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2023-12-03 04:48:15The lockdown took effect immediately throughout Lusail. And caused quite a stir and uproar in the proximal districts and municipalities that shared boundaries with Lusail in its first ten minutes:
At the Umm Salal Al Muhammed municipality, a two-mile-long backup had formed along the expressway that connects Doha with Umm Salal Ali…Newlyweds traveling from the Al Dafna district of Doha through the West Bay Lagoon region to the Lusail Marina for their honeymoon were being hassled by policemen at the Lusail expressway…A procession of eighteen-wheelers transporting merchandise from Al Kharayej district was denied access into Lusail…Also, Terry stops began on all streets within the city limits of Lusail:
A furious husband trying to transport his pregnant wife in time to the Le Royal Meridien fought a police officer over a delayed traffic stop...A dispatch rider on a BMW motorcycle was forced to a stop on the Wadi Al Wasah road… In the Marina district, a luxurious coach packed full of tourists was halted alongside other cars by Al Fazaa units…Stop and frisk was conducted on passengers at the Metros in the city of Lusail and across all other tram stations:
A group of supporters returning to Doha after a rather disappointing day was stopped and frisked by metro police at the Lusail Metro station…Also in the same Lusail station, a northern terminus of the Red Line—a rapid transit line of the Doha Metro, passengers pooled around waiting shelters as all outbound and inbound transits were canceled by the rail service management…At the Lusail central station, an adorable-looking bunny was found in a pet bag carried by one of the passengers boarding the Lusail tram after a police stop and search…Two women in burka were being frisked in a screened booth by a young policewoman in one of the stations of the Lusail Tram Orange Line…Things were no better at the airports in the capital city of Doha, either. Because security has been heightened a notch by airport authorities at both the Doha International Airport and the Hamad International Airport.
Columned lines of travelers formed at the departure gate of the newly reopened and refurbished Doha International Airport (DIA) after security measures were put in place.At the same departure gate in Hamad International Airport, a middle-aged woman was being whisked away on a gurney after swooning from overheating in the press of bodies and standing for so long…A dissembled skateboard carried in a compact carry-on was rejected at the check-in by airport staff in the same airport… Extra attention was paid to the luggage ferried down the baggage carousel to the baggage claim by Airport security.The lockdown took effect immediately throughout Lusail. And caused quite a stir and uproar in the proximal districts and municipalities that shared boundaries with Lusail in its first ten minutes:
At the Umm Salal Al Muhammed municipality, a two-mile-long backup had formed along the expressway that connects Doha with Umm Salal Ali…Newlyweds traveling from the Al Dafna district of Doha through the West Bay Lagoon region to the Lusail Marina for their honeymoon were being hassled by policemen at the Lusail expressway…A procession of eighteen-wheelers transporting merchandise from Al Kharayej district was denied access into Lusail…Also, Terry stops began on all streets within the city limits of Lusail:
A furious husband trying to transport his pregnant wife in time to the Le Royal Meridien fought a police officer over a delayed traffic stop...A dispatch rider on a BMW motorcycle was forced to a stop on the Wadi Al Wasah road… In the Marina district, a luxurious coach packed full of tourists was halted alongside other cars by Al Fazaa units…Stop and frisk was conducted on passengers at the Metros in the city of Lusail and across all other tram stations:
A group of supporters returning to Doha after a rather disappointing day was stopped and frisked by metro police at the Lusail Metro station…Also in the same Lusail station, a northern terminus of the Red Line—a rapid transit line of the Doha Metro, passengers pooled around waiting shelters as all outbound and inbound transits were canceled by the rail service management…At the Lusail central station, an adorable-looking bunny was found in a pet bag carried by one of the passengers boarding the Lusail tram after a police stop and search…Two women in burka were being frisked in a screened booth by a young policewoman in one of the stations of the Lusail Tram Orange Line…Things were no better at the airports in the capital city of Doha, either. Because security has been heightened a notch by airport authorities at both the Doha International Airport and the Hamad International Airport.
Columned lines of travelers formed at the departure gate of the newly reopened and refurbished Doha International Airport (DIA) after security measures were put in place.At the same departure gate in Hamad International Airport, a middle-aged woman was being whisked away on a gurney after swooning from overheating in the press of bodies and standing for so long…A dissembled skateboard carried in a compact carry-on was rejected at the check-in by airport staff in the same airport… Extra attention was paid to the luggage ferried down the baggage carousel to the baggage claim by Airport security.The lockdown took effect immediately throughout Lusail. And caused quite a stir and uproar in the proximal districts and municipalities that shared boundaries with Lusail in its first ten minutes:
At the Umm Salal Al Muhammed municipality, a two-mile-long backup had formed along the expressway that connects Doha with Umm Salal Ali…Newlyweds traveling from the Al Dafna district of Doha through the West Bay Lagoon region to the Lusail Marina for their honeymoon were being hassled by policemen at the Lusail expressway…A procession of eighteen-wheelers transporting merchandise from Al Kharayej district was denied access into Lusail…Also, Terry stops began on all streets within the city limits of Lusail:
A furious husband trying to transport his pregnant wife in time to the Le Royal Meridien fought a police officer over a delayed traffic stop...A dispatch rider on a BMW motorcycle was forced to a stop on the Wadi Al Wasah road… In the Marina district, a luxurious coach packed full of tourists was halted alongside other cars by Al Fazaa units…Stop and frisk was conducted on passengers at the Metros in the city of Lusail and across all other tram stations:
A group of supporters returning to Doha after a rather disappointing day was stopped and frisked by metro police at the Lusail Metro station…Also in the same Lusail station, a northern terminus of the Red Line—a rapid transit line of the Doha Metro, passengers pooled around waiting shelters as all outbound and inbound transits were canceled by the rail service management…At the Lusail central station, an adorable-looking bunny was found in a pet bag carried by one of the passengers boarding the Lusail tram after a police stop and search…Two women in burka were being frisked in a screened booth by a young policewoman in one of the stations of the Lusail Tram Orange Line…Things were no better at the airports in the capital city of Doha, either. Because security has been heightened a notch by airport authorities at both the Doha International Airport and the Hamad International Airport.
Columned lines of travelers formed at the departure gate of the newly reopened and refurbished Doha International Airport (DIA) after security measures were put in place.At the same departure gate in Hamad International Airport, a middle-aged woman was being whisked away on a gurney after swooning from overheating in the press of bodies and standing for so long…A dissembled skateboard carried in a compact carry-on was rejected at the check-in by airport staff in the same airport… Extra attention was paid to the luggage ferried down the baggage carousel to the baggage claim by Airport security.The lockdown took effect immediately throughout Lusail. And caused quite a stir and uproar in the proximal districts and municipalities that shared boundaries with Lusail in its first ten minutes:
At the Umm Salal Al Muhammed municipality, a two-mile-long backup had formed along the expressway that connects Doha with Umm Salal Ali…Newlyweds traveling from the Al Dafna district of Doha through the West Bay Lagoon region to the Lusail Marina for their honeymoon were being hassled by policemen at the Lusail expressway…A procession of eighteen-wheelers transporting merchandise from Al Kharayej district was denied access into Lusail…Also, Terry stops began on all streets within the city limits of Lusail:
A furious husband trying to transport his pregnant wife in time to the Le Royal Meridien fought a police officer over a delayed traffic stop...A dispatch rider on a BMW motorcycle was forced to a stop on the Wadi Al Wasah road… In the Marina district, a luxurious coach packed full of tourists was halted alongside other cars by Al Fazaa units…Stop and frisk was conducted on passengers at the Metros in the city of Lusail and across all other tram stations:
A group of supporters returning to Doha after a rather disappointing day was stopped and frisked by metro police at the Lusail Metro station…Also in the same Lusail station, a northern terminus of the Red Line—a rapid transit line of the Doha Metro, passengers pooled around waiting shelters as all outbound and inbound transits were canceled by the rail service management…At the Lusail central station, an adorable-looking bunny was found in a pet bag carried by one of the passengers boarding the Lusail tram after a police stop and search…Two women in burka were being frisked in a screened booth by a young policewoman in one of the stations of the Lusail Tram Orange Line…Things were no better at the airports in the capital city of Doha, either. Because security has been heightened a notch by airport authorities at both the Doha International Airport and the Hamad International Airport.
Columned lines of travelers formed at the departure gate of the newly reopened and refurbished Doha International Airport (DIA) after security measures were put in place.At the same departure gate in Hamad International Airport, a middle-aged woman was being whisked away on a gurney after swooning from overheating in the press of bodies and standing for so long…A dissembled skateboard carried in a compact carry-on was rejected at the check-in by airport staff in the same airport… Extra attention was paid to the luggage ferried down the baggage carousel to the baggage claim by Airport security.The lockdown took effect immediately throughout Lusail. And caused quite a stir and uproar in the proximal districts and municipalities that shared boundaries with Lusail in its first ten minutes:
At the Umm Salal Al Muhammed municipality, a two-mile-long backup had formed along the expressway that connects Doha with Umm Salal Ali…Newlyweds traveling from the Al Dafna district of Doha through the West Bay Lagoon region to the Lusail Marina for their honeymoon were being hassled by policemen at the Lusail expressway…A procession of eighteen-wheelers transporting merchandise from Al Kharayej district was denied access into Lusail…Also, Terry stops began on all streets within the city limits of Lusail:
A furious husband trying to transport his pregnant wife in time to the Le Royal Meridien fought a police officer over a delayed traffic stop...A dispatch rider on a BMW motorcycle was forced to a stop on the Wadi Al Wasah road… In the Marina district, a luxurious coach packed full of tourists was halted alongside other cars by Al Fazaa units…Stop and frisk was conducted on passengers at the Metros in the city of Lusail and across all other tram stations:
A group of supporters returning to Doha after a rather disappointing day was stopped and frisked by metro police at the Lusail Metro station…Also in the same Lusail station, a northern terminus of the Red Line—a rapid transit line of the Doha Metro, passengers pooled around waiting shelters as all outbound and inbound transits were canceled by the rail service management…At the Lusail central station, an adorable-looking bunny was found in a pet bag carried by one of the passengers boarding the Lusail tram after a police stop and search…Two women in burka were being frisked in a screened booth by a young policewoman in one of the stations of the Lusail Tram Orange Line…Things were no better at the airports in the capital city of Doha, either. Because security has been heightened a notch by airport authorities at both the Doha International Airport and the Hamad International Airport.
Columned lines of travelers formed at the departure gate of the newly reopened and refurbished Doha International Airport (DIA) after security measures were put in place.At the same departure gate in Hamad International Airport, a middle-aged woman was being whisked away on a gurney after swooning from overheating in the press of bodies and standing for so long…A dissembled skateboard carried in a compact carry-on was rejected at the check-in by airport staff in the same airport… Extra attention was paid to the luggage ferried down the baggage carousel to the baggage claim by Airport security.The lockdown took effect immediately throughout Lusail. And caused quite a stir and uproar in the proximal districts and municipalities that shared boundaries with Lusail in its first ten minutes:
At the Umm Salal Al Muhammed municipality, a two-mile-long backup had formed along the expressway that connects Doha with Umm Salal Ali…Newlyweds traveling from the Al Dafna district of Doha through the West Bay Lagoon region to the Lusail Marina for their honeymoon were being hassled by policemen at the Lusail expressway…A procession of eighteen-wheelers transporting merchandise from Al Kharayej district was denied access into Lusail…Also, Terry stops began on all streets within the city limits of Lusail:
A furious husband trying to transport his pregnant wife in time to the Le Royal Meridien fought a police officer over a delayed traffic stop...A dispatch rider on a BMW motorcycle was forced to a stop on the Wadi Al Wasah road… In the Marina district, a luxurious coach packed full of tourists was halted alongside other cars by Al Fazaa units…Stop and frisk was conducted on passengers at the Metros in the city of Lusail and across all other tram stations:
A group of supporters returning to Doha after a rather disappointing day was stopped and frisked by metro police at the Lusail Metro station…Also in the same Lusail station, a northern terminus of the Red Line—a rapid transit line of the Doha Metro, passengers pooled around waiting shelters as all outbound and inbound transits were canceled by the rail service management…At the Lusail central station, an adorable-looking bunny was found in a pet bag carried by one of the passengers boarding the Lusail tram after a police stop and search…Two women in burka were being frisked in a screened booth by a young policewoman in one of the stations of the Lusail Tram Orange Line…Things were no better at the airports in the capital city of Doha, either. Because security has been heightened a notch by airport authorities at both the Doha International Airport and the Hamad International Airport.
Columned lines of travelers formed at the departure gate of the newly reopened and refurbished Doha International Airport (DIA) after security measures were put in place.At the same departure gate in Hamad International Airport, a middle-aged woman was being whisked away on a gurney after swooning from overheating in the press of bodies and standing for so long…A dissembled skateboard carried in a compact carry-on was rejected at the check-in by airport staff in the same airport… Extra attention was paid to the luggage ferried down the baggage carousel to the baggage claim by Airport security.The lockdown took effect immediately throughout Lusail. And caused quite a stir and uproar in the proximal districts and municipalities that shared boundaries with Lusail in its first ten minutes:
At the Umm Salal Al Muhammed municipality, a two-mile-long backup had formed along the expressway that connects Doha with Umm Salal Ali…Newlyweds traveling from the Al Dafna district of Doha through the West Bay Lagoon region to the Lusail Marina for their honeymoon were being hassled by policemen at the Lusail expressway…A procession of eighteen-wheelers transporting merchandise from Al Kharayej district was denied access into Lusail…Also, Terry stops began on all streets within the city limits of Lusail:
A furious husband trying to transport his pregnant wife in time to the Le Royal Meridien fought a police officer over a delayed traffic stop...A dispatch rider on a BMW motorcycle was forced to a stop on the Wadi Al Wasah road… In the Marina district, a luxurious coach packed full of tourists was halted alongside other cars by Al Fazaa units…Stop and frisk was conducted on passengers at the Metros in the city of Lusail and across all other tram stations:
A group of supporters returning to Doha after a rather disappointing day was stopped and frisked by metro police at the Lusail Metro station…Also in the same Lusail station, a northern terminus of the Red Line—a rapid transit line of the Doha Metro, passengers pooled around waiting shelters as all outbound and inbound transits were canceled by the rail service management…At the Lusail central station, an adorable-looking bunny was found in a pet bag carried by one of the passengers boarding the Lusail tram after a police stop and search…Two women in burka were being frisked in a screened booth by a young policewoman in one of the stations of the Lusail Tram Orange Line…Things were no better at the airports in the capital city of Doha, either. Because security has been heightened a notch by airport authorities at both the Doha International Airport and the Hamad International Airport.
Columned lines of travelers formed at the departure gate of the newly reopened and refurbished Doha International Airport (DIA) after security measures were put in place.At the same departure gate in Hamad International Airport, a middle-aged woman was being whisked away on a gurney after swooning from overheating in the press of bodies and standing for so long…A dissembled skateboard carried in a compact carry-on was rejected at the check-in by airport staff in the same airport… Extra attention was paid to the luggage ferried down the baggage carousel to the baggage claim by Airport security.The lockdown took effect immediately throughout Lusail. And caused quite a stir and uproar in the proximal districts and municipalities that shared boundaries with Lusail in its first ten minutes:
At the Umm Salal Al Muhammed municipality, a two-mile-long backup had formed along the expressway that connects Doha with Umm Salal Ali…Newlyweds traveling from the Al Dafna district of Doha through the West Bay Lagoon region to the Lusail Marina for their honeymoon were being hassled by policemen at the Lusail expressway…A procession of eighteen-wheelers transporting merchandise from Al Kharayej district was denied access into Lusail…Also, Terry stops began on all streets within the city limits of Lusail:
A furious husband trying to transport his pregnant wife in time to the Le Royal Meridien fought a police officer over a delayed traffic stop...A dispatch rider on a BMW motorcycle was forced to a stop on the Wadi Al Wasah road… In the Marina district, a luxurious coach packed full of tourists was halted alongside other cars by Al Fazaa units…Stop and frisk was conducted on passengers at the Metros in the city of Lusail and across all other tram stations:
A group of supporters returning to Doha after a rather disappointing day was stopped and frisked by metro police at the Lusail Metro station…Also in the same Lusail station, a northern terminus of the Red Line—a rapid transit line of the Doha Metro, passengers pooled around waiting shelters as all outbound and inbound transits were canceled by the rail service management…At the Lusail central station, an adorable-looking bunny was found in a pet bag carried by one of the passengers boarding the Lusail tram after a police stop and search…Two women in burka were being frisked in a screened booth by a young policewoman in one of the stations of the Lusail Tram Orange Line…Things were no better at the airports in the capital city of Doha, either. Because security has been heightened a notch by airport authorities at both the Doha International Airport and the Hamad International Airport.
Columned lines of travelers formed at the departure gate of the newly reopened and refurbished Doha International Airport (DIA) after security measures were put in place.At the same departure gate in Hamad International Airport, a middle-aged woman was being whisked away on a gurney after swooning from overheating in the press of bodies and standing for so long…A dissembled skateboard carried in a compact carry-on was rejected at the check-in by airport staff in the same airport… Extra attention was paid to the luggage ferried down the baggage carousel to the baggage claim by Airport security.
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The Great Heist Chapter Nine
“An hour after the World Cup Trophy went missing here at the Lusail Iconic Arena, the Qatari authorities in a desperate countermeasure to apprehend the thieves and retrieve the World Cup Trophy have ordered the total lockdown of the city of Lusail.” Liam began from a close-up. Right now, the snow had let up some, thus allowing for clearer visibility. “The order, which we have reasons to believe was issued by the Director of the Qatar State Security has come into full effect throughout the districts of Lusail as I speak.”“The lockdown which came after police roadblocks were set up across every district of the city some fifteen minutes ago has been said to have caused a ripple effect throughout Lusail and has brought traffic and all activities within the city to a standstill.” He paused for a moment to catch his breath before he continued. “News coming in from across the city indicated the heavy presence of Police and Al Fazaa units throughout the streets of Lusail, which has brought ab
The Great Heist Chapter Ten
Data analyst, Kaboul Alsam was finding it hard to get his work done as he sat before his workstation, some safe distance from the operator and the grid of CCTV monitors in the stadium’s control room. To begin with, enhancing the picture from Cam #25 with Face Hallucination—an algorithm-based resolution enhancement technique used in low-resolution imagery to enhance human identification at a distance through pixel substitution—was not turning out as smoothly as he had first thought. Neither are his attempts to reduce the high signal-to-noise ratio of the picture and get a clearer resolution of the image of the stewards captured in its background with the program coming off as good. Nor is the Director standing this close to him and breathing down on his neck helping, either. He had thought having worked for six years at the Qatar State Security Service, where he had helped crack and solve several cases under intense pressure and scrutiny would be enough to help check his nerves in a
The Great Heist Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven Commander Ali strode briskly out of the control room into the adjoining hallway. Ignoring the nods and subtle greetings from his agents and police officers alike, he listened to the brassy voice of the Minister of Interior from the other end of the call.“Have you anything of worth on the robbers of the World Cup as yet, Director?” the hectoring voice of the older man boomed through the phone’s speaker. Commander Ali was hesitant, contemplative even in his response. “We have nothing of worth, for now, Mr. Minister,” he said and quickly added. “But we will have something pretty soon, I promise you.”“You better do, because this is dragging for too long, and it’s becoming a sort of a menace and disgrace for us all.” The voice returned over the sound of indistinct noises in the background.“I understand, sir,”“No, you don’t, Director,” the voice refuted, “because if you do, you will have an answer for me already. And will be raining hell as we speak on those SOBs—S
The Great Heist Chapter Twelve
Chapter TwelveAmman smiled for the first time in the last one and a half hours or so. And knew in some bigger part of him that this was because he had met the Director’s absence in the control room the moment he had walked in and for no other reasons.Although he had initially returned to the control room to fill him in on the progress of most of the activities he had recently put in motion, he had felt instead instant relief for not meeting him here.This means a respite from the boring monotonous routines of the last hour!Wiping the last traces of the smile from his face and ignoring the operator seated dead ahead before the bank of monitor screens, he edged toward the eastern part of the room; where the data analyst sent from HQ, sat ensconced in a chair across a computer screen. “How’s it coming?” he asked as soon as he was only some inches away from him. Startled by the sound of the voice, Alsam wheeled around abruptly in his seat to meet the face of his CSO—Chief Secur
The Great Heist Chapter Thirteen
Chapter ThirteenI am super late for work!World-famous TV personality—Layla Naseer—knew this even without ever daring a glance at the digital clock on the air-smoothed dashboard of her Ford Escape Hybrid 2022 Edition, as she rounded a corner in the western part of the Wadi Al Sail district of downtown, Doha, Qatar. Ignoring the incessant buzzes of her cell phone mounted on the car phone holder atop the dashboard, and at the same time trying hard to keep herself from being nervous any more than she already had, she put her foot down on the gas. And stared rather absentmindedly at the needle on the speedometer dial as it shifted to 120km per hour.The Director would be madly crossed at me, she concluded in her mind at the thought of his several calls she had decidedly ignored today. This recent one, of course, would make it fifteen in total.As if not arriving at work one hour after she was due to resume, as well as ignoring the Director’s calls and that of her secretary a couple
The Great Heist Chapter Fourteen
Chapter FourteenIn one of the private study rooms in his exotic residence—The Green Palace—Prime Minister Qabid El Ahmadi after a literal day in hell laid back in an Ottoman. His gaze fastened on the live broadcast of the Al Jazeera Network‘s newscast—the Newshour presently airing. After the events of the last hour had gone by in a dizzying blitz for the PM. Such that he could barely recall the details in full himself. The PM had sat down to watch the TV. Anything to get his mind off the scenes he had bore witness to earlier. No matter how hard and long he thought of it now, it still felt too rapid for him to grasp… almost like a slideshow. One minute, he was in the company of the Emir, the FIFA president, and other prominent leaders of the world in a skybox about to watch the biggest show on planet Earth. In another, a thick curtain of smoke had gone up and taken over the stadium. And before he or any of the dignitaries he was with could realize what was happening, a wall of b
The Great Heist Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen Forty-five minutes after the call and a rather steaming hot shower.The tall, trim black man, now prettied up in a smoky black three-piece suit climbed into the backseat of a New York’s hallmark yellow hybrid taxicab he had flagged down on 21st Street. “Brooklyn Heights,” he said to the squash-faced Caucasian driver the minute he was fully settled in, catching the subtle nod of acknowledgment from him. Dropping the brown leathered briefcase he carried on his person beside him on the seat, he brought his hand up to his neck in a vertical motion. To carefully loosen his knotted striped necktie for comfort at the same time the cab pulled gently away from the curb into the busy streets of Queens, New York.Done with that now, he sagged into the seat. His left and right arms sprawled gingerly over its top in a striking regal-like pose.Now seated in this manner, he caught the smug look on his reflection in the car’s rear-view mirror. At that, he managed an inconsequ
The Great Heist Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen Breathtaking!That was the only word Ander could come up with on the spot as his steely blue eyes scanned the massive lobby of the Doha Museum of Art. He had realized from the moment he stepped into the lobby that the interior of the museum was no less spectacular than its exterior. Actually, he somewhat found the museum grander and postmodernesque on the inside than the outside.In an unresplendent, subtle kind of way, the interior of the museum with the fusion of modernistic trends in architecture and deep rootedness in Islamic historical identity oozes unprecedented magnificence and up-to-date refinedness through several geometrical patterns and abstract arts of the Islamic world that bedecked its spaces. This was evident on the sprawling marbled floor embroidered with crisscross patterns and shapes, the domed ceiling tapestried with Islamic art mosaics and designs; and even, on the centerpiece of the central atrium—the narrow double staircase that curved upwar
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Chapter Twenty-eight
Liam. They had tailed the SUVs all the way from the Sports District in Lusail to the headquarters of the Al-Jazeera in Doha. Of course, it’s not been an easy ride though. They have had to identify themselves to every cop at every road blocks. Liam had even made the best of the situation, seizing the opportunity to make a report of the situation of things across the country. The hardest part had been how to escape the police at every roadblock and Terry stop they encountered on their way here. He was beyond shocked to find a roadblock on every block from the Sports District in Lusail all the way to Doha. But thankfully, the BBC logo on their van, couple with a flash of an ID here and there had proven sufficient enough to buy them a passage at every point of the trip.Thiago Silva was washing out his tinted terracotta hair back to his natural black when his burner rang beside him on the washbasin/vanity. Like the burner which he kept on his person at all times, the disguise—the facemas
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Chapter Twenty-six
Mr. Ahmed Al-Shahbaa, director of the Al Jazeera TV network was winding down in his office having gotten through yet another stressful day at work. Already, the black suspenders holding his black slacks and shirt together were nowhere to be found anymore. Now it was lying somewhere in his briefcase stowed away under his Elm desk. The sleeves of his white-stiffed-fronted shirt were rolled up to the elbows, exposing deeply tan, slender forearms covered by a fine coat of body hair. His head of sable hair, frosted at the edges by a wisp of gray found rest on the headrest of his executive swivel chair, while his overly long legs were thrown heedlessly over the varnished top of the same Elm desk.His job at Al Jazeera was not the hardest in the world. But surely, every day in office in this position at one of the top-flight news agencies in the world must have counted for something. Today, however, seemed to be so different. Different in that it was most overwhelming in every sense of
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Chapter Twenty-five
Director Julia shut the door gently behind her. She had managed to escape into the cocoon of her office at last, after spending the last hour between meetings with some concerned personnel of the museum. These meetings as was expected were intended to ensure that Mr. Leigh’s inspectorial visit to the MIA went smoothly and without kinks.Apparently, having something go wrong was the last thing she wanted while he was here. Heaving an obvious sigh of relief, she shuffled from the door toward the center of the room almost hesitantly. Her feet already leaden in her pumps barely left the Persian rug that took up a third of the office space as she made her way to her desk. She didn’t waste time once she got to it. She just slid the swivel chair bracketing it back a little, then plopped right into it. Today, for her had been a most eventful day, to say the least. Aside being the Qatari National Day; one in which they usually received a large turnout here at the MIA. It also happened t
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Chapter Twenty-four
One-and-a-half hour after he arrived at the mews.The tall, trim black man still was unable to get a breather. Much less sit his ass down for a minute. This considered with the fact that he had been up since 5:00 am after a mere two-hour sleep and had also managed a one-hour long session of exercises meant he was far spent at the moment.So far, it was thanks to the excess caffeine in his system that he was still kicking and functioning at full throttle. As it is, he was already into his twelfth cup of coffee for the day. And it was just 11:30 in the morning.Just as he anticipated earlier, he had assumed the command of the emblematic ship that was the mews as soon as he had stepped in through its backdoor. Overseeing the highly-prioritized activities going on around there ever since then. While at the same time delegating the less-prioritized, but nevertheless important ones into good hands.Now, holding a disposable paper cup that holds the coffee in his left hand and peeking ov
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Chapter Twenty-three
Several miles from the Green Palace, a wizened grey-haired man in a blue blazer worn over white, razor-sharp creased pants and balmorals paced up and down the expansive terrazzo floor of the command center in silence. Gnarled arms folded and gingerly tucked behind his stooped back. His mind shuttered against the low drones of computers and the beehive chatters around him. But otherwise, fixated on other things.Other things like the closed surveillance footage of the Lusail Arena splashing across the rank of computer screens around him. The conflux of communication—both inbound and outbound—as well as the ongoing strings of investigation into the likely scenarios that might have led to today’s awful events being carried out by half of the room’s occupants. But despite his obvious concerns about these things. The simple fact remains, he wasn’t so much concerned about them as much as he was with one thing in particular: The intercom mounted on a table somewhere in the room.This was
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Chapter Twenty-Two
Prime Minister Qabid El Hamdi took one last glance at the three faces standing like posted sentries across from him. Faces he knew all too well. Faces of individuals who had served under his administration for so long that he now trusted them completely with his life. Soon as Al Jazeera had faulted the gagging order placed by the government on all media agencies in Qatar, the need to go public with the disappointing news of the stolen world cup trophy had become not only apparent but inevitable. Therefore, his study has been instantly transformed to make it scenic enough for his address to the nation broadcast under the ever-efficient guidance of those three. As expected, a whole lot has been put in place to make this realizable: one such thing is the at-the-ready camera crew assembled immediately by his Chief of Staff that now hung about the study. Same with the ad-lib speech scrolling horizontally across the teleprompter’s screen which was churned out courtesy of his Press Secre
- The Great Heist
Chapter Twenty-one
Liam Nielson had this strange feeling the moment he watched three SUVs ripped away from the stadium’s parking lot and tore along the Al-Khor coastal road in a whoosh. He was standing in the dusting of snow with his videographer getting ready to record the latest update of their quarterly live spot report when he first noticed some movement at the stadium’s ‘Entrance Gate Four’. This movement as he would later discover turn out to be the tripping of the squat agent from when the director had arrived earlier at the parking lot and a handful of suited agents who trailed after him.Call it the sixth sense. A gut feeling. A hunch. Or whatever. For all Liam cared, it is something that has served him right up until now, and he would be damned to just shrug it off as nothing this time. Or ever!Not surprisingly, his reasons for this rather uncompromising stance hinged upon two sentiments: The first being that; it’s a well-established fact anywhere in the world that, trusting in one’s inst
- The Great Heist
Chapter Twenty
Commander Ali was just getting off another call with the Minister of Interior when he noticed Amman approaching his position from across the corridor. Slipping his cell back into his jacket’s breast pocket, he stared at the squat older man in earnest.That close, Commander Ali could easily observe the uncanny resemblance his inferior had to a raging bull as he scuttled toward him. The big scowl on his face didn’t make him appear any less frightening, either.From his comportment alone, the commander could tell something was amiss, he just couldn’t say what exactly yet.For the span it took as he waited for him to shorten the distance between them, all that preoccupied the commander’s mind from considering what could have happened between the time he had excused himself from the control room to pick a call here in the hall was the thought of the unsettling news he just heard from the Minister.“I have some bad news, sir,” Amman rattled off as soon as he was close enough to be heard
- The Great Heist
Chapter Nineteen
Downtime was a real bitch! Kante knew this as he lay unstirring on his back on the divan, staring at the off-white ceiling with a pop of cream. Even as the strings of joyous shouts and ululations around him swelled into a grating crescendo in their two-bedroom apartment on West Best Lagoon, he couldn’t think of any other thing than this. Not to mention joining in to celebrate with his comrades, who are responsible for it. Instead, he lay there; arms rigidly folded over his chest, eyes shut against the amber light coming from the chandelier hanging down from the ceiling as if in a self-induced hypnosis. Right from time, he was never the one to favor downtime of any type while on a job. Even though he had been trained to remain sangfroid and unperturbed like the leaves on a tree on a windless Summer day in times like this, he had taught himself not to be fooled by the quiet and tranquility that came with them. Being an Ex-serviceman, he was well aware that moments like this one