“We’ll make it work.”
“Scott, we can’t stake out the place, and we can’t take him on the street with all those cars and people—”
“You overestimate the willingness of people in front of a whorehouse to get involved in a public kidnapping.” He added, “What could possibly go wrong?”
“Are you crazy?”
Before Brodie could think of an answer, Luis said, “Señor Brodie is correct. In Caracas, no one sees anything, no one hears anything, and no one does anything.” He added, “Unless this man who you are looking for has a driver who is also his security man.”
“Thanks for that,” said Brodie.
They continued up the hill on the dark road and Brodie said to Luis, “Make a U-turn, turn off your lights, and stop.”
Luis did as he was told, and Brodie said to Taylor, “Make yourself small on the floor here.” He told Luis, “Get a little closer to the Hen House, but not too close.”
Luis nodded and began driving slowly down the hill toward the Hen House, while Taylor reluctantly sat on the floor with her back to the door.
Luis stopped about fifty feet from the brothel, and about thirty feet from the closest parked car. Brodie swapped Glocks with Luis and gave Luis’ Glock to Taylor. “Okay,” Brodie said, “Luis will walk me to the door to make the intro. If we’re turned away, we’ll be right back and we’ll hang here and do a stakeout. If we get inside, Luis and I go to the baño, where I get my gun, and he leaves. You’ll both wait for me, engine running and ready to roll.”
“Scott, you have no commo and no backup, and this breaks with every CID procedure—”
“This is infantry procedure. A recon in hostile territory. End of discussion.”
“All right. And what if you’re not out in an hour?”
“Call Worley, report me missing in action, and get out of here.” He added, “Look, Maggie, this is standard undercover work. Let’s not get paranoid. I’m just a dumb gringo looking for action. The worst that can happen is that I get robbed and thrown out in my underwear. They know I’m not going to the police, so they don’t need to put me through the wood chipper.” He looked at Luis, who was sitting quietly behind the wheel. “Right, Luis?”
Luis did not reply immediately, then said, “True, the brothels sometimes rob, but do not kill.”
“Right. That’s bad for return business.” Brodie had a final thought and said, “If you feel threatened by anyone approaching this car, get out of here.”
“Scott, we’re not leaving you—”
“Or if you see our suspect entering the Hen House, do not attempt to take him down. I’ll deal with him inside.”
Taylor replied, “If I see him, I’ll take him.”
He looked at her sitting on the floor. “No, you will follow orders.”
Taylor didn’t respond to that, but said, “This is what happens when you have no commo.”
“As they told us in Iraq, you go into battle with the equipment you have, not the equipment you’d like to have.” Brodie concluded, “Also, if you see him exit, I’ll be right behind him.”
Taylor looked at him. “Unless you’re going through the wood chipper.”
“Don’t be negative.” He looked out the window at the Hen House. “Okay, Luis, let’s take a walk.”
Luis got out of the car.
Taylor reminded Brodie, “Kyle Mercer may be waiting for you.”
“If he is, he’ll have more questions than I have. He may want to talk, maybe make a deal, maybe give me a message to carry back to the States.” He added, “I’d rather take my chances with a fellow officer and combat vet than with the management of the Hen House.”
Taylor nodded, evidently remembering that Captain Mercer had not killed Sergeant Simpson when he could have, and probably should have. She cautioned, however, “We don’t know where his head is at now.”
“I know who he was. That’s the man I’m going to talk to if he’s waiting for me.”
Again she nodded. “Good luck.”
