Page 133 of Stuart Woods' Golden Hour

“The man near the entranceis moving out of cover and appears to be following Mr. Barnett,” Strauss said over the receivers in Stone’s and Vesna’s ears.

Vesna let go of Stone’s arm.

“Be careful,” Stone said.

She gave him a quick smirk. “This is not a word I’m familiar with. I’ll see you at the rendezvous point.”

Quietly, she headed in the direction Billy had gone.

Moments later, Dieter spotted Barnettwalking across the area where the party had taken place. Other than him, the only people present now were festival staff and the caterers removing the last of the food and beverages.

Once Dieter’s hiding place was out of Barnett’s sight, Dieter strolled out and joined Rolf in pursuit.

Barnett continued to the main building and entered. The two men followed and were in time to see Barnett turn into the men’s room.

Silently, Dieter directed Rolf to check the other end of the hallway. Rolf jogged down, then signaled that the area was clear.

Dieter stepped around a corner and called Andreas. “It’s going down now. Let the van team know we’ll be using the delivery entrance. Get everyone else back to the sedans.”

“On it,” Andreas said.

“Unidentified van approaching back ofmain building,” Strauss said.

“I believe that’ll be my ride,” Billy said, voice low.

“The men we’ve been tracking outside the event grounds are on the move, too.”

“Toward the van?”

“No. Back to the cars they arrived in.”

“You know what todo.”

49

After the debacle with Verdein Romania, Andreas hadn’t expected to be given a prime spot on any of the other Golden Hour retribution operations. But neither had he expected he’d be put with the grunts on the ass end of a job to kidnap some movie producer.

But here he was, making his way back to one of the three sedans in which he and the others who’d been on perimeter watch had arrived, their reason for being there in the first place apparently moot.

Andreas reached his vehicle a few seconds ahead of the others and climbed into the front passenger seat.

Their orders were to follow the van when it left, guarding against trouble Andreas was sure wasn’t coming. In other words, another do-nothing task.

The driver slipped behind the wheel and pressed theStartbutton.

Nothing happened.

He pressed the button again, but the engine remained silent.

“What the hell?” Andreas asked. “Did you not fill the tank?”

“Of course I filled the tank,” the man protested.

“Then what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know!”

As the driver pushed the button a third time, Andreas twisted around and looked out the back window. The other two cars seemed to be suffering similar problems.

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