Excerpt from: HEIRLOOM'S RETURN

This excerpt comes from my newest book, Heirloom's Return. It's a sci-fi novel that centers on a bomb attack from the future that will devastate the United States while Stephen Hathorne and his wife, Robyn attempt to discover the cause of the Bermuda Triangle, only to find that they were the ones responsible centuries ago. It involves a lot of political intrigue, including dealings with Osama Bin Laden. Although concentrating heavily upon Muslim society, there's still the naval flair that I'm known for, with trips across the Atlantic in an old-style wooden vessel.

In this excerpt, Xerxes Alim (the baddy) enlists the aid of a fellow scoundrel:

Recently, his work had attracted too much attention. Alim guessed he had neatly taken care of that with Bin Laden’s help, another pawn on his larger-than-life chess board. Alim smiled, remembering the look on the man’s face as he accepted “payment.”
Alim responded in well-spoken Arabic, linguistics being one of his many talents. Although he spent his life in Paris, Arabic was natural for him, having the ancestry.
“Sheep, heh? I’m not accustomed to eating your victims, Halil.”
Halil almost choked with laughter. Spitting out some partially-chewed Kharouf, he beamed happily at Alim. “You saw the news article, no?” Wiping his soiled mouth with his robe, he added, “It must be a crime for someone to enjoy their job as much as I.”
Halil laughed haughtily at his own joke.
Alim merely sat and enjoyed the man’s viciousness. Finally, after his lunch partner’s laughter subsided, Alim posed a proposition to Halil, the point of their lunch. Alim rarely did anything without a plan.
“I would very much like to make you an offer, Halil.”
Recognizing a business deal, he got suddenly quiet and listened with eagerness.
Alim continued, “How would you like to make more money than al-Bashir could only dream of paying you?”
“I’m listening, my friend.”