in,' Susan said.
'The Egyptian people won't be entirely innocent,' Baris said. 'Khan will be voted in by an overwhelming majority, even if Prime Minister Kalir decides to run again. Should not the people be allowed to choose their own government, their own fate?'
'No one should be permitted to rule by force, intimidation, fear-or murder,' Susan said bitterly.
'Even if al-Khan is a murderer, the people of Egypt will still choose by whom they will be ruled. Whether Khan is the president or not, people will follow him because they choose to do so.' Baris lowered his head sadly. 'You may hate me for saying so, Sekhmet, but the reason al-Khan survives-and your husband, my friend, did not-is because the people want a man like him as president.'
'Wha… what did you say, General?'
'I said, the people get the leaders they want, my friend,' Baris said. 'Your husband was a great man, a great statesman, a hero to Egypt. He helped put this nation back in touch with the rest of the world and ended the isolation and ostracism we have been facing for fifty years. But men like al-Khan survive, and many say he has more power, much more power, than Kamal Ismail Salaam ever had. Khan preaches power, Sekhmet, not cooperation. He preaches leadership. Kamal wanted Egypt to join the community of nations, especially the Western nations. Khan survives, and will become president, because people like what he says.'
'Even if he gets his power by murder, death, and betrayal?'
'Betrayal to you is another man's patriotism, Sekhmet,' Baris said. 'Murder and death to you is justice, vengeance, action, and destiny to another. Which is right? Which is wrong? I suppose it depends on your point of view.'
'I can't believe you're saying this, Ahmad,' Susan retorted, her eyes wide in surprise. 'Killing my husband, the president of Egypt, was not justice. Conspiring to align Egypt with a bunch of murderous anarchists like Zuwayy and the Muslim Brotherhood is not patriotism.'
'Not to you, it isn't,' Baris said. 'Not to me. But to twenty million Egyptians, fifteen million Libyans, five million Sudanese-yes. To over half the Egyptian military forces, al-Khan is a hero for killing your husband. To half of the Saudi royal family, to three-quarters of the Lebanese, to most of the Syrians, Zuwayy is a liberator, the sword of Allah.'
'How is that possible?' Susan asked incredulously. 'How can that be true? Don't all those people realize how dangerous he is? Can't they see Zuwayy's crazy? He thinks he's descended from an ancient Libyan king. He's nothing but a goofball-a murdering, thieving goofball!'
'You're not listening, Sekhmet!' Baris said with a smile, like a patient teacher who is watching realization dawning on a promising student. 'You're not paying attention. It doesn't matter what you think or what you knowit's what the people believe. Look back through your own country's history, Susan. Everyone believed John Kennedy was the so-called prince of Camelot, and then were disillusioned because you later found out he was a womanizing adolescent privileged politician who knew little except what his brother Robert and his 'Kitchen Cabinet' told him. You know much of Egyptian and Middle East history-do you truly believe the western European kings organized the Crusades to liberate the Holy Land from the infidels? Do you believe Alexander the Great sought to unify the kingdoms of eastern Europe?'
'So it's all propaganda? It's all illusion?'
'Of course it's all illusion,' Baris said. 'The only thing that is real is the law-but there are many, many things more powerful that the law. Image. Perception. Emotion. Fear. Anger. Hate. Love. Control these things, and you control all.'
Susan shook her head in confusion. 'Why are you telling me this, General?' she asked in a low, strained voice. 'Why? Are you telling me that my husband died for nothing more than a dream, an illusion?'
'Because I'm trying to explain men like Zuwayy and alKhan to you, Sekhmet,' Baris said. 'Your husband died because he was strong in his heart, but perhaps not strong enough in his mind. He believed in something he could never, ever have. Now it's time for you to choose what you want, Sekhmet. Choose.'
'Yes, I said Susan Salaam. She's alive!' Khalid al-Khan hissed in the cellular phone. 'I thought I was seeing a ghost when she walked out on stage! And she's crazy! She actually attacked and seriously wounded some of my men-nearly killed them with a walking cane'
'A walking cane, eh?' Jadallah Zuwayy of Libya chuckled. He was relaxing in his office, flipping through reports and paperwork with several of his advisers. 'I think you need to hire better bodyguards, my friend.'
'She's accusing me of trying to kill her!'
'Calm yourself, Ulama. Let her rant and beat up on your bodyguards-it makes her look all the more unstable.'
'Unstable? She's running for president of Egypt, Highness!'
Zuwayy froze, then sat bolt upright in his chair. 'Running for president? How is that possible, Khalid? She's not an Egyptian! She's not even a naturalized Egyptian citizen!'
'The law allows it,' Khan said. 'The law actually says that she assumes the office of her husband if he dies in office-the law was amended in this case to allow her to run for the office.'
'How in the world can you allow that to happen? What kind of lawmakers do you have out there?'
''She is immensely popular here, Highness,' Khan said. 'Even after being hit by that explosion, she is still beautiful.'
'You Egyptians sound like the Italians sometimesbeauty is enough to become a great politician, eh?'
'This is not a joke, Highness,' Khan said. 'The polls already show Salaam twenty points ahead, and she has not raised one penny or made one speech yet!'
'All right, all right,' Zuwayy responded. 'Listen to me, Khalid. Most of this fight is yours-Libya cannot become involved in Egyptian elections. You command considerable power in Egypt, especially in the outlying areas and with conservatives. Use that power. Rally your supporters. You also hold a high position, both in government and in your citizen's personal and spiritual lives-use that power as well. Don't just beat Salaam-destroy her. You can do it, Khalid. If necessary, get some secular advisers and help them design a campaign for you-don't rely on a bunch of clerics to fight a battle in an arena they know nothing about.' Zuwayy paused for a few moments; then: 'I may be able to help stir some things up in other areas, Khalid. But it is your fight. Fight to win.'
Zuwayy cut off the call by angrily throwing the receiver back on its hook. He shook his head, deep in thought. 'Khan is such a weakling, it's amazing he's even strong enough to venture outside his own bedroom by himself, let alone run for public office,' he said to no one in particular. 'Whining and bleating like a lost sheep because the wife of his political adversary is still breathing-deplorable.' But he ordered his aide to dismiss his other advisers and staffers with a wave of his hand.
When his office was cleared, he looked at his military chief of staff, General Tahir Fazani, and his Secretary of Arab Unity, Juma Mahmud Hijazi. 'What if the lovely Mrs. Salaam does win the election?' he asked.
'Khan will retain his post as chief justice of the Supreme Judiciary,' Hijazi said. 'He's almost as powerful as the president. Little will change.'
'Salaam will certainly want to form even closer relations with the West than her husband,' Fazani said. 'That means more foreign military presence, more military ties, more foreign investment. Libya will be squeezed out of any development deals.' He glanced at Hijazi, then added, 'So will our secret benefactor.'
'I am still opposed to making any more deals with Kazakov, Jadallah,' Hijazi said. The two men in Zuwayy's office were fellow officers in the Libyan military who helped Zuwayy overthrow Qadhafi to take over the government-they were two of the few in all of Libya who could call Zuwayy by his real name, and still only in private. 'The man's in protective custody by the World Court, for God's sake. This could all be an elaborate ruse to implicate us. Remember, he's ratted out half the organized-crime leaders in Europe in just the past year. Maybe we're next.'
'I still say, let's take all the weapons Kazakov can put into our hands,' Fazani said, 'and blast the Egyptian military to hell right now. They may have American weapons, but they don't have any more power or support than they ever had. We have historic claims to the Salimah oil fields-let's just move in, wipe out the Western and ignorant Turkish roustabouts, and take over the entire Libyan Desert region of Egypt. We can lay claim to everything west of thirty east longitude and everything south of twenty-five degrees latitude, and I think we can hold it easily. Our forces in Sudan already have the region surrounded-it would be easy. We can pump oil and send it to Libya for six months, maybe a year, before the West starts to threaten retaliation. Then we keep the proceeds, destroy the
