A few quiet minutes later, they heard crying from the bedroom. Patrick shot to his feet to go check on Bradley, but Chris Wohl silently waved him back to his seat, and he went inside to check on him. He saw Wohl carry Bradley to the kitchen, give him a glass of milk, and start fixing him a fried bologna and cheese sandwich on toast, Wohl’s favorite meal. Briggs and Luger stayed behind with Patrick in the living room.

“Big bad-ass Marine is really a sucker when it comes to kids,” Briggs observed.

“President Martindale’s been calling,” Dave Luger said to Patrick.

“I know.”

“He’s worried about you.”

“Like hell he is. He just wants to know when we’re ready to go back out there.”

Luger couldn’t argue with that observation. “Fab-enough—but I'm, worried about you,” Luger said, “and I want to know when we’re going back out there to look for Wendy.”

“As soon as my son stops crying himself to sleep,” Patrick replied bitterly. Again, Luger had no reply for that.

“Been watching the news?”

“No.”

“Susan Bailey Salaam was elected president of Egypt,” Hal Briggs said. “She’s got the Libyans, Sudanese, Syrians, Lebanese, Iranians, Iraqis, Jordanis, and Saudis cheering for her like she’s some kind of rock star.”

“Good for her.”

“There’s talk of another United Arab Republic,” Luger added. “Egypt and Syria merged for a few years back in the late fifties and early sixties under Nasser—they’re saying that Susan Salaam might be able to unify the entire Arab world.”

Now Patrick’s interest was piqued a bit. “Interesting. So I’ll bet Martindale is calling because the Central African Petroleum Partnership called....”

“Exactly—wanting to know if we’re going to stay on the case,” Briggs said.

“What’s going on out there?”

“Salaam has brought Libya in as a partner in the cartel, for starters,” Luger said.

“Libya? Partnered up with Egypt?”

“Hey, they’re all huggy and kissy lately,” Briggs said. “Egypt is giving out work visas to Libyans and Sudanese to work in Salimah like crazy—almost ten thousand persons have migrated to Salimah in just the past few days. There’s already talk of Sudan, Syria, and Jordan joining the oil partnership.”

“Sounds like Egypt decided to trade jobs for peace,” Patrick observed. “Good move.”

“And so far it’s paying off big-time,” Luger said. “Not only are they not fighting, but they’re praising and cooperating with each other unlike anything anyone’s ever seen.”

“So Egypt becomes the new center of the Arab world,” Patrick mused.

“Makes sense,” Luger said. “Egypt is by far more powerful than any of the other countries, and they’re more centrally located and strategically important, with the Suez Canal and the Salimah oil fields. They have strong ties to the Muslim world, the African world, Europe, and the West all at the same time.”