A Twist in the Tale Read online

  Scott closed the door behind him and glanced, as he always did, at the picture of his mother on the sideboard. He dumped the pile of notes he was carrying by her side and retrieved the mail poking out from under the door. Scott walked across the room and sank into an old leather chair, wondering how many of those bright, attentive faces would still be attending his lectures in two years’ time. Forty percent would be good—thirty percent more likely. Those would be the ones for whom fourteen hours’ work a day became the norm, and not just for the last month before exams. And of them, how many would live up to the standards of the late Dean Thomas W. Swan? Five percent, if he was lucky.

  The professor of constitutional law turned his attention to the bundle of mail he held in his lap. One from American Express—a bill with the inevitable hundred free offers which would cost him even more money if he took any of them up—an invitation from Brown to give the Charles Evans Hughes Lecture on the Constitution; a letter from Carol reminding him she hadn’t seen him for some time; a circular from a firm of stockbrokers who didn’t promise to double his money but…; and finally a plain buff envelope postmarked Virginia, with a typeface he recognized immediately.

  He tore open the buff envelope and extracted the single sheet of paper which gave him his latest instructions.

  * * *

  Al Obaydi strolled onto the floor of the General Assembly and slipped into a chair directly behind his Head of Mission. The Ambassador had his earphones on and was pretending to be deeply interested in a speech being delivered by the Head of the Brazilian Mission. Al Obaydi’s boss always preferred to have confidential talks on the floor of the General Assembly: he suspected it was the only room in the United Nations building that wasn’t bugged by the CIA.

  Al Obaydi waited patiently until the older man flicked one of the earpieces aside and leaned slightly back.

  “They’ve agreed to our terms,” murmured Al Obaydi, as if it was he who had suggested the figure. The Ambassador’s upper lip protruded over his lower lip, the recognized sign among his colleagues that he required more details.

  “One hundred million,” Al Obaydi whispered, “Ten million to be paid immediately. The final ninety on delivery.”

  “Immediately?” said the Ambassador. “What does ‘immediately’ mean?”

  “By midday tomorrow,” whispered Al Obaydi.

  “At least Sayedi anticipated that eventuality,” said the Ambassador thoughtfully.

  Al Obaydi admired the way his superior could always make the term “my master” sound both deferential and insolent at the same time.

  “I must send a message to Baghdad to acquaint the Foreign Minister with the details of your triumph,” added the Ambassador with a smile.

  Al Obaydi would also have smiled, but he realized the Ambassador would not admit to any personal involvement with the project while it was still in its formative stage. As long as he distanced himself from his younger colleague for the time being, the Ambassador could continue his undisturbed existence in New York until his retirement fell due in three years’ time. By following such a course he had survived almost fourteen years of Saddam Hussein’s reign while many of his colleagues had conspicuously failed to become eligible for their state pension. To his knowledge one had been shot in front of his family, two hanged and several others posted as “missing,” whatever that meant.

  The Iraqi Ambassador smiled as his British counterpart walked past him, but he received no response for his trouble.

  “Stuck-up snob,” the Arab muttered under his breath.

  The Ambassador pulled his earpiece back over his ear to indicate that he had heard quite enough from his number two. He continued to listen to the problems of trying to preserve the rain forests of Brazil, coupled with a request for a further grant from the UN of a hundred million dollars.

  Not something he felt Sayedi would be interested in.

  ALSO BY JEFFREY ARCHER

  NOVELS

  Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less

  Shall We Tell the President?

  Kane & Abel

  The Prodigal Daughter

  First Among Equals

  A Matter of Honor

  As the Crow Flies

  Honor Among Thieves

  The Fourth Estate

  The Eleventh Commandment

  Sons of Fortune

  False Impression

  SHORT STORIES

  A Quiver Full of Arrows

  Twelve Red Herrings

  To Cut a Long Story Short

  The Collected Short Stories

  PLAYS

  Beyond Reasonable Doubt

  Exclusive

  The Accused

  SCREENPLAY

  Mallory: Walking Off the Map

  DIARIES

  Volume One: Hell

  Volume Two: Purgatory

  Volume Three: Heaven

  PRAISE FOR JEFFREY ARCHER AND HIS BESTSELLING NOVELS

  “Archer is a master entertainer.”

  —Time

  “One of the top ten storytellers in the world”

  —Los Angeles Times

  “There isn’t a better storyteller alive.”

  —Larry King

  “Archer is one of the most captivating storytellers writing today. His novels are dramatic, fast-moving, totally entertaining—and almost impossible to put down.”

  —Pittsburgh Press

  “Cunning plots, silken style … Archer plays a cat-and-mouse game with the reader.”

  —The New York Times

  “A storyteller in the class of Alexandre Dumas … Unsurpassed skill … making the reader wonder intensely what will happen next.”

  —The Washington Post

  A TWIST IN THE TALE

  “Archer is a smoothly accomplished writer, able to produce a touching pause as well as a snappy pace.”

  —Cosmopolitan

  “Archer’s talent as a raconteur is evident … [His] straightforward style actually enhances each concluding jolt. Archer’s understanding of human nature and his talent for surprise endings make this volume a must.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  FIRST AMONG EQUALS

  “A dramatic plot … An absorbing read.”

  —Detroit Free Press

  “This engrossing, well-spun tale of ambition and will-to-power is a pick-hit in the summer sweepstakes. Archer received his usual high marks for readability and gives his novel a pleasing sense of substance.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Not since Gore Vidal’s 1876 has there been such a cliff-hanger aspect to an election and to the selection of a head of government … At the conclusion, Archer brings the reader to a moment of truth … a surprising finish.”

  —The San Diego Union-Tribune

  THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER

  “Chalk up another smash hit for Jeffrey Archer … An exceptional storyteller.”

  —John Barkham Reviews

  “Fast-moving and compelling.”

  —Library Journal

  KANE & ABEL

  “A smashing good read!”

  —The Des Moines Register

  “I defy anyone not to enjoy this book, which is one of the best novels I have ever read.”

  —Otto Preminger

  “A sprawling blockbuster!”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Grips the reader from the first page to the last. A smash hit.”

  —John Barkham Reviews

  AS THE CROW FLIES

  “A certified page-turner.”

  —New York Daily News

  “Top flight … Mr. Archer tells a story to keep you turning those pages.”

  —The Washington Post

  “Archer … has an extraordinary talent for turning notoriety into gold, and telling fast-moving stories.”

  —The Philadelphia Inquirer

  “An endearing story.”

  —The Wall Street Journal

  “Archer plots with skill, and keeps you turning the pages