A Devil Is Waiting - Jack Higgins [88]
“Have you tried to pull Sara into the frame?”
“Good God, no,” Roper said. “She’s really been through it the last few days. She’s sleeping the sleep of the just, I trust.”
“So we can go and lift Jack Kelly and Henri Legrande?”
“I don’t see why not,” Roper said. “You’ve got your SIS warrants. Technically, you should be accompanied by the police, but when did we let that stand in the way? I’d get on with it, if I were you.”
At Hazar, the wind was blowing curtains of sand every which way, but visibility wasn’t so bad that Hakim couldn’t see where he was going. He made a bad landing outside the hangars, rocking from side to side. Opening the door to get out was a struggle, the wind gusting, and Feisal had closed the great hangar door for obvious reasons. Hakim, holding the tail of his headcloth across his nose and mouth, lurched to the Judas gate, opened it, and stepped inside.
Feisal, working on the Cessna, turned to greet him, wrench in hand. He spoke in Arabic. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Well, I’m here.” Hakim crossed to the office, opened a corner cupboard, took out an AK-47, selected a magazine from several on offer, and returned to the hangar.
Feisal, wiping oil from his hands with a rag, frowned. “What’s happening? What’s the AK for?”
“The execution of Gregory Slay. He should be arriving shortly from Gila.”
“What madness is this? Why would you wish to do such a thing?” Feisal demanded.
“He is not only an enemy of Islam but an enemy of Al Qaeda.”
“On whose authority?”
“Mullah Ali Selim, at this moment staying in Rubat on the Monsoon. I am privileged to have been given this task, just as you are privileged to have the opportunity to aid me.”
Feisal said, “I am a Bedouin of the Rashid tribe, born in the Rub al Khali, the Empty Quarter, where a man’s word is his bond and honor comes before everything. Slay risked his life to save mine. I won’t let you do this thing.”
Hakim reversed the AK-47 and rammed the stock into the side of his face, Feisal collapsing sideways. He had just missed the Cessna wing as he fell, and lay there, blood on his face. Hakim pulled off his headcloth, using the folds to tie his wrists, then propped him up against a wheel, stuffing another loose fold into his mouth. The wind was rising out there, howling in from the desert, and Hakim opened the Judas, peered out, and immediately drew back quickly as sand blasted into his face.
He went over to Feisal, who had his eyes open now. Hakim kicked him. “Wake up. I’ll let you watch the fun before I kill you.”
There was a genuine menace in the voice of the wind now, and then it grew louder unexpectedly and changed into the distinctive clatter of the helicopter, which rose to a crescendo outside, and then stopped. The wind howled as if trying to get in, rattling the hangar door, and then the Judas gate opened and Gregory Slay entered.
He stood there, shaking sand from his hair, wiping it from his face with the palms of his hands, and paused at the sight of the tableau before him. Outside, the wind had subsided a little, so that it seemed rather quieter in the hangar.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Why is Feisal tied up?”
“Because he’s a traitor to his own people,” Hakim said. “He actually refused to help me kill you, even though it’s in the name of Islam. It seems it’s a matter of honor. Can you believe that?”
Feisal groaned, eyes desperate, but Slay smiled. “Yes, I can.”
Hakim said, “Take off your flying jacket. I know you always carry a .38 Smith & Wesson in the left-hand inside pocket. Toss it away and kneel.”
“Anything to oblige.”
Slay did as he was told, dropping to one knee, drawing the
.25 Belgian Leon from his ankle holster very quickly as he went down, shooting Hakim in the forehead, the hollow-point cartridge blowing away the back of his skull.
He untied Feisal and heaved him up. “He made a mess of your face.”
Feisal kicked the body. “This dog tried to get me to help him kill you.”
“What was his reason?” Slay asked.
“He was under orders from Mullah Ali Selim, who is staying on a boat called the Monsoon in Rubat Harbor.