“Come,” Asad told Katib. “They are ready.”
“Something’s up, Charlie,” Rockman told Dean as he pretended to read the sign outside the hall with the Islamic relics. “Asad just told his men to follow him. He’s moving toward you.”
Dean kept his eyes on the sign as Asad passed behind him, walking toward the lower courtyard. Dean let him get about ten yards ahead and then turned to follow as Asad and his men walked through the lower garden.
“Could be headed toward the Circumcision Pavilion,” said Rockman. “Yeah, looks like it.”
The small building stood at the side of a platform overlooking the nearby park and the Golden Horn, Istanbul’s ancient natural harbor. By the time Dean reached the pool next to it, Asad was on the other side, headed toward the Baghdad Pavilion, a large hall perched above a sheer drop at the very edge of the terrace. Dean had to slip through a large group of British tourists to follow; by the time he got through the throng Asad had disappeared.
“Charlie, can you see him?” asked Rockman.
“No,” said Dean.
“He’s in that big building in front of you, the Baghdad Pavilion. This is it. He just told one of his bodyguards to hang back.”
Dean spotted someone watching him from the wall near the building. The most inconspicuous thing to do was to keep walking toward it, going in the same general direction Asad’s party had taken. As he approached the steps under the arch, two men in Western-style suits came out from the side, holding up their hands and shaking their heads. He asked in English how he could visit the pavilion, but the men told him it was closed.
“Charlie, what’s going on?” Rockman asked.
“Two guys just waved me away from the door Asad used,” said Dean as he walked away. “They weren’t soldiers.”
“He’s still in the building,” said Rockman. “Set up some video bugs so we can see who comes in.”
“On it,” said Dean.
CHAPTER 35
Marie Telach knelt down next to the technician’s station, looking at his screen.
“See, these sines are diminishing,” said the radio expert, pointing at a series of waves on the screen. “It’s gotta mean they’re going underground. Thing is, we’re going to lose him if he goes much deeper.”
“Can you boost it?”
“We’re at maximum power now. You have to bring the booster units in closer. Your only option.”
Telach straightened and walked down to the front of the room, where Rockman was running the mission.
“He’s in here somewhere,” said Rockman, pointing to the comer where Asad had disappeared. “Below the building with the relics of Prophet Mohammed. That’s where we lost the signal. But he came from this direction over here. There must be a set of stairs that aren’t on our maps.”
“Do we know what’s on the basement level of the palace?” she asked.
“Yeah, but if we’re not picking him up, he’s got to be at least one floor below it, right? Or maybe two or three,” said Rockman.
A message appeared on the translation screen: SIGNAL LOST.
“Have Lia go into the palace with the portable booster units,” Telach said, stifling a curse. “Put them as close to this area as possible. In the meantime, I’ll talk to Mr. Rubens.”
The shriek of the phone woke Rubens with a start and he jerked out of bed. He turned and saw his clock— 4:03 A.M. He’d overslept.
He reached over to the side of the bed, picking up the phone that connected to the Art Room.
“Hello, Marie,” he said. “What’s the situation?”
“It looks like Red Lion is meeting someone in the Topkapi Palace,” she told him. “Probably in a basement area. We don’t have a definitive map. I’d like to have the U-2 Senior Project overfly the area with its penetrating radar.”
“Do it.”
“We’re having technical difficulties because of the building,” Telach continued. “We need to put boosters closer to the source. That may involve going into the palace itself, possibly into the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle where Mohammed’s cloak is kept. Charlie’s already gone through the security screen and we’re confident we can get a unit in without it being detected.”
Rubens took a slow breath, contemplating the situation. The president — against Rubens’ advice — had already decided against bringing the boosters inside any of the mosques; if the device were discovered, the act would be considered sacrilegious and would have considerable repercussions. The Pavilion of the Holy Mantle was not a mosque — but in some ways it was even more sensitive. The discovery of one of the units in the palace, an official government building, might embarrass an important ally.
Would definitely embarrass them.
“Do what is necessary to accomplish our mission,” said Rubens. “But do not leave one of the units unattended in the building with the relics. Have Lia or Dean bring it and stay with it, if needed.”
“All right.”
“I’m sorry I overslept, Marie. I was up late with George Hadash’s daughter last night, helping her make arrangements for her father’s funeral. I’ll be in shortly.”
CHAPTER 36
“Are you sure you’re entitled to wear white?”
Lia spun around, caught off-guard though the Art Room had told her Dean was nearby.
“You’d know,” she told him, smoothing the sides of her long outer dress. “And the color is cocoa, not white. Off-white. What’s the setup?”
“Asad went into that corner building and they lost the signal. He’s downstairs somewhere. They’re getting a radar plane to map the basement.”
“You sure he hasn’t slipped out?”
“Once he’s outside they’ll hear him.”
“Can we get inside?”
“They want to try and map it first.” Dean turned toward the building Asad had gone into. “They want to put a booster as close to the building as possible.”
“All right. I’ll go over to that bench.” Lia slipped out one of the pseudo-eyeglass case booster units.
“Give me some,” Dean told her. “I’ll walk into the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle with them. They don’t want us to leave any equipment in there, but I’ll find out if there’s a signal at least.”
Lia gave him the one in her hand and reached into her bag for another.
“Take the fake cameras,” she told him. “One for a backup.”
The fake camera looked like an early-model digital camera and could actually take two photos. But unlike the eyeglass case, anyone spotting it on the ground would probably take it with them.
“Smile,” said Dean, pretending to take her picture. “See you up there.”
“Not getting anything, Charlie. We think now he might have moved to the west toward the water,” Telach told him. “Take a turn around the hall and then go back outside.”
Dean held the fake camera in his hands, pretending to be angling for a picture of the swords that belonged to
