“Issac’s our extra utility player we’ve needed. Rachel said she appealed to Jean one on one and Jean reacted to being treated like an adult very well. I’m glad you and Johnny will be around while I’m playing in the sandbox.”
“I hope Johnny stays in touch. I want to hear how Nazari looked to him. I thought Senta was reprogrammed but she damn near got you killed. Speaking of writing. How did you do on ‘Blood Beach’ today? Will you be writing on the deck or can Tina and I come over?”
“I wrote my fifteen hundred on the ride to Oakland. I’ll get in another five hundred words. Jean will be working on homework with Sonny or throwing knives. I’d like you to come over with Tina. It will be a nice night on the deck.”
“We’ll be there. When will you do the book signing?”
“I have to let them know when I get back. I think it would be good to do a book signing without a book killer visit, but it would be really nice not to get a grammar Nazi. Pilgrim’s Way ordered a bunch of my entire series. In addition to taking questions about ‘Dark Interlude’, I’m supposed to give a short talk on my progress with ‘Blood Beach’ before the signing. My agent Cassie e-mailed me that the publisher is ecstatic about my doing more signings.”
“Have you figured out what you want to do in Dubai?”
“A lot depends on my interaction with Al-Saud. I’ve been in touch with my contact you met when I came out of retirement and we went to the sand. I wired Khalil a hundred grand to make his way to the Atlantis in Dubai. He’s acquired a vehicle and Denny helped arrange a safe-house for me. I may have to take Al-Saud to a place more private where I can negotiate with him for all of his ill-gotten gains.”
“How do you know this Khalil won’t sell you out and keep the money?”
“I promised him a million more if he helps me with the many aspects of the mission. It’s not all about the money anyway, although I could tell from our correspondence he wants in on this in the worst way. I saved him and his family. They were caught in a roundup of Kurdish Christians in Afghanistan at a time I entered the area with a CIA team to get the Taliban leader in the area. My way of doing things was find someone getting stomped on by peaceful Islam and fix their situation. I saw Khalil, his wife, and two sons ushered into a mosque in Herat with a few dozen others, kicked and whipped into a holding area there. I went in at night against orders, slit the throats of the guards and freed the people inside. Khalil helped me while I set charges inside the mosque, which was nothing more than an armory. I blew the mosque to kingdom come. I booked safe passage for Khalil and his family to Dubai. I convinced him to pretend he and his family were Muslim refugees, willing to work doing anything to stay. Anytime I’ve had a job in the sand, Khalil coordinates everything.”
“Didn’t you get screwed going against orders?” Gus showed intense interest in yet another McCarty past event.
“Nope. Khalil knew where the Taliban leader lived. I killed him the same night during the chaos after I blew up the mosque. The CIA team were following the book. They loved my improvisation. The guy who ordered me to stand down was demoted to shit-land.”
“Damn, Muerto, you should be in charge of CIA ops.”
“We have the right guy in charge now. Paul Gilbrech and Denny Strobert make a great team at the Company if we can keep them alive. Anyway, in answer to your question about Dubai, I have the puzzle pieces in place for when I hear from Al-Saud. Khalil has smuggled some tools for me at the safe-house, thanks in part to Denny’s assets in the area. Khalil contracted the same cleaners he helped us out with before at a price undeniably a blessing in that sand pit. I took care of them pretty well before, but I’m making them rich enough this time to go somewhere nice.”
“Then you are going to need cleaners.”
“Maybe…maybe not, but I believe so. It’s better to have them in place if I do need them. If I can get an audience with Al-Saud in his room at the Atlantis, I plan to kill his hired help, and take Al-Saud for some conversation. He’s high in the ranks of Al-Qaeda in Europe. If I bring home information gifts for Paul to use, I will get to continue my rogue operations. I’ll possibly need a top notch cleaning crew to ease the rough edges on my plan. We’ll talk more about the specifics when I hear from Al-Saud. It would be nice if I can take them outside the Atlantis.”
“I don’t envy you going back into the sand. Don’t think I forgot about the Nazari name. That’s why I’m so interested in the Florence Nazari experiment. It’s obvious her husband didn’t know you probably killed one of his relatives, Sheik Abdul Nazari.”
Nick liked the fact Gus remembered the Nazari name. “I’m glad you remembered the name. Nazari chose the Isis side. Al-Saud sided with Al-Qaeda. I’m not expecting any Nazari relative interference over there if you’re worried about that. I won’t know, of course, until I get to Dubai. One stipulation Al-Saud made was I have to travel under my real name. That’s the main reason I have to retain first class cleaners on the job.”