Jeff McMasters saw the end of the lap around the observation deck to his front and gave a silent thank-you. The drone of the official tour guide had endlessly echoed with bits of trivia of the city no matter which direction they looked.
He did have to admit they weren’t kidding about the height. They were so far up in the air that the “ordinary” skyscrapers of downtown Dubai looked like toys. So far up that there had been no vertigo at all. It was like looking out the window of an airplane, the earth so distant that his mind couldn’t compute the effect as being above it.
They reached the elevators, and the guide asked if he’d like to go outside, to the tallest open-air observation deck in the world. He, of course, expressed keen interest, wondering what else the man could blab about.
Blessedly, the tour guide simply said, “Enjoy yourself and let me know when you’re ready to return to the bottom.”
He nodded as if he was having the time of his life and pulled out his international BlackBerry. To his surprise, he had not a single e-mail or missed call. The damn thing rang endlessly, and he’d been out of contact for at least thirty minutes. He looked closer and saw he had no signal.
Must be something to do with this building.
Like a man addicted, he felt the need to get his phone back on the network. He nodded at Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid and said, “Let’s continue our tour of your fabulous city.”
The sheikh smiled. “Of course. Today is your day.”
As soon as the words came out of the Ghost’s mouth, I knew he’d tricked us. Delayed us to execute his plan. I wanted to scream at my stupidity. I should have hit what I knew-the elevators in the building. I’d gotten tunnel vision when I’d seen him, and now it would cost us.
I wasted no more time on him, knowing there was no pressure on earth I could bring to bear in the short time I had to get him to talk. He was prepared to die. Unlike his accomplice-my ace in the hole.
I started snapping orders. “Brett, target’s yours. Get him back to the van. Decoy, get the EMP gun recharged and ready. Knuckles, what’s your status?”
“Still on the parking-garage road, about to enter the highway. What’s up?”
“Turn around. Come back. Get that little weasel in the van to the basement door. He needs to lead us to the explosive set he saw the Ghost emplace.”
“On the way. Ten seconds out. What about the shit on the hundred-twenty-fifth floor?”
“Nothing we can do about it. We’re going to disable what we have.”
“You think that’ll be enough?”
“I have no idea, just get him moving.”
Sprinting back the way I had come, I saw Knuckles leap out of the van, rushing our captive forward, holding the back of his neck, the man’s feet barely touching the ground. We met up at the stairwell.
“Lead us directly to the location your friend placed the explosives. If you deceive us in any way, I swear to God I’m going to kill you.”
His eyes bugging out of his head, he simply nodded. I swiped his card, and we entered in a rush. We stood inside for a millisecond before I slapped his stomach.
“Where, dammit? Where?”
His hands cuffed in front, he took off at a trot. “This way. To the shafts.”
He led us through a maze, finally pointing at the gaping holes of two large elevator shafts. And the explosives inside each.
“Don’t touch them. Find the detonators. They’ll be electronic. Knock them out with the EMP gun.”
We fanned out, and I saw a snake of wire leading from the explosives in the right shaft. I followed it with my eyes, winding and curving on the ground like a child’s maze. Eventually, I ended up at the wall between the shafts themselves. And saw a blinking light.
“Decoy! There! Between the shafts! Hit it with the gun!”
He immediately took a knee, aiming the EMP. I heard a distinctive hum, then saw a blinding flash, followed by a shock wave that launched me backward.
I sat up, attempting to shake the ringing from my ears, looking to see if anyone on the team had been injured. Another sound penetrated the stillness. Something like a freight train loose on the tracks, coming from the shafts themselves.
The elevators.
I rolled backward as fast as I could, and another explosion rocked the basement, this one from the kinetic energy of a double-decker elevator hitting the earth from over ten thousand feet in the air.