Full Black - Brad Thor [120]
“Negative,” said Nicholas. “The TOC is tracking them, but they’re all headed in different directions.”
The longer Harvath sat at the stop sign, the more rapidly his heart began to beat. He tightened his hands around the steering wheel. “Come on, Nicholas,” he said again. “Where is he?”
There were several agonizing moments of silence before the little man responded, “Got him. He just made a left turn four blocks in front of you.”
“Good job,” said Harvath as he stepped on the gas. “Don’t lose him.”
Sarhan looped around, doubled back, and changed direction multiple times. He even stopped twice for gas. There was absolutely no question that he was trying to figure out if he was being followed. This went on for more than forty-five minutes before it appeared he had finally committed to wherever it was that he was going.
He followed the Pomona to the Santa Monica Freeway and continued west toward the ocean. As Harvath saw signs indicating the intersection for the 405, or the San Diego Freeway as it was known, he wondered if Sarhan would alter his course or keep going toward the ocean. He was staying as far behind the blue Sentra as possible and was forced to endure long stretches where he couldn’t even see the vehicle. Fortunately, he hadn’t exited and Nicholas had been able to keep relatively good track of him.
The same couldn’t be said for the other vehicles. They had lost two out of the four and were scrambling to find them.
“He’s changing lanes,” Nicholas said over Harvath’s cell phone.
They were coming up on a series of choices. Sarhan could remain on the Santa Monica Freeway, or the 10 as it was known, or he could head north or south on the 405. The first ramp was for the 405 south toward San Diego.
“He’s in the far left-hand lane now. He’s not getting on the 405. At least not southbound.”
“Are you sure?” asked Harvath.
“So far. Stand by.”
Harvath watched as the exit for the 405 interchange got closer. “What’s he doing?”
“He’s still in the far left lane. No change. Stand by.”
“Standing by.”
“It looks like we can safely say—” began Nicholas, who then stopped midsentence and shouted, “South! He just swung across four lanes of traffic. He’s taking the 405 south.”
“Son of a—” Harvath cursed beneath his breath as he tried to maneuver. He was boxed in and had to slow down dramatically in order to find a gap and change lanes. The traffic was so tight that he almost missed the exit.
Once he had fully merged onto the 405, Sarhan parked himself in the far right-hand lane, and despite how fast the other cars were going, he kept his vehicle at fifty miles an hour.
Harvath was about to ask what the hell the guy was up to, when Nicholas reported that Sarhan was apparently preparing to exit for the Howard Hughes Parkway. Harvath continued to follow at a safe distance.
Moments later, Nicholas said, “The TOC has relocated the two missing vehicles.”
“Good,” replied Harvath. “Where?”
“Surface streets fifteen and twenty-two miles away, respectively.”
“What about the other two?”
“One of them is on the Century Freeway headed west and the other one looks set to join it. It’s merging onto the Century from the Harbor Freeway.”
Harvath could picture the entire map in his mind’s eye and he now knew where they were headed. “Get the Old Man on the line right now.”
It was only a matter of seconds, but it felt like minutes to Harvath. Finally Carlton clicked in and said, “What do you have?”
“I know where they’re headed.”
“Where?”
“LAX,” replied Harvath.
The Old Man snapped his fingers at someone, probably indicating he wanted a map of some sort, and said, “Los Angeles International? Are you sure?”
“Unless they’re all meeting up for a fishing charter out of Marina Del Rey, that’s where they’re headed. Sarhan has already gotten off the 405 and any moment is going to start doing his final SDRs on the surface streets that lead to the airport.”
“We’ve got vehicle descriptions, plates, even eyes on. Do you want to alert LAPD