Payback (28 page)

Friday
Al-Khaleej Hotel, Dubai

The four men checked in, locked their bags in their rooms, then three of them met in the coffee shop. The missing man was John Petrucci, whose luggage consisted of a computer
bag and overnight case, plus a large and heavy suitcase. Since the latter contained the nuclear weapon they’d obtained from Russia, there was no way they were going to leave that
unguarded.

‘Baxter won’t be joining us,’ Dawson explained, using Petrucci’s assumed name. ‘He’s feeling a little jetlagged so he’s taking a nap. Our car will
arrive in about thirty minutes, but only two of us will be going to the Old Fort. Baxter isn’t fit enough, so I want you’ – he pointed at Wilson – ‘to start checking
out the gear. Get Baxter to help you, and ensure everything’s taken care of this afternoon, because I don’t know what timescale Hussein will be working to.’

The instruction didn’t make any obvious sense, but Wilson nodded, stood up and left.

Bur Dubai

‘Do you want me to come with you?’ Michael Watkinson asked, as they sat over coffee after lunch.

Richter thought for a few moments. ‘Yes, that would be helpful. If I just turn up out of the blue and start grilling him, Holden may not be particularly receptive. Since you’ve met
him before, you can just introduce me as a colleague from London.’

Watkinson glanced at his watch. ‘Now’s probably as good a time as any. Holden will almost certainly be at home.’

Al-Khaleej Hotel, Dubai

Richard Wilson knocked twice on the hotel room door. ‘It’s Agent Franks. Open up.’

Petrucci swung the door wide. ‘Hi, Andy,’ he said. ‘Where are the others?’

‘Waiting for the car. You feeling OK?’

‘Not too good, but definitely better.’

‘Good. I’m going to check the gear we’ve brought out with us. Let me just wash my hands, and I’ll get started.’

He motioned towards the en-suite bathroom and Petrucci nodded, walked in and turned on the cold water tap to confuse any listening devices. Wilson began speaking very quietly. ‘Now we have
to move quickly. They’ll be going to see Holden this afternoon, so we’ve got very little time to sort things out.’

‘You’re sure O’Hagan wants it done now?’

‘Yes. He’ll try and delay heading off to Al-Ramool as long as he can, but realistically they could be leaving the Old Fort any time after three.’

‘OK. You want to do it yourself?’ Petrucci asked.

‘No.’ Wilson shook his head. ‘Holden’s building may be under surveillance, so it has to be you, wearing a
gellabbiya
and a
kaffiyeh
, because you’ve
got the language and I haven’t. And he knows you – I might have a problem getting inside.’

‘Right,’ Petrucci said. ‘I’ll get ready. You’ll stay here, then?’

‘Yes. If anyone knocks at the door, I’ll just be a guy looking out for a sick friend who’s busy throwing up in the bathroom.’

Wilson turned off the taps and they walked back into the bedroom. Petrucci opened a case, rummaged around until he found a white
gellabbiya
, and pulled it on over his shirt and trousers.
A
kaffiyeh
followed, then he slid a cosh into his pocket.

‘Don’t take a taxi until you’re well away from the hotel,’ Wilson reminded him, his voice barely audible. ‘And don’t forget the computer.’

‘Oh, yeah.’ Petrucci went back to the case and pulled out a CD-ROM in a plastic sleeve. He checked his appearance in a mirror. ‘That’s it. I’d better go.’

Old Fort Police Station, Dubai

‘Agent Hutchings,’ Inspector Hussein said as the two Americans entered his office. For a moment he looked expectant, then puzzled. ‘Agents Baxter and
Franks aren’t with you?’

Dawson shook his head. ‘No. Baxter’s suffering from mild food poisoning, and Franks is checking some of the equipment we brought with us.’

‘Very well,’ Hussein said. ‘I’ll order some refreshments. Then we can begin.’

Ten minutes later Dawson and O’Hagan were seated in a briefing room, a selection of soft drinks on the table in front of them.

‘Right, gentlemen,’ Saeed Hussein began, ‘we all know why we’re here. My government’s very concerned that this man Holden might be genuine, and that a credible
threat exists against us here in Dubai. I presume you were briefed at Langley on why we asked for assistance?’

‘Yes, but in case we missed anything, could you run through it again, starting with Holden’s first approach to the British Embassy.’

By hearing what the Dubai police had to say, they would find out what the real CIA agents had been told.

In anticipation of this request, the slide projector beside the lectern was already loaded with photographs of the devastation in Damascus. The three men studied these extremely graphic images
in silence. The Manama bomb was still being analysed, but Holden’s very accurate prediction about it, and his premonition of a bomb exploding in a waterfront hotel, had the Dubai authorities
severely concerned.

‘The problem,’ Hussein finished, ‘is that we have whole roads of hotels running along the coast, and any one of them could be the building Holden thinks he saw being attacked
in his dream. Or, of course, the target might be in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, northern Oman, Qatar, or even Kuwait or Saudi Arabia. If Holden’s right, and one of these hotels
is
a terrorist
target, the biggest problem will be finding out which one.’

‘What about motive?’ Dawson asked. ‘The suicide bomber in Damascus claimed to have been acting for a political group that barely even exists.’

Hussein nodded. ‘The
Jamiat Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun
. It doesn’t make sense, but nobody can think of a valid reason why Assad should claim to be acting on their behalf if he
wasn’t doing so. He was a suicide bomber, so obviously no one was going to ask him questions
after
the event. And the bomb at Manama was different in almost every way.’

‘Could the Manama weapon have been positioned by the Muslim Brotherhood?’

Hussein shook his head. ‘Nobody has claimed responsibility, but the Bahrain authorities think the bomb was part of a local feud between two underground groups called Sharaf and Bahraini
Jihad.’

This was news to Dawson, but O’Hagan glanced at him with a suppressed smile. That explained why Ahmed had been so insistent about the positioning of the weapon: he and Petrucci had
unwittingly been drawn into an ongoing fight.

‘As far as we can tell at the moment, these two bomb attacks were unconnected, the only common factor being that this man Holden was apparently able to foresee both of them. But,’
Hussein added, ‘it’s early days yet, so we might well find that the conclusion the Bahrainis have drawn is incorrect.’

I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting
, O’Hagan thought.

‘I myself have interviewed Holden,’ Hussein added, ‘and he seems genuinely disturbed by these dreams he claims to be having. He’s been interviewed repeatedly, and his
story remains the same. Even if he has a hidden agenda, there’s still the problem of his uncanny accuracy.’ He glanced round the room with a slightly apologetic smile.
‘That’s the crux of the matter. How could he be obtaining such accurate information about future events?’

‘I don’t think any of us really believe Holden’s claims,’ Dawson said, ‘but we can’t argue with the facts. We’d like to see him ourselves this
afternoon, but no matter what he tells us, or what we think of him, we’ve been instructed to assist you as much as possible, and we’re assuming that the threat is real. We have
explosive detection equipment with us, and we intend to check all likely targets – which will be the biggest and most expensive hotels along the coast.’

This was actually true: part of the equipment the CIA agents had brought out with them included half a dozen sophisticated detectors presently stored in Wilson’s hotel room.

‘How do these detectors work?’ Hussein asked.

‘You could call them highly sensitive sniffers,’ Dawson replied. ‘They analyse the air, but they can also examine swabs taken from suspect packages or materials. All explosives
emit tiny particles and vapour, and this equipment is really sensitive – it can detect traces into the low nanogram level. That means they’re sensitive enough to detect one molecule of
explosive in several million molecules of air. We’ll need to test the air at different locations in each building we investigate. That’s because your hotels are air-conditioned, so the
air moves around constantly. Even so, it shouldn’t take more than about thirty minutes in each.’

Hussein smiled. ‘Even at that rate, Agent Hutchings, you have a considerable amount of work ahead of you.’

‘That’s why we want to interview Holden. We hope he can help us narrow the search.’

Al-Ramool district, Dubai

James Holden had just opened a can of beer when he heard a knock. He walked into the hall and peered through the spy-hole viewer. For a few moments he stared at the
unfamiliar figure, then recognition dawned and he opened the door.

‘Hullo, John.’

‘Hi, James.’ Petrucci stepped inside and glanced round, looking and listening for the sight or sound of anyone else inside the property, and reminding himself of the layout.
He’d only been there once before, over a year earlier. ‘Your wife not around?’

Holden shook his head. ‘No. Margaret and I have parted company, permanently this time. Sad for her, maybe, but good for me. Is everything on schedule?’

Petrucci nodded, again surprised at the arrogance of the man. Holden had always been the weakest link in the chain. After O’Hagan had originally devised the plan, it had taken him six
months to recruit the five other members of the team who would carry out the operation, and another three months to find Holden.

He’d needed someone living permanently in Dubai, but a resident with no affection for either the country or its people and, of course, for whom money was important. Holden had seemed
ideal, though it wasn’t until later that O’Hagan had realized exactly how ideal he was – the man was a very convincing actor. The big problem was his attitude: once he’d
grasped the scope of their plan, he seemed to consider himself a full partner, demanding an equal share of the take. O’Hagan had agreed to this, but only to keep the Englishman in line.
He’d told Petrucci immediately they’d left the apartment building thirteen months earlier that Holden was an expendable asset. And now this particular asset had just become a
liability.

‘Yes.’ Petrucci pulled the CD-ROM out of his pocket. ‘I’ve brought some more information for you, for the next phase. Where’s your computer? I can’t leave
this disk here, so you’ll have to copy the files.’

Holden led the way to his study and switched on the PC. When the password request appeared, he typed in an eight-digit code, then waited for the Windows desktop to appear.

The moment it did, Petrucci swung the lead-filled cosh down hard against the side of the Englishman’s head. Holden toppled to the floor without a sound.

‘Thanks very much for all your help,’ Petrucci murmured, then ignored the unconscious man and sat down. He picked up the CD-ROM and inserted it in the DVD drive. When its contents
were displayed, he chose one file and double-clicked it. The program was a file-destruction utility that would overwrite every byte on the hard drive with random characters five times over.
Fortunately, Holden’s computer had a fast processor and lots of memory, but even so it was going to take some time for the operation to finish.

Only then did Petrucci turn his attention back to the Englishman. He bent over him, seized his throat in a choke-hold and squeezed hard for nearly two minutes. Then he relaxed his grip and
checked Holden’s neck for a pulse.

Petrucci checked his watch. Two fifty-five. If O’Hagan managed to delay his departure from the Old Fort until three, Petrucci would be gone long before anyone arrived at the flat. But if
Hussein decided to leave earlier, it’d be a close-run thing.

He looked across at the computer screen. The program was approaching the end of its first over-writing operation. While it was running, he had other things to do.

He went to the kitchen, found a plastic carrier bag and returned to the study. He opened all the drawers on the computer table and rifled through their contents. He found a few floppy disks and
CD-ROMs, two unmarked DVDs and a USB memory stick, and tossed them all into the bag. Beside the monitor were some CD cases, containing operating system and software-installation disks, and he took
those as well. He checked all the other drawers and shelves in the study, but found no other types of storage media, then walked into the lounge and looked around. There were some DVD disks in
cases next to the TV set, and he opened each to check that it contained a pre-recorded disk.

Petrucci wasn’t really expecting to find anything else in the apartment: it looked to him as if Holden had kept everything to do with his computer in the study. They’d told him that
nobody, not even his wife, should know what he was doing. They had also told him not to take backups, but even if he had, Petrucci was confident they were now in his carrier bag.

He returned to the study. The deletion program had finished so he ejected the disk and pulled the computer’s power plug out of the socket. He took a last look round to ensure that
he’d left nothing behind, then picked up the carrier bag and left the apartment.

Old Fort Police Station, Dubai

Inspector Hussein glanced at his watch. ‘If there’s nothing further, gentlemen, I suggest we drive over to see Mr Holden now. He’s confirmed that
he’ll be at home this afternoon. Is there anything else before we leave?’

‘Only the use of your communications equipment to talk to the American Consulate.’

The inspector led Dawson down some stairs and ushered him into a room protected by a steel door. The noise hit them immediately: a constant whistling, chattering hum generated by the sound of
air-conditioners, fans running inside cabinets, relays opening and closing, all overlaid by the faint noise from speakers and headphones.