Path Of The Assassin

Ellis called the American ambassador, of course, and was furious when told to back down. Dr. el Aziz then shouted orders in Arabic to both the soldiers and the warehouse workers. A semitrailer from Worldwide Customs Brokers International was backed into the warehouse, and the Egyptian Museum’s containers were loaded without further delay.

Once the semi was loaded, Dr. el Aziz offered to treat Dr. Mandour to breakfast before he returned to the museum to open the crates. Dr. Mandour accepted and the pair departed in the minister’s chauffeured Mercedes.

Farouk Negim finished signing the paperwork and climbed into the semi’s passenger seat next to his driver.

Tom Ellis was fuming. “Mr. Negim,” he called snidely through the open window. “Beware of the mummy’s curse.”

Farouk Negim didn’t bother to respond. He simply instructed his driver in Arabic to proceed. Once they had cleared the customs warehouse and were on the road leading from the airport, he smiled to himself. Mummy’s curse, indeed. He knew full well that the occupants of his crates were not at all cursed. If anything, they were blessed, and they had showered riches upon him and his counterpart in Chicago, the likes of which neither had ever before seen in their long careers of smuggling.

25

Bernard Walsh, the navigator, and the badly beaten flight attendant were immediately choppered to El Salam International Hospital, but Rick Morrell had other plans for Meg Cassidy. After Harvath had escorted all of the VIPs to the EgyptAir clubroom, Morrell magically appeared with his SAS medic in tow. They made a beeline for the leather couch where Scot had laid Meg down and was conducting a cursory assessment.

“Okay, Harvath, we’ll take it from here,” said Morrell, who indicated to the medic to take Scot’s place. The SAS man was apprehensive. He was already sporting two butterfly bandages above his eye and had no desire to add to them. He didn’t want to be anywhere near Harvath.

Morrell sensed his operative’s trepidation and said, “Clear the way, Harvath. I’ve got some questions for this woman.”

“I’m sure you do, but she’s in no condition to talk. I told you, she needs medical attention,” replied Harvath.

“Why do you think I brought my medic with me?”

“Listen, Rick. I can appreciate that you want to find out what she saw, but she needs to be seen by a real doctor in a real hospital.”

“If she was that bad, why didn’t she go out on the chopper with the other wounded?”

“Because when the Delta medic triaged the injuries on the plane, there were plenty more serious than her. They were barely able to squeeze your injured men into the Black Hawk along with the civilians. Now, we need to get an IV started on her, and then-”

“What we need,” said Morrell, cutting Scot off, “is a description of the man she saw. I’ve got every person from that flight being held in a containment area. If Hashim Nidal is among them and she can ID him, then that’s what we need done.”

“And what if he’s not?”

“Then she’s going to need to view the bodies and tell me he’s among the dead.”

“Jesus, Morrell. We don’t even know the extent of her injuries and you want her to sit through a lineup of hundreds of people? For Christ’s sake, the woman can’t even speak. What’s she supposed to do, blink once for yes, twice for no?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

“Well, that isn’t going to happen. An As-Salam ambulance has already been called.”

“As-Salam? You mean El Salam.”

“No, I mean As-Salam. It’s a private ambulance service. If you dial Egypt’s version of nine-one-one, they only send out a public ambulance that’ll transport to the nearest hospital. I figured we would want her to be taken to the El Salam hospital where the other injured are.”

“No way. If she’s not talking now, I want her close when she starts. Have her taken to the Anglo-American Hospital.”

“But that’s not close. That’s the other side of town.”

“It’s close to the embassy, and that’s where I want her.”

“Fine,” said Harvath, anxious to be rid of Morrell so he could tend to Meg Cassidy. “I’ll ride over in the ambulance with her.”

“No you won’t. I’ll send one of my people to keep an eye on her. I want you down in the containment area conducting interviews right now. And don’t try to buck me on this one.”