Page 27 of The Bait

“We don’t know,” Harry replied.

Daris looked at Asher. “My guess is they don’t wanthim.”

“He has access to a lot of money and information,” Asher said. “Maybe he stumbled into something big?—”

Daris laughed at that. “Big? Bigger than ruining politicians and oil tycoons? Bigger than squandering billions from the bad guys? No, Asher. The one thing he has that no one else has,” he said, “is you.”

Harry didn’t like that.

“Me?” Asher asked. “I’m just a pawn. What the hell could I ever be to those people?”

Daris nodded. “That’s the question you need an answer to. Because the one sure way to lure you into their web, to bring you to them, is to use Yunho as bait. To bring you back here, to this place.”

“Then why send men to kill us?” Asher countered.

Daris shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong. Like I said, it’s been a long time since I was involved.” He sighed then. “Just be careful.”

Asher nodded. “You too.” He opened the door and gave Daris a parting smile. “Maybe we shouldn’t leave it so long next time.”

Harry and Asher left, not saying a word until they were half a block away. “I know what he said seems unlikely,” Harry murmured. “But fucking hell, Asher, I don’t know if he’s wrong. Maybe they are after you.”

Asher cut him a quick glance. “I don’t think so. Yunho’s more valuable than me. And if they wanted to lure me here, why try to kill me?”

Harry wasn’t sure about that. He was unsure of a lot of things. They had more questions than answers and he wasn’t even sure if they were on the right continent or if he trusted Daris at all. But there was no point in arguing speculations with Asher when it got them nowhere.

Instead, he gave a nod. “We need to find Ivan Cosic.”

SIX

The streetsof Sarajevo were so different from the last time Asher had been there, yet familiar enough that he didn’t need a map. As they made their way to Kovacici, he saw how people noticed them.

Well, they noticed Harry.

Because of his size and the murderous glare he shot at anyone who dared look at them. Well, at anyone who looked at Asher.

Daris had made an interesting point, but Asher didn’t believe he was the target. Yunho was worth an immeasurable amount of money. The information he had access to, the footage, the data—the evidence—was enough to topple empires.

Governments, cartels, oil tycoons, war lords . . .

And what did Asher have?

Nothing compared to that.

He could testify to the hits he’d done, who put the orders in, who’d paid. He could name names but had no evidence. Yunho had it all.

Yes, Asher was good at what he did. He was good witha rifle, he was good at walking over bodies, he was good at compartmentalising the cold reality of the world he’d grew up in.

But he was nothing: a mere pawn in this game.

If anything, he was a loose end.

Nothing more.

“This way,” Asher said, taking a hard right and entering an alley. The concrete walls were painted, dirty, with ripped posters glued and falling, torn. The street was dirty, the gutter pooling puddles of rain and god knew what.

The stench was cloying, the people loitering might have looked twice at them, but if they considered approaching them for drugs or sex, one look at Harry and they quickly reconsidered.

It made Asher chuckle. “You’re frightening the locals again.”

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