by Tony Lavely
Kevin gave her a look as if he’d hoped she hadn’t remembered that. “Yeah. Amun Hassan.” He smiled. “I guess if you can get by him, we’ll be okay.”
“So that’s the plan, then. We’ll head back and—”
“You know Ian wouldn’t approve of this,” Kevin said.
“No, Kev. I don’t know that and neither do you. I’ll grant you I don’t know he would approve it either, but this contract was important enough for us to take. And he worked it himself. He’d want us to go forward as best we can.
“When the job came up, Ian and I talked about it, a lot. He liked that for the first time, these Bedouin leaders were willing to use negotiation. Maybe the fact that they’d killed twenty or thirty family members motivated them, too, but whatever. I wanted to support them in not murdering people. I think it’s a necessary step between the old conflict resolution of shooting or knifing people till they go away and accepting the legal system as the final arbiter. You guys know the legal system still doesn’t work well in Egypt, especially in land and water disputes. Too much to lose, I guess.”
“Yeah,” Kevin said. “Ian told us most of that in the run-up to the meeting. But I’m not sure why it makes you a good candidate for moving into Ian’s chair.”
“Tell you what. We’re all headed back, right?” She included everyone in the sweep of her hand. “Derek’s role’s been defined by the earlier meetings.” Derek nodded. “Dan’s, too. So you, Willie and I will work on the plane and in the hotel there with the lawyer until the meeting reconvenes. The one of us we all agree can do the best job will do it.” She sipped her tea. “Unless there’s someone else I’m forgetting?”
“No, no one else knows enough to help. And leave me out of it,” Kevin said. “I was there, too. I’d be no good at it. While it’ll be between you and Willie, all of us will work with both of you, and come to a joint decision.”
“Cool beans.” Beckie slid off her stool to pat him on the back before placing her cup in the sink. “It’s late. I’m going to visit Ian in the morning.” She pursed her lips, thinking. “How about we see if Jean-Luc can leave around noon?”
Early the next morning, Beckie rolled out of her bed. She slipped out of the house and crossed to the hospital. The orderly welcomed her and allowed her to again sit by Ian’s bed. Alone.
“Ian,” she whispered, “I’m gonna let Millie do her job, along with the doctors she’s got lined up. Me, I’ll get out of her hair. I’m going to go to Cairo with Kevin, so we can restart the negotiations.” She paused. “The guys aren’t sure I can do it, I guess ‘cause I’ve been working with you and not them. I feel like I’m gonna have to… No, that’s not right. I will earn their trust. We talked last night. None of them are right for this, I don’t think. Except Kevin. He’d be good, but he says no, so… We wanted this to work, remember? I can do it.”
She blinked back a couple of tears before standing and kissing his cheek. She straightened and gave him a twisted smile. “Yeah, and I’m gonna hunt the shooter, too. You know I will. I don’t understand why she wanted to take you away from me. That’s my plan for now, till you’re back to where you appreciate me being here, anyway. And we will make love the first chance we get! I am not gonna wait any longer!”
Beckie smiled; both Kevin and Willie were right beside her as she opened Ian’s notebooks on the plane.
“Well, we’ve nothing else to do for the next twelve hours except sleep,” Willie reminded her.
She nodded. “We’ll get some sleep, too. What time did Jean-Luc say we’d arrive?”
“Eight-fifteen in the morning. Dan and Sue will meet us.”
“Cool.”
“Wait,” Kevin said. “Let’s put Ian’s notes aside for a minute.” He reclined his seat. “We should probably set the scene.” He turned to look at Willie. “What do you think?”
Willie nodded as Beckie said, “Beyond the things you said earlier? Anything’d be great!” She yawned, a jaw popping yawn that, when she realized it, embarrassed her for showing off her tonsils. “Don’t worry,” she said sheepishly, “I can nap later.”
“Ok,” Kevin said with a chuckle. “The two groups always arrive together.” Willie nodded in agreement. “Both Al Hosni and al-Kassis bring five others, usually, though Ian and I could never figure out why. Except for the woman who speaks for Al Hosni, none of them seem to say anything.”
“Wait, Al Hosni… He has a woman to speak for him?”
“Yeah. He’s more… liberal, I guess. Except for Al Hosni, she only ever talked to Ian, never to al-Kassis.”
“Did he talk to Ian?”
“Al Hosni? Yeah, of course.”
“So… Why bring her?”
“She’s one of the translators. Beyond that, we had some wild guesses, but—”
“We’ll let you make up your mind when you meet them,” Willie said.
“I’ll just say Al Hosni seems to get some… enjoyment from her participation.”
“Hmm. Okay. How will I recognize them?”
“Al-Kassis always sits to your left. He’ll wear a robe. Al Hosni will be to your right. So far, he’s always worn a suit. Most of the others, either the same, or casual clothes.”
For another ten minutes, Kevin and Willie described the Egyptians and their mannerisms until Beckie put up her hands and said, “Stop. I’ll forget anything else, and we still have Ian’s notes.”
She pushed the notebooks onto the table and watched the two men leaf through them. As she had admitted, she’d been sure Kevin would have been better than she; she would have deferred to him. She had great respect for Willie, but he wasn’t as good a debater. However, he did have a surprising grasp of the issues and a unique way of looking at them.
While Beckie was correct about the depth of Ian’s preparations, his notes didn’t make it easier to decide how to lead the two sides in the desired direction. Suddenly, she slammed the notebook closed with a blow of her hand. “I swear, the first thing I’m gonna tell Ian is that he’s gotta improve his writing! I have to read everything three times to get all the words.”
“Could be you’re tired, too,” Willie said softly. “We didn’t get much sleep last night, and it’s been a long day.”
Beckie nodded with a smile that she knew was weary. “Always looking out for us.”
End of Excerpt
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