Page 27 of Croatia Collateral

“Make that two faces,” Peter said. “The German, Dieter Strüngmann, just pulled up a chair to Marco’s table.”

“Headed your way,” Dax said.

He and Giva hurried toward the Jesuit Stairs, passing Saint Blaise’s Church along the way.

As they neared the stairs, Dax spotted the bistro with its array of outdoor seating.

Peter sat on one end of the row of tables and chairs, ordering coffee from a waitress.

At the other end of the seating area were two men, one with dark hair graying at the temples, a mustache and a goatee beard. The other man had dirty blond hair and blue eyes. Standing nearby were four men not doing a very good job at blending in. The bodyguards.

Dax slowed as they neared the two men. He didn’t look directly at them but studied them in his peripheral vision, glad they’d made the detour to get a good look at the two men.

Evan Maas would know them and act like he’d met them before.

Knowing they had to get back to the hotel, Dax didn’t stop. He kept walking, Giva’s hand held tightly in his.

She stayed with him, not trying to slow him down. They hurried toward Pile Gate and out of Old Town.

“You drive,” Giva said as they reached the scooter.

Dax flung his leg over the seat, started the engine and waited as Giva climbed on behind him. He pulled into the stalled traffic and weaved between vehicles, heading toward the scooter rental place.

Dax’s thoughts were on the road, careful not to get run over by impatient drivers. They were running short on time. He wanted to be settled into the hotel when the text with the instructions came through on the cell phone.

He hoped he’d learned enough about the men he’d meet with to make a convincing Evan Maas. Otherwise, the meeting would be over before it got started. And, if they were as brutal as the dark web indicated, Dax would just have to find a way out as quickly as possible.

They’d gone several blocks when Giva leaned close and said into his ear. “We have a tail.”

Dax checked the little mirror on his left handlebar. A motorcycle with a man wearing a black jacket and sunglasses followed them through the traffic.

Dax cut in front of a car and turned right onto a side street.

The man on the motorcycle did the same as the traffic finally started moving. The driver he cut off honked.

At the next corner, Dax turned left. While the other motorcycle was out of sight, Dax pulled into an alley and hid behind a building.

Giva hopped off the back of the scooter, ran to the corner and peered around the structure.

Dax stayed with the scooter with the motor running.

A few moments later, Giva returned. “He kept going a few blocks.” She climbed onto the back.

Dax turned the scooter around and drove back the way they’d come, doubling back on several roads until he was moving in the right direction toward the scooter rental shop.

The man on the motorcycle was nowhere to be seen when they made the switch from scooter to car, the driver heading for the hotel.

“Do you think they knew who we were?” Giva asked.

“Maybe not. They might have picked up on the fact we were scoping Old Town and sent a man after us to see where we’d go.” At least, he hoped that was the extent of their tail. He didn’t want to walk into the meeting with his cover already blown.

Chapter 6

In the backseat of the car, Giva pulled off the wig, jammed it into her backpack, unwound her dark hair and finger-combed it into some sense of order. She shrugged out of the dark jacket and applied a coat of bright red lipstick. The blouse she’d worn under the jacket was a designer label Sasha was known to wear.

While she replaced her running shoes with the stilettoes, she watched Dax out of the corner of her eye.

He slipped his jacket off his shoulders and ditched the hat and sunglasses. The tightness around his mouth was the only visible sign of tension. His sky-blue polo shirt complimented his dark hair and dark eyes. Yes, he looked a lot like Evan Maas, only better. His shoulders were broader, and his waist trimmer.

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