Hostage (Bodyguard #1)(71)
Amir offered a pained expression. ‘That disappeared at the same time as Connor’s.’
Charley snatched up the desk phone and dialled Connor’s number. The line sounded a continuous dead tone. She put the phone down.
‘You don’t think … they’ve been caught in a bomb blast, do you?’ Amir asked fearfully.
Charley’s face went pale at the thought. She rapidly typed at the keyboard, requesting an update on the Washington attacks. A few seconds later, a confidential security news feed popped up on the screen. She scanned the page, but there was no report of a fourth explosion … not yet anyway.
‘During a state of emergency, the government can block all mobile communications,’ said Bugsy, coming over from his workstation in the corner of the operations room.
‘That’s not exactly helpful!’ remarked Amir.
‘There’re two very good reasons. One, to stop the spread of panic among civilians. Two, to prevent a mobile phone signal triggering an explosive device. Nowadays, the remote-control IED is the terrorists’ first choice of bomb. The group behind this attack wouldn’t even need to be in the city, let alone the country, at the time of the attack.’
‘So how can we locate Connor and Alicia and find out if they’re safe or not?’ asked Charley.
‘Have you tried the GPS-tracker that Secret Service implanted in his watch?’
Amir shook his head. ‘We weren’t given access to that.’
Bugsy plumped himself down at his computer terminal. ‘Shouldn’t be a problem to fix,’ he replied, popping a stick of gum into his mouth and chewing hard. ‘The tracker will be transmitting on a separate protected frequency.’
His fingers rattled across the keyboard as he quickly gained access to the Secret Service Locator program. Leaning back in his chair to study the data, Bugsy scratched his bald head with bemusement.
‘Strange … even that’s disappeared,’ he mumbled, half to himself.
On hearing this, Charley picked up the phone again and dialled a different number. She gave her call sign and typed in her security password. ‘Can you give me confirmation of Nomad’s arrival?’
After listening to the response, she numbly put the phone down.
‘They’re not at the safe house,’ she informed them. ‘We need to update Colonel Black. I fear the worst has happened.’
A body lay in the middle of the disused aircraft hangar, a bullet through the head.
‘That will ensure her silence,’ grinned Malik, lowering his gun.
‘But that agent was one of us!’ exclaimed Hazim, his face aghast at the brutal execution.
Malik’s expression became stony. ‘We must tie up all loose ends, Hazim. A double agent can never be trusted.’
‘Well, what about all those innocent people killed by our bombs? You never told me about that part of the plan. How can we justify those killings to God –’
‘Don’t you dare question my command, Hazim!’ snarled Malik, taking a step closer and looking Hazim in the eye. ‘They were infidels. But I’m beginning to wonder if I should be questioning your commitment to the cause?’
‘No, not at all,’ defended Hazim, vehemently shaking his head.
‘I hope not,’ said Malik, then strode away, leaving Hazim staring at the body of the ruthlessly slain agent.
Malik approached the 4×4 where his men stood guard. Peering into the rear passenger compartment, he admired his prize. The President’s daughter was slumped unconscious on the back seat, a tranquillizer dart piercing her neck.
‘When the dust settles, Washington will discover what we’ve really achieved,’ he laughed coldly.
Bahir swept a surveillance scanner over Alicia’s prone body. A red light blinked on as the device passed over her jeans pocket. Bahir pulled out the bugged phone.
‘A job well done!’ he said, congratulating himself on his programming skill with the Cell-Finity bug. He extracted the SIM card and snapped it in half, before crushing the phone under his boot.
The scanner flashed again, this time over her bag. He rifled through the contents and pulled out the panic alarm.
‘I trust that’s not still active?’ said Malik.
Bahir shook his head. ‘The EMP Kedar fired during the attack at the memorial disabled all electronic equipment in the 4×4’s vicinity.’ He broke apart the alarm case and disconnected the innards. ‘This sweep is just to make one hundred per cent certain.’
Bahir now turned his attention to Connor’s body. The scanner immediately found his smartphone. He popped out the SIM card and destroyed it. He went to smash the phone too when he noticed the screen boot up and the graphic of a lock appear.
‘That’s strange,’ he muttered. ‘How can its circuitry still be functioning?’
Intrigued by the anomaly, he checked there were no outgoing signals, then pocketed the phone for later analysis. He continued his surveillance sweep. The scanner blinked rapidly as it passed over Connor’s wrist.
‘Someone certainly didn’t want to lose this one,’ he remarked, removing the fancy watch.
‘I wonder why that is?’ Malik mused, leaning in closer to get a better look at Connor’s face.
‘He’s a special guest of the President on an exchange programme,’ Hazim replied flatly as he rejoined the others. ‘His name’s Connor Reeves. He’s English.’