She walked to the head of the line with Diego and smiled at the bouncer. Diego slipped him a hundred dollars American. A minute later they were inside.
The club was a converted industrial warehouse, the interior huge and jammed with people. The roof overhead was thirty feet high, lined with exposed steel rafters and metal scaffolding crowded with banks of stage lights. A hothouse atmosphere of body odor, alcohol and lust assaulted their senses. A polished floor bigger than three or four basketball courts was a swirling sea of sweating people dancing to loud rock music. The volume bordered on painful.
Colored lights swept over the crowd pulsing in time to the music and drenching the dancers in purple, green, yellow and red. From time to time the lights changed to a bright white strobe rhythm that painted the room in frozen flashes of black and white. A raised stage dominated one end of the dance floor where a DJ looked down on the horde of dancers. He grinned like a demonic maestro conducting an orchestra of the damned, rocking to the rhythms and adjusting lights and music as the mood suited him.
To the left of the room was a long bar where people stood shoulder to shoulder three and four deep, holding their drinks and shouting at each other over the noise. To the right was an area crowded with tables. Beyond the tables was a roped off section with couches of red leather. Selena spotted Abidi on one of the couches. He had a drink in his hand. A blonde with large breasts straining against a red blouse sat close to him on his left. His guards stood nearby, watching the crowd.
"I see him," Selena said. "On the couch next to the blonde."
"Looks like he's having a good time." Diego scanned the room. "The alley exit is over there. Right past the couches and next to the restrooms."
He paused. "How do you want to play it?"
"He hasn't seen us yet. Why don't you get us drinks. We'll separate. You get over by the restrooms and be ready. Make sure that door will open. I'll convince him that a quickie in the alley with a handsome guy like him would be fun."
Diego raised his eyebrows. "Handsome? He looks like something out of a bad 70s movie set in Miami."
"Men like him are predictable," she said. "I'll have to deal with the competition and it might take a little while to get the message across. Just be ready to move. His bodyguards may decide to come along for the show. That's where you come in. Don't leave me out there in the alley with that creep and his goons by myself."
She touched the transceiver in her ear. "Nick, did you copy that?"
Static. "Copy."
"Why don't you get me a martini?" she said to Diego. "Vodka."
"Shaken or stirred?"
"Do I look like James Bond? Just so long as it's wet."
Diego laughed. A few minutes later he was back with the drinks. Selena took the glass and sipped.
"Lousy vodka." Selena felt the adrenaline rush kick in, the fine high that was like no other she'd ever experienced. It was one of the things that kept her working for Elizabeth.
"Let's do it," she said to Diego.
Outside in the Mercedes, Nick drove around the block until he came back to the front of the club. The line at the door had gotten longer. It stretched toward them and around the corner, away from the side with the alley. He eased past the club and stopped at the alley entrance. The Mercedes was just one more car double parked on the wide street.
"I should be in there with her," Nick said.
"She's got Diego. She's fine."
"You think he can handle it?"
"Yeah. So do you or you wouldn't have sent him in with her."
"When this goes down it's going to be quick."
"It's always quick," Ronnie said.
Inside the club Diego sauntered over to the alley door with his drink. He shielded the door with his body and tried the handle. He felt the latch open and the door move. Gently he pulled it shut. He watched Selena.
Selena talked her way past the first guard and stood in front of Abidi.
"I think I know you," she said in Arabic. "Weren't you at Ibrahim's party?"
It was a gamble. Ibrahim was a common name. If he'd been to a party, it opened the door. If he hadn't, she was ready for that as well.
"I don't remember seeing you there," Abidi said.
Jackpot.
"I remember you," she said. "You were with a different woman."
"What woman?" the blonde said.
"Adara…"
Abidi held up his hand. He looked guilty.
"You son of a bitch. That's the last straw. I've had enough of your lies and women."
She stood and looked at Selena. "Good luck, honey. You're going to need it."
Arabic or English, it's all the same with men like this, Selena thought.
Out in the Mercedes, Nick heard Diego's voice in his ear.
"The woman that was sitting next to Abidi just stomped off, pissed. He's patting the couch. Selena is sitting down. Game on."
"Copy."
"I didn't mean to upset her," Selena said.
She turned toward Abidi, enough to pull her blouse a little lower. He looked at her breasts and then at her face. She smiled.
"You like what you see? Why don't you buy me another drink?"
"Forgive me, what are you drinking?"
"Vodka martini."
Abidi signaled one of his guards.
"A vodka martini for my companion. Make sure they give her the good vodka, not that crap they usually serve."
"The good vodka?"
"You heard me."
The man nodded and moved off toward the bar.
"You are quite lovely," Abidi said. "I don't understand why I don't remember you."
"I think you may have had a bit to drink. I know I did. It was quite a party."
"It was. I'm Yusuf."
"Fatima."
"Ah, one of the four perfect women."
"Only in name," Selena said.
"You enjoy parties, Fatima? I am going to one later. Perhaps you would like to accompany me?"
The guard came back with Selena's drink. She took it and sipped. It was a vast improvement over the first one.
"I think I'd like that," she said.
She reached over and touched the gold chain around his neck. She played with the hairs on his chest.
"Do we have to wait until later to party?"
She sipped her martini. It really was very good and the drink helped with her nervousness. She took another sip.
This is going to be easy, she thought.
Yusuf gave her a calculating look. "What did you have in mind?"
She whispered in his ear. Yusuf smiled.
"I'm going to use the ladies room," she said.
"I will be waiting for you."
Yusuf half rose from the couch as Selena got up and walked away.
The guard who had brought Selena's drink said, "I do not trust her."
"No, Gibril, nor do I. She is either a whore or a spy. Either way, I am going to enjoy her. Go get the car and take it around back. Hassan will stay here with me. You put the drug in her drink?"
"Of course."
"Good. Go."
Diego had moved a few yards from the door to the alley and away from the restrooms. He watched Selena get up and walk unsteadily to the toilets. He triggered his comm link.
"Nick, I think Selena is drunk."
"That can't be," Nick answered. "You haven't been there long enough. Besides, she wouldn't compromise an operation."
"She just went into the bathroom and she's walking like she is. Abidi sent one of his guards away. Now he's getting up and coming toward the alley door with the other one."
"Maybe she's pretending, to get him off guard," Nick said.
"I don't think so. You can't fake the way she looks."
Nick's ear began itching. Ronnie saw him reach up to scratch it.
"I'll bet the son of a bitch drugged her," Nick said. "I'm going into the alley. Don't let that other guard follow her."
"Copy that," Diego said.
"You want me to go with you?" Ronnie asked.