The man in the unbutton crisp black suit with an undone black tie in the resturant sat almost transfixed watching these two men wisecrack on each other back and forth. He couldn’t make out their exact words but that’s not what he was hearing for. He shuffled his feet and leaned back a bit. He rubbed his eyes, and then stretched a bit and breathed in deep. They had been late he began to reason whilst looking around and recalling his course of action.
There it was, he heard; his gaze quickly shifted towards to the two men as they were getting up out of their booth. Now he knew they had been late. The cell phone in his pocket vibrated and he stopped.
What was this, he thought, had something gone horribly wrong? This was not protcool and this wasn’t what they had planned. He grabbed the phone and answered it.
“Twenty-five minutes,” a voice said and the call ended. He put the cellphone back into his pocket as he briskly followed after the two other men. Once out the resturant he made a mad dash to the right of the parking lot as the two men slowly walked forward to their car. He had to time this just right. He opened his car and quickly turned it on. He had parked horizontally across from where the men had their car. He watched as the men neared their car. Now looking at them by aid of his mirror he waited for the sound, the sound of their car turning on. All of this had to be done in one fell swoop or it wouldn’t work. Loosening his body up he took a few deep breaths, looked back once more to see where the two men’s car was and settled into the seat. Then it came, his cue, the sound of the engine. He peered at the car’s end slowly coming out it’s parking space and at one third of the two men’s car out he floored the car’s gas pedal for exactly 10 seconds, steered the car a tad to the right and then let go of the steering wheel. The sound of metal crunching, metal to metal, the center of the passenger side of the two men’s car had met with the back of his car. A disaster. He had made two other cars besides the two men’s car be invovled in this disaster. He was hurt, he had hit his head against the steering wheel; purposely he hadn’t worn a seatbelt. His mission was complete. He laid with his head on the passenger seat. This would surely take a nice while to clear out. He smiled and looked at the ceiling. “Twenty-five minutes,” he said softly.
***
Four minutes, the total time the two men who had paid a visit to the Congressmen had been on the metro train back to Franconia, Springfield. Twenty-five minutes was what they had asked for so they could arrive back into Springfield Mall. Fifteen minutes of which were due to the elderly man’s sloppiness. He who had once carried the briefcase now stood and the other sitting down looking at the floor. The elderly man had endangered the entire operation but he who was sitting could not think of these things as of yet as there were still yet greater things to tend to. He cracked his back, his neck, and finally his jaw. He looked up and raised his hand. Thomas, the one who was standing reached for his cellphone when he saw this. He called, “Five minutes,” Thomas said and hung up. Thomas then took the battery out of the cellphone and dropped the phone followed by stepping on it. He picked it up and put in a ziploc bag. Thomas then thought he heard something, he had. He never had spoken during an operation, it was the way he had taught him. He who was sitting down had said, “Good.”
]]>Chapter 2
“Absolutely nothing is going to happen,” Tom reassured his partner, “we’ve been watching this guy and all his buddies for 5 months now plus he’s been watched another 10 months by the other guys before us.”
Tom took a bite of his Top Sirlion. His partner Sean sat in front of him fidgeting and staring down at his Top Sirlion.
“I don’t know man, maybe today he’ll do something and then what are we going to say? Uh, sorry, I was out eating a Top Sirlion steak so I don’t know what happened?! We’ll get fired Tom, Sean said sternly.
“Ha!,” scoffed Tom, “This guy isn’t going to do anything--plus we don’t even know what this guy does, so how can you say he’s going to do something when you yourself don’t even know what it is--what if he already did it...then what? Anyways I already got our stuff filed for this morning, we can vouch for his whereabouts.”
Sean zoned out he was looking blankly at the steak as if under a trance.
Tom looked at Sean. “Sean...Sean--Sean!”
Tom reached over the table, grabbed his shoulder and shook him.
“What? Oh, Sorry Tom, yeah, I know but something doesn’t feel right...I dunno, “ Sean said worried twirling his fork around.
The two men both in their mid 30s in casual clothes sat at the far end of a resturant inside of Springfield Mall in VA in a booth.
“You some kind of Jedi or something?” Tom said with his mouth full of steak and raising his hands up in the air and waving, “You sense a disturbance in the force? ...wait, wait, yes...” Tom leaned to the side and farted loudly multiple times.
“Oh my God, Tom!” Yelled Sean as he stood up.
“Ha! You are a Jedi man, yeah something was definitely not right--in my bowels!” Tom banged on the table, “...there was a disturbance in my bowels! “
“That’s disgusting--gross man, ugh, did you have sewage for breakfast or something?”
People as far as six tables down looked back and made faces all but one man in an unbutton crisp black suit with an undone black tie. The man cautiously studied the two men making sure they didn’t feel as though they were being watched. He sat there like a lion waiting for a gazelle. His job was simple but pivotal to the success of what was taking place.
***
“You’re sure he’s in there?” asked the man without the briefcase to the elderly man.
“Yes--yes I am sure,” stuttered the elderly man, “I am certain of it.”
The two men in crisp black suits had reached their destination. The briefcase was put down gently on the floor as it was before. The man without the briefcase glared at the elderly man whom stood at the side of the door, the office of a Congressman. The man without the briefcase smiled bluntly at the elderly man.
“Thank You...this never happened, “ he said grimly to the elderly man.
”Oh, yes of course, “ the elderly man replied nervously as he slowly backed away and then hurriedly went out of sight.
The two men now stood there waiting. The man without the briefcase did a perimeter check, he cracked his back, his neck, and finally his jaw. He breathed in deeply and slowly exhaled as he glanced back and nodded to the man with the briefcase.
Inside the office the phone rang and he quickly opened the door. Both men rushed into the office startling the Secretary and File clerk inside.
“Excuse me, excuse me!” yelled the Secretary annonyingly, “He’s not here--you need to make--”
“I have one.” said the man without the briefcase bluntly as both men went through the other door startling the Congressman whom was on the phone with his back turned.
“Who...?”, the Congressman uttered as he turned around to see who had opened the door.
The Congressman froze, his heart was in his throat as he laid his eyes at who was at his door. Nobody moved.
“Sir...”, the Secretary said annonyingly her heels smacking aganist the floor as she came to the door, “I tried to stop them but--”
“...I have an appointment with them...” the Congressman said nervously almost unsure of what he was saying.
“Oh,” said the Secretary as she went back to her desk.
The man with the briefcase closed the door and stood by it as the man without the briefcase sat in chair across from the Congressman.
The Congressman stood motionless and prostrate with shock as a woman’s voice came out the earpiece of the corded telephone; the woman was agitated.
Seconds went by as the Congressman gaze went from the chair and to the door and back again with both men glaring so intenesly it seemed almost loving.
“I’ll call you back,” the Congressman quickly spoke into the mouthpiece of the corded phone slamming it violently. He began to prespire at that moment and began to look at his reflection from the desk.
He looked up and was taken away by the intense glaring of the two men. He composed himself, cleared his throat and spoke: “I told you never to come here...” His voice had cracked and all he could lay his eyes on was on the left hand of the man without the briefcase sitting down and holding his hand up in indication to cease from his speaking. At the same time with the his index and middle finger of his right hand together he shaked them signaling the man with the briefcase to come forward.
The Congressman gripped the desk as his eyes became fixed on the briefcase. The man with such gentleness and prowess placed the breifcase horizontally on the Congressman’s desk. At this moment he saw that the man was wearing latex gloves and that seconds before he was not wearing them. The Congressman’s eyes quickly shifted to the man in the chair; he was still yet glaring. He dare not ask the reason for the latex gloves or from whence they had come from.
The man opened the briefcase and placed a slab of paper onto the desk and pushed to the Congressman. The first page was highlighted with instructions. The Congressman read it as if it were one of his many indications written on prescriptions pills but he read it with much more speed. As he read his eyes widen and his breathing became laboured.
He looked up. “...I can’t--,” the Congressman blurted before being transfixed by the hand indicating him to stop from his talking.
The man in the chair got up as the man whom held the briefcase left it on the desk and proceeded to open the door for the man in the chair. They both walked out.
The Congressman was left staring at the slab of paper, he picked up the phone and made a call.
שילטון
Regime re·gime also ré·gime (rā-zhēm')
Noun
1. a mode or system of rule or government
2. a ruling or prevailing system.
3. a government in power.
4. the period during which a particular government or ruling system is in power.
Two men in crisp black suits shuffled through the throng of people entering and exiting the US Capitol building. Their pace was brisk yet calm but their haste was evident. Both men looked straight ahead, meeting no ones' glance neither looking to the left nor to the right. They didn't have much time. As they made their way they made certain that no security guard or camera would catch glimpse of them. The route they had taken had been planned right down to the last footstep.
In a building of this magnitude and with such activity it was easy to pick out those whom looked suspicious so therefore it was imperative that they seem as one of the boys. However these two men were anything but one of the boys. Within their sights now was the security checkpoint and to their left people exiting--two guards stood by the exit. They stopped. The two men, one carrying a leather breifcase placed it gently on the floor as both proceeded to turn their backs to the exit and to the guards.
From afar these two men seemed as if they had just come out the exit and were simply chatting of the days events but with every second these two men neared the exit--they were slowly walking backwards, the guards didn't notice for these two men were facing the same direction as the other people exiting. As the crowd dispersed only the two men and the briefcase on the floor remained present significantly closer to the guards and the exit.
The two men remained with their backs to the guards as they spoke to one another. The guards grew puzzled.
"All right then let's just go back to his office then," said the man without the breifcase loud enough so both guards could hear it. He turned around and proceeded to the exit both men making sure not to make eye contact with guards.
"Sir, you're going to have to go back through," the guard said sternly as he pointed to the checkpoint.
"Nonsense," replied the man without the suitcase, "I've forgotten to leave my ID at the checkout and he still has his temporary ID..." He pointed to the ID hanging on the lanyard.
The guards glanced at the IDs and as one of them was about to speak from the exit corridor came a voice: "There you are! Gentlemen please come back, we seem to have had a mix up."
An elderly gentleman whom the guards knew came running and flashed his badge and told the guards panting, "They're ok, I need them to come with me. If they go through again we'll be late. Come on."
The guards acknowledged his request and let the two men passed. The three men now moved quickly through the corridor.
"That was sloppy," said the man without the briefcase to the elderly gentleman as he did a perimeter check.
"I'm sorry, I had to be sure--you know--," the elderly gentlemen stopped as he saw the disdain in the man's face.
They kept moving, they were already late.