The Shadow Protocol Read Online Free PDF

off a tail could be accepted; such people liked privacy, even from their clients. An arms dealer attacking one of said clients would be harder to dismiss.
    Nevertheless, he continued through the crowd. A clothing stall had a large mirror for customers to check potential purchases on themselves. Adam moved toward it, finding the angle that let him look back at the entrance. Marwat was already inside the building. Khattak had just reached the arch.
    He slowed, letting his hunters close the gap. Halfway through the arcade. He stayed close to the stalls along one side of the long room. Most were oversized tables, but some were handcarts that could be wheeled back into the shops behind them at the end of the day.
    He approached one barrow with a single set of large wheels at its center, propped up at one end on cardboard boxes and at the other by a length of two-by-four. The stall was laden with bolts of fabric, multicolored pashminas hanging down from a rail above them. The stallholder was cheerfully haggling with several women at once.
    Adam curved around the little crowd to the cart’s side as if examining the merchandise—then with a sharp kick knocked away the wooden prop, pushing a hand down hard on the corner of the stall as he ducked behind it.
    The cart tipped on its end with a crash. Pashminas flapped like frightened birds, the women jumping back with squeals and cries. Ripples ran outward through the crowd as people jostled one another.
    Bent low, Adam scurried along the shopfronts back the way he had come.
    Khattak and Umar had been unsighted by the disturbance. The latter hopped on his toes, trying to spot Adamover the reeling crowd. Khattak’s head snapped from side to side as he looked between both archways.
    Adam lost track of them, head still bowed as he returned to the entrance. He slipped outside, not straightening to his full height until he was out of Khattak’s line of sight.
    He ran across the street, following the directions Holly Jo had given him. The turning was just ahead. He looked back as he reached it.
    Khattak emerged from the hall—
    Adam rounded the corner. He didn’t know if Khattak had seen him or not.
    Which meant he had to assume that he had.
    He kept running. “What’s the route, Holly Jo?”
    “Keep going,” said the voice in his ear. “Take the second street on the left.”
    “How long before Baxter reaches you?”
    “Two minutes.”
    “I’ll be there.” He swept around surprised pedestrians. The heavy umbrella in his coat pocket thumped against his side. Past the first turning. A look back. No sign of Khattak.
    Yet.
    He angled across the narrow road toward the next intersection. The building on its far corner was a small shop. He made the turn, catching the dimly reflected scene in its window.
    Another running figure was behind him.
    “I’m still being followed,” he warned. “I’m coming straight to you. Be ready—everyone has to be inside when I arrive.”
    “They will be,” Tony assured him. “Have you got enough of a lead on this guy to get out of sight yourself?”
    Adam pushed himself harder, feet pounding over the dirty road. “I will soon.”
    Baxter listened to Tony, then spoke to Lak. “Our man’s got a hostile following him—we need to get there before he does. Step it up!”
    “I’m going as fast as I can,” Lak shot back. He took a turn at speed, crashing down through the gears as the van’s back wheels slid out on the wet surface. One of the men in the rear blurted an obscenity. “We’re nearly there.”
    Baxter turned back to his team. “Get ready to move him.” Syed lay on the van’s floor. He was still unconscious, but bound with plastic zip-ties. The stun baton’s effects would soon wear off.
    “Two more turns,” Lak called. The Mercedes raced down a narrow lane between closely packed apartment blocks. Traffic was very light; few people in this part of Peshawar could afford a car. “Hold on.”
    He braked hard, taking the van around