Page 82 of Daniil
“Look, I just think you’re going to need a better argument if you want this to pass.Turkiye needs to give up more.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I say.“We’ve gone back and forth with them for more than a year—this is what they’re willing to commit to.They pay for half the cost of the pipeline and take forty percent of the oil profits.We literally couldn’t afford to build the pipeline without them.”
“Forty percent is too much.If you can get it down to thirty?—”
“If I could get it down to thirty, I would have done it already,” I say, throwing up my hands.“This isn’t a new deal.We’ve been working on it for nearly eighteen months.”
“Obviously, I don’t have your power.”He shrugs.“But I’m telling you—I’ve been talking to people—they’re going to vote it down today.Again.”
Motherfucker.
* * *
As predicted,the bill didn’t pass and we’re going back to the drawing board.By the time I get back to the palace, it’s after eight and I’ve missed both dinner with Courtney and bathtime with Micah.He’s fast asleep when I get to Courtney’s suite, and I sink down on the couch in frustration.
“Bad day, huh?”She moves behind me and tugs off my tie.Then she puts her hand on my shoulders and starts to rub.
“Fuck, that feels good.”I let my head drop to my chest.
She kneads and squeezes, using the perfect amount of pressure to make goose bumps break out on my skin.Using the heel of her palm, she presses a little harder on a knot in my right shoulder blade and I moan, a day’s worth of tension seeping out of me one stroke at a time.
“Thank you,” I murmur after she’s worked on me for a good fifteen minutes.“Come sit with me.”
She moves around the couch and nestles in beside me.“What happened?”she asks.
“Parliament is torn.It’s almost right down the middle.They’re being stubborn.”
“I don’t know anything about the political climate here but if fifty percent of the politicians who represent the people are worried about it, are you sure you made the best deal?”
“I’m not sure of anything,” I admit.“But Erik and I have been working on this for close to eighteen months.Initially, Turkiye wanted fifty percent of the oil profits, but we talked them down to forty.We simply don’t have the infrastructure to build another refinery here.The one we use now is old and outdated.In the seventies, that was all we needed.Fifty years later, it’s not enough.This deal with Turkiye is an investment in all our futures.”
“If half of Parliament doesn’t see it that way—what else is going on?”she asks.“Is it greed?Is there something to do with your current refinery that pays these men kickbacks that they’ll lose?Are there multiple political parties somehow vying for dominance?Again, I don’t know how your politics work here, but I’m very familiar with politics in general.And it’s never black and white with stuff like this.”
“And much less so here,” I agree.“We’re trying to become democratic but it’s a long road to get there.Erik is the king and holds ultimate power because we know that we’re one election away from another revolution.”
“Is it that precarious?”she asks in surprise.
“It is.”
“So then there’s definitely something going on you don’t know about.And the only way you’re going to get your bill passed is to find out what it is.”
I stare at her, pride and confusion battling within me.
Why didn’t I think of that?Or Erik or Sandor, for that matter?
We have all kinds of surveillance, spies in many areas, and a lot of back door deals going on to make sure we keep up with everything.
And yet, we never even considered that something has slipped through the cracks, and it took my American girlfriend to point it out.We thought we were on top of all the major issues.
“Can you give me five minutes?”I ask abruptly, pulling out my phone.“I need to call Erik for a moment, and then I’m all yours.”
She smiles.“Take your time.I’m going to call down to the kitchen and have some dinner sent up for us.”
“You didn’t eat?”I ask in surprise.
“I was waiting for you.”She squeezes my arm.“Do what you have to do.Cook said it’ll take about fifteen minutes for her to warm up a meal for us.”
“Thank you, Sweetheart.”I press my lips to hers and then call Erik.
