Alien Nation by Gini Koch

Author:Gini Koch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2016-11-01T16:25:54+00:00

CHAPTER 55

KING RAHEEM AND I had a long conversation. I did indeed need to take notes. Fortunately, he had the means to contact people and Camilla was allowed to bring my rolling bag and purse to me. Then she was required to skedaddle.

She was required to come back several times, take things away, and give us things in return. During these exchanges the king barely looked at her. Clearly Camilla had been right—being a servant meant you were totally anonymous.

Some of the king’s retainers had been called, and my gigantic entourage was moved into a wing of the palace. This was one of the big things Raheem was helping us with—we would appear to be in Bahrain even when we weren’t, because not everyone in the entourage was expected to go to every event.

And he was indeed setting up events. Due to the nature of what was happening, it was a fairly easy thing to request that all the top people in the region meet up. Dubai was chosen as the city, and the Burj Khalifa was chosen as the meeting place.

Thanks to Gower’s influence with the religious leaders, they were now coming to Bahrain and would also be in the palace, though the religious leaders were put into a different wing than my team, and Raheem had many palace guards assigned to keep them in check. Also, the various Muslim leaders had managed to get their squabbling flocks to play nicely with each other, which I was willing to count as a miracle. Doubted we’d luck into a similar miracle back home, but a girl could dream.

Israel was also included in this regional meeting, which made it even more fraught with tension and excitement than normal. Raheem, however, had insisted, in part because there would be so much focus on the Israeli leaders and their people that it would give me more cover. Everyone had agreed that no hostilities would be allowed, and the U.S. in the form of my husband had shared that, should anyone be harmed or even jostled, the U.S. would interpret that to mean that the jostlers wanted to have the U.S. send shock troops over via gates. Raheem felt that this threat would support the clerics’ edicts. Really hoped he was right.

About two hours into this there was a knock. “Come,” Raheem called.

Vance opened the door. “Your Majesty, I apologize greatly for this interruption. However, I need to confer with the First Lady for a few minutes on a private matter of extreme importance. May I remove her from your presence for a short while?”

Raheem nodded. “Yes, you may.” Raheem helped me up and handed me off to Vance. Contemplated taking my purse with me then figured that would be rude.

“What’s up?” I asked as we were leaving the room.

Vance looked worried. “Madame First Lady, we have a situation.”

“What situation is that?” Tried not to worry. Failed.

Vance closed the door behind us. “The situation that you’re really not good at this,” he said in a very low voice.

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