Chapter II: Lifetime opportunity.

“We can finally nail the bastard down” Mark shouted.

Despite his advancing age, the joy and excitement that was painted on his face made him look much younger than what one could expect from a sixty years old man. His grinning was contagious to the rest of the people in the room.

“If our informant is right, there will be another major drug delivery this Saturday. In just three more days, we will have him behind bars.” Mark ended his speech.

The four remaining people in the office looked at each other, three long years of work were about to pay off.

“There will be just a slight change of our usual routine” Mark continued, “We cannot afford to use our surveillance van for this one. Loukas will be alert and will probably spot a van at a place that has less traffic than a country road in the middle of nowhere. Luckily for us, there is an abandoned complex opposite the warehouse that the transaction will take place, we will hide there. Liz and John, as usual, will be stationed there, Marcus will remain in our normal position to monitor Loukas house, and Christian will be near the complex just in case. We will have the local police in this on our side but they will be ignorant on what exactly we are trying to do. They will just be alert enough to be able to mobilize when the time is right. Now…”

As Mark continued to elaborate on the plan, the four agents let the joy wash off them; now it was time for work. Even a slight mistake could mean their life. As one by one they offered their opinions and views on the battle plan, they realized how risky this operation was. On the other hand, you cannot expect to drop down on a major drug dealer, with a million ties in the mafia, and expect it to be a stroll in the park.

Time was fleeting. Only three days to get ready, a small window of opportunity, and they were just a small team so as to make certain that the mobster wouldn’t have any contact in their group. A strong gust of wind blew Liz’s rich, black hair, blinding her momentarily, as she exited the vast building. She felt the need to reassure herself, an ominous feeling of foreboding was clouding her mind. She looked up in the sky and in the agency’s logo one more time, F.B.I. For some reason, that didn’t lift her spirit as it used to be, as year by year passed, she realized that the glamour that this logo held in her heart, was fading; political games and corrupted officers didn’t make things better either. She understood now, that in just a few more years, her dream will be demolished, and all that would remain from it will be a plain job.

Just after noon, Liz and John were already in the, nearly demolished, complex. Graffiti stained the cracked walls, and even that was faint behind the layers of dirt and filth that seemed to be the motif of the whole neighborhood. Luckily, the infrastructure of the building seemed intact. Even some of the windows and doors remained, although most of them were in a degenerate shape.

From the outside, the chosen room for the job, just across the street from the warehouse, seemed to be the one in the best condition.

“Heh, we have lady luck on our side for this one Liz.” John mused.

His remark was cut short as he pushed the, almost rotten, door open. The place reeked of filth, garbage was lying all over the place, and a nauseating smell, like vomit, seemed to emanate from the very walls of the room. It still had its windows, mostly, intact but for some reason no one seemed to have bothered opening them anytime in the past; trapping the stale stink inside the small place.

“Junkies…” Liz muttered with disgust as she tried to stop coughing. “We need to make this place bearable. And we will also need to secure it, so that no one can enter it for those three days.”

Thankfully, the hinges seemed intact. And in just a small time, the rest of the crew came bringing in the equipment. Among the things that lay now in a heap of the room, were some bottles of chlorine, deodorants, and a door. The last three, requests of the surveillance team that no one seemed to object to.