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THE STARLIGHT TOWER was one of the newest luxury hotels in Shanghai. It was modern, sleek, and one of the tallest buildings in the city. No expense had been spared in making it the premiere location for business travelers – from ultra-modern gigabit WiFi throughout the hotel to video teleconferencing equipment in every suite. It was the highest rated hotel in the city.
But what most business travelers staying there didn’t know was that the hotel had been constructed under close supervision by the Chinese Ministry of State Security. And that meant that every room had video and audio surveillance and the WiFi was closely monitored. China’s primary intelligence service used the hotel not only as an intelligence gathering source to steal from visiting businesses, but also as a means to keep tabs on its own businesses. It was one of many hotels they monitored throughout the country.
The Chinese had built a surveillance network within the hotel that had been largely impenetrable by most foreign intelligence services. Its multiple layers of encryption and firewalls shielded it from the average NSA hacker.
Luckily, “Coolio” Meeks was no average hacker, and the technology he had at his disposal between Odin and Project Archangel allowed him to make quick work of the various encryption protocols. Before the team had even landed at Shanghai, Coolio had managed to access the entire system and was pumping a real-time feed to Sierra’s laptop.
After hacking into the software, Coolio had used facial and voice recognition software to search every floor except one. The sixty-second floor appeared to be a dead zone. There were no WiFi hotspots, no networked cameras, and no listening devices. The building schematics showed that it had four penthouse suites located at each corner, and the only access was through a service elevator on the south side of the building.
They deduced that this was where Chinese Intelligence agents conducted operations and likely relied on closed-circuit cameras and networks to prevent inadvertent access, despite the high level of security protocols on their surveillance network. If Khang had taken Cowboy to this hotel, the sixty-second floor was where they were keeping him.
Tactically, the lack of camera access posed its own challenges. By hacking the hotel’s feeds, Coolio could easily get them to the service elevator, but they were mostly flying blind after that. The best they could do was use the thermal imaging from the micro-drone. It would give them an incomplete picture of the threat layout, but it was still better than nothing.
The infiltration team consisted of Kruger, Tuna, Ringo, and Sierra dressed as hotel maintenance workers. Churchill and Dusty manned the getaway van parked in the underground parking structure that connected to the service elevator. They each had suppressed Sig P320RX compact handguns chambered in 9MM in case things went sideways, with Churchill and Dusty standing by with heavier firepower if the OP really went south.
Coolio talked them to the service elevator, keeping them clear of roving security patrols in the garage as he looped the security feeds just long enough for them to get by. They entered the elevator pushing a small tool cart and selected the 62nd floor. A prompt appeared on the touchscreen, asking for an employee verification ID.
“Oracle, it’s asking for an employee ID and access code,” Kruger said over the tactical frequency.
“Standby,” Coolio replied.
Kruger waited impatiently as Coolio did his magic. He was sitting in the MI-6 safe house a few blocks away that Sierra had arranged on the flight over.
“Give me something, Oracle,” Kruger pressed.
“Try three-seven-eight-six and the passcode is four-four-seven-eight-two-one-one.”
Kruger entered it in as instructed. He winced as the system processed the information, but to his surprise, the screen turned green and the elevator began to move.
“We’re on the move,” Kruger reported. “How?”
“Personnel database. There appears to be a small number of employees with unique access permissions and possible associations with the Ministry of State Security, so I took a wild guess based on their movements through the hotel.”
“You’re a bloody genius, mate,” Ringo said.
“Focus, boys,” Sierra said. “We don’t know what’s waiting for us up there.”
“I’m showing six heat signatures, concentrated on the western corner of the building,” Coolio said.
“What about the other rooms?” Kruger asked.
“They appear to be unoccupied,” Coolio replied.
“Copy,” Kruger said.
The elevator stopped and they drew their weapons as the doors opened. The corridor was empty.
“Left turn and the room should be on your right,” Coolio said, monitoring them with the drone feed.
Kruger took point and headed straight for the room on the right. He pulled out an RFID cloner and went to work on the door lock. The LED on the small black box turned green simultaneously with the indicator on the door.
After a silent countdown, Kruger pushed the door open, button-hooking left as Tuna and Sierra followed close on his heels. Ringo covered the door, watching for anyone entering from the elevator they had just used.
As Kruger cleared left into the living area, he saw two men in suits standing next to four women dressed in maid uniforms. One of the men saw him and yelled something in Chinese as he saw Kruger’s weapon.
The man tried to draw his own weapon, but Kruger dispatched him with two shots to the throat. Tuna had gone right, leaving Sierra behind him who hit the second guard in the left arm and shoulder as he attempted to draw his weapon.
Startled, the maids raised their hands high above their heads and dropped to their knees. As they reached the living area, Kruger and Sierra suddenly froze. Next to the buckets, scrubbing brushes, and bottles of bleach, a six-foot mass was wrapped in Visqueen.
“Are we clear in there?” Ringo yelled from the hallway.
“Jesus Christ,” Kruger muttered.
“Oh no!” Sierra yelled as she holstered her weapon and dropped to her knees next to the body.
Tuna ignored the obvious and finished clearing the apartment as Sierra pulled out a knife to cut through the plastic. “Clear,” he said as he walked back.
“Oh God!” Sierra cried as she pulled back the plastic and saw her brother’s lifeless face. “Reginald!”
“Fuck!” Kruger yelled.
“What’s going on over there?” Coolio asked. “I’m showing the elevator in motion. Might be headed to you.”
“Cowboy is dead. We’re moving to extract,” Kruger replied.