Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 16

Ian woke up a minute later. Somehow, he was, in the hotel room, on the bed with Lauren and Dean. Neither of those two were doing anything to comfort him, or clean him up from where the blood from his nose had bled down and around his hair, shirt, chest and blanket.

He sat up, looked around, and rose. Everyone seemed to tense up. Whoever had hit him was not in the room. There was just six in the room, and these people where here when Ian had fled. Obviously, the muscle was outside.

Ian staggered to the bathroom and fetched a clean white towel from there. He started to clean up the blood. Looking out the door to the bathroom, the pudgy guy with glasses was staring at him. Getting his gander up, Ian snapped, "What the hell did you think I was going to do? Bleed all over, forever?"

The pudgy guy broke eye contact. This told Ian that this guy was not the leader of this crew. By his build you could tell that he was not an enforcer. What his role with the cops here was unclear.

He exited the bathroom and headed over to sit by Lauren. If he had to sit by someone, it might as well be a woman. She snorted with disgust at his overt move towards her. But Ian could not care less at the moment. But he still sat beside her.

The phone rang across the room. Taking two steps, the huge black man answered it. Ian assumed he was a cop, and expected him to be the one to lead the conversation. He hit a button on the phone, replaced the handset on the cradle and then retreated to his corner of the room. Interesting. He is not the dominant one. That leaves the other cop, the white guy...

"Hello," started the vaguely familiar voice on the other end of the line. "I take it all of us are there. Ian, did you have to make a scene like that?"

Ian's stomach knotted. The Benefactor was somehow watching them.

"Anyways, I'm glad all of you could make it." Ian's brain kicked into high gear. The other three were part of the Benefactor's plan? How was this so? He was told that there was to be an escape plan for three, not six.

"I know that this comes as a shock to all of you, but I like to have all my bases covered. By employing the six of you in two teams, I guarantee that my aims will be met. It reduces the risk to each of you, while increasing the chances of success immensely."

None of this was making any sense. Ian took a quick look around the room and he could guess by the expressions on the other five that they were as confused as he was. He continued to try to wrap his head around what he was supposed to do with an extra three people. Adding three people reduced risk? Logic dictates that it increased. The Benefactor needed to clear this up.

"Each of you has had a chance to research your projects. The main plan remains the same. Dean, Lauren and Ian, you will conduct an attempted robbery at the bank on Kingfisher Avenue. Dean, you will execute the attempted robbery. Lauren, you are to delay the security response inside. Ian, you are to make sure the three of you escape. Nothing is to be taken, no one is to be hurt. You are to allow the bank to exercise its robbery procedures. As you are leaving, Lauren, I want you to lay your delay and deception device outside the bank."

In one quick moment, Ian felt relieved that he had the same instructions as his "colleagues", and that meant that they were just as vulnerable as he was, but he was also not clear on their role, yet. What is a delay and deception device?

"Once the bank has gone secure, Bill, I want you to eliminate the bank's security feed completely. Moussa, I want you to carry out the last of the tunnelling and get yourself into the safe. Rab, once in the safe, I want you to crack all the safety deposit boxes on the east wall Once those boxes are open, empty all the contents of the boxes onto the floor of the safe. That is with the exception of the contents of box 468."

Ian was dazed with new information. They were not doing a mock robbery! They were taking part in a real robbery. He was merely a decoy. He looked at the others. He could not read their faces to see if they knew the same information, but he would be willing to bet that they did not. He looked at the three strangers. He could pick out Bill easily enough. He was the pudgy fellow. He did not look like someone who would tunnel or deal with explosives. He would "eliminate the bank's security feed", whatever that meant. He had no idea which one of the other two were Moussa and which was Rab. Box 468, on the other hand, was strangely familiar. Of course. It was the same number as the room here and the one in Chicago. This was peculiar.

The tinny voice on the speaker continued. "Once you have those contents, leave the safe right away. Ian will have gotten the others away from the bank, hopefully taking any attention away from you. You will depart the area and await instructions for the location and timing for the drop off. In a moment, the Courier will knock on the door, and she will have some packages for you. Take them, and follow the instructions held inside. This is best for us all. Ian found out the hard way that there are others who are helping us."

Ian reached up, almost involuntarily, and rubbed his sore head. There was a knock on the door. Bill opened it up and in stepped two people. One was that disgusting, ugly face Ian had seen in the stairwell, the one who had hit him. Ian instantly named him Smooshface. Both for the present look on the revolting face, and for what Ian wanted to do to that face. The other was the Bulldog, the woman he had seen on the street as he was heading to the hotel. He was stunned. His cunning ploy to avoid detection and escape had been under observation for longer than he had been aware, and as a result he had no opportunity to escape. He felt little comfort in knowing that his instincts had been correct, and that the Bulldog was indeed following him.

"These are two of our friends. They are members of the Great Plains City Police, but are also able to help out certain Benefactors." Ian detected a bit of a laugh in the voice as this was being said. "I can provide you top cover if you need it. I have reach." Ian did not doubt that at all.

The door knocked again. Bill went to answer it. Ian tried to see who was at the door this time, but his view was blocked by Smooshface, the crooked police officer. Ian met his gaze, and it was smiling quite sardonically at him. Ian did not like this cop. It did not take long to decide this.

Ian heard Bill talking to someone in the corridor. It was a female voice. The Benefactor had said that the Courier was a woman. Ian was just curious to know what she looked like. Old habits die hard.

The door closed and Bill came into the room. He was carrying the familiar white envelopes. He handed one out to each of the members of the team, avoiding eye contact with Ian.

"Open them up and follow the directions written in them." The phone went dead.

Ian opened up his envelope. Inside was a room swipe key for the Traveltel Motel and a note. The note told Ian that there was a room rented for his "team" at the Traveltel and that he, Dean and Lauren were to use the room to carry out the planning for the job.

He was not impressed. There was no date for the job. He was going to have to spend time with Dean, a guy who looked shady, and Lauren, a terse woman who had not responded to any of Ian's flirtation.

He needed to rest his head and get cleaned up. It was going to be a long couple of days.