Читать книгу The Alexander Cipher - Will Adams - Страница 26

Nessim had been on the go all night, working furiously to catch Knox before Hassan woke. But he’d failed. He’d received his summons fifteen minutes ago, and now here he was, clenching a fist to steel himself before knocking on his boss’s bedroom door at Sharm’s medical centre.

Nessim had joined the Egyptian Army at the age of seventeen. He’d become a paratrooper, one of the elite. But a twisted knee had put an end to hopes of active service, so he’d resigned his commission through boredom and had become a mercenary in the endless African wars. A mortar round had landed fizzing in his lap, yet hadn’t exploded; instead, it had convinced him that it was time for a change of pace. Back in Egypt, he’d made a name for himself as a bodyguard before being recruited by Hassan as his head of security. If he’d scared easily, Nessim would never have survived such a life. But there was something about Hassan that scared him. Having to report bad news scared him.

‘Come in,’ muttered Hassan. His voice was softer than usual, and a little wheezy. He’d lost a tooth, and had suffered severe bruising of his ribs too, making breathing painful. ‘Well?’ he asked.

‘Would you please excuse us?’ Nessim asked the doctor sitting beside his bed.

‘With pleasure,’ said the doctor, a shade too emphatically for his own good.

Nessim closed the door behind him. ‘We’ve got the girl,’ he told Hassan. ‘She was going for a bus.’

‘And Knox?’

‘We almost had him. At Cairo Airport. He got away.’

‘Almost?’ said Hassan. ‘What good is almost?’

‘I’m sorry, sir.’

Hassan closed his eyes. Yelling evidently hurt too much. ‘You call yourself my head of security?’ he said. ‘Look at me! And you let the man who did this wander around Egypt like some kind of holiday-maker?’

‘You’ll have my resignation as soon as—’

‘I don’t want your resignation,’ said Hassan. ‘I want Knox. I want him here. Do you understand? I want you to bring him to me. I want to see his face. I want him to know what he’s done and what’s going to happen to him because of it.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘I don’t care what it takes. I don’t care how much you spend. I don’t care what favours you have to call in. Use the army. Use the police. Whatever is necessary. Am I clear?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Well?’ asked Hassan. ‘Why are you still here?’

‘With respect, sir, there are different ways to catch him. One, as you rightly suggest, is by using our contacts in the police and the army.’

Hassan squinted. He was a shrewd man, for all his wrath. ‘But?’

‘It was easy enough to secure their help last night. We simply told them that Knox had caused a serious incident on a boat but that the details were still unclear. But tomorrow and the day after, if we still want their active help, they’ll want evidence of this serious incident.’

Hassan looked at Nessim in disbelief. ‘Are you saying what he did to me isn’t sufficient evidence?’

‘Of course not, sir.’

‘Then what are you saying?’

‘So far, very few people know anything more than rumours. I picked your medical team myself. They know better than to talk. I’ve had my own people guarding your door. No one has been allowed in without my explicit permission. But if we involve the police, they’ll want to investigate for themselves. They’ll send officers to interview you and take photographs and talk to the other guests on the boat, including your Stuttgart friend and the girl. And you have to ask yourself if that would be helpful at this particular moment; or indeed whether it would be good for your reputation to have photographs of your injuries reaching the newspapers or the Internet alongside exaggerated reports of how they were incurred, which could easily happen, because we both know you have enemies as well as friends in the police. And you should also ask yourself what it would do for your personal authority if people got to see what a mere dive instructor had done to you, and that he’d managed to escape too, even if only for a little while.’

Hassan frowned. He knew the value of being feared. ‘What’s our alternative?’

‘We drop the charges. We say it was all a misunderstanding. We get the girl out. You lie low until you’ve recovered. Meanwhile, we go after Knox ourselves.’

There was a long silence. ‘Very well,’ said Hassan finally. ‘But you’re to take personal charge. And I expect results. Understand?’

‘Yes, sir. I understand entirely.’