Brotherhood and Others by Mark Sullivan

the shotgun and said to the Samoan, “There was no tail from the transfer. They just came out of nowhere. Glove up.”
    Tatupu understood. He put on latex gloves, got out Maglites and started going over the car. Monarch triggered his mike and said, “Rogue.”
    â€œGo Rogue,” the woman replied.
    â€œWe had company. East bound E 30, east of Shopsdorf. Late model BMW four door, unknown license, unknown occupants. Autobahn police should be responding.”
    â€œI’ll let our contact know.”
    â€œThey knew our line of travel, Monarch informed her. “We suspect a bug and will reroute when it’s found. .”
    â€œAnticipated delay?”
    â€œOne hour,” he said.
    â€œThat doesn’t give them much time to work with him.”
    â€œBetter than not getting there at all.”
    A pause. “Agreed.”
    Monach clicked off the mike. The Samoan held up a magnetic GPS transmitter that had been fitted inside the rear bumper of the nuclear scientist’s car. They deactivated the device and put it in an evidence sleeve to be checked for fingerprints.
    â€œIranians?” Tatupu asked.
    â€œCrossed my mind,” Monarch admitted. “Or the Russians. Or the North Koreans. Or DeGrave might just have a serious security company on call. Maybe he tripped a signal when I pulled him over. I don’t know.”
    Monarch called forward to Fowler, told him to get off the autobahn, then he went over to DeGrave, and the medical team caring for him, thinking that a man had to lead a very, very complicated life to cause two different armed teams to come after him on the same night.
    What have you been up to, Mr. DeGrave? Monarch thought. What deep dark secrets will you reveal tonight?
    *   *   *
    The doors slammed shut and Robin pulled away, his heart exploding in his chest because Antonia Valera was freaking out in the backseat of the Mercedes. Still hysterical, she tried to lunge across Julio toward the door, but he clamped one hand against her mouth and another against the back of her neck, and slammed her back between him and Claudio, who held down her arms.
    â€œYou hush up now,” Julio commanded from under his hood. “You hear? You hush up. Be cool, and you’ll live. This’ll all be just some bad dream.”
    The girl looked terrified in the rearview, and Robin felt hollow, like he’d done something very, very wrong. He didn’t mind stealing things. In his mind, stealing had always been about survival, a way to get by without hurting anyone.
    But Antonia Valera’s reaction made Robin feel the way he had seeing his parents gunned down. Orphaned. Petrified of the next moment.
    He wanted to stop the car and tell Julio and Claudio to let her go, But it was far too late for that. The gang leader shouted at her, “You hear?”
    The girl began to sob and tremble, and Robin smelled something acrid.
    â€œGod damn!” Claudio said. “She pissed herself. God damn.”
    That only served to upset her more. Antonia Valera’s face flushed with shame. Robin felt just as shamed as he drove, unwilling to look at the girl again while Julio put a gag in her mouth and Claudio tied her wrists. Julio got out another hood and lifted it over her head. She began to squeal again and Robin couldn’t help it. He looked in the rearview one more time and found her straining and staring at him pleadingly, as if she still thought he was her regular chauffeur, as if she couldn’t understand how he’d betrayed her.
    And then her face disappeared beneath the hood, and Robin was left breathless at the wheel. “Jul—” he began.
    â€œNo names, idiot!” Julio roared, causing the hooded girl to begin crying again. “Drive! Just drive!”
    *   *   *
    It was a quarter to eleven by the time Fowler drove the truck across the border at SŁubice. Because Germany and Poland were signatories of