Page 51 of The Devil's Ransom

We started jogging his way and two other men exited, both running flat out, one with a gun in his hand. A suppressed weapon.

Which gave me a little bit of a pause. Using a suppressedweapon inside Croatia was decidedly unique. Hell, having a handgun here was unique. There was something else going on besides a bad gambling debt. Seeing it made my decision.

We reached the stairwell and Jennifer came out, panting. She ran up and said, “Pike, I have no idea what’s going on. What do you want to do?”

That was about the most succinct SITREP I’d ever received.

I watched the clusterfuck go down the street in the dying twilight and said, “We interdict.”

We started running down the street in a group, only seeing the back of the hunters, the black-haired guy out of sight. We saw them run into another archway of a building, and I knew we were not going to get to our target in time. No way was I about to attempt clearing a building.

I slowed, saying, “We’re done. Whatever is going to happen in that building we don’t want to be a part of. Too many witnesses.”

Jennifer said, “That’s not a building. It’s the Gric Tunnel.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Well, itisa building, but he’s going into the tunnel.”

“What tunnel?”

“It’s an old bomb shelter from World War Two. It runs underneath the city. He’s trying to escape using it.”

I should have known that Jennifer would have done a deep dive on the history of Zagreb before we arrived. It’s just what she did, and now it was paying off.

I said, “Where’s it exit? Can we meet them there? Going overground?”

I knew it was a risk, given that he could be killed inside, but it was all I had. There was no way we could chase the killers who were chasing our target in a tunnel.

She looked like she was failing me, saying, “I don’t know. I just know it exists. I didn’t map it out.”

I called Brett and said, “I need to know the exits for the Gric Tunnel, and I need it right now. Google it.”

I turned to the group and said, “We know it goes from east to west.” I pointed to a road past the entrance and said, “Put on your running shoes.”

We took off like we were starting a 10K, passing by parks and houses, the road winding up and down, telling me we were losing the race because I knew the tunnel was a straight shot. Luckily, the target didn’t look like he worked out much, and I hoped he had become winded and was walking now. Unluckily, that could also mean his death.

Brett finally came back, saying, “It’s an old war tunnel. Only been opened since 2016. The tunnel starts at Radiceva and ends at Mesnicka. It’s like a comb, though, with the spine going east and west, and some of the tines going south. There are two exits that end in something called the Art Park, right toward the end at Mesnicka. Two other tines are apparently still blocked off, waiting on reconstruction.”

I slowed to a walk, saying, “Where is that?”

Jennifer had her phone out, saying “It’s right below us. Right here.”

I looked at what she’d pulled up and said, “Okay, if he’s not dead yet, he’s going to exit at one of those places. Jennifer, Veep, you get Mesnicka. Knuckles, we’re going to take the Art Park. Call no matter what. The mission is to break the men chasing him.”

Knuckles said, “You want to let him get away? We might not get a better chance.”

“Yeah, I get that, but we don’t have Omega here. We don’t even know if he’s the ransomware guy yet, but if he is, I don’t want him killed by the assholes following him. Just stop the follow and we’ll figure it out.”

Knuckles grinned and said, “Okay, no Omega, but we’re about to execute something here. How are we going to sell this? If it becomes kinetic?”

I said, “I’m pulling the risk-to-life-or-limb card if someone from the Oversight Council bitches. I can’t plan a capture, but we can always protect the life or limb of someone, and these guys have clearly showed they want to take one or the other.”

Veep said, “ROE?”

I said, “Hostile force. They’re definitely hostile. Interdict with least amount of violence, but if they push the issue, escalate. Remember, at least one of them is armed.”

Jennifer showed us the map on her phone and I said, “Let’s go. Every second means we could miss them.”

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