Page 18 of Croatia Collateral

“Are the bodyguards on board?” Hank asked.

“They are,” Hammer responded. “Fearghas and Atkins will be there.”

“Dmytro flying them in?”

Hammer nodded. “He is.”

“Then this mission is a go,” Hank said. “If things go sideways, get out. If you need anything, Swede knows how to contact us. I’m not sure how long our guests will tolerate being off-grid. Sadie has them intrigued with the possibility of producing another film at our island location. It might keep him occupied for a few days. Not much longer. Hopefully, you can get what you need quickly and get out. Good luck.”

“Out here,” Hammer said.

“Out here,” Hank echoed.

When the call ended, Hammer glanced from Dax to Giva and back. “You heard the boss. The mission is a go. You can start making public appearances as E.M. and his girl. Dmytro will sneak you out of Zurich in his plane and smuggle you into Dubrovnik before any of the Nexus Collective know you’ve arrived. That way, you won’t have to explain why you didn’t arrive on your private jet.”

Hammer glanced down at his watch. “You have today to gear up and study everything about Maas, his holdings and relationships with the other guests of the invitation-only meeting.”

Dax nodded. “Roger.”

“We’ll gather all the weapons and electronics you might need.” Hammer’s mouth twisted. “They will probably make you check all weapons at the door, but it might help to have them available in Dubrovnik.”

“When does our plane leave?” Giva asked.

“The meeting is scheduled for nine o’clock at night the day after tomorrow. You’ll fly out before dawn that morning, land at Split, Croatia, and board a helicopter that will take you directly to the Heliodrom in Dubrovnik. You should be there by early afternoon with enough time to get to your lodgings and perform reconnaissance.”

“Where will the meeting take place?” Dax asked.

“We don’t know yet.” Hammer dug in his pants pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “As Hank said, they were able to forward the man’s calls….” he held up the phone, “to this phone.” He handed the phone to Dax.

“What do I do if someone calls him?” Dax asked.

“Let it go to voicemail,” Hammer answered. “I turned off the ringer and set it to vibrate. The invitation Swede intercepted on the dark web indicated that directions to the meeting location will be conveyed via text message at eight o’clock Croatian time. You’ll have one hour to get there. We suspect it will be in the old city.”

Giva nodded. “The Old Town is surrounded by a high wall. Inside those walls is the city. It has hidden passages and underground dungeons that have been converted into meeting rooms where cell phones and internet WIFI will be useless.”

“Right,” Hammer said. “They won’t want any outsiders to listen in on their plans or have tracking devices expose the location.”

“Thus, the need to have human ears on the inside,” Dax concluded.

“And a trail of breadcrumbs,” Giva said with a grimace.

Hammer turned to Giva and Fearghas. “Dax will enter the meeting alone. The rest of you will get as close as possible without alerting whatever sentries they’ll have positioned around Old Town.”

“We’ll need to move out if we’re to get suitable attire and still have time left to study our parts,” Giva said.

“Go,” Hammer said. “We’ll meet back at headquarters this afternoon to finalize plans.”

Fearghas turned off the white noise and left the room, followed by Hammer.

“Ready?” Dax asked Giva.

She nodded. “We don’t have much time. Hopefully, we will find everything we need at one location.” She gathered a purse and strode for the door

Dax beat her to it and held it open.

Giva prided herself on her independence and ability to take care of herself. Sometimes, that made her feel less than feminine. Not that she’d ever cared. Having Dax open doors for her went against her stance on equality between the sexes. But she liked that it showed he had good manners and was considerate.

Yeah, she was fully capable of opening her own doors, but she liked that he’d done it for her and that she hadn’t had to ask.

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