THE GIRL IN THE WINDOW (The Inspector Samuel Tay Novels Book 4) by Jake Needham

they wouldn’t always miss.
    He knew it didn’t matter. If he stopped doing the best he could regardless of how they pushed him, he would have no self-respect left. It was as simple as that.
     
    The radio crackled again and a voice said, “We have a subject approaching the hotel from the east who’s the right height and build. He could be Suparman.”
    “Could be?” Goh snapped. “Does the subject resemble the drawing or doesn’t he?”
    “He’s wearing a hoodie, sir. Because of the rain. I can’t see his face.”
    “Is he alone?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Let me know if he enters the hotel.”
    There was a long silence and Tay felt the tension building. He kept his eyes on the radio while he waited for more. It was stupid to look at the radio, of course, but he did it anyway.
    “Ah…this is position one again,” the same voice said after a minute or two had passed. “The subject is by the hotel. I don’t think he’s going in.”
    “Position two,” Goh said, “do you see the subject?”
    “Yes, sir. He’s coming straight at us and I can see his face now. He does look like the drawing…well, a little. But it’s not Suparman. He’s too old. Repeat, not Suparman.”
    “Roger, positions one and two. Stay alert. Out.”
     
    Tay lit another cigarette and went back to staring out the window. Perhaps he would sit here until he smoked himself to death. Eventually they would find his corpse with an empty pack of Marlboros in one hand and a box of matches in the other. That had to be about as good a way to go as any.
    The thought took Tay back to the barely human pile of flesh he had seen in that tent at the side of the Singapore River. Now that was a horrible way to die. Who was that man? Did anyone miss him, or had he been forgotten already? The lesson was pretty clear, Tay told himself not for the first time. Never be a victim. Make your own choices, do what you have to do, but never be a victim.
    Tay smoked quietly until his cigarette was finished. When it was, he dropped it on the floor and ground it out with the toe of his shoe.
     
    The radio clicked on again.
    “This is position two. We have three males approaching from the west. There is a subject in the center of the group who might be Suparman.”
    Tay’s eyes flicked first to the radio then to the window, but of course he couldn’t see the three men from where they were.
    “The whole group is stopping about twenty feet from the entrance. Subject is still in the center. Stand by.”
    The silence stretched on so long after that Kang got up and walked over to check the radio. The moment Kang put his hand on it, Goh’s voice boomed out of the speaker and he jumped slightly.
    “What’s happening, position one?”
    “Ah…nothing, sir. They’re just standing there.”
    “Are they checking for surveillance?”
    “I don’t think so, sir, but their backs are to us so I can’t be sure. Subject is wearing a light jacket with the collar up and a baseball cap. I can’t really see him very clearly.”
    “Do you have them, position two?”
    “Yes, sir. The subject in the center has very short hair and pale skin. I don’t see how he could be Suparman.”
    “Can you see his face clearly?”
    “Uh…not really, sir.”
    “All three men are moving again,” the first voice interrupted. “They’re past the hotel entrance now and proceeding west.”
    “This is position two. They’re coming toward us now and I can confirm the subject is not Suparman. Repeat. Not Suparman.”
    “Okay, positions one and two,” Goh said. “Stay on it. Out.”
     
    As suddenly as the clouds had appeared they vanished, the rain stopped, and the sun came out. Tay’s reflection vanished from the window and he stood up and looked down at the green door across the alleyway. It looked exactly the way it had looked an hour ago, two hours ago, four hours ago.
    “This is bullshit,” Tay said.
    He yawned and stretched.
    “This is complete bullshit,” he repeated.