Sabotage by C. G. Cooper Page B

when his friend suddenly began talking about forgetting his movie tickets back at the hotel. That was when Trent saw them too, a trio of soldiers leaning against the building, watching them with more than idle curiosity. They didn't even bother looking away.
     
    "I don't like it," Gaucho said when they were finally out of sight. "We should head back to the hotel and be careful about it.”
     
    But Trent was curious now, and without any answers from Cal and Daniel, or Gaucho's friend Sgt. Peabody, Trent figured it was time to do something.
     
    "Let's go back," Trent said.
     
    "Are you crazy?"
     
    "I'm a Marine, aren't I? Come on. Let's go."
     
    Gaucho turned around with obvious reluctance, but he set his jaw and followed his friend. The three soldiers weren't where they had left them, but after they made a couple more turns they did catch sight of them.
     
    The soldiers had taken up a casual walk, maybe fifty feet behind Trent and Gaucho, once again making no attempt to stay hidden. Trent had been in enough cities to understand the general layout, to know that all mazes have their certain commonalities, so he took his time like he was just taking a casual stroll through a new town. He established the persona of the country mouse coming to the city for the first time. He was all wide-eyed and ogling the sights. He finally convinced Gaucho to start talking again, and the two slipped into an easy conversation talking nonsense about the pretty buildings and the wonderful smell of the food coming out of the restaurants.
     
    It wasn't long before Trent found exactly what he was looking for, and he took a sharp right turn after a shawarma café.
     
    "It's a dead end, Top," Gaucho hissed as they entered the long alleyway.
     
    "Come on. I've got something to show you," Trent said excitedly, now hurrying his steps for the first time. When they got to the end of the alleyway, Trent slapped the concrete wall and said, "Oops, my bad!”
     
    When he turned to make his way back out, there stood the three soldiers that had been following them. Top walked toward them with an incredulous Gaucho at his side. Trent kept his long limbs loose, trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible, still chatting happily.  When the soldiers were ten feet away, he stopped as if he had just noticed them for the first time.
     
    "Oh, hey, there, fellas. Y’all wouldn't by any chance know where I could find a Starbucks, would you?"
     
    None of the three answered the question, but Trent could see that they were gripping their weapons a little bit tighter.
     
    "How about a McDonald's? I guess I could settle for one of them McCafes."
     
    Still no response from the soldiers. He looked down at Gaucho. "Well, I guess we'll just have to go find it ourselves," he said sadly. That's when the three rifles came up.
     
    "You are wanted for questioning," the middle man said.
     
    "Who, me?" Trent asked in mock surprise.
     
    "You are wanted for questioning," the soldier repeated.
     
    "Well, I'll be. You know, my travel agent didn't tell me that we were going to have a welcoming party when we got to Djibouti City. Did they tell you?" he asked Gaucho.
     
    Gaucho shook his head, but kept his eyes locked on the three soldiers.
     
    "Well, I hate to tell you this, gentlemen," Trent said, "but I've got a date with a latte, and neither heaven nor hell will keep me from breaking that engagement. So if you’ll excuse us —”
     
    There was not even a blink from any of the soldiers; they appeared unaffected by Trent’s tactics.
     
    "Ah, I know what this must be about." Trent grabbed Gaucho's hand. "You think that because we're American, we're on a date or something. Is that it?"
     
    Stone-faced stares from the soldiers was the response. They did not appear amused.
     
    "Well," Trent continued, "I've got to admit, you three are some crack detectives, because you got us. You really caught us red-handed. We were just going to go to a local establishment and do a