It took a split second to determine he wasn’t a threat. Still the Red Cobra kept on going, past her room and past the man. She took a series of left turns, working around the square layout of the floor until she emerged back at her bedroom door again. This time, the corridor was empty. She took out her keycard, unlocked the door and stepped in.
Once safely inside, the Red Cobra threw off her backpack, her cap, her jacket, and her boots, then she sat on the end of the bed. Her head was swimming with thoughts of her next step.
After a few minutes, she grabbed her laptop and sat on the bed while it fired up. She located the secretive chat portal she had been using to communicate with her employer. She left a coded private message to tell her employer the spotting position was compromised, that she’d need time to find another if they wanted more surveillance, and that there was a potential threat to eliminate.
She sent the message then stared at the computer screen, hoping for an immediate response. The employer wasn’t online, but would have received a notification of her message.
After fifteen minutes, there was still nothing.
The Red Cobra got up and headed to the bathroom. She turned on the light and stared at herself in the mirror. Then she pulled off her shoulder-length blonde wig and released the pins to allow her long dark brown hair to fall over her shoulders. Next she took out the blue contact lenses to reveal her naturally hazel irises. She undressed and took a soothing shower.
As soon as she was dry, she once again checked the laptop for any messages. There were none. Then she lay down, shut her eyes, and nodded off to sleep.
The Red Cobra awoke over two hours later when the ding from her computer told her a message had arrived. She felt groggy as she woke up from the deep sleep. The past few days she’d been filled with adrenaline as she’d staked out the hotel suite in the Waldorf. She welcomed the chance for a brief rest even if she was now feeling unusually anxious.
She opened up the message and grunted. The note was simple. Hold tight. Await further instructions.
She swore at the screen and angrily closed the laptop lid. A second later though she’d calmed. She hated not knowing, not being in control, but this was the job she was being paid for. And handsomely too. There was little point in second guessing the orders. Best to ride over the frustration, and wait and see what happened next.
The Red Cobra dressed in jeans, high heels, and a sparkling blouse then put on some make-up before heading out of her room and downstairs to the hotel bar. It was nearly six p.m. and the bar would soon be full of post-work drinkers. She may have been working, but the Red Cobra still needed her downtime, and despite her secretive and dangerous job, she wasn’t averse to striking up a conversation with strangers – hiding in plain sight, she knew, was often a good tactic. And her striking good looks meant she could count on attention, when she wanted it, wherever she went.
The Red Cobra sauntered into the bar and was pleased to see a number of eyes caught by her presence. She moved over and sat on a tall stool by the bar, then ordered a dry gin martini from the young bartender who by now recognised her face but didn’t know her name.
The drink arrived and the Red Cobra sipped it then spun round in her chair to look out across the room. One or two men quickly looked away from her., eyes down at their drinks. That was fine. It was early, and she knew she already had their attention. Sooner or later one of them would come over. They always did.
She turned back round to the bar.
In the end it was sooner, rather than later.
‘Do you mind if I sit here?’ the husky male voice said after a few moments. He spoke in German, not the Red Cobra’s native tongue, but she knew his words had been perfect.
She turned to look up at the man standing next to her, a warm and ever so slightly sultry smile on her face in greeting.
It was a hard task – a very hard task – but somehow she managed to maintain that smile even when she saw the already irritatingly familiar face staring down at her. It was the casually dressed man from the suite at the Waldorf.
CHAPTER 33
‘Ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch,’ the Red Cobra lied. I only speak a little German. She emphasised the words in all the wrong places.
‘But you do speak English, don’t you?’ the man said. ‘I heard you order your drink.’
The Red Cobra was thinking on her feet. In fact she could speak several languages fluently, including both English and German. She regularly used English when working on jobs. It was the easiest choice. Most people understood her in the many countries she travelled to. Plus there was something nondescript and unmemorable about a English woman travelling on business rather than a Georgian or a Russian or a Slovakian or a Serbian who no one could understand.
‘Yes, I speak English,’ the Red Cobra said, realising there was little point in playing dumb.
‘But you’re not English,’ the man said, obviously picking up on her accent. ‘So where are you from?’
‘Here and there.’
The man laughed. ‘Yeah, me too.’
The Red Cobra smiled, resigned to going along with whatever game this man had in mind. It wasn’t like she could leap up and choke him to death in the middle of a packed hotel bar, whoever the hell he was.
‘What are you drinking?’ the man asked.
The Red Cobra shook her glass. ‘Martini.’
‘Bit strong for me, this time of night.’ He ordered himself a half-litre beer from the barman, downed a third of it, and finally took a seat next to her.
‘So what’s your name?’ he asked.
‘You can call me whatever you like.’
‘How about Anna?’
The Red Cobra did her best to hide her reaction. But she was feeling anything but her usual confident self. Anna surely wasn’t a random name he’d plucked from nowhere.
What did he know?
‘Sure. If you like,’ she said, smiling. ‘And what should I call you?’
‘You can call me Carl. Carl Logan.’ He extended his hand and she didn’t hesitate for even a second before reaching out and giving it a gentle shake.
‘So are we going to play games all night, Carl?’
‘All night? That’s quite a proposition. I only met you five minutes ago.’
‘You’re very confident, aren’t you?’
‘I like your hair that way. More natural.’
‘Wow, charming too. How about you get to the point.’
Logan smiled and took another big gulp of his beer. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I was trying to have a quiet drink.’
‘I mean in Berlin.’
‘Working.’
‘Spying?’
‘That’s not me.’
‘But that was you in the apartment.’
‘Which apartment?’
‘It’s a bit late for that.’
She thought for a moment. Curiosity got the better of her. She had to find out what was happening. ‘Surveillance.’
‘It’s a good location,’ he said. ‘Unobstructed view to the hotel. Not a great exit route though. One stairwell. One lift shaft. One street entrance. One exit at the back. Easy to run into problems.’
‘It was the best I could find.’