The Perfect Assassin

Chapter Twenty-Four

The firemen were walking down the stairs as Chatham was going up. All the hotel’s guests and most of the staff had been evacuated, and the only people now on the third floor were police. The forensics team Chatham had put on alert was already busy sifting, scraping, and searching. The woman in charge, Jane Grimm, met Chatham in the hall outside Number 36.

“Good afternoon, Inspector.”

Competent and thorough, Grimm was a favorite of Chatham’s. Today, however, there was no time for pleasantries.

“What have you found?”

Grimm led Chatham into Number 36.

“The patrolman thought it was another false alarm. He came up to 37 and knocked on the door figuring he could clear things up right away. Nobody answered, so he went back downstairs to talk to the manager. Clearly our friend was home after all. His room was connected to 36 by a door. It was bolted closed, but I doubt it took more than one kick.”

“There was no one in this room?” Chatham asked.

“No, it was vacant. I’m not sure how he knew.”

“That’s what he does. He knows things like that.”

Chatham could only see a thin veil of smoke in the room, but the smell, a particularly acrid variety, lingered heavily. They went to the bathroom and Grimm pointed to a pile of ashes and charred debris in the bathtub.

“He started it with a newspaper and some hotel stationery, then threw in a couple of blankets.”

“What’s that on top?” Chatham wondered, pointing to a pair of melted lumps.

“Jogging shoes. A good choice,” she admitted, “gives you a lot of thick, dark smoke, sort of like an old tire. Gets everyone’s attention.”

“Exactly what time did the alarm go off?”

“The desk clerk called the fire department within a minute of the alarm going off. The fire department dispatcher logged that call at 1:39.”

“Damn!” Chatham said in frustration. He had ordered a special watch on all transportation out of the area when he’d gotten the news, but that had been two o’clock. Still a twenty minute gap. “He’s gotten a head start again.”

They left the bathroom and walked through the shattered door frame that connected to Number 37. A man was poking around the room with a probe of some sort, connected by a wire to a machine on his back. The machine bore markings that identified it as property of the U.S. government. The man wore civilian clothes but had a short haircut, and Chatham decided he was likely a part of this American NEST team he’d been hearing about.

“There’s not much here,” Grimm said. “A few items of clothing, some food wrappings.” She presented a plastic bag that held a collection of tiny, curled scraps. “Wood shavings. We found them on the floor. Of course, no telling how long they’ve been here. Then there was this …” Grimm led to a table where a window blind sat. “We found it up on the shelf, there, pushed all the way to the back.” Chatham looked at the closet. He raised up on his toes, barely able to see the top of the now-empty shelf.

Someone called Grimm into the other room and she excused herself, leaving Chatham in silence with the American fellow. He was waving his sensor rhythmically in one corner of the room, looking like a badly dressed orchestra conductor. Chatham studied the window blind. His first train of thought was simple — the last person before Slaton to stay in the room was a decorator who had left it behind by accident. His second train of thought was ridiculous — Slaton was going to take it to Greenwich, put it up on a window for cover, then at the last minute, turn it open and shoot. At least that plot was foiled. He nearly laughed out loud. If it could only be so easy.

He took a closer look. The blind seemed brand new, and the cord used to raise and lower the thing had been cut short, two loose pieces of string dangling from the casing. He stood straight with his hands on his hips, both mystified and intrigued. “What are you up to?” he whispered harshly.

Grimm came back in and Chatham said, “Have you got a … ah, a cell phone?”

Grimm pulled a phone from her pocket. “They haven’t given you one?”

Chatham frowned. He fumbled and punched at buttons until the display announced that it was ready to do his bidding. He then managed to dial his office. Moments later, Ian Dark was taking instructions.

“—Continental Visions, model number 201048. It’s forty-eight inches in length. He may also have bought some wood—”

“Spruce four-by-fours,” Grimm prompted.

“Spruce four-by-fours.”

Dark acknowledged that he was keeping up and Chatham continued, “I want you to start at this hotel and take a five-mile radius. Any store that might sell something like that, get their transaction records. Go back three, make it four days. That should cover things. We want someone who purchased one, perhaps two of these. Any more and you can toss it out. I want the full transaction record of any sale, Ian. I want to know what else he might have bought.”

“You know it is Sunday, sir. Any place likely to sell something like this will probably be closed by the time—”

“I don’t care!” Chatham yelled at a volume that might not have needed the phone’s assistance to reach the Yard. “Call in the store manager, call in the owner! If they don’t cooperate, throw them in for obstruction and find the next in line! Get it done now!”

Chatham handed the phone back to Grimm, not remembering to end the call. The Yank in the corner with the funny wand was staring at Chatham, but turned back to his business when the Englishman caught his look. Chatham glared seethingly at the window blind laying on the table. It was key. Key to something. But what?

The night was calm, light winds driving a mild two-foot chop on the southern Mediterranean. This was a blessing, since most of the men on board had never been to sea. Mohammed Al-Quatan could see the lights of Malta to the north, flickering yellow in a distant haze. He thought they were getting too close. Twelve miles was the limit. Colonel Al-Quatan strode purposely toward the boat’s captain, who stood at the helm.

“We must be there,” he insisted.

The captain, a crusty old sort, looked at a GPS receiver mounted above the steering console. He bobbed his head indifferently. “A few more miles.”

Al-Quatan spat, “A few more miles and we are in Italian waters!”

The captain snickered. “I am going to the spot you gave me, and that is fourteen miles off the coast of Malta. If you wish, I can turn around now, but the price is the same.”

A fuming Al-Quatan turned away. His own men would never speak in such a way. But the old beggar had probably spent his life on the high seas battling Mother Nature. He would not be easily cowed. Al-Quatan wished he had a real boat, not this tired old fishing scow. The Libyan Navy had big patrol boats, fast ones with real sailors. Unfortunately, Moustafa Khalif had not permitted it. He wanted the satisfaction of delivering their prize personally to the Great One. They would ask no help.

The first mate, who was standing at the bow, suddenly gave a shout. The captain leaned forward, peering through the salt-encrusted windshield.

“What is it?” Al-Quatan wondered.

“A boat.”

“Is it the one?”

“It is possible,” the captain said with a shrug, “but we must get closer.”

Al-Quatan gave a signal to his men down in the cabin. There were ten altogether, his best men, and they clambered up the stairs with weapons ranging from submachine guns to rocket-propelled grenades. They assembled unsteadily on deck, many still not accustomed to the movement of the sea.

A few minutes later Al-Quatan saw the outline of the boat, a hundred yards off. It was completely dark. “Get close,” he ordered, “and use your light.”

The captain maneuvered alongside the drifting boat. “It’s an old Hatteras 32 or 34,” he announced, “a good craft in its day.”

Al-Quatan didn’t care if it was Noah’s holy Christian Ark. “The light!” he demanded.

The captain obliged, putting his spotlight on the vessel thirty yards to port. There was no sign of anyone aboard.

Al-Quatan wondered where Roth was. He wanted the treacherous Israeli almost as much as what he was selling. The weasel had already squandered away one of the weapons — left it sitting in an English port. Al-Quatan had prayed he’d be more careful with the other. His men spread across the boat and fixed their weapons on the Hatteras, ten gun barrels oscillating against the deck’s rise and fall. Al-Quatan took over the spotlight as the captain edged closer. He illuminated the hatches and portholes, but there was no sign of anyone. In the partially covered wheelhouse, Al-Quatan spotted an object covered by a sheet of plastic. His heart skipped a beat.

“Now!” he shouted. “My men will go now!”

The captain inched closer until the two boats were only a few feet apart. Even with light seas, they rocked incongruously, like two drunks trying to waltz.

“That is all,” the captain said, “I can get no closer.”

One of Al-Quatan’s men jumped over to the smaller boat. Landing in a heap, he lost grip of his AK-47 and it clattered to the deck, unleashing a wild round. Everyone instinctively ducked at the sound of the weapon discharging, and Al-Quatan swore he heard the bullet whiz by his ear. Two more men leapt across uneventfully, but then the fourth mistimed his effort badly. He smacked squarely into the side of the Hatteras, with a hollow clunk, and fell helplessly into the wet chasm between the boats.

“Idiot!” the captain yelled. He gunned his motors into reverse to keep the fool from being crushed. The three men already aboard the Hatteras managed to pull their stunned comrade from the sea, minus his Uzi.

The boarding party quickly collected themselves and disappeared into the bowels of the drifting vessel. A minute later, one man stuck his head out of a hatch and waved an all clear signal.

“Get closer,” Al-Quatan ordered. Waiting for the right moment, he jumped across, two members of the team grabbing his forearms as he landed.

“There is no one below,” one of them announced.

Al-Quatan nodded, then went straight to the wheelhouse and ripped the plastic cover off what he hoped was his prize. What he saw surprised him at first. It was shiny, silver, and not terribly long. He had expected it to be bigger, more sinister looking. But then he smiled. This was it. He knew this was it! Khalif had been right. After so much effort, so many years of suffering defeat and indignity at the hands of the Zionists, they had finally succeeded. Mohammed Al-Quatan was suddenly overwhelmed, realizing the power that lay before him. He felt almost God-like.

Someone whispered a sharp, “Allah akbar!”

Al-Quatan turned and looked at his men. He saw the same amazement and pride in their eyes as they regarded the seed of victory that lay before them. When the Great One saw what they offered, he would provide anything in return. They would live in proper houses, eat proper food. And soon, certainly soon, the Great One would use this gift from Allah to rid Palestine of the infidels once and for all.

“We have done it, my brothers,” Al-Quatan said, offering an unusual moment of fraternity to his underlings. “We have done it!”

Pytor Roth exited the cab by the departures sign at Malta International Airport in Luqa. With no luggage involved, the driver stayed in his seat as Roth paid the fare. It was two minutes after nine in the morning here, but more importantly to Roth, two minutes after nine in Zurich. He went immediately into the small, run-down building that passed for a terminal, and found the lone pay telephone. His call was answered immediately. The Swiss were always so efficient. He spoke in English and, after one switch, was talking to the person he wanted.

“Herr Junger, it’s Pytor Roth.”

Junger’s English was decent, if a little hard on the consonants. “Gut morning, Mr. Roth. You are calling about the new account, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“One moment, I will check.”

He was put on hold for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Junger picked up again, “Ya, Mr. Roth. The funds are on deposit, as we discussed.”

Roth exhaled. His lips curled into a smile.

“Thank you, Herr Junger. I’ll see you this afternoon with further instructions. You’ve been most helpful.”

“Two o’clock, sir. It is on my agenda.”

Roth hung up, still grinning. He might actually sneak out of this predicament after all. For months he’d been stuck between that proverbial rock and a hard place, ending with his journey deep into the godforsaken Libyan desert, to barter with the devil himself. But now there was an end, an escape. And maybe even a profit. He was a man on top of the world.

As he turned away from the phone, Roth swore he heard someone call his name. At first it merely struck him as odd. Only when he saw the stern, heavy-set man closing in from his right did the alarms go off. Roth instinctively veered away, but then a hand gripped his arm on the other side, a grip that made him feel like an animal whose limb had just been caught in a steel trap. The second man was not as big as the first, but he was smiling in a most congenial, discomforting fashion. Roth hoped for a moment they might be some sort of airport security, but then the one with the smile opened his jacket lapel slightly to reveal an ugly handgun. He spoke in Hebrew and said simply, “Come with us, Mr. Roth, or we will kill you.”

Roth was stunned. He was so close. So close to wealth and freedom. He felt himself being shoved along, back outside the terminal, one brute on each elbow.

“Who are you?” he asked desperately. “What do you want?”

Neither answered. The men steered him toward a car, a big sedan, and the back door swung open as they approached. Roth panicked. He saw a policeman directing traffic some distance up the curb. He tried to cry out, but at that moment there was a crushing blow to his solar plexus. He doubled over in pain, and nearly did a somersault as he was thrown into the back of the car.

Face down on the floorboard, he tried to catch his breath as the car lurched forward. Heavy boots stomped on his back and legs, holding him down. The car surged ahead, winding through a series of turns. He tried to talk again, but the only response was a quick kick to the back of his head. His hands were tied behind his back, and then a black cloth hood was wrestled over his head. He was frantic now, wondering who these people were. There were a number of possibilities. None of them good.

The car stopped suddenly and he heard a loud noise, like a jet engine nearby. Roth was hoisted out of the car to a standing position. He could see nothing through the hood, but now the noise was excruciatingly loud. He was shoved and guided a few yards, then literally lifted off his feet and pulled upward, his legs bashing over a short set of stairs. Someone yanked him again to a standing position and shoved him back until he fell into a soft chair. He felt bindings being secured around his legs and chest. Seconds later came the unmistakable whine of jet engines rising to full power. The acceleration pressed him back into the soft leather seat. He was on a plane. But going where? And with who?

For a few minutes there were no new sensations. The drone of the engines, the draft from an air vent overhead. But he could tell someone was there, watching him. Without warning, the hood was yanked roughly off his head. Involuntarily, Roth’s eyes shut tight, but then he opened them slowly and all became clear. Two men sat staring at him. Two instantly recognizable faces. The former Prime Minister of Israel and the former Head of Mossad glared with daggers of contempt. Pytor Roth knew he was in deep hara.

Christine arrived at the cafeteria to find a madhouse. If Scotland Yard was weathering a typhoon of an investigation, this was the eye of the maelstrom. A narrow refuge where the harried staff could find nourishment, companionship and, if they were really fortunate, a few moments peace.

Her escort, this one a grim, brooding type, parked himself at the door while she lined up at the coffee stand. They’d been granting her more freedom, and Dark confided earlier that she’d be released “soon.” Christine suspected that meant after this morning. The clock on the wall read 9:09. An hour to go. If only she could quit looking.

She took her fix in a Styrofoam cup, black, and searched for an empty table. Nothing was open, but then a familiar face emerged on the far side of the room, waving her over. It was Big Red. His real name, she’d found out, was Simon Masters. Until today, he’d worked the morning shift as her guard. And he was unquestionably her favorite. Yesterday they’d chatted for much of the morning. He was an affable fellow, with a wife and three small children at home. It had been a pleasant diversion to hear how his kids attacked him every time he came in the door. She could easily envision him falling to his knees while three preschoolers climbed onto his wide shoulders, turning Daddy into a sturdy, yet malleable piece of playground equipment.

As she weaved toward him, Christine noted one disturbing difference from the previous day. Masters was wearing some kind of combat uniform. A heavy vest, a belt bristling with gear, and a radio with a wire that ran to one ear. All of it was black.

“Hello, miss.” He insisted on calling her “miss.”

“Good morning, Simon.”

“Sleep well?”

She shrugged.

“Today’s the big day, is it?”

“Yes. What’s with all the armor?”

Masters looked uncomfortable. “Listen, this place is crazy. Me and my mates have a private room in back. It’s much quieter. Would you like to join us?”

“It has to be better than this,” she reasoned.

He signaled to her escort at the door. The man gave a thumbs up and moved to the coffee line himself. Masters then led Christine into an adjoining room, which was indeed quieter. The only occupants were five other men dressed identically to him. They noted her arrival, a few nodding, then went back to their conversations. A wide window at the back gave a panoramic view of a large helicopter outside, settled on a rooftop pad. The pilots were in place, standing by.

“What is all this, Simon?”

He sighed. “It’s the Rapid Response Team. I’ve been put in charge.”

“Response? Response to what?” Christine suspected the helicopter was loaded down with weapons. “Is this about David?”

He nodded. “We’re on standby. If anything … happens, we’ll be called in to find him.”

“Find him? You mean kill him!”

Masters said nothing.

She sat at a table, set down her coffee, and closed her eyes. “Oh, Simon. I’m sorry,” she recanted. “This isn’t your fault.”

He pulled a chair next to hers, and put a hand on her shoulder. “I know this is difficult for you, miss. I truly do. If anything happens and we get called in, I promise to do all I can.”

She nodded. “I know you will. I’m glad it’s you, Simon. I just wish that I could talk to him once more.” She studied her coffee cup. “Do you remember the other day, what happened between me and that Israeli man in the hallway?”

He nodded.

“He told me something. Something that could change David’s out-look entirely. But there’s no way for me to tell him.”

“Would you like to tell me? In case I run across him?”

She smiled forlornly, “Thanks, Simon. But honestly, I don’t think he’d believe it unless it came from that fellow or me.”

Christine spotted another clock on the wall. Did every room in this damned building have one? she wondered. It was 9:20.