“He’s dead?”
“It’s not confirmed yet.”
“What about Gupta?”
“No word on him, either.”
“If they’re both gone, that means Chen Min will have to listen to me now. Get him on the phone and call me when he’s on the line.”
“With pleasure.”
Mallik leaned on the railing and relished the sight of his brainchild being lifted into place for launch. The phone call telling the Colossus scientist to stand down would be even more enjoyable.
NORTH OF PORT SAID, EGYPT
Carlton stood on the bridge of the Colossus 5, fuming. He’d received notification that his plane had gone down in the Sinai with all hands on board. It wasn’t known if the plane crashed or if there were any survivors, but it had to be Mallik’s doing. Worst of all, he hadn’t heard from Natalie Taylor. If she were still alive, she would have contacted him.
At least he’d made the right decision to stay aboard the ship. With a squad of mercenaries to protect him, he felt very safe where he was.
Chen Min walked up to him and cleared his throat. He was holding his phone.
“Mr. Carlton, I’m sorry to disturb you, but I think you’ll want to take this call.”
“Who is it?” Carlton snarled. He was in no mood to talk to anyone. He knew it wasn’t Taylor. She would have called his personal line.
“It’s Romir Mallik,” Chen said. “I have him on hold. He wants me to shut down Colossus.”
Carlton was astounded at his enemy’s gall. He was about to take the phone when he realized that Mallik would only be calling if he thought Carlton and Gupta were dead. He’d heard about the plane going down and thought Torkan’s mission to assassinate him had been successful.
He said to Chen, “Did you tell him I’m here?”
“No, sir. I just asked him to hold for a moment.”
“He thinks I died in the crash.” As satisfying as it would be to gloat to his nemesis that he’d failed yet again, Carlton had a better idea.
“What should I say?” Chen asked.
“Tell him that it’s chaos here. You don’t know what to do because you heard that my plane blew up over the desert.”
“And his order to shut down Colossus?”
“Tell him that you’ll do it right away,” Carlton said with glee. “Give him whatever evidence he wants that you’ve done it.”
Chen nodded and went back to his office to continue the call. Despite the loss of his plane and cars, Carlton was already happier imagining the phone call he’d make to Mallik after Colossus was active and the Vajra satellite system was obliterated.
A few minutes later, Chen came back, his face as inscrutable as ever.
“Did it work?” Carlton asked.
Chen nodded. “He seemed to believe me.”
“Excellent. I would love to see the look on his face when he learns that I’m still here. How long until we reach the Suez?”
“Seven hours. But we have a new problem.”
Carlton sighed. “What now?”
“I just received a weather report from Egypt. They’re expecting a sandstorm in the next twelve hours.”