“I see him.”
“How did he find us?”
“I don’t know. But he’s certainly not trying to hide his presence from us any longer.”
“What do we do?”
“I don’t know.”
As Tae spoke, the man came flying around to Tae’s side of the car. He pounded on the window. Tae looked towards the taxi driver and then out the windshield. They were stuck in a long line of cars. This taxi wasn’t going anywhere for quite a while. Tae and Anna were cornered. Tae decided that his only option was to confront the man in black. He lowered the window a crack.
Assuming a nonchalant air, Tae questioned the frantic man, “Can I help you, sir?”
“I need to speak with that woman!”
“I’m sorry, sir, but she does not know you. I don’t allow my girlfriend to talk to strange men. You will have to address all your comments to me.”
His girlfriend?! Had she heard correctly? Had Tae just called her his girlfriend? As badly as she wanted to look at him, she kept her face averted. She was a little afraid of the man in the trench coat.
“She was supposed to meet me at eleven o’clock this morning in the hotel lobby. My company flew her here from Pakistan to complete some sketches for our business department. But when I arrived, she was nowhere to be found. I knew her assignment included sketching Willis Tower, so I spent the morning there looking for her, in the hope that she would return to complete a sketch.”
Tae did not trust this man. Something was wrong. If he were as innocent as he claimed, why did he not approach them at the tower? Why did he follow them from a distance?
“Can I see your business card, sir?” Tae asked him.
The man reached into his coat pocket, only to surface a moment later empty-handed. “I’m sorry. It appears I left them all at the office.”
Tae’s suspicions were confirmed. “What’s the name of the company you work for?”
“V Textiles” came his quick reply.
Tae pulled out his phone. “Would you please give me your phone number? When we have time, we will call and make an appointment to meet with you and your boss.”
The man rattled off a phone number, but then he pressed Tae. “I really need to meet with her now. We have pressing business.”
Tae turned a sharp gaze upon the man. “Here’s the thing. She does not recognize you. She has no recollection of any such appointment. You failed to approach us at the tower. Then you stalked us for several blocks. Your behavior is more than suspicious. So, she is not getting out of this car to meet with you.”
As Tae spoke, the man pulled his trench coat away from his side to reveal a pistol hanging from his belt. Tae’s worst suspicions were confirmed. He didn’t know what Anna had gotten herself mixed up in, but this situation had just gone from bad to worse.