Page 96 of The Devil's Ransom

Wolffe thought,What a mealy-mouthed answer. None of his men will face any shots fired in anger.

Kerry said, “That’s it? With the entire power of the United States government paying for your capabilities, you don’t have an opinion?”

General Baggetti took offense and said, “This isn’t like taking a car engine apart, where you have a manual and just follow it. We’re looking, but we want to be precise. We’ve found nothing so far to disprove Dylan’s projections. That’s all I’m saying.”

“So you can’t disprove it? That’s your level of success? We’re about to pin a catastrophic attack on a foreign country. Don’t you think a little bit more introspection is required here?”

President Hannister held up his hand and said, “Okay, let’s deal in specifics. What’s the clock on this? Where do we stand?”

The head of NASA said, “We have less than twenty-four hours. We’ve managed to get the abort protocol in play from inside the capsule, but we’re worried about corruption. We can use it as a last resort.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means we can more than likely prevent a collision with the space station, but we’ll probably lose the capsule in the process. Once he initiates abort, the fall from orbit is going to need to be controlled from the ground as a failsafe. We think we’ve managed to get the abort code to work in the capsule using firewalled systems, but once he pulls the trigger, without the ability to control from the ground, he’ll probably burn up in the atmosphere like a meteor.”

President Hannister shook his head and said, “This is the best we’ve got? This is it?”

Everyone remained quiet, as if they were stone statues. He continued: “I’m living that Bruce Willis movieArmageddon. Do I need to go find some oil drillers to solve this problem?”

The NASA man took a breath, then said, “Sir, I’m just telling you what we have. This isn’t a NASA launch. If it were, I might be able to give you more options, but it’s not. Auriga oversees this thing, and they’re working twenty-four seven on solutions, but all NASA can do is provide advice and support.”

Wolffe thought,Meaning don’t look at cutting our budget when this goes toshit.

Wolffe felt his phone vibrate and pulled it out, seeing a text message from Blaine.

Pike is hunting. Says don’t do anything stupid. He doesn’t think the egghead is right.

That caused Wolffe to smile. He’d been given a direct order from Alexander Palmer to pull Pike off, and he’d done so—with a little bit of a delay. He texted back,What’she have? Does he haveBranko?

No. No Branko, but maybe soon. Pike says not to do anything until he can prove it isn’t Branko. And that makes sense to me.

Might not have the time for that. What’s he chasing?

I don’t know. He didn’t tell me because I ordered him off the chase, and then we agreed that the phone call hadn’t happened. He’s got the Afghans in mind.

Wolffe rolled his eyes at that and texted,Afghans? What is it with him and the Afghans? Does he have anything real?

He does. Let him work. I know it sounds strange, but that guy is never wrong.

Chapter55

After the second lap without finding any parking, Shakor decided to take just Ghulam, leaving Karim with the car. He turned to the backseat and said, “Where is the nearest gate to the city?”

Bogdan, sitting next to Ghulam, said, “Just up here on the left. See that ramp going down? That leads to the gate.”

Shakor said, “Karim, drop us off and stay with the car. We’ll call when we’re done.”

Karim nodded and pulled over next to the sidewalk. Shakor said, “Bogdan, if you attempt to run, I’ll kill you in the street.”

Bogdan didn’t get a chance to respond, being forced out of the car by Ghulam. They walked down the stone ramp, going lower and lower, the towering walls surrounding the Dubrovnik old town rising above them. Bogdan led them through multiple stone arches, passing tour groups and street artists, eventually reaching a plaza connected to a wide thoroughfare running the length of the city, an ancient church on the left and a row of stores on the right. He started walking up the left side of the church, saying, “This is the main street, but the bar is up high, near the top of the walls.”

He took a right behind the church and reached another plaza lined with cafés, a wide, ornate staircase beyond the umbrellas. He stopped and pointed, saying, “We need to go up the shame stairs, then cut through a few alleys and more stairs.”

Confused, Shakor said, “Shame stairs? Why are they called that?”

“They filmed theGame of Throneshere. They made one of the characters walk down those stairs naked in the show as an act of shame. It’s just something our group used when we were trying to link up after drinking.”

Shakor shook his head, wondering how that television show had permeated the entirety of this country. There was a reason Islam forbade such corrosion. He said, “What about the other bar? The low one? Mala Buza?”

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