By nature, Lionel Mackay was a patient man. Twenty-two years on the force had taught him all he needed to know about waiting. Other guys hated stakeout details, but Lionel didn’t mind. He had an instinct for it. Partners always envied the fact he could sleep, or at least appear to sleep on the job, only to open an eye at the precise moment a suspect would appear on the scene. Lionel could hunker down for hours, drinking coffee and eating stale donuts, and then swing into action when he had to. Come to think of it, he rather liked the waiting.
He’d been a damn good cop. So what if he’d got jammed up a bit when he’d investigated that labor racketeering case in the South Side. People were stupid, and they had zero idea of what it took to be a cop. As for the idiots at internal affairs, what was their excuse? They knew how it was, how rules had to be bent sometimes, so why the hell were they going after their own kind?
It was utterly ridiculous that he now had to work for Taylor and Hanson. Not even a permanent member of staff, he had to jump like a rabbit at every shitty surveillance gig they offered him. Admittedly, this one was a little different. For starters, the pay wasn’t bad at all. For the first time ever, he had a proper expense account. Hotel fees, airline tickets, and restaurants were taken care of. This was going to be fun, a bit like a holiday, but there was huge secrecy on this one. The firm wouldn’t tell him who the actual client was although it wasn’t hard to work it out. Even a fifty-seven-year-old Luddite like himself could do a Google search.
He took in his surroundings as he adjusted the fanny pack over his expanding girth. He’d have to get back to the weights and the treadmill soon. Cape Town International Airport was a surprisingly modern, bustling place. Not how he’d thought of Africa at all.
Lionel hoisted his backpack off the carousel and planned to find a taxi to his hotel. Fourteen hours in the middle seat meant he could picture that bed already. After a nap, he would settle down and plan his course. There was no need to hurry. He would check things out, get a feel for the place. Those kids and their gizmos don’t know everything. He chuckled to himself. They thought they were so damn smart. Obviously, all of their cyber sleuthing had turned up nada and that was why they were asking him to help.
Sometimes you just needed a good old-fashioned ex-cop with feet on the ground. A guy who knew how to ask questions and keep his eyes open. Someone who didn’t have his face glued to a screen 24/7. Everybody slipped up eventually. You just had to be patient.