years to get into this position, with people-smuggling routes in and out of Spain, networks of cells to facilitate surveillance of targets, logistics of material, ID card and passport forgery and bomb-making.'
'So, in trying to make themselves attractive prospects, they've become formidable players.'
'Now they wouldn't even have to ask al-Qaeda for money,' said Yacoub. 'They're involved in drug-running, bank-card fraud and internet scams, all of which they see, not as criminal, but as legitimate 'attacks' on the West. All part of the jihad. So, like anybody who's become a power in their own right, they start to think of themselves differently. Success brings a change of focus. They start thinking globally. Why bother to overturn the monarch of some poor, far-flung kingdom when you could bring about the complete revolution? Return all lands from Pakistan to Morocco, and maybe even Andalucia, to Islamic government and law, as we were over a thousand years ago.'
'The jihadi's dream,' said Falcon. 'But how do you pull it off? So far they've had a limited impact by blowing up the World Trade Center, killing commuters in Madrid and London, but they're a long way from the dream.'
'And they've realized that,' said Yacoub. 'All Osama bin Laden did was put them on the map. He made them understand that they have power. Only then… after 2001, did the real thinking start.'
'So, go on, how are they going to pull this off?'
'You see, Javier, that's the fatal error of the West.'
'What?'
'You don't believe it's possible. You think it's some ridiculous, far-fetched notion of a bunch of towel-headed fanatics sitting in mud huts, making plans with sticks in the sand.'
'I don't underestimate the capabilities of these groups,' said Falcon. 'But what I do know is that the Arab world has never been able to show a united front.'
'The leaders of the Arab world,' said Yacoub. 'Those people who've become the lapdogs of the West, they can't show a united front with the disenfranchised Palestinians, the split Lebanese, the sinister Syrians, the undecided Turks, the occupied Iraqis, the impossible Iranians. But what about their populations with sixty per cent under the age of twenty-five, who have nothing but belief and a sense of injustice? The people are more ready than ever to show a united front.'
'All right,' said Falcon. 'But there's still a long way to go.'
'But there is a key,' said Yacoub. 'One Arab country holds the key to everything. Not only is it the richest, with fabulous reserves of the most desired commodity in the world, but it also holds the keys to the holiest sites in Islam.'
'Saudi Arabia,' said Falcon. 'Your theory about why the Americans invaded Iraq with such haste was to protect that monarchy, who are the guardians of their most valuable interest.'
'A very difficult relationship for most Muslims to understand,' said Yacoub. 'Why do the guardians of the holiest sites in Islam embrace the most despised infidel on the face of the earth, the one who upholds the rights of Zion in the heart of the land of the Prophet? Very tricky, Javier. Possibly more understandable if the Saudis used their wealth, power and influence to achieve justice for the most abject people of the Arab world, but they don't.'
'So nobody would cry if the House of Saud came to an ignominious end,' said Falcon. 'But how do you achieve it?'
'First of all, al-Qaeda might not be able to get rid of the Americans from Iraq, but they will keep them so fully occupied over such a long time that, when the moment comes and the Americans have to respond, they will be too weak or overstretched or lacking in will to do so.'
'And in the meantime…'
'There are more than six thousand members of the Saudi royal family,' said Yacoub. 'Their total wealth is greater than the GDP of many smaller nations. All those people with all that wealth make the royal family a political monster. Every point of view is represented by its members, from the utterly corrupt, drug-running friends of America, to the reclusive, ascetic, profoundly devout Wahabi fundamentalists. Some flaunt their wealth in tasteless displays of extravagance while others quietly channel funds into international terrorism.'
'So the GICM and other terrorist groups have realized that it could just be a question of tipping the balance in favour of the radical fundamentalists within the royal family.'
'Combined with the support of a disgruntled population, who will see more opportunities for equality in an Islamic state than they ever would from an old-fashioned monarchy…'
'And there you have the makings of a new world order,' said Falcon. 'But it's not something that will be pulled off easily. How are the GICM going to do it? And how do you fit in?'
'Persuasion, manoeuvring and, if necessary, assassination,' said Yacoub. 'One by one.'
'I imagine there's quite a considerable security apparatus attached to the House of Saud,' said Falcon uneasily.
'Very experienced. Very well trained,' said Yacoub, nodding, staring at his feet.
'Did they train you, Yacoub?'
He looked up at the wall above Falcon's head. The light in his pupils seemed to be coming from a long way off, like a traveller at night making slow progress over a moonless desert.
'This is where you decide, Javier,' he said. 'I wouldn't blame you if you went next door, put your clothes on, left the room and we never see each other again.'
'I don't want that,' said Falcon.
'Why not?' asked Yacoub, lowering his gaze to meet Falcon's eye, his curiosity genuine.
Falcon thought about this for some time, not because he was unsure, but because it suddenly struck him how valuable this relationship had become to him. His friendship with Yacoub had all the complexities of the ties of blood, but without there being any. And he also knew there was no greater bond than that between parent and child. This bizarre situation: sitting naked in Yacoub's hotel bathroom, with a world of trouble seemingly on the brink of fulmination, made him feel a terrible loneliness at the loss of his own parental relationships and the knowledge that he would always be secondary in the lives of others who were important to him.
'If there's any doubt…' said Yacoub.
'There's no doubt,' said Falcon. 'You're the only person who understands what I've been through. I'm close to my brother and sister, but they still see me as the old Javier. They've never grasped the extent of the change, or perhaps they don't want to deal with it. You know me in a way that nobody else does, and I'm not going to give that up lightly.'
'Then why do you look so desolate?' said Yacoub.
'Because I think I might be destined for the ultimate loneliness of never being the most important person in anybody's life.'
Yacoub nodded. He had no intention of lying to him.
'But there are times,' he said, 'when only a friend will do.'
Falcon said nothing. Yacoub knew the questions he had to answer and he was either going to do it, or not. He sighed, as if this was going to be an enormous relief.
'I've been in a relationship with… well, let's leave it as 'a member of the Saudi royal family' for the moment,' said Yacoub. 'We can call him Faisal without fear of identification.'
'How long have you known him?'
'We first met in 2002 at the house of a friend in Marbella,' said Yacoub. 'We became friends. He does a lot of business in London. Whenever I had meetings or attended fashion shows we would always see each other.'
'Let's be clear about it, Yacoub,' said Falcon. 'Is he your lover?'
'Yes,' he said. 'When it became clear that this was serious and Faisal, being an important member of the family, was suitably paranoid, he had me vetted and then trained, so that I could get to see him without bringing the world to his door. His security detail is British trained. They've also actively helped me in the last few months when, because of my successes, MI5 have been a little more assiduous in tailing me.'
'So what does he know about you?' asked Falcon. 'If his security detail is helping you lose MI5, he must realize that you're not 'normal'.'
'We share a lot of beliefs. We know the world is not black and white. We spend a lot of time talking about the grey. It was Faisal, for instance, who told me why the Americans invaded Iraq, as if it had become a matter of extreme urgency. Quite a few of those six thousand members of the royal family live in a state of total paranoia and terror. The least bit of trouble and they're on their private jets and out of there.'
'Taking the details of their Swiss bank accounts with them.'
'Quite,' said Yacoub. 'He despises them. He and I both have an interest in what is happening beneath the
