WASHINGTON DC: The Sadir Affair (The Puppets of Washington Book 1) by Lavina Giamusso Page A

put them on the board facing his desk, which enabled him to stare at the problem while he would be resolving it from his chair.
    Fred swivelled the visitor’s seat around, his eyes following Namlah’s progress across the room.
    The attorney took a marker-pen from the tray and began writing. “First, we have a prince determined to take revenge on the man who maimed his purported fiancée. Then we have Ms. Kartz whose killing of a man is hanging over her head like a Damocles Sword. Next, we have Samuel, who has probably received orders to kill our prince at the first opportunity. Do you see where I am going with this…?”
    Staring at the bullet-point list, Fred didn’t see anything else, certainly not an answer. He shook his head.
    “Well then, let me continue; next comes in, Prince Abdullah. He’s been instrumental in forcing the CIA’s hand into protecting both his nephew, Khalid, and Ms Kartz.”
    Fred nodded and added, “Then, Muhammad Sadir joins in, at Prince Abdullah’s bidding, and begins to stir people into action.”
    “Yes, but that’s not all. Sadir wants something else. He tells you that he wants Khalid to eliminate Samuel; to prove Saudi had no allegiance to Israel. Then, he now comes up with a story saying the only way to close the file on the Florida murders, is to send the suspect, Ms Kartz, to Australia to encourage our prince to avenge her being shot. What does that tell you?”
    Fred remained silent for a moment, staring at the list of names and jotted circumstances beside each protagonist.
    “I’ve got it!” Fred exclaimed at last. “But what can we do about it?”
    Dropping the pen in the tray, Namlah shook his head. “Tell me first what you’ve concluded, so that we can be both on the same page.”
    “Well, if we connect the dots, the only name that is common to everyone is Sadir. He was the one who gave up Agent Slimane, he was the one who knew of Prince Abdullah’s alleged involvement with the drug exchange for armaments, he was the one who sent Prince Khalid to kill Samuel, and now…, he’s trying to force our hand in sending Ms Kartz to her death.”
    “And what’s your conclusion?”
    “Either the CIA is into a cover up of some sort or Sadir is acting on someone else’s orders…, or even on his own!”
    “Yes. I would rather opt for the ‘acting on someone else’s orders’,” Namlah agreed.
    “On whose orders then?”
    “My favourite and the only agency with enough power or reasons to do away with a Saudi Arabian Prince…”
    “You mean Mossad?” Fred frowned. “But if that’s where you’re going, then it means Sadir is a double agent.”
    “Yes, Chief, that’s precisely what I mean. Sadir has probably been playing the man-in-the-middle for many years and he has only one man to thank for his rise to power…”
    “Who’s that?”
    “I thought that was obvious.”
    “You mean Prince Abdullah?”
    “Unfortunately, yes. I am sure the man was duped, but he assisted Sadir when it came for him to stay in the States, and he helped him get where he is today.”
    “Okay, but how do we turn around now? We want Samuel out of the picture, and we want Mossad to cease and desist when it comes to chasing Ms Kartz and our Prince. How do we do that?”
    Turning again to the whiteboard, Namlah took the dry-sponge and erased the list, to Fred’s visible dismay. “You have several choices, each of which has risks attached to it.” He traced four columns and at the top of each, wrote the names of the main players: Talya, Khalid, Samuel and Sadir. “If we were to follow Sadir’s plan, here is what would happen…,” Namlah began while writing his evolving thoughts on the board. “Ms Kartz goes to Australia as suggested by Sadir and gets rid of the arrest warrant hanging over her head, but is eliminated in the cross-fire. Khalid confronts Samuel and gets killed in the process. Samuel washes his hands of two more murders, unless Mark intervenes, which could entail heavy