Page 99 of Sands of Sirocco
“Colonel Noah Benson?Come with us,” he said in a heavily accented voice.Another guard joined him.
Masry had descended the stairwell.“What’s this about?”Noah asked the guards as one of them gripped him by the elbow.Stephen was only a few feet away, an amused look in his eyes.
Noah was attracting stares from some of the guests.
“You’re under arrest,” one of them said.
Noah didn’t have time to spare.If he allowed them to take him, even the attempt to explain himself might make Masry speed up his timeline.He tried to see where Masry had gone.“There’s a bomb,” he said to the guard, his eyes narrowing.“I need to go after that man.”
“Just as I told you,” Stephen said cryptically to a guard.“Take his sidearm.He won’t hesitate to use it.”
As one guard put his hand on the holster at Noah’s waist, Noah moved with speed.He threw his elbow hard into the guard’s stomach, then drew his pistol.The man doubled over, but Noah wrapped his arm around his chest, putting a pistol to his head.
The scuffle provoked gasps from the people nearest to him.The other guard held his hands up in surrender and Noah backed away, wrestling the man in his grip to move with him.“Now … you will let me leave this room.”
“Surrender, Benson.You’ve lost.”Stephen’s voice carried.Murmurs had spread through the room, the guests falling to silence.He had an audience now.
Other guards began their approach.
Noah backed toward the door.“This man is working with an extreme group of nationalists,” Noah shouted to them.“They planted a bomb here tonight.Everyone should proceed to the exits immediately.”
His shout unleashed chaos.
A few women cried out, the crowd panicking.
“Still attempting to blame me for your own actions?”Stephen stretched his shoulders, looking broader.Bolder.“The game is over, Benson.We all now know what you are.”Something twinkled in his eyes.
As though he was enjoying this.
Noah had only seconds to go after Masry before the exits became too crowded with the panicked crowd.Hauling a hostage through the mess would be impossible.He pushed the guard into the other one, then dashed past them, toward the stairs.
“She’s in the wine cellar, Benson.I sent her there myself.”
Stephen’s shout sounded behind him and Noah risked a look back at him.
He’d cupped his hands around his mouth, to ensure his voice would be heard over the noise.
She?
Stephen knew him well enough.He could only mean one person.Ginger.
Cold sweat broke out on Noah’s neck as he pushed his way forward.By now, the well-dressed ladies and gentlemen of Cairo society had broken into a dash for the doors.They offered one advantage: the guards chasing him wouldn’t dare fire into the crowd.Noah shoved his way past the attendees.
“I say.Benson?”one of his friends from the CID called out as he bumped into him.
No time for apologies.
Noah had lost all sight of Stephen, not that it mattered.He couldn’t hope to catch Stephen under these circumstances.
When he broke free of the throng blocking the door to the staircase, he skipped the stairs.Then he jumped onto the railing and slid down part of the way, to audible gasps.As his hands slipped on the cold marble, gripping for a handhold, he flung himself over the side.
His hands wrapped against the stone rails, grasping them as his feet searched for a toehold.Finding one, he pushed his weight down.The drop wasn’t a long one—far easier than others he’d made.His palms ached with sweat as he let go, falling freely onto the floor below.
His feet hit the floor hard, his knees bending and absorbing the blow.
He was exposed, and the guards from the room were now on the railing, trying to get to him.
Running would leave him vulnerable to being shot in the back.But what choice did he have?He needed to get to the cellar.
