The Power of Five Oblivion

That’ll make a bit of noise. And as for the rest of it…”
    He grabbed one of the pillows off the bed and wrapped the muzzle of the gun inside it, then pressed the whole thing against the lock of the door. Meanwhile, Scarlett had run into the bathroom and turned on all the taps. With so much metal and marble around, the sound of the water seemed amplified. Richard took a deep breath, then pulled the trigger.
    Even with the pillow acting as a silencer, the explosion was enormous and must surely have been heard throughout the palace, if not in much of Dubai. Richard lowered the pillow – there was a scorched hole right through the middle – and tried the handle. The door swung inwards. He and Scarlett waited, hardly daring to breathe. But there was no sound of any alarms, no guards running. Someone must have heard the gunshot but it was always possible that they had no idea where it had come from. It could have been a drunken guest trying to make a point … perhaps even the sheikh himself.
    Richard wasn’t going to wait any longer. “Let’s go,” he muttered.
    He and Scarlett slipped out.
    After the sudden interruption, the palace had returned to that strange, absolute silence that only comes at night. The corridors were empty, illuminated by lamps shaped like candles, set at intervals along the walls. There weren’t very many of them but the light was reflected by the white and pale grey marble, allowing them to see far ahead. Richard still had no idea how many people lived in the palace. It seemed to him that only half the dinner guests had actually left, meaning that around fifteen of them might still be under the sheikh’s roof. Then there was the sheikh himself, his three bodyguards and at least a dozen servants. Add in guards, attendants, ministers and hangers-on and there could be a hundred people here … certainly the palace was big enough to house them all.
    “Which way?” Scarlett asked.
    “Follow me.” The truth was that Richard had little idea which way they were going. He had been careful to follow their progress from the dining room, along a maze of twisting corridors and passageways, up two flights of stairs … but even if he could make his way back to the main door, he had little doubt that it would be locked and guarded. He still had the gun, but that wasn’t going to help them if they were surrounded. He knew only that he had very little time to find a way out. Someone must have heard the gunshot. They might be investigating it even now.
    They reached the end of the corridor, passed through an archway guarded by two onyx lions, one on each side, twisted round on themselves and finally came to the main staircase, a swirl of gold banisters and red carpet that would bring them down to the entrance hall and the doors to the street. They hurried down, but as they got to the hallway, Scarlett grabbed hold of Richard and pulled him back. She pointed. A CCTV camera was mounted high up on a crossbeam and, unlike the metal detector, it was definitely working, a red light blinking in the half-light. They were out of range, but one more step and they would have been seen.
    “What now?” Scarlett whispered.
    “A service entrance. There must be one…”
    They found their way back to the dining room and went through the swing doors into the kitchen. Fortunately, there were no more cameras and if there were any guards on patrol, they didn’t come across them. Together, they hurried past the stainless-steel surfaces, the fridges and the ovens. This was where all the food was prepared. It had to come in from somewhere.
    It was on the other side, a set of double doors at the end of a short corridor. Without knowing quite why, Richard was certain that they had found the delivery entrance. He hurried towards it, realizing only when it was too late that he had made a mistake, that there was a second corridor that he hadn’t noticed, with a man standing in the shadows. A guard stepped out, his rifle already loaded and at the ready. He stared at Richard and Scarlett in disbelief, then spoke to them in Arabic. Richard didn’t move. He was still holding the gun and wondered if he could bring it up and fire it in time. The guard was aiming directly at him, less than five metres away. He would certainly shoot Richard down before he himself was hit – but at least that might give Scarlett a chance to get away. The exit door was so close! Richard cursed himself for not being more careful.
    There was the