Chapter 49

49

After the debacle with Verde in Romania, Andreas hadn’t expected to be given a prime spot on any of the other Golden Hour retribution operations. But neither had he expected he’d be put with the grunts on the ass end of a job to kidnap some movie producer.

But here he was, making his way back to one of the three sedans in which he and the others who’d been on perimeter watch had arrived, their reason for being there in the first place apparently moot.

Andreas reached his vehicle a few seconds ahead of the others and climbed into the front passenger seat.

Their orders were to follow the van when it left, guarding against trouble Andreas was sure wasn’t coming. In other words, another do-nothing task.

The driver slipped behind the wheel and pressed the Start button.

Nothing happened.

He pressed the button again, but the engine remained silent.

“What the hell?” Andreas asked. “Did you not fill the tank?”

“Of course I filled the tank,” the man protested.

“Then what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know!”

As the driver pushed the button a third time, Andreas twisted around and looked out the back window. The other two cars seemed to be suffering similar problems.

“Oh, shit,” he muttered, then yelled, “everybody out!”

Before anyone had the chance to obey, black-clad soldiers slipped from the trees and surrounded the vehicles, their automatic rifles trained on the sedans.

Andreas turned on his radio. “Dieter! Abort! It’s a trap!”

Unbeknownst to him, the armed force encircling them had deployed a signal disrupter, preventing any signal from getting through.

All Andreas knew was that the radio was as silent as the sedan’s engine.

Teddy washed his hands and dried them.

“Walking out,” he whispered.

“Have them in my sights,” Vesna replied over the comm.

“I know Dieter’s a tempting sight, but don’t get trigger happy.”

“You really know how to ruin my mood.”

Teddy checked himself in the mirror, made sure everything looked as it should, and exited the restroom.

Dieter and his colleague were standing nearby when he entered the hall.

As he started walking past them, Dieter said, “Teddy Fay?”

Teddy purposely put a slight hitch in his step as he continued moving.

“Mr. Barnett,” Dieter called. “A moment of your time, please.”

Teddy picked up his pace. As soon as he heard the two men rushing after him, he began to run.

Moments later, Dieter’s buddy grabbed him from behind to stop him, then swung in front to block the way out. Teddy tried to get by on the right, but the man mirrored the movement.

“Hold on,” the man said. “My friend just wants to talk to you.”

“I’m afraid I’m rather busy at the moment,” Teddy said. “Perhaps we can set up an appointment for another time.”

Behind him, Dieter said, “Now works better for me.”

As Teddy started turning toward him, Dieter plunged a needle into the prosthetic covering the back of Teddy’s neck.

“What are you doing?” Teddy said.

“What do you think we’re doing, Mr. Fay?”

“Let me…” Teddy staggered toward the man in front of him, as if the drug were taking effect.

“Why are you…doing this?” he asked.

Whether Dieter answered or not didn’t matter. The question was a code phrase to let Vesna know that the prosthetic had kept the needle from entering his skin.

“You can thank me later,” Vesna whispered in his ear.

Teddy’s eyes fluttered, then closed as he collapsed onto Dieter’s companion.

“Mr. Fay?” Dieter said.

“He’s out,” the other man said.

Dieter and his friend draped Teddy between them and moved quickly through the building to what Teddy assumed was the delivery area.

He heard an idling engine nearby and the thunk of a vehicle door opening. He was then hauled into what he assumed was the van Strauss had reported seeing.

After the door shut, Dieter said, “Go, go!”

The vehicle began to move.

“Where are the others?” Dieter asked as the van neared the venue’s exit.

“No idea,” the driver said.

The skin on Dieter’s arms began to prickle. Before his concern could grow into something stronger, however, three sets of headlights appeared on the road behind them.

He called Andreas.

“Yes?” Andreas answered.

“You should have been waiting at the exit for us. What happened?”

“Sorry. A few of the men were late getting back.”

Unfortunately, that was to be expected when working with subpar personnel. “Any other problems?”

After a beat, Andreas said, “Nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

This time the answer came right away. “Everything was quiet, just like we thought it would be.”

“Good. Proceed as planned and stay alert.”

Dieter hung up.

In the back seat of the last of the three sedans, Andreas handed his phone back to Vesna. The delay in meeting up with the van had been due to a combination of making the engines operational again and waiting for Vesna and Stone to reach the vehicles.

“You almost ruined things for yourself,” she said, referring to his pause in answering Dieter about problems.

“It’s okay,” Andreas said. “He doesn’t suspect anything.”

“You’d better hope that’s true,” Vesna said. “Now, where exactly are they headed?”