The General and the Elephant Clock of Al-Jazari by Sarah Black Page A

on you because of your clothes. We’re going shopping tonight, after supper.”
    John’s mind was flipping frantically through any reasonable excuse. “But what about Abdullah? He just got here.”
    “He’s not going anywhere. I know more about this than you.” Kim’s face softened, and he looked at John kindly, a doting smile on his face. “I know more about this than you, and I’m not going to argue anymore. We’re going to buy a new suit, along with two shirts and ties, and one leisure outfit. I repeat, I will not argue with you. I know there is available credit on your Navy Federal Visa. You paid off the furniture already. If you argue with me,” he said, holding up a hand to stop John, “I am going to start going to the plasma bank and I will sell blood until I have paid back every cent I spent on the couch.” John had no doubt, looking at the angle of his jaw, that Kim meant every word.
    What the hell was a leisure outfit? John looked down at himself, jeans and a faded chambray shirt. Kim closed his eyes as if he were in pain.
    “These are weapons, Uncle John.” Kim was speaking as if John were a little slow. “This is a new war, and these are your weapons.”
     
     
    G ABRIEL sent him an e-mail about ten, said, Pack the Matrix-ninja killer suit. John knew which suit Gabriel meant, a stark black Italian wool crepe that Kim approved of. This suit made him look particularly ferocious and lethal. John wondered if Gabriel wanted this suit for DC in general or for David Painter in particular. Both, as it turned out.
    John had a couple of sirloins on the grill. Gabriel was transplanting basil, kneeling on a foam cushion John had found in the shed. “He’s a dick,” Gabriel said, and John had to agree. “You wouldn’t be going if you weren’t bored out of your skull.”
    “Okay, agreed. But if he does have some boys in trouble in Tunisia, maybe I should help get them out. It’s like a powder keg over there right now. But I know it’s hard for you to get away on short notice. It’s okay if you can’t come with.”
    “Work isn’t the problem. Juan is the problem. I do not want to be that father who is always gone when a crisis occurs. And that kid is brewing some sort of crisis. I don’t know what. On the other side of the coin, I don’t like you going into a danger zone alone. You need someone to watch your back. That’s always been me. The thing is, John, we’ve worked together so long now, we’re good at what we do. What we used to do, I mean. It would take you years to train someone else to understand your moves like I do.”
    “I wondered sometimes if you ever wanted to step up and take lead. I was always in charge. You were never the kind of man to take second chair, but you always did. Did it ever bother you?”
    Gabriel shook his head. “Nope. Only with you, though. Because you knew what you were doing. You got us into trouble, there was a reason. The rest of the world gets into trouble because they’re thinking with their dicks. I won’t back up anyone’s play but yours or my own.”
    “You ever decide you want lead, just let me know. We could try a different way.”
    Gabriel stood up and stretched out his sore knee. “Listen to us. Are we going to go back in time, be kick-ass crisis management again? And for who? Not the army. The highest bidder? Hard to imagine that. We would have to carefully parse those ethical lines. I thought we left all that behind for our soft little retirement careers.”
    “That soft little retirement career is making me go soft in the head,” John said, hearing a faint whine in his voice. “I sit on my ass so much I’m losing blood flow below the knees. You make sure you negotiate a fair price with Painter for your service on this little rescue mission.”
    “What, are you a volunteer? I’ll negotiate a fair price for both of us, General. He wanted you, or he’d have never got down on one knee like he did.”
    John grinned at this. “Could you