World of Trouble (9786167611136)

World of Trouble (9786167611136) by Jake Needham Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: World of Trouble (9786167611136) by Jake Needham Read Free Book Online
Authors: Jake Needham
Tags: Dubai, legal thriller, Thailand, bangkok, international crime, political thriller, hong kong, asian crime
people already and it had
never taken him any place he wanted to go.
    Shepherd found a way to excuse himself as
quickly as possible after that, gave Sally a goodbye kiss on the
cheek, and walked out to where the hotel driver was waiting for him
beyond the security gate. He got into the car, leaned his head
against the thick cushions of the back seat, and closed his
eyes.
    It felt good to be alone again.

 
     

NINE
     
    ON THE WAY back to the hotel Shepherd got out his
phone and checked the flights to Bangkok. There were no seats until
the next day and he thought for a moment of calling Charlie and
telling him he had changed his mind about using one of his jets.
But he knew Charlie would give him a lot of crap and he didn’t want
to hear it, so he just let it go and booked himself on an Emirates
Airways flight that left the next morning. The major problem there
was that then he had the rest of the afternoon and the evening to
kill in Dubai, which as far as Shepherd was concerned was like
scoring free time in Dallas. It was a windfall he could live a long
time without.
    Shepherd didn’t really feel like going back
to the hotel, but he didn’t know what else to do. That was when it
occurred to him he hadn’t had a decent meal since he left Hong
Kong. The idea of getting a little comfort food suddenly seemed
pretty appealing so he told the driver to take him to the Dubai
Mall.
    The Dubai Mall has millions of square feet of
space, maybe tens of millions; several hundred stores; miles of
marble-floored corridors; an Olympic-sized ice rink; and even the
world’s largest aquarium, one three stories high, fifty yards long,
and filled with sharks. Shepherd wondered if anyone else in Dubai
saw the sharks as ironic. Probably not. He doubted Dubai was a
place where irony played particularly well.
    He entered the mall through an entrance
called the Waterfall, which actually was a waterfall, and
rode an escalator that rose hundreds of feet behind the tumbling
water. He strolled past Bloomingdales, Banana Republic, Armani,
Fendi, Ralph Lauren, Jimmy Choo, and even a Dean & Deluca
market. Anyone who doubts the power of globalization has never been
to a shopping mall in Dubai.
    ***
    THE MAN PICKED Shepherd when the hotel car turned
onto the main road at Palm Jumeirah. He stayed well back as
Shepherd’s car headed north on Sheikh Zayed Road, but easily kept
it in sight.
    The man didn’t think Shepherd would be
expecting surveillance. He was certain the possibility of it had
never even crossed Shepherd’s mind, but he didn’t want to take any
chances. It was almost time to move, he might even move today, but
if Shepherd suspected he was being watched he would have to back
off. And he didn’t want to back off.
    It surprised the man when the car dropped
Shepherd at the Dubai Mall, and he was not a man who liked
surprises. He had assumed Shepherd was going back to his hotel. So
what the hell was he doing at a shopping mall? Was he meeting
someone there? That might prove to be a problem. Fortunately, there
was a valet parking station at the entrance where Shepherd got out
of the hotel car, so the man dumped his own car with the valet and
followed Shepherd inside.
    ***
    SHEPHERD TOOK AN escalator to the mall’s next level
and walked until he spotted the familiar red and yellow sign.
    FAT BURGER
The Last Great Hamburger Stand
    When Shepherd had stumbled upon the place for
the first time he could hardly believe it. A Fat Burger in Dubai?
He hadn’t had a Fat Burger since the last time he was in L.A. That
was several years back, but he had never waivered in his conviction
that Fat Burgers were the greatest hamburgers ever sold anywhere.
The name was pretty unappetizing, of course—downright disgusting if
he were to be completely honest about it—but he could live with
almost anything they wanted to call themselves since the burgers
tasted so good.
    Shepherd went in and looked around. The place
was absolutely identical to the Fat Burgers

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