Page 102 of Tom Clancy Line of Sight

“He wants to know what you’re doing in Bosnia.”

“I’m a tourist.”

“How do you know this woman?”

“She’s my tour guide.” He nodded at the Happy Times! van. “We’re heading back to Sarajevo.”

“Where did you come from?”

“Dubrovnik.”

“What did you do there?”

“Toured the city.”

“Anything else?”

Jack wanted to say something about the unbelievable sex he and Aida had enjoyed but held his tongue. This cop’s fuse was lit. He was angry as hell, and Jack wasn’t giving him what he was looking for. But then again, he was a little prick. Jack shota glance at Aida, trying to lighten the moment. “You can tell him we ate at a great restaurant.”

Aida frowned but translated it anyway.

The short cop suddenly got in Aida’s face, shouting,“Gdje su te jebene rakete?!”

Aida startled and answered,“Rakete? Nemam pojma o cemu govoriš.”

WHACK!

The cop backhanded Aida across the mouth. She whimpered and clutched her face with her hands.

“Hey!” Jack lunged toward Aida to block another strike, but the two cops next to him each grabbed him hard by his shoulders and yanked him back, shoving their pistols in his face.

The little cop grabbed a fistful of Aida’s hair in his hand and pulled her close, sticking his pistol in her face. In his anger he slipped from Bosnian to the English he had been trying to conceal,“I will only ask you one more time, you Muslim bitch! Where are those—”

Behind them, a horn blared, stuttering and loud. The two cops next to Jack turned around with him still in their grip and saw a cloud of dust billowing on the hill road toward them as another Happy Times! tour van came careening down at full speed. Jack saw Emir at the wheel, pounding the horn with one hand and steering the van straight toward Jack and the two cops with the other.

The two cops raised their pistols to fire.

Jack launched both fists up and back, smashing each cop in the face with the back of his hands. They each got off shots, but the shock of the blows caused them to miss. The blows also loosened their grips on Jack just enough for him to fire his right elbow high into the tall cop’s jaw with a sickening crack. Theman dropped his pistol in the dirt and let go of Jack’s collar as he reached for his broken jaw.

As soon as Jack’s elbow struck the tall cop, he twisted right, driving the heel of his right hand into the car cop’s temple, stunning him. Jack rabbit-punched him again with a closed fist just behind the ear until the man and his weapon fell to the ground as Emir skidded to a stop in a flurry of choking dust.

The short cop knelt in the dirt in front of Aida, clutching his ball sack, blood trickling out of his nose.

Aida pointed the gun at him. She was breathing heavily, but her hands were steady.

Jack turned in time to see the tall cop lunging for his weapon. Jack kicked his face like a soccer ball. The man’s head snapped back. Knocked out cold, he collapsed in the dirt.

Without hesitating, Jack turned and launched another brutal kick at the other cop, who was reaching for his own weapon in the dirt.

He wasn’t as lucky as his friend.

Jack’s foot cracked the cartilage in the man’s nose and broke his top front teeth. The man shrieked in pain and clutched his mouth, blood gushing between his fingers.

Emir grabbed both pistols out of the dirt and stepped over to Aida. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, of course. I’m fine.”

“Me, too. Thanks for asking,” Jack said, pulling the MP5 off the tall cop and retrieving his passport from the man’s pocket. “Who are these jokers?”