Page 51 of The New Girl

Auvergne–Rhône–Alpes

“For the record,I was only joking when I said you should kill him.”

“Were you? Sometimes it’s hard to tell.”

They were racing westward along the A89 Autoroute, the chief of the Israeli secret intelligence service and the future king of Saudi Arabia. Gabriel was at the wheel, Khalid was slouched wearily in the passenger seat. Between them, drawing power from the adapter, was Rafiq al-Madani’s iPhone. A few minutes earlier, imitating al-Madani’s cryptic style, Khalid had sent an update to the kidnappers. The gist of the message was that His Royal Highness was desperate to secure the release of his daughter and was preparing to abdicate. As yet, there had been no reply.

Khalid checked the phone again, then slammed it onto the console.

“Careful, Prince Hothead. Phones break.”

“What do you think it means?”

“It means you probably shouldn’t have killed Rafiq before we were certain your daughter was really at that address in Spain.”

“You were the one who said she was there.”

“What I said,” replied Gabriel, “was that we located the phone. I would have preferred to test the proposition against a living, breathing witness.”

“He all but confirmed it.”

“He had a gun pointed at his head at the time.”

“I believe he was telling us the truth about the safe house. But the rest was a lie.”

“You don’t think he organized it by himself?”

“Al-Madani is a small cog. Others are involved in the plot against me.”

“Perhaps we should interrogate him again and find out who they are.” Gabriel glanced into the rearview mirror. Mikhail, Keller, and Sarah were a couple of hundred meters behind them. “What are you going to do about the bodies?”

“Rest assured, the bodies will disappear.”

“Make your gun disappear, too.”

“It wasn’t mine, it was Rafiq’s.”

“But it’s got your fingerprints all over it.” After a silence, Gabriel said, “You shouldn’t have killed them, Khalid. I’m now implicated in their murders. Sarah, too.”

“No one will ever know.”

“Butyouknow. And you can hold it over me whenever it suits you.”

“It wasn’t my intention to compromise you.”

“Given your track record for rash behavior, I’m inclined to believe you.”

Khalid glanced at the phone again. “Was it my imagination, or was Rafiq not surprised by your presence at my home?”

“You noticed that, too?”

“Someone clearly told him you were involved in the search for Reema.”

“A couple hundred members of your royal court saw me in Saudi Arabia the other night.”

“I’m afraid I never go anywhere alone.”

“You’re alone now, Khalid.”