Page 63 of The Devil's Ransom

I took a huge bite of the gelato cone, then held it out to her again, but she shook her head. I tossed it into a garbage can and said, “Let’s go take a look at the back.”

We entered the alley, literally small enough that I could almost touch both walls of the buildings just by stretching out my arms, and walked down it, keeping an eye on everything around us.

I said, “Can’t get any vehicles in here.”

Jennifer said, “This is it. Right here. On the second floor.”

I looked above us, seeing a terrace with open-air seating. I saw someone on the terrace and grabbed her arm, leading her away. We got around the corner and I said, “That’s their escape route. We hit the front, and they go out the back. With the alleys around here, they’ll disappear in seconds. No way for anyone to interdict with vehicles. It’ll all be on foot, and I promise they’ve planned out how that race will work. They want to disappear, and that alley gives them the ability.”

Jennifer looked at the terrace from our corner and said, “I agree. What’s your point?”

But she knew the point before she even raised the question. I said, “You know why. Look behind you to the alley. Can you get up it to the terrace?”

She did, saw the old brick and cast-iron pipe, and said, “Yeah. No sweat. So, I’m what?”

“You’re squirter control, but you have to get up there without anyone knowing. Can you do it?”

She looked again, seeing the windows across the way on the other building, and said, “Yeah. If it’s dark, I can do it.”

We went back to our hotel, which was an Uber drive from the old town. Called the Radisson Blu, it was a high-rise on the outskirts of the city but gave Jennifer some credited points for her frequent flyer card. She was trying to get platinum status, and constantly picked hotels that would award her points on the government dime. One of these days, I’d take control of planning our hotels, but I hadn’t here, and so we were in a tourist hotel a cab ride away from our target.

I alerted everyone to come to my room. We waited for them to show up, and Jennifer said, “We have Omega on this, but it’s a little different from what we’ve done before. Capture alone won’t solve the problem.”

I said, “I get that. What do you mean?”

“I mean we’ll have to lean into whomever we capture to stop the ransomware. That’s a little different from just bagging a guy. What are we going to do?”

I studied a picture on the wall of our hotel, a beach scene that looked like the definition of serenity. Something I would never have. I turned back to her, saying, “I’m going to force him to give us the key for the ransomware. That force could just be me looking at him. But it could also be something else.”

She nodded, thinking, then said, “Be careful on this.”

She knew me better than anyone else on earth, and she was telling me to not get into groupthink with the team or the Taskforce. I understood it, and appreciated the words.

I said, “We get in and he’ll comply. I promise I won’t break any limbs for this, but I can’t promise there won’t be any pain.”

She circled our room for a moment, not saying anything. I said, “You still don’t trust me.”

She came to me and leaned forward, kissing me on the lips. She said, “I have always trusted you. Never say that. At the end of the day, our company is not worth your soul.”

“Well, that might depend on you. You have the terrace. Who do you want with you?”

She thought a minute, then said, “Brett. He’s the only one who can make that climb without me worrying. And he’s really good at controlling himself in a firefight. If they try to get out back, I want him there to contain it.”

I smiled and said, “As you wish.”

The door opened and Knuckles came in with a thumb drive, followed by Brett. He said, “Here’s the front of the place. It’s off a tunnel that leads to the restaurant Makarun, which is really a courtyard. Right before you reach the entrance to the restaurant there’s a single stairwell going up into the building.”

I took the drive and plugged it into the computer, seeing exactly what he’d told me. It wasn’t that great for an assault, but it was good for locking down the target. Besides the terrace, there was no escape. The only issue was the restaurant.

I said, “Creed’s done some work on the place. Turns out it’s a Vrbo rental, and the advertisement for it actually includes a floor plan.”

Brett said, “You’re shitting me.”

“Nope.”

I clicked to a web page and said, “This is it. A two-bedroom place with a large den and an outside terrace.”

Knuckles said, “Doesn’t look that hard.”

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