The Solomon Scroll

CHAPTER 12

The heat of the night was offset by a cooling breeze from the Mediterranean. They'd parked half a block down from Abidi's building. A sodium filled street light reflected from the green storefront on the ground floor, painting the sidewalk a sickly color.

Their dust-streaked Mercedes attracted no attention. The German cars were popular in Lebanon. Three others parked on the block were almost identical.

"A lot of activity in that store," Diego said.

"It's a Hezbollah front. Anybody in there is trouble."

"Going to be hard getting through that."

"We're not going through that," Nick said. "We'll wait for him to come out."

He looked at his watch. "It's early yet. Nothing gets going here till 10 o'clock. Chances are he'll come out for the nightlife like he did the night before last. It's the thing to do here."

"If he doesn't?"

"Then we'll come back tomorrow."

An hour later Yusuf Abidi came out with his bodyguards. Abidi wore dark slacks, polished shoes, sunglasses, a white shirt with a long pointed collar and a linen sport jacket. He had a thick gold chain around his neck. He was joking with one of the guards.

"Man about town," Ronnie said.

The white BMW pulled up and Abidi got in with the guards. Nick waited until the car was a block away before pulling out to follow them. The BMW was easy to keep in sight. They headed east, out of the Muslim section of the city. After twenty minutes the car pulled up in front of a nightclub. A line of men and women stretched from the entrance, corralled behind a red velvet rope. A very large man stood at the entrance letting people enter according to some inner criteria. The men were dressed in ways similar to Abidi. The women were about as far away from the Muslim standard of dress as could be. The scene could have been in Paris or New York.

Diego whistled. "Whoa, those women are hot."

They were. High heels, short skirts and low cut blouses seemed to be the norm. Nick thought he saw a pattern about who got in and who was turned away. Hot was in. Not so hot was out.

Abidi got out of his car with his bodyguards. The bouncer held everyone back while the arms dealer went into the club.

"We passed an alley next to the club," Ronnie said. "There has to be a side entrance."

"I see what you're thinking," Nick said. "Get him into the alley and take him somewhere where we can talk to him."

"You got it."

"How do you plan to do that?" Selena asked.

Nick and Ronnie looked at each other. "Use you as bait," Nick said.

"You've got to be kidding."

"You can lose the scarf and do something with the outfit you're wearing under that long dress," Nick said. "This isn't the Muslim section."

"You want me to go in there?"

"I'll go with you."

"I don't think that's a good idea. You don't look like you belong and you don't speak Arabic."

"I can speak it," Diego said. "I can pass for someone who might be from the Middle East."

"Where did you learn Arabic?" Selena asked.

"I picked it up in Afghanistan. I was going to try for Delta. Those guys all have to speak two or three languages."

Nick drove past the club as they talked. Two blocks away he pulled to the curb and let the engine idle.

"Diego, you go in with her. Leave the talking to Selena. Bribe the bouncer. With Selena's looks it should be all right. Ronnie and I will stay with the car and be ready to roll."

"If they let us in, what do you want me to do?" Selena asked.

"Find Abidi and get him outside. This is our best bet. We can't take him at his building."

"We could go after him in his car," Diego said.

"We could. But it will mean a shoot out on the street. You saw what those guards are packing. He's not going to start something in there, it's too crowded."

"Makes sense."

"Selena, what do you think?"

"How do we get into these situations, anyway? I guess there isn't a better choice."

"Think of it as a chance to show off your acting skills."

"The only acting I ever did was as a daffodil in the first grade."

"Then it's time to upgrade your resumé."