Excerpt
“Good morning, Matt, have a seat,” Bevan tells him.
“Good morning, Bevan, how is your day?”
“Fine, how are things with you? How are Emily and Jennifer?”
“They are good, Bevan. What are we looking at today?”
“I’m informed by a good friend from the other side of the hill that you are
looking at a certain young Iraqi’s life with interest.”
“A young Iraqi, yes.He has been dating my daughter for the last little while, and
although I haven’t met him personally, Emily tells me he’s a fine, young man.”
Bevan stares at Matthew as he describes Hakim, and it becomes obvious to
him that the Admiral has a lot more information than Matthew.
“I think you have every right to care about whom your daughter is seeing. In
this case, however, you shouldn’t be too worried, as it turns out, this Iraqi is
well-educated and seems to have a good career as a computer engineer.”
Matthew wonders how much Bevan knows about Hakim.
“What else do we know about him, Bevan?”
Bevan Longhorn, an experienced administrator, smiles at Matthew and says
softly, “We know enough. You know how these young men came to this country,
and you know it’s an adamant policy of the state department and the
administration that all these young men take up studies. That’s the only reason
they are here. If one of them doesn’t meet the criteria at any time, he goes right
back. However, this young man, along with the majority of the others, has done
very well.”
He stops for a few seconds to observe Matthew closely, then continues. “the
uncle, who brought him here, is a good man and a good friend.”
Matthew’s surprise is so evident that Bevan continues.
“I first met Ibrahim before the first Gulf war, about twenty or so years ago. At
that time I was positioned in the U.S. Embassy as a marine. He was involved in
the oil industry, and was a very ambitious officer in one of the state-owned
companies. He found me here years later, when he wanted to help his nephew
emigrate to the U.S. I hear he is a very ill and on his way here for medical tests.”
Matthew is surprised to hear so much detail about Hakim’s life.
“I hope I didn’t stir the waters too much, Bevan.”
“Oh, no, don’t worry. That’s not why I called you in. I just wanted you to
know that this young man is good and is on his way to the top. If not here,
certainly in Iraq. He’s to come into a large amount of money at some point,
because old Ibrahim has no children.”
Matthew feels more relaxed on hearing that comment; his daughter is
involved with a young man who is to inherit a lot of money. Now, that is a piece
of good news he never expected to hear from his boss.
Libros Libertad 