Page 48 of Ozzie

Thankfully, she doesn’t ask any more questions and simply leads the way to the back of the building. She cracks open the door, and we listen. The two voices grow farther away, so we step outside.

I scan every open space I can as we inch forward, trying to be quiet as we go. We come to a corner, and I peer around it. The two men are walking away and are almost at the ferry terminal.

“They are returning to their boat,” I say quietly.

She nods. “We need to approach at a different angle. Let’s see if we can get through another way up there.” She points the way we came, but we don’t have much choice.

If we approach from the main street, and any of the men are inside the building, they will see us coming. All we need is to get eyes on the water to confirm their boat leaves.

Harding weaves us through a few streets until we end up near the water about a quarter mile down from where the men likely still are.

We hunker down and wait.

“If these men search every port or possible location, they could be in the strait for hours. And depending on how heavy the traffic out there is, they might notice your contact. I can’t imagine too many are casually boating in this weather.”

She turns to me. “Casually boating?”

I shrug. “Figured your guy might have a speedboat or a yacht.”

Suddenly, she’s laughing. “Sorry. But my contact isn’t James Bond.” She takes a deep breath. “Trust me, he’ll blend in. Why are you questioning my choices today?”

I never question Harding, so doing it twice in a row is unlike me. “Sorry. It’s not you. Really.”

“You’re thinking about Piper and feeling helpless.”

I turn to her wondering if she knows what’s going on with Piper.

She holds up her hand. “Don’t act surprised. Lightning told me what happened right before this assignment. He was concerned you might get distracted.”

Now that pisses me off. “I never get distracted.”

She arches a brow. “You sure about that?”

I blow out a breath. “Dammit. With all this sitting around, I can’t help but think about her. Worry about her. But Durango is with her, so she’s fine.”

Harding nods. “Once we get out of here and safely to Romania, we’ll check in. All right?”

I nod. “Any idea how far out your contact is now?”

She checks her phone. “An hour. That gives these idiots plenty of time to move along.”

We continue to watch as the two men return to the boat.

“I see three more,” I say. “I only saw four earlier.”

“The other guys were probably in the cabin.”

Finally, the boat engine comes to life, and they move north.

“My gut says that’s not the last we see of them,” she says.

Mine too.

We go back to the coffee shop to grab JB and Lightning. By the time we get back to the terminal via an indirect route in case someone is watching, Harding’s contact is almost in sight.

“Let me do all the talking,” Harding says.

I laugh. “Considering we don’t speak Romanian, not a problem.”

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