In the Eye of the Storm (Storm and Silence 2)

Mr Ambrose nodded. ‘Agreed. Lead the way.’

Putting two fingers to his lips, Youssef let loose an ear-piercing whistle. In a moment, more men had emerged from around the corner. They were a motley crew, everything from black over brown to white. Yet they all had the same sharp look in their eyes.

Youssef nodded to them.

‘We’re getting out of here. Jabalah, Tahir - you check the corridors to the left. Francois, Umar, you check to the right. Sango, you scout ahead!’

A brawny, pitch-black individual shot down the corridor in front of us, and four figures less well endowed with pigments immediately vanished down the corridors on either side.

‘The rest of you, form a circle around Ambrose Effendi. Yalla![19] What are you waiting for?’

In an instant, there was a protective wall of bodies around Mr Ambrose. The men were obviously experts at their work. It was all very impressive. There was only one problem: I was outside the wall.

Slowly, I rose to my feet.

‘Um… excuse me?’ I tapped one of the men on the back. Whirling around, he drew his knife and had it at my throat before I could blink.

‘I wouldn’t recommend that.’

The man froze. Both he and I looked to the origin of the voice. A gap had opened in the wall of bodies, and Mr Ambrose was regarding the knife at my throat with cold eyes. Slowly, his gaze rose to the face of the man holding it.

‘The lady is with me.’

The knife clattered to the ground, falling from suddenly limp fingers.

‘Come.’ Jerking his head, Mr Ambrose indicated for me to step into the protective wall of bodyguards. For once, I followed his orders without hesitation. ‘I think it’s time we leave.’

We rushed down the hallway, I sometimes running, sometimes sneaking, Mr Ambrose keeping up a pace steadier than clockwork. More than once I heard a shout, shot or gurgle from outside the protective circle, but never once did I get to see their origin. Down the stairs and out into the dining hall we went. The place looked as if the last dinner guests had been a herd of loony elephants. Tables were turned over or smashed to bits, fans, handkerchiefs and bits of food cluttered the floor, and even one of the chandeliers had fallen, and crashed right through a table. Nobody was in sight - not a single soul.

‘Where now?’ I demanded, trying to peek over the heads of our bodyguards. I had only seen the dining hall while coming down the stairs, when the men in front of me had been two steps below, opening my line of sight. Now, with them towering all around me once more, I couldn’t see a thing.

‘This way, Hanem.’[20] With a slight bow, Youssef indicated the direction.

When we entered the lobby, our group of protectors split up. Half stayed around us, in a looser group, the other half darted through the doors out onto the street, knives and pistols at the ready. Dazed, I took a look around. The lobby, too, looked as if a tornado had swept through it. Everyone had to have fled in a rush when they heard the sound of gunfire. Wait, no!

Not everyone.

‘Mr Linton? Stop! What are you doing?’

Until Mr Ambrose called after me, I hadn’t realized that I had started moving, slipping out of the protective circle of men. But even as his voice reached me, I didn’t stop, but instead strode directly towards my goal, a diminutive little figure snoring in an armchair in the corner of the room. Stooping down beside her, I gently shook her shoulder.

‘Ma’am? Ma’am, I’m afraid you’ll have to wake up.’

Raising her head, the drowsy figure blinked up at me. ‘What?’

‘You’re going to wake up and come with us,’ I said, louder this time. ‘I’m afraid there’s been a dis

turbance in the hotel! It’s not safe for you here, at the moment.’

‘What did you say, dear? Speak up, I can’t understand you!’ Then the old lady looked around and for the first time noticed the upturned chairs, dropped fans, and broken windowpanes around her. ‘Goodness gracious me! Did those young people throw another of their festivities? Looks like they got a bit above themselves, doesn’t it? I really wish someone would take these youths in hand. Young people nowadays have no discipline, that’s the problem! No discipline, and no consideration.’

‘I’m sure you’re quite right, Ma’am, but in this case it’s not really a festivity, you see, it-’

Somewhere above us, another ear-splitting explosion rocked the hotel.

‘There you are!’ Shaking her head, the old woman pointed a stick-like finger upwards. ‘Drinking champagne, popping corks… I can hear it from hear! Disgraceful!’

‘Um, yes, certainly, Ma’am. And I’m sure you’d like to leave such a disgraceful place, wouldn’t you? Right now, as a matter of fact?’