Shadow Tyrants

THIRTY-SIX

After circling the ballroom, Eddie returned to the area farthest from the bar, where Raven, MacD, and Linc were doing their best to avoid engaging with the other guests.

“I found the door to the emergency stairs,” Eddie said. “It’s in the hallway to the bathrooms.”

“Anyone guarding it?” Linc asked.

“One guy. He looks serious about keeping people out of the stairwell.”

MacD looked in that direction, but the guard wasn’t visible from the main room. “Is it alarmed?”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“Then all we need to do is keep the guard occupied for a few minutes while you’re gone,” Raven said. “I can do that.”

“You might be missed,” Eddie said. “The bathrooms are close by, though. Give me your perfume.”

She handed him a small spray bottle, which he pocketed.

“Do we know where Mallik’s office is yet?” Eddie said to Murph.

“Got it,” Murph replied. “It’s on the floor right above you.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. I found a video of his wife before she died. She was giving a tour to one of those Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous—type shows just after they finished construction on the building. She showed off her husband’s office, and I could read the floor number when she got off the elevator.”

“Okay,” Eddie said. “Linc, you come with me. Nobody will think it’s odd if her bodyguard is gone for a few minutes given how secure this building is.”

“What should MacD and I do?” Raven asked.

“Keep an eye on the hallway to the bathrooms. Let us know if anyone is coming.”

“And try not to talk to anyone else,” Linc said.

MacD smiled. “With the way we look, it’s gonna be hard to keep people away from us.”

“Then you do all the talking,” Linc said. “That’ll drive them off.”

“Because of this honey-smooth voice? It’ll be a challenge, but Ah’m up to it.”

Raven rolled her eyes and continued to wear her most dour and unapproachable expression. Eddie thought that might actually work.

He and Linc crossed the room and entered the hall to the bathrooms. They both nodded as they passed the guard before going into the men’s room.

After a quick check to make sure it was empty, Eddie said to Raven, “Anyone coming our way?”

“You’re clear,” she said.

They both went back out. Eddie was clutching the perfume bottle. Without a word, he lifted it and sprayed it in the guard’s face.

The guard sputtered for a second in surprise before the sedative gas took effect. He sagged into the waiting arms of Eddie and Linc, who quickly dragged him into a stall in the men’s room.

They sat him on the toilet seat, and Eddie used zip ties to secure his wrists to the gold-plated grab bars on either side. At the same time, Linc gagged him with a handkerchief just in case he woke up before they left the party. They took his radio, then Linc exited the stall so Eddie could lock the door from the inside and climb out.

“Three women coming your way,” MacD said.

Linc and Eddie left the restroom and smiled at the women entering the ladies’ room. When they were alone, Eddie handed the radio to Linc and said, “Wait here and pretend you’re checking your phone. Let me know if anyone misses the guard.”

Linc tucked the radio into his coat pocket and inserted the earpiece. Instead of saying “Good luck,” which was actually considered bad luck in the Corporation, he said, “Good hunting.”

Eddie entered the stairwell and bounded up the steps two at a time. He was about to open the door to the floor where Mallik’s office was when he heard voices through it.

He’d have to wait and hope they left. Of course, if they opened the door, the whole operation would be a bust.

Natalie Taylor was arguing with the chef in the kitchen next to the ballroom. He claimed that there was no record of a cake that was supposed to be delivered to the party.

“I didn’t approve that monstrosity,” the Frenchman said, sneering at the giant novelty cake. He’d been flown in from Paris especially for this event.

“Mr. Mallik himself requested it,” Taylor said in a calm voice. “Here, I’ll show you.”

She took a piece of paper from her pocket. It was an invoice with Romir Mallik’s signature on it. Even Mallik would think it was his own handwriting.

The chef examined it carefully, frowning the entire time.

“If you’d like to interrupt Mr. Mallik while he’s entertaining guests, I’m sure he’d be happy to come in here and attend to this. Or maybe you could call him.” She wasn’t bluffing. She’d be perfectly happy for Mallik to come into the kitchen.

“You can’t expect me to have his personal number,” the chef said.

“No, but I do,” Taylor said, holding out her phone. “He said to call him if there was any trouble.”

The chef pursed his lips, then shoved the invoice back to her.

“Fine. When does he want it?”

“Now.”

“But we are still serving the hors d’oeuvres!”

She raised an eyebrow and held out the phone again.

The chef put up his hands in surrender. “All right. It’s his party. But is any of that edible?”

“Just the top tier.”

“Before you go, let me finish preparing the rest of the desserts to go with it.”

“How long will that take?”

“Just a few minutes.”

Taylor made a show of looking at her watch. “I will wheel this out in two minutes no matter what.” She lowered the bunting over the sides of the cart to hide the wheels.

While she waited for the chef and his staff to frantically get the desserts ready, she looked at her phone, activating the app she would need once the cake was in place in the ballroom.

Inside the cake was a tripod-mounted remote-controlled machine gun called a Small Caliber Ultra-Light, or SCUL. Her app showed the view from its thermal camera, which could see through the paper-thin sides of the cake. With the controls on her phone, she could rotate the gun in a three-hundred-sixty-degree arc, raise or lower the angle of the barrel, and fire its eight hundred rounds of belt-fed 5.56mm bullets.

In a few minutes, Mallik’s ability to stop the Colossus Project would be finished. As soon as the cake was locked in place in the ballroom and Taylor had a clear view of him, she’d cut him down, taking as many of the guests with him as she could. She’d escape in the panic and confusion after she made sure he was dead.

Raven, unhappy that she was relegated to serving as distracting eye candy, pretended to sip her champagne as she watched the hallway to the restrooms. MacD, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying himself. Women continually gave him the once-over as they passed by.

“Mallik sure is well connected,” he said. “Ah recognize at least four high-ranking generals here, in addition to the celebrities and politicians.”

“How do you know?” Raven asked.

“Did a lot of work in this region back in the day. Saw some of the local brass at that time.”

“What if they recognize you?”

“Never happen. Ah was too low-level back then. These guys wouldn’t bother looking at an officer ranking lower than major.”

MacD had been looking at her, but his eyes suddenly focused on someone over Raven’s left shoulder. They widened as a subtle message to her just before she heard a man’s voice speak to her. She turned to see Romir Mallik approaching her with a big grin.

“Miss Jain,” he said, “I’m so glad you could come tonight.” Asad Torkan stood silently by his side.

Raven gave him her high-wattage smile and said, “It’s a pleasure to see you, Mr. Mallik. It’s a wonderful party and a beautiful home.”

“Thank you. I’m happy to finally meet you in person. I’ve been a fan of your films for many years. I’m sorry you went to America to continue your career. I hope you have returned for good.”

“If India will have me.” She turned to MacD. “May I introduce you to Cole Randle.”

Mallik narrowed his eyes at MacD and nodded curtly.

“Perhaps I can have you over sometime to watch one of your movies,” Mallik said, obviously excluding MacD. “It would be a treat to be able to hear your comments on it as we watch. I have a private forty-seat theater three stories below this room.”

“I would like that,” Raven said.

He looked at her with a curious expression. “Which of your films would you choose?” He waited for an answer with a tight smile. Raven couldn’t tell if he was simply being courteous or that he suspected she wasn’t who she said she was. Torkan was as stone-faced as ever, but he was watching both her and MacD intently.

She didn’t hesitate, saying, “Golibari Ki Rekha,” an action movie which meant Firing Line in English. It was Kiara Jain’s most famous role.

That seemed to be the right response because Mallik beamed at her and said, “That is my favorite. Later, if you would be so kind, I may ask you to indulge us with a song.”

At the mention of a possible performance, Raven felt her stomach clench. She paused for only a fraction of a second before she said, “I’d be delighted.”

“Excellent,” Mallik said. “Well, I need to tend to my other guests, but you can be sure I will return.” He took Raven’s hand and gave it a squeeze before he walked away with Torkan.

When they were out of earshot, MacD said, “You don’t sing, do you?”

“Not a note. If they put a microphone in my face and make me serenade the crowd, every ear within a six-block radius will be bleeding.”

She was turned away from Mallik for the moment, facing the direction of the hallway leading to the kitchen, which was on the opposite side of the ballroom from the bathrooms. A Caucasian woman with red hair caught her eye because she wasn’t wearing an evening gown. Instead, she was dressed in the attire of the serving staff. She was the only non-Indian working there.

The woman was carefully surveying the room, almost like an operative. Her face seemed familiar to Raven, but she couldn’t quite place it. The servant kept scanning the room until her gaze settled on Romir Mallik. She stared at him for a few seconds, then went back into the kitchen.

She walked with a grace and athleticism that wasn’t usual for a server, and that’s when Raven realized she’d seen the woman’s face before.

MacD must have noticed her expression because he said, “What’s wrong?”

“Remember that sketch Lyla Dhawan had Kevin Nixon draw?” Raven said. “It was circulated to the crew after she left.”

MacD nodded. “Sure. The woman who killed half the passengers on Xavier Carlton’s missing jet and then imprisoned the rest on Jhootha Island. Why?”

“She’s here.”