Shadow Men – 33 – Rafe and Steele

Instead of whoever was there making an attempt to gain entrance to the room, a man's panic-stricken voice said, "Help me. Let me in before they find me."

"Who are you?" Steele called out.

"Senator Rogers."

"Prove it."

The man spoke three words, paused, and then added a short phrase.

Steele turned to look at Rafe. Rafe nodded but mouthed, "We don't let down our guard." With a sharp nod in return Steele went to the door and moved the low cabinet he'd used to block it. He pulled the door open just enough to confirm that the short, pudgy man who stood on the other side was indeed their contact, Senator Rogers. Steele let him inside and closed the door, his gun now held at his side.

"Why are you here?" Rafe asked, even though he had a damned good idea what the answer would be.

Rogers stood rigidly, his eyes flicking between the partners as he replied. "I was surprised by one of my aides, a man I trusted, and was kidnapped. He works, as you may gather, for the Colonel. If I had doubts before about the legitimacy of your claims, I don't now."

Steele watched him, attempting to ascertain if he was telling the truth. "How did you get free?"

"They had me locked in one of the upstairs rooms. When the shooting started the man who was guarding me left. I…well…" He smiled slightly. "Maybe I watch too many TV shows but I figured if it worked on them… I kicked the door open and then ran like hell down the hall to the back stairs."

Steele glanced at Rafe, who gave the barest shake of his head. Then he returned his gaze to Rogers. "Now that you're here we need to figure out how to get away."

"Maybe…" Rogers seemed hesitant to continue.

"Maybe what?" Rafe asked.

"Just an idea. If you give me the papers and then make some sort of ruckus I can get out…" Rogers looked around, his eyes locking on the windows on the far wall, "through the window. I'll find a way back to the city and then…"

Rafe snorted in derision. "How stupid do you think we are Senator? First off, there's no way we'd have brought the information with us. Secondly, even if we had we wouldn't give it to you. Not now."

"You're good," Steele added. "You've got the fear and panic thing down pat. Unfortunately," he looked the small, pudgy man up and down with a sneer on his face, "even we would have a hard time kicking a locked door open. That's movie shit, not real life. By the time you managed to break the lock someone would have heard and come to stop you."

"Got to give me points for trying to do this the easy way," Rogers replied. He quickly took two paces to the door, swung it open and stepped aside as four men with guns flowed into the room, followed by the Colonel.

"You had to make things difficult, didn't you?" the Colonel said angrily as he watched his men disarm Rafe and Steele. "Search them thoroughly; they're known to carry more than just guns and knives. Then take them down to the basement room."

"Oh boy, do you have a pool table down there? I love pool," Rafe said cockily even as two of the men pulled him roughly to his feet. He bit back a cry of pain when one of them yanked his arms back to cuff his hands behind his back.

"Always the wiseass," the Colonel growled. "We'll see how smart-mouthed you are by the time I'm finished with you." He stepped aside to let his men take Rafe and Steele from the room.