Chapter Four
The Motorola pager from the eighties carried by the Sheik rang a loud beep. Clarity saw the face of the pilot, Jathbiyya, appear on the large television screen of the living room area, indicating thumbs up first, and then, pointing towards the floor with the index. The large plane dove abruptly, engaging descent towards Terrance Lettsome international airport, located on Beef Island, a small island near the main island of Tortola, the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands.
Hakeem told Siarhei Lubachko to stay on the plane and watch it with the keeper, an older woman named Agatha Miles. The unofficial girlfriend of the Sheik, Lohvia, also decided to stay inside Heir Force One, to tune her tanning in the solarium.
The retainer of the Sheik chartered a plane for all of the entourage and they flew from Tortola into the Scrub Island Resort, east of the island of Tortola. The luxurious resort located in a private island, offered hillside villa homes, the Ixora spa and a magnificent marina where a large private yacht spanning sixty feet was anchored. A few hours after settling, a call on Hakeem's smartphone alerted Clarity that someone was landing on the resort helipad, Zahir Al-Najib, the father of Hari. The coach of Hari relayed the information to the Sheik while he was taking a closer look at the resort poolside with Plum, Nives, and Clarity. Julia was ordering cocktails for everyone at the bar.
"Your father is here, Hari," said Merhab, "I think he brought you a few things, do you want to talk to him about why you think gambling is a legitimate form of risk taking?"
"No, I talked to him a few weeks ago, before the trip to Macau, he wasn't very enthusiastic about that, I know he doesn't believe in gambling. I don't know what he wants. Let Hakeem talk to him, he's the one who deals with my father." Merhab spoke briefly with Clarity, telling her to get some items for the Sheik.
The teleoperator walked to the helipad, following the co-pilot, noticing a tall man dressed in western clothes and a headscarf. Clarity walked to the passenger seat and overheard Zahir, the father of the Sheik, talk with Hakeem, while she was gathering several items, clothes and a suitcase for Hari. The travel case was filled with an archery target, a stand to hold it, a few slabs for it, some flight simulator software for Jathbiyya, and a pile of near-collision statistics that the pilot and co-pilot of the Sheik had gathered while piloting Heir Doze One.
"How is Hari doing?"
"He is pretty consistent in his losses," said Hakeem, "lost five million two hundred eighty four thousand five hundred eighty six dollars in the last six months. I guess he went over his usual average loss of three million dollars."
"There are problems for the family, Hakeem, the lawsuit regarding the family wealth is entering an important stage, several of our business and political rivals in the Emirates are undermining our position, they want to know about several assets that we are not keen on revealing, it is important not to let Hari talk to the media anymore, and to keep him busy, teach him something about money, counting, geography of the Caribbean, anything, but don't let him talk to any newspaper or television."
Hakeem nodded, reassuring the head of the Al-Najib family that Hari would not do anything on his own.
"Got work for him that will keep him busy."
"Yeah, work is good, keep him busy, work with Merhab, just ensure it's work unrelated to family business."
"What about Nora? She is coming here. We're not sure whether she is involved with all of what happened with the lawsuit."
"Nora is more complicated than Hari, I'm not sure, it depends on Hari, hopefully he'll figure out if he loves her at some point. In any case, no word on anything to Nora, Vanity Gloss is a pain, always gossiping about everything." Clarity lifted the archery target on her shoulder, wobbling somewhat because of the weight.
"What about my bonus?" Asked Hakeem.
"When the lawsuit is settled, Hakeem, there will be more liquidity."
Hakeem nodded, but cursed the older Sheik in his mind. Stingy family, he thought. Maybe that's why they had so much money, because they always postponed their payments. Except for when it was time to pay Melchior, the butler always got his money on time.
During dinner that same night at the resort’s Caravela restaurant, Merhab brought the news to Hari, while the Sheik unwinded from the long plane trip with a platter of fresh seafood. Clarity was eating Mahi-Mahi with some jasmine rice.
"Got to work, Hari." Hari did not say anything, a sign that he was thinking, something unusual in his daily routine.
"Not as waiter, though. Why did we get the robo advisor software then? I should be learning about stock picking."
"As a waiter, Hari, it's a good experience to start at the bottom."
Hari grumbled and complained several minutes, but the person ultimately approving all decisions, Hakeem, was not changing his mind. Hari kept complaining and requested his 'venting out' team. Two days later, three dwarves arrived, flown from the Sheik’s palace in the Emirates. That same morning, Hakeem prepared the archery target made of foam with two support slabs painted grey, also made of foam, and added a stand to place the target. The three dwarves were playing cards on the table, while Clarity was connecting the Sheik's laptop broadband cable to the wall socket. Hari eyed the three feet wide archery target a few seconds and turned to his coach Merhab.
"I don't understand why my father brought the target. I disagree with you about the job, this job as waiter is not for me."
"You've got to take the job, Hakeem said so, Melchior agrees, your father gave the ok, we found you a job in a Luxardo Amaretto terrace in Tortola, you'll do fine." Hari stared at Merhab, dumbfounded. His face flustered into a blob of frustration and confusion, possibly combining with lack of understanding about the decision.
"Gimme Neehan," said Hari. Merhab lifted his hand and one of the dwarves walked briskly towards the Sheik. Hari lifted Neehan with both hands and threw him against the target. Flying across the room, head first, Neehan crushed through the target left of the bullseye, settling on a sofa which happened to be behind. Used to these dwarf-throwing venting exercises, the buffoon of the Sheik placed his hands behind his back, resting casually. Merhab rushed to comfort Hari, giving him a slap on the back of the neck.
"Feel all right?" Asked the coach.
"Yeah," said Hari, "a lot better, give me a glass of coke." Hari moved to the balcony and opened the double glazing aluminum sliding doors. Coach Merhab filled a glass with coca cola and handed it to Hari. The Sheik grabbed the glass and drank all of it.
"I mean, it went slightly left of the bullseye, hit the red and not the gold," said Hari.
"It's not bad, not bad," said Merhab.
"Yeah, you're right." Hari began glancing left and right, looking for some additional validation which his coach wasn’t giving out. He wasn’t completely satisfied with the throw. Walking past the table where the two other dwarves were playing poker, he grabbed Floyd and threw him in a single motion across the room out into the balcony, and over the balcony to the pool below, a few floors below, three or four floors below. There was a splash, confirming Floyd had hit the right landing area.
"Yeah, that was better," said Hari. Clarity gave her thumbs up, to validate the throw of Hari.
"Not bad, you want the standard now?" Asked Merhab.
"Yeah, standard." Merhab called in Gawdat and Behir, and the two guards rushed into the room a couple of minutes later.
"Boss?" Hari nodded, looking at both guards.
Helped by Neehan and Garil, both security guards lifted Hari and carried him out horizontally into the balcony, throwing him out into the pool head first. Clarity watched the two guards, both dwarves and Merhab lean over the balcony to watch the splash of the Sheik in the pool below. One of the hands of Gawdat navigated towards Neehan. The guard lifted the dwarf and threw him out over the balcony into the pool. Garil, the only dry-remaining dwarf, lifted himself into the balcony and jumped into the pool below, before anyone could react in time to throw him. Merhab turned to both security guards, s
atisfied with all of what was happening.
"Go in guys, well deserved break." Gawdat and Behir took off their shirt, jumped over the balcony away from each other, and splashed in the pool as well, not too far from a few palm trees planted in island shaped flower pot areas which surrounded poolside.
"What was the purpose of this?" Asked Clarity.
"To understand effort, you got to work hard to get what you want. If someone else pays the price, it's all right, as long as you understand what they go through." Clarity nodded, and took the elevator with Merhab to sunbathe with Plum and Nives, who were assigning quality ranks for each of the landings in the pool.
Sun on the Rocks - The Shabby Sheik Page 5
