by Matthew Dunn
Will and Roger had analyzed the risks they would face at every stage of the extraction. They had decided that the point of highest vulnerability would be between exiting from Neum and reaching Italian waters. Their destination was the English Channel, but Will had decided that if they were seized anywhere outside the Bosnian and Herzegovinian jurisdiction, he would have no other option than to escalate matters by involving their premiers to plead their release on the basis of a mutual Western intelligence imperative. He hoped, however, to avoid such a requirement. He liked the idea of quietly sailing into one of England’s ports with his prize.
“What about the meeting itself?” he asked Roger now.
“Lana needs to give us a visible thumbs-up or thumbs-down. I suggest that we have her place her handbag on the coffee table if the man is Megiddo and on the floor if it’s not him. Can you confirm to me now that that will be the signal?”
“I can confirm. Handbag on the table if it’s him.”
“Good. Now, what happens when the meeting is over? If it’s him, she needs to get the hell out of Dodge. She must go straight to the airport and get on the next flight to Paris. She must not go back to her hotel. She’ll be safe on the route from the meeting to the airport because it’s all built up, and once she’s at the airport, there are too many armed cops for the Iranians to do anything silly. If it’s not him, then where will she go?”
“Back to her room in the Holiday Inn for a debrief by me.”
“All right. We know that all seven Iranians are now in Sarajevo. They’re still rotating their numbers on Lana, but obviously the full team will be out to play tomorrow. And I’m betting they’ll be armed.”
Will shook his head. “It should never have had to come to this.” He looked straight at Roger. “What kind of men would place an innocent woman into the epicenter of a circle of danger and potential death?”
Roger grabbed Will’s arm with unexpected force. “We are not that kind of men. We did not want this. You did not want this. But here we both are doing what we have to, even if we hate our job. Stay focused, Will. We all need you more than ever right now.”
Will sighed and nodded. “What are the next steps?”
“Depends on what the man does. If he goes on foot, we follow him on foot. If in a vehicle, then Ben will be on him. It depends which route, but if we’re lucky—and I stress lucky—Ben may be able to pick one of us up while he’s on the tail. Objective: pin Megiddo down to one location. Then we improvise.”
Will frowned at Roger. “You improvise? You have no prior plans?”
“How can we? All is good if he goes to the HBF building. If it’s there, we have an attack plan. But will it be? It could be a hotel, could be a house or an apartment building, could be inner city, outer city, or just about anywhere.” Roger had been ticking off the possibilities on his fingers. “We get him in one location and then we improvise. But we improvise with speed and accuracy.”
What he said made sense to Will. The team would have to react to whatever circumstances they faced. “Okay, Roger. Where do I fit in?”
Roger considered the question. “You can’t be too close to Lana, because you may be recognized by the Iranians. But you’ve got to be on the ground with us, because Megiddo’s exit from café to fixed location to our assault and extraction could take place within thirty minutes, start to finish. Then it will be directly on to the house in Konjic. You need to be with us, but you can’t take an active role in surveillance of the meeting.”
Will wasn’t happy, but he knew that Roger’s assessment was correct. Nevertheless, he would dearly like to have seen the moment when Lana placed her handbag on the table to indicate that his quest was near its end.
Roger rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Well, there’s nothing more that can be said right now. I need to get back to watch Lana. Are you seeing her before the meeting?”
“I need to see her tonight.”
“Okay.” He looked at Will with an expression that was both stern and understanding. “When this is over, we can examine our consciences. But right now I’ve got to stop a woman from being attacked or worse, and you’ve got to capture a mass murderer. For the moment let’s just focus on that.”
Two stationary vehicles were parked on the side of the otherwise deserted hilltop road. Will drove up behind them and pulled to a stop. He flashed his lights and exited the car. The vehicle in front of him was an S-Class Mercedes that contained one man. The other was a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Will could see four men inside the SUV. He walked through deep snow to get to the first vehicle and banged his fist on its trunk.
Harry got out of the car and grinned. “You’re always creeping up on me from behind, Charles. You don’t have a knife on you this time, though, do you?”
Will smiled and shook the man’s hand.
Harry nodded at him. “So things must be coming to a head if you need my equipment now.”
“I hope so.”
Harry looked away in the direction of Sarajevo city beneath them. His smile slowly receded, and he remained still for a while before turning back to Will. “I guess that means I have no further value to you?”
“I doubt that. Our paths will cross again.”
Harry smiled, although the look was doubtful. He walked to the rear of his car, opened the trunk, and pulled out a duffel bag that he swung toward Will. “This is what you asked for. SIG Sauer handguns with silencers, ammunition, Motorola walkie-talkies, and an HK417 sniper rifle.”
Will took the bag. “How much do I owe you for this?”
Harry rubbed a hand against his chin thoughtfully. He said, “I tell you what: just stay in touch. That will be compensation enough.”
Will nodded toward the Jeep and its four passengers. “I’ll let you know when you no longer need protection.”
“Good, because I’ve never been the type of man to hide behind others.”
Will swung the bag onto his back. “I can see that. But I can also see that you’ve reached a stage in your life where you feel you may need others around you.”
Harry seemed to be considering this. “You could be right. But I’ve carved out a life for myself that cannot readily embrace the possibility of friendships.”
Will smiled. “You carved out a life for yourself that’s too close to the shadows of your past. Why not move on?”
Harry shrugged. “To where?”
Will started to answer, then stopped. He thought for a moment. He decided that Harry needed his help to face a better future. He decided that Harry needed help to take the final steps on his road to redemption. He looked at the old man. “You already have wealth, so therefore I can’t reward you with money for what you’ve done to help me. And I am most certainly the wrong man for friendship. But what if I could give you something that would help you have fresh surroundings, something that even a man of your standing could not get?” Will could see that the man was listening. “What would you say if I could obtain a legitimate United States passport for you?”
Harry laughed. “Since when does the U.S. Immigration Service hand out passports to men who are supposed to be war criminals?”
“They don’t and won’t. But I’m fairly sure that I can get the U.S. president to personally authorize one.”
The man moved closer to Will. “The president would absolve me of my sins?”
Will chuckled softly. “Even presidents can’t absolve sins.” He followed Harry’s gaze toward the now peaceful but once blood-drenched city below them. “But they can change the course of events. You don’t need to be here anymore, Harry. You don’t need to be trapped with your past. That passport would give you a new beginning if you wish for one.” He turned to look Harry in the eye. “I saw that you were capable of redemption. But I gave you a severe warning in case you strayed from that journey. You heeded my warning. And as a result I am willing to give you a new life.”
Rather than sit in one of the other chairs, Lana had positioned herself on the sofa next to him. She was dressed in jeans and a loose V-neck sweater. Her feet were bare, and Will could see that she had decided not to wear a bra. Her hair was loose and glossy, and she had applied makeup, but not too much. She held a vodka tonic, and he could smell her Guerlain perfume.
She looked nervous. “I have packed my things.”
“I forgot to mention that you’ll need to leave everything. Bring only your passport tomorrow.”
“Then you will just need to take me shopping when I get home.” She smiled, but her words sounded forced.
“I thought you’d say that.” He smiled and nodded. “I’ve never taken a woman shopping before.” He watched Lana for a while and then said, “Are you sure you still want to go through with this?”
Her expression turned sharp. “Of course.” She took a gulp of her drink. She looked away for a moment before regarding Will with an expression that was no longer hostile but instead confused. “It’s just . . . the closer I get to him, the more the memories of him become real again, the stronger the hate I have for him becomes.” When she next lifted the glass to her lips, her hand was shaking. “I don’t want hate to consume me again. I do want to have what you said about me in Paris—to have other things to live for.”
Will nodded. “When this is over, you’ll have everything to live for.”
Lana set down her drink and stared at it. She turned to Will. “Make me lose the hate. Make me have those other things.”
She placed her hand on the back of Will’s head, pulled him to her, and kissed him fully on the lips. She smoothed her fingers against his face and whispered, “Let’s not wait until this is over.” She kissed him again, with increased passion.
Will desperately wanted their embrace to last forever, desperately wanted to lift her up and carry her to the bed, desperately wanted to make love to her and afterward lie next to her and hold her in his arms. Lana’s embrace felt so good, so loving, so passionate, so tender, and yet so forceful. It felt right, and at this moment Will knew that with Lana he could face his fears, could love without being terrified of loss or weakness or mere normality and take those first steps toward a different life.
But he also knew that they had to wait, that it would be very wrong to do anything now, that he had to stay strong and in control of himself and his emotions, that the dangers of the mission required all these things from him.
He placed his hand over Lana’s fingers and gently drew away from her. He loathed himself for doing so, even though he knew it was the right thing to do.
Her expression turned from longing and loving to confused and cold. She muttered, “You don’t want me.”
Will frowned and shook his head. “That’s not right, Lana, I—”
She stood quickly, and in doing so she banged against the coffee table, knocking over her glass and spilling its contents. She turned and looked down at Will. She shook her head slowly, and her eyes now seemed completely devoid of any of the emotion she’d shown a moment ago. “Then all I have left is hate.”
Thirty-Five
Sarajevo was awake, and people and cars were on its streets despite the blizzard that was now hitting the city with ever-increasing intensity.
Will and Laith were standing on Zelenih Beretki. They both carried pastries, tourist guides, and cameras. They wore jeans and winter jackets with the hoods up. They smiled and laughed and took in the views of the Old Town and hoped that they seemed like a couple of men who were passing time while their wives shopped. Under their jackets they had skin-colored Motorola communication cords that emerged at the collars to earpieces and microphones. Within their pockets each of them had silenced SIG Sauer pistols and two spare clips of ammunition.
While gazing around and occasionally pointing at something or nodding, Laith spoke to Will. “Ben’s in an SUV on Mula Mustafe Bašeskije, Julian’s taken up a sniper position inside a building on Sarači, and Roger’s on Ferhadija itself.” It would be Roger who would be watching the position of Lana’s handbag. From their own position, Will and Laith could not see the Black Swan café. “All seven of the Iranians are around her, and all are on foot.”
Will did not look at his watch, but he knew that it was nearly ten o’clock. He took another bite of his pastry even though he was not hungry. “What shape are they in?”
“Too close to each other for good surveillance. They’re just focused on protection now.” Laith’s head moved slightly, and Will knew that he would be scanning their surroundings. It had become a busy place. All around them, vehicles and shoppers and workers were battling their way through the weather. “Let’s hope it’s just protection. You know the last time seven assassins were sent to this city?”
“I do not.”
“In 1914. They killed an archduke just upriver from here and sparked a world war.” Laith pretended to examine his tourist guide.
“Thank you for reassuring me.” Will tried to grin again.
Roger’s voice came on the air. “Vehicle’s just pulled up. Two men. One gets out. He’s middle-aged. It could be him.” He went quiet again before quickly relaying further updates. “Vehicle drives off. The other man enters the Swan. It means he’s likely to be mobile after the meet.”
Ben’s voice. “Understood.”
Will kept his breathing as regular as he could. He ignored his surroundings; for the moment that was Laith’s job. His mind focused purely on the microphone in his right ear and any sounds coming from it, which would determine success or failure.
Roger’s voice. “She stands. Hands are shaken. Hands are held. She kisses him on a cheek. They sit.” Silence. “Vision blocked. Waitress.” Silence.
Will counted seconds. He stopped counting. He could not count.
“They talk.” Roger’s voice was calm and authoritative. “He hands her an envelope. He stands. She remains seated. He makes cell-phone call. He speaks on phone. End of call. Glance at his watch. More talk.”
Will scuffed his boots in the snow impatiently. All he wanted to hear was that Lana had set her handbag on to the table. All he wanted to know was that she was leaving the place safe and alone.
Ben’s voice: “Same vehicle as before passes me. Heading south. Turning left onto Mula.”
“Got it.” Roger’s voice was quick. “It’s now on Ferhadija. It stops outside the Swan.”
“Her handbag?” Will’s voice was urgent.
“I’m waiting.” Roger’s voice remained calm. “Hands are shaken again. Man turns. He walks away from her.”
Will glanced at Laith and could tell that the man was poised to run to the café as soon as the command was uttered.
“Lana removes her bag from her shoulder. She holds it away from her. She places it on the floor.”
Lana was standing smoking in her hotel room and appeared to be on her second or third vodka and tonic. She looked at him and shook her head. “It was not him.”
“Are you absolutely sure?” Will had a hard time not shouting the question.
Lana huffed and waved her glass at him. “You know I am the one person who can positively identify Megiddo. The man I saw today was too short. He spoke differently. He had different features. It was most certainly not him.” She lowered her glass and slumped into an armchair. “Megiddo is playing with me.”
Will stood silently examining Lana. She wore an expression he thought could be disappointment. His own emotions were numb with disbelief that he had not cornered Megiddo today.
“Did the man you saw give you his name?” he said at last.
Lana fluttered a hand. “He introduced himself as Mr. Nozari.”
Will nodded once. The man had to be Gulistan Nozari. Which
just confirmed what Ben had concluded when he had followed the man and his vehicle back to the Human Benevolence Foundation building, where Nozari was registered.
“He gave me that.” Lying on the coffee table between them was a plain white business-size envelope. It was fat and had been opened. Lana nodded at it, and Will picked it up. Inside were dollars and a folded letter.
Dear Miss Beseisu,
You are reading this letter because you told the man you met today that he was not me. It means you genuinely want to see me. This in turn means that your motives are probably not driven by monetary requirements. Otherwise you might have said nothing to the man and hoped that he would give you something for your efforts.
But you will also understand that I have needed to be very cautious. Your first letter to me came after years of absence from each other, and you have already advised me that for most of that time you have lived in Europe. A man in my position would naturally be suspicious, and as a result I have been forced to take precautions. One such precaution was getting you to meet somebody else first. You may think of the man you met today as my deputy. He is not, but think of him that way.
I still do not know what your intentions are toward me, so you will understand that I will continue to be careful. But since nothing untoward happened today, then you are probably alone and I will therefore finally meet you in person. You have my word on that now.
I have instructed my deputy to give you some money, which should be included with this letter. It is $15,000 and is to help with your expenses.
I have business to attend to in the United States of America. That is where we shall meet. You must fly to Boston tomorrow and stay at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. On the day after, you must leave the hotel at noon and walk directly east until you reach the InterContinental Boston hotel. You must then walk alongside the harbor through downtown and the North End. I will meet you on that walk at a place of my choosing.
