The Forbidden Tomb (34 page)

Dade considered the information. He chose to focus on the part of the equation that affected him directly. ‘Do you know if Kamal escaped?’

Sarah nodded. ‘He made it out of the tunnels before the bombs detonated. He might have been swallowed in the rubble, but we have to assume that he’s still alive.’

‘Great,’ he said sarcastically. ‘Glad to hear it.’

‘Believe it or not, it is good news for you,’ Cobb offered.

Dade stared at him. ‘How do you figure?’

‘At least you know what he looks like. I can’t say the same about the bombers.’

Dade shrugged. ‘What does it really matter? It’s not like you’ll be sticking around to deal with them.’

‘Of course we will,’ she said defiantly.

‘No, you won’t,’ Dade argued. ‘We have to get you out of the city as soon as possible. In fact, we need to get you out of the country. I don’t know what you’ve stumbled into, but it’s only going to get worse. Kamal and Hassan will be out for blood, and it’s pretty clear that the other guys don’t give a damn about collateral damage. They were willing to blow up a huge chunk of the city, and I’d be willing to bet that they’re looking for you right now.’

‘Simon,’ she said, ‘you’re not following. We
can’t
leave the city because the mystery men took a member of our team. We’re not going anywhere until we get her back. And you’re going to help us.’

‘Sarah, I just told you – I’m on the outside looking in. Kamal wants me dead. Hassan wants me tortured. And I have absolutely no idea why anyone would want to blow up a city block. Simply put, I don’t know who you’re looking for.’

‘Listen,’ she shouted, ‘you kept me in the dark about Hassan and his goons. Everything that happened after that – the uninvited guests, the explosion in the city, the disappearance of my friend – it all traces back to your mistake.’

She leaned in closer and whispered in a threatening tone. ‘You might not know who we’re looking for, but you’re damn well going to find out. It’s time to start atoning for your sins, or else I’ll shoot you myself and feed your body to the sharks.’

Cobb watched as a look of panic washed over Dade. His tanned face grew pale. His dark eyes glazed over. His mouth hung open in fear. Cobb had no idea what Sarah had whispered, but it sure as hell was effective.

Dade stammered. ‘I don’t even know where to begin.’

‘We do,’ Cobb said. ‘You can start by looking into the ambulance that the bombers used to escape. We tried to chase it, but it got away from us in the chaos. By the time we caught up to it, the kidnappers were gone and so was our colleague.’

‘Does your colleague have a name?’

‘Of course she does,’ Cobb said, ‘but I’ll be damned if I’m going to tell it to you. So far, you’ve proven to be the least reliable asset I’ve ever worked with. Prove your worth, then we’ll see if we can trust you with her name.’

Although Dade had plenty of reasons to help their cause, Cobb figured it couldn’t hurt to mention that they were looking for a woman. After all, it was the guilt Dade felt from losing a bunch of young girls to the sex trade business that had made him feel indebted to Sarah to begin with, so Cobb decided to use the fact to his advantage.

‘What do you know about the ambulance?’ Dade asked.

Cobb showed him a picture of the vehicle on his phone. ‘Standard issue Volkswagen for Egyptian Emergency Services.’

Dade was familiar with it. ‘Probably stolen in the chaos after the explosion.’

‘I’m not so sure,’ Cobb explained. ‘The driver was wearing a paramedic’s uniform, and his partner was calmly looking through the victims. I could be wrong, but I think they had this planned in advance. Maybe not the kidnapping, but at least the idea to use an ambulance to evacuate injured colleagues from the scene.’

Sarah reached into her bag and handed a street map to Dade. It traced the route of Cobb and McNutt’s pursuit through the city. ‘We need you to reach out to every source you have. Start with those along these streets. Find out if anyone saw anything in the last few days. Maybe someone caught a glimpse of the vehicle or recognized a face. And if you have any clients with surveillance cameras along the route, pull that footage whether they want you to or not. Don’t take no for an answer.’

Dade nodded in understanding.

‘Seriously,’ she stressed, ‘I don’t care if you have to burn every bridge you’ve built in this city to get the information that we need. This is a matter of life or death.’

‘I get it,’ Dade assured her. ‘I’ll start checking right away. Or at least I could have if you hadn’t hurled my phone into the Mediterranean.’

‘When did I do that?’ she asked innocently.

Though it had appeared as if she had tossed his phone into the water, she had actually palmed the device and had thrown a burner phone instead. The sleight of hand not only grabbed Dade’s attention, it had given Cobb the opportunity to hack into his phone.

Using a program that Garcia had given to him before they left, Cobb had secretly copied the phone’s contents – contacts, pictures, texts, and so on – without ever touching the device. Before terminating the wireless connection, Cobb had also inserted a next-generation GPS virus into his phone. Even a surveillance expert like Dade would never notice the tracker because it wasn’t an actual bug. It was merely a line of code that would force his phone to send out a continuous signal for Garcia to follow.

‘Here you go,’ she said as she handed the phone to Dade. ‘I know how much you depend on this thing. It would have been cruel to throw it into the sea.’

Dade grinned at the turn of events. ‘You sneaky devil! That’s the Sarah I remember from six years ago. I’m glad she’s still in there, somewhere, under that rough exterior.’

Sarah laughed as she squeezed his shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, Simon. I’m the same ol’ Sarah from back in the day. Always have been, always will be.’

‘Glad to hear it!’

She leaned in closer and whispered, ‘But here’s the thing. The sweet girl that you remember is the
fake
Sarah. The
real
Sarah is the angry one.’

‘If you say so.’

She dug her nails into his skin. ‘Oh, I
do
say so. And if you fuck me on this, Kamal and Hassan will be the least of your problems. Understood?’

‘Understood,’ he said as he took a step back. ‘Take me back to shore, and I’ll get started right away. I promise.’

Cobb shook his head. ‘Not quite yet. Before we go anywhere, I need you to do me a favor. You’re not going to like it, but you’re going to do it anyway. After all, my life was endangered in the tunnels, too.’

Sarah didn’t know where Cobb was headed, but she knew that Dade didn’t really have a choice. Cobb wasn’t asking; that much was clear.

‘How can I help?’ Dade replied.

‘I need you to personally introduce me to one of your contacts.’

‘Sure. Which one?’

‘Your pal Hassan.’

Dade laughed. ‘You’re kidding, right?’

Cobb stared at him. ‘Do I look like I’m kidding?’

‘Please don’t take this the wrong way, but fuck you, Jack! It’s
not
gonna happen! The guy wants me dead!’

‘And I’m offering you a way to get back on his good side,’ Cobb assured him. ‘Take me to see Hassan, and I promise that you’ll survive the meeting.’

Citadel of Qaitbay

Alexandria’s Eastern Harbor

Dade had asked for a day to arrange a meeting with Hassan.

Cobb had given him an hour.

The way Cobb saw it, he held the better cards and wanted to play them right away. He already knew that Hassan wanted Dade, and he imagined that the crime lord would also be interested in information regarding the men who had destroyed his territory.

Cobb could offer both.

Without time to scout for a new location, Cobb chose a place that he knew well, a building that he and Sarah had explored during their initial rekky of the city.

It was a landmark that every local could find.

Even a hardened criminal like Hassan.

The Citadel of Qaitbay was once an imposing fortress guarding the waters of Alexandria’s Eastern Harbor. Seemingly modeled after an English castle, the towering stronghold provided distant views of approaching invaders. Its thick limestone walls – accentuated by red granite savaged from the site’s previous occupant, the famed Lighthouse of Alexandria – were designed to withstand the fiercest attacks. It was a defensive stalwart, having protected the city for more than four and a half centuries.

Even though the citadel is now meant more for tourists than soldiers, it still evokes a sense of awe. McNutt whistled as he walked along the courtyard that led to the building’s front entrance. The wide enclosure was paved with massive slabs of concrete flanked by lush, green grass. Trees encircled the lawn, and square patches of landscaping served as a contrast to the built-in stone benches that lined the main walkways.

‘Didn’t Robin Hood rescue Maid Marian from this thing?’ he asked as he strolled with a backpack filled with ammo around the grounds. ‘I’m pretty sure he did.’

Garcia, who heard the comment on his headphones, was too preoccupied to laugh. He wasn’t particularly fond of working in the field – not because he was scared of confrontation, but because he didn’t like exposing his electronic arsenal to the elements.

McNutt wasn’t sure what to make of his silence. ‘Is this thing on?’

‘Sorry,’ Garcia said. ‘I’m dealing with some serious glare here.’

‘Relax, Hector. It’s called sunlight. I know you don’t see a lot of it in your mom’s basement, but it can’t hurt you.’

‘Actually, it can,’ Garcia replied from one of the stone benches. ‘You need a high SPF to protect you, or you’re just asking for trouble.’

McNutt instinctively patted the assault rifle that he had tucked under his jacket. ‘If I find trouble, I’ve got something a little better than sunscreen to protect me.’

‘I hope you’re not referring to your intelligence.’

‘Of course not. Don’t be stupid.’

At Cobb’s insistence, the two of them had arrived early, using the yacht’s inflatable Zodiac to reach the harbor before the others. Cobb didn’t want anyone, including Dade, to know that McNutt and Garcia were a part of his team, or else they would lose the element of surprise. To increase their chances of success, they tapped into the citadel’s surveillance system, which allowed Garcia to monitor the entire building from his laptop while McNutt surveyed the building on foot.

As always, Cobb’s team would be linked by comms.

‘Approaching the fort,’ Cobb whispered as he walked a few paces ahead of Sarah and Dade toward the citadel’s front courtyard. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘Audio confirmed,’ Garcia said as he tapped on his keyboard. ‘And let Sarah know that she’s good to go. I can hear her talking.’

‘Will do.’ Cobb gave her a subtle nod before he turned his attention to McNutt. ‘Josh, how are we looking?’

‘Not too bad,’ McNutt said from up ahead. As point man, he would enter the citadel before the others in case Hassan was setting up a trap. ‘I’ve counted five goons so far, and all of them were obvious. Even Hector spotted them.’

Garcia frowned but didn’t comment.

‘What about Hassan?’ Cobb asked.

‘He’s here –
somewhere
. He showed up about ten minutes ago and went straight inside. Where are you supposed to meet him?’

‘No idea,’ Cobb admitted. ‘Since we picked the place, he got to choose the room. I was kind of hoping Hector could tell us where he is.’

Garcia chimed in. ‘I had him for a while, but this building is really big and really old. There are blind spots all over the place. Whoever put in this system should be shot.’

‘He’s not the one I’m worried about getting shot,’ Cobb admitted.

Garcia kept his eyes glued to the computer screen. ‘With that in mind, I see a potential problem inside the front door. Your giant friend is waiting by the entrance.’

‘Kamal?’ Cobb asked.

‘Yep,’ McNutt said as he walked past the giant and casually glanced around the lobby as if he was a lost tourist trying to get his bearings. ‘Don’t worry. I got him. He’s kind of hard to miss. If he makes a move, I’ll take him out.’

‘Glad to hear it.’ Cobb turned around and glanced at Sarah. Even though she had been talking to Dade the entire time, mostly to distract him, she had been half-listening to Cobb’s conversation with the others. She gave him a subtle nod to let him know that she was aware of Kamal. ‘Okay, we’re coming in.’

‘Still clear,’ McNutt assured him.

But just to be safe, he fingered his trigger.

Cobb entered first, followed by Dade, then Sarah. Unlike the others, Dade wasn’t prepared for the sudden appearance of Kamal, who clogged the lobby with his looming presence. Standing by the castle gate, he seemed more like an ogre than a man.

Dade could almost feel the brute’s hot breath on his face.

And Kamal did little to hide his anger.

For a moment, Dade was worried that Kamal would ignore the others and simply shoot him right there on the steps.

Instead, he motioned for them to follow him.

As they moved deeper inside, Cobb marveled at the stonework and the ingenuity of the building’s design. A central column opened to the sky, with the rooms of the structure built around it. Grated windows on every level allowed for quick communication between the floors. These openings meant that anything shouted from the roof could be heard all the way to the ground – saving valuable seconds in the event of an invasion.

Up ahead, Cobb could see a strange green light radiating from one of the rooms. His mind flashed back to the timers of the bomb packs, and the eerie glow that they had given off in the darkness of the tunnels. The thought reaffirmed why they were here: they had to find out who was responsible for Jasmine’s abduction.

Even if it meant meeting the devil himself.

‘This is where I lost Hassan,’ Garcia announced, as he tapped away on his keyboard. ‘There are no cameras beyond the door.’

‘And no way to circle ahead,’ McNutt said.

Just then, Kamal stopped short of the room.

He turned, then motioned for the others to continue.