Page 10 of Spymaster

“We’re working on it.”

“So what’s the plan? Shoot and steal our way across Europe until we find them?”

“Would that be a problem?”

“What it wouldbe,” she replied, “is illegal.”

“You let me worry about what’s illegal,” said Harvath.

She shook her head.

“What?”

“I don’t even know who you really work for,” she responded.

“I told you,” he began, repeating his cover story. “I’m a consultant—”

“Mysteriously sent from NATO’s strategic command back in the United States. Even if I did believe that, there’s just one problem.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t like mysteries.”

He looked at her. “Let’s be clear. You volunteered to come along.”

Jasinski laughed. “When the Supreme Allied Commander personally calls you into his office and offers you an assignment, you take it.Anyassignment.”

“I can ask him to find me somebody else.”

“Someone as up to speed as I am? Good luck. You’d be starting from square one. I bring more to this than anyone else at SHAPE.”

She was correct, in more ways than she realized.

“So then are you in?” he asked.

Moments passed. He was calling her bluff.

“I’m in,” she finally replied. “But understand something. The only things I like less than mysteries are surprises.”

Harvath smiled. He didn’t like surprises either, but unfortunately, there were many more in store—for both of them.

CHAPTER 8

OUTSIDEWARSAW, POLAND

The thieves worked quickly, but carefully. Wearing baseball caps and dark clothing, they expertly hid their faces from the closed-circuit television cameras.

Once the merchandise they had stolen from the truck had been transferred to their van, they exited the parking lot and made their getaway.

As far as they could tell, no one had seen them—not even the American soldiers whom they had just robbed. Even so, it only took one person to call in a report to the police. They had to be extra cautious.

In order to avoid authorities, the thieves had decided to stay off the main motorway. They used rural back roads. It took longer, but it was safer. If they were caught, it would cause a major international incident.

The theft of American military equipment on Polish soil would be extremely embarrassing for Poland, especially because this wasn’t the first time it had happened. In advance of a joint readiness drill in the fall, night-vision goggles and other assorted gear worth more than $50,000 U.S. had been nicked from a cargo container at the port of Gdansk.

This time, though, the cargo was much more sophisticated and the implications for the region much more serious. Mere mention of what the U.S. soldiers were allegedly transporting had the potential to destabilize the entire region. The case could even be made that it had the potential to upend the entire geopolitical order.

The team that had been sent in to commit the robbery, though, couldn’t occupy themselves with the big picture. Not now. They had to focus on transporting the cargo to a predetermined location without encountering any members of law enforcement or the military. Something much easier said than done, especially in Poland where cops had a habit of popping up in the most unusual of places, at the worst of times, and often with a keen interest in anyone and everyone, no matter how benign they might appear.