Agent of Influence: A Thriller Read Online Free PDF Page B

to his normal duties. He received the call from his superior an hour earlier, while he was staking out his usual area outside the airport terminal. His new job description was vague to say the least. The orders were simple but nonsensical. Follow any group of three people that he saw coming out of the baggage claim area as long as the group contained two men and just one woman. The sparse late night crowd at the airport made the task feasible; albeit still difficult. He knew the boss always kept plenty of watchers at the airport besides him, and they were now dispersed throughout the city, following all the threesomes they could find. He had no idea why, but he would follow the orders. He knew better than to question commands from his superiors.
    It seemed strange for two guys and a girl to come to Vegas, he thought. Could they be swingers? The girl with them seemed attractive enough, and they all seemed pretty chummy. After a few more seconds, he refocused his attention on the table, and the black man about to roll the dice. A flick of his powerful wrist and the dice went flying across the green expanse of the table, finally coming to a rest with a five and four showing; another winning roll. A collective yell of excitement erupted from the table.  The celebration caused some people walking by to stop and observe for a few seconds before continuing on their original path.
    While stacking more of his winnings, Shakir gave his quarry another once-over, trying to implant their faces in his mind. An eleven followed the nine, giving everyone standing around the table another influx of free money. Shakir watched as the taller of the two men covered the board with some aggressive bets. He began to follow suit when the cell phone clipped to his belt began vibrating. He yanked it off and watched the tiny rectangle of glass as a text message popped up on the screen.
    “Continue surveillance. You will be replaced asap. Don’t lose them.”  It was not much help. He sipped his diet cola and put another minimum bet on the table. He needed to make his money last as long as possible. 
    Shakir wondered what could possibly be the reason he was being forced to watch these three. They seemed harmless. He tugged at his shirt. Despite the frigid temperature of the casino he was sweating p rofusely. Pools of sweat were visible around the armpits of his white dress shirt. The last hour of following these three had been nerve wracking. The order to trail threesomes had come from one of the boss’s top security men, and it had been accompanied with threats of permanent maiming for any disobedience. He knew he was currently out of his element, and that could land him in trouble if someone did not replace him soon. He preferred his normal job. He was muscle as his superiors liked to say. If he had been Italian and lived during the heyday of the mafia, he would have been what the families referred to as a soldier. He followed orders and broke things, or people, if the situation warranted it. He was a blunt instrument of aggression to be wielded at his boss’ request. 
    ***
    Looking down at his watch, Alex could not believe it was almost two a.m. The crowd around the craps table finally dispersed when the black man’s run of luck ended. Now only two other players remained besides Alex and Michael. Cindy finally decided to join in the game thirty- five minutes earlier, and a string of beginners luck gave her a quick one hundred dollars and a look of disgust from her two more experienced companions. She quickly picked up her chips after her coup and cashed in the winnings.  “I’m exhausted, honey. Let’s go to bed before I blow my money on something else.” The words were partially drowned out by a yawn from Cindy’s impish mouth.
                  “Alright. I’m beat myself. Alex, you staying?” Michael asked.
    “Yeah, I think I’ll hang around a little longer,” Alex replied. “See if the luck holds. Remember to wake me