Henry Porter: Empire State

Harland began to speak, but Eva lowered the phone because Gibbons was saying something. His voice was a whisper. ‘If you say where we are, every fucking jackass cop will be here. We don’t have time for that. We don’t know what these men have planned. We can’t let them be arrested.’

‘You’re losing blood,’ said Herrick. ‘You need to get to a hospital.’

‘Forget that,’ said Gibbons. ‘Just get these bastards talking.’

Harland told Lyne what he’d just heard on Eva’s phone. ‘They’re with another man – an American. They seemed to have overpowered Loz. This man has been hit, I think. He’s insisting they don’t get help until they’ve found out what Loz was planning.’

Lyne frowned. ‘What the heck are they doing?’ He stopped and met Harland’s eyes, then spoke to Vauxhall Cross. ‘The situation is under control. Tell the FBI to hold off. This is very important.’

Eva put her phone on the table, went over to Loz and placed Gibbons’s gun at his temple. At the same moment, Herrick seized the end of the bed and wheeled it away from them.

The two women said nothing to each other. The situation was beyond words.

Herrick looked down into Khan’s eyes and murmured, ‘I’m sorry. I have to do this.’ Without thinking any more, she raised Foyzi’s gun, and brought the silencer and barrel down on Khan’s still-bloated right foot. He shrieked. She looked up at Loz. ‘Tell us the plan. Tell us where your men are. How many of them?’

Loz shook his head in disbelief. ‘You cannot do this.’

‘Hurt him again,’ said Gibbons from the floor.

Herrick aimed and struck again. Although she pulled the blow at the last moment, the scream lasted much longer and died only when Khan had run out of breath. She paused. Her hand slipped to Khan’s side and momentarily snatched at his hand and squeezed it. The pressure was returned.

Now Eva worked on Loz. ‘We’ve only just started. We will cause your friend unimaginable pain. Are there five men or more? Where are they? Stop his suffering.’

Loz hung his head and then shook it.

Eva nodded at Herrick, who hit Khan again.

Gibbons had dragged himself from the floor. Holding his stomach with both hands, he lurched to where the food and the candles were by the window, picked up a plastic bag, then made his way to Herrick and handed it to her. Then he threw himself across Khan’s body, pinning him to the bed. Herrick looked down at Khan and wrapped the bag over his head.

‘No!’ shouted Loz. ‘I will tell you.’

Eva stepped back and reached for the phone. ‘Can you hear this, Bobby?’

Harland told her he could.

‘Tell us what the plan is. Then we’ll let your friend breathe.’

‘There are six,’ mumbled Loz. ‘Three in New York. Two in London. One in Holland.’

Eva repeated this to the phone.

Khan’s legs were trembling and jerking in the air, as though he was suffering a seizure.

‘Let him breathe,’ pleaded Loz.

‘What’s your plan?’ Eva screamed. ‘What’s your goddam plan?’ She hit him on the ear with the gun.

He shook his head again.

Herrick was now aware of Gibbons whispering to her. He was pointing to the TV monitor on the floor. ‘The cops are in the other room,’ he hissed. She glanced down and saw the figures darting across both halves of the split screen. She held the bag tighter round Khan’s head. His right hand weakly tore at Gibbons’s back. The other flailed in the air near Herrick. His legs stopped moving.

Eva stepped back from Loz. ‘Tell us and you’ll save him.’

‘They are martyrs. Martyrs with explosive. You understand! Martyrs! You cannot stop martyrs who give their lives to the struggle!’

‘Suicide bombers with Semtex, men spreading disease and toxic agents?’

He did nothing and she repeated the question, screaming in his ear.

He nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘When’re they going to attack?’

‘They have passes for two o’clock.’

‘American or European time?’

Khan had now stopped moving completely.

‘Please! Let him breathe!’ Eva signalled to Herrick, who pulled the bag from Khan’s head.

‘American time – after the other attacks.’

‘There aren’t going to be any other attacks. Who are these men?’

‘You know some of their names,’ said Loz. ‘I will tell you everything if you let Khan live.’

He gave them the names, haltingly, as if he couldn’t quite remember, but soon they had six names, only three of which Herrick recognised. He repeated them slowly again while Eva held the phone to his mouth. Langer, Khalil, Al-Ayssid, Ajami Hossein, Mahmud Buktar and Iliyas Shar. One American, three Arabs and two Pakistanis. He told them the men’s details. Their phone numbers and addresses were on a laptop by the table, which none of them had noticed before. Everything was there, including his last message to the martyrs.

Herrick looked down at her victim and nodded to him. Only she and Khan knew that she’d punctured the bag with her fingernails before wrapping it around his head. Despite the ferocious assault on his feet, he had gone along with her and play-acted his suffocation. She bent down, stroked his hair and kissed him on the forehead. Her other hand went to Gibbons’ shoulder.

Loz saw all this. He looked perplexed for a moment, then seemed to understand. ‘The goddess Isis used the essence of Ra to defeat him,’ he said. ‘That is what you did to me. You used my essence – my love for Karim – to defeat me.’

Herrick heard this but was too concerned about Gibbons’ condition to reply. She tore to the reception area and bellowed into the corridor. Within seconds, the place filled with members of the SWAT team they’d seen on the CCTV. They pressed field dressings to Gibbons’ wounds and then four of them picked him up and rushed to the elevator bank. Ollins, who had come in behind the men, crouched down by Loz.

‘How much information have you got from him?’ he asked Eva quietly.

‘He’s told us there are six men, three to attack the UN building here, two in London and one in Holland.’

‘Where in London? The UN offices?’

Loz’s eyes had come to rest on the patterned rug a few feet away. ‘This has been my prayer mat since I was a small boy. It has been with me all these years.’ He smiled to himself. ‘It’s the only thing I have left.’

‘Forget the self-pitying shit,’ said Ollins. He took hold of Loz’s jaw and banged his head upwards against the wall. ‘Where in London? Where in Holland? How are they going to make these attacks at the United Nations?’

‘He can’t speak if you’re going to hold him like that,’ said Eva.

Ollins let go and Herrick took over. ‘You’ve got men at the Hague. Is that right? The War Crimes court, the Chemical Weapons Inspectorate – which part of the UN in Holland?’

‘You will not find these men.’ Loz worked his jaw from side to side as though recovering from Ollins’ assault, paused and turned to Herrick, his eyes locking onto hers with the strange, wild look she had seen on the island. He bit into something, winced and opened his mouth to reveal foaming saliva. Herrick grabbed his shoulders, more out of desperation than any hope of saving him. Then, with only the smallest convulsion, the cyanide capsule silently took his life. His head lolled sideways and a little stream of dribble ran from his mouth onto his chest.

Ollins swore and thumped the floor. Herrick sat back, shocked.

‘Is he gone?’ They turned to see Khan, his head raised from the bed. ‘Is he dead?’

‘Yes,’ said Eva.

Khan’s head sank back.

‘He killed himself because of the failure,’ said Eva. ‘He killed himself because he’d told us everything.’