“I’ll try the front lounge area first.”
“Are you going in armed?”
“Gringos would not be armed. But Luis, like everyone else in that place,will have a gun, and even if they check for iron at the door, they won’t ask for Luis’ weapon if it means they lose a customer.” He added, “It’s like the Wild West here, Maggie. A man and his gun are not parted at the door of a whorehouse. That would be like asking him to leave his dick outside. Once we’re inside, Luis will slip the Glock to me.”
She nodded, then asked, “Does Luis know about this?”
“He’s figured it out.” He reminded her, “He lives here.”
“Okay, but… I don’t know how you can ask a civilian to risk his life for something that has nothing to do with him.”
“We did it all the time in Iraq. You hire the locals when you need them. They can say no.” He asked her, “Didn’t you do that in Afghanistan?”
“Yes, we hired locals, but not for dangerous assignments.”
“Just by hiring them, you put their lives in danger.” He pointed out, “The Taliban kill American lackeys.”
“All right, but—”
“Look, if Luis gets cold feet, I’ll leave him at the door, and I’ll go in myself, unarmed.” He added, “I know you’ll worry about me, Maggie, but at least Luis will be safe.”
“Don’t be sarcastic. I’m saying I’ll go in with you.”
“That doesn’t work. But thank you for the offer. Okay, so Luis has come in with me, but then he leaves and I take this girl into a room. I can’t have Mercer’s photo with me in case I’m frisked at the door. But it’s easy to describe a bearded gringo with a snake tattoo on his arm. I offer her a lot of American dollars, and with any luck, she’ll know him and maybe tell me when he usually shows up, or the last time she saw him, who he hangs with, maybe where he lives, and so forth.” He added, “Standard police procedure.”
Taylor nodded, then said, “At that point, you’ve gotten what you paid for and you get out of there.”
Brodie smiled. “When you go deep undercover, you’ve got to play the part all the way.”
“I’m inspired by your professional commitment.”
“Thank you. Okay, another possibility is that Kyle Mercer is there, and he’s there just out of chance, or he’s there waiting for the gringo he heard about. If it’s just a chance appearance, I leave, and we take him down when he leaves.” He went on, “If he’s there waiting for me, with backup, then I’ve got a problem.”
“Actually, you’ll be dead.”
“I should be so lucky.”
Taylor looked at him. “Why don’t we just stake out the place tonight?”
“I’m impatient. And Dombroski has put a time limit on us.” He lied, “Four days.”
“Why four days?”
“I think he doesn’t want us to get killed in Caracas.”
“That makes two of us. I’m not sure about you.”
“I’d like to arrest this son of a bitch and fly out of here tonight. I’m going right for the golden egg in the Hen House.”
“How did you survive combat?”
“I knew when to duck.”
“Is that it for the plan?”
“I think so. Basically, we’ll all play it by ear tonight. Be ready for anything, be able to adapt to the situation, and, as always, show initiative and good judgment—and remember the mission.”
“Thank you for the pre-battle pep talk.”
