Page 44 of The Bait

Daris nodded, chin wobbling.

Then Asher spat a string of Slavic obscenities at him, gave his throat one last hard shove, sending him wheezing to the floor.

Harry and Asher walked back out to the Jeep. Asher was livid, Harry could tell. “Feel better?”

“No,” Asher seethed. “I really want to kill something.”

“Good. Because that’s what we’re going to do.”

The compound headquarterswere twelve kilometres out of the city on the R446 highway to the Mount Trebevic region. The tree-covered mountains were popular with hikers in summer, skiers in winter; there were resorts and hotels dotted throughout.

“And tunnels,” Asher said. “The War Tunnels. All through the mountains, but I think the mines are all cleared now.”

Harry shot him a look. “Mines? Gold mines? Tin, copper? Or landmines?”

Asher snorted. “Landmines.”

“You know they’re cleared, or you think they are?”

“Supposedly all cleared. Jeez, Harry. I can’t personally verify.”

Harry sighed.Landmines. Awesome.

“From the map,” Asher said, zooming in on the screen. “Their compound has one tunnel to the north of their property.”

“Are they usable? These tunnels?”

“For storage, maybe. Hard to say. A lot of them were closed or collapsed.”

Harry nodded, considering this. “We should watch them. I know they have a meeting in—” He checked his watch. “—two and a half hours, but?—”

“No,” he replied flatly. “We find our best position and take everyone out before we get Rozga.”

“We need to be able to question him.”

Asher shrugged. “So we kill him last.”

Well, Harry allowed, at least Asher wasn’t suggesting they go bursting in through the front gates, guns blazing.

Finding their best position in a wooded, mountainous region with numerous hiking trails and parking bays was easy. Especially given the compound was secluded, had a lower elevation, and cleared vegetation around the building. From what Harry could find online, their compound was once a wellness-retreat-type place with one large hall. It was a wooden cabin style construction, and there was a newer, large outbuilding near the line of the woods.

And looking through the rifle scope, the difference between the Google Map view and the one they had now wasn’t that much. The trees were thicker, taller, but not much else had changed.

They were three hundred metres away, atop a small ridge that sloped down, with the cover of heavy trees.

Until the firing started, that was.

Then they’d have to move down to the compound for closer contact and to grab Rozga. When it was all over, they’d need to retrace their steps, back up the mountain to the Jeep in the hiker’s parking lot.

Harry felt useless and restless while Asher set his rifle up, lying on his belly, adjusting everything to perfection. He knew better than to pace or wander, so he sat his ass down and ran through some observations while Asher fine-tuned his rifle.

“The drive into the compound is approximately eight hundred metres from the road. There doesn’t seem to be any cameras outside. Not that I can see, anyway. There’s an old power box on the telegraph pole twenty metres to the southwest of the main building. A single gas tank outside the main building, under what looks like a kitchen window.”

“I see it,” Asher said quietly.

Harry studied him for a long moment. “How does it feel?”

Asher had been adjusting every turret cap on the rifle with the precision of a surgeon. He kept his eye to the eyepiece and smiled. “It feels good. Temperature’s good, low humidity, no breeze.” Then he paused, looked at Harry for a second as if he was contemplating his next words, then put his eye back to the scope. “It’s been a long time since I’ve sighted in on a live target. I thought part of me might find it difficult...”

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