Salah shrugged. “I’m not surprised, sir. He got a call from Riyadh just before he went off shift last night. Something about an incident in Salwa, and that we needed to keep traffic away from there. So far, it hasn’t been a problem, sir,” Salah said, waving his arm at the empty road in front of them.
“Humph,” Harbi said, obviously unsatisfied, but seeming at least a bit less suspicious. “So, where is your motorcycle? One should be here, according to regulations.”
Harbi was referring to the motorcycle that was supposed to be available to let a patrolman pursue any vehicle that doubled back upon spotting a roadblock ahead. Such a vehicle was presumed to be carrying contraband of some sort.
“Well, sir, since we’re turning everyone back at this roadblock, it seemed like a waste of resources to have a motorcycle here. I can have a patrolman go back to the station to get one, sir,” Salah said, as politely and respectfully as he could.
Harbi was silent for a moment, and Salah was beginning to worry that he’d laid it on a bit too thick. Then he startled Salah by clapping him on the shoulder and exclaiming, “Good thinking, Lieutenant! I wish more young officers thought about avoiding waste.”
After another look around at the roadblock, the three highway patrolmen and the empty road, Harbi was evidently satisfied. To Salah’s immense relief, Harbi turned and began to walk back to his patrol car.
As he did, Harbi pulled out his cell phone and said over his shoulder, “In fact, Lieutenant, I’m going to call Captain Badawi and tell him what a good job you’re doing. Officers shouldn’t only hear about their men when they’ve made a mistake.”
Salah leaned down over Captain Harbi and checked to make sure he was really dead. Satisfied, he holstered his pistol. Salah wasn’t sorry to have been forced to kill him, but was concerned that at some point soon Harbi’s absence would be noted.
With the help of one of the other men, Salah got Harbi’s body and his car out of sight of the road, which remained blissfully empty.
Minutes later, Saleh could see an armored personnel carrier moving north towards them. By the time it arrived, Salah and his men had moved the roadblock aside. Two other APCs pulled up right behind it, as well as a Leopard tank.
The top hatch on the Leopard opened, and an officer looked at the three men in highway patrol uniforms, finally focusing on Salah. “Your name?” he asked flatly, and with an accent that said “Qatari” to Salah. Of course, so did the insignia on all of the vehicles.
“Salah Beydoun,” he answered. The officer nodded and asked, “You are all Saudis?”
Confused, Salah simply nodded.
“Good. You all have vehicles?” the officer asked.
Until Captain Harbi’s arrival, the answer would have been, “No.” Now, though, Salah could say, “Yes.”
The officer nodded. “Good. The vehicles all have outside speakers?”
Now Salah could see where this was headed. Did the other men from Al-Nadha? A quick glance told him the answer was yes.
Aloud Salah also said, “Yes.”
The officer said calmly, “You need to drive well ahead of us, and tell anyone you find on the highway that they need to exit immediately for their safety. This will clear the way for the force which will be arriving shortly.”
The officer’s eyes narrowed. “What you will tell them also has the virtue of being absolutely true.”
Looking at the officer and his Leopard tank, Salah had no doubt of that.
Army Commander Prince Ali bin Sultan was surprised to see the Crown Prince at the Armored Force Headquarters. He had just climbed out of the M1A2 tank he’d been inspecting, and had planned to be underway within half an hour. Ali was about to tell him so, when the Crown Prince shook his head.
“We need to talk,” the Crown Prince said. Ali shrugged and pointed to the nearest door. In a few moments, they were seated in an empty briefing room, surrounded by maps of the area where the invaders had last been sighted.
“The train station at Jaizan has just been bombed. It cannot be used to bring back our tanks by rail,” the Crown Prince said.
Ali slapped his knee in frustration. “We just finished building that line!
There’s no other station with the equipment needed to load M1A2 tanks between there and Jeddah. We’re going to have to drive those tanks all the way back here!”
The Crown Prince nodded. “Yes. I have already ordered police to close the highways between Jaizan and Riyadh to civilian traffic and clear all vehicles already on those roads. This will take time, but will still be faster than having the tanks come back cross-country.”
Ali shrugged. “Yes. Not to mention that they’ll get here in better shape.
But we’ll need every fuel tanker we can get our hands on, and some of those tanks are going to need work before we can put them into combat. The trip is over eleven hundred kilometers long.”
The Crown Prince nodded. “True. That brings me to even more serious news. We have reports that the Qataris have crossed our border with their Leopard tanks, as well as support forces. They appear to be headed north to Riyadh.”
Now Ali simply stared at the Crown Prince in astonishment. “Leopards?
How many?”
The Crown Prince shrugged. “It looks like all they have. About two hundred.”
Ali shook his head. “And where are they now?”
The Crown Prince frowned. “The latest report puts them on Route 522, which means they’re already past Al-Hofuf. The invaders to the north are going cross-country, probably because using a highway would make them easier to locate and target.”
The Crown Prince paused. “The only good news is that whatever the northern invaders are using to mask themselves, the Qataris don’t have it.
That’s probably why the Qataris decided to go straight down our highways. It means they are the more immediate threat.”
Ali frowned. “Why are you here delivering this news in person? Why are our intelligence people not briefing me and my officers instead?”
The Crown Prince nodded. “I understand your confusion. You are an officer, and so think first of military necessity. I must think of political necessities as well. If news of two invading forces becomes known throughout the Kingdom before we have a victory to report, we face panic and uncontrolled mass evacuation at best. Those cars will slow your tanks’ return to Riyadh, and interfere with the movement of the tanks you have in Riyadh to the battlefield.”
Ali looked at the Crown Prince bleakly. “And at worst we could face rebellion.”
The Crown Prince shrugged. “I don’t think it would happen right away.
But yes, if the invaders make it to Riyadh, our legitimacy as a ruling family would be questioned. And frankly, I can’t say I’d blame anyone who did.”
Then the Crown Prince looked at Ali directly. “But we’re not going to let that happen, are we?”
Ali gave him a grim smile in response. “No, we’re not.” Then he paused.
“If the Qataris don’t have the ability to mask themselves, can we get the Americans to attack them?”
The Crown Prince shrugged. “Maybe. I’ve asked their President, and he’s talking with his generals now. Since they lost their bases in Qatar and Bahrain, anything the Americans send will be coming from some distance.
I’ll let you know if the Americans are able to attack before you reach the Qatari force.”
Ali nodded. “Well, at least now we know this is a real attempt to overthrow us. I still don’t think we know who’s really behind it, though. Certainly not the Qataris.”
The Crown Prince shook his head. “No, they’re just a tool. Whoever sent the northern invasion force is running this show. The obvious candidate is
Iran, but if it's them why not use their ballistic missiles and air force?”