The Haj - Leon Uris [221]
‘Fawzi Kabir plans to have you murdered.’
‘I cannot say that comes as news, but tell me more.’
‘Prince Ali Rahman, the Saudi, owns Kabir, you know.’
‘So I have heard.’
‘When the conference first opened, they discussed the possibility of assassinating the three of you. Anyhow, Kabir talked the prince out of it. It was considered too dangerous here in Switzerland. With Sheik Taji and Charles Maan now gone, they have taken a second look. You are extremely annoying to them. They are certain they can get away with it now.’
‘How do they intend to do me in?’
‘They have been following your moves. At both your rooming house and at your lady friend Frau Dorfmann’s, you must turn into and walk down very narrow lanes. It has been observed that on numerous occasions you leave Frau Dorfmann in the middle of the night. They plan to jump you in one of these lanes—’
‘Knife?’
‘No, they are wary about making a mess in the streets. The Swiss hold too much of their money. Kabir has one particular bodyguard who does the dirty jobs. He’s an Iranian by the name of Sultan. They call him the Persian. He’s a former heavyweight wrestler close to three hundred pounds, very mean, very well conditioned. He will jump you, put a choke hold on while a second bodyguard knocks you unconscious with a club. They will carry you off in a waiting car to Kabir’s boathouse at his villa. There they will finish you off, take you to the middle of the lake, and dump you. It is planned as an unexplained disappearance.’
Ibrahim grunted and patted his moustache, then laughed heartily. ‘It is not often that a man hears of his murder in such vivid detail. I am armed with a good pistol. I take it the Persian’s skin does not stop bullets.’
‘Believe me, Kabir and Rahman have far too many resources for you to cope with. They’ll get you, one way or the other.’
‘The one way they will never get me is by my running out of Zurich. I thank you most deeply for your warning. Now I must think.’
Ursula’s hand reached out beyond the shadows and grasped his. ‘If you want vengeance, so do I,’ she said.
‘Tell me why, Ursula.’
‘Oh God, it’s a long story. Of course, you have a right to know. Look, Ibrahim, I got myself involved with Kabir knowingly, but I was very young. Despite my profession after the war, I was also quite naïve. I overlooked one hideous thing after another until ... I did nothing really to stop it ... the money, the gifts seemed too easy. Well, let us say, too easy for a whore to give up. Anyhow, I learned that I still have a line I cannot cross. There are still things in this world that disgust me.’
‘That is good to be able to hold such beliefs.’
‘Kabir is the devil’s father. The grossness of his perversions has become more and more detestable. What can I say? Male prostitutes, female prostitutes, he pays them enough for them to allow themselves to be debased. Even what he makes them do with animals, including pigs, dogs, horses ... all right, weird is weird but ...’ She stopped for a moment, terribly uncomfortable, then began again with trembling voice. ‘When we are back in Damascus ... It’s the children! I’ve seen virgin boys and girls, nine and ten years old, all but butchered. You want to see what he has done, I show you!’
She lifted her veil and put her face into the light. It was a ghastly chalk color. Her eyes were numbed. There was a deep purple blotch on one cheek. ‘Take a good look, my Haj, that is a cigarette burn. There are scars on my body as well. But the real scars are on the inside. He began to fear I would leave him. After all, I arrange most of his fun. I was physically forced to receive shots of heroin. As you can see, I have become an addict.’
‘My God, I didn’t know I could still be shocked,’ Ibrahim said softly.
‘I have a chance of getting well if I can get away from him. There are clinics. I am not too far gone. Well, Ibrahim, do you want your revenge or not?’
‘Do you have a plan, Ursula?’
‘I do.’
‘Then you also have a partner.’
The Persian hulk flicked on the lights inside the boathouse and made a check through.