"I have a feeling from the run-a-round I got from your people, that Lynn isn't well liked here at the State Department. I can understand. I don't know about all Kazaks, but I know Lynn. She appears arrogant and by normal standards, she is. But not for the reasons must people assume. Tony and his team will ensure any area I'm in is safe and they will stay close. While he and his team will do their best to protect me, they will do their best to stay out of my way so as not to annoy or interfere with me. You and they see your world through diplomatic eyes. Lynn sees her world through her client. She has no problem interfering with my activities or ignoring me if she feels it increases my danger.
"Tony stands here in a room with the Secretary of State, a diplomat, and a Kazak. Lynn stands here in a room with her client and two individuals who she is evaluating as potential danger. If she thought for a second either of you threatened me, she'd kill you in a heartbeat.
"If a gunman came crashing through that door right now, Tony would defend you, Mr. Secretary, although he is my security guard. Lynn would defend me. It would never occur to her to defend either of you.
Although your people claim to have saved me from that sniper last time I was here, they didn't contribute in anyway. I'm not implying they were incompetent or weren't doing their job. Lynn's training gives her an amazing ability to assess her environment almost instantly and act simultaneously with the threat. She recognized the threat of a sniper, dumped me on my ass, and was shooting at him before anyone knew there was a threat. If not, I would have been killed. Notice she didn't argue with your people's statement that she got in the way. She saved her client, neither you or anything else were important." Raifah paused and smiled at me. A very smart woman.
"You're right, Miss al-Ayyub," Tony said. "When I asked Lynn how we would work together, she said we don't. I did think her arrogant at the time. You've helped me understand better. And you're right, I would never dump you on your...ass, or tell you where to sit or insist on entering with you into a meeting. This should be an interesting detail," Tony said glancing back and forth between Raifah and me. The conversation changed to conditions in Libya and Raifah's planned schedule in the US. The Secretary's eyes kept sliding towards me. Maybe he thought I might shoot him.
"I have a few people I hope will manage to see me and I'm hoping Lynn will help me develop a program for Kazak-like bodyguards in my country."
That got my attention. I almost stopped considering Tony and the Secretary as potential Illusion Assassins-it kept me from getting bored.
***
That night in the hotel, Raifah ordered dinner in the room. Afterward, she settled back with a glass of Beaujolais.
"We're going to Niagara falls and Las Vegas on the pretense of seeing the sights. In reality, I'm hoping to meet secretly with some people. Then Lynn, I leave it to you where we go. I want a preliminary curriculum by the time I leave, which is capable of producing Kazak-like bodyguards. I know it can't be done in a year, but it can't take nine. I would be happy with producing guards like Jaffar and Nasser, but their backgrounds are very diverse to reproduce."
Her two guards almost glowed with pride as she talked. Those men truly loved Raifah. She was right. It would be impossible to find a Jaffar or Nasser for every person who needed guarding. It would be far too time consuming and the results unpredictable. You couldn't just pick good people and send them to three months of training. In six months you wouldn't know who the good people are or who was right for the job. You needed a school like the Kazaks had.
"Jaffar, Nasser, tell me your background and training before becoming Raifah's bodyguard." I was interested in learning about their experience and qualifications. Both had joined the Army at an early age. Jaffar spent years in a commando battalion and fought in the Chadian-Libyan conflict. Nasser spent some time with border defense units and several years in a regime security brigade. They applied for bodyguard duty and were selected by Raifah. She had good intuition.
***
We left the next day for New York. Tony's team consisted of four men and one woman. At my suggestion, his team provided two to three persons during the day and one at night outside her hotel room. I stayed next to her at all times. Nasser and Jaffar usually flanked her. And the security people usually stayed outside of stores and restaurants. Tony's people rotated during the day, but to his credit, he was part of the entourage most of the time.
Whoever made reservations for Raifah had booked a suite at the Marriott Niagara Falls Hotel Fallsview & Spa. During the day, she visited the normal tourist spots. In the evening she met with a variety of officials and others who appeared linked to Libya in some way or the other. And she spent hours on the phone talking in Arabic. I could understand the conversations but really wasn't interested. In general, it consisted of raising money for various activities and exchanging information about politics in Libya. The third night she was the guest speaker at a fund-raiser for Senator Clantton. To the Senator's annoyance, I insisted her table be off to the side where I could stand against the wall and watch her at dinner. I felt a little jealous during her speech on women's rights. I had enjoyed my time pretending to be an Arabic woman fighting for free choice.
The next day, she decided to take the Journey Behind the Falls tour. We had finished the walk and were standing on the lower observation deck at the very foot of the falls, when I saw a man walking towards us. Nasser saw him also. I shook my head in the negative. He wasn't a gunman. From the way his right hand was closed around something, he was a suicide bomber. If Nasser rushed him, we'd all be on the rocks at the bottom of the falls and Clare would be really pissed. I hoped he had a statement of some kind before he went to pieces.
"LOOK! A MAN'S FALLEN INTO THE FALLS," I shouted as I slowly took several steps backward, pointing to the Falls. Everyone was intently following my finger including my bomber, as I continued backward. Curiosity killed the cat. As his head turned back to Raifah, I continued shouting. "HE'S GOING TO DIE. SMASHED ON THE ROCKS."
Now I was only a step from his arm-the problem-a dead man's switch or button activated? It made a bloody difference-literally. He started his speech the minute I stopped to take a breath.
"Raifah al-Ayyub, you sin against-"
I stepped back and grabbed his right hand with mine, and plunged my knife into his armpit. Warm blood soaked my hand as it tore through skin, muscle, and more importantly, nerves. His arm went dead as I drove a knife-edged kick to his knee. It dislocated and he fell onto it, stopping him from jerking his hand away from mine. I couldn't stab for the heart without possibly setting off his bomb, so I put my knife through his eye. He collapsed. People were screaming and running into each other in an attempt to get away from the madwoman and the men, Jaffar and Nasser, who had guns showing.
"Jaffar, I need something to tie his hand." He grabbed Raifah's scarf and we managed to tie his hand closed. Tony stood looking down at us as we finished tying the final knot. One of his two agents moved toward Nasser who stood in front of Raifah shielding her. The other stood looking at us. I had just finished when three men dressed in firemen overcoats came running in. I dove away from where Nasser and Raifah stood and past Tony, rolled and began shooting.
"STOP. THEY'RE FIREMEN, YOU MANIAC!" Tony screamed while waving his hand. I shot the first one in the head, rolled, and fired again. Now Nasser and Jaffar were firing. It looked like a comedy act, as the two firemen bucked back and forth as bullets hit them from three directions. Diving away from Raifah had diverted attention way from her and towards Tony, a security guard, Jaffar, and me. The firemen had managed to fire several shots. Several missed everything, one hit the dead man, one hit the ground next to Tony's feet, and one hit the security guard standing in the area I dove.
"Let go," I said waving to Nasser who had Raifah's arm. Jaffar and I fell in next to her. Jaffar had alerted the driver on the way out and her two cars were waiting.
"Driver, Buffalo, New York," I said. Everyone stared but said nothing. I called Tony.
"Tony, we're going to Buffalo. Can you have someone pickup our stuff and send it to Las Vegas?"
"Why?"
"Because Raifah al-Ayyub's bored with Niagara Falls." No response from Tony. Raifah laughed. Nasser and Jaffar smiled.
"I'll meet you in Buffalo. Let me know where when you get there."
"I will." I hung up and called Ann Marie. "Good afternoon my super tour director. Would you find me a ride out of Buffalo to Las Vegas for eight? Please. We left our ride in Niagara Falls."
"For my very generous client, I'll be happy to. By the way, those seats at the Kennedy Center are excellent. Thank you."
"Considered them renewed for another year," I said and hung up. I had booked two tickets for Ann Marie, because of all the arrangement she had made for me over the years, which wasn't part of her responsibilities.
***
The ride was quiet. As we neared Buffalo, Ann Marie called. "Miss Fox, I managed to get Gendel's plane for the trip. It should arrive in two hours. Have a good trip." She laughed and hung up.
"Who's Gendel?" Raifah asked.
"One of those people that feel they owe me for doing my job."
"Yes, you, Nasser, and Jaffar think the same."
We only had to wait an extra hour for Tony and his team to arrive and were in the air a half hour later. To my embarrassment, our Pilot stopped back to say hello to me, and the Steward, Manny, treated me like the VIP of the party. Tony sat down next to me part way into the flight. By then, I decided he and his team were not assassins. What else do I have to do?
"Raifah was right. You don't see the world the same as the rest of us. I have to admit that I was distracted by the Falls and failed to see his line of approach. But even if I had, I don't know what I would have done. Probably something that would have caused him to detonate the bomb-like draw my gun.
"After having thought about it for a half hour, your shouting only caused him to look, stopped him from giving Raifah his message, and permitted you to approach without alarming him. Even had I been able to grab the hand holding the detonator, I would have tried to subdue him. I would never have considered killing him, since he wasn't armed in the typical sense. I understand the eye, but why stab him under the arm?
"It contains all the nerves to the arm and also an artery. The knee was to keep him from jerking out of my grasp. The eye was probably unnecessary."
"How did you know they weren't firemen?"
"I can't imagine a fire on that platform and they wouldn't have firemen sitting around waiting for a suicide bomber."
"What if I had been there on tour and rushed in to help?"
"I might have made another assessment, probably not." Silly question. How could I tell? My mind somehow assessed the situation as I acted. So far, it had gone well. I know if I had to consciously reason it out, I would be long dead by now.
***
In Las Vegas, Raifah entertained a few Arabic officials in her suite and spoke at a dinner with a senator and several representatives. She walked through numerous casinos but didn't stop to play any of the games. The third night I took them to see Jianyu. "Master Jianyu, would you mind a small demonstration for me?" I asked. "Raifah al-Ayyub wants me to help with a curriculum to train special bodyguards."
He nodded agreement.
"Would anyone like to try a match with Master Jianyu? Tony? Nasser? Jaffar?" I asked. Jianyu had gray thinning hair, a frail frame, and was in his sixties.
Tony stepped up to Jianyu and threw six or seven punches in quick succession. None landed. So, he lunged in with a punch to the stomach. Jianyu swiveled right, caught his arm, and swept his feet from under him. He hit the wooden floor with a smack. Nasser stepped forward with a series of kick boxing strikes. Jianyu moved into him, hooked his arm under his leg, and pushed. Nasser landed on his back, though he did roll backward into a standing position. He gave Jianyu a head bow. "Very nice, Master Jianyu."
Jaffar stepped up. He began a left front kick and then in mid-kick left the ground and executed a flying roundhouse kick to Jianyu's head. Jianyu blocked the kick and let it drive him into Jaffar. When he reached Jaffar, he had his right leg caught in mid-air, had a foot behind the leg on the ground, and drove an elbow into his stomach. Jaffar left the ground with a wooof. He hit hard but managed to roll to a kneeling stance. He nodded to Jianyu.
"Raifah, that is the difference between experienced soldiers and a martial arts master or trained Kazak. Nasser and Jaffar are excellent fighters and would do well against most opponents, yet Jianyu was able to easily counter techniques he had never seen before against opponents larger and stronger than him." I said.
"Master Lynn neglects to mention that she would easily kill me in a fight. We," he waved at the other three, "defend ourselves by reflex but must think through an attack once we see a weakness. Master Lynn's recognition of your weakness and her attack are as close to instantaneous as humanly possible. Worse, for her opponent, she would always go for the kill or disabling technique, unless she forced herself to think about what she was doing."
"Yes. I had another demonstration in Niagara Falls. I may have to kidnap her and bring her back with me to Libya. I thank you for the demonstration," Raifah said. "Well, Master Lynn, are you going to develop a program for me?"
"No. But I will show you what must be done and let Nasser and Jaffar tailor it for your needs. Tomorrow we go to the Hill."
"Can I go along?" Tony asked.
"Yes, and your team can go if they are interested. Kazak training isn't a secret. Master Jianyu summarized it very well when we asked his advice when a friend of mine and I were interested in going to their biannual competition.
"Don't go. You'll find the Kazaks care little about you or your wants. You will spend your time learning how to live on only a few hours sleep, ignore pain, and to give up your life to watch over people, who also don't care about you."