CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER
Thura pulled to a stop where they could see the Toyota clearly.
The two men got out, then a young woman emerged from the back and assisted another woman out of the other rear seat.
The second woman moved with the slowness of either age or ill health, or perhaps both.
Her head was covered with a scarf and her body was wrapped in a bulky cloak, despite the warmth of the morning.
All four walked inside while a hotel attendant collected their bags from the SUV.
“Nice place,” noted Thura. “Not cheap.”
Temple said, “Who do you think the women are?”
Nash eyed Thura. “Since they were meeting us at the plane they must have descriptions of us. You want to go in and see what you can find out?”
Temple handed Thura some more cash. “Payment for any bribe you might need to make. I’m assuming U.S. dollars work here.”
Thura snorted. “They work everywhere.”
“Tread cautiously, Thura,” warned Nash. “These people do not play around.”
Thura put the money in his pocket and got out of the Jeep. They watched as he crossed the street, dodging a motor scooter with three boys hanging off it, and entered the hotel.
“You think those guys are part of the ambush team?” asked Temple.
“They look it,” said Nash, who was staring down at his phone to check the time zone difference in connection with the email he had sent while they waited at the airport; it was late in Nash’s old hometown.
But supposedly the FBI never sleeps.
However, after a half hour he had not received a reply back.
“Here comes Thura,” observed Temple.
Nash looked up to see the man sauntering out of the hotel like he didn’t have a care in the world. A newspaper was under one arm and he stopped at a market stand and bought some fruit. He was chomping on a banana when he climbed back into the Jeep.
He passed a mango to Nash and a passion fruit to Temple. He held up a knife.
“For the fruit. Don’t worry. It is a different knife than with. . .Amrita.”
Temple looked down at his passion fruit and said, “I’ll save it till later, thanks.”
“What did you find out?” Nash asked Thura as he took the knife from him and cut into the mango.
“I was told they are from Pakistan. Here on holiday, two brothers, their sister, and their mother, who is quite old and not very mobile. The receptionist said she could not do the stairs, but took the lift instead.”
“How long are they booked in for?” asked Nash.
“Three nights. Paid in cash.”
“Names?” asked Temple.
“Your money did not get me a peek at their passports.”
“You think they’re really from Pakistan?” asked Nash.
“I went up to their floor and actually passed them in the hallway. Many languages are spoken in Pakistan. I am passable in Pashto and Urdu, but the fact is they were speaking in English, which many Pakistanis do.”
“What did they say?” asked Nash.
“Something about people on a plane not being on the plane. So I suppose they were talking about you two.”
“Thura, do you have your passport?”
Thura touched his shirt pocket. “Always. You never know, man, when you need to jump.”
Temple glanced at Nash. “So what do we do now? They’ve probably already told Steers that we were no-shows.”
“There could be lots of reasons for that,” pointed out Nash. “We could have been killed, or arrested. She won’t necessarily conclude that we willingly did not get on the plane.”
“But she won’t necessarily conclude that we didn’t, either.”
Thura said, “So what do we do now?”
“We keep eyes on the hotel and wait,” said Nash. “Those men have a mission coming up. And they’re going to do it, regardless of whether we’re there or not.”
“Do you know when this mission will take place?” asked Thura.
Nash said, “Actually, we have the day and time, but not the location. For that, we’ll need to follow them. But I want eyes on the place to see who else they might meet here.”
Temple shot him another glance. “You think she—?”
“I don’t know. That’s why we have to keep watch.”
“This is getting really dicey,” noted Temple.
“It’s been dicey ever since we got on that plane for Hong Kong,” countered Nash.
“Who is this she you keep talking about?” asked Thura.
Nash glanced at Temple, who said, “Trust me, Thura, if you never meet her in your life, that will be a great thing. For you.”