Chapter 16.
It only works until it doesn’t.
The man across from him is young, calm, watching Saad’s wristband the way a card player watches hands.
There is no conscription in his country.
His military service in the Royal Air Force was his choice.
Over his father’s objections, Saad had volunteered, attended pilot school, fast-tracked his way up the ladder to staff sergeant before terminating his fixed-term contract with the Air Force and resigning.
He had proved his point, mostly to himself.
“Had it always been a dream of yours to fly?” the interviewer asks, a young man who doesn’t appear to be much older than Saad.
Saad smiles. He can feel himself being measured.
“Even in the air, I wanted to show I could stand on my own two feet,” he says. “It was always my dream to be untouchable.”
He is completely at ease sitting across from this man. He has never let his family’s royalty and wealth make him soft. He worked for his wings because he needed something no one could hand him.
“So why are you here?” the man asks.
“Because I don’t need to be here,” Saad says without hesitation.
“Is that really your answer?”
“I am here because I have challenged myself my whole life,” he says. “Most people in this field need the money. Need the story. Need the rescue. I don’t.”
The man reaches for his pen and takes a note. He doesn’t look down when he does it.
“Then what do you need?”
Saad’s smile fades into something sharper. “A ceiling.”
“Would you be willing to offer some sort of compensation, from your own vast wealth, to give yourself an edge against the rest of the field?”
Saad lets the question hang, deciding whether to be offended.
“Is that an offer?”
“Is that an answer?” the man says.
“Are you asking what I’m willing to do,” Saad says, “or what you’re willing to allow?”
The man’s eyes don’t blink. “Answer the question.”
“I have always done whatever is necessary to get what I want,” Saad says. “But I don’t pay for things that should be earned.”
“A convenient line,” the man says.
“A true one,” Saad replies.
“But you’re not afraid to put your life on the line in the name of your ultimate challenge?” the man asks.
“Have you ever flown a fighter jet?” Saad says.
“I can’t say that I have.”
“If you had,” Saad continues, “you wouldn’t ask me that.”
“One final question, then,” the man says. “What will you do if you are still around on the final day, and you end up being The One to win the money?”
“That’s easy,” he says. “I spend it in a way that makes it impossible for anyone to pretend they didn’t see me.”