“I have him. He’s parked the car in an alley and is on foot moving southeast.”
Mason was sweating in the backseat as he tried to picture Decklin’s movements. The target could have been getting food or he could have been meeting with someone who’d notice if he didn’t show up. He realized that his muscles were tensed up and he tried to make himself relax.
“Okay, he’s going into the store.”
Mason let out the breath he had been holding as the seconds ticked by. Working off the assumption that he would head back to his car, Mason began setting up the grab.
“Zeus, I say we take him at the car. If he gets mobile again, we could lose him.”
The Libyan nodded and asked for the exact location of the alley. As soon as it came over the radio, Tarek made a quick turn and cut across oncoming traffic. Turning onto the next street, he continued west for a moment before slowing down.
“There it is.” He pointed to the nondescript sedan parked at the edge of the alleyway. Two modest buildings on either side appeared to be closed for the day. Mason was looking for a place to set the ambush, but the car was parked in an excellent spot to prevent that.
“Okay, head down the street and turn around. We’re going to have to wait until he comes to us, and then we hit him.”
Tarek continued down the street. Mason couldn’t believe he was about to attempt a drive-by with a Chinese Taser. If it didn’t work, they were going to have to subdue Decklin before he could get to a gun.
“The target is coming out of the store with a bag. He is heading back toward the car.”
“Keep us updated. We need to know exactly where he is,” Zeus said.
“Ask him what he’s wearing,” Mason said from the back.
“What is the target wearing?”
“He has on blue pants and a gray jacket.”
“Well, that’s not very helpful. I hope these little prongs will go through the jacket.”
Tarek turned the car around and was waiting fifty meters away from the alley. He left his lights on to avoid unnecessary attention, but he couldn’t stay in the street for long.
“Target is one street away and moving north.”
“If he doesn’t go down, I need you to be ready with a flashbang.”
Zeus set the radio in the center console and pulled a bang from his kit. Using his fingers, he bent the wires securing the pin to the spoon so it would be easier to deploy.
“Two hundred meters.”
“It’s on you. Tarek, don’t fuck this up.” Mason had the Taser out and flexed his fingers around the pistol grip. Rolling down the window, he twisted in his seat to give himself the best angle possible.
Tarek slowly inched forward as he mentally kept track of the distance. It was hard tracking someone without a visual, and if he was wrong they could pass him.
The radio crackled. “He should be coming out onto the street any moment now.”
Mason was searching for the first glimpse of the target as Tarek pushed on the accelerator. A car behind them honked and flashed its lights just as Decklin appeared in front of them. The car was right on their ass and Tarek was afraid to let it pass.
“Shit, go around, you fucker,” Mason said as Decklin looked up in preparation for crossing the street. They were about fifty meters away and running out of room. Just as the target was stepping into the street, the car passed and the driver stuck his hand obscenely out of the window.
Decklin threw his hands up and cursed in Arabic. “Watch where you are driving, fool,” he said before slamming the palm of his hand on the rear quarter panel of the passing car.
He looked directly at Tarek, who was now cruising along, and then focused on his car. Sticking his right hand into his pocket, he extracted his keys as they pulled alongside him.
Mason brought the Taser up and extended it out the window as Decklin turned his head to look at the vehicle. His finger had already closed around the trigger and the two metal leads shot out with an audible pop. Zeus was preparing to pull the pin as they stuck into Decklin’s leg, and the Taser sent a jolt of electricity down the wires.
Tarek slammed on the brakes, sending Mason’s face into the headrest. Decklin jolted as the volts hit his central nervous system and then dropped like a stone. Zeus leapt out of the truck and was on him a second after he hit the ground. The Libyan hit him with a savage strike to the side of his head to ensure he was incapacitated before slipping a pair of flex cuffs out of his back pocket.
Mason could hear Tarek on the radio calling for Jamal to come get the car as he pulled a black bag out of his back pocket and slipped it over the target’s head.
Lifting him over the bed of the truck, they dropped him in. Mason reached into Decklin’s waistband and secured his pistol while Zeus slipped another pair of flex cuffs around his ankles and pulled them tight. Before covering him up with a tarp, Zeus stuck a hypodermic needle in the target’s neck and pushed down on the plunger. Decklin wasn’t going anywhere for the time being.
Jumping back into the cab, Tarek hit the gas. From start to finish they had spent less than a minute securing the package. The radio came to life a final time as one of the trail vehicles dropped someone off to get Decklin’s car. Mason lit a cigarette before punching the back of Zeus’s seat in triumph. It was the only emotion he showed.
Back at the safe house, Mason attached the camcorder to the stand and flipped open the small viewing screen. He could clearly see the man secured to the chair and the table to his right. Three buckets of water, two plastic squeeze bottles, a towel, and a fire extinguisher were laid out on the table next to the hooded figure.
Zeus walked in front of the camera and began questioning Decklin in Arabic. The American demanded to know where he was and why he’d been captured.
“You are spy of the Jews,” Zeus began as he circled the man with a length of garden hose dangling from his hands. “You will tell me the truth or I will hurt you.”
“I am not a spy. I work with the United Nations. There has been a mistake.”
“Do not lie to me!” Zeus yelled as he whipped the hose across Decklin’s legs. “We know who you are and you will tell us the truth.”
“I swear to you.”
The hose cut through the air with a buzz as Zeus brought it over his head and down on Decklin’s legs with an echoing thwack.
Decklin shot straight up in the chair as the pain washed over him. Behind the hood his mouth opened wide and he screamed. Zeus waited for the man’s scream to die out before hitting him again. Decklin writhed in agony as Tarek came behind him and applied a chokehold to his neck. Mason could hear him gasping for air as Zeus struck him again.
“You will not lie to me!” he yelled in his ear. Tarek let go before he passed out. Mason lit a cigarette as Zeus and Tarek took turns beating and choking him. Zeus’s shirt was soaked with sweat after ten minutes, and he tossed the hose on the table.
The chair was constructed to pivot into a reclining position. Each leg had a pin that Zeus removed while Tarek held on to the top of the chair. Once they were removed, the chair pivoted backward until it lay flat. He bolted it into a metal pipe secured to the floor.
Zeus walked over to the table, grabbed a white towel, and tossed it to Tarek. As Tarek pulled the towel flat across the man’s face, Zeus filled an old metal can with water from one of the buckets. Mason held his cigarette in one hand and grabbed an empty bucket with the other. Placing it on the ground below Decklin’s head, he moved out of the way.
“I promise that no one knows you are here, my friend, and no one is coming to get you. The quicker you tell us what we need to know, the quicker this will all be over,” Zeus whispered in his ear.