A Devil is vaiting sd-19

by Jack Higgins

  Stop that, he bellowed.

  You can go to hell, she replied.

  He fired, bouncing her back against the wall. He stood there staring at her, shocked at what he had done. There was the roar of the Mini Cooper arriving outside, and Holley, first out, came through the front door, already ajar, and flung himself down, firing blindly. Kelly appeared from the study, gun raised, and it was Sean Dillon who shot him twice in the heart.

  He stepped across Kelly as Holley picked himself up. Jean Talbot was trying to stand, blood seeping from her sleeve and soaking her blouse.

  Oh, dear, she said, as he raised her, then eased her into a chair. I m stuck with having to thank you for saving my life instead of making plans to end yours.

  I ll expect you learn to live with it, he said, as Holley came in with some kitchen towels. Good man, Daniel. I ll see to Jean, you call Roper, tell him what s happened and what she said about Sara. Also, a disposal team will be needed for Kelly. We ll leave the front door unlocked.

  A disposal team? Jean inquired, as Dillon padded a towel and slipped it inside her blouse.

  We have our own funeral people. They ll clean the place up, take the body away and deal with it.

  And what happens to me?

  We re going to take you to Rosedene, our own private hospital.

  How kind. She smiled, but winced. It s beginning to hurt.

  Don t worry, they re the best in London for gunshot wounds. They also do a great cup of tea.

  That s comforting, she told him and fainted. He caught her, held her close, and called Holley, who had been in the hall, talking to Roper, then trying to contact Sara.

  Holley s face was hard and set. Dillon said, You look like the devil himself, Daniel.

  I feel like him. Roper said we must get Talbot to Rosedene as soon as possible. Professor Bellamy s been notified and is on his way over from Guy s Hospital to receive her. I ve been trying to reach Sara on her Codex. Only got her recorded message. Roper has sent Tony Doyle straight round to Highfield Court to do a proper search.

  Bring Talbot, put her in the back seat, and let s get moving. We have to pass Sara s place on the way. Tony is bound to be there. He ll do the full police search, he s very methodical.

  Holley carried Jean Talbot out, Dillon put the front door on the latch so that the disposal team would get entry, and a few moments later, the Mini Cooper was on its way.

  Doyle s van was in the drive of Highfield Court, so Dillon dropped Holley off and carried on, with Jean Talbot still unconscious in the back. Holley tried the doorbell, and Doyle appeared, his face somber.

  He held up a Codex. This is Sara s. I found it beside the bed, and from the state of that, I d say she d not been between the sheets. But it did look as if it had been slept on.

  She was absolutely exhausted when I left her, Holley said. I think she probably flung herself on the bed fully dressed and just crashed.

  No sign of a struggle. Whatever happened must have been slick and quick.

  According to Kelly, she was to be drugged with Seconal.

  Now that would really put you to sleep, Tony said. Anyway, there s nothing more that we can do here, so let s get back to Holland Park.

  They left, Doyle locking the door, and as they went down the steps, Holley s Codex sounded. Roper said, Are you still at Sara s?

  Just leaving.

  Well, get here fast. I ve just had confirmation of where Ali Selim may be from Greg Slay. Quick as you can, Daniel. I think time is of the essence now. I ll contact Sean.

  Anything interesting? Doyle asked.

  Oh yes, Holley said as he got into the van.

  I ll explain as we go. Holland Park and fast as you can.

  At Rosedene, Dillon walked behind the wheeled stretcher on which Jean Talbot lay, all prepped up for her operation, drowsy from drugs already. They paused at the entrance to the operating room, where Charles Bellamy and his team waited. Dillon stood to one side, gazing down at her.

  You know, I used to be an actor before the IRA got its hands on me, and actors never say good luck.

  So what do they say?

  Break a leg.

  There s an old Irish saying: When you ve sinned, a devil is waiting. She smiled faintly and touched his hand with some difficulty. God knows, I ve sinned enough in my time, so you must be my devil. May I say break a leg to you?

  And why would I need that?

  Oh, I think you know, my friend. Another performance, I m sure. You ll never leave that woman in such dire straits. It s not in your nature. Give them hell. They deserve it, all of them.

  Her eyes closed, and the nurse pushed her through into the operating room. Bellamy nodded, and Dillon nodded back and went out to reception, where he found Maggie Duncan.

  A lovely lady, she said.

  She s certainly that, Dillon said.

  Can I see Harry Miller?

  I wouldn t suggest it. The operation was fine, but he s had a secondary infection. Lots of penicillin will make it right, but at this moment in time he has a fever.

  Well, tell him I was asking for him.

  Try again tomorrow, she said.

  I ve a strong suspicion I m needed elsewhere right now, so I won t be here tomorrow.

  She sighed and shook her head. How many times have we patched you up, Sean? You ll never stop until

  He cut in. They bring me in inside a body bag.

  She crossed herself. God forgive you for saying such a wicked thing.

  As he went out, his Codex sounded, and Roper said, Things are hotting up, Sean. I ve just heard from Greg Slay that Ali Selim is definitely in Rubat on this boat, the Monsoon. You d better get there fast.

  On my way, Dillon told him, and ran to his Mini Cooper.

  At Hazar, Greg Slay had tried innumerable times to connect with Roper, but the sandstorm blew fiercely, and it was well over an hour since his first attempt when he finally heard Roper s voice.

  How are you? Roper demanded. What about the sandstorm? He d phoned Slay again so the others could hear him.

  Slay said, To go through it once more, the Hawker was delivering Ali Selim to Rubat. He s down there now, staying on a luxury dhow owned by the sheikh who loaned him the Hawker that got him out of England.

  Have you had any dealings with him?

  Only secondhand. My partner, Hakim, turned out to be Al Qaeda, and Ali Selim ordered him to kill me.

  Why would he do that?

  I can only imagine he d discovered I was the Raptor pilot who d been giving him problems in Afghanistan.

  So what happened?

  Hakim beat up my mechanic, Feisal, because he refused to help him, and was about to blow my head off with an AK-47 when I shot him dead. We dumped the body, but Ali Selim remains a problem. The Sultan is extremely sick, with only a medical man keeping him alive. The Council of Elders are old fogies who get no respect from the lower orders. Most of them work for Rashid Oil, so they enjoy a good standard of living, but Al Qaeda has a strong following.

  What about the military? Holley asked.

  There s only Rubat town and port to bother about, so a sort of police militia is in charge, run by a Colonel Khazid. He and his men are totally controlled by Al Qaeda. What are we talking about here?

  Well, I don t know what anyone else wants to do, said Holley, but I intend to fly down there as soon as possible to retrieve Sara Gideon.

  You think you can do that?

  If it s going to be done, now is the time. Sara is in the air on her way, fast asleep, not knowing what s happening. Now Roper tells me Ali Selim hasn t been crowing about this, hasn t phoned in to say he s got her, and she s destined to be the most valuable kidnap victim of all time. He s got her, in the sense that Owen Rashid and Legrande have her on the Lear, but they won t arrive in Rubat for a while. My Falcon is one of the fastest planes around. I ll have the advantage of surprise. Ali Selim s keeping quiet about where he is, but doesn t realize that we know. That should count for a lot.

  Well, I wouldn
t land at Rubat if I were you. Hazar would be much more sensible.

  Then we d drive down to Rubat?

  Good God, no, it would take forever, and the roads are hell. We ll use one of my Scorpions. It s only half an hour in one of those, and we do it so regularly, we re not even checked. So when are you coming?

  Holley turned to Roper. You didn t tell Ferguson that we were going to lift Legrande and Kelly. Have you told him about these developments?

  No, I haven t, because it would mean Henry Frankel and the Cabinet Office and the Prime Minister all getting their political knickers in a twist. And the newspapers, who don t give a damn about anything except their front pages, would all spew the story worldwide. Then the government would tell the Gideon Bank that they can t pay to get her back because it would set a precedent, and that would be the ministerial cherry on the cake.

  He swung his chair round to look up at his screens, and Holley said, We d better check that my plane is fueled.

  Roper turned. Good God, are you still here? I ordered your Falcon filled up at Farley Field within ten minutes of hearing she d been taken. I asked the armorer to sort out the weaponry you re likely to need Semtex, timers, all the usual toys.

  You re a gem, Dillon told him. I always said it.

  Just one thing more, since we re circumventing every avenue of government. I d just like to say, as a crippled veteran who s seen it all, that I don t give a stuff for Owen Rashid and Henri Legrande, and my opinion of Ali Selim is even lower. Blow them away, and let s get rid of these people once and for all. I want to see Sara Gideon back here in this computer room, bright and cheerful and unsullied. That s what it s all about.

  And that s what you re going to get. Holley turned to Dillon. Let s get moving, Sean. And they hurried out.

  FOURTEEN

  Roper called in to Greg Slay to tell him of the Falcon s departure. After that, he left Dillon and Holley alone for the long flight. It was five hours later that he called them and discovered Dillon was doing the flying.

  What s Daniel up to? he asked.

  Checking the weaponry.

  He s taking it hard, I think.

  Wouldn t you? Dillon shook his head.

  He adores Sara Gideon. I ve never seen such a change in a man.

  How are you doing?

  Wonderfully well. This latest Falcon is a fantastic plane with phenomenal speed, so we re catching up enough to say we could be landing at Hazar around an hour after they ve landed at Rubat.

  Holley had come in, wearing desert fatigues, moved into the copilot s seat and put on the headphones. How are things, Giles?

  Not as good as they are for you. Dillon tells me that you re eating up the miles.

  That s what we need, but our greatest strength will be the total surprise when we come knocking on the door. It will be close to midnight, Holley told him.

  Dillon cut in, Any word from Ferguson?

  Not a one. They ll be too busy putting the world to rights and having a good dinner. I ve checked at Rosedene on Harry. His fever is improving, so the penicillin is doing its work.

  And Jean Talbot?

  She s post-operative, but Bellamy s pleased with her and says the operation was a success.

  Give her my best, Dillon said.

  You can do that yourself, Sean, when you two get back with Sara.

  You think that s a given, do you?

  It always has been. I can t see you coming back without her. I ll do my best to keep Ferguson off your back. I gave him a call, reported on Harry, and said he was best left alone.

  Take care, Holley called and turned to Dillon.

  Have yourself a break, and I ll take over again. Have a cup of tea and a sandwich or something. Have a look at the weaponry the armorer selected for us and check them out. There s enough for Greg Slay if he wants to come to the party, too.

  Not much doubt of that, as he s flying us into Rubat. He ll play his part in the rest of it, I m sure.

  Holley said, It s like going back into the past, to what happened to Rosaleen in Belfast when I killed the four men who d raped her. His face was bleak and hard. If anything bad has happened to Sara, I ll have Ali Selim s life if it s the last thing I do on earth.

  We re getting close now and you re feeling stressed. Dillon patted him on the shoulder. Just take it easy, Daniel, relax. Put the plane on autopilot, let it fly itself for a while, and watch the stars come out. We re going to pull this off, I promise you.

  The Learjet was passing through considerable turbulence, Owen Rashid at the controls. He eased the column forward and went down three thousand feet, finding things calmer, and Henri Legrande joined him on the flight deck.

  How is Sara Gideon? Owen asked.

  Henri sat down in the copilot s seat. Sleeping very peacefully. I ve looked Seconal up on the laptop in the cabin. What I read confirms that the effect lasts eight hours. It seems that when the subjects come back to life, as it were, they re in good shape and able to operate physically and so on, but they ve no memory of what s happened. They need to be told it s eight hours on.

  That must be hard to grasp, Owen said.

  I would think so, Henri said. No news from our lord and master? I wonder what he s up to?

  Owen s mobile sounded. He put the plane on autopilot, turned his mobile to speaker, and answered.

  How are things? Ali Selim said. I left you alone so long because I thought you had enough to think of with such a difficult flight.

  We ll be with you quite soon now, Owen said.

  And the woman?

  Out cold.

  Excellent. We ve had extremely bad weather here. The most ferocious sandstorm in years, with a fury seldom witnessed. It has seriously interfered with mobile phone signals, but I think things will improve.

  Yes, I know all about that from the weather reports, Owen said. Have you been in touch with anyone in London about the woman?

  Of course not. Today is Sunday, a day of rest to any true Englishman, and my information is that Ferguson is spending the weekend at Chequers, the Prime Minister s country retreat, with the French foreign minister. He laughed harshly. Ah, if only we had the opportunity. A bomb would wreak havoc. We could change history.

  Ferguson must feel he s finally arrived, so close to the Prime Minister and the seat of power, his advice sought by international politicians. Just think what s waiting for him tomorrow when I call to break the news about Sara Gideon.

  Owen said, How s my uncle?

  Just the same. When he goes, it will be like the snap of a finger, for everything will change, and for you also, is it not so?

  Sorry, the weather s turning turbulent again, Owen said. I ve got to turn off the autopilot and get back to flying this plane.

  He switched off his mobile and took control, breathing deeply, his hands firm on the column. God, but I hate that bastard.

  Join the club, Henri said. But as it isn t an option, settle for a cup of coffee, which I ll get for you now.

  Slay was speaking to Holley, Dillon listening. I checked with the control tower. I told them an Algerian Falcon was arriving carrying a diplomatic envoy booked through to Bahrain. It d only be on the ground for an hour or two. Just passing through, that s your story. So you ll be in an hour after the Lear lands at Rubat. Round about midnight.

  And how long in the Scorpion from Hazar?

  Half an hour, and since the sandstorm has caused major disruption, we are allowed to land anywhere. The port area, for example.

  And getting to the Monsoon. How would that be done?

  I ve seen the police launch going out there from time to time. That could be a possibility for men of enterprise.

  Which includes you?

  Wouldn t miss it, old son.

  And how have you been surviving the sandstorm?

  I keep myself hidden. A policeman turned up a couple of hours ago to ask where I was, but Feisal, my mechanic, told him that if I wasn t at my house, he had no idea, and he said the same about Hakim Asan. It s not surpr
ising someone s not found his body yet what with all the disruption. Feisal asked the policeman what it was all about, and he told him there had been an inquiry from the Rubat police.

  Ali Selim seeking information about his Al Qaeda brother, Holley said. We ll have to deliver it personally. See you soon.

  The wind blowing out of the desert in Rubat was not as bad as it had been, but still carried sand, enough to keep the streets clear.

  On the Monsoon, Captain Ahmed stood at the rail, watching Colonel Khazid in a motor launch crewed by three of his officers wearing yellow oilskins with Police emblazoned on their backs. They stayed unhappily in the launch while Khazid pulled himself up on the deck, nodded to Ahmed, who was tying the line, and went to report.

  Ali Selim sat at one end of the table, Fatima at the other.

  There you are, and none too soon, Selim said.

  Since Hakim is not with you, I assume there s obviously no sign of a Scorpion helicopter at the airport.

  But there is at Hazar, Khazid said eagerly, glad to have some sort of news at last. After repeated attempts, I finally managed to get through to a colleague on the airport police. It s chaos up there because of the weather. Lots of planes coming in, queuing up to refuel, then passing on.

  I haven t got the slightest interest in any of that, Ali Selim told him. What about Hakim and this man Slay?

  The mechanic Feisal said that Hakim returned from a flight to Gila, and then took one of the jeeps and went home. If he isn t there, he has no idea where he is.

  Fatima said, And Slay?

  He flew in from Gila some time after Hakim, when the weather was quite bad. He also took a jeep and left for a small hotel in town where he stays. My colleague checked there, only to find that they haven t seen him.

  Ali Selim got up and paced around, frowning. A mystery here, compounded by such extreme weather. Anything could have happened, don t you think?

  He had turned to Fatima, who nodded. There are more important things to consider now. She glanced at her watch.

  The Lear will be landing in forty-five minutes. I ll meet it and bring Sara Gideon to you.