World of Trouble (9786167611136) Read Online Free PDF Page A

nothing.
    “A lot of people want me to become prime
minister again. But there are other people who would kill me to
prevent something like that from happening, to stop me from coming
back.”
    “I didn’t know you were thinking of going
back.”
    “I was just speaking hypothetically. As long
as I’m alive, I could go back to Thailand. If I did, I’d be
prime minister again in a week. You know how many people want me to
do that?”
    “How many exactly?” Shepherd asked. “Not
counting the army.”
    Charlie gave him a half smile. “I thought you
were on my side, Jack.”
    “I am on your side, Charlie. You pay
me a lot of money to be on your side.”
    “Would you be on the other side if they paid you a lot of money?”
    “It depends on how much it is. I’m a lawyer.
I’m always paid to be on somebody’s side.”
    Charlie laughed, but Shepherd could also see
him wondering if he was serious about that. That was
understandable. He was wondering, too.
    Charlie’s cell phone rang and he pulled it
from his pocket and glanced at the screen.
    “I’ve got to take this, Jack. Would you
excuse me?”
    Shepherd stood up. When he left the study, he
closed the door behind him. He noticed Charlie remained silent
until after he did.

 
     
     
SIX
     
    SHEPHERD WAITED IN the hallway outside Charlie’s
study until he began feeling foolish just standing there doing
nothing, then he walked to the end of the hall and out onto the big
terrace behind the house. The terrace was paved in glazed titles
the color of Hershey Bars and dotted with outdoor furniture, all of
which looked uncomfortable. Shepherd chose a high-back rattan chair
that seemed slightly better than the rest, dragged it around until
it faced the sea, and propped his feet up on a glass-topped coffee
table with an iron base.
    It was a nice day by Dubai standards. The air
was warm without being hot and there was a light breeze off the
sea. Just beyond the breakwater, two black rubber boats filled with
UAE commandos drifted on the glassy smooth surface of the Persian
Gulf. Each of the boats carried four men dressed in black,
automatic weapons slung over their chests. One of the men peered at
him through a pair of field glasses. Shepherd gave him a friendly
wave, but the man didn’t wave back.
    After about ten minutes Charlie walked out
and sat down next to Shepherd. He had put on a pair of sunglasses
with gold metal frames, which caused Shepherd think of the tortoise
shell sunglasses Charlie had worn in the souk, the ones that had
fallen off when he went down behind the burlap-wrapped bales and
hit his head. Shepherd had no doubt those damned glasses would turn
up on eBay someday.
    “There’s obviously something on your mind,
Jack. What is it?”
    Shepherd couldn’t see Charlie’s eyes through
the sunglasses, but his face looked earnest enough and the question
seemed to be entirely serious. Shepherd stood up and walked to the
edge of the terrace. He doubted there were any lip readers among
the commandos in the rubber boats but, if there were, it certainly
wouldn’t have been the weirdest thing he had ever encountered in
Dubai. Just in case, he turned his back to them before he spoke to
Charlie again.
    “What did you mean inside when you said
people were willing to kill you to keep you from going back to
Thailand?” he asked.
    Charlie glanced over Shepherd’s shoulder at
the two rubber boats full of UAE commandos.
    “This is neither the time nor the place to
talk about that,” he said.
    “Are you going back into politics?”
    “This is neither the time nor the place to
talk about that.”
    “I don’t do politics.”
    “I’m not asking you to.”
    “I’m a lawyer. I shuffle papers. I organize
corporations. I argue with banks. That’s all I do.”
    “I understand that.”
    Shepherd could feel in his bones that
something was about to happen here that he wasn’t going to like. He
thought about telling Charlie right then he didn’t want any part