Esky nodded and began molding the C-6 explosive around the aluminum pipe. He was reaching into his pocket for the firing wires and triggers as Al-Khalifa walked away. Crossing through the underground parking garage, Al- Khalifa stopped, opened the rear of a van, looked inside, and then closed it up and walked across the lot again.
Opening the door to the emergency stairwell, he began climbing up flights of stairs.
Once he’d reached the floor directly under the Qatari emir’s suite of rooms, he used his card key to enter a room that had been rented by his shell company. Al-Khalifa glanced at the bed he had flipped up against the wall earlier that day. Then he examined the strange-looking red-painted machine sitting on the area of the floor where the bed had formerly resided. Up near the ceiling was a four-foot-diameter diamond-tipped circular saw blade that looked like a giant version of what a woodworker would use to bore a hole in the side of a birdhouse. The blade was attached to a stainless steel shaft powered by hydraulic rams. Below the shaft was a rectangular metal box that housed the diesel engine that was used to power the boring unit. Under the engine box was an axle and automotive-sized wheels that allowed the unit to be towed where it was needed. A portable hand-control panel with a twenty-foot cable allowed the machine to be remotely operated.
When he lowered the blade, there were six feet of clearance between it and the ceiling. There was a square piece of plywood and a ladder placed alongside the machine. The entire affair had been brought to the room in parts over a period of weeks and then assembled. Maids had been kept out by giving the front desk strict orders to not have anyone enter the room.
The unit was used on construction sites to bore through concrete in order to lay cables.
Al-Khalifa figured it would go through a floor just fine.
THE EMIR OF Qatar was sleeping peacefully on the floor above. Security teams from the Corporation were passing the night on duty in rooms across the hall and adjacent to the emir’s suite. They were sure the snatch would go down tonight. In the room across the hall, Jones and Meadows carefully watched the remote cameras. To the left of the emir’s suite, Monica Crabtree made notes while Cliff Hornsby cleaned a handgun. In the room on the right side of the suite, Hali Kasim and Franklin Lincoln were picking at a platter of sandwiches as they waited.
There was nothing to indicate what was about to happen.
ONE FLOOR BELOW, Al- Khalifa placed a pair of night-vision goggles over his eyes, then fingered the remote control and stared at his watch. The seconds ticked past until the hand swept across 3 A.M. Then Al-Khalifa felt a rumble through the floors of the building and the lights went dead.
Al-Khalifa pushed the starter and the boring machine roared to life. Pressing the button to raise the ram, he watched as the shaft and spinning blade headed toward the ceiling. As soon as the blade made contact with the ceiling, it tore into the drywall and wooden supports, spewing wood slivers and dust into the room. The blade was through the ceiling in less than ten seconds, and fresh air from above filtered down. Lowering the ram, Al-Khalifa tossed the plywood sheet across the sharp prongs of the blade, then grabbed the control box again, climbed onto the plywood, and raised the ram with the power to the blade shut off. A second later he was up in the emir’s room and stepped onto the floor.
Through the night-vision goggles, Al-Khalifa could see someone sitting in bed, rubbing his eyes. Sprinting across the suite, he grabbed a chair and jammed it under the doorknob, then raced back to the emir’s bed.
Bending over, he taped the man’s mouth and eyes shut, then pulled him from the bed and over to the hole. Once they were both on the plywood, he used the remote to lower the shaft and then pulled the man onto the floor and dragged him toward the door. Opening the door, he pulled the man down the hallway to the fire escape stairs and down.
Less than two minutes had passed since Al-Khalifa had started his plan.
A few minutes more and he’d be on the road.
“GOT IT,” JONES said.
The Corporation teams were outfitted with small, powerful flashlights that clipped onto their belts. Eight thin beams of light flickered in the hall outside the emir’s suite.
“The light went green,” Meadows shouted after slipping an extra card key through the slot outside the emir’s suite, “but the door won’t open.”
“Hali,” Jones shouted, “you and Lincoln go down to the garage and block the exit.”
The pair of men raced off.
“Crabtree, Hornsby,” he added, “guard the lobby exit.”
“Bob, back away,” Jones said. “I’m going to blow the door.”
Pulling a round metallic disk from his pocket, Jones removed a piece of paper protecting the high-strength tape, slapped it on the door, and flicked a small switch on the side.
“Sir,” he shouted at the door, “back away from the door, we’re coming in.”
Jones and Meadows moved a short distance down the hall and waited for the charge to explode. As soon as it had gone off, Jones raced over and pushed through the shattered remains of the door. Racing toward the bedroom, he panned the flashlight across the bed. It was empty. Scanning the room with the thin beam of light, he came across the hole cut in the floor. Then he reached for his portable radio and called the
“Code Red,” he said, “the principal has been taken.”
As he waited for a reply, Jones surveyed the bedroom. “Bob, see what’s down there.”
Meadows climbed through the hole.
“What’s happening there?” Hanley asked when he came on the line.
“They grabbed our player,” Jones said quickly.
“Now that,” Hanley said slowly, “was
“THIS IS THE bottom of the stairs,” Al-Khalifa said to his blindfolded abductee.
Al-Khalifa was still wearing the night-vision goggles, but from what he could see, His Excellency did not seem overly frightened. He was just following along with Al-Khalifa, as if his security forces had taught him not to resist.
“Come this way,” Al-Khalifa said, opening the door to the garage and dragging the emir by the arm.
