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

and Kemal wouldn't be able to contain himself facing the man who had put his only son in the hospital. James and Nazifa had barely spoken during the car trip 90 miles to the west of Sarajevo.

"What do you know about Borisov?" asked James at last.

"Nothing. A Serbian like the rest of them."

"I'm asking you to trust me, Nazifa. Remain calm when we meet him. We need him if we're going to deal with Plemenac, understand?"

"You ask me to work with my enemies." She turned a furious gaze on him. "I will not shoot him, but I don't like it."

"That's good enough. Think of the big picture. Plemenac is more of a threat to Bosnia than Kadrić's lackey. Borisov is a thug and nothing more, remember that."

"And if this is a trap?"

"It's not," he said confidently.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I'm the only man alive who saw what happened. The one thing he wants to do more than kill me is kill the man responsible for his mentor's death." He turned in his seat. "Understand, Nazifa, Darko will try to kill me at some point, but it won't be today. When he does, I'll be ready."

Nazifa bobbed her head to acknowledge his words, but she didn't move to get out of the car. Her cherry scented perfume hung in the air, tantalising him.

"Nazifa... before we go any further, I want to make something clear. What happened last night... for now, forget about it. Focus on the task at hand. I can move past it."

She looked away from him. "James... I like you. I like you a lot, but I would be a foolish woman to think I could build a life with you. There are also other reasons I can never be with you. Maybe we can… I don’t know."

James put his hand on the door handle. Her words pained him more than he would ever let on. Far from providing clarity, she had only further muddied the waters. She had been drunk. It would have been wrong to take advantage of her. He wondered if she already had a boyfriend. They'd never spoken about their romantic entanglements before.

He hesitated for a second before clicking the door open and climbing out into the day. James did his best to turn his mind away from Nazifa. He couldn't afford to lose focus. Darko remained a threat to them both. He knew only too well what people could do when they weren't thinking rationally. They left the car in the centre of Travnik and began their trek.

The limestone fortress of Travnik looked ghostly and white from the bottom of the town. Its round tower on one side and minaret from its mosque sent a protective shadow across half the town. He couldn't help but think Sinclair would have regaled him with the history of the place. As it was, Nazifa stayed well ahead of him.

James moved in silence as they picked their way through the narrow streets of the centre until they came to the beginning of the track that would lead them into the misty hills above the city. A tourist welcome sign marked the beginning of the stone track, overgrown with bushes and low-hanging branches.

The route twisted up into the hills. The steepness of the path caught up with James from time to time. He tripped on a step at one point and stumbled. Errant branches reached out to snag at him, hiding the next cracked step from sight until the last moment. He concentrated on his steady breathing, trying not to think about Nazifa.

"We're here," she said eventually in a muted tone.

James ascended the final set of steps to confront the outside walls of Travnik. An opening where a mighty gate once stood now only had a ticket booth. Nazifa threw ten Bosnian marks down on the counter and handed James his ticket. He crumpled it up and deposited it in his pocket.

The fortress itself had two levels. The foundation of the main tower took up most of the first level, with steps and gentle slopes leading up to another section of walls. Whatever had once filled the defensive post was long gone, leaving only manicured grass and undisturbed frost digging into the centuries' old brickwork.

"Do you see him?" asked James.

"No. Nobody. Let's go to the top. This could be a trap."

James nodded and they moved upwards, taking long striding steps across the slick grass. It was eerily quiet. Not a tourist in sight. The uppermost walls offered a tremendous view over Travnik. From here, the homes below looked like scattered toys from a children's toybox. The mists obscured the tops of the coniferous forests covering the hills, the landscape becoming more obscured by the minute.

"There's nobody else here," Nazifa remarked. "This is dangerous."

James gazed down at the rest of the fortress. A strange pang in his gut made him wonder. Had Darko managed to outfox him?

"This is a trap, James."

"You're right. We shouldn't take the risk. Can you hide yourself? If anything happens, you know what to do."

Nazifa nodded. "Okay. I have my gun."

He watched her go down to the fortress's ground level again. Today, she acted like a woman he’d never met before. He hadn’t detected a smile all day, only a damning, regretful scowl. Is that the effect his kisses had on people now? He continued monitoring her with undisguised bitterness as she disappeared behind the round tower.

Why had she changed her mind about being close to him?

Chapter Forty-Six

Sarajevo, Sarajevo Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sinclair didn't like this. He didn't like it at all. The moment James departed for Travnik he cursed himself for allowing his friend to talk him into staying back. Sinclair had nothing to gain by chasing men like Plemenac. It wouldn't do the country any good. No,