Read Countdown in Cairo Online

Authors: Noel Hynd

Tags: #Mystery, #Fiction - Espionage, #Americans - Egypt, #Egypt, #Suspense, #Crime & Thriller, #Conspiracies, #Suspense Fiction, #United States - Officials and employees, #Fiction, #Thriller, #Americans, #Cairo (Egypt), #American Mystery & Suspense Fiction

Countdown in Cairo

BOOK: Countdown in Cairo
12.77Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Also in the Russian Trilogy Series

Conspiracy in Kiev

Midnight in Madrid

ZONDERVAN

Countdown in Cairo

Copyright © 2009 by Noel Hynd

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

ePub Edition November 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-56101-9

This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook.

Visit
www.zondervan.com/ebooks
.

This title is also available in a Zondervan audio edition.

Visit
www.zondervan.fm
.

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hynd, Noel.

Countdown in Cairo / Noel Hynd.

p.   cm.—(The Russian trilogy ; 3)

ISBN 978-0-310-27873-3 (softcover)
1. United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation—Officials and employees—Fiction. 2. Americans—Egypt—Fiction. 3. Cairo (Egypt)—Fiction. 4. Conspiracies—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3558.Y54C68 2010

813’.54—dc22                                                                                                                             2009026826

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design: Laura Maitner-Mason

Interior design: Christine Orejuela-Winkelman

For Andy Meisenheimer and Bob Hudson at Zondervan.
Thanks, guys. Let’s do three more.

Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.

Vladimir Putin

Beware: Some liars tell the truth!

Ancient Arab proverb

Contents

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT PAGE

PART ONE

CHAPTER: ONE

CHAPTER: TWO

CHAPTER: THREE

CHAPTER: FOUR

CHAPTER: FIVE

CHAPTER: SIX

CHAPTER: SEVEN

CHAPTER: EIGHT

CHAPTER: NINE

CHAPTER: TEN

CHAPTER: ELEVEN

CHAPTER: TWELVE

CHAPTER: THIRTEEN

CHAPTER: FOURTEEN

CHAPTER: FIFTEEN

CHAPTER: SIXTEEN

CHAPTER: SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER: EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER: NINETEEN

CHAPTER: TWENTY

CHAPTER: TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER: TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER: TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER: TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER: TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER: TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER: TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER: TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER: TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER: THIRTY

PART TWO

CHAPTER: THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER: THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER: THIRTY-THREE

CHAPTER: THIRTY-FOUR

CHAPTER: THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER: THIRTY-SIX

CHAPTER: THIRTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER: THIRTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER: THIRTY-NINE

CHAPTER: FORTY

CHAPTER: FORTY-ONE

CHAPTER: FORTY-TWO

CHAPTER: FORTY-THREE

CHAPTER: FORTY-FOUR

CHAPTER: FORTY-FIVE

CHAPTER: FORTY-SIX

CHAPTER: FORTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER: FORTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER: FORTY-NINE

CHAPTER: FIFTY

CHAPTER: FIFTY-ONE

CHAPTER: FIFTY-TWO

CHAPTER: FIFTY-THREE

PART THREE

CHAPTER: FIFTY-FOUR

CHAPTER: FIFTY-FIVE

CHAPTER: FIFTY-SIX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

ONE

On a scorching afternoon, a few kilometers south of Cairo, a black bullet-resistant Land Rover pulled to an abrupt halt in front of the wide glass doors that marked the entrance to the Islamic morgue in the “new city” of Bahjat al-Jaafari. The morgue was a loathsome place, filled with the messy ugly detritus of death: foul stench and raw misery, oppressive heat and the sounds of unvarnished mourning; the cries of relatives and friends echoing down the narrow fetid corridors. It was in a separate wing of the pale redbrick medical center where the local police and doctors kept their records. So many dead bodies arrived here daily that piles of human remains were stacked on top of each other, separated by canvas wrappings or stained linen sheets. The morgue was located next to the hospital emergency room. The distinction was vague.

The vehicle was a relatively recent model, though not without its share of dents, and had a license plate that said it was on official business. It began and ended with robust, combative bumpers and spiked hubs that looked like weapons from a Bond film. Its windows were made of thick tinted glass, three radio antennas pierced the air, and there were enough red and blue lights on the dashboard to mark the runway of an airport.

Three men jumped out, almost before the vehicle had stopped rolling. One was Gian Antonio Rizzo, an Italian in a suit, reflective sunglasses, and a grim face. He carried his jacket over his arm, revealing an automatic pistol on his belt. Rizzo was on a black assignment from the Americans, though he would never admit that he worked for them. He still carried the documents of the Italian intelligence service, the
Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare
, and actually did drop by their offices a few times a year.

The second man was a metropolitan Cairo policeman named Colonel Amjad, a pudgy but muscular man with a moustache and dark glasses. The third was an adjunct officer named Ghalid Nasri from the US Embassy in Cairo. Ghalid was acting as an intermediary—a diplomatic liaison and an interpreter for the haggard Rizzo—and was trying not to get shot while doing it. Both men carried pistols under their outer garments, as did their driver. They were all in that line of work.

The “new city” of Bahjat al-Jaafari had been built after the Six Day War of 1973, so it was now old enough to have fallen into decay. Gangs and death squads roamed its streets and the endless dunes of the desert beyond, areas that were supposed to be under the control of the central government in Cairo but were not. The area was in anarchy, and the anarchy went unnoticed until it touched upon Western visitors, who were frequent victims if they wandered off the tourist paths. Even then, however, as long as the bulk of the tourists kept coming, the dead did not count. An old Egyptian proverb has it that the dead have no voice, and this was never truer than here.

BOOK: Countdown in Cairo
12.77Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

The Satanic Mechanic by Sally Andrew
A River Dies of Thirst by Cobham, Catherine, Darwish, Mahmoud
Kolchak's Gold by Brian Garfield
A Taste of Sauvignon by Heather Heyford
Speed Times Five by Franklin W. Dixon
Fortress Draconis by Michael A. Stackpole
Inés del alma mía by Isabel Allende
I’m Losing You by Bruce Wagner