Page 103 of Tom Clancy Line of Sight

“Serb Mafia,” Aida said. “Trying to steal the medical supplies.” She spat at the kneeling cop. “Pigs.”

Jack patted down the unconscious cop. “This guy doesn’t have any identity papers.”

Emir pointed at the other downed officer. “Neither does this one.”

Aida barked a command at the short officer, who shook his head. “None of these assholes do,” she said. “Believe me, they’re not cops.”

“We should call the real cops,” Jack said.

Aida shook her head, her eyes still sighting down the barrel of the gun toward the short cop, now glowering at her. “We can’t.”

“Why not?”

She shot him a confused look. “What if the police impound my van? I can’t risk it.”

The medical supplies,Jack remembered. Crap. Smuggled in illegally, but desperately needed by the clinic.

“What do we do with these guys, then? We can’t just let them go.”

He noticed Aida still hadn’t lowered her weapon, and Emir still held two loaded pistols in his hands. “And we sure as hell can’t shoot them.”

“I have an idea,” Emir said, shoving the pistols into his waistband. “You and Jack go on ahead, and I’ll follow. In ten minutes, I’ll pull over and call the police. We don’t want to be here when anybody shows up.” He looked at Jack. “Okay?”

“Okay.”

Aida added, “Get some rope and some duct tape. We don’t want them leaving before the police arrive.”

“I’ll take care of everything,” Emir said.

“But call an ambulance, too,” Jack said. “They’re gonna need it.”

51

Why was Emir following us?” Jack asked. He drove the van.

Aida was still shaking from the encounter. She lit a cigarette to calm her nerves. It was the first time Jack had seen her smoke.

“I don’t know. I told him to stay away.”

“So why didn’t he?”

“He’s in love with me. Has been since we were kids.”

“I hope he didn’t see—”

She waved a hand dismissively. “I don’t want to think about it.” She took another drag.

“So who was that guy in the photo? Brkic?” Jack asked.

“He’s family. He married one of my mother’s cousins, years ago. As a favor, I use him to work on my vehicles sometimes.”

“And what was the cop asking you about? He was pretty pissed off.”

Aida shook her head. “He wanted to know why we had not paid our protection money.”

“Did you owe him protection money?”

Aida blew out a cloud of blue smoke, ignoring the question. The open window whisked it away. “You know they were going to kill us.” She flicked the butt out the window. “Fucking Serbs.”