Chase said, “Waleed, we know.”
Waleed’s eyes were wide. “What do you mean?”
Chase stopped. They stood on a platform, a turn in the stairway. Chase filled him in on what Elliot had told him about Satoshi.
Waleed said, “So you knew?”
“I just found out a day ago.”
“Well, Gorji’s attempt to get information out of Abu Musa turned up something else — Jinshan is upset, he said. Apparently, he feels that the Abu Musa operation has been unsuccessful. Gorji warned of a violent response, but he did not expand on that.”
“Do you think this was it? The attack that is going on now? Do you think Jinshan had something to do with this?”
Waleed said, “I honestly do not know.”
Chase said in a low tone, “I just met Lisa Parker. She’s working for Jinshan. She and Pakvar are here in the hotel.”
“What?”
They opened the stairway door to the floor that Elliot, David, Henry, and the others’ rooms were on. Chase needed to speak to Elliot. He would know what do to.
Waleed said, “Why would she be at the hotel?”
Chase had been thinking about that the entire way to the room. What he saw confirmed his worst fears. When they got to the hotel room, the door was open. Chase’s pulse raced. He drew his weapon and bolted in.
The three security men, and Elliot, lay dead on the floor. Each of them had suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Chase swept his weapon from side to side, clearing each room of the hotel suite. Waleed followed behind him. He also had a weapon drawn.
Once he was sure, Chase said, “No one’s here.” A panic filled him as he became sure why Lena must have come. She had come to reclaim his brother. Chase couldn’t let her take him again.
A moment later, Chase stood in the doorway, looking into the hall, his gun pointed at the floor.
Waleed was on the phone, calling for an ambulance and additional security.
The TV was on. Sky News. There were videos from different angles of the USS Harry S. Truman in flames. One video looked like it must have been taken from someone’s phone. The footage was taken from the Dubai beach, and incredibly, it showed a missile streaking across the sky towards the carrier before the explosions began. The news kept showing the freeze-frames of the missile. Just a bunch of whitish pixels, going from right to left. Then a few moments later, the black smoke. A lot of jet fuel on that carrier, Chase thought to himself. He prayed for the people on board.
Chase paced back and forth. He said to Waleed, “Where would they go?”
Waleed tried to sound reassuring. “There is only one way out of here. And I have already deployed my men. There are over a dozen Dubai police behind a concrete barrier. If she is here, she won’t be driving away.”
Chase thought about that. He shook his head. That wouldn’t be his exit choice. He bet that it wouldn’t be hers either. “No. She would know that.” He looked up. “We need to get to the helipad.”
Chapter 18
Chase sprinted up the fire stairs, leaving Waleed behind. He had fourteen rounds available, but he didn’t know how many people Lena might have brought with her. She was deadly, he knew that. So was Pakvar. He had to respect them as opponents. He must be deliberate in his actions. Chase couldn’t afford to move too quick and get picked off by a pop shot. He had to save his brother.
Chase tried to push away any feelings he might have had for Lena. She had placed his brother in danger. That warranted deadly force. But as he strode up the steps, weapon pointed out in front, he kept seeing flashes of her in his mind. Chase was torn between fear for his brother’s safety and disappointment in Lena’s betrayal.
Arriving on the twenty-eighth floor, he opened the grey fire door and walked into a palace. The room he was in was the waiting room next to the hotel’s helipad. It reminded him of a church or temple, with its ultra-high arched ceilings and vast size. Extravagant carpets, tropical plants, and exquisite stained glass windows decorated the room. There were richly upholstered thick-cushioned couches, and a granite wet bar near the door.
A row of lit candles lined the bar. No one stood behind it. There were stacks of liquor and wine bottles. A white cloth curtain half-covered them.
Chase opened the door next to the bar area and slowly stepped out onto the hot white surface of the hotel rooftop. The wind was strong this high up. Hot air whipped in his face. One hundred feet above his head, the two white arcs that formed the framework of the hotel met with another vertical white structure. Together they formed the shape of the sail. About one hundred feet in front of Chase, and elevated thirty feet, was the circular white helicopter landing pad. It stretched out over the ocean below.
Chase couldn’t see what was on the helipad from his viewpoint. He needed to traverse the long open walkway, complete with red carpet, to get there. He began walking. No one in sight. It was quiet.
He started to doubt his theory that Lena had taken David and Henry up here. Perhaps they had intended to depart the hotel another way?
The sound of gunfire changed his mind.
David and Henry sat next to each other on the edge of the helipad. Lena and the giant Arabic-looking guy were in the prone position near the entrance of the helipad. Pakvar, David had heard her call him. Pakvar was shooting a small rectangular machine gun wildly at something down below. David hoped it wasn’t Chase.
Grimacing at the screams of close-proximity gunfire, David prayed that if it was his brother down there, he was taking cover. He was worried about Chase, but felt something else as well. A strange eagerness. His secret weapon has just arrived on the field. Chase was trained as a US Navy SEAL. He was the toughest bastard David had ever met. Lena and this big Arabic guy were armed, and he knew that they were dangerous. But David relished the thought that those two, no matter how good they might be, were now in for a world of hurt.
Henry leaned over to David to try and speak. He looked shaken.
David and Henry hadn’t seen Elliot and the others get killed in the hotel room. Lena had restrained and removed them by the time Pakvar had opened fire. But they had heard the gunshots. They were both upset.
When Henry was distressed, he tended to joke.
Henry said, “Hey, David. I gotta say, I’m really happy to get to see all these great places with you. I always wanted to go to Australia. Loved it. This hotel in Dubai. Amazing. But would it be possible for you to stop getting us kidnapped?” He winced involuntarily as another gunshot went off.
David said, “It’ll be alright. Just hang tight. My brother is down there. He knows what he’s doing.”
While their hands were bound, both of them could get up. But every few seconds, Lena kept looking back at them to make sure they were still there. David tried to think about why she had come back for them. Or more to the point, why she had spared their lives. On their way up the stairs, she had made clear that it wasn’t mandatory for her to do so. She announced that she would not hesitate to execute them if they tried to escape. David wasn’t so sure. She must need something from them still.
The Asian guy sat next to them, unarmed and unrestrained.
David said to him, “So what’s your deal?”
He didn’t reply.
Henry said, “Not a talker, huh?”
David saw Lena come to a crouching position and fire several shots with her pistol. Echoes of stone bursting below. Soon after Lena fired, Pakvar ran down the stairs of the helicopter pad and out of sight.