… but mostly they were trying to decide how to get out of this predicament with their skins still attached to their bodies. 'Jadallah, let's not celebrate just yet,' Juma Hijazi, the Libyan foreign minister, said. 'Egypt and the entire world are going to be on high alert after that weapon went off at Mersa Matruh.'
'Our plan to take the Salimah oil fields is still on schedule,' Zuwayy said. 'We still have almost fifty thousand troops surrounding Salimah, plus another twenty thousand Sudanese mercenaries. We can send in every piece of air defense equipment we own to protect them. Once we move in, we can wire the place with explosives and threaten to blow it up unless we make a deal for coproduction rights.'
'Just a couple months is all we need,' Fazani said. 'Once we have the first shot of cash in our hands, we head for Malaysia or some island in Indonesia and relax.'
'Or we can get the hell out now' Hijazi said. 'Damn it, Jadallah, we've got more money than Bill Gates tucked away in secret bank accounts all over the world-why are we staying here acting like targets? Let's get the hell out.'
'I can't leave!' Zuwayy retorted. 'I am the king of united Libya! I am the head of the Muslim Brotherhood! I can't run! I am the leader of a quarter of a billion Muslims around the world…'
'Jadallah, give it up, will you?' Fazani interjected. 'You are not a fucking king, and the Muslim Brotherhood would gladly turn you over to Kazakov or Salaam or anyone else for the right amount of cash.'
'I say let's end it-right now,' Hijazi insisted. 'Let's get while the getting's good.'
'If you want to go so badly, go,' Zuwayy said morosely.
Hijazi had thought about doing exactly that, and he had spoken about it at length with Fazani. But they needed Zuwayy-not because of any misguided sense of loyalty, but because only Zuwayy had the bank account numbers and access codes they needed to tap into the full range of money they had stolen from the Libyan government's oil revenues. As the mastermind of their operation, Zuwayy had all the codes-Fazani and Hijazi had only the codes for — their own accounts. If they simply ran, Zuwayy would eventually hunt them down, slaughter them, and keep all the money.
'We're in this together, Jadallah,' Hijazi lied. 'We stay together.' Together-until they got the codes from Zuwayy, at which time they would jettison his ass and be done with his delusions of grandeur. 'Tahir, let's take another look at the military forces we have remaining-I think we should beef up security here in Tripoli and around our headquarters first, then see how many troops we can commit to Salimah.' Fazani was more than happy to comply-and if it turned out that they needed all available troops to secure Tripoli and all of their secret headquarters and shelters, so be it. No one was anxious to march out into the open and have a cluster bomb dropped on them anyway.
While Zuwayy and Fazani worked to reallocate troops in the wake of the nuclear detonation at Mersa Matruh, Hijazi went to the outer office to have a cigarette and clear his head. The situation was becoming desperate, he thought. He had to try to convince Jadallah to escape. But if he wouldn't, Hijazi thought, he might have to hire his own strongmen to kidnap Zuwayy and force him to turn over the bank account numbers and access codes. He wasn't going to wait much longer for him to-
'Excuse me, Minister,' Zuwayy's private secretary said, interrupting his thoughts. 'There is an urgent phone call for His Highness.'
'Take a message.'
'Sir, the caller is Madame Susan Bailey Salaam of Egypt.'
'Salaam?' What was she calling for? 'Send the call to my office immediately. I'll take it there.' He thought quickly, then added, 'And if the king or General Fazani want to know where I am, tell them I'm dealing with the Egyptians-don't tell them who called.'
'Yes, Minister.'
Hijazi fairly ran down the hallway of the presidential palace to his office, then closed the door behind him. He took a shot of whiskey first to calm himself, then lifted the receiver. 'This is the Minister of Arab Unity,' he said in his most officious tone. 'To whom am I speaking, please?'
'This is Susan Bailey Salaam, Mr. Hijazi,' Susan Bailey replied. 'Do you need more proof of my identity?'
'That depends on what you have to say to me, Madame,' Hijazi said. 'What do you want?'
'I wish to end this war between us,' Salaam said. 'I wish for the violence and destruction to end. We have both suffered greatly in the past few days. It is time to make peace.'
'What are you talking about, Madame?'
'I'm talking about the attack on Jaghbub last night, Minister.'
Hijazi's mouth dropped open, and he had to struggle to maintain his composure. 'What do you know of this, Salaam?'
'I know everything. I know about the attacks on Zillah and Al-Jawf tonight, too.'
'Hold,' Hijazi said. He frantically punched the call from Salaam on hold, then hit the button to the outer office. 'Put in a call to the commander of Zillah Air Base, and I want him on the line now.'
Hijazi was on hold for over three minutes. Then: 'This is Colonel Harb speaking.'
'This is Minister of Arab Unity Hijazi, Colonel, speaking from His Majesty's residence. I have been informed of an attack tonight on your base. What is happening?' There was a long, maddening pause. 'Colonel!'
'The attack ended only minutes ago, Minister-'
'What attack?'
'We… we don't know any details, sir,' Harb stammered. 'We were hit by antiradar missiles first, and then our runway was bombed. We've lost several fighters and two bombers.'
'Who did this?'
'We don't know, sir…. Can you please hold, sir? I have casualty reports coming in, please-' +
Hijazi hung up. It was true… God, it was true. He didn't need to call Al-Jawf to know that it was hit too. It didn't matter that he didn't know what the damage was; enemy aircraft had invaded Libya only minutes ago, and Susan Bailey Salaam had told him about it-before his own military did!
Hijazi's head was tingling with confusion as he punched the line button on the phone: 'I thought you weren't coming back, Minister.'
'How… how in hell did you know about this, Salaam? Did you order these attacks? Did you?'
'No, I did not-but I know that more attacks are forthcoming, unless Zuwayy or Idris or whatever he calls himself negotiates with me.'
'Is Egypt involved in the attack on our bases, Madame?'
'No. But I control the ones that are. If you wish the attacks to stop, you must deal with me right away. I know you have only a few hours left before the deadline.'
'I'm listening, Madame.'
'The attacks are a retaliation for prisoners your naval forces captured in the Mediterranean Sea, meant to force Zuwayy to surrender them. '
'Then tell me where the terrorists and bombers are, Madame Salaam. Turn them over to the king for justice, and we will withdraw our forces.'
'I suggest you withdraw those forces today, Minister, or they'll be destroyed. And once we have destroyed your invasion force in both Libya and Sudan, we'll destroy your palaces and headquarters in Tripoli. In time, we'll level every government and military structure in your entire nation.'
'With what air force? I don't know who has done these attacks, but they are not Egyptian military forces. Who did you have sex with to get access to such weapons, Mrs. Salaam? It couldn't have been the American president, Thomas Thorn-everyone knows he has no balls. What new American comrades have you been sleeping with lately?'
'We'll see how glib you are after they're done bombing Tripoli, Minister.'
This was going nowhere, Hijazi thought-better see what she has in mind quickly, before she hangs up. 'So what do you propose, Madame Salaam?' Hijazi asked.
'You will announce a cease-fire agreement has been reached in secret negotiations between the king and myself, acting as a representative of the Egyptian government.'
'You are not the Egyptian government.'
'For your sake, you had better hope I will be,' Susan Salaam said. 'You will not be able to negotiate a thing with Prime Minister Kalir or anyone else in our government after you have attacked us with nuclear weapons. Again, I am your only hope.'
