Sunshine or Lead by Adam Van Susteren

Author:Adam Van Susteren [Van Susteren, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-08-24T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Aurora, Tina, Xiaowan, and Jessica landed in Barcelona at five pm Saturday local time. They got their bags and made it uneventfully to the Hotel Montecarlo located at La Rambla, 124. They chose this location because it was right in the center of the strip in Barcelona. There would be people all around and there was presumed safety and cover credibility in its location.

Xiaowan was already tired from the nervous energy that kept her from sleeping on the plane. Tina and Jessica were ready to find some paella and walk around La Rambla to behold the party that is Barcelona on a Saturday night.

Aurora was concerned about presiding over so many moving parts. At least the check-in process went as planned. The women were assigned to rooms across the hall from each other on the third floor; Aurora was able to talk the hotel into changing the room assignments to adjoining rooms on the second floor. Since she wasn’t sure if she would be able to have a crew sweep the rooms for bugs, she wanted to ensure they got rooms different than those originally assigned in case someone had known where they were going and knew the room assignments. Even the best placed listening device or video camera would be useless after they changed rooms.

Aurora was disappointed to find that there were no key cards at this hotel. As is common in Europe, there are old fashioned keys that you leave at the front desk. When she asked for four tourist maps, the desk clerk was again happy to oblige.

In the hotel room, Aurora pulled out three of the maps and circled the hotel and Paseo Reina Elisenda de Montcada, 23. She explained, “This is the United States Consulate. If anything happens, get there. It’s a ten minute cab ride or one hour walk from here. Let the hotel front desk put you in a taxi that they call for you.”

Tina, excited to go find an amazing dinner said, “Okay. We’ll keep the maps on us, just in case. But we really don’t have anything to worry about here, do we?”

In the moment that Aurora hesitated before answering, the telephone blared, cutting through the silence like a surgeon’s scalpel.

“I’ll get it, probably just about check-in or something,” Xiaowan said as she moved to pick up the phone. “Hello?”

The voice on the other end spoke, then she said, “Okay. Thank you, I will be right down.” She looked at the other ladies and repeated the message verbatim, “There is a man here to see me. His name is Zhou.”

Aurora looked at Tina. “So, yes, Tina. We have come to a potentially dangerous place. However, an early meeting was anticipated and if anything appears scary or out of hand, I have CIA contacts that are near. Xiaowan and I are prepared for this.”

Tina said, “So are Jess and I. Whoever these people are, I’m sure they’re not as bad as Helen Cluntz and her goons.”

Aurora smiled at her. “Just remember, no risks.

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