his fault. Dombroski, however, was calling him and Taylor home for possible official reprimand. And Dombroski didn’t even know the bad news that his special agent, Warrant Officer Brodie, and his agent’s local recruit, Luis, had killed two Venezuelan government officials, two members of a colectivo, two whorehouse employees, and probably a few other people during his and Luis’ escape. All in self-defense, of course. But Worley would find out about the body count and tell Dombroski, who would have to tell General Hackett. The only way Brodie could save his and Taylor’s asses and careers would be to find Kyle Mercer.
“Mr. Brodie? I hope you are now hailing a cab for the airport.”
“Still here, Colonel.” He turned the map over, took the Sharpie, and wrote, You’re on. Save the mission.
Taylor looked at his note, then said into the phone, “Colonel, may I speak?”
“Only if it’s something I need to know immediately. Otherwise, you can both speak to me in Quantico, before we see General Hackett.”
“Yes, sir. This is immediate Intel that needs immediate action.”
“Speak.”
“All right…” She looked again at Brodie, then said to Dombroski, “Scott has developed a good lead on the whereabouts of our fugitive.”
There was no response from Dombroski, so Taylor continued, “He interviewed a witness… in the brothel… a woman who had recently accompanied Captain Mercer on a trip to what sounds like his hideout—a jungle camp in the south of the country.”
Again there was a silence, and Brodie wrote on the map, Don’t give any details.
She nodded and continued, “Scott’s witness gave us enough information to make this trip and to verify what she said. We have booked a charter flight—”
“Don’t tell me this was a hooker.”
Brodie broke in, “A waitress. Spoke perfect English. I told her I was Captain Kyle Mercer’s amigo. He broke her heart, and I told her I’d take her to him and play cupid. She’s hot to trot.” He added, “She trusts me.”
Taylor looked at Brodie, obviously in awe of his bullshit.
Colonel Dombroski stayed silent again, then said, “All right… give me the details of her trip, and I’ll fly two agents down there to follow up.” He added, “You need to come home.”
Brodie replied, “We’re going to lose this guy, Colonel. This is a hot lead. You know what happens when we don’t follow up immediately.” He added, “I’ve gotten this lady to trust me. Won’t work with someone else.”
“The police may be looking for you.”
“Ms. Taylor and I are willing to take the risk.”
Taylor said, “What you should also know is that according to the witness, Captain Mercer is apparently training insurgents of some sort in this jungle camp.”
“Are you serious?”
Brodie replied, “That’s what my witness said.”
“You believe her?”
“Why would she lie?”
“Could be a trap.”
“That would be an elaborate trap, Colonel.”
Taylor said, “We don’t intend to try to apprehend him. We just need to verify what the witness said—to follow the trail, get a fix on this camp, and report to you, and you can turn this information over to the proper command for follow-up.” She added, “We have military assets in Colombia, and in the waters off the coast here.”
“All right… this is tempting… but—”
Brodie jumped in: “Colonel, let me be blunt. This will be a huge feather in all our caps.”
“This is about justice, Mr. Brodie.”
“Goes without saying. But if we let this slip through our fingers, we’ll all be speaking to General Hackett.” He added, “And Mercer will be making another video telling us to go fuck ourselves.”
No reply.
Brodie continued, “We agree that we need to get out of Caracas, so we’ll head south with our witness, get a fix on this camp, then take our charter plane to Colombia and call you from Bogotá with our findings, which you can pass on to the appropriate people.” He added, “Now that you have this new information, I’m sure that’s the course of action you would suggest.”
“Well…”
Taylor pointed out, “This is safer than us trying to board a commercial flight out of here.” She reminded him, “They may be looking for us at Simón Bolívar Airport. We’re flying charter out of a smaller airport, where we can use our alternate passports.”
“I understand. But… a side trip to—where are you going?”
“Not sure yet,” replied Brodie. “Our witness will fill us in at the airport.”
Dombroski asked, “What are you going to do with this lady when you get down there?”
As Brodie tried to think of more bullshit, Dombroski said, “You will not use her for bait to try