Dazzle The Complete Unabridged Trilogy (169 page)

He sat back with the satisfied air of one having delivered a
bombshell.

There was a stunned silence.

A sense of passionate and just outrage overrode the pain of Najib's wound. He shook his head slowly and chose his words
carefully.

'An attack on Mecca has been tried before,' he reminded Abdullah quietly. 'The men who invaded the shrine were
executed.'

Abdullah made an irritated gesture. "Those men were fools!
They took Mecca and tried to hold it. We will merely destroy
the shrine. Not one of our men will be within a hundred-mile radius when the bombs explode. No one will be able to blame
us.' He paused. 'Muammar will provide extra manpower, as
well as explosives. Although he will not admit any involve
ment in this either, he sees the necessity behind it. Look at
the dazzling possibilities! Islam will, at last, not only be united,
but will be a world strength to be reckoned with. All the
countries of the Middle East—and India and Pakistan too,
every country in which there are Muslims—may end up being
reshaped into one massive religious state.'

'I fear this is begging for the fires of eternal hell,' Najib said
flatly.
'On the contrary.' Abdullah permitted himself a faint smile.
'As Allah's warriors, I believe this will ensure us a spot in
Paradise forever.'

Chapter 20

It was after two o'clock in the morning when something awak
ened him. He sat up in bed, his heart beating wildly, and held
his breath, listening. But other than the hum of the reverse-
cycle air-conditioning/heating unit, he could not hear any
thing. The suite was pitch black. So far as he could tell, nothing
moved or breathed.

But that could not be true. Why else would he have the
overpowering feeling that he was not alone? Why else were
tingling breaths of caution dancing like electric currents at the
back of his neck? His bandaged hand throbbed and stung.

With a growing fear he reached for the bedside lamp and
switched it on. He gave a start and sat up straight. Khalid and Hamid were standing, still as statues, at the foot of his bed. He
stared at them. 'What are you doing here?' he asked angrily.

'Ssssh!' Khalid held a cautioning finger to his lips. 'Not so
loud,' he whispered. 'Keep your voice down.' He turned to the
other man. 'Hamid, check to make sure the door is locked.'

Soundless as a furtive night creature, Hamid went back out into the living room, and neither Najib nor Khalid spoke until
he returned. When he came back and nodded, the two men
lowered themselves into chairs and Khalid lit a thin black
cigar. After taking a few puffs to get it going, he sat back,
crossed one leg over the other, and slid the cigar from his
mouth. He studied it reflectively. 'I thought it was time the
three of us had a little talk,' he said in a soft conversational
tone.

Najib wasn't fooled for a minute. He knew that when
Khalid's eyes drooped in the deceptive way they were droop
ing now, it really meant that he was sharply alert.

'You know,' Khalid said, 'I have been watching you for
quite a long time now.'

Najib was silent.

'You are a strange man,' Khalid continued, his eyes sliding from the cigar over to Najib. 'You, more than any of us, have tried to maintain a certain distance from Abdullah. Also, you
are the one among us who is the most indispensable to him. Yet you permit him to treat you no better than the lowliest
new recruit. I have often wondered why.'

'Abdullah treats all men alike,' Najib murmured dismis
sively.

'Does he?' Khalid's gaze became sharp and silvery. 'Do you
really believe he treats Qaddafi like he treats us?'

Najib shrugged and his reply was simple. 'I would not know
that, would I, because I was not there.'

'But from the way he spoke of Qaddafi this evening,' Khalid
said shrewdly, 'what do you infer from that?'

'Do you mean is he friends with Qaddafi?' Najib asked non
committally, and then answered himself. 'Yes, he is. Does he
respect him? The answer to that is yes also. He looks up to
the Colonel. He is a nation's leader, after all, and whether you
like the Colonel or not, you would feel no less pride if a ruler gave you so much attention. Nor, for that matter,' he added,
'would I.'

'
That is not my point.' Khalid gestured with the cigar. 'To
Abdullah, Qaddafi has become some sort of holy prophet. I
would not doubt that this mad scheme of a holy war was
Qaddafi's idea originally, and that he has recruited Abdullah
to pull it off.'

'Then what are you saying?' Najib asked quietly, feeling his
way cautiously through a potentially lethal minefield. Soon,
now, he would have to decide whether what the two men were
telling him was genuine, or if they had been sent by Abdullah
to trap him.

'Abdullah has changed.' It was Hamid speaking.

Najib looked at him now. 'Changed? In what way?'

'You know what way!' Hamid's voice was low but
impassioned. 'Over the years, he has become a different man
from the one he once was. It is almost as if someone else has
slipped into his skin. There was a time when he did things to
help our people. When he fought for the things which they
could not fight for themselves. But now?' Hamid's voice
became bitter. 'Now he revels in his own glory! Now he is even
willing to sell us out, and has become Qaddafi's slave in order
to forge new paths to glory! He has become blinded to the
issues for which we have always fought.'

'I feel you are both dancing around the issue,' Najib said. 'Surely you did not creep into my room in the middle of the
night only in order for us to chase one another round and
round the palm tree?'

'No, we did not.' Khalid frowned and paused, as though
gathering his thoughts. Then he sat up straighter. Tilting his head back and exhaling a cloud of blue smoke, he said softly,
'We cannot allow Abdullah to destroy Mecca.'

He lowered his gaze and continued in the same level tone.
'That is why we have come to you. We wish to enlist your help
to keep this sacrilege from happening.'

'You speak of treason to Abdullah!' Najib reminded him coldly. 'Do you not realize that were I to repeat as much as a word of this to Abdullah, he would not hesitate to have you
killed?'

Hamid jumped to his feet so quickly that his chair fell over
backwards. A long-barrelled pistol, like a writhing blue-black
snake, was aimed at Najib at point-blank range.

'Put the gun away, Hamid,' Khalid said wearily. 'Can you
not see that he is already on our side?'

The pistol wavered, but Hamid's expression was doubtful.

Najib ignored the pistol and stared at Khalid. 'How can you
be so certain that I am on your side?'

Hamid's smile was expressionless. 'You have proved it on
at least two occasions already.'

Najib frowned silently, but did not speak.

Khalid blew a smoke ring. 'The first time was a test.'

A sudden memory flashed through Najib's mind. 'My over
hearing you both talk. That night in the Jordanian hills!'

'After we lost the six men in that foolish raid on Zefat.'
Khalid nodded. 'Yes, that was the test. We held that conversation for your benefit.' He smiled easily. 'If you had wanted
to report us to Abdullah, you would have done it then. When
you did not, we knew for certain that you could be trusted.'

The gun disappeared back inside Hamid's holster.

'You said there were two times,' Najib said.

'The second occurred this past week.' Khalid squinted at
him. 'Your visits to the Jewish woman did not go unnoticed.'

Najib waited, his expression blank, but his thoughts were
flying. What could they know about his visits to Daliah? How
closely had they been spying on him?

Khalid's lips formed into a mirthless smile. 'Some of your
conversations were overheard,' he said in a voice which was all the more powerful for its mild tone. 'You are in love with
her. You plan on helping her escape.' He puffed contentedly.

Najib did not say anything.

'Would you like to hear some of the specifics, perhaps? The names she called you? The things she muttered to herself each
time you left?'

'You were eavesdropping.' Najib's voice was a whisper, but
its edge was ice.

Khalid shrugged easily. 'On Abdullah's orders, yes. How
ever, therein lies the irony.' He smiled that mirthless smile
again. 'Eavesdropping is only as trustworthy a source of infor
mation as the eavesdropper.'

Suddenly Najib had heard enough. 'You are trying to black
mail me for your own purposes,' he said grimly. Oblivious of his nakedness, he got out of bed and stood in front of Khalid.
'This discussion is finished,' he said contemptuously. 'I have never dealt with blackmailers in the past, nor will I begin to
do so now. You will be glad to know that this conversation
will go no further than this room.' He paused. 'Now, get out.'

Khalid remained seated and puffed on his cigar with slow
deliberation. 'What would you call being tied to Abdullah for
all these years? Was that not a form of blackmail? Or perhaps
I read you wrong, and for all your power and alleged courage,
inside of you beats the heart of a chicken?'

Najib's eyes flashed.
'Get out.'

Khalid did not move. 'Do you think you can help her escape
on your own?' He waited for a reply, and getting none, added,
'No, I did not think so.' He gestured at the bed. 'Please, do
sit back down. This could well be our last opportunity to meet
like this. It would be a crime to waste it.'

Najib hesitated. Khalid was right, he knew. It would be folly
for the three of them not to ally themselves. Basically, they
each wanted the same thing. More important, he would need
help in order to set Daliah free. After a moment, he nodded
and sat down on the edge of the bed.