The Wolf of Sarajevo Read Online Free Page A

contracts for city services?”he asked smoothly, as though the question were of mere academic interest.
    â€œWell, some of the details still need to be worked out, but I think it would be reasonable to consider a freeze on public tenders that would keep the current arrangements in place for a fixed period.”
    Eric looked at Sondergaard as he said this. He was freelancing and wanted to make sure that he had her buy-in. Again, the High Rep nodded.
Keep going.
    â€œWhat kind of period?” Hasović asked.
    â€œThree years or so.” Eric had just pulled that number out of thin air.
    â€œI would think five years would be more . . . patriotic.”
    â€œYou may be right, but that would no doubt require some up-front assurances that the plan could win the support of the key partners in the current coalition government.”
    â€œThe BUP is prepared to throw its weight behind a plan that recognized the need for continuity as well as change,” Hasović suggested.
    â€œPublicly?”
    â€œOf course.”
    The rest was details.
    When Hasović left, the three internationals sat back at the table for a postmortem.
    â€œYou seemed quite sure of yourself there, Eric,” Wylie said with an edge of anger in his voice. “Don’t you think you might have promised too much in that exchange?”
    â€œAlmost certainly. But I didn’t want to miss that chance, and I didn’t think that either of you knew about his commercial stake in the trash business.”
    â€œLike Tony Soprano?” Sondergaard asked lightly.
    â€œOnly without the class,” Eric agreed.
    The ambassador polished off his “tomato juice” and gestured to the server for a refill.
    â€œYou need to remember whose mission this is,” he said sourly.
    â€œYes, sir. Apologies for overstepping.”
    Wylie turned toward Sondergaard, now all charm and tact.
    â€œMadam High Representative, I hope we haven’t committed you to something you will have trouble delivering on.”
    â€œNot at all,” she said. “I think we’re in a better place than I had dared hope we would be at this point.”
    â€œMy government certainly recognizes the importance of your initiative. Is there anything else I can do for you? Any way I can help?”
    â€œWell, there is one thing you could give me,” she replied.
    â€œName it.”
    â€œHim.” She pointed at Eric. “Just for a month or two.”
    â€œHe’s all yours,” the ambassador agreed without so much as a glance in Eric’s direction.
    â€œI’ll try not to break him.”
    â€œDon’t worry. I tried. I didn’t succeed.”

MILAÅ EVCI, BOSNIA
    OCTOBER 9
2
    T he drive from Sarajevo to Banja Luka was only about four hours, but it was a trip through hundreds of years of turbulent history. This was one of the world’s great civilizational fault lines, the blurry boundary between East and West, Christian and Muslim, Ottoman and Hapsburg. The Romans fought the Illyrians in the mountains that lined the road north. Soldiers loyal to Samuel of Bulgaria had patrolled these valleys in the late tenth century before losing a war to the Byzantine Empire. Most recently, Croat, Serb, and Bosniak forces in the wars of the 1990s had battled for control of the towns and villages that empire after empire had sacked and rebuilt in the same locations with the same geographic and strategic logic. The Balkans, Churchill had once observed, produced more history than they could consume.
    Eric and Annika sat in the back of the high-end Land Rover thatwas part of the EU mission’s vehicle fleet.
The EU,
Eric thought,
for all of its shortcomings as America’s premier partner in global diplomacy, made excellent cars.
Even traveling the rough mountain roads, the ride was smooth and quiet and the High Rep was using the opportunity to get briefed in advance of what was likely to be a critical