recognition, but he was surprised this supposedly badass killer had managed to get himself fixed three different times today, and he wondered if either Tarik had access to connections in the German government, or the SIA was simply that good.
Either way, the American mercenary didn’t care. Killing a terrorist and executing a retributive strike on the bastard who’d killed one of Hulett’s men would make this day both a personal and a professional high point.
The two sedans parked in an hourly lot two blocks away from the last known location of their target, and then the men broke off into four teams of two, with three teams fanning out to check all the shops and eateries in the area, while Atlas and Mercury went hunting for the motorcycle to keep an eye on it in case Gentry tried to leave the scene.
They checked a couple of street-level lots before entering an underground parking garage a few blocks away from their target’s last known location.
On level P3 the two Americans found the silver BMW parked in a corner not far from the stairs, and though they were too far underground to get cell phone signal to notify Hades of their discovery, they’d expected this to happen, so they’d been given instructions to find a place to lie low and cut off any possible getaway for Gentry. The men decided to split up, with one moving just outside the stairwell door to wait in the dark, and the other positioning himself between a pair of compact cars parked directly next to the bike.
Once in position, both men opened their backpacks and pulled out Stribog SP9A1s, compact Slovakian-made 9-millimeter submachine guns. Each weapon had a silencer and a folding stock, and would be ideal for the close-in work needed to dispatch the man who killed Ronnie.
Once their safeties were off and their weapons were on their shoulders, all that was left to do was wait in the dusty garage.
* * *
• • •
Hades and Thor stepped into Hellman Mens Wear at 3:40 p.m., doing their best to look like casual shoppers. Men more highly trained in tradecraft might have known better than to enter the store itself; there was more chance of them compromising themselves to their target if they left the street and the crowds and began browsing the shop. But Hades told himself they were just going in to see if the man was still there, and if they identified him, they would leave and lie in wait outside.
They gave the sales floor a quick glance upon entering, then went over to a wall and began going through a rack of dress shirts. A clerk asked them if they needed help, speaking in English because the men didn’t look like they could possibly be anything else but American, but Hades sent him away.
They spent the next minute making their way slowly towards the back, glancing up from time to time to see if they saw their target, and then, without discussing it, the two men split up to check out the store more carefully. They worried he’d left the shop and headed somewhere else on Ku’damm, even though they could hear the two other teams reporting in one dry hole after another.
The men at street level had lost comms with Mercury and Atlas, but they attributed that to the fact that they’d most likely gone down into an underground garage.
Hades turned to look at a rack of merino wool sweaters while, just ten yards or so away, Thor checked out a pair of slacks on a mannequin.
* * *
• • •
Court Gentry stepped out of his dressing room with the dark blue suit and collared shirt he’d tried on in his arms, and he headed towards a rack of shoes. His plan was to grab a pair, check out, and then head back to his flat to change before racing back to the Adlon.
He was fighting off the exhaustion that seemed to increase every minute, but he told himself once he’d reconnoitered Zoya’s hotel he’d find some coffee and that would get him through the evening until he could make his way to Dr. Kaya.
He stepped back onto the sales floor of the clothing store, but before he made it halfway to the shoes, he stopped in his tracks, turned, and retreated back into the changing rooms.
He’d seen the two men, one from the back, one from the side. They were dressed casually, with both of their short-sleeved shirts untucked. The