The Puppetmasters

  The Shazeb clan was in high spirits as the evening festivities began. The children were excited and had run out back all afternoon to peek at the roasting lambs and watch the basting process. The dripping juices gave off a heavenly scent of lamb, herbs, and fruit juices. Every so often, Taheem would cut off a slice to check the tenderness. He would wink at the children and give them a tiny morsel to taste. They couldn’t wait for the evening meal.

  Several bottles of Pinot Noir had been consumed by the Shazeb men and the Orion guests, Paul Fields and Kendall Radcliffe. Kendall moved freely between the sitting room where the men had congregated just beyond the formal dining room and the kitchen. President Shazeb was delighted that Kendall had taken such an interest in the dinner preparations. He was brimming with optimism that Kendall could be persuaded to become a permanent resident of the palace.

  His mind was too fuzzy from wine to figure out all the details of where she would fit in the household hierarchy. Kendall would certainly never agree to be a servant. She deserved to be no less than a wife. But he did not want tension and jealousy to descend among the palace women should she be installed as one of his favorites. He then ruminated about the possibility of setting Kendall up at the palace in one of the back suites that was not presently used. She could be a sort of Khala or aunt to the children. Of course, he would visit her often. Yes, he thought. This would be perfect.

  He would need to keep his boys away from her, though. He had seen them ogling Kendall. He looked up to find both of his sons talking to her about the horses. She was complimenting Ahmad on how beautiful and strong his horse, Papaver, was. Rashid stole a glance at Kendall over the rim of his wine glass. She seemed to know exactly what to say to have Ahmad eating out of her hands.

  The latter began regaling her with the tale of how difficult it was to break Papaver when it was first acquired. Ahmad was quite proud of the fact that he had Papaver broke in one week when it usually takes several weeks. Even though patience and hard work were essential for breaking a horse, Ahmad waved his hand dismissively and declared that his methods were much better. He looked quite handsome in his dress uniform complete with sidearm. And he acted every bit the soldier.

  Kendall was following the conversation closely and listening intently. Ahmad leaned in. “You’ve got to show the horse who’s boss. Don’t let them decide when and where to behave. Get him introduced immediately to the whip. Once he’s felt the sting of that whip he’ll fall in line. That’s why they call it ‘breaking in a horse.’” He winked at Kendall. She flushed, and her eyes flashed. Rashid was furious at Ahmad’s comment but relieved at Kendall’s response. It was perfect for Ahmad. If Rashid hadn’t known her so well, he would have taken the flush for sexual encouragement. But knowing her as he did, he knew the flush and the flashing eyes were masking intense anger. He could tell that Kendall was infuriated at the proposition of harsh treatment of a prized animal like Papaver. That brute, Ahmad, didn’t have a clue.

  Rashid kept the men’s wine glasses full. It had not escaped notice either. Saaqib greedily accepted more wine and helped himself to an hors d’oeurve of Bolani, or stuffed flat bread. He leaned over to Rashid and said with much derision, “What are you doing, trying to addle my brain so I don’t tear Ahmad’s head off? Can you believe the boasting and obvious flirting?”

  Rashid threw back his head and laughed … a little too loud. “Nonsense, Saaqib. I’ve seen you operate with women before. You have lots of charm and many stories. Go tell Kendall some of your war stories.”

  Saaqib watched Ahmad and Kendall as they traded laughs. He beamed at Rashid’s comment, and with newfound courage tinged with anger he strode over to the laughing pair. “Ahmad, shame on you. You are keeping Kendall to yourself. Let the poor girl breathe.” As Rashid rushed over to re-fill Ahmad’s glass of wine, Saaqib moved in and put his arm around Kendall’s waist. “Kendall, I see you were admiring our horses. Did you happen to see the peacocks?”

  Kendall’s eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together. “Oh yes, Saaqib. They were beautiful the way they strutted around owning the meadow.”

  “Well, I bought the peacocks as a gift for Ahmad. I knew how much he liked animals.”

  Kendall touched his arm. “That was so nice of you. What a thoughtful and unique gift. You are a wonderful brother.” She was laying it on thick.

  Ahmad, watching this exchange and wondering how Saaqib had suddenly gotten in the middle of their conversation, was enraged. He had been outmaneuvered once again by his older brother. When this dinner was over, he told himself, he was finally going to tell Saaqib off and maybe even show him with his fist. Just because Saaqib was older didn’t mean he always got the girls.

  Ahmad started to push his way into the center of the group when the rest of the family burst into the room. It was quite a commotion as the children and wives rushed in all at once. The children were excited about the unplanned party and that they had been allowed to help Taheem in the kitchen.

  President Shazeb loved his grandchildren. He especially loved sharing meals with them. This evening, their constant chattering and changing of subjects created enough chaos and normalcy to stifle the men’s growing annoyance toward each other.

  The group moved into the formal dining room and began their feast. President Shazeb naturally sat at the head of the table, with Kendall to his right, followed by Rashid. The Afghan leader had purposely placed Rashid next to Kendall, keeping his sons away from her. He knew he could trust Rashid. But Rashid was teasing a couple of the kids and they begged him to sit with them. He looked at the proud grandfather, shrugged his shoulders, and acquiesced. The children squealed with delight, their mothers quietly shushing them. Rashid pointed over to Ahmad to sit in his place. While Ahmad was overjoyed at sitting next to Kendall, Saaqib and the president were furious. Only Rashid could have gotten away with altering the seating arrangement. But in the end, it looked as if the children had done the maneuvering, when, in fact, Rashid had masterminded the entire scenario. The children were just pawns, and very easy ones at that.

  Paul Fields was sitting at the president’s left, with Saaqib on his left. Fields was not adept at the dangerous scene that was playing out. He was uncomfortable and found it hard to be jovial. Fortunately, he did like fine wine, and readily accepted glass after glass … just to take the edge off. Fields and the president began to discuss the computer network system of the Afghanistan government, and Fields explained that he had cleaned out quite a few viruses and malware, but had not seen any signs of a monitoring device or any unauthorized accessing of information. Saaqib, not having been present most of the time when Fields was working, simply nodded and concurred with Fields’ opinions.

  Fields wanted to emphasize that he was not in the business of IT cleanup, but felt that might not be too good for his overall health. He had agreed to play this game and was going to see it through so he could escape tonight. Rashid had told him that under no circumstances should he call anyone out, like Saaqib, to degrade or criticize the current systems. Fields was ordered to be genial, pleasant, and courteous. While those qualities were not in his nature, he genuinely missed his family and had agreed to do just about anything to see them again … or at least to get out of this godforsaken country.

  Rashid was enjoying a friendly banter with the children at the end of the table while keeping a watchful eye on the other end. President Shazeb was politely but just barely listening to Paul Fields. The Afghan leader was more intent on keeping an eye on his younger son who was shamelessly and loudly flirting with Kendall. In the president’s eyes, Kendall was only being polite, and was needlessly suffering through Ahmad’s extreme forwardness and boorishness. Rashid deftly and covertly signaled the pouring of more wine. Shazeb absent-mindedly took another drink and shoved more succulent lamb into his mouth. His eyes narrowed, and he would have liked to use the whip on Ahmad at that very moment.

  As the main courses came to an end, Rashid arose and announced that Kendall had made a
special dessert. She followed him to the kitchen where Taheem had already dished up the dessert onto delicate china plates. Rashid grinned at Taheem. “This looks wonderful Taheem. I’ll help Kendall serve it. This is her masterpiece. Would you please have the coffee served?”

  With that, Taheem turned away and began supervising the coffee service with the help of his staff. Rashid quickly reached into his pocket and produced a vial of powder. When Kendall caught sight of it, she sucked in her breath and had a brief stab of fear. She looked at him for reassurance that it would not hurt anyone. He nodded and quietly assured her that it would only make them sleepy. He put a small dose on each of the desserts intended for the children and a slightly larger dose on the women’s plates. The men received their desserts completely unaltered. Kendall did not understand what Rashid’s plan was and had no choice but to trust him. It seemed to her that the men should have received the sleeping powder and not the women and children.

  Kendall and Rashid served the dessert, carefully placing the correct dishes in front of the intended person. Saaqib was disgusted and irritated to see Rashid helping. “Really, Rashid … women’s work now? Don’t you have any pride?”

  Rashid chose to view the comment as a lighthearted jab. He laughed and responded, “Normally, I would agree with you. But I’ve already tasted this wonderful chocolate cheesecake, and I couldn’t wait for you all to try it.”

  President Shazeb’s eyebrows rose at all the fuss over a dessert. Rashid continued smoothly, “You know that we hardly ever have chocolate. It is such a rarity, and I wanted to watch all of you—especially the kids—enjoy something incredible.”

  The coffee was served, and they all began to eat the sumptuous treat. The room got very quiet as everyone nodded and exclaimed at the exquisite taste. The children finished quickly and asked Rashid if they could have another piece. He looked over to their mothers who smiled and agreed so long as the piece was small. Rashid retrieved several “seconds” while effusive praise was being bestowed on Kendall’s cooking abilities.

  The Afghan leader had eaten and drunk copious amounts and was beginning to stumble on his words. “Kendall, dear, perhaps you might consider staying on and overseeing the meal preparation and management of the kitchen?”

  The men’s wives had said very little during dinner. One look at Shazeb’s wife, and Rashid thought he’d better collect the palace knives. Ahmad and Saaqib, though, thought it was a wonderful suggestion and heartily approved. As the bantering continued, the children began to yawn and nod their heads. The president noticed immediately and ordered the women to take the children away for their evening baths and to put them to bed. Often the women would signal that they would like to stay and would simply summon a servant to see to the children. But on this evening, the women were unusually compliant and seemed to be nodding off themselves. They gathered up the children and shuffled out of the dining room without the usual grumblings and beseeching to stay up later.

  President Shazeb was puzzled and irritated. “What is all this sleepiness? Those women had better not have overindulged on wine, or there will be hell to pay.” He was still itching to take the whip to someone.

  Rashid proposed they move into the sitting room overlooking the meadow, and have a glass of brandy and a cigar. He hesitated quite openly and the others looked at him wondering what the issue was. The president said, “Yes, my son?”

  “Sir, do you mind if Kendall joins us, since she’s the only female left at the table?”

  Shazeb waved his hand and said, “Not at all. Kendall, my dear, come join us. We are quite civilized. There is no reason you cannot enjoy a drink with us.”

  While the Afghan constitution prohibited the consumption of alcohol by its citizens, President Shazeb chose to view the law as intended for the ordinary Afghanistan citizen but not himself. Being the leader of the country, he was expected to entertain international guests. He reasoned that it was therefore necessary to keep a well-stocked supply of liquor for those esteemed occasions.

  The men stumbled into the sitting room and Rashid poured the brandy. The president’s humidor was full of imported hand-rolled Cuban cigars. Shazeb and his boys helped themselves to a cigar and a snifter of brandy.

  Fields looked downright scared, his eyes wide and wondering. Rashid was livid and forced a glass of brandy into his hand, glaring at him in the process and willing him to calm down. If he looked any more guilty, they would all be beheaded before the night was through.

  The Afghan leader slowly ambled across the Persian rug with a drink in one hand and a cigar in the other. He walked over to the French doors leading out onto the large courtyard. He looked over to Kendall and inclined his head, “Come here, my dear. Why don’t you and I take a walk in the gardens. They are very fragrant this time of night.”

  She froze and didn’t dare look at Rashid. A million thoughts ran through her head. She gave the president a brilliant smile. “I would love to see the gardens.” She moved towards him, and he opened the door. As she stepped out onto the terrace, she saw there was a rather large gazebo-type building several hundred yards from them, off to the side. It had huge marbled columns and was obviously meant for privacy. President Shazeb put his hand on the small of her back and urged her toward the pathway leading to the small structure. Oh, Lord, what am I going to do? She walked very slowly toward the gazebo, chatting amiably and stopping to ask about various unique flowers they came upon.

  In the sitting room, the brothers glared at each other. There was a tense silence while the two fumed and stalked about the room. Rashid feigned trouble with his guillotine cutter and cigar. It looked as if he was going to cut into the cap a little too deeply, causing damage to the body of the cigar. This would most assuredly cause the wrapper to unravel, and the pricey cigar would be ruined. Saaqib was watching the awkward sequence, when he strode over and angrily grabbed the cigar and guillotine cutter from Rashid. “Here, give it to me. You’ll ruin it for sure.”

  Ahmad had had enough of Saaqib’s sanctimonious bluster. “Saaqib, you are such an ass!” They were both itching for a fight. It had been in the making for weeks now and had finally reached the boiling point. The now expertly-cut cigar was roughly shoved into Rashid’s hand, and it promptly split in the middle. This enraged Saaqib, and he flung the guillotine cutter at Ahmad, hitting him across the bridge of his nose … as if it was his fault the cigar broke.

  Saaqib was on a roll, not to be deterred. “You bastard! Haven’t you done enough for one night? First, you interrupt me when I was talking to Kendall, then you tell her some stupid story to impress her, and finally, you monopolize her during dinner and shamelessly flirt with her in front of your wife and children.”

  Tears of pain were streaming out of Ahmad’s blazing eyes. He sneered, “You’re jealous because she likes me better. Just because you’re the oldest doesn’t mean you always get what you want.”

  Both Rashid and Fields unconsciously took a step back. Fields’ eyes were wild with fear. Without warning, Saaqib pulled his sidearm from his dress uniform and fired directly at Ahmad. Ahmad’s eyes widened, and he fell to the floor, bleeding profusely from his gut. Upon the loud discharge of a weapon, President Shazeb whirled around in confusion and panic and ran back to the palace. As he flung open the French doors, he saw Saaqib with a still-smoking gun, and Ahmad lying dead on the carpet. Both Rashid and Fields looked appropriately shocked and distressed … frozen in place.

  Not thinking but only reacting, the president let out a roar, ran over to the prostrate body of Ahmad—his favorite son—grabbed his gun, turned, and shot Saaqib in the chest, but not before the older son shot his father right between the eyes.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY WAS still in the dark. They were stumbling around checking all angles, including conversations with their international counterparts. They were no closer to locating the Orion people who had been gone for weeks now. None of the three missing people had attempted to access th
eir bank accounts or use their credit cards. Nothing made sense. No ransom note had been received and no crash site had been located. The only communication was that suspicious cryptic note delivered to one of the buildings at the Orion campus. FBI Agent Zanders wondered how, in this high-tech day and age, three people and an airplane could go missing.

  Of course, no one spoke much of the two pilots and the flight attendant. Their pasts had been thoroughly researched and scrutinized. Nothing stood out. They all led fairly ordinary lives. One of the pilots was going through a divorce, but even then it was not contentious. The couple had filed jointly and already divided their assets. The soon-to-be ex-wife was as distraught as any loving, caring wife.

  There was just no explanation for a plane and its passengers to disappear out of the sky. This fact alone baffled the aviation industry. They were the experts. They should be able to provide a logical, rational explanation or at least research the events leading up to it, and then offer a plausible theory.

  The press was having a field day. Rumors were rampant, and the public and Orion’s employees and shareholders demanded answers. People were sure that the truth was being withheld. Conspiracy theories abounded and investors panicked. The Orion spokesperson assured the public there was no factual basis in the stories that an airplane crash had occurred. But no one, including the FAA, Orion, or the charter jet company, could provide a reasonable explanation for how the plane could fly under the radar without detection. Obviously, the emergency beacon and communication systems had been deactivated, but the plane should have still shown up on radar.