Chapter 49
As soon as Khalid looked through the Judah of the door and saw Mark’s head bent and his blond curls in front of it, he opened it. “Mr. Van Krauss!” Khalid extended a hand to shake Mark’s. It wasn’t there. Instead, Mark pushed past him. “Please come in…,” Khalid said, shutting the door.
“Cut it out, Khalid…, we need to talk.”
Instantly Khalid saw the disquiet that was marring Mark’s face. “Okay, let’s sit down.” He led him through the hallway of the suite and into the sitting room. “What’s happening?”
They sat facing each other. “Before I start, may I ask you if I could have a stiff scotch?”
That request was exceptional for Mark. Truly, Khalid had never seen Mark so agitated. He got up, went to the mini-bar, pulled out a couple of the little bottles and a glass from the counter. “Do you want some ice?”
Mark waved ‘no’, took his handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and wiped his face with it. “Thanks, no. Just a shot will be sufficient.”
Khalid brought the lot to the table. “I’ve never seen you like this, if I may say, Mark. What’s going on?”
Mark replaced the handkerchief in his pocket, emptied the first bottle in his glass and gulped its entire content before he answered. Exhaling, he leaned against the back of the chair. “They’re going to arrest Talya for her knifing the second man on the Marianne—that’s what’s going on.” He opened the second bottle and poured it into the glass, but this time only swirled the amber liquid around, watching it as if mesmerized. He was not listening to Khalid.
“Mark? Mark? Come on, let’s examine the facts...”
“Haven’t you heard me? I’m telling you, Agent Lypsick is waiting to meet Talya and then when she tells him that yes, she was aboard that boat, that yes she was looking for cocaine and that yes, she found the bills of lading that we brought back to Ottawa afterwards, the Vancouver police will arrest her for second degree murder. And Lypsick will escort her back to the States. That’s the long and the short of it, Khalid.” He drank another sip of his scotch. “And the worse part of it is the fact that she won’t be able to testify against Sadir—if the bastard ever comes to trial—because she would have to cop a plea to do that. And that means plead guilty to murder.”
“Now, you relax and let me handle this.” Mark looked up at the prince. His composure didn’t betray anything he felt. It had to be that way, Mark thought. These royalties are trained in stoicism. “Have you talked to Fred yet?” Mark shook his head. “Alright then, that’s the first call we shall make.” Khalid got up and went to take his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. He clicked Fred’s number and put the cell on the table between them.
“Gibson speaking.” He sounded tired or irritated.
“Good evening, Chief, how are you?” Khalid said his voice relaxed.
“I’ve had a long day, and I guess it’s going to get longer... but I’m fine...”
“I’m at the Hyatt and Mark is with me…”
“Already? Mark? What are you doing there? The plan was for you to meet Khalid officially in the morning for breakfast...”
“Hold it, Chief... I’m sorry, but we’ve got a situation…”
“What are you talking about? Has Sadir made a move?”
“No, nothing like that,” Mark replied.
“What then?”
“Agent Lypsick is going to ask the Vancouver police to arrest Talya as soon as he gets a warrant from the Florida DA.”
“Has he gone mad?”
“No, Chief, he’s tried to delay the warrant issue as much as he could, but the Florida police found a crate of cocaine on the river bed, beneath the spot where the Marianne was moored, and they think Talya was looking for drugs—which she was—when she was aboard, and that’s why she killed the second man. They want her hide for it.”
“Khalid, are you listening to this?”
“Yes, I am, Fred.”
“What do you think then?”
“I’ll have to confer with my attorney and call you back,” Khalid said. “I’ve just got one question for you though…”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“Did the FBI ever confirm that they closed the file on this particular case to you personally in the past few days?”
“Not directly but, yes, Khalid. I was on the phone with the Deputy Director of the CIA in Washington this afternoon and he told me that since the FBI had closed the file on this affair, they became suspicious when Sadir began using it as an excuse to me and others to get Talya down to Australia, “out of the way,” he said.”
“Thank you. That will be very helpful, in fact. Again, let me think about what we need to do so that surgery on her spine will be the only ordeal she has to face in the next few months.”
Mark said, “That reminds me, Chief, do you have a recording of these conversations? I mean the ones you’ve had with Sadir or the CIA Deputy Director.”
“You know we do, Mark. I can get you an email of them if you want.”
“That would be great, thanks.”
“Anything else? Or does either of you guys want me to stay in the office all night?” Mark and Khalid smiled at each other. They knew how Fred loved to go home.
“No, Fred, not tonight—let’s make it another night...”
“Of course, Your Highness, any time,” Fred replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, and rang off.
Mark shook his head. “You know, Khalid, when I compare this conversation with my chief with the way they’re handling Samuel, I feel very lucky to be where I am.” He emptied the glass. “Samuel can’t even talk to his people—only emails with cryptic messages.”
Khalid didn’t want to get into that. He changed the subject. “It seems to me that when it comes to Talya’s safeguard, you’re becoming paranoid.”
“No, Khalid, not paranoid. I was just in shock. I could see how easy it would be to arrest her and how difficult it seems to be to get our hands on the true culprit. It’s just frustrating the hell out of me.”
“Do you want another bottle? I think there’s another one...”
“No, thanks, not on an empty stomach. I don’t want to get drunk. I’d rather eat than drink now...”
“Well, in that case, we shall go downstairs for dinner since I have to wait a few hours before I could wake Uncle Abdullah and put my attorney up to date.”
“Who is he?”
“You mean my attorney?”
“Yes. Is he from Saudi, too?”
“No, actually he’s from Israel.”
Mark’s mouth fell open. He stammered, “Don’t tell me…, please don’t say, he’s Jewish, because then I will not understand.”
Khalid chuckled and went to replace the cell phone in his jacket before he put it on. “Have you ever heard the expression, “know the enemy”?”
“Sure…, oh, I see…, you mean you need to have someone who knows or thinks like your possible enemy to be effective in case of legal entanglements.”
“Exactly, my dear Mark, exactly.” Khalid extended an arm toward the door and bowed. “Shall we, Mr. Van Krauss?”
Mark chortled and got to his feet. “By all means, Your Highness, let’s do this!”