Текст книги "Gideon’s Sword"
Автор книги: Lincoln Child
Соавторы: Douglas Preston
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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 21 страниц)
32
Gideon Crew stepped into the vast interior of the Tai Tam Hotel in Hong Kong. He stood still for a moment, looking around while buttoning his suit, taking in the acres of white and black marble, the cold opulence of gold and glass. There did not seem to be anything untoward about his arrival; he had gotten through customs without a hitch and everything had gone smoothly. He was fairly sure he had shaken Nodding Crane and any potential henchmen from his trail long before he left America. Who would imagine a person, being chased by a Chinese agent, getting on a plane and flying to China? The unexpected way was often the safer way.
He approached the desk, gave his name, picked up his room card, and rode an elevator to the twenty-second floor. He had booked an expensive room with a view of Hong Kong’s harbor, a necessary part of his cover, and he’d had to spend a considerable amount on some really sharp clothing. The twenty thousand Glinn had given him was almost gone, and he could only hope another infusion of cash would miraculously appear. Otherwise he would be in deep shit.
He threw the stupid hat in the trash, along with the plastic carry-on bag, took a shower, and changed into fresh, crisp clothes. Forty Benjamins’ worth, not counting the thousand-dollar shoes.
“A man could get used to this,” he said aloud, examining himself in the mirror. He wondered if he should cut his hair, decided against it: the modish length made him look dot-com.
He glanced at his watch. Four in the afternoon – of the next day. After thoroughly searching Wu’s plane seat and making sure nothing had been left behind, he’d slept so well he’d be good for another two days. And now he had work to do.
Taking the elevator down to the lobby, he went into the Kowloon Bar, taking a seat and ordering a Beefeater martini, extra dry, straight up, with a twist. The bar’s purple light gave his skin a cadaverous look. He drank it down, paid in cash, and made his way back to the lobby. The concierge desk stood to one side; Gideon waited until a few people there drifted away, and then went over. There were two concierges, and he picked the younger one.
“May I help you, sir?” the man said. He was a perfect specimen of neutrality, discretion, and professionalism.
Gideon walked him over to the far end of the desk and leaned forward, speaking in a low, conspiratorial voice. “I’m a businessman, traveling alone.”
A faint nod of understanding.
“I’m interested in engaging an escort for the evening. Are you the man I should speak to about that?”
The concierge said, equally quietly but his voice betraying nothing, “We have a gentleman who handles these requests. May I ask you to come with me?”
Gideon followed the man across the lobby and through a door into a suite of small offices. The concierge ushered him into one. Another man, of identical discretion and almost identical appearance, rose from behind the desk. “Please sit down.”
Gideon took a seat while the concierge left, shutting the door behind him. The gentleman reseated himself at the desk, on which sat several phones and computers. “What kind of escort service are you interested in?” he asked.
“Well.” Gideon gave a nervous chuckle, making sure to breathe out plenty of martini fumes. “A man traveling, away from his family, gets kind of lonely, you know what I mean?”
“Certainly,” the man said, and waited, his hands clasped.
“Well, um…” He cleared his throat. “I want a Caucasian. Blond. Athletic. Over six feet. Young but not too young. You know, late twenties.”
A nod.
“Um, is it possible to get special services with the escort?”
“Yes,” said the man simply.
“Well, in that case…” He hesitated and then said it all at once: “I’d like a dominatrix. You know what that is?”
“That can be arranged,” said the man.
“I want the best. The most experienced.”
A slow nod. “The escort services here require cash payment up front. Do you need to visit our private banking facilities before I make the arrangements?”
“No, I’m in the green already,” he said, with another nervous laugh, tapping the wallet in his suit coat. Christ, this might use up the last of his money.
The man rose. “And when would you need the escort?”
“Soon as possible. I’d like her for drinks, dinner, then the evening, till, say, midnight.”
“Very well. She will contact your room by phone when she arrives.”
33
Gideon entered the bar and saw her sitting at the end, drink in hand. He was surprised at how attractive she was, tall and willowy, not the muscled roller-derby type he had expected. He, for his part, had shed his suit and changed into tight black jeans, a T-shirt, and Chuck Taylors. He approached her and sat down.
“I’m waiting for someone,” she said, in an Australian accent.
“I’m the man you’re waiting for. Gideon Crew, at your service.” The bartender came over. “I’ll have what she’s having.”
“That would be a Pellegrino.”
“Yikes! Get rid of that and bring us a brace of double martinis.”
He found her staring at him, and he fancied he saw a look of pleasant surprise in her face.
“I thought I was meeting some fat old suit,” she said.
“Nope. I’m a thin, young non-suit. And your name is?”
A smile crept across her face. “Gerta. How old are you?”
“About your age. Where are you from? Coomooroo? Goomalling?”
She giggled. “You’re a daft one. You been to Australia?”
He looked at his watch. “Let’s take these drinks into the restaurant and get something to eat. I’m famished.”
In the hotel restaurant, after plying her with Château Pétrus and sweetbreads, Gideon unburdened himself. He did it slowly, reluctantly, and only under gentle urging. He told Gerta about how he had made a fortune selling his company, how he’d worked so hard he’d hardly ever seen his little son, how his wife divorced him and then they were both killed in a car crash, how he hardly recognized his son’s little body in the casket at the wake because it had been so long since he’d last seen him…And now, here he was, a billionaire and so lonely he would trade all of it—all of it—for one hour with his son. One hour of the countless many he had thrown away making all that money while his son waited for him to come home every night, sometimes waiting up with a flashlight under the covers so he wouldn’t be asleep when Daddy came home. But he always was asleep, lying there, flashlight still on. Gideon removed a photograph of an adorable blond boy from his wallet and shed a solitary tear over it, and declared himself the loneliest, saddest billionaire on the planet.
He was rewarded with a corresponding tear from Gerta.
Back in the room, Gerta started to bring out her kit with what he noted was a certain reluctance, but as she was unzipping the duffel Gideon told her he’d never met anyone like her before and he wanted her to be his friend and wanted to talk a little more, she was so funny and interesting, and he couldn’t imagine now going through that stuff with her – the stuff that helped him forget, just the smallest bit – because he now respected her far too much.
Gideon asked about some of her more interesting experiences and she, reluctantly at first but then more eagerly – stimulated by his fascination – began to tell him about her work. They sat side by side on the bed, Gerta talking. After five or six of her war stories, she finally got to it. It had happened, she said, about two weeks ago. She’d been hired by this fellow from an Australian firm for a special job. Apparently the Chinese had ripped off this firm’s technology – did Gideon know China had been stealing from Australian companies for some time? – and they wanted her to get one of the Chinese executives in a compromising position in order to get the technology back. Ten thousand dollars for an evening’s work.
“I was expecting some Chinese gangster type,” she said, “but he was small and nervous. No bigger than a mozzie. Took him forever to get out what he wanted me to do.” She giggled. “But when he got going…here, look out!”
Gideon laughed along with her and went to open a split of Veuve from the minibar. He poured out two glasses.
“Yeah, it was pretty funny. He was like an eager teenager.”
“What kind of work did he do?” Gideon asked.
“He made it seem all deep and dark sounding, something to do with electricity. Never even mentioned his real business was ripping off Australia.”
“Electricity?” Gideon popped a second split.
“Well, I think that’s what he said, electricity or maybe electrons or something like that. Hinted around that it was going to change everything, China was going take over the world. He got pretty drunk, wasn’t making a lot of sense.”
“Were the Australians who hired you happy with the information?”
“They were more interested in getting it all on videotape. They were going to force him to give back their technology.”
“What kind of technology?”
Gerta took a deep swig of champagne. “They wouldn’t tell me. Secret.”
“This all took place in his room?”
“Oh yeah. I never engage my own room.”
“Did you notice if he had a laptop with him? Or a portable hard drive?”
She paused and looked at him. “No. Why?”
Gideon realized he might be pushing it too far. “Just curious. You said he was a scientist – I was thinking maybe the stolen technology might have been in the room.”
“Maybe. I didn’t notice. The room was very neat, everything put away.”
He decided to push it once more. “Did he say anything about a secret weapon?”
“Secret weapon? No, just a lot of talk about China dominating the world, the usual bragging. I get that a lot from Chinese businessmen. They all think in ten, twenty years China’s gonna bury the rest of us.”
“What else did he say?”
“Not much. Once it was over, he suddenly got really paranoid, looked around the room for bugs, was afraid for me to leave. He sobered up real quick. It was kind of scary, actually, how freaked out he got.”
“And they paid you ten thousand?”
“Five up front, five afterward.”
“Australians, you said?”
“Right. And from Sydney, where I’m from. It was nice to meet some mates from Oz.”
Gideon nodded. The CIA was cleverer than he thought.
“And then,” she went on, with a laugh, spilling a bit of champagne, “there was the guy a couple of years ago wanted to bring his pet monkey. Ugh. Monkeys are nasty beasts, and I mean nasty! You won’t believewhat he wanted…”
She eventually fell asleep on top of the covers, snoring softly. Gideon carefully tucked her in on one side, then climbed in the other, his own head whirling from the martinis, wine, and champagne.
34
They arrived about eight in the morning, dressed in blue suits like a group of Hong Kong real estate developers, unlocking the door with their own key and filing into the room. They stood around politely as their leader spoke.
“Mr. Gideon Crew?”
Gideon sat up in bed, his head pounding. “Um, yes?” This was not good.
“Please come with us.”
He stared. The girl, Gerta, was still sleeping soundly next to him. “No, thanks.”
The two men flanking the leader casually removed identical nine-millimeter Beretta pistols, letting them dangle.
“Let us please not have trouble. This is a nice hotel.”
“May I get dressed?”
“Please.”
He got out of bed, all the men staring at him, trying to shake off his hangover and getting up to speed on his situation. He hoped Gerta wouldn’t wake up. That would add an element of unpredictability. He had to think of something fast. Once they got him into a car, it would be all over.
“May I shower first?”
“No.”
Gideon moved to dress in the walk-in closet.
“Take your clothes out and dress here.”
Slowly, thinking all the while, he pulled on the four-thousand-dollar suit and shoes, tie, the works. After spending all that money, he was loath to lose the clothes.
“Walk with us.” They closed around him in a tight group. The guns disappeared as they moved out the door and into the corridor. They all got into a waiting elevator. Gideon’s mind was running like mad, but he could come up with nothing. Make a scene in the lobby? Start screaming like a madman? Say he was being kidnapped? Run for it? As he played out every scenario, one way or another he ended up either shot or hustled off. The problem was, these men would surely have a better story than his. And official identification. He couldn’t win.
The elevator arrived at the lobby level, the doors whispered open, and they stepped into the marbled space. At the far end of the lobby, beyond the wall of glass looking onto the entrance, he could see three black SUVs pulled up in a row, guarded by several additional men in blue suits. His escorts prodded him forward, moving fast.
What if he broke and ran? Would they shoot him? Even if he escaped, where would he go? He knew no one in Hong Kong and had only about two thousand dollars left: chump change around here. They would flag him before he left the country. And he’d been forced to travel under his own name: you couldn’t get a fake passport these days.
They shoved him toward the door, toward the trio of idling, black SUVs.
35
Hey!”
He heard a shout from across the lobby and saw a woman charging toward them. Mindy Jackson. She had her CIA wallet out, held open in front of her outstretched arm like a battering ram. “You there! Halt!”
The voice was so loud it brought everyone in the echoing lobby to a standstill.
She busted into the group like a bowling ball into a set of pins, pushing Gideon to one side. Then she wheeled about and shouted at them again. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? I’m CIA assistant bureau chief here and this is my colleague. He’s got diplomatic immunity! How dare you disrespect diplomatic status!” She seized Gideon and yanked him toward the door.
Half a dozen handguns were immediately out, pointing at her. “You go nowhere!” the lead man shouted, advancing toward her.
Her own weapon came out in a flash, an S&W.38 chief’s special. There were sudden screams in the lobby as the guns were drawn, people ducking behind chairs and vases. “Oh yeah?” she cried. “You want a shootout with the CIA right here, right now? Come on! Think of the promotion you’ll get for shooting up the lobby of the Tai Tam Hotel!”
As she spoke at high volume, her voice ringing out, she continued hauling Gideon toward the door. The men seemed frozen as the two barged through an emergency exit, where she shoved him into the backseat of a waiting Crown Victoria. She got in behind him and slammed the door and the car screeched from the curb, leaving the group of blue-suited Chinese running to their SUVs.
“Motherfucker,” she said, shoving the S&W back into a shoulder holster and leaning back in the seat with a sigh. “Mother fucker. What the hell do you think you’re doing here?”
“I owe you thanks—”
“Thanks? You owe me your life. I can’t believe you walked your ass right into the lion’s den like this. Are you crazy?”
Gideon had to admit it seemed, in retrospect, a foolish decision.
She glanced back. “And now they’re following.”
“Where are we going?”
“Airport.”
“They’re going to stop us from leaving the country.”
“They’re confused. They’re asking for instructions. It all depends on how fast the intelligence bureaucracy can get their shit together. You know how to handle a handgun?”
“Yes.”
She pulled a.32 Walther from her waistband and handed it to him with an extra loaded magazine. “Whatever you do, for God’s sake don’t shootanybody. Follow my instructions.”
“Okay.”
She spoke to the driver. “Slow down, let them get closer.”
“Why?” the man behind the wheel asked.
“It may reveal their intentions. Are they just following? Or do they want to run us off the road?”
The driver slowed considerably and the lead black SUV came cruising up, fast, in the left lane. It braked to their speed, a smoked window came down, and the muzzle of a gun poked out.
“Duck!”
The round blew out both rear windows, showering them with little cubes of glass. At the same moment their driver made a sickening evasive move, veering across four lanes of traffic on the Eastern Island Corridor, wheels squealing on the diamond-cut surface.
“You ascertained their intentions,” said Gideon drily.
“Yeah, and it looks like they got their instructions.”
The car was accelerating again along the corridor, weaving through traffic, heading for the exchange leading into the Cross-Harbour Tunnel.
“There’s going to be a traffic jam at the tunnel,” said the driver. “What’ll we do?”
Mindy didn’t answer. Gideon looked back. The SUV – and the two others – were whipping through traffic, pacing them.
Thunk!Another round punched through the side of their car with the sound of a sledgehammer on steel. Jackson leaned out the broken window, fired five shots in rapid succession. The SUVs took evasive action, dropping back.
Crouching by the floor, she snapped open the cylinder, shoved in fresh rounds, snapped it shut. “Keep your head down.”
“There’s no way they’re going to let us out of the country,” Gideon said.
Thunk!Another round clipped the rear of the car.
Gideon ducked, his hands over his head.
“It’s a lot harder than it looks to shoot a handgun from a car,” she said. “It isn’t like in the movies. Give me your passport.”
He fished it out of his pocket. He could hear the roar of the engine, the wheels squealing, the blaring horns of cars rapidly falling away behind – and now the sounds of sirens. She snatched the passport, reached into a bag, and pulled out an embosser and a small circular stamp. Opening the passport, she stamped it, signed it, and embossed it. “You now have diplomatic status,” she said as she handed it back.
“Is that CIA standard issue?”
She smiled grimly as the car slowed.
Gideon peeked out. They were entering the sunken approach to the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. The black SUVs, in dropping back, had gotten stuck many cars behind.
The traffic slowed further, bunched, and finally came to a halt.
Gideon peered out the window again and saw the blue suits pouring out of the black SUVs a hundred yards behind. They raced toward the Crown Vic, fanning out among the cars, guns drawn.
“We’re screwed,” he said.
“Not at all. As soon as I get out, start firing your gun over their heads. Be sure not to hit anyone.”
“Wait—”
But in a flash she jumped out, running at a crouch, dodging the lines of stopped traffic. He aimed slightly over the heads of the approaching suits and depressed the trigger, the handgun kicking back, one, two, three shots, deafeningly loud between the enclosed walls of the sunken approach. The suits dove to the ground and a chorus of screams rose up around him, doors flying open, cars emptying.
Instant chaos. Now he saw Jackson’s strategy. He fired two more shots, adding to the panic: more doors were flung open, screams, people climbing over cars, shrieking, running like mad in every direction.
The blue suits rose and tried to press their way forward against the fleeing crowd, but it was like fighting an incoming tide. Gideon fired again, high, this time in all directions, boom boom boom boom!The panic spread and the suits once again dove for cover. The crowd surged outward, triggering panic in more distant cars, which emptied in turn, in ever-expanding waves. He heard Jackson firing the S&W somewhere behind, the snub-nosed revolver louder than his.32. At the noise, part of the fleeing crowd reversed direction in a panic, people colliding into one another, scrambling under cars. Gideon heard windows breaking, horns blaring. He tried to locate the blue suits but they had completely vanished in the surging mob, pinned down or maybe even trampled.
Suddenly the door was pulled open and he swung around to see Jackson. She passed the back of one hand across her forehead and holstered her weapon. “Time to split.”
He jumped out and they ran with the mob, heading back out the sunken approach. It was like an infection, the mob steadily growing as people continued to abandon their cars in a spreading pool of frenzy. It appeared that people were assuming a terrorist attack.
Swept along by the mob, they emerged from the sunken roadway. The crowd spilled over a cement barrier wall, tumbling down a short embankment and onto Hung Hing Road, where they poured in a screaming mass northward into the Hong Kong Yacht Club. The crowd instantly overwhelmed two men in a pillbox at a barrier gate, knocked it down, and scattered down the gracious, tree-lined avenue into the club grounds.
“Stay with me.” Jackson split off from the main throng and doubled back down a service road, crossed a set of railroad tracks, and climbed over a chain-link fence. They ended up leaving the crowds behind, running along a promenade overlooking Victoria Harbour. The promenade curved around to a paved asphalt jetty that stood out into the harbor. She had been yelling into her cell phone for a while and now she snapped it shut.
“Out there.” She ran down the broad tarmac jetty.
“It’s a dead end!” he cried. But then he saw, ahead, a huge yellow Hstenciled on the tarmac, inside a yellow circle. He looked up and, on cue, heard the sound of a chopper, coming in low and fast. It swung around the jetty, decelerated, then settled, rotors slowing. They ran toward it as a door opened. No sooner had they jumped in than it took off again, sweeping across the harbor.
Mindy Jackson settled into a jumpseat, buckled her seat belt, and turned to him. She eased a notebook out of her pocket, along with a pen. “I just saved your ass. Now you’re going to tell me the numbers. And no more bullshit.”
He told her the numbers.