Part 12 (1/2)
”How do you know?” the boy asked.
”I know. Both of you-up. We're leaving.”
”Where are we going?” Chopra demanded.
It didn't matter if he knew, so she just told him the truth. ”Geneva.”
”Geneva? Why there?”
”I know a good restaurant for lunch. Now quiet. Let's move.” She motioned with her pistol toward the door.
”I'm not going anywhere,” said Hussein, rubbing his neck. ”You can't kidnap me. That's ridiculous. That's probably not even a real gun.”
She grinned. ”You're right. This is ridiculous. And I have no use for you, so ...” She moved toward him, raised the pistol, and felt pretty comfortable about putting a bullet in his head.
”Please,” cried Chopra. ”You have no idea who ... I mean, he's just ... he's a boy. There's no need to kill him. Hussein, you will come with us!”
The kid snorted. ”Yeah, right.”
Chopra began to lose his breath. ”Hussein, we'll go with her now.”
”You heard me, old man. I'm staying.”
The Snow Maiden couldn't believe what she was hearing from this little punk b.a.s.t.a.r.d. She walked up to him, smiled, then quickly punched him in the face so hard that he fell back onto the floor. Then she fired a round not three inches from his kneecap. The bullet burrowed into the floor. ”Now get up. You're coming!”
He looked at her, at the gun, then began shaking and struggling to his feet. Chopra went to him, and together they ambled to the door.
She predicted they would gasp when they viewed the carnage she had wrought in the kitchen.
They gasped.
And she needed no further demonstration that she was a woman of her word, that she would kill them if they didn't cooperate.
She'd parked her rental car around the corner but decided on the spot that they would take Southland's sedan and make at least one more car exchange that she'd arrange with Patti. She dug into the dead man's pocket, tugged out his keys, and ordered Chopra and the boy into the car, with Chopra at the wheel. She and the boy climbed into the backseat.
”Just get us out of here. Now,” she ordered. ”South, toward Dover.”
He started the car and pulled out. She kept the pistol aimed at the back of his head and flicked her gaze to the boy. ”All right, I want to know everything.”
Before Chopra could answer, engines roared overhead, and she leaned down to watch a squadron of fighter planes streaking away.
”Something's happening,” said Chopra. ”Something very big and very bad.”
”What do you want with us?” asked Hussein.
She rolled her eyes at him. ”You're just baggage.”
”You want him?” The boy sounded confused.
”Chopra, why don't you tell him about the secrets you carry? You're one of the last keys left. Maybe the only one. From what I've read, the boy's father was very paranoid that way, and there were very few who knew.”
The boy snorted. ”What're you talking about?”
”Come on, Chopra, tell him why I've come,” she urged the old man.
”She's here because the Russians want what is left of Dubai for their own. They think they can decontaminate the oil and gain even more control over the European market. But they're overzealous fools, and they'll suffer another defeat-even worse than their invasion of Canada.”
”You think I'm working for the Russians?” she asked, almost chuckling. ”No worries there, old man. Those days are long gone. Long gone.”
”Then who are your employers, and what do they want?”
”We know about the secret reserves. We know about the gold. And you'll get us into the vault.”
”So you've come to rob Dubai of what little it has left? That won't happen. Dubai will rise again. And I'll die before I see you inside the vault.”
She took a long breath. ”You'll come around. A man like you does not respond well to torture.”
”He's not the only one who can get you into the vault.”
”Shut up, boy, you're bluffing.”
”What I mean to say is yes, there aren't many who can get you inside, but once you're in, he can't give you the locations to the oil reserves, the ones my father kept secret. He doesn't know the pa.s.sword, and he wouldn't pa.s.s the DNA scan. Only someone with my family's blood can give you what you want. I've been there. My father was very careful about this. He taught me a lot. I know exactly what to do. I've never forgotten.”
”This is a good story to help keep you alive, huh?” she asked. ”You want me to think you're valuable. That's pretty clever for a little boy who knows more about video games than the real world.”
”He's more valuable to our world than you know,” snapped Chopra.
”To be frank, I agree,” she answered, probably stunning him, though she couldn't see his expression. ”Let Dubai return to the world's economy. In fact, I'd like to see the emirates return to power and undermine the Russian economy. I'd like to see Mother Russia fall to her knees. But I still want the gold and the locations of the oil reserves.”
”I'm willing to negotiate,” said Hussein.
”No, you're not!” cried Chopra. ”There's no negotiation with this ... this terrorist!”
”Shut up, old man, does it look like we have a choice here?” shouted Hussein. ”Now listen to me, Snow Maiden, or whatever your name is, he can get you the gold but not the oil. I'll give you the locations, but you're going to split that gold with me.”
She marveled over the boy's naivete and actually found it as charming as it was pathetic. ”Okay,” she said quickly. ”I'm willing to do that.”
”Very well, then. We have a deal.”
”There's no deal, Hussein. You don't know who she's working with. We're not giving her anything. And that gold doesn't belong to you. It belongs to your country and to the other nations who've made deposits.”
”If you don't deal with me, then you'll both die,” she told them. ”And Dubai will perish with you. At least if you work with me there's a chance the country will return to power. I have friends who can help. We have the same goals, just different methods of achieving them.”
”Are you listening to her, Chopra? I'm sixteen. I'm not going to die. Now you work for me, old man. You take orders from me! And this is what we're going to do!”
”Don't make this mistake,” Chopra said. ”Let me talk to you alone. Let me tell you about what your father really wanted. Let me share with you my own dreams for our country.”