Free The Aisha Prophecy by John R. Maxim Page B

great slurp any time now.”
    “Are you telling me that this one has access to those funds? And that you now have access through him?”
    “Not as we speak, but we’re working on that. As to his access, it was all a happy accident. Unlike most of the princes, this one actually has a job. He’d never had one, didn’t want one, but they cut his allowance. The top princes get two or three million a month. This one got less than a hundred thousand, but they cut that in half when the Saudi treasury turned out to be a leaking bucket.”
    “The Saudi treasury? Short of cash?”
    “Oil revenues are down, but that’s not the half of it. There are all kinds of hands in that till. You’d be surprised. Anyway, to a Saudi prince, anything under a hundred K a month is a burger joint minimum wage. So of course he started wheedling and whining. He got the support of a powerful cleric by offering his tasty young daughter in return. This cleric persuaded the royals to relent. They did so, but only up to a point. They said, ‘Okay, he goes back up to the original figure, but in return we want him kept out of our hair.’ They gave him a job at Saudi Overseas Charities. They gave him an office and a meaningless title and told him that he had to show up every day. First in every morning, last out every night and don’t call us again, we’ll call you.”
    Leland wasn’t sure that he understood. “You say he’s not very bright.”
    “Your average poodle is smarter.”
    “And yet the Saudis trust him with ten billion dollars?”
    Haskell smiled. He said, “I’m sure it never crossed their minds. They gave him what amounts to a clerical job. His tasks are insultingly trivial. They gave him a computer for routine correspondence. Some kid had to show him how it works. He hates them for this and he wants to stick it to them. He’d have liked to skim the skimmers, but he didn’t know how. He’s learning, however. We’ve provided a tutor. That’s his tutor down there splashing with him now.”
    “The banker?”
    “Good cop,” said Haskell. “He plays off my bad cop. He’s stroking the prince’s bruised ego as we speak. He’s reminding him of the day, not far off, when all those other princes can’t seem to find their stashes and will be coming to him on their knees. But, of course, he won’t have it. We will.”
    “I see. You plan to steal ten billion dollars.”
    “Howard, most of that money has been stolen to begin with. It’s just languishing now in off-shore accounts. I intend to employ it more usefully. But we won’t be piggish. Some, we’ll even give back, but only in trade for certain services.”
    “You… do have a labyrinthine mind, don’t you, Charles?”
    “It’s called negotiating from strength. You’re familiar with the concept. Come on. Let’s go stretch our legs.”
     

SEVEN 
    Mulazim had driven up the coast for two hours, arriving at the city of Charleston. On its outskirts was a big shopping center. Many stores, many cars in the lot. In the glove compartment of the Ford Escape he’d found a device called a Swiss Army knife that contained several tools folded up. Among these were two different screwdrivers.
    Thus equipped, and making sure there were no shoppers nearby, he removed the license plate of the Ford Escape and replaced it with one of a similar design that he took from a neighboring car. The owner of that car had backed into its space and might therefore not notice that his plate was missing before the next morning at the earliest. Mulazim knew better than to simply swap plates. True, a different plate was less likely to be noticed than a space where a plate should have been. But if noticed and reported it would have been easily traced and Bernice might be found inconveniently soon.
    He was eager to find a quiet motel so that he could get to work on the laptop. But the stores were right here. He had some shopping to do.
    He entered a very large store called a Wal-Mart. There he took