The Alexander Cipher Page 0,120
for her to roll onto her front, but she wouldn’t. She lay there, squirming perversely, as though she knew the turmoil she was putting him through. He gritted his teeth. This was the price of leadership. This was the price of Macedonian liberation. He steeled himself by imagining all the accolades and glory that would be his due. Then he pressed the butt to his shoulder and filled his sights with her face once more.
KNOX HAD FOLLOWED THE CONVOY off the road at a safe distance, concealing the Jeep behind a rocky bank, then watching the Greeks argue and panic. Though he was too far away to hear their exact words, it was clear from their confrontation that their plans had gone seriously awry and they were scared.
Nicolas vanished purposefully into the container. A minute later, he dragged Gaille out, then demanded the AK-47 from one of his men. Knox watched miserably, but there was nothing he could do. He had no cell phone to summon the police or army, and he was unarmed and alone. Trying to save her now would be suicide. His only sane option was to go and fetch help. He had done his best, after all, and now it was someone else’s turn. No one would blame him.
He crouched over to the Jeep and started it up, the highway traffic close enough to muffle the sound. Then he just sat there a moment, because he knew in his heart that to go for help was to condemn Gaille to death. He couldn’t accept that; he just couldn’t. It wasn’t simply the debt he owed her father, though that was part of it. It was Gaille herself. It was the way he had come to feel about her.
His skin prickled with fear as he realized what he was going to do. Don’t be a fool, he told himself. It did no good. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, almost in prayer. Then he stamped his foot to the floor, like some knight of old spurring on his faithful steed, and charged.
AN ENGINE ROARED BEHIND NICOLAS. He whirled around to see an old Jeep hurtling directly at him. Knox! He was standing there in numb disbelief when Leonidas snatched back his AK-47 and sprayed a burst at the Jeep’s hood, which sprang up open. The engine spouted geysers of steam, and flames licked up from below. He could hear Knox revving futilely, but the Jeep rolled slowly to a stop in front of them, and the hood clanged back down. Knox opened the door and fled, but a round scorched his leg, and he cried out with pain and fell headlong, only to have Bastiaan and Eneas on him a moment later.
Nicolas wrested back the gun from Leonidas. Killing the girl was one thing, killing Knox another. He walked over, lifted the gun to his shoulder, and aimed down. “Wait!” cried Knox desperately, turning onto his back, holding up his arms as if that could protect him. “Listen! I can get you out. I can get you out of Egypt.”
“Of course you can,” mocked Nicolas, his finger on the trigger. “You can sprout wings and fly us, no doubt.”
But Leonidas pushed down the muzzle of Nicolas’s gun. “How?” he asked.
“I’ll ask the questions,” snapped Nicolas. He turned back to Knox, raising the gun once more. He felt ridiculous suddenly. “How?” he asked.
“I know people,” said Knox.
“Oh, you know people?” sneered Nicolas. “We all know people.”
“I know Hassan al-Assyuti,” said Knox.
Nicolas frowned. “The shipping agent?”
“I saved his life,” nodded Knox. “A diving accident. I gave him mouth-to-mouth. He said if I ever needed a favor—”
Nicolas squinted at him. “You’re lying.”
“Take me to see him. He’s in Suez. Ask him yourself. He’ll tell you.”
“Take you to see him?” snorted Nicolas. “He’s your best fucking friend and you don’t even know his phone number?”
“I never had to call in the favor before.”
Nicolas hesitated. Knox was up to something, he was sure of it. But if there was any truth whatever to his claim… He opened his cell phone again, called Katerina, and asked her to find a number for Hassan al-Assyuti. He walked in circles as he waited for her to call back, stamping his feet. When she finally did, he dialed it himself. He didn’t trust Knox one bit. He asked for Hassan al-Assyuti and was put on hold. He kept his eyes on Knox all the time, waiting for him to blink, to back down