Chapter 13
Jadwat rubbed his hands together, eager to put the plan in motion. “Are the letters ready?” he demanded as he rushed into his assistant’s office.
The man turned in his chair, pushing his wire-rimmed glasses higher onto the bridge of his nose. “Yes, Your Highness,” Ashwan replied, using the formal title that his boss insisted upon. Technically, he was only a minor prince since he was a cousin to the current ruler of Uftar. However, Jadwat had been stripped of his royal status and title after Jadwat’s father had embezzled millions of dollars twenty years ago. “However, I think that the letters should be sent out in a more staggered fashion. If the eviction letters are sent out in a single wave, it will create considerable outcry.”
Jadwat chuckled. “That’s exactly the plan,” he replied with eagerness. “Mail them out via certified mail. I don’t want anyone to claim to the courts that they never received their eviction notice.”
The ultimate plan was to undermine his cousin’s control of the country. Jadwat had worked with a consulting firm to determine exactly how best to create chaos within a regime leading to mass panic. He’d presented himself as an ambassador to Sheik Amit in order to be taken seriously and to hide behind the crown. Jadwat hadn’t grown up in the palace the way Amit had. There had been no special privileges granted to him, no taxes funding his lifestyle. Jadwat’s father had stolen some money, but who didn’t? Government employees stole money from the government all the time!
At least, that’s what he would do if he had any kind of power. He had several ideas on how he could funnel money from the government into his own foreign bank accounts. He just needed a way to get into the government’s good graces. And this plan, evicting tens of thousands of people from their homes, was his foot in the door. Granted, the ultimate goal was to become ruler of this wonderful country. He figured it was his right, since his cousin had stolen Jadwat’s childhood by not allowing him to live within the palace.
So now he planned to kick Amit out of the palace and claim it as his own. It was a brilliant plan, he knew. And the evictions weren’t the only idea he had. He’d negotiated with several industry leaders. The food manufacturers had agreed to increase their prices by five, ten, and then fifteen percent over the next six months. That would force lower income families into what some experts called “food insecurity”. Everyone knew what had happened during the French Revolution when food prices skyrocketed.
Jadwat didn’t want the prices to skyrocket. He just wanted them to go up enough to create more unrest. An angry, rioting crowd was easier to manipulate than a happy, distracted electorate. When people were working and satisfied, they wouldn’t rock the boat.
So, Jadwat would stir things up! Create anger by evicting people from their homes, manipulate prices so they couldn’t afford little luxuries, then hold the ruler hostage, so he was forced to concede to Jadwat’s demands. It was a brilliant plan!