Page 63 of Clive Cussler Ghost Soldier

“She’s right, boss,” Eric said. “This would be the perfect play for that sort of thing.”

“Or…the contract is really just a contract,” Murph said. “Exceptthat you and Linc could be on a one-way trip to an unexpected Custer’s Last Stand.”

Eric crossed his arms. “Or you walk into a police ambush that gets you thrown into a Third World dungeon with a life sentence, squat toilets, and no windows.”

“Believe me, I can think of even worse outcomes,” Juan said. “But what’s the alternative? This is the only lead we have and our mission is to stop the Vendor—or die trying.

“I appreciate your concerns, but our business, gentlemen, is risk. Calculated, anticipated, and minimized to the best of our ability. But at the end of the day, none of us gets out of thiscarniceríaalive. And on that day there is a judgment we all face. We won’t be rewarded for the risks we avoided but for the hazards we braved to do good in the world as best we could, even if we failed in the attempt. Isn’t that what we all signed up for?”

Murph and Eric nodded in solemn agreement.

Callie’s eyes radiated with admiration. “Amen to that.”

32

Juan and Linc were already on their way to Malaysia, having been accepted by the dark web advertiser for the VIP security assignment. The impeccably produced fake military service documents, IDs, and legends generated by theOregon’s crack teams had worked perfectly.

As soon as Juan and Linc received their respective initial payments, the mysterious employer provided two airline tickets. To avoid suspicion, the two operators began their separate journeys from different starting locations that took them on circuitous routes that both ended at different times in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city. That seemed a logical destination. “KL” was a large and busy international business and transportation center as well as a melting pot of cultures, races, and religions. A collection of multinational mercenaries would draw little if any attention in a city like that.

Though it was doubtful KL was the final destination, it was no doubt closer to wherever the actual mission was going to take place. Otherwise, why bother sending them there? Juan, Max, and Linda agreed that taking theOregondown to Malaysia made sense. They would at least be closer to the action and available for backup should the need arise.

It was on the second day of transit that Max received a call from Langston Overholt. Hali explained that Juan was unavailable andMax was in command. Max took the call while sitting in the Kirk Chair.

“Thank you for taking my call, Mr. Hanley. I trust Juan is in good health?”

“He and Linc are chasing a lead on the Vendor.”

“As it so happens, I might have a lead for you as well.”

“Fire away.”

“A detachment of Italian carabinieri was recently ambushed by a mob of Salafists in Kosovo. NATO-KFOR believes a new source of weapons is flowing into the Kosovo region and falling into the hands of the local jihadis.”

“The Vendor’s Afghanistan stash?”

“That would fit his pattern. What’s particularly worrying is that many of these radicals have combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and have now cycled back to the European continent.”

“Combat trained and newly armed. That’s not good.”

“Now you know why I’d like you to send in a team to investigate. With any luck, we might get a lead on the Vendor’s transport network or perhaps even his actual location.”

“Kosovo isn’t exactly a vacation spot these days.”

“Indeed, it is not. The entire region is a tinderbox. A rising faction of Islamic extremists is calling for a new European holy war—one begun in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992 by Al Qaeda and other mujahideen against the Christian Serbs. The Christian Slavs in the region are in an uproar. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that World War I began when a young Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo.”

“If memory serves, the Austrians then declared war on Serbia, Russia declared war on Austria, Germany on Russia, England and France on Germany—”

“—and so on in a series of bloody dominoes that decimated a generation of Europeans. Like Bismarck said twenty years before it happened, it would be some ‘damn foolish thing in the Balkans’ that would lead to a great European war. I’m afraid we’re not far away from a similar scenario today.”

“And our friend the Vendor is providing the matches to set the place on fire all over again.”

“Precisely.”

“I’m just not sure how we can pull it off,” Max said.

“What’s the problem?”

“We’re on our way to Kuala Lumpur to back up Juan and Linc.”