Trusting A Sheikh (Playgrounds of Power 1) by Rosie Pike Page A

express their… What's the right word? Displeasure.
    "I shouldn't need to remind anyone," Tariq continued, beginning to build up a head of steam and return to the confident, composed man that Chloe had first met. "But the Eurofighter deal is essential. And as I'm sure you're all aware…" He looked around the room with a wry smile on his face. "My father has called to make that very plain."
    "So, what's the plan?" Omar asked, ever practical.
    "That's why you're all here. I don't have the answer. I want your ideas."
    He opened up the floor, but Chloe deliberately held back for a number of reasons – she didn't want to provoke Khalid any more than he already was, and she was curious about what solution this group of people would come up with. She'd come across more than one military serviceman in her life, and at least in her experience, they weren't always brilliant thinking out of the box.
    "Who is this piece of shit?" Khalid asked with typical callous disregard for the rules of polite society. "Why should we care what he says?"
    "We aren't back home, Khalid. We can't just do and say whatever we want here. As to who he is, I've got the intelligence people at the embassy running it down. All we know so far is that he was in prison outside of Riyadh five years ago."
    "I'd imagine he's got some rather unpleasant stories to tell them, in that case," Omar said drily. Chloe couldn't help but notice the calm and relaxed manner with which Omar seemed to operate. She didn't necessarily think that he was any more honorable, or even more trustworthy than his colleague Khalid, but he managed to present a face to the world that was far less deranged.
    "That's what I'm thinking as well," Tariq agreed worriedly. "I've been telling the Interior Ministry to clean those places up for years, but what good was that?"
    Khalid laughed, but it sounded more like an evil cackle than anything else, and his face was screwed up in a rictus grin that did nothing but emphasize his brutish features. "You wouldn't be complaining if we'd just kept him there, would you?"
    "Perhaps not," Tariq allowed. "But we could have avoided this situation in the first place if you lot had just done your job without beating innocent prisoners." Chloe couldn't help notice a hint of steel creeping into Tariq's voice. For the first time since she'd known him, he exhibited the kind of confidence that didn't just come from wealth, but also from being a leader.
    "Why don't we just tell the Brits to stick him in prison for a few weeks?" the quiet Abdul offered up, and Chloe couldn't believe what she was hearing. She hadn't expected much from these men, but this wasn't even meeting her low expectations.
    "Don't be stupid, Abdul," Tariq snapped. "This isn't Riyadh. And I don't want to use that kind of method to solve my problems."
    "I don't see why not," Khalid muttered. "Why don't we just make this problem go away?"
    Chloe piped up, sickened by the suggestions being floated around by Tariq's underlings, but nevertheless determined to do her job. "I'm pretty sure we're, I mean you're, not going to get the government to lock this guy up.
    "They wouldn't do it anyway, unless maybe he was suspected of being a terrorist or something like that – maybe there are laws that could be used to lock someone up in that case, but otherwise can you imagine the public outrage it would cause?" She laughed just imagining it. "I mean – think about it, he's been on TV now. It'd cause a media storm. There's no way that would do anything to help."
    "You're right," Tariq agreed, shooting Khalid and Abdul dirty looks. "What do you suggest?"
    Out of the corner of her eye, Chloe caught Khalid shooting her a filthy glance, and she made a mental note not to be caught alone in a corridor with him – Lord knows what kind of tricks he would be willing to pull to get even.
    "Well… I'm no expert in this, but now he's got himself airtime, I think you probably need to respond," she said slowly, thoughtfully,