Welcome to Dubai (The Traveler) (24 page)

The officer had a point. Jebel Ali was the nation’s primary shipment area. There were plenty of trucks driving in and out at every hour of the day.

“Perfect,” Tariq responded. The insurgents had indeed picked an ideal place to remain undiscovered.

Tariq took a deep breath and thought,
This may be much harder than I thought. And where are the other men that a place this large could hold?

He immediately pulled his cell phone from his hip to call the chief of police back in Sharjah.

“Mohd was here, and he left only recently,” Tariq informed his old friend. “But there now seems to be some infighting. Maybe he did not agree with the direction of his men.”

“Which would mean that he is no longer in charge,” the chief commented. “Interesting. So, what all did you find there?”

“There are five dead bodies here and plenty of space for at least a hundred men and supplies.”

The chief paused momentarily. “I seriously doubt if they have that many. But no matter how many they have, they will turn up sooner or later. Hopefully, we will find them before they are able to do anything disastrous.”

“Indeed,” Tariq agreed with the chief.

He hung up his phone and continued to think.
What would be the most likely target for an angry group of immigrant workers to make their disagreements with the Emirati rulers of the United Arab Emirates known?

Tariq reflected again on the history of the dispute between Mohd Ahmed Nasir and Abdul Khalif Hassan, and he froze. Suddenly the private investigator’s eyes widened as he considered the most obvious target. “The International Suites,” he commented out loud.

The officers looked on and were dumbfounded. They had no clue about the history.

Tariq reminded himself,
That is where it all began, to finish his first hotel years ago.

Without an explanation or another word to the men, Tariq hurried to return to his car while redialing the chief on his cell phone.

“Yes, Tariq, what is it now?” the chief answered urgently.

“The International Suites hotel. What if that is the target?”

The chief said, “I thought of that idea as well, right after you told me Abdul’s story. Even the Sheikh suggested that we send men there.”

Tariq reached his car outside the warehouse and repeated, “The Sheikh? You told them about this?”

“Of course. This is now a national security concern, and it is much bigger than Abdul and his ego. So we sent men to all of his buildings, including his offices downtown.”

The chief continued, “Abdul is only one man, but thousands of other people work, sleep, eat and are in and around his buildings every day. And that makes this vendetta important to us all.”

Tariq nodded and was quickly reminded of how much responsibility his friend had. He was actually impressed with the amount of command Ali was exerting as the chief of police. In the meantime, as a private investigator and counsel, Tariq was forced to drive around to all of the locations himself, starting with Abdul’s first hotel.

“Well, I will go and join them at the hotel then,” Tariq informed his friend.

“You do that. And you tell me what you find there as well.”

Tariq hung up his phone and started his engine with a new concern: his employer’s policy on privacy. But there was nothing he could do about a national security alert. Abdul would need to understand the level of importance his case had taken on for the nation and face up to the music. Abdul’s personal story was at the center of it all, and there was nothing he could do to change it.

*****

After a second phone call and conversation with Tariq, Ali made a check-up call of his own down to his men at the International Suites in Dubai.

“Anything to report there at the hotel?”

“No, nothing. We’ve been here all morning and everything is fine,” the officer told him.

Ali paused to think, then said, “Have you and your men checked the back loading area for trucks and shipments?”

The officer paused himself. That was a bad sign for the chief.

He answered, “The trucks and shipments have been fine as well.”

“What about the hotel security? Are they where they are supposed to be?”

“Yes, we saw the daytime shift security walk in earlier, more than an hour ago.”

“What about last night’s shift? Did he walk out?”

“Good question. I don’t know. He could have changed out of his clothes where we wouldn’t notice him.”

Ali continued to probe for more answers. “Did you check in on their surveillance system inside the camera room?”

The officer paused again. “No, we have not. Do you want me to send someone?”

“No, I want
you
to go and find out for yourself, then report back to me immediately,” the chief told him sternly.

“Yes, I will.”

As soon as he ended his call, Ali felt fortunate again to have Tariq on his way over to check the hotel out.

“We can never have enough good men,” he told himself. He realized that it was going to be a long day.

*****

Inside the surveillance room of the International Suites, Heru’s men had been watching every move of the UAE police officers in and around the hotel that morning. So when the lead officer gathered up six of his men inside the lobby and headed toward the security entrance door for their basement location, the men called for a red alert on their high-tech walkie-talkies.

“Yes,” Heru answered them instantly.

“The police are finally headed toward us in the basement.”

Heru was calm and deliberate in his response. “It is time then. And we are all in position. So do what you must do.”

The surveillance team watched all of the men move in position in and around the hotel, all dressed in the serviceable clothes of hotel staff and technicians, with their weapons hidden inside the oversized laundry and clean-up bins.

“Habib, tell the technicians to shut down the communications system. And I will handle the policeman.”

Akil grabbed his assault weapon and headed out of the room to meet the policeman as soon as he appeared in the basement hallway.

With no clue of what he was walking into, the UAE police officer opened the door from the basement staircase and stepped into three close-range shots to his unprotected chest. The man had no chance of surviving and was likely dead before his body hit the floor.

Nearly in unison, a dozen armed men appeared in the hotel lobby with assault weapons and shot down the other police officers while locking down the hotel’s front doors and exits.

“Back away from the door!” the men yelled at the international guests.

That’s when the screaming, crying and panic started, followed by shots into the high ceiling of the lobby.

“If everyone remains calm, then no one will be hurt!”

Scores of international tourists grabbed their loved ones tightly and panicked all over the building—inside the lobby, the restaurants, the workout rooms, the swimming pools, the hallways and the individual guest rooms of the twenty-seven-floor hotel. With a flick of a switch, all communication was disabled—televisions, telephones, Internet, radio,
everything.
And not only did Heru’s men secure every exit and high-traffic area of the hotel, but another half-dozen men secured the roof of the building.

However, Heru remained in hiding, allowing his men to make all of the explanations and demands instead of him.

“You all have the
Emirati
developer Abdul Khalif Hassan to blame for this. And we demand to see him and his wife, Hamda, before anyone is allowed to leave. We do not intend to harm you, but we will not allow you to escape, nor will we allow any of you to harm us. Do I make myself clear?”

Front and center inside the lobby was the same American family that Gary had met on the airplane ride in from Atlanta. They were headed out the building for another fun-filled day in Dubai, with plans to go skiing inside the famous Mall of the Emirates. But they were just a minute too late.

“Daddy, are we gonna live?” the blond-haired boy with big brown eyes asked his father.

The father squeezed his son, wife and daughter tightly as if attempting to squeeze out the fear itself.

“Yes, we will,” he answered. “We will survive it.”

Chapter 26

Saleem, the rugged and fearless Pakistani, made it into the hotel building right before the group of armed immigrant workers took it over. It was perfect timing for him, but it would have been more perfect had he been able to make it out of the lobby and into the hotel hallways. Instead, Saleem was caught in the middle of everything while carrying a plastic grocery bag filled with two boxes of dark green trash bags and tape for the surveillance cameras.

As he surveyed the posturing men around the room, he could tell from the unsteady movement of their eyes that most of them were amateurs. Some of the armed immigrant men were as terrified as the foreign hostages that they had threatened. However, there were others in the group who held the steely glare of assassins, including their lead speaker.

“If you remain calm, then none of you will get hurt.”

As the large and daring man repeated his words to inspire confidence and poise in the hostages and families, a muscular German attempted to play hero and lounged at one of the gunmen. He was successful in grabbing the gun, but he was not fast enough to aim it and use it before being shot down by the lead speaker.

The German met his death quickly as the hostages yelled again in terror.

The awkward incident and fast death forced the lead assailant to repeat his words: “As I have told you, if you remain
calm,
you will not be hurt. But if you do
not,
then you will suffer the consequences of your own actions.”

Saleem assessed that the lead speaker would be a handful to deal with. He was unnerved by any attack and was unafraid of the reality of death. He was also quick to pull his trigger. That made him a qualified solider. But he was not Ra-Heru. He looked nothing like Mohd, and he was too far out in the open to lead their mission. He made himself far too easy to kill. However, with his confidence and reserve, he may have been a second or third in command.

Saleem reflected on his own size and skills as well as the contents of his bag. He felt that it would be unwise for him to continue standing. He did not want to intimidate any of their men or attack too quickly, especially with so many cameras in the front lobby. So he decided that it was much safer for him to stoop, sit or get on his knees, like many of the terrified tourists around him. He also remained aware of the dark, round eyeballs of the cameras that were up above him. So he had no choice but to remain calm and wait for the best opportunity to make his first move.

This may be more challenging than I thought,
he told himself.
And hopefully, Mohd has other men from the group that are on his side.

*****

Outside of the hotel, the remaining police were in a bind. They had witnessed their fellow officers gunned down inside the lobby, but the doors were locked and flanked by a dozen armed men before they could react fast enough to counter the attack. And with hostages spread throughout the hotel’s entrance and reception area, there was nothing they could do without putting innocent people and themselves at harm. There were no clear shots without snipers, but the men inside had clear shots at them. So the remaining police were forced to scatter behind their squad cars.

“Aaal-laahhhh!” a few of the Muslim officers screamed in distress. It all happened so suddenly, it seemed surreal. Did a group of armed men really take over the International Suites in broad daylight, killing several officers in the process? They had also witnessed a valiant tourist who was shot in a bold move to defend himself. But his actions were in vain.

“Call Chief Ali!” the men yelled amongst themselves. “Call him!”

*****

As soon as Ali received the urgent call in Sharjah from his men in downtown Dubai, he took a deep breath and nodded. He told himself and his men calmly, “So the worst has now happened. Let’s call in the National Guard. They have taken over the International Suites hotel downtown.”

His men in Sharjah were as shocked as those who were at the scene.

“Merciful Allah! They are
insane,”
one of the officers commented, unable to contain himself. He could not fathom an immigrant insurgency taking over a popular tourist hotel in downtown Dubai. It was suicide.

“Apparently, they are,” the chief told him. He then called his friend Tariq, who was already headed toward the scene.

When Tariq answered his phone, the chief told him, “You won’t believe what you are now driving into.”

Tariq surprised him when he said, “I do believe it. I am only upset that I did not think of it earlier. So the men are there at the hotel?” he asked to make certain.

“Yes, they are,” the chief answered. “They have disabled all of the communications systems and killed six of my men and one hostage.”

“They are serious,” Tariq said.

“Yes, so I am now ready to call in the Union Defence Force and inform the Emirates, the Prime Minister and the President. This is far bigger than Abdul,” the chief added. He understood his friend’s loyalty to his clients, but they also had a young nation to protect.

Tariq told him, “Indeed it is much bigger. So if they have taken over the hotel with hostages, then what have they asked for?”

Ali took another breath and paused. “They have asked for Abdul and his wife, Hamda.”

“You are kidding me,” Tariq responded.

“When have you known me to tell a lie in our business?” Ali quipped. “This vendetta between Mohd and Abdul is real. And they now want an eye for an eye and the destruction of the Hassan family in Dubai.

“And my friend, I tell you all this in advance so you can figure out what to do,” Ali added. “But I must prepare now to go to war. Let me know what you figure out when you arrive.”

By the time the chief was off the call with Tariq, his men had the UAE authorities on the line.

“Chief Ali, the Defence Force is ready to speak to you.”