"Your Highness, President Fowler addresses the United Nations General Assembly next Thursday. He present this very plan then, live and in color. I am authorized to extend your government an invitation to the Vatican to negotiate the treaty formally."

The Prince was sufficiently surprised by that that he lapsed into an Americanism: "Do you really think you can bring this off?"

"Your Highness, we're going to give it one hell of a try."

Ali rose and walked to his desk. There he lifted a phone, pushed a button and spoke rapidly and, to Ryan, incomprehensibly. Jack had a sudden, giddy moment of whimsy. The Arabic language, as with the Hebrew, went from right to left instead of left to right, and Ryan wondered how one's brain dealt with that.

Son of a BITCH, Jack thought to himself. This just might work!

Ali replaced the phone and turned to his visitor. "I think it is time for us to see His Majesty."

"That fast?"

"One advantage to our form of government is that when one government minister wishes access to another, it is merely a matter of calling a cousin or an uncle. We are a family business. I trust that your President is a man of his word."

"The UN speech is already written. I've seen it. He expects to take heat from the Israeli lobby at home. He's ready for that."

I've seen them in action, Dr Ryan. Even when we were fighting for our lives alongside American soldiers, they denied us weapons we needed for our own security. Do you think that will change?"

"Soviet communism is at an end. The Warsaw Pact is at an end. So many things that shaped the world I grew up in are gone, and gone forever. It's time to get rid of the rest of the turmoil in the world. You ask if we can do it - why not? Sir, the only constant factor in human existence is change." Jack knew that he was being outrageously confident, and wondered how Scott Adler was doing in Jerusalem. Adler wasn't a screamer, but he knew how to lay down the word. That hadn't been done with the Israelis for a long enough time that Jack didn't know when it had last been - or ever - been tried. But the President was committed to this. If the Israelis tried to stop it, they might just find out how lonely the world was.

"You forgot God, Dr Ryan."

Jack smiled. "No, Your Highness. That's the point, isn't it?"

Prince Ali wanted to smile, but didn't. It wasn't time yet. He pointed to the door. "Our car is waiting."

***