Just tired, he thought. It would pass.
There was no reason to fear. He had killed the traitor. If he did not board now, it would be difficult to obtain another ticket. Besides, since he’d already checked in, his absence might raise alarms.
Dabir stared into the face of his reflection, noticing the blood at the comer of his left eye for the first time.
He held his hands out to pray.
“Take away my fear,” he said softly. Then he started for the door.
CHAPTER 146
“Lia, he’s comin’ at ya,” said Rockman.
She was too busy trying to make herself comfortable in the narrow seat to even grunt an answer. But sure enough, when she looked up Dabir was walking down the aisle. She rolled her head back, disguising the glimpse as a yawn.
“Ms. DeFrancesca, this is Mr. Rubens. There’ll be a slight change in plans when you reach Newburgh. Mr. Rockman will explain everything before you land. We are still working on the details.”
“Peachy,” she said aloud.
CHAPTER 147
Dr. Saed Ramil stared at the sheen of water, hypnotized by the gentle ripples and the soft glitter of the light. God was ever present in the universe, so why couldn’t he talk to someone? Not Ramil, necessarily, but someone else, someone worthy of hearing God’s voice directly?
Because modern man didn’t believe in such things. Some did, certainly, but men like Ramil — students of science — didn’t. Allah might guide them, influence them, push or pull them in the right direction, but speech was something that happened in the past, not now. Even someone like Asad bin Taysr, a devil incarnate, didn’t claim God spoke to him, not in words.
Had religion changed, or man?
Man, Ramil decided. Man always changed.
And therefore religion changed. Not God, not the core of belief, but the manmade world around it.
That was what this struggle was really about. Asad bin Taysr and his ilk didn’t like the way Muslims had changed. They didn’t understand that someone like Ramil could be at home in the West, could be a contributing member to its society, could save lives.
Not many, but enough. In his small way, Ramil had made a difference. Asad could not fathom that.
Nor could he fathom that someone like Ramil could hear God’s voice — not in his head, but in the slow roll of the river as it rolled endlessly past.
And that was at the root of his sin, was it not?
Tommy Karr ambled down the rocks, easing his way toward the river line. The Hudson sent a gentle surge against the shore, a kiss belying its awesome power.
“Nice view, huh?”
Dr. Ramil turned around with a start.
“Hey, Doc,” said Karr, sliding down next to him on the big rock. “Long time no see.”
“How’d you know where I was?”
Karr gave him a smirk.
“Oh, the chip in the phone,” said Ramil after a second. “I’d forgotten.”
“Kind of slips out of your mind, huh?”
“The technology — does it bother you ever?”
“Ah. Just gizmos. Tools of the trade.” Karr shrugged. “How ya feelin’?”
“Not bad. The river is very peaceful.”
“Not the best neighborhood up there,” said Karr, thumbing past the railroad trestle.
“I hadn’t noticed.”
The waterfront park was an oasis of upscale development, with restaurants, parking lots, and a marina; above it lay a pot-holed stretch of city even Karr might not have walked through alone at night.
“There’s been a change in plans,” Karr told the doctor. “You up for implanting another bug?”
Ramil’s eyes seemed to catch fire. “On Dabir?”
“Advance to Go. Collect two hundred dollars. Art Room says it’s a K-three-point-two bug. That’s supposed to mean something to you.”
“Yes,” said Ramil. “It has more range but is a little bigger. The procedure is the same.”
“Good,” said Karr. “Come on. We’ve got a lot to do.”
CHAPTER 148
Lia pulled the small carry-on bag up from the floor in front of her seat, holding it close to her chest as the plane began to empty. She could see the back of Dabir’s head. He was still seated despite the fact that the line was nearly to his row. She thought of waiting as well but decided not to; the airport was well covered, and there was no need to call attention to herself. She pushed past him, walking swiftly through the plane and even smiling for the stewardess, who thought the fact that she had given her an extra bottle of water earlier had made them best friends for life.
Passengers were disgorged down a long hallway. Lia tensed as she turned the corner where the arrest had been planned; two FBI agents dressed as airline employees were standing there, exactly as if the original plan were still in place.
She continued into a large, auditorium-like room with a baggage carousel. Lia managed to get herself in a tangle of travelers, allowing her to stand off to the side as Dabir walked into the hall, the last passenger to get off the plane.
“Coming at you and past,” said Rockman in her ear. “You swing to your left, go through security again, and go up the escalators. Gate will be to your left.”
Lia started walking in that direction. Dabir had stopped to get his bearings. Lia passed him, then feigned interest in a newsstand.
“Heading toward the door,” Rockman told her. “Stand by.”
Was he leaving rather than taking the connecting flight? While they had prepared for that contingency, it would require them to fall back on the arrest rather than implanting the bug.
Lia picked up the latest Dale Brown thriller from the newsstand, flipping through it while she waited. She got four pages deep before Rockman told her Dabir was coming back. She bought the book; by the time she got to the security checkpoint, Dabir was on the escalator.
CHAPTER 149
Small airports seemed to confuse Dabir more than large ones, possibly because the people who used them tended to do so a lot and there were fewer explanatory signs. But he found the gate for the aircraft to Boston with more than twenty minutes to spare. The plane, a small two-engined turboprop, sat below on the runway, being
