1641 Local Time
“You take picture, please,” Hyori said in torturously accented English. He was holding out his iPhone to the oncoming Russians, an amiable smile on his face. There was no threat whatsoever in his posture or expression, even as he subtly eye-frisked the men for weapons.
Wu played along instinctively. He said something in rapid-fire Chinese. Hyori, who didn’t understand a word of Mandarin, spouted off a reply in Korean—as it turned out, a less-than-complimentary comment about the hygiene of the two men before them. Wu, who didn’t speak Korean, had no idea what his partner had said. But the meaningless exchange confirmed one important point—they were on the same extemporaneous page.
Hopefully it would buy the crucial seconds they needed.
Wu shot a glance at Klaus. The Swiss was ten steps away, frozen in place behind the big glass sculpture. The commotion had triggered a response. This was the second feature of their ploy. Not only were they distracting the Russians, but they had gottenKlaus’s attention. If he had the slightest trace of tradecraft in his bones, he would realize the two Asian men were friendlies creating a diversion.
“No, no!” replied the bigger of the two brutes. “Nyet!No pictures.”
Hyori all but had his camera in the man’s face. The Russian swept out a big hand and pushed it aside. The two smiling Asians looked predictably crestfallen.
The poster boys were about to move on, with Klaus only steps away to their left, when Hyori did something else that threw everyone off. He pointed his phone at the Russians as if to take their picture.
In retrospect, Clark would judge it as one of the most instinctively brilliant street moves he’d ever seen. The last thing any Russian field operative would want was to have his picture snapped by a damned tourist.
The bigger man reached out and seized Hyori’s wrist in an iron grip. Precisely as Hyori knew he would. Having already subtly set his stance low and wide, he moved with lightning speed to put the Russian in an arm bar and force him to his knees. The look of surprise on his face terminated when Hyori’s knee crashed into his skull.
Wu attacked the second man simultaneously, a vicious kick that collapsed one knee. He then sent his teetering opponent to the ground with a hip throw and followed up with an immobilizing elbow to the temple. Wu quickly searched both men and recovered a holstered weapon from each.
Clark and Ding arrived on a dead run. The situation hadn’t gone loud yet, but their cover was blown. Passersby all around were gawking and a woman was placing a call—almost certainly to the police.
Clark focused on Klaus. He approached the Swiss with calm assuredness. Klaus’s Teutonic features were framed clearly in the hoodie—he had removed his sunglasses, as if what he’d just witnessed would make more sense without them.
“Glad we reached you in time, Mr. Klaus,” said Clark. “You need to come with us right away.”
Klaus’s expression misted over with indecision.
There was no time for it. Clark said, “Twenty-four hours from now you will be in one of two places—a safe house in America or a prison in Russia. You have five seconds to make your choice.”
Clark reckoned his words were immaterial. His American accent, compared to the accents of the men now immobilized on the concrete, would be enough to tip the scale.
“Let’s go!” Klaus said.
—
“One, Gamer. You have two hostiles dead ahead. Turn right next street!”
“One copies,” Clark responded.
Clark and Ding walked quickly, shielding Klaus between them. Their heads were on swivels, scanning and evaluating every face, watching hands for threatening movements. Wu and Hyori were twenty paces back, a blocking force at the rear. The original egress route had proved a nonstarter; four Russians had converged on the marina, and wanting to keep in cover, Bauer and Toussaint hadn’t engaged. Charlie was on the move in the Sprinter, but bogged down in traffic.
Katie served as their eye in the sky, and Clark envisioned Kyle interfacing with MAADN to keep the intel coming. Task Force 99 had disappeared into the warren of streets just off the waterfront, but it was only a temporary reprieve. They had Klaus inhand, yet Bauer and Toussaint remained separated, and their transportation was struggling to reach them. Hostiles were converging all around, and there were surely others they’d not yet identified. Clark could only rely on Katie for what was going to be a challenging egress.
As Clark made the turn, he gave a hold signal to his trailing element.
Wu and Hyori paused at the intersection.
Katie picked up right away that they’d gone stationary. “Two, you’ve got threats forty yards south and closing.”
“Two copies,” Hyori replied.
The streets here were busy, but Hyori had no trouble discerning two quickly moving shapes on the distant cobbled sidewalk. Wu crossed to the far side of the intersection, and as he moved, Hyori saw the lead hostile press a finger momentarily to his ear. His eyes began searching and his gaze fell squarely on Wu. Both men drew handguns.
“They’ve got comm,” Hyori announced on the net as he drew his own weapon. Wu accelerated toward the corner of a building, his gun already in hand. Before he could reach it, the lead Russian raised his weapon and opened fire.
Wu dove behind a parked BMW motorcycle and bullets pinged off its frame. He thanked God for German engineering.
