at the American embassy, and only just took it back out.”
“But he wasn’t at the embassy.”
“Operational security, I guess. Dunno.”
“Where is it pinging now?”
“It’s heading out of the city. In the direction of Fürstenberg.”
“That’s more than an hour and a half to the north. Right now? At eleven p.m.?”
“Yes. Yanis and I thought we’d take the van up there and have a look. Normally we’d get a physical surveillance request approved by the case officer assigned to us, but since you went on vacation, we’re kind of on our own.”
Miriam was already out of bed, racing to her closet for some dark clothing. “Approved. I will meet you there. Call me the second he stops.”
Moises was pleased. “We were hoping you’d say that.”
* * *
• • •
Court didn’t wince as Dr. Azra Kaya pulled the needle out of his arm, though the sticks into the veins sure were adding up. She put a Band-Aid on the tiny wound; he thought it was funny that it was just a couple inches away from the large dressing around his biceps, but he appreciated her care nonetheless.
“There you are. You look like you’re responding well to the treatment, but it’s imperative you keep it up.”
Court nodded, then stood slowly. Just then his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was the Signal app, he could tell by the pattern of the vibrations.
“Sorry. It’s work.”
Dr. Kaya nodded and led him to the door.
Court answered the call, realized it was Zack, and then rushed out into the hallway. “What’s up?”
“Yo, Six, the tracker you put on the Shrike van is indicating movement. Heading due north, out of the city.”
Court looked at his watch. “It’s eleven p.m.”
“No shit, it’s eleven. Wrap it up with your girlfriend and let’s go take a peek at what these shitheads are up to.”
Court first saw this as potentially a perfect opportunity to snatch Dittenhofer, but soon he had another idea. He felt certain this must have something to do with Mirza, that perhaps she was following him, and he wondered if he and Zack could take the Iranian terrorist and his cell down tonight, and derail al-Habsi’s entire plan.
For this he would need Chris Travers and his team, but Court wasn’t ready to spin them up just yet. He wanted to make certain he had a target for them to hit.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out an Adderall, then said, “You load the Audi up with all the gear. I’ll meet you at the safe house in thirty. Be downstairs and ready to go.”
“Hell, yeah, brother.”
* * *
• • •
One minute later Court climbed onto his motorcycle, fired up the engine, and took off in the direction of Spandau.
When the darkened street was quiet again, a woman stepped out of an alcove a block to the south and pulled out her phone. “Inna? I saw him. Yes, tell Maksim.” Anya Bolichova added, “He’s gone now, but I put a tracker on his motorcycle. I’ll follow him at a safe distance, put trackers on any other vehicles he has, and report his location as soon as I know it.”
* * *
• • •
Moises and Yanis parked the surveillance van in a campground in the forest meters away from Röblinsee, a small lake to the north of Berlin. They were just outside the town of Fürstenberg, in the Mecklenburg Lake District, and both the lake and the forest were shrouded in a thick, almost impenetrable mist at this time of night.
The men had tracked Haz Mirza’s phone to an abandoned animal feed warehouse less than three hundred meters away, nestled between the Havel River, Röblinsee, and the train tracks. There it stopped moving, and it had remained stationary for the past forty minutes.
There was no light at all evident over the water from the warehouse itself, but the phone was definitely located there, so they determined they would park here to wait for Miriam, and to listen for any audio picked up by the phone.
In all their surveillance on the Quds men, they’d never been anywhere near here, and they didn’t have a clue what could be going on across the water in an abandoned complex.
Annika Dittenhofer arrived in her car just fifteen minutes later and immediately asked for an update from her team.
Yanis joked, “You don’t act like you’re on vacation.”
She smiled at this, then said, “Pay attention. What’s going on inside?”
Moises replied, “The phone is in there. Hasn’t moved.”
“When did you get here?”
“About fifteen minutes ago. We aren’t picking