Sharp Shot (17 page)

The limousine was cool and quiet. After the frantic activity of the
previous day, Rich was glad of the calm. He sat beside Dex, facing Jade
and Chance.

The elation at having found—and made safe—the nuclear bomb was
tinged with annoyance that Darrow had managed to get away. But Rich was
determined that he wasn't going to let that get him down. Let Darrow fly
off into the sunset in his stolen helicopter. Dad said he was a survivor,
and that he'd steer well clear of them and keep his head down from now on.
Not least as Crown Prince Ali and his supporters would also be looking for
Darrow after he'd let them down.

It was strange, but Rich was more nervous about
what lay ahead than
he had been about anything else. He felt uncomfortable and out of place in
the smart white suit Ardman had arranged. It didn't help that his father
and Halford both looked completely at ease in theirs, as if being invited
to meet a king and a president were business as usual for them.

He guessed Jade must be nervous, but she didn't show it. She looked
stunning in a pale blue dress that ended below her knees.

Ardman had laughed when Rich asked if he was invited. “How can
I be invited?” he had said. “I don't exist.” More
seriously, he'd pointed out that it was essential that no one know what
had happened. If other security forces spotted him at a reception with
King Hassan and the US President, they might well guess that there had
been a problem. At this key moment—the week before the elections—King
Hassan wanted no hint of anything awry.

“So how come Dad's going?” Jade had asked.

“Oh, we're old friends, the President and me,” replied
Chance. Neither Rich nor Jade could tell if he was joking.

The limo pulled into the gates of the King's impressive Pearl Palace.
They waited while heavily
armed soldiers checked the driver's papers. Rich
turned to look out of the window. Even through the darkened glass, he
could see that the huge palace walls almost glowed in the sunlight, which
was how it had got its name. High towers rose above the main palace.

They were escorted through a huge hallway lined with statues and
vases filled with impressive arrangements of flowers, and out into a
central courtyard. A fountain stood in the middle of a large ornamental
pond. Small trees round the pond gave welcome shade. At one end of the
courtyard was a covered area over a dais with a red carpet.

“Guess that's where it all happens, then,” said Rich. He
had managed to get a disposable camera from the reception at their hotel.
“Think they'll let me take some pictures?” He took out the
camera and lined up the podium through the view finder.

“No,” said Chance. He lifted the camera from Rich's
grasp and put it in his own jacket pocket. “I don't.”

Rich sniffed with annoyance. “They can't stop me eating
peppermints though, can they?” He had a tube of mints in his other
pocket and offered them round.

Halford laughed and accepted one. Chance shook his head sadly.

Jade glared. “Honestly!”

“What?” asked Rich, popping a mint in his mouth.
“This girl I met on a roller coaster had some, they're good. You
should try one.”

“Sometimes I cannot believe you are my brother.” Jade
took the tube of mints from him and stuffed them into her small clutch
bag.

“At least I'm looking smart,” Rich told her. He braced
himself for a punch, but Jade smiled.

“You reckon?” she said.

There were other guests already in the large courtyard, and more were
arriving all the time. Waiters with trays of orange juice and sparkling
water moved among the gathering crowd.

Rich recognised a broad-shouldered man in a dark suit wearing
sunglasses and pointed him out. “Look, there's Chuck White. Offer
him one of those mints, Jade, he likes them.”

Jade rolled her eyes.

Halford went over to talk briefly to the Secret Service man. Rich
looked round for Kate Hunter, but he couldn't see her. Maybe she was with
the President and King Hassan, wherever they were.

“Hey,” said Jade, pointing across to the other side of
the pond, “that's Crown Prince Ali. What's he doing here?”

“Not sure he's here through choice,” said Chance.
“Notice how those two men are standing very close to him?”

“That's right,” said Halford, rejoining them.
“He's effectively under arrest, but King Hassan doesn't want to
announce it until after the elections. Thinks it might look like he's
trying to influence the outcome or subdue opposition. The President
agrees, so Chuck tells me. They want it all smooth as a baby's
bottom.”

“Let's hope they're careful,” said Chance. “They
might be smooth, but babies' bottoms can do some rather unpleasant
things.”

“I still don't really get how it was supposed to work,”
admitted Rich, sipping at his orange juice. “I mean, surely blowing
up half the capital would just make people want elections more, not
less.”

“I think Price Ali was planning that the military would then
take over and he'd be able to assume control.”

“So what was to stop King Hassan just going on TV and telling
everyone what really happened?” Jade asked. “Once their plot
was discovered, why didn't
they just back off? Or don't the people trust
their King?”

“Oh, they love him,” said Halford. “That's why he
can get away with the US connection, and have elections without fear of
other states in the area getting upset with him. My guess is that they
were hoping King Hassan would be killed in the blast.”

“Makes sense,” Chance agreed. “In fact, for their
plan to be sure of success, Crown Prince Ali would have had to be in
control. With Hassan dead, he'd become king. It's lucky they needed the
nuclear explosion as an excuse to cut their ties with the US, or else they
could just have assassinated the King. But enough of all that. We're here
to enjoy ourselves, right?”

“Right!” agreed Jade.

In among the dignitaries and the diplomats, the rich and the
influential, Rich thought that Jade looked at home. They really should be
making the most of it, he thought. They were about to meet the US
President. It was a glorious, sunny day, but somehow, something wasn't
right. He could feel it. He could almost, but not quite, tell what it was.

“What's wrong?” asked Jade, seeing Rich's perplexed
expression.

“I don't know. Nothing. King Hassan was here yesterday, wasn't
he? Ready to meet the President.”

“That's right,” agreed Halford. “The President
came here straight from the air field, as soon as he arrived.”

“But this palace is right over the other side of the
capital,” Rich realised. “There's no way the blast would have
killed King Hassan.”

“So?” asked Jade. Then she realised. “But they
needed the King dead. We just said that.”

Halford was looking over towards the dais. “Here comes the King
now, and the President.”

“Then you'd better find your friend Chuck,” Chance told
him. “Because Jade's right. They must have planned an assassination
as well. Then Ali could cancel the elections and throw out the Americans;
Hassan never would—even with the blast.”

“You don't think…?” Halford's voice tailed off.

“And now the bomb plot has failed, they'll need a very public,
high-profile disaster instead. One that involves the Americans too.
Something that can be blamed on them, at least superficially.”

“Like what?” asked Rich. But really, he already knew.

“Like King Hassan being caught in the crossfire when the
American President is assassinated.”

Halford was hurrying towards the dais, but everyone else was moving
that way too. The President and the King were shaking hands with people,
laughing and joking, making their way slowly towards the podium to giver
their speeches—two leaders expressing mutual support and admiration.

John Chance turned and hurried the other way.

Jade and Rich were immediately after him. “Where are we
going?” asked Jade.

“If there's a bomb, then we have to leave it to Halford to get
Chuck White's team on the case. If they see us searching, or trying to get
people out, they'll detonate anyway. But if there's a sniper, which is
more likely given the security here, then we have to find him
quick.”

Chance paused in an archway that led back into the main palace.
“You get back to the reception. Play along, behave like nothing's
wrong.”

“And where are you going?” demanded Rich.

“If I were taking the shot, I'd be at the top of that.”
He pointed up at the tall tower above them.

“We're coming with you,” said Jade.

“No time to argue about it,” Rich told him.

Their father glared at them for moment, then turned and hurried into
the palace.

There was a soldier standing at the bottom of a narrow flight of
steps that led up the tower. He looked like an officer, in flat cap with a
gun holstered at his side.

“Secret Service,” Chance announced. “Just got to
check up the tower.”

The soldier nodded and stepped aside.

Then, suddenly, he drew the handgun from his holster and levelled it
at Chance.

“Guess that confirms it, then,” said Chance. “You
go for help,” he added, turning to Jade and Rich.

The soldier glanced at them too. He didn't take his eyes off Chance
for more than a split second, but when he looked back, it was in time to
see Chance's fist smash into his face. He collapsed silently to the
ground. Chance took the gun from the soldier's hand and checked it was
loaded.

“Well, go on,” he said, before turning and running up
the stairs.

“You go,” said Jade to Rich. “I'm following
Dad.”

“No—you go,” insisted Rich. “You're quicker,
remember.”

She sighed. “In this dress? Get real.” Then she turned,
and hurried up the steps after her father.

Rich shook his head in disbelief before running back to the
courtyard.

By the time Jade arrived, it was almost over. One soldier was lying
unconscious on the small roof of the tower. Her father was just punching
another one hard in the stomach. The soldier doubled over, and Chance's
knee crashed into his face.

A third soldier grabbed Chance from behind. Jade shouted a warning,
but just too late. Chance tried to raise his handgun to fire a shot to
warn the Secret Service in the courtyard below, but the soldier knocked
the gun away. It skidded across the ground.

Even so, Chance managed to shake the man off. He spun round, thumping
the soldier hard so he spun away towards the low wall round the roof. He
slumped close to where a sniper rifle was set up on a tripod. It was
fitted with a telescopic sight and pointing down between two parapets into
the courtyard below.

The soldier struggled back to his feet, but Chance took three steps
across the roof and kicked him hard. This time he stayed down.

Jade ran forward, but then a hand closed over her mouth and dragged
her back. She could only watch wide-eyed as another figure stepped out
from an alcove at the edge of the roof and picked up the fallen handgun.

Mark Darrow aimed the gun straight at Chance.

Chance backed away. “You can't shoot me. It'll warn the
President's men.”

“Might be worth it, though.” He stepped forward and
thumped the gun into Chance's head, clubbing him to the ground.

Jade tore free of the soldier holding her and ran to help her father
back to his feet.

“Losing your cool, Mark?” Chance asked as Jade helped
him up.

“Just having fun.” Darrow glanced over the parapet.
“They'll talk for a while, I think. These politicians and rulers
like the sound of their own voices. Now, quickly but carefully, empty your
pockets.”

“I'm travelling light,” Chance told him. He took Rich's
camera out of his jacket, held it for a moment as if surprised to find it
there, then put it down on top of the parapet close to the rifle. He
placed his wallet beside the camera, angled against the rising parapet.
Then he pulled a handful of loose change from his trouser pocket, and
balanced it on top of the camera before stepping away.

“Now you,” said Darrow to Jade.

“No pockets,” she told him.

“Handbag, then.”

“Just a clutch and peppermints.” She took them out.
“Want one?”

“No.”

“I will,” said Chance. He ignored Darrow's glare, took a
mint from the offered pack, and popped it into his mouth.

“OK,” said Darrow, “so you've made your little
gesture. Now back away. It's show time.”

Chance took Jade's clutch bag and placed it carefully beside the
camera and his wallet. Then he took Jade's hand and together they backed
away. From the back of the roof, they still had a good view between the
parapets down into the courtyard. The President and King Hassan were just
stepping on to the dais. The President waved to the assembled crowd.

Two of the four soldiers on the roof were still unconscious. The
other two stood side by side with Jade and Chance, handguns levelled at
them. Darrow
took his place at the rifle, shouldering the butt and looking
down through the telescopic sight.

“Ringside seats for you guys,” he said, without turning
from his position. “One false move, one sound of warning, and the
Prince's Royal Guard will drop you where you stand. Got it?”

“Got it,” said Jade. Her stomach was doing flip-flops as
she watched Darrow take aim.

Down below, the President was stepping towards a microphone. King
Hassan stood beside him. Crown Prince Ali was at the side of the dais. He
seemed to glance up at the tower, knowing what was about to happen—what
Jade and Chance were powerless to stop. There was no sign of Rich.