She felt like a weight had been taken from her chest.
He’d been awake. He would be okay.
Gwendolyn Dougal sighed as she poured over the information displayed on her portable, then compared it to what Anselm was looking at, on his own.
“I don’t think we’re getting anywhere right now,” she said finally. “It may be time to call it a night.”
Anselm nodded in grudging agreement.
He hated the idea of letting it sit after what had happened to Ronald Somer, but there came a point of diminishing returns when you began to work past the point where the human body drew the line between performance and endurance.
“Alright,” he nodded. “Let’s check in with Adrienne, then call it a night. I want to make sure that she’s okay.”
Gwen nodded in agreement and the two of them got up, out of the uncomfortable hospital chairs and walked down the hall toward the nurse’s station.
The commotion they saw when they arrived started them moving a bit faster, eyes looking sharply around for Adrienne Somer, with some concern. The found her standing outside the ICU ward, wringing her hands, but with a look of relief on her face.
“Inspector.Adrienne” Anselm caught himself, slowing his approach as Gwen did the same. “Is everything.”
“He woke up,” she said softly.
Anselm let out a breath of relief. The fact that he woke up was a good sign, at least in his experience. “That’s great.”
“He spoke.He said something, I don’t understand.”
Anselm raised an eyebrow slightly, listening to the tone of her voice. Adrienne was still emotional, but he could hear the puzzling tone of an Inspector in her voice, someone trying to work out a clue. “What did he say”
“Kamir.” She said with a puzzled frown, “I tried to ask him what a Kamir was, but all he said before the medication took over was `who’.”
“Thermie.” Gwen said grimly. “Kamir Osam is a one of the Thermies. He’s been run in on a dozen minor violations, usually childish stuff, but he’s been up on assaulting an officer at least twice.”
“Convictions”
“Fines.” She shook her head, “The assaults were minor bullshit, nothing that warranted jail time unfortunately.”
Anselm nodded pensively, thinking about his hotel room and the bed that was awaiting him. When he looked at Gwen he could see that she was thinking the same thing as her lips quirked slightly and she cocked her head at him.
“You want to check it out”
He nodded, “yeah. Can you send me Kamir’s arrest file I’ll send it to Interpol and have them run it against known terrorists.”
She nodded in agreement, already pulling her portable from his belt pouch. “Coming right up.”
She and Anselm both knew that all the standard checks had been run when Kamir was arrested, his prints would have circulated the system looking for outstanding warrants, and his name would have been delivered to the central police network, but it still wasn’t standard procedure to run facial topography scans on every picture entered into the system.
The process was CPU intensive and its usefulness in more than ninety-nine percent of cases wasn’t particularly impressive. This one, though, may well be the exception.
“Are you going to be alright, Adrienne” Anselm offered, “We can escort you back to your hotel room.”
She shook her head, “I’m staying here. The nurses said that they would set up a free bed for me.”
Anselm nodded as Adrienne laughed a little bitterly.
“It’s funny isn’t it” She asked, “Anywhere else, I’d probably have to leave. This has to be one of the only hospitals left in the world with free beds.”
Anselm thought that was probably an exaggeration, but it was certainly true that most hospitals guarded their beds jealously, and for good reason. “Alright, I’ll be back in the morning. Get some rest, okay”
She nodded, though not very convincingly, and Anselm cupped her shoulder gently, “I’m serious. Get some rest, you’ll do him no good if you’re in worse shape than he is.”
She smiled slightly at that, and nodded again. “I will.”
“Alright. In the morning,” Anselm promised.
Then he and Gwendolyn turned and walked away.
Abdallah looked up from his work as Mr. Jacob stepped into the bland white room, his eyes glancing up at the clock. It was later than he’d thought, he’d lost himself in his work again. He would have to get some sleep soon, there was no wisdom in playing with the things he did when one was fatigued.
“You have news” He asked, though the phrase was more of a statement.
“I do, Amir.” Jacob said, using Abdallah’s second name as he always did.
It was a conceit, Abdallah supposed, but the men he commanded didn’t refer to him as `Slave of God’. The used his second name in a very deferential manner, calling him `Prince’ instead. Abdallah appreciated the respect, and encouraged it from those he trusted.
“So tell me.”
“Kamir was the cause of the accident.” Jacob said grimly, “I apologize, Amir. It was I who gave him the job to search for any other Interpol officers in the city.”
Abdallah nodded pensively, idly pushing the arm of his electron microscope away.
“A lesson, Mr. Jacob,” he said sternly.
“Amir” The name was a question, perhaps another apology. Abdallah ignored it.
“Take this as a lesson.” He said, coming to his feet and briefly stretching out his knotted muscles. “Do not assume that the people you employ are as competent as you are.”
“Yes Amir.” Jacob replied.
Abdallah eyed the large man for a moment, trying to determine if the double meaning of that statement had penetrated his head.
The probably had, he finally decided. Jacob was no fool, for all his impressive bulk, but it was difficult to tell sometimes what the man was thinking behind those inscrutable features.
“In London, I made a similar mistake,” he went on, shrugging as if it were unimportant. “I assumed that my contact with the Japanese Embassy and their support of the warmongering of the American government would have some understanding of basic surveillance technology.”
Jacob remained silent as Abdallah spoke with a casual sort of sternness.
“He thought he had been quite brilliant, employing tactical countermeasures to all manner of ultra-modern surveillance technology.” Abdallah shook his head, “Then he spoke of me on a line that the Echelon system could monitor. I was very nearly captured due to a system invented almost eighty years ago, Jacob.and a person who started believing that he was smarter than everyone else.”
“I understand, Amir.”
“Do you” Abdallah asked, then shrugged. “I hope so. This is your mess, so clean it up. Arrange something appropriate for Kamir.”
“Appropriate”
“A warning,” Abdallah said. “Our men must understand that while Initiative is to be encouraged, there are practical limits to its application. Wholesale slaughter isn’t something to be initiated by the rank and file, Jacob.”
“Understood, Amir.”
“Good. You may go.”
Jacob nodded and stepped out of the laboratory, leaving Abdallah Amir to ponder the situation.
Indeed, wholesale slaughter was not something to be initiated by the rank and file. Even a single death was above their jurisdiction unless it was unavoidable. Deaths were not things to be handed out without purpose.
Death was their business, and like all businesses a carefully charted plan had to be created and followed for maximum effect.
The slaughter was for the CEO to initiate.
When the time was right, of course.
Chapter 4
Anselm didn’t know what was more bizarre actually, the fact that he and Gwen were going to question a potentially dangerous witness without SWAT backup, or the fact that they were taking public transportation to get there.