Chapter 40
Jack’s eyes constantly scanned the occupants as he walked through the lobby toward the conference room. No one stood out or seemed to pay him any attention. Just to be safe, he took the long path past the emergency exit to the side entrance to the conference room.
He only opened the door a few inches and slipped inside, closing the door silently behind him. The guys were already here and stood in a circle. Their voices were in a low whisper. The whispering stopped, and everyone turned at his entrance.
“About time you showed up,” Rob chuckled.
“Everything in place?” Jack asked, looking pointedly at Luke. It was Jack’s mission, but since Luke was team lead, Jack was letting him run point.
“The exits are planned out and covered. Now we just need to figure out this room.” The conference room was a few hundred square feet. There were several rows of long banquet tables covered in white tablecloths and red and gold upholstered chairs around them.
“Someone can be in that corner.” Rob pointed to the corner near the front entrance. They walked around it to be sure it would work. There was a DJ booth set up. It was small, but it would have coverage and viewpoints to see the entrance as well as a view into the room.
“That could work,” Luke agreed.
They all stepped up on the stage. It was two feet above the ground.
The stage was only about ten feet wide and the same depth.
They took a peek behind the curtain. There was nothing behind there but more curtains.
“We can cover from here,” Luke said. “It’s not much coverage, but it’s adequate for the short amount of time we need. ”
“We can also push two tables together to look like a banquet table, and the third person could be behind that to cover three angles. It would give coverage for the side entrance in case someone makes a break for it,” Barry suggested.
“Alright, looks like we have a plan. We should set up at least an hour before the buy to make sure we’re all in place before he shows up.”
“Sounds good,” Luke agreed.
“Barry, have you seen anything on security yet?” Jack asked, though he wasn’t hopeful. Most likely the buyer wasn’t here and would only show up at the time of the buy and leave right after, not risking staying here, but Jack still had to ask just in case.
“No, no one is setting off the security.”
“Alright, they’ll probably just show up tomorrow.”
Luke looked thoughtful a moment before addressing Barry. “Check the airport security to see if anyone has flown in recently who could set it off.”
“I’ll get on it when I get back to my room.”
“Anything on Carlos?” Jack asked Luke. He had almost forgotten about him. His main focus had been on the buy, but he couldn’t forget about the danger from Carlos.
“Not that I’ve heard. He may still be in Florida.” Luke shrugged, not looking concerned.
Jack didn’t think he’d give up so easily, but they would cross that bridge when it came. “Let’s hope he stays away. One problem at a time.”
“And Andrea, is she still up for this?”
“Yeah, she’ll do it.”
“I hope so. Everything is depending on her showing up.”
“She knows,” Jack said confidently. Andrea was scared but willing to see this through to the end. “Speaking of her, I should get back. I don’t want to leave her alone too long.”
“Alright, we’ll reconvene tomorrow.”
“Let me know if there are any changes.” Jack walked away, eager to get back to Andrea.
He had every confidence tomorrow would go as planned, but they were all trained for all scenarios.
He just hoped everything went accordingly tomorrow.
He didn’t want to scare Andrea off now that she was in his life.