“I have a better idea. How about tomorrow?”
In truth, Gabriel was anxious to make the trip. He owed Payne a full accounting of the operation to remove Abdullah from the line of succession. Furthermore, he needed Payne and his boss at the White House to sign off on Khalid’s ascension to the throne. The Allegiance Council had yet to name a new crown prince. Once again, Saudi Arabia was being ruled by an ailing octogenarian with no ordained successor.
Gabriel caught an overnight flight to Washington and met with Payne the following day in his seventh-floor office at Langley. As it turned out, it wasn’t necessary for Gabriel to confess his role in Abdullah’s demise. The American knew everything.
“How?”
“A source inside the SVR. It seems you’ve turned the place inside out.”
“Any word about Rebecca Manning?”
“You mean Philby?” Payne shook his head bitterly. “When were you going to tell me?”
“It wasn’t my place, Morris.”
“Apparently, she’s hanging on by a thread.”
“I told her not to go back.”
“You’veseenher?”
“In the Netherlands,” said Gabriel. “We had to arrange an exchange of prisoners.”
“Dragunov for the girl?” Payne rubbed his lantern jaw thoughtfully. “Do you remember our recent dinner?”
“With considerable fondness.”
“When I suggested you might want to think about moving aside Abdullah for the good of the region, you looked at me as though I’d just told you to bump off Mother Teresa.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“Why didn’t you include us?”
“Too many cooks.”
“Saudi Arabia isourally.”
“And thanks to me, that’s still the case. All you have to do now is send a signal to Riyadh that Washington would look favorably on Khalid’s reappointment as crown prince.”
“From what we hear, he won’t be crown prince for long.”
“Probably not.”
“Is he ready?”
“He’ll be different, Morris.”
Payne didn’t seem so sure. He abruptly tacked, a conversational habit of his. “I hear the Russians gave her a pretty good going-over.”
“Sarah?”
Payne nodded.
“Under the circumstances,” said Gabriel, “it could have been worse.”
“How did she hold up in the field?”
“She’s a natural, Morris.”
