Page 87 of The Devil's Ransom

She said, “No, that’s the whole point of its upkeep. You can walk from Mali Ston to Ston. All the way from one to the other, along a fortification steeped in history, but like everything here, it’s full of stairs. Not sure you want to follow me up them.”

I looked to see if she was kidding, but she wasn’t. She just loved old shit. I said, “I’d love tofollowyou up the stairs, but maybe later. Let’s get our guy first.”

She gave me her death stare at my twisting her words, and we pulled into a small parking lot next to the water, with only a single Land Rover in it, which had to be our target. A decrepit stone bastion was to the front, looking like it still wanted to fight but had long ago lost the ability. A map at the edge of the parking lot gave us the historical background, with restaurants stretching out along the intercoastal waterway. This place was older than our entire country.

I studied the stone crumbling from the bastion, wondering who’d built it. I pretended I wasn’t really turned on by ancient stuff like Jennifer, but I was. Seeing the bastion made me wonder, as a military guy, who’d used it and how they’d faired. How many men had died defending this port?

And how many more might today.

Chapter50

I exited the car and saw Knuckles approaching. I had the team gather around me, saying, “Okay, here we go. This is our last chance. Brett and Veep are burned from the gunfight earlier. I’m not. Neither are Knuckles and Koko. Brett, Veep, I want you out here in case they leave. You’re the vehicle follow.”

I pointed at the Land Rover and said, “That’s got to be their vehicle. Get a beacon on it. Knuckles, you go long beyond the restaurant. Koko and I are going in. If I sight him, I’ll call. From there, we’ll work it out.”

Veep said, “What if he comes back out here to the parking lot and we get a chance at him? If he’s clean?”

“Take his ass down.”

Brett said, “We have sanction for that?”

I turned to him and said, “No, we don’t. Well, we do, but it’s because George Wolffe is hanging his butt out on a sling. The National Command Authority no longer thinks this guy is worth the effort. I convinced Wolffe that he was because I believe he is. We have about a day and a half before those people die in space. And this guy can solve it, so take him down, no matter what.”

Brett said, “The NCA doesn’t believe in this mission? And you want to continue?”

I glanced at Jennifer, then at him and said, “Yeah, that about sums it up.”

He said, “Why?”

“Because there are Americans about to die. I don’t give a shit that they’ve paid to be there. I don’t care that they’re all rich fucksticks—which they are. At the end of the day, they’re Americans. That’s why.”

He smiled and said, “Well, they paid for the trip. Sounds like they’re reaping what they sowed. Not sure that’s worth our team.”

I said, “One of them didn’t. One of them is just a small-town schoolteacher from Arkansas. Her flight was paid by the owner of the company for his own bullshit sense of worth, but she’s not going to die on my watch. She’s up there right now, and she’s coming home.”

I said it more forcefully than I should have. Brett saw my commitment and said, “Okay, Pike. I’m in.”

I glanced at Jennifer, then Veep. They were both looking back at me like I had a screw loose. If the National Command Authority didn’t believe in the mission, why were we doing it? But Knuckles knew why. The men in the NCA put their pants on one leg at a time, just like we did, and sometimes they were wrong.

He stepped in, saying, “You have the assignments. Let’s execute. This is for Carly. She sacrificed her life for Jahn. The least we can do is sacrifice our career for the schoolteacher.”

That meant more than anything I could have said. I nodded at him, and we broke up, Knuckles heading to a stairwell to get above our location. Jennifer and I went down low, next to the water and the last known location of the phone. We found three restaurants right next to each other, all with outside dining that was ubiquitous here in Croatia. We passed the first one slowly, looking, and didn’t see our target. We hit the second one, and Jennifer pinched my arm.

There he was. Branko, otherwise known as Doctor Evil in my book. He was sitting with two men who looked like they’d just come from a safari, with loose-fitting shirts and pants full of pockets. Both were hard men, and I instinctively knew one of them had held the pistol in Korcula. Unlike Branko, they most definitely weren’t computer geeks. The man across from Branko locked eyes with me and I glanced away. But he’d seen me. Seen something.

I pulled Jennifer to the menu as if we were wondering where to eat, and said on the net, “Target acquired. Stand by.” I gave the team the restaurant we were in and waited on the hostess to give us a seat.

We were led to a two-seat table on the other side of the patio. Jennifer ordered a giant bowl of mussels, which was apparently the thing in Mali Ston, and we settled in to see what would happen. We didn’t have to wait long.

Before our food was even brought out, Branko and the other two men stood up. On the net, I said, “Veep, Blood, get ready. They’re on the move.”

Only they didn’t head back to the parking lot. They went to a stairwell on the left of the restaurant, heading deeper into the little village. I said, “Knuckles, Knuckles, they’re coming to you on foot. They aren’t going to the car. Track them and if we get a shot, let’s take Branko.”

“ROE?”

Which was a big question. Wolffe was putting his neck in a noose to allow me to operate, which meant I couldn’t just start a gunfight then claim self-defense, although I was sure that would work. Both of the guys shadowing Branko were definitely pipe hitters.

I reversed course, saying, “Just track them. No overt acts. Seewhere they go. Find a bed-down location and we’ll take it from there.”

---