Confessor by John Gardner

Author:John Gardner [Gardner, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-1866-0
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road

16

EARLIER, IN NEW YORK, WALID COULD NOT sleep. New York is the city that never sleeps, and Walid remained wide awake. First, Samih and Khami had made noisy love. To be fair, Khami had offered herself to Walid also, once the team’s leader, Samih, had dropped into a deep sleep, but Walid had refused. He cared greatly for her, but hated the thought of her having been touched by Samih. His instinct told him that she would rather be alone with him, but what was instinct?

He still could not sleep, and realized suddenly at five in the morning that it was the silence that worried him. Even in the plush apartment building there was always noise. Twenty-four hours a day there was noise. The normal city traffic sounds of the day, and at night if it was not the street-cleaning crews, it was the wail of police sirens.

Now, here in the early hours, there was no noise. Quietly he climbed out of bed and went over to the long window that looked down on Park Avenue. With a jolt to his heart he realized why it was so silent. Below him, and on the other side of the street, the light of police cruisers twinkled their red and blue strobes. There were three ambulances drawn up across the street and a pair of buses.

Walid reasoned that there was a SWAT team out there. Possibly negotiators, in case something went wrong, maybe even the FBI fast-reaction hostage team from Quantico. He did not know how long he had to get clear, and his first thought was to waken Samih as the leader, show him what was waiting for them and take orders directly from him.

He must have puzzled at it for the best part of five minutes, and in that time he came to an unthinkable conclusion. They would not all get away: of that he was certain. Better for two to jump clear now than all of them perishing.

Gently he woke Khami, placing a hand over her mouth and putting a finger to his own lips so that she would not be afraid. Carefully he led her to the window and saw her eyes open wide in fear, so he whispered to her, telling her to get dressed, that he had a plan.

Now he also dressed and found one of the pistols that had a noise-reduction unit fitted to its barrel. He told Khami to find a weapon and ammunition as he went about getting a spare pistol and even more shells.

Drawing Khami to the door, he reminded her of what they had been told in Baghdad. If there was danger, particularly a situation where local police or intelligence agencies were likely to take the entire team, then one or two—no more than two—members would have to take the initiative.

Her eyes widened again. Those instructions had been given in graphic detail. If this circumstance arose, they would be cleansed of destroying their brothers and sisters, for the survival of one or two members of the team was essential, even at the cost of the others’ lives.

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