Page 41 of Coup De Grâce
“You can cross off the ‘Stans,” Thumper said, studying the map.
Eli nodded along with his assessment. “Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan…that’s all Bin Ladenterritory. Unless he wants to be shot in the head or made an example of, there’s no fucking way he’d risk that route.”
I marked that off also.
“Alright, that leaves one route, people.” I drew a giant circle around Georgia and Azerbaijan. “How does he get out?”
FNG was practically jumping in the air with his hand reaching for the stars.
“He’s not getting out with an umbrella,” I said, rolling my eyes.
FNG scoffed out a laugh. “No, but that would be brilliant, right? Okay, here’s how it’s going to happen. First, he’s going to drive up to Tbilisi, Georgia.”
“Georgia’s US-friendly,” Brock nodded.
“Exactly. And from there, he’ll drive to Baku, Azerbaijan, where he’ll take a merchant ship to Astrakhan, Russia.”
“Why would he do that?” I asked, confused by his logic.
“Because from Azerbaijan, he can be smuggled into Russia with barely any attention on him.” FNG slid his finger up the map to Volgograd. “He’ll take the Volga River to Volgograd?—”
“Why wouldn’t he just drive?” Chase asked. “It would be faster than taking the river.”
FNG rolled his eyes. “Fine, he’ll take a car.”
“But wouldn’t Moscow be the more likely route?” Eva asked.
I shook my head immediately. FNG was right on that front. “Too many cameras. He’d be spotted immediately and thrown in a gulag.”
“They don’t have gulags anymore,” Dash snickered.
“It was just a fucking saying,” I snapped.
“Then say he was thrown in a Russian prison. Or say that he was tortured and shot. That’s way more accurate.”
Growling in frustration, I motioned for FNG to continue. “What next?”
“Ukraine!” Fox shouted.
Slider jumped up next. “Paris! See? I can say stupid shit, too.”
“Why the hell is Ukraine such a bad idea?” Fox demanded.
“Because there’s a fucking war going on right now, and the US is supposed to be staying out of it. If they captured him there, it would cause a fucking international crisis. Russia would say he was a spy and shit would go to hell.”
“World War III,” I surmised.
“Precisely,” Slider huffed.
“Which is why he’s not going to head to Eastern Europe,” FNG grinned. “He’s going to take the train from Volgograd to Kazan, where the Trans Siberian Railway is.”
“Shit,” I muttered, looking at the expanse of Russia he would need to cross. “That’s a four-day journey.”
“And then some,” FNG continued. “He’ll land in Khabarovsk, switch trains to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. At that point, he’s so far from all living creatures, no one will ever find him.”
“Except me,” Scottie grinned.
“Precisely,” FNG continued. “It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump on a fishing boat from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Alaska.”
