“You said you had a plan,” Gus said.
“I’ll confer with Paul but the only course I can determine is to end Fontaine. That he had a world class assassin on his personal payroll means he’s not only interested in his next oil deal. We’ll need cover on a hit of this magnitude, but even Paul can only go so far in helping us with Fontaine. I’m not sure how many politicians Fontaine has on his string but I’m certain it’s a far greater number than Paul has. One small edge we have is if we can prove Fontaine ordered the Hutchen girl kidnapping, we can enlist Paul’s lady friend who also has a fortune onto our side. After all, the kidnapping target was her Granddaughter. It’s possible Paul can play those dueling fortunes off against each other in regard to the politicians. I’m sure April Hutchen waters the political garden the same way Fontaine does and Hutchen is an American.”
Nick’s phone buzzed. It was Paul. “Hey, I was just going to call you.”
“Get the hell out of there, Nick! There’s a crew heading up to Moreau’s place right now. They’ll be at the door any minute. My surveillance team thinks they were sent there to clean house. There are six of them.”
“Thanks, Paul. We’ll stay. I’ll be in touch.” Nick disconnected, went into the kitchen and brought out one of the kitchen chairs, propping it under the main entrance door lever. “Incoming, boys. Let’s make them welcome. You two stay back where you are. We need prisoners for at least a few minutes.”
“What the hell do you plan to do, Muerto?”
“Quiet, Payaso! I hear them,” Nick ordered as he crouched near the entrance with silenced 9mm Beretta in hand.
A key unlocked first the deadbolt Nick had set, and then released the main entrance lock. The door pushed in to jam against the chair wedge. The man trying to ram through cursed in Arabic. Then a couple of the men tried to slam into the door in order to free it. As they prepared to smash into it a second time, Nick grabbed the chair leg. The moment the men on the other side took a second before trying to free the door, Nick yanked the chair out of the way. Two men smashed through the door with such force it slammed into the wall while the door openers pitched head first into a pile inside.
Nick shot them both in the head. Before the others still outside the door could react, Nick shot all four in the knees. A lean bearded one reached for his weapon even as he collapsed to the floor. Nick shot him in both shoulders. Gus and John moved out with Nick amongst the men writhing in pain. While Nick watched, his cohorts frisked the men of weapons and identification before restraining them. Nick put away his Beretta then. He helped drag the prisoners inside the entryway.
With a couch covering Nick tore from one of the divans inside the room he mopped the blood on the floor outside the entrance before locking the door again. He searched the two dead men while Gus and John watched the others. Nick grinned as he checked the ID’s of the men. They all had diplomat ID’s for Algeria. They were all legitimate. Nick scanned everything to send in text files along with pictures to Paul which he did. He explained two dead and four wounded. With duct tape from the equipment bag, Nick bound the wounds on his four live prisoners over their clothes to stop the bleeding.
Paul called. “All with the Algerian embassy on special assignment according to their roster I had hacked. My very own merry band of young professional black hats are at this moment tearing through everything the Algerians have in relation to the names you sent. Any luck with our original interests?”
“One very big name: Omar Fontaine.”
Paul’s voice became quiet and chilling for anyone else but Nick to hear. “He hired Moreau?”
“He not only hired him, Moreau is on his payroll. Our boy Felix had a Stinger missile, a new digital TrackingPoint smart rifle, and a complete file on Omar’s activities. I’m certain there is something else going on here besides Omar’s petty wants and needs. What would you like done with our guests once I interrogate them?”