donât need work visas to do a meet-and-greet. I can get them two-week tourist visas for that,â he said with a forced friendliness, as if it were going to be a favor.
âThatâd be great. Thatâd do just fine.â
âBut first, before I can do that, you have to stop bullshitting around and tell me who they are.â He smiled with his lips closed and his eyes narrowed. It was his âIâm on to youâ look.
I waited a few moments, as if I were getting up the nerve to tell the truth. âWe secured oil rightsââ
âYou already told me that.â
âWeâre working on securing oil rights from the regional Kurdish government in the case of independence and we already have them from the PKK, also known as the Kurdistan Workersâ Party, also known as Kongra-Gel. Unfortunately, they are also known as terrorists in some places.â
He did not show surprise or any acknowledgment that he had ever heard of Kurdistan. I pulled out my checkbook and a pen.
âI can give you a retainer right now.â I wrote a check and tore it off and slid it across the desk. The check was for ten thousand dollars. If he accepted it, I had wasted my time because it would mean he did not give a damn about Kurdish oil rights and did not know anyone who did care. I wanted to know if he was going to alert the King to my presence and my claims. âI donât know if you have many oil business contacts, but if you do, I might like to get to know some of them. Weâre going to be lining up drilling operations, have our ducks in a row for when the time comes.â
âWhat time is that?â He said it like he was inquiring about a dinner invitation.
âWe feel we have a good chance that either the Regional Government or the PKK will be able to move forward as the definitive authority in the area soon. In the next couple of years. Do you know anything about Kurdistan? Fascinating place. Energetic people, great environment to do business.â
The check remained on the desk between us. He took his eyes off me to look at it and again he smiled. He shook his head. âPolitics always makes the world difficult, doesnât it? That means this is going to require some delicate maneuvering. Quite time consuming. If it can be accomplished at all. I canât make any guarantees,â he said.
âWhat would it take?â
âThis is a tough one, and you want introductions as well. About ten times that.â
That sounded high to me, but it made me happy. It meant he wanted to see if I was for real before he started alerting the King. I tore up the first check and wrote one for one hundred thousand dollars and stood up and told him I was staying at the St. Regis. He stood up and shook my hand and said he knew some âfolksâ at the State Department and would get on it as soon as I got him the names and copies of the passports. âAnd, if itâs okay with you, Iâll ask around about who might like to get some of your business.â
âThat would be just fine,â I said.
______
Will Panos said he wished he was in Houston with me, but I did not believe him because when I asked how he was doing with the widow, he said, âKristen is her name. Weâre having dinner tonight. At her house.â
âBring flowers.â
âFlowers. Okay. Something for her daughter?â
âToo soon. Youâll make the kid suspicious, if sheâs worth anything,â I said. âHow are you doing on identifying the body in the grave?â
âNo progress. We canât exactly put him on exhibit. DNA will come back, but what do we compare it with? The FBI has been around. They want to talk about you.â
âSee if you can get anything out of them about the shooter. Where the bullets came from, anything on the car. Anything. Try to keep the focus on that and off the grave and what we were looking for.â
âAnd off you.â