Portrait of a Spy

side of the Prada bag and nodded toward the front of the Chanel suit. “It’s possible they’ll ask you to leave the bag in another room. If they do, agree without hesitation. There’s no way they’ll ever find what’s hidden in there.”
    “And if they ask me to remove my clothing?”
    “They’re holy warriors. They wouldn’t dare.”
    “You’d be surprised.” Nadia looked down at her bustline.
    “Don’t bother looking for the microphones. You’ll never find them. We could have concealed a camera in the suit as well, but for your safety, we chose not to.”
    “So you won’t be able to see what’s going on in the room?”
    “Once you switch off the BlackBerry, we’ll be blind. That means you’ll be the only one to know what he looks like. If it’s safe—and only if it’s safe—call me after the meeting and tell me something about his appearance. Just a few details. Then hang up and head to the airport. We’ll follow you for as long as we can.”
    “And after that?”
    “You go home to Paris and forget we ever existed.”
    “Somehow I don’t think that’s going to be possible.”
    “It won’t be as difficult as you think.” He took hold of her hand. “It’s been an honor to work with you, Nadia. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope we never see each other again after tonight.”
    “I will not wish such a thing.” She looked at her watch, the watch her father had given to Sarah, and noticed it was three minutes past nine. “He’s late,” she said. “The Arab disease.”
    “We set it fast intentionally to keep you moving.”
    “What time is it really?” she asked, but before Gabriel could answer, the BlackBerry started to ring. It was nine o’clock sharp. It was time for Nadia to go.

Chapter 57
Langley, Virginia

    I T WAS A CURIOSITY OF Ari Shamron’s long and storied career that he had spent almost no time at Langley, a feat he considered one of his greatest accomplishments. Therefore, he was predictably appalled to learn that Uzi Navot had agreed to establish his command post at Langley’s glittering Rashidistan op center. For Shamron, it was an admission of weakness to accept the American invitation, a cardinal sin in the world of espionage, but Navot saw it in more pragmatic terms. The Americans were not the enemy—at least not tonight—and they had technological capabilities that were far too valuable to refuse merely out of professional pride.
    In a minor concession to Shamron, Rashidistan was cleared of the nonessential and uninitiated, leaving only a skeleton crew of the battle-hardened and unrepentant. At 9 p.m. Dubai time, most were hovering anxiously around the pod in the center of the room, where Shamron, Navot, and Adrian Carter sat staring at the latest secure transmission from the Burj Al Arab team. It stated that Nadia al-Bakari was heading to the lobby, with her trusted chief of security Rafiq al-Kamal at her side. The three spymasters knew the message had already been eclipsed by events on the ground, because they were listening to Nadia and al-Kamal striding across the Burj’s soaring 590-foot atrium. The source of the audio was her compromised BlackBerry, which was tucked inside her compromised Prada handbag.
    At 9:04 local time, the device captured a brief conversation between Nadia and her banker, Samir Abbas. Because it was conducted in rapid colloquial Arabic, Carter did not understand it. That was not true, however, for Navot and Shamron.
    “Well?” asked Carter.
    “She’s going upstairs to meet with someone,” Navot said. “Whether it’s Malik al-Zubair or Nobody al-Nobody remains to be seen.”
    “Were you able to understand the room number?”
    Navot nodded his head.
    “Shall we send it to Gabriel?”
    “That won’t be necessary.”
    “He heard it?”
    “Clear as a bell.”
    The elevator doors slid open without a sound. Nadia allowed Abbas and al-Kamal to step into the corridor first, before following closely after them. Curiously, she felt nothing like fear, only resolution. It was oddly similar to the sense of determination she had carried into her first important business meeting after solidifying her control of AAB Holdings. There had been many members of her father’s team quietly hoping for her to fail—and a few who’d actually conspired against her—but Nadia had managed to surprise them all. When it came to matters of business, she had proven to be her father’s equal. Now she would have to be his equal in