A Proud Man - Part II

15th March

Riyadh Military Base, near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

After a conversation with Frank Scuderi, I now have a decision to make, and I think I know what the right choice to make is. Talking to him, I think I got a better sense of the man. He is a proud man, just like me.

The two other generals here at the Riyadh military base, are Generals Al-Sayyah and Mohammed. Mohammed fought under me at Ta'if, and was promoted to general just last year. We haven't kept in close contact, but I'm sure that I can convince him to work with me. He came from a poor family and worked his way up through the ranks at an almost record-breaking pace. That shows that he's very ambitious, and that makes me confident that I can convince him.

General Al-Sayyah, however, will probably be more difficult to bring around to my cause. Al-Sayyah is an old and proud man. He has served in the military for over fifty years, working loyally and tirelessly for all the monarchs that he has served in that time. I think he will be difficult to persuade.

I meet the two of them in the main lobby of the command centre, but then lead them off to a small room far off to the side. I can't talk to them about this in front of other soldiers. At this point, I still want to be able to deny it if we decide right now not to go through with this. No… who am I kidding? This will be leaked one way or another. I'm already a dead man if this doesn't work out. It'll be merciful if they execute me, or have me assassinated. No, it's too late for that. This has to work now, and it has to be me, and the other men who are in this room with me, to do it.

Al-Sayyah looks around the room disdainfully, "what are we doing in here, General? What is it you need to talk to us about?"

There's already no going back, "the air drop begins in three hours' time, correct? I want all of our troops to be marching before then."

"The transports will be here as soon as they can," Mohammed frowned, "there's nothing we can do to speed up the process."

"No, I don't want them marching in Sinai. We're going to march from here. On Riyadh."

The two of them stare at me in silence for who knows how long. Ten seconds? Thirty? A minute?

"Have you lost your mind?"

Al-Sayyah is the first to speak. He glares at me with a swirl of emotions. Fear, admiration, incredulity.

"No, I'm quite certain I'm sane. This is a chance. A chance to change this country for the better. You've been across this country much like I have, general. This nation, our people, are losing out. The royal family were once the pillar that held this nation together, but now they're a parasite. This country needs something new; it needs a change."

At that, Mohammed started laughing, holding his sides as he did so.

"Are you serious?"

"Of course. We have been given this chance – it has to be now; it has to be us."

Mohammed sniggered a little at that, "I don't really care about any of that. What is to be gained from attempting to appease the powerless?"

"Not appease them – free them from a small group that has them trapped and oppressed. The duty of a ruler should be to improve the lives of their people, before improving their own. That is the duty that they've been entrusted with, yet that is not how they have ruled. The people of this nation have suffered for too long now. I will not allow this to continue."

"Like I said, I don't really care about all that. I became a soldier to get away from all of that, but that doesn't mean I want to fight for those I left behind. They have done nothing to help themselves. If I do this – I'm doing it for myself. You need to give me some reason, something to sate my ambition if you want me to support you."

"What is wrong with the two of you?"

The two of us look back over at Al-Sayyah, who is pacing back and forth with a look of panic on his face. He's actually being convinced, isn't he? I realise that he's acting like this, because he understands my argument. But something's holding him back. He wants to agree, but he can't. Why not? What is it he's scared of?

"Of course, you'll be compensated for this. Both of you."

Al-Sayyah glares at me when I say those words, "I'm not involving myself in this. This… this is wrong. We swore an oath to serve the royal family… to serve this country-"

"Yes, and I'm fulfilling that oath," I reply, "to serve my country. That is the oath I am going to follow with this action. It is in the service of all the people of this nation. That's what this is. It isn't a coup, it's a revolution. The people of this nation are who I thought of when I swore my oath."

"But that's…" Al-Sayyah remains hesitant. I'm not sure how or what I can do to convince him otherwise. To convince him to support my move. I've never been a master manipulator, or deceiver. I'm no Machiavelli. I'm a soldier, but so is he. There must be something I can relate to him… to convince him to support me. I just need to find it.

"What is it that makes you hesitant, General? You know I'm right; I can tell you do. I can see it in your eyes. But you're afraid of something. What is it?"

"I don't… I can't. I have my family to think about. They would be killed, tortured, if we don't succeed. I can't let that happen."

"I have a family too, you know," I say. I doubt the general knows this about me, but the truth is I don't have any family. The family I do have, my parents and other relatives in the village I grew up in, I haven't talked to in years. Decades probably. I don't have a wife or children either, but he doesn't need to know that.

"…but I'm taking this risk. Because my life, and their lives don't come close in comparison to what I'm talking about. They all mean a lot to me, and yet I know that what I'm asking you to do is worth more than their lives. It's a difficult choice to make, and yet I understand that it must be done. If us, the three of us here now, don't do this, then who will? We have no choice. And yes, I know I'm asking a lot of you, but this is more important than any single person's life, or even a hundred peoples' lives."

For a moment, I think I've convinced him. Al-Sayyah looks still reluctant and pained, but as if he has come to realise something. I think he understands why it is we have to do this, and I think I might just have convinced him. I have to have convinced him. If he doesn't agree to work with myself and General Mohammed, then the two of us are dead. We will lose our heads. Our families, even ones we haven't talked to in decades, will be imprisoned, tortured, and executed. But above all else, everything will remain the same. Nothing in this country will change if he doesn't support us. And that would be the biggest shame. Because if nothing changes, the people of this country will continue to fall victim to the corruption and unjust rule that they have already endured for decades.

"You don't really have family, do you General? If you did you wouldn't respond like that. If you had children of your own, you would understand me. Their safety and wellbeing is the most impo-"

A loud cracking sound rings out that catches me off guard. I blink once, and the scene before me has changed dramatically. Where General Al-Sayyah had once stood there is now only a corpse, collapsed against the wall, keeled over. The insides of Al-Sayyah's head cover the wall behind him. A mess of red and pink goo. Splattered at random in a wide spray across the wall. I look over at Mohammed, and the smoking gun in his hand.

"What? He wasn't going to agree, that was obvious."

"Even so…" I look back at the corpse, "you didn't have to do that, did you?"

"If I didn't, what do you think the first thing he would've done after he left this room would've been? Of course, it isn't the right thing to do. But it is the necessary thing to do."

The necessary thing, huh? Maybe it was necessary, but is that all the justification that's needed? I suppose it is, at least in this case. It is necessary, because if he attempts to stop us, millions will suffer for it. His death for their lives… it is sad, yes, but necessary.

"Have your men prepare to march," I say to Mohammed, "I'll communicate the order to my own men, and take command of Al-Sayyah's forces."

"Of course," Mohammed replies, then takes his leave from the room.

Yes, his death was necessary. General Mohammed saw that, and he took action. There's nothing wrong with that. But we will make his death meaningful. I doubt Al-Sayyah will be remembered to history, but we will remember him. And that his death was the moment that set us on the course we're now going to navigate. There is now no turning back, no matter what.