Cobb spun to face his computer whiz. ‘Hector, you’re going to be quite busy the next few days, so crack open a Red Bull, Mountain Dew, or whatever geniuses like to drink. I need to know everything there is to know about that glow stick. Make, model, country of origin, retail distributors — all of it.’
‘No problem.’
‘How long until you know about the flashlight drives?’
‘Tomorrow morning at the earliest.’
‘Why so long?’ Cobb demanded.
‘The worst thing you can do to a wet circuit is to power it up. That’s why I took the batteries out right away. Even the smallest surge can fry a drive.’
Cobb trusted his judgment. ‘Don’t rush the process, but don’t take all week, either. We need this sooner rather than later.’
Garcia nodded. ‘Understood.’
‘And Hector, as soon as the footage is ready, I want you to find Sarah. She can walk you through all the symbols that Jasmine explained to her. Cross-reference her interpretations with whatever expert analysis you can find online — without actually talking to anyone. We need to keep this as quiet as possible.’
‘No worries. I hate talking to people.’
‘And they hate talking to you,’ Sarah added.
Garcia grumbled under his breath. ‘I can’t believe I saved your life. What was I thinking?’
‘Probably: look! An unconscious female! Here’s my chance to make out with her before she wakes up!’
McNutt laughed. So did the others.
The only one who didn’t laugh was Garcia.
Sarah turned to Cobb. ‘And what about me?’
Cobb answered, ‘We’re going to comb through every other video that we shot. I want to know how these bastards got in and out of the cisterns. You can’t open a manhole and drop in a few hundred pounds of explosives without being seen. We spent two days down there. I want to know what we missed.’
Sarah nodded in understanding. They had detected very few entry points during their rekky, and none offered the access required to deliver their supplies. That meant they had overlooked something. ‘Alright. I’ll meet you in the lounge — after you’ve showered.’
‘Not before?’ he teased.
‘After,’ she stressed again. ‘Definitely after.’
Cobb smiled and turned his attention to Papineau, who had been uncharacteristically quiet during the briefing. ‘Jean-Marc, I’d like you to—’
Papineau cut him. ‘Sorry, Jack. I have my own leads to pursue.’
Cobb frowned. ‘Such as?’
‘I have colleagues who might be able to help us in a great number of ways. The explosives, the glow stick, the translation of the pictograph — I can cover all aspects of the investigation, but I can’t do it from here. My connections must be made in person.’
‘If you say so,’ Cobb grunted.
When it came to Papineau, the rest of the team had grown somewhat accustomed to his eccentricities. They knew he was a curious creature who flitted in and out of their lives like a distant relative who only surfaced when the moment fit his needs. Occasionally he brought gifts and sometimes he offered guidance, but other than that, he played things so close to the vest that his agenda was practically indistinguishable from the fabric itself.
For Cobb, that was a major problem. He still knew far too little about the man who had presented them with such a captivating offer. He had entered into their arrangement with a hearty level of distrust, and thus far Papineau’s actions and behavior had only served to provoke Cobb’s suspicions.
‘Can you at least tell us where you’re going?’ Cobb asked.
‘The Orient,’ Papineau lied. ‘Which already says too much.’
His point was abundantly clear.
He wasn’t going to provide a straight answer.
As tempted as Cobb was to call him on his bullshit — and he was very tempted after the long day he’d had — he ultimately decided to shrug it off. In his mind, it wasn’t the time or place to create disharmony on his team.
Not with so much at stake.
Instead, he decided to bring the team together.
Cobb cleared his throat. ‘As you know, I’m not one for making speeches, but I want to remind each of you that we’re working toward a common goal here. We might be approaching it from different angles, but it’s still a common goal. So if you find anything — and I do mean anything — that may help one of your teammates in his or her search, then I want you to voice it immediately. Not later, not tomorrow, and certainly not next week. I want you to speak up as soon as you possibly can because one of our friends in danger and it’s up to us to bring her home.’
37
Kamal stared at the lavish home of Hassan and swallowed hard. Of the eight men who had been sent after Sarah, only Kamal and the lookout he had assigned to the boiler room had survived the cisterns. Despite the staggering amount of bloodshed that occurred in the tunnels, both men realized that their biggest threat still lay ahead.
They had yet to face their boss.
Nothing that day had gone as Kamal had intended. Tarek and five others were dead, and their target had eluded them. Worse still, an entire city block of Hassan’s territory had been utterly demolished, and Kamal had no idea who was responsible.
He would be punished for his failures.
He was sure of that.
For a fleeting instant, Kamal considered running away. He wondered how far he could get before dawn and how long it would be before Hassan placed a bounty on his head. In the end, it didn’t matter. Hassan would demand blood, and there were few places Kamal could hide for any length of time. He was way too large and too well known to hide anywhere in Egypt, and if Hassan turned the whole underworld against him with a promise of riches, he would have to leave the hemisphere.
No, running away wouldn’t solve his problems; it would only make them worse.
So he climbed the stairs to meet his fate.
Hassan’s bodyguard Awad answered the door. He smiled wide when he saw Kamal and the other henchman on the porch. It wasn’t a friendly greeting. It was excitement over what was to come. Awad didn’t want to miss Kamal’s explanation of what had happened in the city — or the consequences that would follow.
Without saying a word, Awad led them into the house.
As Kamal passed the foyer mural, he glanced at the image of the treasure thief who had found mercy through admitting his crimes. When his trusted servant had wronged him, Pharaoh Ramses had granted the misguided craftsman a reprieve. Kamal wondered if Hassan would be so forgiving or if he would live up to his fiery reputation.
Kamal would find out soon enough.
As he stepped into Hassan’s office, his eye was drawn to the center of his boss’s desk. The gleaming Desert Eagle .50 was still there, loaded and ready to be fired.
Hassan looked up at him from across the room. His eyes were fiery with rage. The veins in his neck bulged, as if ready to erupt. ‘Sit down.’
The words were growled more than they were spoken.
Kamal and the lookout did as they were told. They dared not speak until spoken to, but as the silence drew out, they began to second-guess their decision. Finally, after the quietest minute of their lives, Hassan vented his anger.
‘A whole city block — gone! Police and soldiers everywhere! The eyes of the world upon us! Do you realize how much this will cost me?’
The loss of life was of little interest to Hassan. He was more concerned with the financial considerations of the tragedy. It was hard to collect from dead tenants.
Hassan slammed his fist down onto his desk. ‘I gave you and your boyfriend six men to find the girl! More than enough to bring her back to me! Instead, you destroy my city and return with nothing. At best, your actions are incompetent. At worst, they reek of defiance. Is that what this is, a mutiny?’