Page 114 of Tom Clancy Line of Sight

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Kolak sat up again. “In Bosnia, there are always three narratives for any given fact: a Croat narrative, a Serb narrative, and a Bosniak narrative. It’s usually only those who aren’t like you who can’t be trusted.”

“Can you blame her?”

“Who was it that said, ‘We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are’?”

Jack knew that it was Anaïs Nin, but he didn’t want to play along. “No idea.”

“It doesn’t matter. To continue, Aida said that these men who stopped you were Serb Mafia?”

“She did. We checked for identification, but they didn’t have any, and they weren’t offering any, so that explanation made sense to me at the time.”

“Well, we know now they weren’t Serb Mafia. Why do you suppose the Russians stopped you? Were they after Aida? Or you?”

“Why would they be after me?”

“Just exploring the options. Humor me.”

“They searched the van, so my guess is they were after her, or something they thought she had.”

“Not the medicines, obviously. Any idea what else?”

“None.”

“Anything else they wanted from you?”

“They asked her about her uncle, Tarik Brkic.”

“What do you know about Brkic?”

“Only what Aida told me. That he was related by marriage—her mother’s cousin, or something. And he’s a mechanic that does work for her sometimes.”

“That’s correct. I’m surprised she told you anything about him.”

“Why is that?”

“Brkic is a man we’ve had our eye on for some time. He’s a Bosnian citizen now, but originally he was from Chechnya. Nobody knows much about him. He keeps a rather low profile. The rumor is that he came over in 1991 to fight in the Bosnian War, though that was never proven. That makes him a person of some interest to us.”

“And so is Aida, isn’t she?”

“Why do you say that?”

“You wanted me to find her, and to let you know when I did.”

“How does that make her a person of interest?”

“You already know who she is, where she works, where she lives. You didn’t need me to find her, did you? You needed me to get close to her.”

“Perhaps.”

“Who’s the liar now?”

Kolak laughed. “I said ‘perhaps,’ didn’t I? Yes, you are correct. You’re a smart fellow, Jack. I did want you to get to know her.”

“Because you haven’t been able to get anyone else close to her, which means you’ve tried to, which means you’re interested in her.”

“You should be an intelligence officer, Jack. You would make a good one. Or perhaps you already are?”