Suddenly, a cell phone in the suspect’s shirt pocket trilled loudly. Quickly removing the phone from its hiding place, Steve pressed the barrel of his automatic tight against the man’s temple. In a deceptively calm and quiet voice Steve told the agent, “I’m going to put this call on speaker. You will reply as if nothing is wrong. Do you understand me?” With eyes narrowed and glancing sideways up at the gun, the fanatic slowly nodded his head up and down. The phone trilled for the third time and Steve thumbed it open and pressed the button to answer the call. There was a pause before the kidnapper began speaking, as if debating whether he should cooperate or not. Steve jammed the gun harder against the man’s skull, with the tip of the barrel grinding into flesh.
“Hello.” The man in the chair barked into the phone. A disjointed voice on the tiny speakerphone said, “Yeah, it’s me. In just about ten minutes, I will be transmitting a command to the spacecraft, ordering them to fire the thrusters for the trans-Earth injection. It will take about eight minutes for the message to reach them, but once the thrusters are fired, they will be on a return trip to Earth. Well done! Our efforts have at last succeeded in aborting the landing. Feel free to dispose of our friend, Mr. Miller, and get the hell out of there as soon as you can.”
CRACK! A shot echoed in the enclosed space, but it did not originate from the man in the chair following the orders he had just received, nor had Steve or any of his crew fire it. Six weapons swiveled and locked on the figure across the room. Ty, still standing near the dining room entrance with arm extended, had discharged his own .380 automatic. Steve pressed the cell phone’s button, hanging up on the caller, before dropping the phone on the nearby end table. There was nothing more to say to the person on the other end. The shot said it all. The man in the chair was now slumped forward with a major portion of the back of his head messily decorating the floor. His sharp tongue and diplomatic immunity proved no match for Ty’s PPH, though he had been right about one thing: he wouldn’t be making that mistake again.