Here he comes. Come on, Chase.
Chase had not been in many firefights like this. Normally, he was much better equipped and had a support team to work with. Here, he had only a handgun. There was a multinational team of spies and Special Forces advancing on his position, using precision covering fire to pin him down. One of whom he had slept with a few weeks earlier. That was a definite first.
The stairway door opened behind him, and he saw Waleed walk out.
“Waleed, get down!” he screamed, then he rolled around the wall edge that he had been using for cover and fired two shots toward the stairs.
It was instinct, really. In the split second that he had looked down the long walkway which lead to the helicopter platform, he had seen a target, characterized him as an enemy, and aimed for center mass. At this distance, aiming there made sense. Any variation in his breathing, aim, grip, or the wind would throw off his shot. But Chase was a pretty damn good shot. Pakvar took two rounds in the chest and crumpled down the stairs. His small semiautomatic weapon clanged down the steps after him.
Chase smiled. Not because he had taken a life, but because he could practically hear Lena cursing.
“Chase?” Waleed was hunkered down behind the other corner wall that served as the entrance to the long walkway.
“Stay down. Lena’s up there. Can you call for help?”
“Yes. Hold on.”
Chase crouched down behind the small barrier that formed the corner to the long helipad walkway. One hundred feet away, Pakvar’s corpse lay sprawled on the ground. And up the stairway, a hidden Lena watched his every move.
The steady noise of a helicopter rotor blade beating through the air could be heard in the distance. It changed pitch ever so slightly. It was getting closer. Shit.
Chase had been waiting for that. It would force his hand. Now he had to act soon. If he had to charge down that long open walkway toward the helipad, Lena would have a clear shot at him. But if he didn’t do that, she would take his brother away again. Since Chase had been on the rooftop, he hadn’t yet gotten a clear view of Lena. She had a very small cross-section and was smart enough to keep down. Not good for him.
He wanted to see if she would still honor her promise to let him live if he stood up right now, but that was a big risk. They had grown apart in the past few minutes, he decided.
He yelled, “Lena!”
No answer.
“Lena, I need to speak to you.” He didn’t know what the hell he was going to say, but he was desperate.
A burst of white in the plaster wall next to him. Apparently she wasn’t interested in rebuilding their relationship either.
Chase glanced over his shoulder, trying to stay low. He could see the helicopter now. About a mile away. It looked like a Huey. Funky blue camouflage paint. Probably Iranian. Could Waleed and he take that thing out with small-arms fire? Probably not. They would need a lot more than a few 9mm rounds. He would need something explosive.
He bolted up and ran back into the hotel.
Lena watched Pakvar fall down dead on the stairs. That was most frustrating. She hadn’t been particularly fond of him, and could care less that he was dead.
An hour ago, she had been looking at Pakvar in the back of an Iranian helicopter as they flew to the hotel. He had glared at her the entire trip. Lena took that to mean that Pakvar knew it had been her that had stridden into the Dubai Mall and shot one of his men in the head. She hadn’t had a choice. Pakvar had overstepped his bounds in trying to ambush Chase and Waleed. His assignment had been to keep an eye on them during their meeting with Gorji. She was pretty sure that he hadn’t listened to her because she was a woman. That was a common problem for her in this part of the world. But she couldn’t have allowed Pakvar’s shortsighted attack on Chase to disrupt her plan to send “Satoshi” to the Americans. It may have been a long shot, but it had been their only remaining opportunity to upload their program that would manipulate the value of bitcoin.
As usual, nothing had gone according to plan. The bitcoin-backed currency might still be adopted, but it would not be manipulated by China, as Jinshan had intended. The damage from the ARES cyberattacks was reported to be at fifty percent of what had been expected. David and Henry, experts on ARES and US communications networks respectively, were needed at the Red Cell. Whether they wanted to participate or not, Lena and her minions would extract any remaining relevant information that could boost the effectiveness of the cyberattacks.
But first, Lena would need to get them away from this damned hotel. Pakvar’s death tilted the tactical advantage away from her. She still held the high ground, but there were now two weapons versus her own.
She looked back at David, Henry, and the man everyone had been calling Satoshi, and gave them a mocking smile. She waved for “Satoshi” to join her. She couldn’t remember his real name. He was one of Jinshan’s expert hackers. Someone who had worked closely with the real Satoshi until they had needed to dispose of him several years ago. This man had failed them. The Americans had discovered his true intentions and had been trying to use him to gain more information on Jinshan. Still, he could possibly fire a weapon. But she only had one. If she had known that Pakvar wasn’t going to bring an extra weapon for Jinshan’s man, she would have brought one herself. But she wasn’t about to give up her only gun.
She said, “That helicopter will be here in another minute. When it arrives, I’ll need you to get them on board. I’ll provide covering fire. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Lena.”
Lena heard Chase call her name from his position on the other side of the walkway. She smiled to herself. She was going to miss him. She hoped that taking his brother away again wouldn’t irreparably harm their relationship. She decided to let him know that she was still interested. She took aim at a spot near the wall he was hiding behind and fired.
The helicopter was making its final approach into the wind. It wouldn’t be much longer now. Soon she would be on Abu Musa, and then on one of Jinshan’s personal jets. In twelve hours, they would all be back on the Red Cell island. She would personally extract the required information about ARES and the communications networks needed to increase the effectiveness of the initial cyberattack. Then she could be done with these two Americans. They had caused her much grief.
Lena looked back at David and Henry, obediently sitting on their haunches, looking pissed off. When she turned back towards the walkway, she saw Chase running back into the hotel. Where the hell was he going?
She thought about running down the steps and grabbing Pakvar’s weapon, but she wasn’t sure how good a shot that UAE intelligence man was. She decided that she didn’t want to risk it. The helicopter was almost here anyway.
Chase hoped that he wouldn’t burn the hell out of his brother and Henry. Once inside the building, he placed his gun down on top of the bar and hopped over. His hand quickly crept over the bottles until he found ones suitable for his needs. He looked for high-proof alcohol, and bottles with long necks. He lined four of them on the bar and opened them. Then he ripped the white curtain that had been half-covering the liquor selection into long pieces and stuffed eighteen-inch strips of the torn cloth into each of the four bottles. Each strip of cloth became soaked in the alcohol.
He used his strong arms to hurdle the bar again, careful not to knock over any of the makeshift bombs. Then he grabbed the first bottle and walked over to one of the lit candles near the entrance. The cloth flashed in blue flame, then settled into a steady yellow burn.