Solomon's Gold

CHAPTER 42

Dayoud pulled the van into the service alley behind the hotel where the conference was to be held. He parked and got out. Hamid and Amin followed. A man wearing the uniform of hotel security stood leaning against the wall, smoking.

"You can't park there," he said.

The guard dropped his cigarette and crushed it underfoot.

"Why not?" Dayoud said.

"No one parks there except contractors for the hotel."

"We have a work order from the chief engineer," Dayoud said. "We're going to inspect your HVAC system for compliance with the new city regs."

He pulled the official looking paper from his overalls.

"Let me see that," the security man said.

Dayoud gave him the paper. It appeared to be signed by Dawson, the chief engineer.

"Dawson's off sick," the guard said. "Wait here. I'll get Kowalski. He's in charge when Dawson's not around."

"Take your time," Dayoud said. "We're not going anywhere."

The guard went inside. Dayoud went round to the back of the van and opened the doors.

"You think he's suspicious?" Amin asked.

"Why don't you ask him when he comes back?" Dayoud said. "Idiot. Of course he's not suspicious. If he were, he would've told us to move on. Come on, let's get the cylinder onto the dolly."

The cylinder no longer looked like an air compressor, although it still featured gauges and hose connectors on top. It had been altered to look like the kind used for recharging refrigeration and air conditioning units.

Amin and Hamid picked up two toolboxes filled with various tools and test instruments, including a leak detector and a system analyzer. Anyone who bothered to look would see nothing in the boxes except common tools of the trade. Dayoud had been thorough. A folding aluminum ladder completed appearances.

"This box is heavy," Amin complained.

"Stop whining and pay attention," Hamid said.

The guard came back out into the alley. With him was a stocky, dark-haired man who needed a shave.

"Kowalski here will take you wherever you need to go," the guard said. "You can leave the truck here."

"Thanks," Dayoud said.

He turned to Kowalski. "We'll be as quick as we can, but we have to go over everything."

"Whatever," Kowalski said. "I got plenty to do. I'll take you guys down into the basement and show you the system. Then I gotta go deal with a problem on the twelfth floor."

"That'll be fine," Dayoud said. "With a little luck, we'll be out of here in a couple of hours."

"Whatever," Kowalski said again.

He showed them the service elevator and took them down to the basement, then led them to the central control room for the heating and ventilation systems.

"Here you go," Kowalski said. "The new system is over there. Are you familiar with it?"

"Sure," Dayoud said. "Nice set up."

"Yeah, they put it in a year ago. I'm surprised you guys have to check it out. Anyway, I'll leave you to it. Make sure you don't do anything that screws up the guests' comfort."

"We look like amateurs?"

"No offense, buddy. I have to say stuff like that."

"No problem."

"I'll be back down in about an hour. The service elevator will take you to the roof if you need to check out the A/C units up there."

"Thanks, Kowalski."

Dayoud and the others watched Kowalski walk away, back to the service elevator.

When he was gone, Dayoud said, "Hard to believe, isn't it?"

"What is?" Hamid asked.

"How easy it was to get in here. Their security stinks. We'll hide the gas inside the ductwork. When security cracks down before the conference, they'll be looking for anything that seems out of place. They're not going to find our little surprise."

He looked up at the complex network of ducting running along the ceiling. The hotel was forty-eight stories high. The ductwork was more than big enough to crawl through, with plenty of room left over.

Hamid pointed. "There's an access panel over there, by that big blower."

The panel was about five feet tall and three feet wide, big enough to let a man enter the ductwork with ease.

"That will do," Dayoud said.

Hamid wheeled the dolly over to the panel.

"Amin, you take off the panel."

Amin took a nut driver from the toolbox.

"What about that blower?"

"The heat will remind you of the desert on a summer day," Dayoud said.

At the look on Amin's face, he laughed.

"Don't worry, brother. I'll turn it off."

He walked over to the control panel by the blower and punched the off button. The loud whir of the big fan faded to silence.

"It won't be off long enough for anyone to notice. Amin, get to work. Hamid, help me open the cylinder."

The two men removed the cylinder from the dolly. Dayoud grasped the gauge group on the top and exerted pressure. It moved a half turn clockwise and clicked. Dayoud lifted it off and set it aside. He reached down into the cylinder and withdrew a container that had been hidden within the compressor.

"Careful," Hamid said.

Dayoud set the container down on the floor. It was painted black. It was small enough that one man could carry it in a bag, but it held enough sarin gas to kill everyone in the hotel. A few feet away, Amin had the access panel off the ductwork. He looked inside.

"It's perfect," he said. "There's a second duct branching off, about ten feet up. We can place the gas there. No one will see it, even if they look in here."

Hamid replaced the false top on the cylinder. Dayoud opened one of the toolboxes and took out what appeared to be a digital test instrument with leads. In reality, it was a timer that would release the poison gas on the afternoon of the first day of the conference, when the Israeli prime minister and the President were scheduled to speak. He set it aside and took out a rolled up package containing wire, a detonator, a battery, connector, and a package containing a kilo of Semtex.

Dayoud said, "Hamid, you and Amin hand things to me when I say."

Dayoud went through the panel into the ductwork.

"Hand me the ladder."

Hamid gave it to him. Dayoud set the ladder against the duct wall and climbed up to the branch.

"Now give me the gas."

It only took a few minutes to place the deadly container inside the branching duct. He positioned it away from the edge, out of sight from anyone looking up into the ductwork.

"Timer and wire," Dayoud said.

Hamid handed them up to him. Dayoud hooked a digital timer to the terminals on the container. It could run for a week. He set it to release the gas when he thought the Israeli Prime minister would be halfway through his speech.

A speech he will never finish.

Dayoud smiled at the thought.

"Now give me the Semtex."

Hamid handed it up to him. Dayoud had practiced setting up this kind of trap many times. It was simple enough. If someone moved the wires or the package with the Semtex, the detonator would go off. The explosion would take out half the basement and release the gas at the same time.

Dayoud climbed down from the duct.

"Seal it up."

Amin and Hamid replaced the access panel. Amin dropped one of the fasteners. It rolled away, out of sight.

"I dropped one."

"Get another," Hamid said.

Amin poked through the toolbox and found another fastener. It was a different color from the others, shiny. They finished reinstalling the panel. Hamid folded up the ladder. They strapped the false cylinder onto the dolly.

"Don't forget the blower," Hamid said.

Dayoud went to the control panel and turned it on. The big fan started up.

"Let's get out of here," Dayoud said.

As they were loading everything back into the van, they saw Kowalski coming toward them.

"You guys done already? That was fast."

"It's a great system," Dayoud said. "We didn't have to do anything. Everything's like it's supposed to be. I need you to sign this so we can get out of here."

He took a clipboard from the van. On top was an official looking form stating that the system had been fully inspected and was in good operating order.

"Sign here," Dayoud said. "You get a copy, we get a copy."

He handed Kowalski a pen. Kowalski scrawled a signature on the bottom. Dayoud took the copy sheet and handed it to him.

"Thanks for your help. You have a nice day."

While Kowalski looked at the sheet of paper in his hand, the three Iranians got into the truck. Dayoud started the engine and they drove away. In the side mirror he saw Kowalski studying the paper.

"The Americans have a saying for people like him," Hamid said.

"What's that?"

"Dumber than a sack of hammers."

The three laughed as they turned the corner out of the alley into the New York traffic.

They drove back to an underground garage two blocks from their apartment, where they'd rented a space to park the van. Dayoud parked in a spot deep in the bowels of the garage, in a dark corner. They got out of the vehicle. Dayoud opened the cargo doors.

"Peel off of the signs," he said. "Toss them in the back. We're not going to be using this again."

It took only a minute to strip the magnetic signs from the sides and place them inside the van. Dayoud twisted off the false top on the second cylinder and took out the container of gas. Hamid waited nearby, an open carryall in his hands. The bag was fitted with a space carved from gray foam, shaped to hold the gas. Dayoud placed the container of sarin in the bag and zipped it shut. Hamid got out of the van and set the bag down on the concrete floor of the garage.

Dayoud opened one of the toolboxes and took out the top tray. He reached inside and pulled out a square box. He placed the box on the floor of the van, opened the lid, and made an adjustment. He ran a wire from the box to one of the back doors. He climbed out of the van, closed the door most of the way, and hooked the wire to it. Carefully, he closed the door. He didn't lock it.

"Aren't you going to wipe everything down?" Amin asked.

"Why?"

"I thought that's what you're supposed to do. You know, fingerprints."

"You've been watching too much TV. There's no need. I've left a little surprise for whoever finds the truck. Besides, no one is looking for us. Not yet."

"Plenty of people will be looking for us in a few days," Hamid said.

"They can look all they like. They won't find us."

"God willing."

"Yes, God willing."

Dayoud picked up the bag with the sarin. The three men walked out of the garage.