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him if it became necessary. It was how he was trained in the old days, with the old ways, and he’d expect nothing less from Vlad the Impaler. And knew he wouldn’t be disappointed.

7
    T hey reached another hairpin turn, and Asen’s Fortress appeared on an outcropping of rock. An ancient citadel built to protect the valley down below, it hung out into space in an impossible display of construction from a thousand years ago.
    How on earth did they build that thing way up here? Without modern tools?
    They circled around the hairpin to a small parking lot. Yuri pulled in beside a panel truck and killed the engine.
    Dmitri said, “How long will I have in the vehicle?”
    “At least ten minutes. The rabbit will go all the way across the road, then walk the footpath on the outcropping to the old church. He’ll enter and take a seat. The surveillance won’t want to burn themselves, so they’ll stake outside until he leaves. My only concern is the follow-on team. If another car comes up here, they might stay right here in this parking lot. It’ll make things a little tricky breaking into the empty vehicle.”
    “What will we do then?”
    “Nothing. Come up with another plan. But I’m betting they won’t stop. If it were me, I’d continue on so as not to create a signature, parking out of sight up the mountain and waiting on a radio call. These guys will do the same.”
    Fifteen minutes later the Nigerian turned around the hairpin driving a beat-up Lada two-door sedan. He parked as instructed, waited for about a minute, then exited the vehicle. Yuri strained to see the follow-on surveillance, not too concerned about being remembered by the opposition because he didn’t intend for this car to report back to anyone.
    Thirty seconds later, a Ford Escape rounded the turn and parked. Yuri recognized one of the men inside as part of the surveillance effort. He waited until the men had exited the vehicle and crossed over a hillock in the middle of the hairpin, circling around picnic tables and a small children’s play area. When they’d disappeared from view, Yuri scrambled along the same path, taking a seat at a table that allowed him to view both the road up and the crosswalk that led to the entrance of the ancient fortress across the road.
    Seeing a single car headed toward him, he spoke into an earpiece. “Stand by. Vehicle approaching.”
    The car made the hairpin, slowed in the parking lot, then continued on up the small ribbon of road, heading deeper into the mountains. Yuri couldn’t confirm if it was part of the surveillance team, but he assumed it was. He triggered the operation.
    He saw Dmitri exit the vehicle, sidle between the cars, then slim-jim the door of the Ford. He opened a bag, flopped onto his back, and began working a small device into the onboard diagnostic port, allowing him access to the controller area network that facilitated the various electronic control units of the Ford Escape.
    Ordinarily used by mechanics to determine faults with the car, the onboard diagnostic port also allowed a pass-through for the entire brain of the vehicle. A brain that would now be controlled by the follow-on car.
    Dmitri finished, and Yuri settled in to wait for the Nigerian to leave. It took longer than he expected, but a little over twenty minutes later he saw him approaching the crosswalk. He knew that the surveillance wouldn’t be too far behind.
    Yuri scrambled down the hill and entered his car, asking a question without saying a word.
    “It plugged in fine,” said Dmitri. “Shouldn’t be an issue.”
    “We need to do more than just pull the brakes. They have to go over the cliff. I can’t trust them to lose control.”
    “You won’t have to. The Ford Escape has parking assistance. It’ll parallel park the vehicle for you. Which means the computer controls the steering. I’ll have that control. You just need to be close enough.”
    They watched the target leave, driving back down the hill, and