Chapter 30
Armani Hotel, Burj Khalifa, Dubai:
26th February;11am.
Todd and Max were asked to leave their mobile phones in the car by the Brigadier, who was overseeing the security for the Symposium. “It is feared that the bomb may be triggered by a mobile phone signal,” the Brigadier had explained.
The road leading to the Armani Hotel and the parking areas were a sea of yellow as school buses were packed tightly into parking spaces. Every bus had been checked, and every driver had presented a valid pass, so far.
School children of all ages were gathering excitedly before being walked into the prestigious hotel by teachers, counting each child as it passed.
“I hope we were wrong about an attack, Todd. If so much as one of these kids are killed or injured I’ll rip Khaweini’s throat out myself before he can plead his innocence.”
Todd answered with a grim look. The excited cries of the children, running around carefree in the mild spring sunshine, was in stark contrast to the tension the authorities were experiencing.
The radio crackled into life. “Suspicious vehicle approaching. It is a school bus, but the licence plate is not on the database,” a disembodied voice announced. “Proceed with a boarding, but proceed with care.”
***
Rashli had been asked to drive the bus at the last minute by a friend whose wife was going into labour, which was odd, as Rashli hadn’t even known she was pregnant. Then, when he turned up at the school, the man at the gate told him that he was late and that all of the children had been crammed on to the other buses. He must take the bus to the Symposium and await the children for the return journey.
As he sat in a queue of similar buses awaiting the green traffic light, he looked for the security pass. He couldn’t find it. The lights changed for a moment, two buses passed through and then the bus in front of him stopped suddenly. Rashli stamped on the brakes and his jacket slid off the seat behind him and onto the floor. As he wasn’t going anywhere for a few moments, he decided to collect his jacket and retrieve the pass, ready for inspection. He was kneeling on the floor, picking up his loose change and other belongings, when all hell broke loose.
***
The Sergeant left two men at the rear of the bus and he and his colleague approached the driver’s door from the blind side. They were all wearing black protective gear, and had been told that the bus carried no children by a sniper placed on the partly-built Metro passenger footbridge opposite.
When they saw through the door that the driver’s seat was apparently empty, they went onto Red Alert Status. Pushing the doors open, they forced their way into the school bus and looked around. On the floor with his hand under the seat was a very scared Rashli.
“Hands up!” was repeated in English, Arabic and Hindi in quick succession. Rashli tried to get to his knees. As he rose he lifted his hands and in the right hand, clearly visible, was a mobile phone with a flashing red light.
The Sergeant had only a second to react. If the man pushed the send button they could all be dead in seconds. He placed two perfectly aimed shots into the man’s forehead, effectively stopping him from detonating the bomb. This was a tactic used on suicide bombers by the Israeli Army. The Sergeant picked up the mobile phone and yelled, “Target down! Bomb Squad now!” before exiting the bus.
***
Jamie had wasted valuable minutes in an effort to reach either Max or Todd. Convinced that the USS Enterprise was the real target, she dialled the Sheikh. A voice at the other end of the phone said that the Sheikh was busy dealing with a bomb that had been taken on a school bus to the Schools Symposium. “Thank God!” she breathed into the phone, realising that she must have sounded insane to the lady at the other end. Jamie excused herself, and sat back in the chair and relaxed. It appeared that the boys had been right all along.
***
Forty five minutes had passed before the Brigadier was free to give Max and Todd an update.
“The man we shot was Rashli Mukhergee, an Indian national and a reserve bus driver for the Wellington School on Sheikh Zayed Road. He was driving a bus that was not registered - why, we do not know - but it appears he was an innocent casualty. There are no explosives on the bus, and it is not the make and model you alerted us to originally.”
The two agents looked perplexed. “Are all the buses here, then?” Max asked.
“Yes, the area is secure. It appears that this was not the target.”
***
Jamie was starting in on her lunch when she saw a news bulletin on Dubai One TV. A pretty Arabic lady announced that there had been a security scare in Downtown, but it was a false alarm. People were encouraged to go about their business without fear.
Jamie dropped her fork and struggled to dress herself. The pains in her body were ignored as she raced to save the lives that she was now sure were at risk in Jebel Ali, around fifteen miles away along the main road. She pulled her shoes on with some effort, and had to wait whilst her head cleared, dizziness overwhelming her. “Not now, Jamie, not now,” she muttered to herself.
Jamie grabbed her mobile phone and headed for the lift. She saw staff staring at her, but no-one made any attempt to stop her. A minute later she was out of the main building and heading towards the Movenpick and a taxi rank. As she got to the crossing, another wave of nausea overtook her and she had to hold onto the fence for support.
A taxi pulled up beside her and the concerned driver leaned out of the window. “You OK, lady?” Jamie jumped into the cab and ordered him to drive to the docks at Jebel Ali. The driver was torn between accepting the large fare the long journey would bring, probably a hundred dirhams, and the risk of carrying a woman who looked so ill. In the end Jamie yelled, “Drive!” and he did.
***
Max took the driver’s seat and Todd retrieved the mobile phones from the glove box. When he switched them on they both had an urgent text message, the same text message, from Jamie. “Target is USS Enterprise at Jebel Ali – now.”
Todd relayed the message to Max, who sped off along Emaar Boulevard and on to Sheikh Zayed Road. They joined the road just a mile behind Jamie’s taxi.
Max drove like a madman, and Todd rang everyone from the Sheikh and the Brigadier to the US Consulate in an effort to get some action. In most cases they understood the urgency, but others had already suffered one fatality in a false alarm today, and they needed more convincing.