Chapter XVI

THE TRAIN RIDE to Venice went rather smoothly for Maddux and Dex. They picked up a car left for them by another agent and drove to the Yugoslavian border, a trip that was uneventful but bumpy. Rolling his window down, Maddux stuck his arm outside and felt the air rushing up against his hand as they puttered along.

“So, why did you decide to join the agency?” Dex asked.

“It just felt like the right thing to do. And you?” Maddux asked.

“I’m not gonna lie—I did it for the adventure, as well as anything to get out from underneath my parents’ roof.”

“That bad, huh?”

“The worst. My dad owns a butcher shop in New York City and expected his only son to take it over one day when he decided to retire. But there’s no way in hell I want any part of that thing.”

“That does seem like it’d become tedious work.”

“That’s one way to describe it. I prefer to just call it what it is—sheer torture. I swear if you ever saw how sausage was really made, you’d never even let it touch your plate.”

Maddux put up his hand toward Dex. “Just let me remain ignorant, will you? If I had to give up sausage links, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“You’d eat a lot healthier, that’s what you’d do.”

There was a lapse in the conversation as they drove through rolling hills blanketed by vineyards.

Dex broke the silence. “So, what’s this deal about your father and the CIA?”

Maddux furrowed his brow. “Who told you about that?”

“Everybody around here talks. For a bunch of spies who are supposed to be good at keeping secrets, they sure are lousy when it comes to interoffice gossip.”

“What exactly are people saying?” Maddux asked, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

“Oh, you know, just how your father has been missing and how he disappeared—things like that.”

“I don’t really care to rehash everything about his disappearance. It’s too painful. But I know he’s alive somewhere, and I’m going to find him eventually.”

“Is that another reason why you joined the agency?”

Maddux stroked his chin and nodded. “There are millions of reasons I could list as for why I joined, just millions. But I’m kind of with you as it pertains to what thrills me about this job. Our opportunity to see the world is something I never want to take for granted.”

“But there are other reasons?” Dex asked, his eyebrows arched.

“Look, I don’t know what you’re digging for, but I can assure you that all my reasons are above board—and, for the most part, pretty damn noble.”

“Don’t get so jumpy. I just like to know who I’m going into battle with.” The next few minutes were filled with awkward silence before Dex broke it. “Let’s start over, okay? I didn’t mean anything by what I said.”

Maddux gave him a sideways glance. “Just because we work in the world of espionage doesn’t mean we have to hold everyone and everything in suspicion all the time. At some point, we have to trust each other.”

“I agree. So let me start this conversation with a different type of question. Did you play any sports in school?”

“I was on crew. And you?”

“I hated sports, but I did earn a letter for debate team.”

* * *

MADDUX’S POSITION WITH OPEL enabled him to move freely across the Yugoslavian border. He was still often put under watch by the SDB, but that usually depended on the purpose for his visit. When questioned by the border agent, Maddux explained that he was scouting out possible locations to build a plant. The lack of a more permanent destination during his visit brought heavy interrogation about all his planned activities while in the country, but Maddux was ready. In less than ten minutes, they had been waved through.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Dex said. “This place is usually a nightmare to get into. I’ve been held up for several hours before.”

“Maybe attempting to argue with someone isn’t always the best tactic,” Maddux said with a wink.

“Debate team skills have helped me convince many superiors to see things my way.”

“Sometimes someone telling us no is a good thing. It makes us learn skills better suited for the real world where not everyone is going to fall for your manipulative tactics.”

“Do you really think we entered the country scot free? If so, please explain to me the vehicle tailing us back there?”

Maddux glanced in his rearview mirror again. He had seen the car attempt to subtly follow them since they passed the border.

“I’ve been watching him. Just because I haven’t lost him yet doesn’t mean I won’t. Sometimes you have to test a tail to make sure it’s not a coincidence.”

Less than a mile down the road, Maddux pulled into a service station to fill up on gas. The car zoomed past them.

“Still think he was tailing us?” Maddux asked.

“He’ll catch up with us later,” Dex shot back.

“Perhaps, but I’m going to head back about half a mile and take that road north. It’ll get us to Podkoren without the SDB following us.”

A half hour later, Maddux rolled into Podkoren and drove straight toward the prison located outside of town in the mountains. They devised a plan together to break out Pritchett before pulling in to a small hotel on the outskirts of town.

“Zdravo,” the hotel clerk said as they approached the front desk.

“Hello,” Maddux replied.

“Ah, you speak English. Welcome to Podkoren. Is this your first time staying with us?”

Maddux nodded. “First time to Podkoren.”

“In that case, let me tell you that you are in for a—how do you say it in Engish—ah, a treat. We have the best wine in the country.”

“I’m not much of a wine drinker,” Maddux said.

“You are missing out. We have a large wine cellar on the back of our property stocked with many varieties that have won awards all across Europe.”

“Sorry, still not interested.”

“All business, I see,” the clerk said. “Very well then. Let me get you your keys.”

Once they left the office and entered their room, Dex wasted no time in casting doom and gloom over Maddux’s choice of accommodation.

“You know the clerk is going to call the SDB and report us, right? This entire country is brainwashed into helping the secret police. We should’ve just slept in our car.”

“I’m not interested in fighting you on this—or every other decision that we have to make. If the SDB returns, we’ll deal with like them like we did before. But I doubt that guy is going to call anyone on us. Did you see that tattoo on his wrist? He fought with the allies during the war. Not sure why or how, but I’d recognize the tattoo he had anywhere.”

Dex shrugged. “I guess time will tell. Just be prepared is all I’ll say about that.”

Maddux tossed his bag on the bed closest to the bathroom. “I need to take a shower.”

Maddux ripped open the stiff paper wrapping around the bar of soap and tried to lather up. The tepid water trickled from the faucet, extending the shower by several more minutes than it normally would’ve taken him.

Hot showers with strong water pressure—another reason to protect our freedoms.

After drying off, Maddux stepped into the room with only a towel wrapped around him. He noticed his bag was not lying in the same position it was before and a zipper was slid halfway open. He glanced over at Dex, who appeared to be reading a day-old version of the Novosti newspaper.

“Anything good in there?” Maddux asked.

Dex lowered the paper. “Just the same old propaganda bullshit. You’d think these people would wisen up after a while, but they seem incapable of believing anything but the Soviet’s lies.”

Maddux tried to assess whether or not his bag had been searched by Dex while listening to him rant about the Yugoslavian people’s ignorance.

“I guess it’d be easy to conquer a nation full of lemmings, who are either unable or unwilling to fight back,” Dex said as he continued his rant.

Maddux squinted and slowly moved closer to Dex after noticing something sticking out of his jacket pocket.

“What is it?” Dex asked.

Before Dex could get to his feet, Maddux lunged. Dex spun just enough to avoid a head-on collision and used his momentum to scramble around Maddux. But he managed to snatch the picture that had been sticking out of Dex’s pocket. Maddux looked at the image and narrowed his eyes.

“What’s wrong with you?” Dex asked before realizing exactly what Maddux had been after. “How’d you—”

Dex didn’t have a chance to finish his thought before having to avoid an oncoming Maddux. The two grappled on the floor, trading positions of power. In the process of their fight, Maddux’s towel fell off. Dex regained the upper hand, climbing on top of Maddux and forcing his head hard against the floor. Reacting quickly, Maddux grabbed his towel and forced it into Dex’s face. Maddux broke free and spun behind Dex before putting him in a sleeper hold. A few seconds later, Dex went limp, collapsing to the floor.

Maddux glanced at the picture he’d taken from Dex. It was the one Maddux took from the Belgrade station of his father. Maddux hurriedly pulled on his underwear and pants before searching Dex’s coat pocket for more evidence to confirm Maddux’s suspicions. Inside was a familiar key. He studied it for a moment and then pulled his key ring out of his pocket, matching it with his house key.

Either he’s the mole or he suspects me as the mole.

Both scenarios made Maddux uncomfortable. He figured that if Dex were the mole, he would be unpredictable and might sabotage the plan. Or if he thought Maddux was the mole, Dex might be under the orders to kill him. For all Maddux knew, the whole rescue plan could’ve merely been a ruse for Bearden to ferret out the person he suspected as the one passing secrets to the Soviets.

Maddux realized ultimately either outcome would jeopardize the mission, and he didn’t have much time before Dex would regain consciousness. Working with urgency, Maddux snatched off the bed sheets, tossed Dex over his shoulders, and hustled toward the wine cellar.

The door to the wine cellar was locked, but Maddux laid Dex down and wasted no time in jimmying it open. Maddux scooped up his prisoner and hustled inside before pulling the door shut.

Flicking a lighter, Maddux held it up to see where he was going. A narrow staircase led farther underground until it opened up in cramped quarters, stocked with wine racks. In the back was a small door. Maddux opened it and found that it led to another storage area that contained a chair and a few dilapidated wine vats. As Maddux figured out the best way to secure his prisoner, Dex started to regain consciousness.

“Where am I?” he asked as he sat up.

Maddux punched Dex again and put him in the sleeper hold, buying some more time. Securing Dex took all of five minutes, but Maddux paused to admire his work. Dex was bound to the chair, and there was nothing in the room that he could use to cut through the sheet bindings. Maddux slid a piece of wood through the handle, making it impossible to open from the inside.

Not bad for a civilian asset.

Maddux hustled back up the stairs and to his room where he placed a call to Rose.

“Is everything okay?” she asked. “It’s not like you to call me while in the middle of an assignment.”

“To be honest, I need your help. Something has come up, and I need your expertise.”

“Don’t you have someone with you?”

“Yes, but he’s not providing me the kind of help I need, if you know what I mean.”

“It’s nine hours away. Do you think I’ll be able to make it before our old boss goes on the move?”

“All you can do is try to get here. I’ll fill you in on the plan once you arrive.”

Maddux sighed and sat on the foot of the bed. Combatting the KGB was challenging enough when he didn’t have his own people to contend with. Dex may have been following orders from Bearden—or he could’ve been the leak. Either way, Maddux couldn’t let it concern him.

The clock was ticking on Pritchett. It would only be a matter of time before the SDB moved him somewhere else. And if they did, the mission would change from difficult to impossible.

Maddux needed Rose there—and he needed her yesterday.