One Rough Man - Brad Taylor [169]
His next move boiled down to two choices: He could attempt to hide here, in Sarajevo, until the heat died down, or he could get out right now. Staying was appealing, since it would allow him to put some thought into his next move, and perhaps come up with a solid plan instead of simply running on a wing and a prayer. On the other hand, he had to assume that the enemy had some method of finding him, since they kept showing up all over the globe, from Guatemala, through Oslo, to here.
He decided he needed to run, to go to the station and get on the first thing leaving, whether that was a train or a bus. If they could find him, it would be better to be a moving target. The greatest risk was the station itself. If something wasn’t leaving immediately, he would be vulnerable while waiting around. It was a chokepoint that he’d have to risk.
100
I crushed Kurt’s beeper underneath my boot, having just confirmed that’s how we’d been tracked. The man known as Lucas had pretty much spilled his guts in an effort to keep his ass from getting torn apart, and the beacon information had come as an unwelcome surprise. I didn’t need any more. I squatted down, getting eye-to-eye with the man.
“You guys are like a bad rash. You keep coming back no matter how much I think you’re done. Is there anyone else in this country looking for us? Anyone else we have to worry about?”
“No. Nobody else. Trident Global Threat Analysis is my company. I’d know if someone else was here. You killed everyone I had over here.”
“All right, shithead. We’re leaving here. If you’re lying and we get in a gunfight, I’m going to pretend you’re a principle I’m protecting so that I can kill you in my own sweet time later. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Lucas nodded, but he didn’t look particularly scared. Hmm ... need to keep an eye on him. I stood up, talking to Knuckles.
“I don’t know where Carlos ran off to, but he can’t possibly have a ton of different safe houses here to choose from. My bet is he’s either running to a hotel, or running to the bus station. Either way, the station’s our first priority. If he’s not there, we can stake it out to ensure he doesn’t show up later, then begin working the hotels. What do you think?”
“What about the airport?”
“I don’t think he’ll go there. He won’t risk being on some watch list after he’s seen me.”
“Sounds good to me. We need to get moving, though. We can’t prove a negative. If he gets on a bus or train before we get there, we’ll never know it and spend the next month trying to find him here in Sarajevo.”
I bent down and jerked Lucas to his feet, showing little compassion for his discomfort. Knuckles called the team into the foyer and gave them the next potential mission at the station. I took over, giving the best description I could of Carlos, to include the pack he carried.
We left through the back of the house, the men falling into an easy perimeter around Lucas. We reached the vehicles just as four police cars, sirens screaming, flew by us to the location of the firefight.
Bull opened the trunk of one. I told Lucas to climb in. Lucas hesitated for a brief moment, starting to say he wasn’t a threat and would behave. I gave him a straight punch right into his mouth, splitting his lips against his teeth. Before he could recover, I grabbed him by the throat and shoved him into the trunk. Bull slammed the lid.
RIDING THE TRAM BACK to the bus station, Bakr scanned