king Abdullah stormed into his office, furious. Incompetence surrounded him. He felt vulnerable without his security chief, who lay dead in a box somewhere on its way back to Saudi Arabia. Hilal would have ended this madness already if he hadn’t gotten himself killed. For that Abdullah blamed the Americans.
“How many men do they have?” he asked, sliding behind his desk.
General Mustafa crossed his legs. “The sheik claims to have ten thousand just beyond the city to the west.”
Abdullah eyed his brother. This man had persuaded him not to act after receiving the call from the American secretary of state. With the crown prince in Indonesia, Abdullah weighed his general’s advice and agreed. Now that Khalid had taken control of the palace perimeter, Abdullah wondered whether General Mustafa was not divided himself.
“Where is the crown prince?”
“His plane has been turned back to Jakarta,” Mustafa said. “Khalid has taken control of the airport as well.”
The airport! “Ahmed is with Khalid?”
“It would seem so.”
“How many other ministers?”
“At least twelve. Khalid has planned this for a long time to have such a broad base of support.”
Abdullah stared out the window. The sky was blue. A pigeon soared by. It wasn’t the first time a prince had tried to remove him from power—the threat was constant. But this one seemed to have some momentum. “You are speaking about my death, General. Not a political rally.”
“No, Your Highness. They’ve made no such threats. They’ve given you twelve hours to evacuate the government. If they planned to storm the palace, they would have done it already, when they had the advantage of surprise.”
“Don’t be a fool. They’ve given me twelve hours only to appease the half of the city that supports me. They have no intention of allowing me to walk out of here alive. I’ve always been a threat to the militants.”
The general waited before answering. “Perhaps they have other plans to contain that threat.”
“I have no intention of rotting in a cell. How many men does Khalid have outside now?”
“It’s not how many, sir. It’s where he has them. They control all of the security outside the palace itself. And they control most of the ministries.”
“No change in the military?”
“No. Both the air force and the army are standing down. They aren’t necessarily with Khalid, but they aren’t against him either.”
“So in the end, Khalid’s real force consists of the sheik’s men?”
“Yes. And the sheik has another twenty thousand standing by.”
Abdullah closed his eyes and thought about the events that had led up to this moment. His predecessor, King Fahd, had always prevailed, using both cunning and brute force. Cunning was all Abdullah had. Cunning and the Americans.
“We still have communications?” he asked.
“No telephones,” General Mustafa said.
“Then get a message out with a courier. You can do that, can’t you, General?”
“Perhaps. Yes, I think so.”
Abdullah opened his eyes. “Good. Let the city know what’s happening here. We will create as much confusion in the streets as we can. Tell them that the Shia have besieged the palace. That should get a reaction. Sheik Al-Asamm is the key. Perhaps we could do what Khalid has done. Perhaps we could dislodge his loyalty to Khalid.”
The general was silent.
“What do you think, General? Can the sheik’s allegiance be shaken?”
“I don’t know. If it can, Khalid will fail. But Al-Asamm is bound by marriage, and he’s a traditional man.”
“Yet he broke his bond with me.”
“Only because the religious leaders agreed that he could, under the circumstances.”
“And what about you, General? Where do your loyalties lie?”
“With the king.”
“And if Khalid were king?”
“The king will be whomever Allah has willed. But I believe that he has willed you, Your Highness.”
“I see. And is Khalid following God’s will?”
The general didn’t have an answer. Conviction had divided the country between fundamentalists and more moderate Muslims. But like many, Mustafa himself was probably torn. Fatalism was indeed convenient at times.
“If I don’t hear rioting within the hour, I will assume you haven’t spread the word, General. That is all.”
“The coup is six hours old from what we can gather, but we have no direct contact with the House of Saud so we can’t be sure,” Smaley said. “You’re still in Colorado Springs?”
So Seth had been right! Clive shifted the cell phone to his right hand. “I’m on my way to the airport now. You’re saying that Khalid bin Mishal has actually succeeded?”
“Too soon to call it.”
“Then Seth may be our only hope.”
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s dead in the water. He obviously failed to disrupt the wedding, and we haven’t heard a thing from him. You, on the other hand, may be able to help us out.” Smaley paused. “Look, you were right on this one, and you have my apologies. Meanwhile, we have a serious situation on our hands. Khalid has sealed off our embassy in Riyadh and both consulates in Dhahran and Jidda. We have no idea how Jordan and his staff are doing; communications are down. It’s a mess.”
“Miriam’s alive?” Clive asked.
“We assume so. Sheik Al-Asamm has gathered a pretty decent force east of the city. Which is why we want you back in the lab with that last scenario Seth ran. Was the sheik a factor in Seth’s simulation?”
Clive used his free hand to maneuver the car into a 7-Eleven. “He must have been. In any real scenario the sheik would have to be dealt with. You want me to analyze the actions of the sheik and Omar in Seth’s scenario? Makes sense.” He swung the car around.
“The techs are already doing it, but they don’t have your sense of this thing. We think that our best hope may rest with the sheik. We need to know his weaknesses, his responses to real situations. If Seth’s scenario was real, it could give us that, right?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Do you have contact with the sheik?”
“Not yet, but we think we can get to his personal line. Either way, we don’t have a lot of time here.”
Clive motored back onto the 24 bypass and headed for Cheyenne Mountain. “I’m on my way. So nothing from Seth, huh?”
“Not on this end. That may be a good thing. The last thing we need is for some maniac American to walk in and kidnap the sheik’s daughter. We need Al-Asamm’s cooperation, not his anger.”
“You still don’t get him, do you, Peter? It’s a good thing he’s beyond your reach now. At the very least, don’t go out of your way to stop him.”
“For all we know, he’s dead,” Smaley said. “You should’ve never let him go. Forget it, Clive. He’s no longer a factor.”
Clive wanted to object, but on the surface, the deputy secretary made sense. For all he knew, Seth had lost his gift altogether by now. And if Miriam was married . . .
Still, even without clairvoyance, Seth was no idiot.
“I’ll call you if I get anything,” Clive said. He turned the phone off.