The servants brought platters of lamb, chicken, beef, and fish, served with delicately seasoned vegetables and savory rice. We ended with a selection of fresh fruit and cheeses; when all the dishes were cleared away, Papa and I relaxed with strong coffee flavored with spices.
“May your table last forever, O Shaykh,” I said. “That was the finest meal I’ve ever enjoyed.”
He was pleased. “I give thanks to God it was to your liking. Will you drink some more coffee?”
“Yes, thank you, O Shaykh.”
The servants were gone and so, too, were the Stones Who Speak. Friedlander Bey poured my coffee himself, a gesture of sincere respect. “You must agree now that my plans for you were all in order,” he said softly.
“Yes, O Shaykh. I am grateful.”
He waved that aside. “It is we, the city and myself, who are grateful to you, my son. Now we must speak of the future.”
“Forgive me, O Shaykh, but we cannot safely think of the future until we are secure in the present. One of the murderers who menaced us has been accounted for, but there is yet another at large. That evil one may have returned to his homeland, it is true; it is some time now since he struck down his victims. Yet it would be prudent for us to consider the possibility that he is still in the city. We would be well advised to learn his identity and his whereabouts.”
The old man frowned and pulled at his gray cheek. “O my son, you alone believe in the existence of this other assassin. I do not see why the man who was James Bond, who was also Xarghis Khan, could not also be the torturer who slew Abdoulaye in so unspeakable a manner. You mentioned the many personality modules Khan had in his possession. Could not one of them make him the demon who also murdered the Crown Prince Nikolai Konstantin?”
What did I have to do to persuade these people? “O Shaykh,” I said, “your theory requires that one man was working for both the fascist-communist alliance and the Byelorussian loyalists. He would, in effect, be neutralizing himself at every turn. It would postpone the outcome, which might be to his advantage although I don’t understand how; and he would be able to report positive results to both sides for a time. Yet if all that were true, how would he resolve the situation? He would finally be rewarded by one side and punished by the other. It’s foolish to think that one man might simultaneously be protecting Nikki and trying to murder her. In addition, the police examiner determined that the man who killed Tami, Abdoulaye, and Nikki was shorter and heavier than Khan, with thick, stubby fingers.”
Friedlander Bey’s face flickered with a weak smile. “Your vision, respected one, is acute but limited in scope. I myself have sometimes found it worthwhile to support both sides of a quarrel. What else can one do when one’s beloved friends dispute a matter?”
“With your forgiveness, O Shaykh, I point out that we are speaking of many cold-blooded homicides, not quarrels or disputes. And neither the Germans nor the Russians are our beloved friends. Their internal bickerings are of no importance to us here in the city.”
Papa shook his head. “Limited scope,” he repeated softly. “When the infidel lands of the world break apart, we are revealed in our strength. When the great Shaitans, the United States and the Soviet Union, each fell into separate groups of states, it was a token from Allah.”
“A token?” I asked, wondering what all this had to do with Nikki and the wires in my skull and the poor, forgotten people of the Budayeen.
Friedlander Bey’s brows drew together, and he looked suddenly like a desert warrior, like the mighty chieftains who had come before him, all wielding the irresistible Sword of the Prophet. “Jihad,” he murmured.
Jihad. Holy war.
I felt a prickle on my skin, and the blood roared in my ears. Now that the once-great nations were growing helpless in their poverty and dissension, it was time for Islam to complete the conquest that had begun so many centuries before. Papa’s expression was very much like the look I had seen in the eyes of Xarghis Khan.
“It is what pleases Allah,” I said. Friedlander Bey let out his breath and gave me a benevolent, approving smile. I was humoring the man. He was more dangerous now than I ever suspected. He had almost dictatorial power in the city; that, coupled with his great age and this delusion, made me walk carefully in his presence.
“You will do me a great favor if you will accept this,” he said, leaning over the table with still another envelope. I suppose someone in his position thinks money is the perfect gift for the man who has everything. Anyone else might have found it offensive. I took the envelope.
“You overwhelm me,” I said. “I cannot adequately express my thanks.”
“The debt is mine, my son. You have done well, and I reward those who carry out my wishes.”
I didn’t look in the envelope — even I knew that would have been a breach of manners anywhere. “You are the father of generosity,” I said.
We were getting along just fine. He liked me a lot better now than at our first meeting, so long ago. “I grow tired, my son, and so you must forgive me. My driver will return you to your home. Let us visit together again soon, and then we shall speak of your future.”
“On the eyes and head, O lord of men. I am at your disposal.”
“There is no might or power save in Allah the exalted and great.” That sounds like a formula reply, but it’s usually reserved for moments of danger or before some crucial action. I looked at the gray-haired man for some clue, but he had dismissed me. I made my farewells and left his office. I did a lot of thinking during the ride to the Budayeen.
It was a Monday evening, and Frenchy’s was already getting crowded. There was a mix of naval and merchant marine types, who’d come fifty miles from the port; there were five or six male tourists, looking for one kind of action and about to find another; and there were a few tourist couples looking for racy, colorful stories they could take home with them. There was a sprinkling of businessmen from the city, too, who probably knew the score but came in anyway to have a drink and look at naked bodies.
Yasmin was sitting between two sailors. They were laughing and winking at each other over her head — they must have thought they’d found what they were looking for.
Yasmin was sipping a champagne cocktail. She had seven empty glasses in front of her. Very definitely, she had found what she was looking for. Frenchy charged eight kiam for a cocktail, which he split with the girl who ordered it. Yasmin had cleared thirty-two kiam already off those two jolly sea rovers, and from the look of it there was more to come, the night was still young. And that’s not including tips, either. Yasmin was wonderful at pulling tips. She was a joy to watch; she could separate a mark from his money faster than anyone I knew, except maybe Chiriga.
There were several seats open at the bar, one near the door and a few in the back. I never liked to sit near the door, you looked like some kind of tourist or something. I headed for the shadowy interior of the club. Before I got to the stool, Indihar came up to me. “You’ll be more comfortable in a booth, sir,” she said.
I smiled. She didn’t recognize me in my robes and without my beard. She suggested the booth because if I sat on the stool, she wouldn’t be able to sit next to me and work on my wallet. Indihar was a nice enough person, I’d never gotten into any kind of hassle with her. “I’ll sit at the bar,” I said. “I want to talk to Frenchy.”
She gave me a little shrug, then turned and sorted out the rest of the crowd. Like a hunting hawk she sighted three affluent-looking merchants sitting with one girl and one change. There was always room for one more. Indihar pounced.