‘Ok! Bloody hell! So you’ve done all this research on me, then, but I don’t know anything about you!’
‘Why would you want to? After this is over, you won’t see me again.’ She resumed her study of the map. Dan stared forward over the steering wheel, wondering why he felt slightly distressed by the conviction in her statement.
‘Sorry, I had no business mentioning Hayley,’ she said after a while, ‘it was totally unnecessary.’
‘No, perhaps you shouldn’t,’ he agreed. ‘Let’s talk about something else.’
‘You could ask me what music I like, who my favourite author is,’ she suggested.
‘What’s this? Opening gambits at the freshmen’s ball?’ he asked. She shrugged in reply and pouted slightly giving him an incongruous, fleeting impression of a sulky teenager.
‘Ok, I like Sibelius and Mozart, and Pink Floyd and REM,’ he said.
‘I love Sibelius,’ she agreed with enthusiasm, ‘but not Mozart much. I prefer Beethoven. Some opera…’
‘I hate opera! All that over the top singing,’
‘I suppose you prefer Country and Western, Dolly Parton or Shania Twain, then.’
‘Well as you mention them…’
After driving for another half an hour they pulled into the car park of the Hilton hotel. ‘Good morning. I’m Emily Stevens and this is Daniel Hall,’ Emily announced to the receptionist. ‘We have rooms booked for three nights.’
The receptionist greeted them in return and then he consulted his computer. ‘Yes I can confirm the reservation, but we have a checkin time of 3pm. Wait a minute please.’ He tapped at the keypad. ‘I can let you have your rooms at about twelve thirty. Until then you are welcome to use our swimming pool and beach club. And by the time you have eaten lunch your rooms will be available.’
‘That’s fine,’ Emily replied after a moment’s consideration, ‘which way is it to the beach club?’
Dan watched Emily swimming up and down the pool. It appeared to be a favourite form of exercise because she swam length after length of fast freestyle without any apparent effort. After about an hour she emerged dripping water and wrung out her hair, the muscles over her diaphragm pumping in and out, but by the time she had walked over to him her breathing seemed pretty much restored to normal. Through his mirrored sunglasses he stared surreptitiously at her body clad in a bright blue bikini.
‘I need some shade,’ she announced pulling over an umbrella, ‘I’m not oak-tanned like you. Shall we order lunch now?’
They spent a few minutes perusing the menu and then ordered.
‘I’m just going to have a quick shower and get dressed,’ Emily announced. She returned fifteen minutes later just as the waiter appeared with their meals, and instead of her paramilitary garb she was wearing a light summer dress.
‘Wow, you look like a real girl!’ Dan declared, taking what he thought was a bit of a risk. To his relief she grinned at him and handed him a plastic key card. ‘I’ve checked us in; you’re in 723 and I’m in 708,’ she said, ‘here’s your key.’
During lunch they carried on their conversation and Emily revealed a few details of her life before university. Despite her reticence he enjoyed talking to her and found she had an enchanting laugh that contrasted with her more usual solemn expression. When they had finished eating she looked at her watch. ‘I have to call home now. I’ll see you back here in a few minutes; don’t go away.’
She returned to her room and pulled out an encrypted satellite phone and called her case officer in London. ‘It’s Tate. Do you have the location for me?’ she asked.
‘You’re twenty minutes late!’ he snapped. ‘Your GPS signal shows you’re at the hotel, so I suppose you’ve been lounging by the pool. The goldfish should be in the bowl at about 19:00 local time.’
‘Ok that makes sense as sunset is at 18:30. I expect the red setter plans to go on board this evening. Have you found his room number?
‘He’s booked a suite on the eleventh floor in your hotel under his Belgian name. Nothing further to add. Take care.’
‘Ok thanks, sorry about the lateness.’
Gerry signed off and resumed her seat beside the swimming pool. ‘Mulholland has a suite on the eleventh floor,’ she announced, picking up her beer. ‘The dhow is due in port at 19:00. I expect he will wait for it to send a message and then he’ll go on board.’
‘How do you know that?’ Dan asked.
‘Your Navy has two aircraft carriers in the area, and they’re keeping an eye on it for us. We’ll stick to plan A, and visit him this evening before he gets his phone call. What will you do until then?’
Dan could think of something they might do together but knew that he would never dare suggest it. Instead he said ‘Do you like sailing? We could take out one of those Hobie Cats over there.’
‘I’m not staying out in this sun, I’d get burnt.’ She looked down at her arms. ‘I’ve got a bit red just swimming. I’m going to take my stuff to my room and then I think I’ll check my e-mails, keep an eye on things. Can you be in your room from say, six o’clock? I’ll be in touch by six-thirty at the latest.’
‘Ok, I’ll be there,’ said Dan. ‘There’s a good breeze, so I think maybe I’ll go windsurfing for a while.’
At 6.15pm Dan heard a knock on his door. He peered through the spy hole and saw a woman dressed head to toe in black abaya and niqab. She was looking back along the corridor so he could not see her face. He opened the door and she turned to face him but the only part of her face visible was dark skin and brown eyes from the bridge of her nose to just above her eyebrows.
‘Er… good evening,’ he said in his best Arabic.
The woman replied in a stream of Arabic that he could not follow but he thought she sounded angry. He used two more of his collection of Arabic phrases. ‘I’m sorry I don’t understand,’ he apologised, ‘can you speak any English?’ The woman had apparently been crouching slightly under the cover of her abaya and now she suddenly straightened up to her full height.
‘I said are you going to let me in or will I have to stand in the corridor all evening, you brainless son of an ass shagged by a camel.’
‘Oh hell it’s you! Very funny!’ he said and stood aside to allow Emily into his room. She sat down and took the abaya off her head and then unfastened the niqab. Her face was its usual colour apart from a broad strip surrounding her eyes which she had darkened with make-up.
‘I’ve been in the lobby coffee shop for the last few hours, from where you I could watch the main entrance. I saw Mulholland come into the hotel about twenty-five minutes ago with two people who are obviously minders, and one other who I’m not sure about. Are you ready to make a move on them?’
‘I’m ready. I’ve been pacing my room for the last hour.’
‘Good. Can I just borrow your loo? I’ve been sitting in that cafe drinking coffee and diet coke and I’m bursting for a pee.’
‘Be my guest,’ Dan replied, feeling slightly guilty that Emily had been maintaining a vigil whilst he had been relaxing on the beach.
‘Right,’ she said emerging a minute later pulling her abaya back into place over her jeans, ‘I expect one or two of the large gentlemen will be stationed outside the room. My plan is that I will walk past them first and then as you walk towards them their attention will be on you. Then we’ll deal with them as planned.’ She repositioned her veil and head covering. ‘Are you ready?’