Read Online The Miraculous Plot of Leiter & Lott by Jonathan Lowe - Free Book Online

brother will tell you, I'm just a glorified telephone operator. And, in any event, it's time for me to be off. Thank you for reminding me."
    Qadir bowed warmly at each of them, in turn, then departed. When he was gone, Aazad waved a hand for them to be seated in Qadir's place, then lifted it toward an attentive waiter.
    "My brother and I both attended Harvard Business School, in case you're wondering," Aazad confided to David. "We were not involved in radical politics, as you may have already guessed."
    "Interesting," David said.
    "By that, of course, you mean you find it unusual for the heir to a Middle Eastern shipping fortune to be a graduate of Harvard, I presume?" The straight face hardened, then mellowed as indication of jest. Finally, Aazad laughed, and lowered his voice. "Actually, it is unusual, and something our father insisted upon. Unlike some of the brats who live in the Hamptons." He paused as coffee was served. "Tell me, David, where did you go to school?"
    "University of Arizona. My master’s was in optical engineering, my bachelor of science in astronomy."
    "David is a gifted man," Etherton interjected. "He's done a lot of design work on his own, too, and with an impressive aptitude for abstract thought, I should say."
    "Interesting," Aazad mimicked, with a deftly directed focus of fancy. "I know a man who might like to discuss the future of glass with you. Electronically tinted glass, I mean."
    "What do you mean?" Etherton asked.
    "Glass which can change reflectivity when a static electric charge is applied," David responded. "I read that it's under development for use in skyscrapers. Could help Dubai with its air conditioning energy problems. . . is that what you’re thinking, sir?"
    Aazad smiled. "Very perceptive. We do have immense energy needs, going forward. But what are you gentlemen planning to do until we meet again? Besides dodging aerial attacks, that is."
    "Not sure," said Doug. " Nasheed is out of town, and with all the tension building, we haven't really discussed where to go next."
    Aazad rubbed at his chin, studying first Doug, then David. "Well, then," he said, finally, "you should let me take you two for a spin down the coast and back."
    Etherton lifted a hand. "Really, Aazad , you don't have to--"
    "No, no," Aazad insisted. "What good is owning the thing if I can't show it off? Besides, being astronomers, you should know about Trump's motto, too. Think big, and live large?"
    "I believe you might be larger," Doug said, then raised a correcting finger, adding, "I mean, in the, ah, area to which Trump referred, obviously."
    "Yes, well, be careful saying things like that around here," Aazad responded, with a wink, "or your table might be in the kitchen next time."
    ~ * ~
    Stepping onto the deck of the yacht christened BIG DIPPER, David felt an immediate yet odd sense of complicity in being there, as though it had just been discovered that he deserved some exclusive privilege, the kind of which he'd previously been unaware. Now that he shared this secret favor, and its implicit responsibility, even the most lavish accommodations seemed somehow appropriate, if not familiar. He was not surprised, then, by all the polished brass and lacquered teak, nor was he as eager as Doug to explore the control room above or the staterooms below decks. The jade Jacuzzi, however, finally broke the trance, and drew him back from his singularly subjective experience of the tour. Still, it was not envy he felt. He wasn't sure what it was, but not that.
    "There is a Little Dipper too, in case you're wondering," Aazad informed them, his tone matter-of-fact. "A Frers -designed Hylas sixty-one sailboat, with hand laid fiberglass, divinycell cored topsides, and a seventy-five horse Yanmar diesel. But only three small cabins. So Bill Gates was not aboard that one." He stuck his tongue into his cheek for a moment, then added, as a remembered aside to David, "Oh, and it pays to be a big tipper here, too, if you