The Apostle [antikvár]

CHAPTER 1Nangarhar Province, Afghanistanext to a stream of icy snowmelt from the Hindu Kush, a small caravan unloaded its contraband. Cases filled with weapons, money, communications equipment, and other gear wereplaced beneath a rocky overhang and covered with camouflage netting to keep them concealed from overhead surveillance.A man in his late forties with deep Slavic features stood nearby and supervised. He had blue eyes, medium-length gray hair, and both the clothing and bearing of a local Afghan.When his team of Pakistani smugglers was done, the man removed a stack of bills and paid them double what he normally did for bringing him into the country It was a severance package. He wouldn't be using them again. This was going to be his final operation.He made himself comfortable near a stack of rams' horns that marked a Taliban grave site and watched as the line of smugglers and pack animals disappeared back into the mountains toward Pakistan. Though he couldn't spot them, he knew there were men in the rugged hills above, men with sophisticated weaponsweapons he had provided to them who were keeping him in their sights.Twenty minutes later, three muddy Toyota Hilux double-cab pickup