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“Are you sure?” he responded into the microphone on his wrist. “Do you want me to come in? I think you should have at least some—Yes. Understood.”
He stepped aside and Rapp followed Claudia as she moved toward the steps. When they entered the aircraft, she stopped short.
Irene Kennedy rose from her chair and approached, giving Claudia a short embrace as Rapp chose a seat near a section of fuselage with no windows.
“I’m so glad to see you, Claudia,” Kennedy said. “I’ve been worried. Are you all right?”
“Yes, but what are you doing here? Mitch kept refusing to call you.”
“I called him,” she said, indicating toward the chair next to Rapp’s and taking a facing seat. “And I’m looking forward to hearing about what you’ve been doing over the past month. Grisha Azarov, Donatella Rahn, and Kent Black . . .” She shook her head. “Desperate times . . .”
“Word is Joel Wilson’s dead,” Rapp said. “Last time I saw him, he looked okay. You didn’t—”
“No, of course not.” She twisted in her seat. “Joel! Could you come out here, please?”
The FBI man appeared from the secure communications space at the back, looking a bit sheepish.
“Joel’s been working to identify the men who were killed in Juba and helping to clear you in the deaths of the Saudi nationals you’re accused of killing.”
“Are you making any progress?” Rapp asked.
“It’s hard to get anything concrete,” Wilson replied. “But we’re building a pretty decent circumstantial case for your innocence.”
Rapp pulled out the fake passport he’d been using and tossed it to the man. “It’s not exactly ironclad, but you might be able to get some mileage out of it.”
Wilson flipped through the pages, looking at the entry and exit stamps. “Every little bit helps. Let me go back and get some scans.”
Rapp returned his attention to Kennedy. “Is our meeting with the king still on?”
“Yes,” she responded, glancing at her watch. “In fact, we’re running late. Claudia, why don’t you wait here for us?”
“I think I should come,” she protested. “I have all the details of what we’ve done—times, dates, places, transportation. I could help fill in anything that Joel hasn’t been able to figure out.”
“I understand, and we’ll need you to coordinate with him later, but for now I’d like to keep you out of this as much as possible. And besides, it will give you a chance to give Anna a call. She and Tommy are having a wonderful time together, but she misses her mother.”
* * *
The lights of the Erga Palace’s fountain had come on, bathing the pillared entrance in a warm glow. Guards were plentiful, all carrying assault rifles and all very interested in the limousine gliding past them.
“Stop here,” Rapp said in Arabic to the driver.
“What?” he responded. “Why? I’ve been told to take you to the entrance where the king’s assistant is waiting.”
“Stop here,” Rapp repeated. The man had no choice but to do so. Rapp was the king’s guest and, as such, his wishes were to be carried out to the letter.
“You don’t mind a little walk, do you, Irene?”
“An excellent idea,” she said, following him out into the quickly cooling evening.
“What are we doing?” Wilson said, looking around at the guards before leaving the relative safety of the limo.
“Relax,” Rapp said, putting a friendly hand in his back and ushering him toward the palace entrance. “I just needed a little air.”
In truth Rapp wanted to make sure this little visit was as public as possible. He needed the guards—many of whom would be loyal to Aali Nassar—to see not only him and Irene Kennedy walking freely into a meeting with the king but also the late Joel Wilson strolling along with them.
They met Faisal’s assistant on the palace steps and, after some strained pleasantries, were led to a marble-and-gilt audience room near the back of the palace. As expected, the king wasn’t there. He liked to make an entrance and they were forced to wait. The only seat was a gold-and-red-velvet throne on an elevated platform, so they had to stand.
After five minutes Faisal appeared and struggled into his seat. The platform had been getting progressively shorter as he aged, and Rapp noted that it might be about time for another adjustment.
