Abdul Ali Fahad loved opulence. He loved living well. He liked the service at the Yak and Yeti Hotel. The staff knew him, he tipped well and never complained. It was one of the few places where he ever really relaxed, like a special sanctuary. A respected buyer of Tibetan crafts and antique pieces, he paid his suppliers well, and he expected and received the best. His primary and maybe only real worry was his recent inability to contact Vladimir Petrov, his former KGB contact, now turned terrorist for hire.

Over a year had passed since he had seen his old KGB friend in Paris. When it came to terrorism, the man was a genius, if somewhat smug and contentious. No question Vladimir was also greedy, but that came with the territory. He could handle that. Al-Qaeda gave him more money to finance the American network than ever got to Vladimir. After all, what businessman would not take a fair cut of the proceeds? Without him Vladimir would have nothing. He needed some action and soon, if he were going to get more money from Hakim Al-Lami, the local al-Qaeda financial chief.

He would see Al-Lami tonight at a preliminary meeting, so both of them could get ready for the big meeting with higher ranking decision makers. If tonight’s meeting finished early enough, maybe he could enjoy some of the surprisingly varied Kathmandu night life. When it came to enjoying the sensual side of life, Hindus had it all over the radical Muslim world.

Tomorrow he planned to start making the rounds of his best suppliers. He would buy enough artifacts to provide concealment for a shipment of 20 kilos of heroin into India. Al-Qaeda would decide whether they wanted to depend on concealment to get the drugs through border customs inspection, or to smuggle the heroin across the border at Birganj. Al-Lami told him on a few occasions they had used elephants to carry the contraband through the jungle into India.

Enough of business. After dinner the bell captain promised to provide him with a young girl. Life was good. He never noticed he was under constant surveillance whenever he left the hotel.

 
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