Scorpion: A Covert Ops Novel (Second Edition) by Ross Sidor Page A

they
needed to do.  
    They looked over
a street map of Dushanbe and discussed what routes to take and where best to
make the slip. Darren’s input was especially valuable here, as he knew the
streets, traffic patterns, and layout of the city. However, this became overly
confusing, because most Dushanbe streets do not have names. To navigate
Dushanbe, you went by landmarks, not streets.
    The biggest
hurdle was going to be Avery’s equipment. He could easily take his backpack and
duffel bag with him, but his two cases of gear would be cumbersome and
potentially slow him down or even blow the whole maneuver. So these would be
dropped off at a secondary location and quickly retrieved by one of Sideshow’s
operators.
    At 6:45PM, as
the sun began to drop behind the mountains, they exited the embassy through a
rear service door. Two identical Toyota Forerunners waited there, engines
rumbling. The Forerunners sat one in front of the other and had pulled up a
couple minutes earlier, so they surely had the GKNB’s full attention now. A
marine in civilian clothing sat behind the wheel in each vehicle.
    The Forerunners
were behemoths and parked so that they blocked any view of the open service
door. The GKNB officers sitting in the car across the street were unable to see
exactly who was emerging from the embassy. They couldn’t even get complete
descriptions and could barely get an accurate head count. To add further
confusion, Avery and the others were dressed similarly, in windbreakers and
black baseball caps.
    Avery and Gerald
slipped into the first Forerunner. Avery carried his backpack and duffel bag
and took the spot behind the driver’s seat. Gerald carried the briefcase
containing the components of their jack-in-the-box. Darren took Avery’s gear
into the second Forerunner, and they were soon on their way.
     The GKNB car slipped
into traffic behind them, following them three blocks north to Shohtemur
Street. There, the Forerunners split ways, the first going west, and the second
east.
    The driver of
the GKNB car was forced to react immediately. He impulsively made the left-turn,
going after the first Forerunner and swearing out loud as he did so. The GKNB
officer riding shotgun struck a fist against the dash, and then called in the
situation and requested a second vehicle to find the first Forerunner heading
west.
    Avery’s marine
driver announced that the tail was still with them. At least if the GKNB had
gone east after the second Forerunner, it would have been a simple matter of
slowing down, so Avery could simply step out of the SUV with his gear. The guys
in the second Forerunner would have to be alert now and identify their new tail
before they dropped off Avery’s gear.
    Avery assembled
the pieces for the jack-in-the-box. He affixed the coat hanger to the end of
the plunger and taped the balloon to the top of the hanger. Then he taped pieces
of cardboard around the coat hanger, to give the upper body a bit of mass. He slid
out of his jacket, fit it over the hanger, and zipped it up. He took off his
cap and gently fit it on top of the balloon.
    Gerald gave it a
once-over and nodded his approval. He was too tense and anxious, having never
done anything like this before outside of training. He didn’t want to be picked
up by the GKNB. Avery told him to relax, breathe, and remember what he needed
to do, and Gerald straightened his back and composed himself.
    Four minutes
later, the marine up front alerted Avery that they were very soon coming to the
turn. Avery acknowledged the marine, even though he’d been keeping track of
where they were going the whole time and was already aware of this. The GKNB
vehicle was five car lengths back, with a taxi and a trailer-truck between
them.
    The left-turn
onto Karamov Street would provide them several seconds completely out of sight
of the GKNB chase car, while the Forerunner made the turn and before the GKNB
car reached the intersection. That’s where Avery would make the