Monday July 8, 2002. Cairo – 7.30am, local time.
The low repetitive bleating of a goat woke Danny from his sleep… a goat that turned out to be the alarm on the table beside his bed. 7.30 had come way too fast for his liking. With a half hearted groan he peeled back the covers and sat up, blinking his sleep blurred eyes when he noticed an unfamiliar figure standing at the foot of the bed.
"Geez, man…" Danny gasped, his heart racing.
Josh spun round at the very unmanly sound that issued from his startled roommate's lips.
"Don't lurk like that!"
"Who's lurking?"
Josh had arisen much earlier in the morning, his body clock having finally adjusted to the new time-zone. Today was the first day of his concerted effort to retrieve Donna; today he would become Friedric Ryde completely for the first time and he was anxious for the day to start. He had showered and changed into his 'traveling' clothes – a cotton dress shirt and linen trousers. Josh smirked; it must have come as a bit of shock to Danny to find him standing at the end of the bed. He'd done a double take himself when he'd faced the mirror that morning. It was like looking at a stranger.
He and Danny had been up late, discussing how today was going to play out until the early hours. Josh would go back to Hussain with Ahmed and Kahlil to put the final touches to his new identity. Then Khalil would take them back to the Concorde, where they would part company with him and then Ahmed would drop Josh at the airport in time to 'meet' the 10.15 flight from Sydney. Josh would then catch a taxi back to the Marriott and book in as Dr Ryde.
"How long have you been up?" Danny eyed him suspiciously.
"Since about five," Josh shrugged. It wasn't the earliest he had ever been up, but it wasn't exactly a lie in for him either.
Danny ruffled his hair with his hands. "You're a masochist you know that don't you?"
Josh flicked his friend a grin.
"What time are you supposed to be meeting Hussain?"
"Nine. So Ahmed should be picking me up in about half an hour. We're meeting Khalil at the Concorde at eight thirty."
"You want me to come?" Danny asked pulling a bottle of water out of the mini-bar.
"Nah. I'll be fine," Josh replied flippantly.
"I hope this guy is as good he says."
"You hope!"
Josh started pacing. He could never stay still at the best of times, but now, the anticipation of finally being able to act, to do something to get Donna back was starting to build inside. He would have gone for a walk, were it not for the fact that technically he shouldn't be here at all.
"Josh," Danny growled as he watched him pace. "Sit down before you wear a track in the carpet!"
Josh grimaced and lowered himself into a chair.
"Thank you," Danny sighed. "Watching you pace gives me motion sickness." Then with a wicked grin, he decided to have a little fun. "You know – you could give George Hamilton a run for his money with that tan."
"Would you just shut up about the tan?" Josh replied wearily, at the same time realizing what Danny was doing. Today was critical. Josh knew he had 48 hours to get to Darius and ingratiate himself sufficiently to get invited to the auction. If he couldn't pull that off, well, everything would go to hell and he wouldn't be able to get Donna out this way. And Danny knew that as well as he did; he was just trying to lighten the mood, to provide a little distraction from what Josh was going to have to face soon.
Half an hour later, Josh was ready to pull out his hair by its roots. Patience had never been his strong suit – he hated waiting – always had. He hated being idle, and now, when he was so close to actually being able to finally do something about this whole situation, his frustration at the waiting was fast becoming unbearable.
At last there was a tap at the door.
Josh sprang from his chair and walked over to glance through the peep hole. It was Ahmed, dead on time.
He unlatched the door and pulled it open.
Ahmed's face broke into a broad grin as he stepped into the room.
"Good morning," he said cheerily.
Danny looked between them, dumbfounded.
"What's wrong, Danny?" Josh asked, raising an eyebrow.
Danny narrowed his eyes at Ahmed. "You knew what he was up to."
"Well… he asked me for a list of places and then I saw him yesterday when he came out of the sal…"
"Don't finish that word!" Josh growled.
Ahmed flashed him a toothy grin and jerked his thumb towards the door. "We should get going."
"Right."
Josh grabbed his sunglasses and a baseball cap that Danny had dug out of his luggage the night before.
"Good luck." Danny said simply.
"Thanks." Josh turned and looked at his friend, a small lump forming in his throat. He turned back to Ahmed. "Right… let's go meet the weasel and get this over with…"
One more hair-raising journey later and Josh and Ahmed were once again standing outside the Concorde hotel.
They had only been there a few minutes when the rickety old transit van that had met them yesterday pulled up with a wheeze.
Khalil, looking – if possible – even seedier than he had the day before, oozed out of the drivers seat and scuttled over to them.
Through his sunglasses Josh watched for the little man's reaction to his now changed appearance. At first Khalil didn't appear to recognize him, but suddenly the man's eyes widened in recognition – and something more. Josh studied him from behind his tinted glasses and realized, as they were escorted to the back of the rancid van once more, that he was being sized up… but for what reason, he couldn't yet make out.
The door to the van opened and the stench flooded over them. Josh fought a gag reflex and hauled himself inside, Ahmed following closely.
They sat in silence until Josh was sure they were out into the traffic, where any discussion would be covered by the noise of the van.
"When we get to Hussain's I don't want you to let our 'friend' out of your sight," Josh said quietly. It wasn't worth taking any chances.
"You're the boss," Ahmed nodded.
"There's something I really don't like about this guy. I don't trust him."
"I don't trust half the people I work with," Ahmed snorted.
"Try working for the Federal Government once in a while!"
The van suddenly lurched to a screeching stop, punctuated by a blast on the horn and some obviously strong language from Khalil.
Josh could see Khalil through the grimy interior window. He was leaning out of the driver's window bellowing something in Arabic to another driver. Josh took note of the little man's actions; they were completely different from what he would have expected given what he had seen of him so far. The tone of his voice had changed – it was deeper, stronger and far more authoritative. It sounded – albeit in a different language – like the tone Toby took with his staff on a bad day.
"Ahmed, can you make out what they're saying?"
He moved closer to the front of the van, trying to listen.
"He's yelling at another driver who's cut him up and caused a jam…" he started. "Now he's… wow…!" Ahmed pulled back and looked at the back of Khalil's head in surprise.
"What?" Josh urged.
"He just made a very improper suggestion about the other guy's mother and the family goat… and suggested a couple of things that I think are anatomically impossible," Ahmed smiled. "Hang-on… our guy's coming back…"
Sure enough, through the perspex Josh could make out the figure of a man in white moving back towards the driver's side. Great… that's all he needed – his driver to be arrested in a road rage assault.
There was a sudden explosion of heated language that sounded far more threatening as they were unable to see the person making the threat. Suddenly, the panel behind Ahmed's head wobbled in and out accompanied by a violent bang. Ahmed leapt about a foot forward and spun round on the spot, scrambling frantically backwards to the same side of the van as Josh.
Josh watched as Khalil jumped out of the van to confront the man, his own yelling increasing in volume. He could hear the two combatants shouting at each other for all they were worth when suddenly… it just stopped. A moment later Khalil climbed back into his seat and a few seconds after that, they were on the move again.
"What the hell happened?" Josh asked in amazement.
"I'm not sure… they were both yelling so loudly I couldn't actually make out what they were saying." Ahmed paled, still visibly shaken by the start he'd been given. "Do you think he… attacked him?"
Josh thought about it. Khalil had been quite calm when he had gotten back into the van. "I don't think so…" If he'd attacked someone, either he was a very cool customer, or he'd used other methods to calm the man down.
A small knot of worry started to form in Josh's belly. He felt like he was missing something, he just couldn't put his finger on what it was…