Page 35 of The Devil's Ransom

“Yes. Well, at least the vehicle hasn’t left. He’ll have to be dealt with.”

“Is there a gate?”

“No. The house is just set back from the edge about fifty meters. No gate, just the shrubs, which works in our favor. Once we’re in, nobody’s going to see us.”

Pointing up the road next to the park, Din said, “You can see the second level over the shrubs. See that balcony?”

Shakor looked, then nodded. Din said, “That’s the target. It’s a two-story dwelling, but pretty small as far as footprint. I would say maybe two bedrooms on the second floor, a den and kitchen on the first, with maybe another bedroom in the back. Security will probably be downstairs, with Ahmad upstairs.”

Shakor nodded, going through assault options in his mind, then felt his phone buzz. He slapped his hand to his pocket, thinking,Whocould be calling me? Surely not the team at the car. They’d use the radio.

He thought about ignoring it as spam, then realized it could be the solitary man they’d left on surveillance at the airport. He answered.

“Hello?”

“Shakor, it’s Abdul. The helicopter has returned. The pilots are on the private plane and two people have left the helicopter and also boarded. Now some men are unloading a case from the helicopter.”

“Case? What kind of case?”

“It’s a two-man lift, like a meter and a half long and a meter deep.”

Shakor inwardly cursed, wondering if he’d made a mistake in hunting Ahmad.Should have stayed on the airport.“You think it’s the treasure?”

“I can’t tell. It’s just a case. There’s no indication of what’s inside.”

“Did you get a picture of the men and the case?”

“Yes. I have that.”

“Send them to me, and find out where that plane is going.”

He saw a single headlight from a motorcycle coming toward them and said, “I have to go.”

He hung up and the three-man team faded into the shrubs, waiting on the motorcycle to pass. Din said, “What was that about?”

Shakor said, “I don’t know, but they might be moving the treasure at the airport while we waste time out here.”

The motorcycle slowed and Shakor moved deeper in the brush, wondering if they’d been spotted, praying it wasn’t a police cycle. He saw it was a scooter, much like the ones his team had used. On the back was a large box with an advertisement emblazoned across it. He thought,Food delivery.

The scooter stopped right in front of them, the rider looking at his phone.Trying to find an address.The rider glanced up Kurfirstenstrasse, then turned the scooter in that direction, going away from them.

Shakor said, “We’ll have to wait until that delivery person is gone, but once he is, we penetrate.”

Karim said, “Kurfirstenstrasse is a one-way road. He can’t come back. He’ll leave going away from us.”

Shakor nodded, reached into the pocket of his jacket, and withdrew a cheap handheld radio. He held it up, turned it on, then said to Karim, “Got yours?”

Karim nodded and Shakor said, “Get the others. We do it right now. Din and I are going to take a look.”

Shakor and Din slinked across the road in the darkness, trading the shrubs of the park for the landscaping surrounding the target. They reached the gap in the vegetation and Shakor looked across the street, seeing no movement in the windows, the entire façade black. He whispered, “I’m going to walk across like a pedestrian in case someone’s looking from the target. You follow one minute behind.”

Din nodded, and Shakor stood, walking nonchalantly past the target, glancing up the drive as he went. He saw a small porch with an overhang and a light fixture on either side of a wooden door. To the left of the house was another overhang, like a side door, but he couldn’t be sure. He reached the far side of the gap and blended back in with the shrubs, keying his radio and saying, “Din, I’m across. When you come, focus on the left side of the target. See if there’s a door there. I couldn’t tell.”

Din said, “Coming,” and Shakor watched him rise and walk forward, briefly silhouetted by the lights from the front of the target, then reenter the gloom. Din took a knee next to him and said, “It’s a side door. No light.”

Shakor said, “That’s our entry. I’ll take in Ghulam, you, and Karim. The other two pull security just inside the drive, giving us early warning while we do the work. We eliminate the butler/bodyguard, then interrogate Ahmad.”

No sooner had he said the words than a headlight appeared, coming from the west down the street toward the park. They both sank back into the bushes, with Shakor hissing, “I thought you said this was a one-way road?”

---