22. A Frantic Search.

Jonathon and Stefanie frantically search for the elder Brankovic. Will they be find him in time to save Chrissy?

Jonathon and Stefanie ducked behind the dumpster and waited until Chrissy continued driving down the driveway to the back parking lot.

“You take the east side of the building and I'll check out this side,” instructed Jonathon.

“Right,” she answered.

As she started to scurry away, Jonathon added, “Stef!... be careful!” She gave him a smile and a nod and continued on her way.

Jonathon crept down the side of the building toward the back parking lot, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of the other Serb. He wondered where he could possibly be. He might have to search the other side of the building across the driveway. That would eat up precious time.

He reached the back of the main building and carefully peered around the corner. He saw the younger Branković standing in the middle of the parking lot with Emily just as Chrissy had instructed. He saw Chrissy get out of the car and Branković point his gun at the child's head. Jonathon's blood boiled at the sight. He hoped like hell that he would be the one to bring the son-of-a-b***h down.

He forced himself to calm down. It was important in times like these to remain calm and unemotional. He watched Chrissy start walking across the parking lot. Something began to gnaw at the back of his mind. Something - he couldn't figure out what it was - bothered him. Chrissy had been shrewd to insist that they meet in the middle of the parking lot. It made it difficult for the Serbs to set up an ambush or a trap. But now that he was watching Chrissy out there in the open, he realized that it also made her vulnerable. It made her the perfect target for a... sniper!!

That was it! That's what was gnawing at him. 'Papa' Branković had been a sniper in the Bosnian War! And a damn good one, too. Jonathon immediately began scanning the roof-tops of the surrounding buildings. He saw no signs of a sniper on any of them. He got down low and peered around and up at the top of the building next to him to see if he could see a gun barrel sticking over the roof edge. He didn't see a gun barrel, but what he did see made his heart sink. Windows! Dozens of them. Any one of them would be a perfect place for a sniper to hide.

He ran back down the side of the building until he found a door. He tried the knob. Locked! Next to the door was a window. He broke the glass with the butt of his revolver and winced at the amount of noise it made. He carefully and quietly removed the remaining shards of glass and set them quietly on the ground. Then he climbed in through the opening.

He found himself in a hallway running north and south. He ran to the south toward the back of the building until he came to an 'L' where the hallway turned to the east. There was a stairway in front of him. He looked down the hallway that ran east and saw several doors to offices that faced the back parking lot. No sense in checking those, though. A sniper wouldn't be on the first floor. He took the stairs two at a time until he reached the second floor.

He carefully crept down the hallway and checked the first office. No one there. He looked down the hallway. There were just too many doors and not enough time.

“Stef,” he whispered into his headset.

“Here,” she answered, “No sign of him, yet.”

“Can you get inside? I'm sure he's in the building!”

“I'll try,” she answered.

He continued to check the offices. There were desks and other office furniture in front of the windows in some of them obscuring his view and making it easy for a sniper to hide. He had to waste precious time checking each office thoroughly. When he had finished three offices he heard Stefanie's voice come over his headset. “I'm inside,” she said.

“I'm on the second floor,” he answered in a hushed voice, “Start checking the back offices on the third floor. We're looking for a sniper. Time's running out!”

“Roger,” she replied.

He checked another office. No sign of the elder Branković. Jonathon looked out the window and saw that Chrissy had reached the younger Branković in the middle of the parking lot. They were out of time. It was time for desperate measures.  He thought of Becka waiting with the other car out front.

“Becka? Can you read me?” he whispered.

“Becka here,” she answered.

“Chrissy needs the cavalry. Now!”

“On my way.”

Author's Note

Will they be in time? Is he even in the building? What can Becka do?

Reviews

[C. Rose]

I'm a little skeptical that Jonathon has a sudden epiphany about a sniper. It makes me think less of him that he didn't think of that before hand.

The stress is building well, I like where the previous chapter ended and how you shifted to this perspective. It feels like how a movie arranges scenes.

[Craig2591]

Thanks for the review.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Oh man, that could be problematic! Yeah, I remember reading and seeing on the news when I was little kid that snipers were a big thing in Bosnia. There was this Olympic athlete from Bosnia who talked about dodging their fire when running and having near misses. She was also in a concentration camp at one point

[Craig2591]

I seem to remember the story of that Olympic athlete. It was incredible that they had held the Olympics there only a few years before all the violence. I had to do a lot of research to write about the Serbs because there were so many sides during that war that it was hard to keep everybody straight. I wanted it to be accurate.

Thanks for the review.

[Craig2591]

PS, you're getting close to finding out what's on the card.

[Tina Kline]

Good chapter. Very exciting. Good thinking on Jonathan's part.

[Craig2591]

I'm glad you're enjoying it.

[John Lauterbach]

When you refer to them as just 'Serbs' I stopped looking at either Brankovic as being a person and more as a nameless threat. I'd like to see their names in there. The addition of the father/elder title (any variation) to papa B makes him sound more badass too. He's been at it longer and is probably still a mentor for his son - looking out for him on these international-level crimes they're committing. It adds a lot of confidence to his character with just that title. The same way, calling the other one Jr. adds more character to him, and when they get capped (If they do.) it'll be more satisfying for the reader.

It feels like an impossible situation! I'm excited to see how it's resolved.

[Craig2591]

Good points. Thank you.