6

TRUE LOVE

THAT EVENING

Bruce/Ben and Alfred/Tom rented a room across the street in the same hotel that Anatoli Knyazev was staying in. Knyazev had watched them walk into his hotel from his window. He had originally thought they were coming for him and quickly screwed the silencers onto both of his Sig Sauer pistols. He waited patiently for them to breach the door, fully prepared for a flash bang or some other device to come through a crashed door. After a full two hours of waiting he decided the attack wasn't coming. Anatoli deduced the duo must be setting up their own surveillance hub inside the hotel.

With Beal's apartment bugged and two unknown operatives watching him Anatoli decided that he couldn't interrogate and kill Beals in his own apartment. The operatives were obviously trained. If Anatoli tried to tail Beals he was sure he would be spotted by the operatives. He had no doubt of his ability to kill them, but being able to kill both and then capture, interrogate and kill Beals without alerting authorities would prove nearly impossible. What he needed was to separate the target from his surveillance.

Alfred sat at a desk in the hotel room watching the three monitors they had set up for surveillance. One monitor was displaying a split screen of images from the bedroom and living room of Beals apartment. The second monitor showed instantaneous readout of all words the audio bugs picked up. The third monitor remotely connected Alfred to the Cave computer systems. From the hotel room he could automatically launch a drone and man it. It was a cloudy night and satellite imagery would be useless. That wasn't the only problem. If Alfred launched a drone he would be tied up with only that and couldn't participate in an actual tail of Beals in case he left his apartment. If Beals decided to use public transportation and take the subway he needed to be kept in sight at all times. Bruce could theoretically do it alone, but he needed Alfred to do a Surveillance Detection Routine in case Beals was being followed by the assassin. It would be very difficult for Bruce to tail Beals and check to see if Beals was being followed all while checking to see if he was being followed himself. He had to do it all without being spotted by Beals. But difficult was not impossible and Bruce Wayne routinely did what others said was impossible. Still, it significantly increased the danger of exposure of both himself and the operation. He had started out as the Batman with only Alfred to help. He had been effective. But the addition of Batgirl and Robin significantly increased his effectiveness.

Bruce thought of all this as he stood in the room staring out the window. He was watching the entrance to Beal's building, memorizing the faces that came and went. Bruce was wearing his Batman uniform, but without the cowl, cape, and gauntlets. He wore oversized jeans and gray hoodie over the uniform and had a trench coat on over that. The cape, cowl, and gauntlets were in a backpack on the bed. The civilian clothes over the uniform allowed him to trail Beals but change to Batman relatively quickly. They were bulky and hindered his movements but it accomplished the purpose.

Bruce's internal clock pinged in his head. It had been four hours since he had eaten. He and Alfred had only bought enough fresh healthy food for three days in their coolers. They were going to have to restock in order to continue surveillance. There were plenty of fast food restaurants nearby, but he needed good fuel for his body and mind.

"Alfred, time for me to eat," Bruce said. He wasn't worried about eavesdropping because he and Alfred had swept the room for bugs and had activated a counter surveillance sound device in case anyone was using a laser microphone.

"I'll head to the market on the corner and grab supplies," Alfred responded in his true British accent.

"No, that'll take too much time. I'd rather you do that when Beals is at work. There's a Robek's two blocks west. I want kale, carrots, beets, bananas. Extra large. I'll take watch while you're gone."

"Very good, sir," Alfred said as he stood up. He stretched, grabbed his wallet with false driver's license, credit cards, and cash and headed out the door.

Alfred walked down the hallway to the elevator and pushed the down button. The door eventually opened. There was already another man inside the elevator, also on his way down. Alfred stepped in and nodded to the rather large man and saw that the button for the lobby had already been pushed. He turned around as the doors closed.

The other man! Anatoli thought, completely taken off guard. He subtly sized Alfred up, trying to see if he was wearing a radio or carrying a weapon. Did he expect me to be in the elevator? He didn't seem surprised to see me or on edge in any way. Just a coincidence? If he or his mystery employers knew who I was surely they wouldn't let him get on an elevator with me. No, he decided. They do not know me. He wasn't sure, but he was confident enough that he decided to alter his plan yet again. Eliminate this problem now so it doesn't become a larger problem tonight. He knew he couldn't kill the man here in the elevator. It wouldn't be helpful if he got to the lobby and the elevator doors opened up with him and a dead body in it.

The elevator arrived at the lobby and opened up. Alfred walked out and toward the entrance followed by Anatoli. As Anatoli walked he pretended to feel a vibration in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone.

"Hello?" he said to no one on the other end of the line. "Hey, Rich! How ya doin' buddy?"

Anatoli waited as Alfred exited the front entrance of the hotel and headed west. He put his phone into his pocket and followed.

Too many people, Anatoli thought as he watched Alfred. Anatoli was less than twenty yards behind him, yet there was a throng of people on the street. It wasn't nine pm yet and businesses and shops were still open. Anatoli followed Alfred for two blocks and saw him enter a Robek's. He must be getting food for Ben and himself. Too many people here, too many on the way back. He decided to stick to his original plan and continued past the Robek's.

He walked another four blocks until he found a bodega that advertised prepaid cell phones. Anatoli entered the store and purchased a phone using cash. He exited the store, removed the phone from it's package and activated it. After that he walked another block until he found a candle store. He entered and picked out a large vanilla scented candle.

"Do you do gift wrapping?" he asked the woman who rang him up.

"Sure do, box and all," she responded with a smile.

"That would be perfect, thank you."

He exited the store, and continued walking. Anatoli carefully opened the gift box and removed the candle, tossing it in a trash bin as he passed. He put the cell phone in the box and closed it. He continued on to his final stop.

Anatoli stopped outside of a bicycle messaging service. He watched various messengers arrive and depart, looking for a specific type. There. Bleached blonde hair, long goatee. Huge earrings in his lobes. Artistic type. Perfect.

"Hey!" Anatoli said as the man mounted his bike. "Wait! I need you to deliver a package for me."

"Sorry, dude. Ya gotta go in and drop it off or call or go online. I can't just take a package," the bike messenger said, obviously annoyed.

"Look man, they want me to use my credit card. I can't, my wife will find out."

"That's fucked up, dude," the messenger replied.

"It's not for a girlfriend... it's for my boyfriend," Anatoli falsely confessed. "I know it's fucked up and I'm trapped. Please. I love him." Anatoli held up a hundred dollar bill.

Poor guy probably had to play tough and be in the closet his whole life, the messenger thought. Dude is obviously desperate. He reached out and grabbed the bill.

"Thanks, man! Thank you so much!" Anatoli said. "His name's Bobby. Thanks so much."

"Sure thing, man. I'm sure it's tough. True love, right?"

"I want to be with him until the very end. True love!" He gave the messenger the address and watched him ride away.

Alfred returned to the hotel room and handed the smoothie to Bruce.

"Thank you," Bruce said. He got up from the desk and went over to the window again. "Nothing interesting while you were gone. He ate a frozen dinner, keeps flipping back and forth between CNN and SportsCenter. Keeps ignoring texts from his girlfriend." It was an average stakeout. Dull. Boring.

Alfred sat down at the desk and continued to monitor the video and audio feeds. After five minutes Beals turned off the t.v. and walked over to his desk. He pulled his laptop out of his messenger bag and sat it on the desk. He opened up the computer and began typing something into the search engine. Everything he did on his computer showed up on the second monitor in the hub.

"Sir, you better come see this," Alfred called. He's typing something Russian into Google.

Bruce had just watched a bike messenger enter the front lobby of Beal's building. He turned around and walked over to the monitor and looked.

"Heh, apparently he misses the motherland," Bruce said dryly. Bruce was fluent in Russian, Alfred was not.

"I don't follow," Alfred replied, confused. He watched as Beals clicked on a link. Immediately multiple images of Russian women engaged in various sexual acts came onscreen. "Ah," Alfred said. "Well he most certainly better wash his hands after this."

Beals unbuttoned his jeans and started to lower his zipper as he clicked on different pages of videos. He was stopped by a knocking at the door.

"What?" Beals yelled. Who the fuck would be knocking right now? He hoped it wasn't his girlfriend. He just wanted a peaceful night of no fighting. Ignoring her texts hadn't helped.

"Got a package delivery!" he heard through the door.

Alfred and Bruce tensed up. "This could be the assassin," Bruce said as he began to fully change into the Batman.

Fuck! Bobby buttoned his pants and zipped up on his way to his front door. He opened the door and saw the messenger there.

"Here ya go, man" the messenger said as he handed Bobby the wrapped present.

"What do I owe you?," Bobby asked. He looked at the present utterly confused.

"No charge, dude. True love, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Thanks," Bobby said as he shut the door.

"Stand down," Alfred said to Batman. "The messenger left." They both doubted that the package would be a bomb. It didn't fit the assassins M.O.

Bruce had everything on but his right gauntlet and cowl. He stopped, removed his cape and right gauntlet and picked his smoothie back up, watching Beals on the monitors.

Beals looked the package over. It didn't say who it was from, but he assumed his girlfriend. They had only been going out six weeks so far. It was weird for her to have a present delivered. He shrugged and opened the package.

Inside was a cell phone that was already powered up. He saw that there was already a text message waiting for him.

Dimitri. Your life is in danger. Meet me ASAP. Check the GPS. Do not wear the tan jacket.

"What the fuck?" Bobby aka Dimitri said out loud.

Alfred and Bruce watched, unable to see what the text message said. Beals looked down at the phone as another text message came in.

Blend in with the crowd and you will be safe. Hurry.

"What the fuck," Beals repeated. "What crowd?"

The fire alarm on Beal's building suddenly activated. A loud ringing and flashing lights began going off in the hallways. Bobby quickly left his apartment. His neighbors began coming out too. They avoided the elevators and made their way to the stairs.

"He's making his move. The assassin knows it will be harder to track him in a panicked crowd. He knows we're here," Bruce said. He quickly stuffed the gauntlet and cape into his backpack. Bruce grabbed the trench coat and put it on, tying the belt snugly. "Put your earpiece in. We go down together. Watch for a hostile. I'll take the west side of the crowd, you take the east. Work our way towards each other. If you see Beals or a potential hostile do not engage."

"Got it," Alfred said as he handed Bruce a small earpiece.

They both put in their earpieces and ran downstairs and exited the hotel. There was already a crowd forming outside. The sound of fire engines was drawing closer. Alfred walked to the east side of the crowd and began scanning faces. Families in various states of undress all huddled with each other, many on their cell phones. There were at least a hundred people outside by now. Bruce went to the west edge of the crowd and began looking for Beals or the assassin. There were too many people.

"No joy," Alfred said over the comm system.

"Me either," Bruce replied. "We lost him."

"Beals is heading north in the alley west of the building," a computerized female voice said over the comm system.

Bruce froze. Someone had hacked into his secure comm system. The same person who sent the file?

"What do you want? Who are you?" Bruce asked in an angry tone.

"I want to save Robert Beal's life. Suit up. I know where he's going. Hurry," the digitized voice replied.

She knows I'm Batman?

"Who are you?" he repeated through clenched teeth.

"I am the Oracle."