“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 to apprehend Kyle Mercer.”
That wasn’t a bad idea, but Brodie replied, “Of course not. We just need her to get a fix on this camp. We’ll make sure she gets safely back to Caracas.Then, if I may make a suggestion, it would be very fitting if a Delta Force team finished this business.”
There was silence on the line; then Dombroski said, “That would be fitting.”
Brodie offered, “I would be happy and honored to accompany the team. To represent the CID and make the actual arrest.” He added, “Ms. Taylor would also like to join the operation.”
Taylor wrote on the map,Ms. Taylor would not.
Dombroski said, “I doubt if that’s possible. But your offer is noted.” He added, “If a Special Ops mission is successful in finding Mercer, he will be taken to you and Ms. Taylor—in Colombia, or aboard a U.S. naval vessel—and you will be the arresting officers.”
Brodie had a different plan, but he said, “Thank you, Colonel. I think you and I and Ms. Taylor have worked out a good plan going forward.”
Dombroski didn’t respond to that, but asked, “When does your flight leave?”
“Soon,” Brodie replied.
“Call me from the airport.”
“We will.” Not.
“And call me when you get to your destination.”
“If we have cell service—”
“Colonel Worley gave you a sat phone.”
