No Remorse Part 21

"Because Sheik Khalid wanted you to be more comfortable than you'd be around at the maintenance compound. He feel kind for you."

Sophia rubbed her forehead. "Why would he give me special treatment? And why haven't I been sold?"

Dr. Xi chuckled. "Ah, but Sophia you have been sold. To a very powerful man. He coming to collect you in one week. Six days, in fact."

A sharp worm of fear squirmed inside Sophia's stomach.

Dr. Xi called her two attendants, who took her out for a walk along the beach before escorting her back to her room, then locking her in.

Sophia didn't like the thought of being treated like a predator's prey. Surely humanity must be above that, she thought, as she tried to figure out what Dr. Xi had meant. Whatever, she had less than a week left before she'd be taken somewhere, no doubt as some ugly old man's s.e.x slave. It only made her even more determined to escape. She would not let any opportunity slip by.

57.

"Why didn't the Dubai Police get involved and get Bill off the boat?" Tally asked, glancing at Rosco as she carried the coffee over to her computer. They had set up their gear in a room two levels below where Khalid and his retinue were occupying a whole floor of the Riston Hotel in Paris, although at Mac's insistence they were sleeping a few blocks away at the Hyatt for security reasons. "Did Khalid pay them off?"

"No," Rosco replied, glancing up from his workstation. "Bill was killed the same night you guys left Dubai. By the time Mai called them to complain, they were trying to find her to inform her of Bill's death. Khalid and Ziad were in Paris, and the Princess Aliya was en route to Karachi, according to the GPS tracker. It's working well, by the way, Mac."

"Great." Mac was pacing back and forth like a hungry dog.

"Mai must hate us." Tally said. "I'm amazed she invited us to the funeral."

"You have to remember that from her perspective, we also saved her life and George's. And I think she's a little afraid they might still be in danger."

"Why would she think that? Unless she knows something. You'll give her my apologies, won't you? I really need to stay here with Rosco, and complete the Khalid penetration."

"Of course. Look, I might go, if you guys don't need me for a while."

"I'll be leaving soon, too," she said. "The Hyatt bar at seven for dinner?"

"Bet you won't recognise me."

"I'll take that bet," she said, lifting the mug to her lips.

Mac nodded to Rosco and left.

"You guys seem to be getting on well?" Rosco said, winking.

She raised her eyebrows. Was it that noticeable? "Surprising as it may seem, Rosco, he's actually a decent, old-fashioned sort of guy. So how're things back at the ranch?"

"Ha! Palmenter's team missed out on eighty million from some Malaysian dude. Apparently the target's bank checked the transfers with the guy and he cancelled them before they'd cleared. Palmenter was p.i.s.sed off big time about missing the bonus."

"Did Derek say anything about Ziad's emails?"

"No. But I've been running LEXITIVE and have them all processed. Unfortunately, they tend to use common, everyday terms. Like pineapples, widescreen TVs, books, engine parts, even body parts. Ziad's emails to Emil Bladelescu mention apricots and plums. Maybe apricots are females and plums are males. We'll probably never know for certain."

Tally leaned over and grabbed his mouse, bringing up the reply to the decrypted email she'd discussed with Derek. "What do you make of this one?"

From: Ziad To: Rockfire Subject: Donation Recovery of cargo understood to be imminent. Will advise further. Confirm donor blood type AB negative is now available. Fee two million US dollars. Upon confirmation, recipient will be scheduled for operation and will advise date.

Rosco studied it for a while. "Who's this Rockfire, I wonder? Handover of containers seems to have a clear meaning. Looks like he's selling the containers, or something from the containers, for two mill. But the bit about blood type and donor? I don't know. Here's the reply." He clicked on the related email.

From: Rockfire Subject: Donation Price acceptable for liver. Is May 18 available?

Peace be with you, brother.

"May eighteenth? That's next week!"

"But what's the liver thing about?" Tally shook her head. "The whole thing is not making sense. Two million for a liver? Do you think liver is just a code word for uranium?"

"Mmm...no, those canisters are worth much more than that," Rosco said. "You know it's never easy to interpret a small number of specific emails like this. Maybe it's a mistranslation by LEXITIVE. I'll run a few tests, just in case."

Something tweaked in Tally's brain. Tests. Blood type. She plunked herself down at her computer and brought up an email she'd previously hacked from Rubi's computer.

From: Rubi To: The Hunnafite Foundation cc: Ziad, Emil Bladelescu Subject: Orphan Processing Sheik Khalid will fund a rollout of DNA testing for orphans to build a database of typological markers matching orphans with potential relatives. In the interim, we require blood types of all orphans to be notified in advance of any transport arrangements.

She looked up at Rosco, who was standing behind her shoulder. "What if we a.s.sume LEXITIVE is decrypting correctly? We know Khalid is running a slave trade. What if he's selling the organs from the people he's abducting?"

Rosco pursed his lips and thought about it for a moment. "I've heard of tourists in India being drugged and waking up to find a kidney removed. But people have only got one liver, sweetie. And in any case, who'd pay two million for a liver?"

"Someone very rich I guess..." Tally said, typing madly to check something.

"...And maybe one who has a rare blood type?" Rosco finished the sentence for her. "AB negative?"

"On it." She sat back and waited, her face flushed with the excitement of the chase. Moments later her search result revealed that blood type AB negative was the rarest, with less than 1% of the population having it. Digging deeper, she discovered that AB negative was five times rarer among Saudi Arabians.

She ran another search, this time on Al Qaeda leaders born in Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda leaders known to have blood type AB negative. After a moment, one name appeared that matched all the criteria: Sheik Abdul Zodhami.

"Zodhami!" she said, pounding the table.

Rosco nodded. "That b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Rumoured to be gaining support for the top job. One of the planners of 9/11, according to the files they found in Abbottabad."

"I know. And he has health problems, according to his file."

"Well, maybe he's like, getting himself a new liver on Andaran on the fifth." Rosco met her gaze. "Possibly from a living donor."

"Oh, G.o.d." Tally realised she'd been ignoring the other angle, and a worm in her stomach began to turn. She did another search. Their files had no information on the blood type of Sophia or her friend Danni. "d.a.m.n!" She stared at the phone number on the screen in front of her. Bob Bennett. If she called him, Mac would find out. How would she explain that? On the other hand, if their a.s.sumptions were correct, they needed to get to Andaran to stop the operation.

What would Derek do if she told him? His one priority-their one priority, as he kept reminding her-was to know when Khalid had the nuclear canisters, so they could take action to recover them. Five canisters that could be exploded as dirty bombs relatively easily-or even made into nuclear weapons, if the buyer had the technological sophistication of an Iran or North Korea. Or maybe even Syria. Saddam hadn't been able to achieve it, which is why he gave the canisters to his friend Abu-Bakr to hide. And now, once Khalid had them, he could auction them to the highest bidder.

What was one life against millions?

She knew Derek wouldn't want her to do anything. She could hear his voice in her mind: For G.o.d's sake, don't mention anything to Mac. We don't want him on the warpath. If he thinks there's even a remote possibility of his precious Sophia being cut up, he'll probably go crazy and kill Khalid. Then the canisters will disappear and one'll turn up in Manhattan. Think big picture here, Tall She closed her eyes and coc.o.o.ned her face in her hands.

"You okay?" Rosco asked, getting up and filling the kettle. "Wanna coffee?"

She shook her head. No. She couldn't do this. She punched the numbers on her cell phone. Her thumb hovered above the red b.u.t.ton.

A weary male voice answered. "h.e.l.lo? Bob here."

She pressed the red b.u.t.ton. She couldn't ask. It would only cause the Bennetts more pain. And in any case, they needed to stop the operation regardless of who the donor would be.

She called Derek.

"Wisebaum."

"Hi Derek. You okay to talk?"

"Yeah. Hey, Tal. We're having a barbeque down by the lake. Beautiful day here. How's Gay Paree? And by that, I don't mean the night spots Rosco might take you to."

She gave a quick laugh. "Derek, I think we've found further proof of Khalid's Al Qaeda connections. An email from someone called Rockfire has asked him to arrange a liver transplant for a recipient who is an important member. We think it's Zodhami. The transplant is due to take place in Andaran on the eighteenth. It seems like they're intending to use one of the abducted children as a living donor. We have one week, Derek."

There was a long pause, and she wished she could see Derek's face to understand what he was thinking. "Derek? You there?"

"Sorry, just had to get away from the others. Have you told Mac? He'll go f.u.c.king ballistic!"

"Of course not. That's why I called you. Have you managed to trace this Rockfire yet?"

"Tried. The link's untraceable. We'll keep trying. Anything else?"

"No."

There was a silence. She could hear Derek's hand blocking the microphone, as though he were talking to someone.

Finally, he spoke. "Sorry. The Director wants to see me, Tal."

"You think I should tell Mac our real mission? I believe he trusts me now."

"Well, I told you he would if you played him right. Where's he now?"

"He's at a hair salon. He's worried Khalid will have photos of us from Dubai. We're having our hair dyed and cut."

"Good idea. Look, just keep him close. And whatever you do, don't tell him anything he doesn't need to know. That includes our real mission."

The connection was terminated.

Rosco sat back and stretched. "Ah, thank Christ. I'm in at last."

Tally stood up and watched over his shoulder as he navigated his way through the hotel's server and copied the files for the internet portal. "Great job, Rosco. Anything I can do to help?"

"No, sweetie. I'll send this over to Montreal and they can work on it overnight. Tomorrow, we should have our phishing site ready to intercept Khalid."

"Well, I'm off to the stylist then. See you at seven."

Rosco pulled a face. "Would you really, really mind if I don't come along? I might just eat in. Want to make sure I get things tidied up before tomorrow. Besides, you two honeymooners deserve a night off after wiggling your bottoms at Colonel Boroni. Ha! I would've loved to have seen that, sweetie." He winked at her. "Mac's bottom, I mean. Go on, lovey. I'll call if things heat up here. You need to let your hair down, so to speak..."

"Thanks, Rosco. You know what? I think I do."

58.

Ibrahim's voice was a little scratchy through his cell phone. "We have just departed Jeddah on the Alamohamadi, Highness. Making a steady twelve knots. The weather is fair. We should arrive in four days."

That was the agreed confirmation message. They had recovered the two buried containers and had them on the dhow. If the Israelis had followed the Princess Aliya to Karachi, they would be a thousand kilometres from what they were seeking. Now, they had to pray that Allah would deliver the cargo safely to Andaran.

"You say the weather is fair?" Khalid repeated, wanting certainty with the poor reception.

"The weather is fair, yes, Highness. Masoud is with me, and we have brought Mahomet as you requested. We are soon to enter the Gulf. Have the pirates been dealt with?"

"Yes. But make sure the captain sails close to the French Navy ships, just in case." Khalid supplied weapons to the pirates operating off the coast of Somalia, but they were such a loose group he had made a payment of $20,000 to the largest pirate group in the region-ironically calling itself the Ocean Salvation Corps-to allow the Alamohamadi safe pa.s.sage.

"I will, Highness. Did you receive my text?"

Khalid looked at the screen of his cell phone. The text was a cell phone number. "This is for the child of the desert?"

There was a short delay in the reply. "As instructed, Highness. The child awaits your guidance."

"Thank you, brother. Safe journey."

"Inshallah," Ibrahim said.

The connection ended.

Khalid smiled. The timing for exploding the first bomb was now in his hands. All he needed was an untraceable phone.

He was feeling in an upbeat mood since asking Sheriti to be his wife. She had clearly been surprised by his proposal, and explained that she would need a little time to think. But she promised him an answer soon. That was fine.

Meantime, he had plenty of other matters to keep him distracted. Rubi had arranged his meeting with Jing Ho for the early hours of tomorrow morning, to minimise the risks. He would retrieve his father's treasures and have his revenge on the House of Saud, outfoxing his enemies just as his father had done.

He crossed the living room and opened the bedroom door. "Jamila, come! We will go for that walk now."