Page 64 of The Devil's Ransom

“I agree, but we need to get these guys alive. No killing, even if they have a weapon.”

Brett said, “What’s that mean?”

“It means they aren’t DOA. If you have to protect your life, then do so, but don’t shoot just because a guy shows up with a possible gun. Treat it like a hostage rescue. Take him out in other ways.”

Brett nodded and said, “That’s increasing the risk.”

“I know, but they’re a bunch of computer geeks. I don’t think we’ll have to test it. If we do, then kill them. If it comes down to you or him, drop him. Just don’t do it as a matter of course.”

I went back to the computer, then said, “But you won’t have to worry about that. You aren’t on the assault.”

He bristled and said, “More black man bullshit here? I just did the recce. I blend in with this city. Plenty of men like me.”

I turned around and smiled, saying, “No. Jennifer is going up the side of the building to the terrace for squirter control. I asked who she wanted, and she said you.”

He looked at her to see if I was lying, and she said, “You’re the only one I trust on that wall. The only one who can do it.”

He broke into a smile and said, “About time someone appreciates me.”

I chuckled and said, “Dig into this thing. We hit it tonight, and I want everyone solid.”

Chapter37

Branko ran to the front of the house and saw a swarthy man standing over Drago with a pistol, Drago on the ground holding his head. He immediately turned and ran back the other way, darting into a bedroom.

He slammed the door shut, locked it, and heard men storming in. He looked around for an escape, saw a window that was basically flush with the ground, and leapt toward it, trying to jerk it open. It had a century of paint on the sill and refused to budge. He heard the men pounding on the door, backed up, put his hands over his face, and dove straight forward, crashing through the glass and hitting the slope outside the building. He rolled upright, saw a man appear in the room, and took off down the slope around the house. He hit the street and saw the Klis castle in front of him. A place with tourists. A place of protection.

He ran toward it, reaching the long, winding road that led to the entrance. He kept going, feeling his lungs begin to cave like they had in Zagreb. He slowed to a fast walk, turned behind him, and saw the men from the house all coming his way.

He felt a bolt of adrenaline and charged up the hill, running past the ticket counter. He heard someone yell but kept going.

He reached the first terrace and stopped, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. The castle was a linear stretch that didn’t help his ability to escape, and he wondered why he’d even chosen it.There was nowhere to run on top of this hill. The entire fortress was built to prevent penetration—which also prevented escape. He was dead.

Except for one thing. One little thing that the fortress had used in medieval times. An entrance that the members of the fortress accessed when they needed to come and go during a siege. A secret entrance.

Because of the location of his safehouse, Branko had spent a fair amount of time at the fortress, drinking wine at the cafés outside and hiking the ancient hills. One thing he’d learned would now help him survive. Underneath the first bastion was a portal, built to resupply the castle should it fall under attack. It led to the valley below, and was known to anyone who bought a ticket for entrance, but he was sure it wasn’t known to the men chasing him.

Branko ran to the bastion and heard the men behind him, the granite stones echoing their footsteps. He darted down the stairs to the lower level, underneath the earth, and waited, hoping the men would just pass him by. He went to the small enclosure where the secret entrance was located, seeing the earth fall away from an open hole, a footpath that had been used a millennium ago faintly visible.

The entrance wasn’t an easy exit. In fact, it was downright dangerous. Built on the steepest slope of the castle, it was designed to be hidden, and designed to be hard to use.

He heard shouting above him and went to the opening, bashing the iron bars that had been put in place to prevent some stupid tourist from exiting.

They didn’t give. He heard a conversation above, someone yelling about people not paying for the entrance, and smashed the bars with his feet, a desperation born of full adrenaline. The iron bars sprang free, tumbling to the earth below.

He dangled out of the gap in the castle wall, the ground twelve feet below. He heard the clapping of footsteps on the stone above and dropped through the gap, hitting the dirt outside the castle walls.

He rolled twice, slid down the slope for about ten feet, then sat upright. He looked behind him and saw the castle rising above him, but nobody following. The secret entrance had just saved his life. He stood up and began slip-sliding down the slope to the highway below.

Shakor tapped the man he’d bludgeoned with his pistol, not showing any animosity, but conveying it with his mere presence. In truth, he was completely surprised by how quickly they’d dominated the place. The man had opened the door, apparently looking for a food delivery, and Shakor had hammered him in the face with his pistol, the skin on his forehead ripping from the front sight post. He’d fallen to the ground and they’d entered with no other resistance. The rest of the assault hadn’t gone as smoothly, as their target had literally jumped through a plate-glass window to avoid them.

Shakor said, “Drago, is it? Is that right?”

The man groaned and rolled over, the right side of his face split from the pistol whipping at the front door. He pulled his hand away from his forehead, saw the red, and said, “Help me here. Please.”

Shakor tossed him a cloth, and Drago put it to his head. Shakor raised his pistol and bounced it lightly off the man’s skull. “Where is the treasure?”

Drago looked at him in fear, saying, “I don’t know anything about a treasure. All I know is what I do. I get paid to find placeslike this. I don’t do anything but find places to stay. That’s what I do.”

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