The Templar Heresy

49

‘Where are they?’ Farooq demanded, sitting down at the café table next to Mahmoud, who now had a fresh cup of coffee in front of him, a necessary purchase to allow him to retain his seat. ‘Don’t point,’ he added. ‘Just tell me.’

‘The hotel on the corner to our left. First floor, second window from the right. I saw her for maybe ten seconds.’

‘And you’re certain it’s her?’

Mahmoud nodded. ‘I’m quite sure. The photograph you supplied was very clear. It’s definitely her.’

‘What about the man? Have you seen him?’

‘No. I’ve only seen her, and only for that short period.’

‘No other shadows or shapes on the window?’ Farooq persisted. ‘Nothing that could mean the man Bronson, or anyone else, was in there with her?’

Mahmoud was silent, mentally reliving that brief few seconds when he’d seen their quarry. Then he smiled as realization dawned, and he nodded again.

‘I’ve just thought…’ he said. ‘I was concentrating on making sure it really was her, but there must have been someone else in the room because she was talking. Or at least, her mouth was opening and closing.’

‘You’ve done well, my friend,’ Farooq said, and reached across to squeeze Mahmoud’s shoulder. Then he took his own mobile from his pocket, dialled a number and held a very brief conversation with Khaled. That completed, he switched to messaging, composed a short text and sent it simultaneously to the mobiles held by the remainder of his men. Then he leaned back in his seat, ordered a coffee from a waiter who’d been waiting expectantly a few feet away and glanced across at Mahmoud.

‘The others are on their way,’ he said, ‘and Khaled will be coming as well. He wants to be here.’

‘So now we just wait?’

‘We wait,’ Farooq confirmed. ‘And we watch. If they leave the hotel, we’ll follow them to make absolutely sure that they don’t manage to slip away.’

‘Where are we going to do it? We could take them in the hotel easily enough.’

‘We could, and then we’d be shot down like dogs in the street by the Israeli police or the soldiers who would be here within minutes. Like you, my friend, I have no fear of death, but I do want my dying to mean something, something a lot more than that. And don’t forget that the man Bronson almost certainly has Salim’s pistol. Trying to kill them in the hotel would be too noisy and uncertain. We must wait until they leave and then pick our moment. We’ll find somewhere much quieter, a place where they would least expect it.’

Mahmoud nodded, clearly seeing the logic of what his leader was telling him. But then another thought struck him.

‘What about Khaled?’ he asked. ‘He will probably want the job done as quickly as possible. Do you think he will be prepared to wait, as you suggest?’

‘Khaled is an administrator, not a man of action. In military matters, or tasks of this sort, I have no doubt he will defer to me.’