Page 24 of Croatia Collateral

Dax reached over and tucked several loose strands of dark hair into the wig cap. His knuckles brushed against the softness of her cheek, sending a spark of electricity zinging through him.

Giva’s eyes flared, and her lips parted slightly. Then she clamped her mouth closed, shrugged into a dark, bulky jacket two sizes too big for her and fit a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. She kicked out of her high heels and slid her feet into running shoes.

Based on her initial reaction, Giva must have felt that same spark. If they weren’t on their way to a dangerous mission, Dax would like to have explored that response further.

But they had a job to do that didn’t involve making love with his partner. Pulling his head back into the game, he slipped out of the blazer he’d worn on the airplane and into a hooded sweatshirt jacket. A fake mustache, a flat hat like those worn by golf caddies and sunglasses completed his disguise.

Fearghas and Peter stripped out of their maintenance coveralls. They would leave the helicopter like two businessmen, carrying a suitcase full of Evan and Sasha’s clothing and another with the equipment Dmytro needed to assist with the operation.

As Dmytro brought the aircraft to a gentle landing at the Heliodrom helicopter pad, Dax and Giva slipped off their headsets and tucked earbuds into their ears.

“Comm check,” Fearghas said into Dax’s ear.

“Evan here,” Dax responded.

“Sasha here.” Giva gave the man a thumbs-up.

“This is where we split up. We’ll meet you back at the hotel in three hours,” Fearghas said. “You can maintain communications with us through the radios.”

Dax and Giva were the first out of the chopper.

A dark car and a scooter were parked near the landing pad.

“I thought we were getting a motorcycle,” Dax murmured into the radio headset.

“Too flashy,” Dmytro said. “You’re tourists.”

“I’ll drive,” Giva said, slinging a leg over the seat of the scooter.

Dax frowned because he figured she’d expect him to when, in fact, he was happy to let her drive. That way, he could hold on around her middle all the way. Besides, she seemed to know more about Dubrovnik than he did.

He slid on behind her, his thighs sandwiching hers, his arms wrapping around her waist.

No, he didn’t mind letting her drive at all.

While Dmytro, Fearghas and Peter loaded the suitcases into the vehicle, Dax and Giva drove away, heading for Old Town.

The others would deliver the suitcases to the hotel. Dmytro would set up the ops center. Fearghas and Peter would change into tourist clothes and merge into the throngs of people visiting Old Town. They’d divided the city into quarters. Fearghas and Peter would split and each take a quarter section.

Dax and Giva would stay together and cover the other half as best they could.

They were looking for escape routes and potential entry points to underground spaces. Mostly, they were looking for people. They’d be studying the faces of the people they passed, looking for the Nexus Collective and anyone who appeared to be a sentry or bodyguard.

Dax and Giva could have stayed at the hotel, advertising themselves as Evan and Sasha. After much discussion with the team, they had opted to do their own reconnaissance to be more prepared when the text came through with the directions to the location.

The plan was to look around for a few hours. When the time drew near, they’d leave Old Town and drive back to the scooter rental place where the vehicle they’d sent from Split would meet them. They’d drop the scooter, change in the vehicle and arrive at the hotel as Evan and Sasha.

For the moment, they were just a couple of tourists, going to see a UNESCO world heritage site.

Giva drove the scooter like someone who’d driven a scooter or motorcycle before, zipping in and out of standstill traffic, arriving at the walls of Old Town in less than twenty minutes.

They parked the scooter and grabbed a brochure as they entered the city through Pile gate and passed Onofrio's Fountain.

Giva led the way to a set of stairs leading up to the wall that encircled the city. From there, they could look down into the city and get their bearings.

They climbed the Minceta Tower, the highest point, and stared out over the walled city full of tourists and vendors.

When they finally stopped, Dax stood beside Giva. “You’ve been here before?”

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