Interdiction (A James Winchester Thriller Book 3) (James Winchester Series), James Samuel [book recommendations TXT] 📗

Ratko took off his steamed-up glasses and cleaned them on the bottom of his crisp sky-blue shirt.

"You can say that again." James took off the heavy winter coat.

Ratko hung it up on the peg. "I must say I didn't expect Sinclair to call me out of the blue and offer your help."

"No? Me neither, strangely enough."

"Anyway, you're here now. You must be freezing. Would you like some coffee, or tea, maybe?"

"I'm fine, thanks," replied James, fearing it would be more Bosnian coffee.

"I'm quite busy at the moment, but I really appreciate your help, even if we do have our differences," Ratko continued. "Your mind is more open than my father's."

James followed Ratko into the living room. As per usual, all the screens were tuned into the Bosnian news from around the country. Reporters stood in different parts of the country speaking in their own dialects of Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian.

"Your father means well. You both want the same thing."

Ratko frowned. "Do we?"

"You tell me. You both seem eager to find a solution for this divided country."

"That's true. I believe Srpska should be given its independence and removed from the Bosnian Federation. You can't force people to be together. Look at the Middle East. Your country and the French drew straight lines on a map. It left Shias and Sunnis in one country, alongside the Christians and the Kurds. Why would anyone be surprised about the situation there?"

James perched himself on the edge of the sofa. He didn’t feel comfortable talking about the carnage in the Middle East. The futility of it all had cost many of his friends their lives.

"Is Srpska Serbian land or are they the occupiers, though?"

"Does it matter? They are there now."

"It does to people like your father."

Ratko sighed. "We cannot keep fighting over the wrongs of the past."

"You can if that is the only viable solution for both sides."

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, Gandhi once said."

"Thomas Jefferson also said, the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It's natural manure."

Ratko's mouth hung half-open.

He smiled sweetly. "Sinclair isn't the only man with a brain in our operation."

A knock at the door brought a premature end to their debate before Ratko could issue another salvo. He excused himself and disappeared into the hallway.

James pricked up his ears, his natural instincts preventing him from ever relaxing when he was on the clock. He scanned for threats and ambushes everywhere. When he heard an excitable, bouncy voice of a female, he breathed slightly more easily.

Ratko re-emerged. "James, I would like to introduce you to my deputy, Nazifa Aleksi. Nazifa, this is James Winchester from England."

James laid eyes on Nazifa for the first time and got to his feet. The Bosnian woman's hair was cut into a long, messy version of a pixie cut. The ends of each strand of hair were dyed a deep, gothic purple, amounting to a colour explosion against her natural mousy brown hair.

"Pleasure to meet you." James extended his hand, which she took.

"England, I've always wanted to go there," Nazifa exclaimed.

"I think you would do fine with an accent like that."

Nazifa chuckled at the compliment.

Ratko clapped his hands together. "I suppose we should brief James on one of our current campaigns. I'll explain everything to you, James, and then maybe you can give us some inspiration."

James and Nazifa sat on the sofa and waited for Ratko to busy himself flicking through pages on one of the computers. James glanced over at Nazifa. She wore tight khaki pants and a simple blue button-up shirt. The smiling woman had a fierceness in her eyes, the colour of hot flint. James sensed there was more to her than met the eye.

"James," said Ratko. "I'll make this quick because I have things to do. Nazifa can fill in the details. Do you see this man here?"

James squinted at the screen and nodded.

"This is Tomislav Suput. A politician in the House of Representatives. He's a member from Srpska, a far-right nationalist. Making quite a name for himself in politics. You’ll find him at every nationalist rally in the country. He's also been invited to speak in Serbia many times."

"Okay."

"We want to remove him. His position within the House of Representatives gives him influence. He likes to whip the rest of the Srpska representatives to his way of thinking."

"And what have you done so far?"

"Lobbying, mainly. Or trying to dig and see if we can find something on him."

"Political espionage, is it now?" James folded his arms, an amused expression dancing on his face.

"I'm a pacifist, not an idiot. If we can find something, he would have to resign in disgrace."

"Such as?"

"I don't know. Maybe he sleeps with Jewish prostitutes? Maybe his wife is secretly a Bosnian? Who knows? These are not sins to us, but when you make speeches like he does, it would humiliate him and force him to leave his position, you understand?"

James nodded. "So, like a fanatical Christian attacking gay marriage and then pictures of his gay lover appear in the newspaper?"

Ratko laughed. "Yes, something like that. Nazifa, give him the rest of the details. I have a phone call to make. I'll be upstairs if you need anything."

When Ratko left the room, James inspected the computer screen up close. The image showed a politician with a mouth the size of a jumbo jet. His fist thrust up into the sky in mid-tirade. Nothing James hadn't seen countless times before all over the world.

"He's an animal," Nazifa said, her arm draped over the back of the sofa.

James shrugged. "Aren't most politicians?"

Nazifa gave him an adorable toothy grin. "You sound like you've seen much