pointed into the washer. “See the three dials there?”
“Yes. The progressive action links. I received thorough training with them from Doctor Zakir.”
“Good. You’ll be glad to know that to save you the trouble, he dialed in the code to arm the device. Then he paused it, two seconds into a ten-minute countdown. Here …” Bream handed Steve a device that looked like a TV remote control. “The good doctor rigged this, too. At game time tonight, you simply click the big red button and the countdown resumes at nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds. If you need to pause for whatever reason, click the button again. It’s basically a play and a pause button in one. The batteries are fresh, and you’ve got more up on the kitchen counter. If for whatever reason the remote malfunctions and you need to use the PALs, the code’s here.” Bream pointed to the area of the control panel where, Charlie recalled, the serial number had been engraved onto a strip of metal.
Steve nodded.
“So you ought to be all set.” Lowering the lid, Bream turned to go. “The fridge is stocked with all your favorite stuff-don’t worry, all halal.”
“And you will be where?” Steve asked.
Bream turned toward the staircase. “Outside the blast radius.”
“What if there’s a malfunction?”
“If anything goes wrong, Cheb Qatada knows how to reach Zakir or me-I know you’ve got the boss on speed dial.” Bream inched toward the stairs.
Charlie was eager for him to leave. It would mean contending with only Steve.
“Well, good, then, Mr. Bream,” Steve said. “Thank you most kindly.”
“The kind thanks are for you, Steve.” Bream bounded toward the stairs.
He stopped just shy of the first step and spun back around, eyes on the laundry door. “That folding door was open when we came down here, wasn’t it?”
Steve nodded.
Charlie’s blood froze. He needed an exit strategy. It was right up there with a weapon on the list of omissions in his planning.
Bream knelt, studying the floor.
Could he detect Charlie’s footprints on the linoleum?
He sprang into the master bedroom, refreshing Charlie’s hope. Because the laundry alcove looked prohibitively small, Bream and Steve might not think to look behind the appliances.
A moment later Bream returned from the bedroom with a Glock capped by a silencer. He faced the washing machine. He couldn’t possibly see Charlie, but the barrel of his gun was on a direct line with Charlie’s face.
“Please come out now and save me from putting a bullet hole in my nice dryer,” he said.
17
Charlie rose, his legs burning with pins and needles. And fear. “I owe you a big thank you, J. T.,” he said.
“This is who?” Steve demanded of Bream.
“Nobody.” Bream was extraordinarily unflappable.
“Nobody in the grand scheme of things,” Charlie said. “But for our purposes today, a CIA asset.”
Steve muttered something in Arabic.
“He’s lying,” Bream said. “He’s just a gambler.” He beckoned Charlie with a wave of the gun.
Charlie held his ground. “A gambler who attended a debrief at Langley the other day, and recalled your saying that you were going to celebrate the consummation of your arms deal with a rack of ribs. It took an analyst about a second to figure out that you were targeting the G-20.”
“Don’t worry, he’s not CIA,” Bream said to Steve. “Even the lousiest gamblers get lucky now and then. This is just some sort of cash grab.”
Steve’s eyes widened with panic. “What if he is not alone?”
“He’s alone.”
“How do you know this?”
“He plays the horses for a living; CIA wouldn’t let him near an op. And if he did have someone with him, they would’ve tipped him off that we were on our way here, or at least tried to waylay us, to give him time to get out.”
Steve paused for a moment. “Mr. Bream, the plan is to detonate ahead of schedule should anything go wrong. This was part of the deal, yes? Already very many people of consequence have arrived at the Grand Hotel, including almost all of the members of the French delegation-”
Bream extended his palms. “Whoa, we’re getting way ahead of ourselves. Trust me, Chuckles here is a lone mutt.”
“With all respect due, sir, it is not an issue of trust.”
“Good point. Let me prove it to you.”
“How?”
“If he had any backup, they would be here by now.” Bream leveled his gun at Charlie and pulled the trigger.
Charlie dropped behind the washing machine. The bullet tore the air above his hair, clanking into the dryer. An odd hiss came from within the dark maze of ducts and hoses. Suddenly his shirtfront felt wet. Blood? A chill encased him. He noticed a spray of cold water from a rupture in the length of hose running into the washing machine.
He slid behind the washer, hoping Bream would be reluctant to shoot through the bomb.
Steve waved in horror at the water pooling in the alcove and slicking the corridor. “What about all this?”
“Water won’t hurt anything.” Bream advanced to the gap between the washer and dryer, sidestepping the pool of water forming on the floor. “This device is designed so it could sink to the bottom of Mobile Bay and still detonate.”
His gun was close enough that Charlie smelled the spent cordite.
Times like this, his father usually came to the rescue. Or Alice.
But neither even knew he was here. No one did.
“I am still not confident,” Steve said. “If I am with your CIA, I would let him die, so that we believe they do not know about us.”
Bream sighed. “They don’t know, okay. Sure, it makes strategic sense to sacrifice a man. They’d never do it, though, for fear of the Senate investigation alone.”
“Maybe so.” Steve aimed the remote at the washer. “But why take the chance?”
Bream bristled. “You really need to hold up there.”
Steve held the remote at the washing machine like a fixed bayonet.
“Listen, there’s a girl I want to get out of the red zone, not to mention myself,” Bream went on. “Half an hour of lead time was part of the deal.”
Steve slid a thumb onto the big red button. “Clearly and irrevocably, the will of Allah has changed.” He clicked the remote. The conic bulb on the gadget’s head glowed red.
The bomb mechanism whirred to life, the washing machine housing vibrating against Charlie’s rib cage.
Bream fired the silenced Glock.
An image came to Charlie. A memory of the living room in the chalet. He and Alice on the comfortable sofa and Drummond in the armchair. The three were engrossed in one of their games of Scrabble. An interesting piece of information: Even Alzheimer’s couldn’t prevent Drummond from laying out seven-letter word after seven-letter word.
Now, feeling nothing save the spray of cold water, Charlie peeked around the washing machine.
Steve’s forehead had a red hole at its center. He collapsed, revealing a splash of gore at head level on the wall behind him.
“He was planning to die here anyway,” Bream said, as if seeking absolution.
