Page 113 of Tom Clancy Line of Sight
“Did you look inside one?”
“Why should I? I had no reason to doubt her.”
“No, of course not. But perhaps it really was only medicine.”
Kolak glanced at the ceiling, collecting his thoughts. “So they pulled you over, they demanded a bribe, you overwhelmed them somehow, and that’s when you killed them.”
Jack’s eyes widened. “What? Wait, no. That’s not what happened.”
“Of course not.” Kolak sat back again, smiling at Jack’s discomfort. “So tell me what did happen.”
“They pulled guns, I took two of them down—fists and feet only, no weapons. Aida disarmed the other one.”
“Aida did? How?”
“She kicked him in the nuts and then cracked him on the nose. He was a little guy. Down on the ground by the time I turned around.”
“Interesting skill set for a tour guide, wouldn’t you say?”
“You should see my mother with an AR-15, and she’s an eye surgeon.”
“What happened next?”
“We tied them up and called the police to turn them in. When we left, they were very much alive.”
“You tied them up, Jack?”
“No, Emir did. After we left.”
“Emir Jukic?”
“Yes. Aida’s cousin. He’s the guy who actually runs the tour service, not Aida. She only owns it.”
“He was traveling with you?”
“Apparently, he’d been following us. I didn’t know that at the time.”
“Interesting.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Everything you say is interesting to me, Jack. So tell me, who called the police, you or Aida?”
“Emir did. He told us to leave, and he’d take care of the phone call.”
“Why not stay there with him and wait for the police to come?”
“Aida said we couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“She said the police were corrupt, and that they’d cause her big problems, and that she was scared of them.”
“Of course she would say that.”
“Was she wrong?”
Kolak shrugged. “Not entirely.”
