2:05 pm Central European Daylight Time (8:05 am Eastern Daylight Time)
Interpol Liaison Office - Special Investigations Unit
Europol Headquarters
The Hague, The Netherlands
They had cut power to the office.
The lights were out. So was the air conditioning. Without airflow, it was amazing how quickly it became hot in here. Miquel had sweat through his shirt.
He sat on the floor, leaning against one of the cabinets. He had piled all the cabinets, one on top of the other, in front of the doors and the glass wall. Jan had taken a minute and helped him place the heavy conference table across the top. The view from the corridor into this office was now completely blocked.
The story went that he had taken Jan hostage and was holding him at gunpoint. It made Miquel seem as if he had gone insane, but that was what he wanted them to believe. If they knew the truth, which was that he wouldn’t shoot Jan Bakker for any reason, then they would simply crash through the glass and storm the office.
He had called up to Jute’s office and raved like a lunatic. A man whose career was ending ignominiously was also suffering a breakdown. He might kill someone. He might kill his own staff member.
Across from him, Jan plunged on, using satellites to follow the device that controlled the drones. It was clear now that they had found the drones. It was clear that Stark, and by extension Miquel, had been right all along, that the right move was to push everything to the limit.
But no one was going to believe that, not yet.
So Miquel was reduced to this. The building was being cleared. There were two snipers on the catwalk opposite from this office, across the open space. They must have high caliber rifles to shoot through this glass. Or maybe they were just for show. But Miquel was taking no chances. He was staying down.
He was guilty of multiple major crimes, he supposed. And as soon as his opponents finished clearing the building of personnel, very soon, they would have a host of options available to them. For example, they could turn the air conditioning back on and send a sedative gas through the vents. Once he and Jan passed out, Jute’s men would be free to don gas masks, break down the wall and doors, and walk right in here.
If they were more vindictive, they could put tear gas in the system instead. Miquel wouldn’t put it past them. There was no reason for them to take it easy on Jan. They must know he was in on this.
Miquel sighed. He watched Jan from behind. Jan had gone to that highly concentrated place he went to sometimes, where the surrounding world seemed to drop away from him.
“How is it going?” Miquel said.
Jan nodded. “I have it in my sights.”
“And?”
“It is moving onto the bridge.”