On the rooftop across the street Salih methodically dismantled his rifle and packed it away in his attaché case. He snapped it shut and went through the stairway door that he had carefully left wedged open. He walked quickly down three flights, slipped through the fire door, and rang for the elevator.
In the lobby Salih found everyone hurrying toward the street. He blended into the crowd, and pushed to the front as if to get a better view of the action across the street.
Not that anyone could see anything. Three police cars had arrived, and sirens announced more were on their way. Officers had barricaded off the sidewalk and were preventing people from crossing the street.
Salih pushed his way through the crowd. At the corner he went down in the Metro. He rode three stops, came out of the subway, and walked down the street to an abandoned garage. He unlocked the padlock on the corrugated metal door and slid it upward.
The garage was dark. There were no lights, and either there were no windows or they had been painted out. After a minute his eyes became accustomed to the light and he saw a gray Chevy sedan, there as promised. He opened the door and the light went on. The key was in the ignition. He tossed his briefcase in the front seat.
“Were you followed?”
Abdul-Hakim was there. Salih hadn’t heard him come in. He spun around to see the familiar thin, swarthy face, darker than usual in the shadows of the garage.
“No. I took precautions.”
“You’re wrong. I followed you.”
“So what? You know me, and you knew I was coming. No one else followed me.”
“True. But I had to be sure.”
“Do you have the money?”
Abdul-Hakim pulled a fat envelope out of his pocket. “Ten thousand, as promised.”
Salih tore the envelope open and riffled through the bills.
Abdul-Hakim shot him in the head. Salih had a second to register sheer amazement, before he fell to the garage floor.
Abdul-Hakim bent down and plucked the envelope from Salih’s hands. He rolled the dead man over, reached in the pocket of the gray suit jacket, and removed a similar envelope. He checked to see that it also held ten thousand dollars. He tossed the two envelopes onto the front seat of the car. He found Salih’s wallet, removed the fake driver’s license, and replaced the wallet. When he was done searching the body, he dragged Salih to his feet and hefted him over his shoulder.
On the far wall of the garage, a freezer unit purred quietly. Abdul-Hakim carried the dead sniper over, raised the lid, and flopped him in. The body fit fine.
Abdul-Hakim closed the lid and locked the freezer with a padlock. He got in the car and backed out of the garage. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, hopped out, pulled the garage door down and locked it. He hopped in the car, backed out into the street. As he drove off, he took out his cell phone and made a call.