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Sarah had a wireless, pin-sized fiber-optic camera in her glasses. She stayed right on the heels of two men and headed for the elevators. A medium-sized black purse was slung over her right shoulder, and a newspaper was folded in quarters and clutched in her left hand. She kept her chin down in case there were any cameras. There were three elevators. The doors to the middle one opened, and she followed some people in and stepped off to the side. Three had already been pressed so she retreated even farther into the elevator. She wanted to be the last one off. The elevator lurched straight to the second floor and a few people got off. At three the doors opened, and one man hurried off. Sarah paused for a beat and then pressed her way to the front. A man held the door for her and she stepped off and took a right. The other man had gone to the left.
“Remember your bailout,” Milt said softly. “If it isn’t right, you’ve got a bathroom and a staircase at the end of the hall.”
The building was U-shaped with an inner courtyard. Sarah continued down the hall to where it stopped and took a right. Abel’s office would be on her left, midway down. Number 318. So far everything was clear. In the right pocket of her trench coat was a small black object shaped like a gun. It was actually a lock pick. It would take her less than two seconds to get in. She rounded the corner and immediately sensed something was wrong. Up ahead, about where Abel’s office should be, there was a cluster of people. Sarah gave them a good look and then glanced down at her paper. Milt was already talking in her ear.
“Give me a slow drive-by and keep on walking.”
Sarah was already planning on doing just that. She glanced up again and counted three heads. All men, one very tall and two of average height. She looked down at her paper and actually slowed her pace a touch. There were still four doors ahead on her left. Sarah looked up as she passed the next office so they could get a number off the door. It said 312. The men were standing in front of Abel’s office. Her pulse quickened and she wondered if Milt had already figured it out.
His voice came over her wireless earpiece in a calm and slow tone. “I think they are crashing our party. Would you please get me a close-up of their faces and then head into the ladies’ room?”
Sarah did just that. When she was only four paces away, she looked up and smiled. She noticed for the first time that there was a woman standing in the middle of the three men. All Sarah saw was a shock of blond hair between two of the men who were facing her and then they closed ranks and the woman disappeared. Everything about their body language and the expressions on their faces was wrong. It was as if they were angry that she would even dare look at them. Sarah knew instantly that they were Saudi.
RAPP LEANED OVER Milt’s shoulder as he rewound the footage. Milt worked the touchpad while he talked to Sarah, who’d had a bad experience before with some Saudi intel officers. “I know you hate them. Just sit tight.”
“I swear,” the agitated female voice came from the small black speaker. “If they come in this bathroom I’m going to kill them.”
“Sarah,” Milt said, as the footage jumped back ten frames at a time, “I would really prefer it if you didn’t kill anybody.” Milt paused the playback on the most clear picture of the two men. One tall and one average. Milt blinked several times and said, “I’ll be damned.”
“What?” Rapp asked.
Milt shifted to the third computer, closed out the map, and opened a file that Langley had sent him during the night. He’d forgotten to show Rapp. A composite drawing came up on the screen. It was a dead ringer for the taller man that Sarah had just passed in front of Abel’s office.
“Who is he?” asked Rapp.
“I don’t know.” Milt shrugged. “It came addressed to you with a note that said this is the man who hired the Salvadorans.”
All at once Rapp recognized what was going on. “What do you have for nonlethal?” Rapp asked urgently.
“We have Tasers.”
“Where?”
“In that black case right there.”
Rapp grabbed the hard black case off the floor, tossed it on the bed, and popped the clasps. He threw one of the high-voltage stun guns to Coleman.
“Let’s go.”
“Radios!” Milt half yelled. He grabbed two small black Motorola secure digital radios, clip-on wireless mikes, and tiny, flesh-colored wireless earpieces. “They’re charged and ready to go.”
Rapp and Coleman stuffed the radios in their jacket pockets, clipped the mikes to the inside of their collars, and put the earpieces in. They started for the door.
“Milt,” Rapp said over his shoulder, “tell Sarah she’s not allowed to kill anyone until I get there. And send that guy’s photo back to Langley and have them verify that he’s the one I’m looking for.”
“What in the hell do the Salvadorans have to do with this?” Milt watched them leave. Rapp didn’t bother to answer his question. “Why do I get the feeling I’m going to have a mess to clean up?” Milt pulled down his lip mike and got busy repositioning his team.
74
T ayyib was beginning to wonder if the woman knew much of anything. They’d taken her from the apartment, shoved her in the trunk of a car, and taken her back to the embassy. Tayyib had started with the fingernails on her left hand. He’d torn them off one at a time. Her story started to change after the third one. She had gone from saying she didn’t know where her boss was to telling him that he might be in Italy. Where in Italy, he wanted to know. She sobbed that she didn’t know where, just that she thought she overheard him say something about Italy. That was when he decided to let two of the men rape her. They had been eager enough, and Tayyib knew they would be grateful. Tayyib would not defile himself in such a way, but he knew with women, this type of subjugation could put them into the proper frame of mind.
He left the basement storage room and found the kitchen. He gave them an hour. He ate a sandwich, drank a glass of milk, and thought about what questions he would ask her when he started up again. Abel was a man who embraced technology. Tayyib had first met him five years ago. Even then he was carrying one of those combination handheld computers and cell phones. His office would be the key. There would be something there that would tell him where Abel was. Some piece of information stored on a computer. Tayyib could not disappoint Rashid. He had to find the German or the prince would never trust him again.
When he went back downstairs the men were finishing up with her. They had her stripped and bent over a table with her arms tied to the far legs with brown extension cords. She was there for him to take. He felt a rush of excitement and was seconds away from giving in. He forced himself to silently recite the salat ul-jumuah. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar…Ashahadu an la ilaha ill allah…Ashahadu anna Muhammadar Rasulullah…God is greater, God is greater. I declare there is no god but God. I declare Muhammad is the messenger of God…
The prayer, however, did not subdue his desires and he knew that he could no longer be in the presence of the temptress. One of the men laughed that she had begged them to stop. That she had mentioned something about a safe in the office. It was already past four in the morning. Tayyib angrily ordered the men to rape her again. Going to the office right now might arouse too much suspicion. They would have to clea
n her up and take her to the office in the morning.
