that I felt down my spine made me realise I would be the last person he comes to save if something went wrong in there.

"I am the one who is going to feed the laxative to Iredov to get him off the dinner table!"

"As if that's an important job." To be honest, it was. Iredov was the cautious one with a technical mind. The probability of me getting caught was higher with him on the table. Another reason was his uninterrupted access to my face during the flight. I wouldn't say that my disguise had flaws, but having to constantly stare at the same person for nearly half a day was bound to give away some of your less obvious, difficult-to-mask features.

I pulled up a view of the restaurant on my laptop through the CCTV cameras. Kaidon was pacing about serving food to the guests, acting as naturally as possible. His attire matched that of the other employees, and if not for careful observation, I probably would have missed him on the screen. He certainly was good at what he did; he needed to act like a nobody, one who wouldn't leave any impression on the minds of the people he met, and his disguise spoke in that manner.

I opened another window highlighting the location of the two GPS trackers we placed on Iredov and his laptop. We were careful enough to set the GPS on his watch rather than any other body part. The tracker was at the risk of getting destroyed or misplaced if he changed his clothes or took a shower, and a watch was the most likely thing he would keep on his body at all times.

"The target is here." I heard Kaidon's voice over the earpiece. I pulled up the restaurant footage again, my eyes focussed on the CEO, Pierce, the man I was supposed to seduce. Kaidon showed the way to him and his two guards towards a secluded table at the far end of the restaurant. He pulled out his cell phone and made a call, which was my cue to keep an eye on the GPS tracker.

"That's weird..." I mumbled, switching the view on the screen and pulling up the camera footage right outside Iredov's room. The man opened the door and stood outside for a moment to fix his tie, and then stepped into the hallway towards the elevators. What was odd was... "He's not carrying the laptop."

"What?" I heard Kaidon's exasperated voice on the other side.

"He's coming empty-handed. Did they change the time for the exchange?"

Silence ensued as we considered our options and pulled up Iredov's travel itinerary on the screen. It was odd that the man was supposed to leave in two days, but the booking for his room ended tonight.

"They are going to exchange key cards." Kaidon's low voice over the earpiece pierced through the silence.

"Key cards? You mean the keys to their rooms in the hotel?"

"Precisely."

That certainly made sense. It was sort of how we often exchanged information with our moles by placing the documents in public lockers. I noticed on the screen that two men dressed in black were headed in the direction of Iredov's room. They exchanged glances and a brief nod with him and then stationed themselves outside the room.

"Alright, time for plan B. Kaidon, when was the last time you squeezed yourself through air vents?"

"You have got to be kidding me-"

"There are guards outside the room. The only way to get access to the laptop unnoticed is either that, or you jump into the balcony from the top floor."

I stared at the camera footage again to see him pinching the bridge between his nose on the screen, the scene almost making me laugh.

"Right... so much for being a free-rider on the mission." He sighed as he asked me to send him the hotel's blueprint, making me chuckle internally.