Page 97 of Tom Clancy Line of Sight

After sating themselves on the riverbank, Jack and Aida packed up and continued the drive along the winding road. They paid more attention to each other than to the local scenery, Aida pointing out less and less until they reached Mostar, jammed with spectators for the Red Bull Cliff Diving competition from the city’s fabled bridge, famous for local talent diving off it for cash tips from tourists.

Mostar was crowded and hot, and after a quick walking tour of the Old Town and a gander at the bridge jumpers, they headed to a four-star hotel for a light dinner and even hotter sex than before.

They woke up famished and attacked an amazing breakfast buffet of local meats, cheeses, specialty dishes, and just about anything sweet Jack could think of, along with strong black coffee and orange juice. Aida devoured two helpings of ratatouille, not Jack’s idea of a breakfast dish. She listed the sitesthey could see as they left Mostar, including the sixteenth-century dervishtekija, a monastery built into the side of a cliff, and the Catholic pilgrimage city of Medjugorje, where the appearance of the Virgin Mary to six Herzegovinian children in 1981 was commemorated.

She then began describing the windy Vjetrenica cave, one of the largest in Europe...

But Jack hardly heard a word. He just fell deeper into her stunning blue eyes. He grabbed her by the hand, tossed the desk clerk an extra twenty-euro note for a late checkout, and took her back to their room.

—

They arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in the early afternoon. Situated on the coast of the dazzling blue Adriatic, the gleaming white medieval city glowed beneath the sun. It reminded Jack of Minas Tirith from theLord of the Ringsmovies. The only problem was that Gandalf—Gerry—had already sent him two anxious texts:Where the hell are you?

“Problem?” Aida asked.

“Just my boss. Wants me to cut my vacation short.”

“You Americans work too hard.”

Jack texted back.I’m in Dubrovnik.Perfect weather. Four more days, guaranteed.

Gerry wrote back.The girl?

Yup

Would I like her?

Yup

Your dad?

Yup

Your mother?

Yup X 2

Since nothing confirmed on our end regarding your situation and against my better judgment I’ll give you four more days. But that’s it. Check in daily and stay alert. Understood?

Understood

“All good?” Aida smiled hopefully.

“All good.” Except for the fact there might be a secret international criminal syndicate trying to murder him. But he dismissed it. If there was a real problem, Gerry would have told him.

The tourist traffic was bumper-to-bumper across the 1,700-foot Franjo Tudman Bridge, an ultramodern steel-cabled structure featuring a giant A-shaped pylon, a real contrast to the fitted, ancient stones of the Old Town.

They finally made their way to Lapad, one of the newer suburbs of the city, where Aida said she owned an apartment.

She pulled up to a small warehouse, its steel door shut. She called a number on her phone and a moment later the steel door was rolled open by a Croatian man in grease-stained gray coveralls. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Jack, but he didn’t say a word as Aida pulled in and the garage door closed behind them.

“This will just take a minute,” Aida said as she got out.

“No problem.”

Jack watched Aida and the Croatian wander over to a pallet stacked with cardboard boxes stamped in Croatian he couldn’t read but with medical symbols he recognized, including the Staff of Asclepius. Aida had told him the reason she needed tocome to Dubrovnik was to pick up some medical supplies. He assumed it would be at a pharmacy or a hospital, not an unmarked warehouse in a semi-suburban neighborhood.

He watched Aida chatting it up with the expressionless Croatian, and what little he could hear of it was in a language he didn’t speak. The man kept his heavy hands shoved into the pockets of his coveralls, his eyes shifting back and forth between Aida and Jack.