Shadow Tyrants

THIRTY-EIGHT

The voices Eddie heard had been two women, possibly maids because he could hear the sound of a cart being rolled down the hall. Then he heard an elevator ding, and the voices disappeared.

He pushed open the door and saw that the lavishly appointed corridor was empty.

“Now where to?” he asked Murph. He moved his head around so Murph could see the view from his glasses.

“Should be straight ahead two doors down on the right.”

Eddie walked casually just in case he ran into anyone. He could always claim he exited the elevator on the wrong floor and got lost.

The door to the office was open, and Eddie slipped inside. The room was filled with artifacts from the Mughal dynasty, paintings of emperors on exotic thrones, and antique furniture made of Indian teak. The enormous desk held only two items: a jewel-encrusted lamp and a sleek laptop.

Eddie sat at the desk and flipped open the computer. The screen showed a prompt for a password. Eddie plugged in a device that was wirelessly connected to Murph’s computer back at the hotel.

“It’s in your court now,” Eddie said.

“Working on it,” Murph said. Eddie could hear the sound of Murph’s fingers furiously hammering his keyboard.

The screen remained unchanged. “How long will this take?” Eddie asked.

“I’ll know in a second if this will happen.”

All Eddie could do was wait. He couldn’t leave without the USB transmitter or Mallik would know his system had been compromised.

A few seconds later, Murph said, “His encryption is good. I’m not getting in without his password. We’ll have to go with the barnacle.”

Eddie removed the USB device and took out a smaller item about the size of a hearing aid battery but rectangular like the USB port. It was called a barnacle because it could be inserted into the machine without being noticed.

He picked up the laptop and inspected the two USB ports on it. The right-hand port had a tiny bit of wear on it, while the left-hand port was pristine.

Eddie plugged in the barnacle and verified that it couldn’t be seen unless you were looking directly into the port. It would only be detected if Mallik tried to plug something into the left-hand port, which seemed to be the less used one.

Now, the next time the laptop password was entered, the barnacle would secretly download a bit of software into the computer that would force it to connect to the internet and give Murph access to its contents. The downside was that they had no idea when that would happen.

“Let’s get ready to leave,” Eddie said to everyone on the comms. “And Murph, tell Hali we’ll be leaving in three minutes.”

“He just texted me that he’s currently pretending to be lost,” Murph said. “Apparently, he’s getting an earful from the real Kiara Jain and will be relieved to drop her off whenever we’re gone.”

Eddie closed the laptop and headed back to the stairs.

“Eddie,” Linc said, “two guards just came looking for our friend in the bathroom. I told them he said he was going downstairs for something, but they said that’s where they just came from. They’re on their way up toward your floor. So am I.”

“We have a situation in the ballroom, too,” Raven said. “The woman from Jhootha Island just wheeled in a giant cake.”

When Raven saw Mallik looking at the giant novelty cake with surprise and confusion, she knew he was not expecting it. The band began to play a lively fanfare as it rolled in.

“Something’s about to go down,” she said to MacD.

“Ah know. Bomb, you think?”

“Maybe. If she tries to exit quickly, we’ll know.” Raven also noticed that the woman kept her face shielded from Mallik and Torkan as if they might recognize her.

“Ah’ll go stand by the kitchen door to keep her from leaving,” MacD said.

“And I’ll see if I can find out what she’s up to,” Raven said.

The woman backed away from the cake, turned around, and took out her phone. Raven remembered that Juan said Rasul had used his phone as a launch control for the BrahMos cruise missile. If the woman was here as part of an attack on Mallik, the phone would be the perfect trigger.

Raven walked up quietly behind her.

“Excuse me,” Raven said. “Do you know where I can find some seltzer water?”

The woman shook her head and shrugged, barely acknowledging Raven.

“It’s just that I spilled something on my dress and I don’t want it to stain.”

This time, the woman looked at Raven. Her eyes were focused and fierce.

The woman struck with a lightning punch, but Raven was able to turn away to minimize the blow. Then she returned with a left to the jaw. The woman only staggered and spun around, intending to lash out with a kick, but Raven moved quickly out of reach.

The woman refocused on her phone but just before Raven reached out and knocked it out of her hand, the woman tapped the screen.

Instead of exploding, to Raven’s shock the cake erupted with gunfire.

Linc and Eddie took out the guards in the stairwell using a coordinated attack. Linc sucker punched one of the guards from behind just as they were about to enter the level where the offices were. Simultaneously, Eddie rushed out and slammed the head of the other one into the wall.

They started to drag the guards to join their colleague in the bathroom when the buzz saw sound of rapid machine gun fire clattered from the direction of the ballroom.

Eddie and Linc tore down the stairs.

Torkan pulled Mallik behind him as bullets ripped through the air above their heads. The aim of the gun was off, and rounds raked the ceiling and upper walls of the ballroom.

“It’s her!” Mallik yelled. “Natalie Taylor! I saw her fighting with Kiara Jain.”

“Then that can’t be Kiara Jain,” Torkan shouted above the screams and gunfire. Half the guests had dove to the floor while the other half were running in panic.

“Come on!” Torkan grabbed Mallik’s arm and dragged him toward the emergency exit, into the bathroom hallway, and rushed to the stairwell door.

On their way through, they passed a black man and an Asian man headed in the other direction.

Raven’s knocking away the phone had caused the machine gun to temporarily tilt up, which had prevented the assault from becoming a massacre, but if the woman got the phone back, dozens of people would die.

Raven kicked off her mile-high platform pumps as she prepared to finish off the woman when she saw a panicked Prisha Naidu running straight toward the line of fire. The machine gun’s aim was now inching down from the recoil, threatening to slice her to ribbons.

Raven made the only choice she could. Instead of taking the assassin down, she raced toward the Indian actress, tackling her to the floor moments before she would have been killed.

Raven turned to see the assassin run toward the balcony. Then she had to hold the shrieking Prisha down again as the machine gun made another pass over them.

MacD could see that the machine gun’s aim was falling, and it was only a matter of seconds until bullets began chewing into the guests huddled in terror on the floor.

Someone must have summoned the elevator because its door suddenly opened. He maneuvered himself behind the cart and waited until the machine gun was firing away from him. Then he pushed the cart toward the elevator, hoping the door was wide enough for the cake to fit. The cart gathered momentum until it was hurtling through the door and slammed into the back of the elevator. Sparks flew as bullets churned into the brass walls of the cab. The door closed, muting the sound of the continuing fire.

He spotted the nearest security guard and raced over to him.

“Get on your radio and tell someone to shut down all the elevators! Now!”

The startled guard nodded and got on his radio.

MacD turned and sprinted away to look for Raven and the assassin.

Natalie Taylor was fuming as she attached her belt to the rope that had been lowered to the balcony. She’d been planning this strike for weeks at Carlton’s direction, ever since he began suspecting Mallik of betrayal, and it had gone off without a hitch until that guest in the turquoise gown attacked her. She had to be some kind of undercover security operative.

Her nemesis wasn’t giving up, even now. Taylor saw her leap to her feet and run toward the balcony. But it was too late. The rope began to pull Taylor up.

As she rose toward the roof, she looked down to see the woman below watching her escape. Taylor returned her icy gaze with a sneer.

When she got to the top of the building, the ex-soldier who had hoisted her up pulled her onto the roof. She detached herself from the portable winch, and they got into the chopper. It took off before anyone could reach the roof to stop them.

She was glad she didn’t have her phone. Telling Xavier Carlton that the mission failed wasn’t something she was looking forward to.

Eddie and Linc emerged from the bathroom hallway to find moaning survivors and a devastated ballroom.

MacD and Raven were on the balcony.

“Are you two all right?” Eddie said.

MacD nodded. “This party got a little out of hand.”

“We’re fine,” Raven said in a disgusted tone. “But the Jhootha Island woman got away. I just saw her escape helicopter take off.”

“Then let’s get out of here before the cops arrive and make us answer difficult questions.”

To avoid the crowd of guests exiting by the main stairway, they accessed the kitchen door leading to the stairs next to the service elevator.

Police cars, ambulances, and fire engines were already pulling up to the high-rise. Tiny wouldn’t be able to get their ride anywhere near the building. They put on the guise of terrified guests and ran past the emergency vehicles. They found the Porsche SUV idling at the side of the road on the next block.

“Everyone good?” Tiny asked as they got in.

“No casualties,” Eddie said.

“Your timing is perfect. There’s Hali.”

Hali’s limo came to a stop next to them. He got out and walked around to the Porsche.

The rear window of the limo rolled down.

“We’re not to the party yet, you idiot,” Kiara Jain said. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Hali pointed at Raven, who was sitting by the open door of the Porsche.

“Apparently, I picked up the wrong Kiara,” he said. “And I like this one better.” He got in the SUV.

Tiny drove off, leaving the actress gaping at the sight of her receding doppelgänger.

Mallik seethed as he retreated to his office with Torkan.

“Why were those guards unconscious?” he demanded about the men they had stepped over in the stairwell. “And how did Taylor get into my house?”

“I will find out,” Torkan said. “The two men we passed must have helped her. But I don’t understand why the woman impersonating Kiara Jain was fighting her.”

“How do you know it wasn’t her?”

“I’ve seen her movies. Kiara doesn’t do her own stunts.”

“Never mind. It’s not important anymore. I’m obviously not safe here. We’re leaving tonight. Until we launch the satellite, I don’t want to be anywhere Carlton can find me. Make the arrangements.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll have your helicopter here in five minutes.”

“Then we’ll talk about payback. He comes at me that brazenly, I’m going to strike at him just as hard.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Mallik could see that Torkan was troubled that Natalie Taylor could so easily get through his people and carry out an attack inside his own home. He should be.

“Is there anything you need?” Torkan asked.

“No,” Mallik said. “All I need is this.”

He picked up his laptop and stalked out of the room.