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Burj Khalifa
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 

A knock at the suite door caused everyone, captor and captive alike, to flinch. Karlsson was eating at a table in the bedroom, with a view of the main room of the large suite, pretending to ignore the goings on, instead consuming not only his food, but the nearly non-stop conversations held in Arabic.

Unfortunately, he had learned little beyond their predictions for the next World Cup.

And they were all wrong.

The man who had removed his hood and gag, a man Karlsson had learned was named Ahmed, rose to open the door, the other, Nasir, standing, his hand behind his back, as if he were ready to pull a weapon. Ahmed stepped back from the door as another man, clearly angry, stormed in.

“Ali! What are you doing here? I thought we weren’t supposed to meet until they arrived.”

“Someone knows.”

Ahmed glanced toward Karlsson who quickly averted his eyes, resuming shoveling the food into himself, a sense of foreboding spreading that this might be indeed his last supper. “How?”

“I just heard a recording of his”—he jabbed a finger in Karlsson’s direction—“wife, talking to a delivery man who knew about her husband missing.”

“Delivery man?”

Ali smacked Ahmed across the face, causing Karlsson to flinch and drop his fork with a clatter that didn’t go unnoticed. “He was undercover, you fool! Police or something.” He charged toward Karlsson, spitting his questions at him in Arabic. Karlsson rose from his chair, holding his hands up, and did manage to stop the first blow.

But not the second and third, the smacks thankfully open-handed, though still stinging regardless.

“Who did you tell? Who knows? Tell me how you did it!”

The blows continued to rain down on him along with the repeated questions, when finally he couldn’t take it anymore.

“I didn’t tell anyone! How could I? You’ve watched me every second!”

Everyone froze, Ahmed’s eyes narrowing. “You speak Arabic?”

And the open hands became fists, and for the first time in decades, Karlsson truly prayed as they slowly beat him to what he was sure would be his eventual death, the unanswered questions forgotten as punishment was doled out instead.