The Atlantis Stone

CHAPTER 24

Katerina Rostov was angry. First they'd missed the turn into the desert. Then the storm forced them to the side of the road. Then the car wouldn't start. By the time it did, it was too late to go after the Americans. There was nothing to do but go back to the hotel.

"I hate this country," Katerina Rostov said. "I'm still trying to get sand out of my hair."

She looked out the window at the street below.

"If it wasn't for the pyramids, no one would give a shit about Egypt," Dimitri said.

"I'm tired of playing games."

"What do you want to do?"

"We have to make the woman tell us what she knows. If they found what they were looking for out there, they'll go home soon. We're running out of time."

Dimitri waited. He knew better than to interrupt her while she was thinking

"If we try to take her when she's with the others it's going to go bad. We have to get her alone. In the hotel would be best, less can go wrong."

"She's always with the others."

"She'll be less alert inside the hotel. All we need to do is get her out of the room by herself."

"How about having her called down to the lobby?" Dimitri asked. "Like for a package."

"A package would be suspicious. A message might work. Something she has to pick up at the desk."

"She'll tell them to bring it up."

"There'll be a reason why they can't. Money buys anything here. It shouldn't take much to get the clerk to do what we want."

"When do we move?"

"Now."

They were headed for the door when Katerina's phone vibrated in her pocket. She looked at the ID.

"Volkov." She made the connection. "Yes, General."

"What is your status? I am waiting for your report."

"We are about to engage with the woman. I expect to have more later today."

"You are usually more efficient, Major. Make sure that you do."

Volkov hung up.

Zhopa, Katerina thought.

"What did he want?"

"To be a pain in the ass, as usual. Let's go."

The hotel where the Americans were staying was only a few blocks away. Outside the entrance, Katerina turned to Dimitri.

"You go in before me. Meet me at the elevators in back, away from the desk."

Dimitri went in. Katerina followed him in a minute later. She went up to the desk, where a clerk waited behind the counter.

"Can you help me?" Katerina said in Arabic.

The clerk looked at her. She couldn't hide her foreignness but she'd covered her hair with a plain scarf. It seemed to show respect for Islamic custom but it was only camouflage. Katerina had no respect for Islam or any other religion.

"How may I be of assistance?" the clerk said.

"A friend of mine is staying here. I want to leave a message for her."

"There is a house phone over there." He pointed. "You can use it to call her or leave a message."

"She may be with the people she's traveling with. I don't want them to know I'm here. I want to leave her a note. Could you call up to her room and tell her there's a message waiting down here?"

Katerina had an American twenty dollar bill barely visible under her fingers. She slid it across the counter toward the clerk.

With a casual movement the clerk made the bill disappear.

"What is her name, your friend?"

"Connor. Or she may have registered under her married name as Carter. She is a blonde foreigner. I don't know her room number."

"She's in 514. I know who she is. Where is your note?"

"Do you have a piece of paper I can write on?"

The clerk reached under the counter and brought out a piece of paper and an envelope with the hotel logo.

"Compliments of the hotel."

"Shukran."

Katerina wrote. She folded the paper and sealed it in the envelope. She wrote Selena's name on the outside and handed it to the clerk.

"Shukran," Katerina said again. Thank you.

The clerk watched her walk away.

Her skirt is too short, he thought. At least she put on a scarf. Her Arabic wasn't bad.

He picked up the house phone and dialed Selena's room.