‘I know. But we’re not there yet. Someday soon, maybe, but not yet. We’re still dependent on these people. The problem is, they don’t want to be dependent on us any more than we are on them.’
‘Right now, though, we still need each other.’
‘Not so much, these days.’ Waggoner shook his head. ‘We need them more than they need us. They have other buyers lining up. But we’ve invested so heavily in the Middle East that we can’t think about pulling out for years. Or losing their resources.’
‘Yousef and Muhammed are – were – both actively seeking some kind of alliance regarding increased oil production for India and China. They haven’t been chasing Pakistan, to my knowledge at least, because of all the terrorist concerns in that country.’ Webster was silent for a moment. ‘Have you given any consideration to the possibility that maybe we were the ones who killed – or at least tried to kill – the king and crown prince?’
‘I have. It might just be possible. I don’t like the idea that some mercenary force employed by an American citizen or an American corporation would do something like this.’ Waggoner shook his head. ‘But these are desperate times, and this country isn’t as well liked overseas as she has been in the past. I’m betting it’s somebody else. Somebody who doesn’t like us. We’re still coming out of the recession, and we’re overextended militarily. We’re vulnerable. Other countries are going to throw that possibility around.’
Webster let the silence in the room stretch out for a time before he said anything. ‘You know I’m there for you, Mike. Anything you need, anything at all, and I’ll do my best.’
Waggoner stared out the window, put his cup on the desk, and shoved his hands into his pockets. ‘I know you will, Elliott. That’s why I’m telling you this now. You’ve got friends over in Riyadh, and it may be time for us to call in a few favours from those people.’
Webster waited for the president to cut to the chase. It sometimes took the man a while to get to it, but he never flinched when it came to making hard decisions. Part of it was because of the military training he’d had, but part of it was due to the fact that Waggoner was a man who believed in good and evil. His weakness, as far as Webster was concerned, was that he still believed good always triumphed over evil.
‘What do you want me to do?’ Webster asked.
‘I want you on the ground over there in Saudi. I want to know what’s going on there. And I want to know it as soon as you can find out.’
Webster stood. ‘All right, Mike. Is there anything else?’
Waggoner shook his head wearily. ‘Just be careful, Elliott. I watched the sun come up this morning and I felt that somehow the whole world had changed overnight.’ He paused. ‘Isn’t that a strange thought?’
Smiling confidently, Webster dropped a hand on the president’s shoulder. ‘You just need some rest, that’s all. You get some sleep and you’ll feel better. Me and you, we’re keeping the faith. That’s what we promised the American people we would do when they put us in office.’
‘I know, I know. I keep telling myself that. You just keep your head down over there until you figure out what’s what.’
‘Will do.’ Webster shook hands a final time, then turned and left the room. He said goodbye to both secret service agents and took out his phone to start making arrangements. Between figuring out what to do with Professor Thomas Lourds and the coming unrest in the Middle East, it was going to be a busy day.
Burger King
Taksim Square
Istanbul, Turkey
17 March, 2010
Cleena sat at a booth in the back of the restaurant and tried not to feel like a voyeur as she looked at the laptop Sevki had given her before she had left his apartment after Lourds’ release from the police department. Of course, a voyeur was what she was. There was no getting round that. She was watching Lourds and his lady friend – the older college professor, whatever her name was – in the hotel room.
The problem was Cleena wasn’t the only voyeur.
‘Your professor-’ Sevki started.
‘So not my professor,’ Cleena interrupted.
‘Sorry. One of us was working while you were sleeping and may be a little fatigued at the moment.’
‘Spare me. I went three days without sleep working on something for you.’
‘And you were paid quite handsomely for it, as I recall.’
Cleena glanced from the laptop monitor to the restaurant’s clientele. It was late afternoon before the early evening rush. Most of the clientele would be American tourists looking for a familiar meal, or Istanbul college and high school students wanting to sample food from an American chain restaurant.
She had chosen the place as a base of operations because Taksim Square was only four kilometres from the professor’s hotel. If he went somewhere, she felt certain she could intercept him on the motorcycle she’d purchased from a black market contact. She also hoped that the men from the catacombs, if they could find the professor, would stand out in a place like Burger King.
Sevki had also given her an earwig tied into an encrypted sat-phone that also functioned, like now, through WiFi hot spots. The device felt bulky in her ear, but she had been surprised at how small it was. Unless someone looked closely, no one would know she was wearing it. Except for the way I apparently keep talking to myself.
‘Anyway,’ Sevki went on, ‘as I was saying, the professor isn’t alone in there.’
‘I can see the woman.’
‘I know, and I must say she’s even better looking than her photograph.’
‘Focus.’
‘The room is bugged,’ Sevki said. ‘That’s why you’re getting video feed from inside the room instead of just the hallway.’
Cleena was so used to Sevki producing technological marvels that she hadn’t even realized she was peering inside the hotel room.
‘Who bugged it?’ she asked.
‘Judging from the frequencies and the hardware, I’d say it was the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Or a similarly equipped corporate security team. It’s getting hard to know whose toys are whose these days. Corporate espionage has cutting edge stuff, some of it even better than the CIA’s.’
‘The CIA?’ Cleena pushed back from the laptop a little. ‘That doesn’t make sense.’
‘As in, if the CIA has already got someone watching the professor, why do they need you? I started wondering the same thing when I locked into these feeds. I played with the idea that this might be the work of some corporation, but no likely suspects spring to mind. Why would anyone, including the CIA, suddenly develop an interest in the professor?’
Cleena didn’t like the route her mind automatically took.
‘If this is the CIA’s handiwork, the only thing I can figure you for is a fall guy if things get sticky’, said Sevki.
‘Can they catch you spying on them?’ The idea that the CIA might even now be spying on them while they spied on Lourds was unsettling, to say the least.
‘Doubtful. But look at our professor. Looks like he’s got his hands full.’
On screen, Lourds and the college professor were more amorously engaged than previously. Cleena wasn’t mortified, but she wasn’t interested in watching either.
‘Lech,’ she growled at Sevki.
‘Sticks and stones and all that rot.’
‘I was talking about the CIA catching you.’
‘Oh.’ Sevki sounded distracted, and Cleena had to admit that what she was watching was distracting, and a little more intriguing than she’d thought it would be. Lourds was evidently a man of considerable skills.
‘The CIA,’ she reminded Sevki.