an orphaned immigrant. As far as he was concerned, his adopted country had killed his parents. His life had been stripped from him before he was ever given a chance. He contemplated returning to Egypt. There seemed no place for him in America.
Aman recalled the frustration he felt during those times as he stared at the tattered photo of his long deceased parents sitting in a gold encrusted frame on his desk. He raised his eyes from the photo as Solomon came to a stop in front of his desk. He looked up at the Frenchman. The realization that his father’s legacy now depended on the help of the French made him squirm with fear. He adjusted the tight fitting polo shirt as best he could and grabbed for the whiskey and water sitting on the left of his desk. He took a long pull and stared at his head of security with tired, bloodshot eyes.
“Please tell me you have some good news,” Aman stated gruffly. He sat the drink down a little too roughly and precious whiskey sloshed onto the shiny desk.
“Nothing of the sort boss,” Solomon replied. He never liked mincing words unless he was plying his tradecraft in the pursuit of a member of the opposite sex. It was one of the reasons Aman kept him around. Solomon got straight to the point, and as a man whose time was precious, Aman greatly appreciated it.
“Let’s hear it,” Aman beckoned. He gestured like the conductor of an orchestra, giving his approval for Solomon to continue.
“Sir, we could have a serious problem on our hands. I have been viewing the surveillance tape taken by airport security for the past hour. I can’t tell what she did with the cell phone you’re after. We tailed her to the airport, so I know that was the first public place she was in. She was able to get through the security checkpoint at the airport though. I got in myself, but it took some time. She had a lot of opportunities to do something with it.”
“Could the idiot whore have just stuck it in someone’s bag?” Aman asked.
“It’s possible, but if she is what I think she is, she would have held onto it. My concern is how she handled herself at the airport and managed to escape. The film footage I saw suggests she was not some hooker high on drugs. It looked more like a very methodical and very professional escape given her circumstances. There are very few places in this city she could have gone to escape your reach. We have informants all over this city. But she went to the one place that allowed her to buy some time. I believe she intended to jump on a plane. We thwarted that by sheer luck. It will be hard to find her before its too late. What’s on that cell phone that’s so important anyway? If I knew, it may be able to help me in my search. It could give us some clue where she is heading perhaps.”
“Don’t worry about that. When I think you need to know, I’ll tell you.” Aman wagged his finger at his employee to express his disapproval. “It’s your job to find her and bring her back here!” Aman suddenly brought his fist hurtling downward. It pounded into the desk, and he let out an animal growl that was part frustration and part pain as more of his drink spilled. “This can’t be happening.” Aman forced himself to relax. “What do you think she is?” He was afraid he knew the answer, but he wanted to hear an explanation from Solomon. This was the kind of thing his head of security was paid an exorbitant amount of money for after all.
“Sir, she went straight to the airport and right through security. She had every intention to hop on a plane and get out of this city. I stopped her from hopping a flight because I was close enough to her where I would have known what flight she was on. We would have stopped the plane and pulled her off, or met her at her final destination. When she realized a flight was not an option she went to plan B; a diversionary tactic to fool us.”