Land of the Gods

CHAPTER NINE

The US Marine Corps Super Stallion raced over the surface of the warm waters of the Malacca Strait on its way to the military airbase at Kuala Lumpur. Crossing the border over the private island resort of Pulau Tengah, Hawke was astonished all over again by the beauty of the Malay Peninsula.

Tropical white-sand beaches lined with coconut palms encircling emerald-green isles were jewels set in a dazzling turquoise sea, but things became less beautiful as they flew at low altitude over Port Klang. He saw jaded, crumbling buildings and pot-holes in the streets, but no one else was looking out the windows. Sitting in the back of the heavy-lift cargo chopper, the rest of the team had prepared for the landing and were sharing a few laughs. Even Zeke and Nikolai, both of whom had begged to come on the mission, were settling in and sharing jokes.

Scarlet was searching through her pockets for a lighter while Reaper was studying Lexi’s new steel fingernails. He called them talons and she nearly slapped him, but then laughed. Lea and Ryan were leaning back in their seats with their eyes closed, trying to get some shut eye before the trouble started. If this was like any other mission, sleep would be hard to come by for the next few days, and something told him it was going to be a hell of a lot worse than just any other mission.

On top of the worries here in South East Asia, he was also thinking about Alex and what his old friend was up against in Washington DC. Sending Kim and Camacho back was a good move by Eden. Both strongly trusted by the President and Alex, either would fight to the death to protect him. He just prayed it wouldn’t come to that, and cursed Faulkner for trying to get Brooke out of the Oval Office. What the hell was going on over there? He had no idea, but at least now it was all starting to make sense. The US black ops guys who attacked Elysium must have been sanctioned by someone near the top, and now that someone had a name: Davis Faulkner.

Damn, is he working with the Oracle? That was something Alex, Kim and Camacho would have to work out under the command of the President. The ECHO team were here in Malaysia with a different fish to fry, and his name was Razak.

They flew over the Brickfields district and swung around to the north over the Ritz-Carlton before descending and landing on the shores of Simfoni Lake. Climbing out of the chopper, he stared up. All eighty-eight floors of the enormous Petronas Towers loomed up above them in the sweltering Malaysian sky. Completed in 1996, the towers were the tallest in the world until 2004, standing at a dizzy 1,483 feet in height and Razak’s apartment was at the top of the east tower.

“That’s a long way up,” Reaper said.

Lea shielded her eyes from the sun and looked up into the sky. “Serviced by an elevator.”

“Plus the bastard doesn’t know we’re coming,” Hawke put in.

As they were expecting, Eden’s contact Farish Awang was waiting for them at the base of the towers. A young man in his twenties with a crew cut, he and the two men beside him were dressed in civvies so as not to attract any unwanted attention.

“How’s it going?” Hawke said.

“We don’t know if Razak’s in there or not,” Farish said. “He’s a very private man and the building is not normally under surveillance. It’s possible he’s on his rubber plantation.”

Hawke heaved out a sigh. “No biggie. We want the ring more than Razak, and this is where he keeps his diamond safe.”

“These towers are beautiful,” Lea said. “Never seen them before.”

“Each tower is based on traditional Islamic geometry,” Ryan said. “Their floor-plates are formed of two squares on top of each other to produce an eight-pointed star. That’s why they’re this amazing shape.

“There’s that number again,” Reaper said. “Huit…”

They followed Farish across the expansive lobby, a stunning space combining postmodern glass and steel architecture with traditional Malay songket weavings. The Special Actions Unit officer flashed his badge at the people on the front desk and spoke to them in quiet Malay for a few moments.

He turned. “The bad news is that they don’t know if Razak’s in the apartment or not either.”

“And the good news?” Lea asked, hopeful.

“The warrant we have allows us acces without any problems.” He held up a plastic key-card in front of their faces. “So we can walk right in.”

Farish led them over to the executive elevators and they stepped inside. The high-speed, double-decker elevators could carry up to fifty-two people, but they were traveling in one of the four plush executive elevators. It rapidly whisked them up inside the building to the sky lobby. Here they changed to another elevator that took them the rest of the way to the upper zones. “One more change,” Farish said with a smile.

He slotted the key-card into the side of Razak’s private elevator and moments later they were stepping out into the deep, patterned carpet of the top floor.

“This is the life.” Scarlet traced her finger over a golden lion sculpture.

Farish slapped her hand away from the lion. “Please, it could be alarmed.”

They continued walking down the wide corridor until they reached a large set of double doors with polished golden handles. “This whole floor is Razak’s,” Farish said. “But through here is where his private residence is.”

Using a keycode obtained from the front desk, Farish opened the penthouse suite door and the team filed inside the luxury apartment. A plush room of thick white rugs and polished mahogany floorboards stretched in every direction. The entire floor was double-storey height and diamond chandeliers hung down from the ceiling, each one worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Farish glanced at the schematics of the apartment on his phone. “The safe is through here. Follow me.”

They followed him into Razak’s private study, a smaller space filled with studded leather chairs and paneled wooden walls. On one of the walls hung an original Pissaro landscape which instantly captivated Ryan’s attention. “Nice — I presume the goodies are behind here?”

Farish shook his head. “No, the safe is built into the floor — here.”

He bent over and pulled a large circular rattan rug away from the center of the floor to reveal the brushed steel door of a safe. It was neatly incorporated into the study floor, perfectly flush with the floorboards and hidden from the world — unless you knew it was there.

“Anyone know the combo?” Lea said.

“I do,” Hawke said, reaching into his bag. “It’s C4.”

She smiled. “I do love you, Josiah.”

“Everyone take cover,” he said, placing the explosives around the safe door.

“Maybe we could get a safe cracker,” Farish said, looking nervous. “Is this really the best way?”

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Hawke winked as he detonated the C4 and blew the doors from the safe. The sound generated by the explosion was deafening in the enclosed study and the force ripped the door from one of its hinges so now it was hanging from the other one, bent and scorched.

“Christ, I’m going to need to get some ear-cancelling head-phones,” Ryan said.

Lea ran forward and peered inside the safe. “Good news if you like diamonds or what is obviously counterfeit American dollars, but bad news if you’re looking for an ancient ring that once belonged to a god-king.”

Scarlet sighed. “You’re fucking kidding?”

She turned. “Nope, not unless he keeps it under his pillow because it’s not in here.”

“Then that means the plantation,” Ryan said, deflated by their failure to locate the ring.

Farish radioed in the failure to his team leader and turned to Hawke. “As far as that goes you’re on your own. We’re only authorized to facilitate the search of this penthouse.”

“I hope everyone packed their mosquito repellent,” Hawke said. “Because things are going to get nasty out there.”