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Back The Desert of Glass Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. BY MICHAEL C. GRUMLEY
  2. Prologue
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. 42
  45. 43
  46. 44
  47. 45
  48. 46
  49. 47
  50. 48
  51. 49
  52. 50
  53. 51
  54. 52
  55. 53
  56. 54
  57. 55
  58. 56
  59. 57
  60. 58
  61. 59
  62. 60
  63. 61
  64. 62
  65. 63
  66. 64
  67. 65
  68. 66
  69. 67
  70. 68
  71. 69
  72. 70
  73. 71
  74. 72
  75. 73
  76. 74
  77. 75
  78. 76
  79. 77
  80. 78
  81. EPILOGUE
  82. II
  83. III
  84. IV

“What does it matter why?” asked Rickards.  “The fact of the matter is that Mike said you were the only one with whom to share this.  Not just should but could.  Which means to me that you may be the only other person who can go through all this and make sense of it.”  Rickards leaned forward, closer to Townsend’s desk.  “Which makes you, Professor, our only option.”

Townsend fell quiet again, this time longer.

“You said yourself that you and Mike were friends,” Angela finally said.  “Isn’t that worth something to you?”

There was no response.

“And your wives?”

Townsend held up a finger and waved it, silencing her.

There was something about the wives, she thought.

After a long while, Townsend finally cleared his voice and spoke.  “Tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“Tell me,” he said, “what you saw in South America.”

Joe and Angela glanced at each other.  “And then you’ll help us?”

“Maybe.”

“Try again,” mocked Angela.

“I will try to help you.  For Mike.”

“To begin with, we’ll need to know its location,” she said.  “Which, judging from what little I can understand, may lie somewhere in the Middle East.”

Townsend nodded.

After a brief silence, Angela nodded too.  “Okay, we’ll tell you exactly what we saw.  But don’t stand up.”

“Why not?”

“For this… you’ll want to remain seated.”

14

14

“Mona, it’s Omar.  Sorry for taking so long to call back.  Things took longer than expected.  I was waiting on a friend at the Ministry of Finance to pull some records.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Yes, on all fourteen of your companies.  As well as a few other things.  You ready?”

“Yes!” she said, running back to her computer.  “Go ahead.”

“To begin with, it looks like six out of your fourteen companies are dead—not five.  Completely shut down.  But even for those, my friend was able to come up with some info, enough to see they’re all connected.”

“Connected, how?”

“They’re all privately owned—by the same person.”

“Really?!”

“Yep.  And I had to do quite a bit of digging to find out who.  Because they certainly didn’t make it easy.”

“Do you think that’s on purpose?”

“I think so.  This person is buried deep beneath dozens of different corporations, shell companies, subsidiaries and a host of other legal entities, all located—or should I say distributed—throughout the world.  Which is why it took me so long to find a name.”

“So, who is it?”

“Have you ever heard of a man named Mido Saad?”

Mona shook her head.  “I don’t think so.  Should I have?”

“Don’t know.  I’d never heard of him, either, but he’s worth a lot of money.”

“How much?”

“Hundreds of millions.”

“There’s a lot of people in the world worth that much.”