Falling Deep Chapter 12: Dubai Part 1

When walking through Dubai International Airport, Adi’s thoughts became curious as she watched Jay and Kat get the luggage and put her passport through customs. Jay was thankful Kat was there to curb her curiosity. Jay had told Kat everything in private, earlier that evening, when Adi was having a conversation with her sister. “Tell me, you got this free, chartered flight back home from a friend, yes?” Adi asked, somewhat irritably as she slumped down in the chair in the stylishly modern apartment the lounge clad with plush leather suites and a black wooden coffee table and surround sound TV and Hi-Fi system, the kitchen clad with chrome and grey granite as was the bathroom as for the bedrooms, as chicly simple as possible . “That’s what I’ve said baby, about a million times,” Jay half muttered sitting down on the couch next to her as he began to text Rev, asking him about his own sister. He missed Mikita more than he ever had. It wasn’t like he dwelled on it, or let it get to him much, he was a strong-willed person, but damn how he missed his big sister. 1

“Adi, Jay’s telling you what you need to know, it was a favour, nothing in it, OK. It’s just that, nothing else, right Jay?” Jay, distracted by the device he was fiddling with, became aware of the other two yet again. “Oh yeah, sorry, yeah, what she said,” he muttered. Adi couldn’t help put the feeling past her that Jay was hiding something from her and both he and Kat knew about it. She then remembered the night he returned and how good, how enthralling their lovemaking made her feel. It made her feel more like a woman than she ever thought she would feel like. He made her feel safe, when he was around, which made her all the more glad he was back with them. 2

He kept them from Dewson, who she felt like ripping the skin off, so that alone, surely, should earn her love the benefit of the doubt. Kat crept around the corner, “Jay a word, please?” she requested. Jay followed Kat into the other bedroom she resided in. “Yep,” he answered his cousin brightly as he shut the door behind him. “Jay this has gone on long enough, all the lies, all the avoiding the subject. It’s time you came out with the truth. You tell Adi all of what you’ve been up to,” Kat urged. Jay was tired and jetlagged as was both his female companions so wasn’t in the mood for this.3

“I told you everything on the plane, you remember that? It was a fucking hour ago,” he told her irritably, laying down on the bed. Kat looked all the more irritated. “Well, if you don’t tell her, I will,” she warned. Jay froze. “No, I’ll tell her. Please, let me tell her. I’ll tell her everything, including how that treacherous double-crosser Vivaldez is her old man.....I’ll tell her. After I’ve dealt with this, I’ll deal with it OK.” Kat wanted to believe her cousin, but felt that too much was at stake. 4

“Listen,” Jay continued. “There’s this guy, I’m going to meet up with him, it’s his accounts they originally transferred the dividends to I think. I’m going hash it out with him because, well because of this......” he showed Kat the forwarded email from the Brit. Kat looked at it, astonished and concerned. Jay looked at her pleadingly. “If I nail him I’ll be so close to nailing Dewson too, please trust me Cous,” Jay begged her. He was sure about this. Kat nodded in sarcastic understanding. “Oh, I see, you’re going to sort this guy out who’s trap is to lure you there in the first place having already threatened to kidnap and murder your girlfriend. Yeah, that makes perfect sense, I’m sure,” she exacerbated, waving the paper outward. 5

“But fuck when does anything ever make sense” she resolved. “You know I’m gonna have to kick your ass if you don’t get us all back to L.A. I mean I gave up my job for you Jay, I didn’t have to leave the CIA but I wanted to,” Kat told him frankly. Jay grinned sheepishly. “I know,” he said, softly but firmly. “Anyway she’ll kick my ass for keeping this all from her so either way my ass is in for a hard time.” Kat grinned back. “You bet you it is,” she joked but then gave Jay a warm, affectionate hug. Jay went back inside, feeling as if he had just reconnected with his cousin. Jay felt thirsty so took out a jug of water from the fridge and poured himself a tall glass, feeling as mellow as the Dead Sea.6

He put the glass down and went over to the couch, giving his girlfriend a kiss she so often desired from him. 7

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As Dewson fiddled with the zoom feature on the camera he could see all the more evidently that Kat Tanner was sitting on a luxurious-looking sun-bed lazing by the pool. The noticeable absence in the photograph or the surrounding scene none-the less was her cousin and his girlfriend. Dewson had already shown Wahid shots of Jay and Adi walking around Rome’s alluringly exotic streets some seven months ago but they had fled Italy probably long before he realised the fact. When Dewson showed Wahid the picture he instantly took assault on their, Adi’s, in particular, western dress. “She looks and dresses like a slut,” he mumbled judgementally as he smoked relentlessly on his cigarette.9

Dewson looked at him stunned. Adelina Stanford was the last person he’d ever thought dressed promiscuously. Now her friend, Jay Tanner’s cousin Kat, was a different matter. “Nah, look at her mate,” he told him, “She’s all class. It’s the cousin we want to watch out for. Wahid however was more than determined than ever to not let them get away. Nor was Dewson who kept an eye though the professional Military Binoculars never before had they proven this useful or rather he was actually looking in the right place. 10

“Yep, he’s around here somewhere,” he muttered as he looked over the busy Dubai street at the apartment block where he knew for certain Jay Tanner was. How he knew this was to do with the laptop computer he had with the bounty-hunters. He’d gotten Larsen to track them down in Dubai immediately where he would be waiting for him outside the Burj al Arab. He never showed, the cowardly shit giving him a more impersonal phone-call.11

“Yep....here in Dubai,” Larsen confirmed as he rambled off the address much to Dewson’s pleasure. “You know what we have to do now. We have back-up. We have back-up now. Our plan will work. This person is a jihadist. He knows his stuff. He was born in Pakistan and educated at Cambridge before returning to Pakistan to join the al Qaeda, the group responsible for various kidnappings of sorts. Trust me he knows his stuff.” Larsen didn’t want to be a part of this scheme any longer considering how badly it failed the last time. “Perhaps it would be good for back-up if Jay Tanner finds this Wahid before we bring the girl to him and thus provide a little demonstration,” Dewson told him convincingly.12

“I like it,” Larsen told him walking out of the Burj al Arab with his Ray-Bans firmly across his eyes.13

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Jay needed to de-stress. He had had it with waiting for those seemingly unhurried Bounty Hunters to tell him where the hell on Earth this Wahid was. It was late December, Boxing Day to be exact, and he decided though that for the next two weeks at least he just wasn’t going to care. If the bounty hunters had well and truly slipped past him he’d have to ask the Brit whether he had gotten anything new on Wahid. Jay thought about him as he relaxed in the relative warmth of the outside pool overlooking the Arabian Gulf. He didn’t care where he went to find him: he just needed to, even if that meant abandoning Adi and Kat for a few weeks yet again. He then thought: this isn’t fair. 15

It wasn’t fair on Adi, Kat and least of all him. He didn’t want to desert his girlfriend and put her through un-necessary worry and stress. He didn’t want to do the same to his cousin. He didn’t want to have to lie to his girlfriend. He just couldn’t find the right words to tell her, “oh yeah, baby, I’ve been using your father’s help to get the Feds off my case.” 16

There were several times, when Jay walked around Barcelona with Adi, where he could swear that one of those bastards were spying on them, Jay just walked past, pretending he didn’t see or notice a thing. He didn’t want to alarm Adi as to the kinds of things that were associated with the Dewson business. He desperately wanted it to be over. Yet it could for one moment, one minute or one day even. Just to have one day to remind him what he had been missing out on, what life was supposed to be like for him. The truth was, he was starting to really hunger for some normality. He knew though how that was going to work. If he returned to Los Angeles. Just to pretend for one minute he hadn’t spent the last nearly eleven months away from home dodging the FBI, CIA, LAPD and to top it all off Dewson. ‘Fuck it,’ Jay thought. 17

He didn’t need to think about this shit right now. He decided to loosen his body as he sat on the sun-bed. As he observed Adi quietly dipping her feet into the water he decided to join him, diving into the water with much enthusiasm. He thought he’d have some fun for once. Kat seemed in good spirits too, sipping on her Vodka in the glary Arabian sun as she watched Jay and Adi frolic in the pool. 18

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ROME, April 200520

“This is so amazing,” Adi marvelled. The Colosseum was now in view as Adi sat on the back of the rented scooter Jay had hired, with Kat’s and Adi’s persistence to drive around Rome.21

“I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this,” she gasped again as Jay stopped his scooter. The cool Roman summer breeze blew past their face with great serenity. It was hard to believe that this magnificent piece of ancient architecture. It was certainly magnificent to see something that was built several thousand years ago. Jay thought this beat anything he ever saw and to be seeing it with Adi gave it a sentimental value he’d never really understood before now. He found it hard to imagine seeing it with Marissa. He knew that it was the past but it didn’t mean she never existed. He thought about her from time to time. The only one of his previous girlfriends he ever bothered to think about. 22

Later that night Jay and Adi went out to eat Pizza alone in an offbeat square in the Piazza Navona area whilst Kat visited the trendy stores of Via Venetto and got McDonalds, not being in the mood for Pizza. 23

“So tell me when you figured out you weren’t in love with Marissa?” Adi asked now they were on the subjects of past loves. Whenever Marissa was mentioned the same blank look was given as if they were trying to conceal their jealousy. Perhaps they were which is why when Adi mentioned Michael it seemed to unnerve Jay but yet, of course, he wasn’t going to admit that, was he, Adi thought. Michael and Marissa were the past even though for Adi, sex with Michael was agreeable, not completely hellish but by no means mind-blowing. Jay, well Jay was protective of Marissa, probably more so, in a way, than he was of Kat. Marissa was needy. Adi wasn’t needy, he thought. She was stuck in this situation because of him and because of Dewson.24

“You know, I really love Rome,” Jay opinionated as he sipped the grappa which came with the meal. “Yeah, me too, I could live here,” Adi replied. 25

“Well maybe we can one day, for our honeymoon perhaps,” Jay suggested much to Adi’s surprise and objection.26

“What, no way mate I want to go to somewhere I haven’t been before.”27

“OK, how about Australia?” Jay asked tryingly. 28

“Yeah, Australia sounds fantastic,” Adi enthused.29

“Well Australia it is then.” 30

Adi and Jay then walked back to the hotel through Rome’s beautiful, ancient streets thinking about how much history was teaming through the city. They knew they had to visit the Roman Forum at some point before they headed to Italy again. Adi, though, was most looking forward to Greece. She loved the thought of the Greek islands being in the backdrop of their big adventure. She came to Europe to see its most beautiful and exotic parts and the Greek islands would have to be up there. “You know what,” Jay said. “I kind of miss London.” 31

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Dubai’s marina played the glamorous backdrop as Kat, Jay and Adi adjourned to the poolside of the apartment building. As Adi was relaxing her feet by the pool-side, Jay leaped up out of the water without a word of warning and grabbed Adi, wrapping his arms right around her, pulling her into the water. Adi let out a large shriek. “Babe, it’s freezing!” she cried, hopping out, shivering. Jay followed her out, yet as Adi was to push him back in again, he grabbed the back of her swimming costume, pulling her back into the water. Adi followed Jay around the pool, larking around, playing with him. She didn’t feel as cold. It was actually quite warm now.33

After minutes of being in the freezing pool in what was effectively the middle of winter, Jay carried Adi back to the lavish apartment in a towel. Although she was shivering, she still laughed. “I can’t believe you would do something so childish!” Adi exclaimed. “Actually come to think of it, it’s kind of romantic if you think about it,” she grinned. “Which is precisely why I did it, and which is precisely why I’m about to do this,” Jay replied leaning down to kiss Adi, who was lying on the bed. “Jay please, no, stop! I want to ask you something,” Adi laughed. Adi however stopped, wanting to erase a nagging question on her mind she had to ask Jay. If she didn’t she wouldn’t forgive herself.34

“What?” Jay asked feeling the bed clothes filter the sweat he had produced. Not that it was that hot but it was worth it, goddamn it was worth it. “Why do want me?” Adi asked breathlessly. “I mean what is it about me you want so badly?” Adi’s insecurities about this question hanging over her the very night Jay returned suddenly went out the window.35

“Because you’re smart, beautiful, funny, sexy and the one choice my parents didn’t have any control over,” Jay replied, kissing her upper body as he felt his skin against hers. Pulling off her towel, stripping off her wet bikini and his board-shorts, the two young lovers revelled in the ecstasy of love-making, feeling every inch of their skins, revelling in the touch of each-other’s lips. Yet for just a second Adi turned her head leaving Jay breathless and confused as he looked at her intently as if to ask why she stopped. 36

“What do you mean, ‘the one choice my parents didn’t have any control over?’ Adi asked still not satisfied. 37

“What do you think it means?” Jay answered, getting back to inhaling the addictive scent of Adi’s fine-as-ice skin, letting himself feel her everywhere, internally and externally.38

He felt the passion erupt like a volcano in the room, Adi feeling her worries, fears and insecurities, all her unhappinesses fade with every touch of Jay’s skin within her39

However, half way through their typically passionate encounter, Jay’s phone rang. “Shit,” he swore, laying his head down beside Adi in sheer annoyance.40

“Babe, leave it,” Adi urged softly. “Yeah,” Jay agreed, feeling the pleasure of ignoring phone-calls and engaging in romantic activities with his girlfriend instead. After the phone rang a second time, Jay checked to see who it was. He recognised the name they had told him to store their number under. “Wait, let me just get this, I’ll be one minute.” Adi gave a noise of disapproval as Jay answered the phone. 41

“Yeah, what up?” he answered, sitting upright in the bed, his eyes only saved from being blinded by the sun by the curtains.42

“Well, well, well. Got you at last,” the voice on the other end of the line taunted. It seemed too crackly for Jay to make out who it was.43

“Who is this? Why are you calling?” he demanded. Adi looked at him worriedly. 44

‘What was going on?’ she wondered. ‘Who could be calling Jay? Was it Dewson?’ she thought.45

“I know where you are Jayden now quit fucking around and do what’s good for you for once,” he heard a voice rasp arrogantly. Jay suddenly recognised the voice as it became clearer. Immediately he covered the bottom half of himself with the sheets and ducked out of bed and over to the window. It was still blindingly bright outside. He squinted his eyes as he tried searching for Dewson from the window. Jay looked over on the other side of the road but none of those figures looked even remotely familiar until he spotted one standing outside the very apartment block he was in. He couldn’t understand it. Had he seen him go in? How did he track him down?46

“We know what you’ve been up to? A certain source of mine has been very helpful,” Dewson continued in his usual egotistical tone which quite frankly wanted to make Jay hit him all the more. “Yeah well I could say the same about you,” Jay seethed coldly, referring to the email the Brit had sent him.47

“I would be very careful if I were you because you don’t want anything happening to that girlfriend of yours,” Dewson threatened not responding to the cocky youngster’s comment. Jay snapped the phone shut in anger. He then turned to Adi, throwing the sheet off him and back on the bed. Adi looked completely and utterly confused.48

“Stay here. Tell Kat to stay here with you. Do NOT move from this building! Come to think of it, don’t move from this room,” he instructed her, throwing some clothes on. 49

“Jay, where are you going?” Adi asked hesitantly. Jay threw a shirt over him and put his jacket on. 50

“I can’t say,” he answered. Adi wished there was something she could do to help. Jay was obviously in trouble. She worried about the amount of danger he was in and what it could do to him.”51

“Is everything OK? Just how far deep in this are you exactly?” Adi asked, her voice becoming all the more demanding. “Jay please tell me,” she begged.52

“I can’t say anything. I’ll tell you soon, I promise,” he told her truthfully, pecking her on the cheek.53

“Jay.”54

“Adi,” he said seriously, holding her hands to him. “Please, just trust me OK?” 55

“OK?” she muttered reluctantly, slumping back on the bed as Jay shut the door behind him.56

Walking out into the foyer of the apartment block, Jay thought to call the Bounty Hunters whom he knew would probably have either seen Dewson or have at least been trying to check him out. How did he know he was even in Dubai? What did he mean by ‘source’? He was sure it wasn’t Anton Vivaldez. Vivaldez hated Dewson’s guts. Not that he needed to think much about that right now. Dewson was the least of his worries. He just needed to find out where the Bounty Hunters were. He needed to meet them. Business had to be done and fast. To Jay’s relief though, his mobile vibrated with the caller the Head Honcho. Jay sat on one of the lounges of the foyer and took the call. He was thankful there wasn’t much noise encircling the place.57

“Yeah, hi,” he half whispered, hoping no-one would hear.58

“We want you down here immediately,” the bounty hunter told Jay in an urgent voice. “Meet us outside,” he told him. “We’ll be waiting.” 59

Jay was sceptical. “I’m coming all right,” he assured him, walking out of the foyer onto Dubai’s bustling streets. He went through every scenario in his head, noticing Dewson’s as well as the Bounty Hunters absence from outside the building. ‘They’ve set me up, it’s not even him, they’ve made a mistake,’ his mind kept telling him. Five of the shady-looking bounty hunters came forward towards the building where Jay stood in front of. He felt his heart swell with relief. “Hey, guys! You haven’t seen Dewson around have you by any chance?” 60

He was perplexed to realise they had guns with them, holstered upon their shoulder. “Guns,” he said with some sort of dismay.61

“Yeah,” the Head Honcho replied. “You’ve seen them before? We shoot any goddamn motherfucker we want with them.”62

“OK, well what about Wahid, I’m assuming that’s why I’m here right? He’s some punk-assed motherfucker we’re just going to shoot coz we feel like it?” Jay guessed.63

“I mean he must be, no wait, my mistake, he’s some punk assed motherfucker who’s messed one time to many with my girl so he’s messed with me and he’s going to pay,” he snarled.64

The Head Honcho took note of Jay’s uneasiness as assuring that he’d be up for the fight. He holstered his gun further up his shoulder and turned towards the black, Secret-Service type SUV. “He’s a couple of blocks from here. We’ll drive, it’ll be safer. Wahid was hoping to profit from selling drugs to traders coming in illegally from the port, that’s how we found him here but it wasn’t easy. Dubai’s pretty big you know,” the Head Honcho spoke seriously this time. Jay though never doubted his seriousness.65

He sure as hell did know it and he also knew it was going to get a whole lot bigger. He was glad it was going to be simple this time. Jay followed the group into the black BMW SUV which took them further down town, seeing all the developments emerging all over the Gulf city. He had a gut feeling he wouldn’t be here too long. This would be the perfect defining point of the whole voyage through Europe and Dubai.66

“OK, so this is it?” he asked as they stopped at an abandoned apartment block several streets down from where he was staying. He looked around. There was nothing but run-down office blocks, not too dissimilar to Mumbai. Not that Jay had ever been or had any particular desire to go. It was a slum, he had gathered from hearsay though he also heard the city also fed plentifully of capitalism. In a way like Dubai as the contrast between the street of the apartment block he just left and this bleak industrial area demonstrated.67

“This is it,” Jay heard the Head Honcho announce enthusiastically but without feeling. He looked despairingly at the desolate building which was in stark contrast to the elegant hotels that lined the Marina and it’s palm trees. He realised it was definitely the more shady area of Dubai. Certainly the one the Crown prince, or whoever was in charge of Dubai’s development boom, didn’t want the tourists to see. 68