Treason

Treason Copyright © 2005 by Don Brown Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-10: 0-310-25933-9 ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25933-6 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for their content for the life of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Interior design by Michelle Espinoza Printed in the United States of America 05 06 07 08 09 10 /? DCI/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PROLOGUE Black Forest Café Near the Limmat River Zurich, Switzerland Abdur Rahman Ibn Auf checked his watch as the meeting adjourned. Quarter to twelve. Good. Enough time for a little walk, maybe some sightseeing, and perhaps even lunch and a couple of drinks before summoning his pilot for the return flight to Riyadh. He donned the jacket of his Armani business suit and stepped from the front door of Barclays onto the sidewalk beside Zurich's world famous, charming Bahnhofstrasse. Squinting into the bright sunlight, he slipped on a pair of designer sunglasses. Around him bustled serious looking businessmen speaking into cellular phones, young mothers-or perhaps au pairs; he could not tell the difference-pushing prams, laughing young lovers, and groups of beautiful women carrying smart bags from expensive clothing boutiques. On either side of the street, flower vendors displayed profusions of colorful bouquets, and halfway to the corner, a group of students crowded around a bakery window. A cool breeze hit his face, and he closed his eyes, drawing the pristine Swiss air into his lungs. He breathed in, almost smiling at the invigorating result. Why did Allah place the great cities of the faith in the middle of a scorching, God-forsaken desert rather than in a place like Zurich? At home, survival was impossible without air-conditioning. Here, nature provided it. But the Great Faith had spawned where it had, and Allah had his purposes. Perhaps to avoid distractions, which abounded here. Abdur headed south down the Bahnhofstrasse by foot in the direction of the Arboretum and Bürlki Plaza on Lake Zurich. A traffic light stopped him just before he reached the Swiss National Bank Building, and he turned left toward Stathausquai, on the east bank of the Limmat River. The deep blue waters of the river, fed by the melting snow from the Alps, flowed into Lake Zurich a few blocks to his right. Abdur never grew tired of this view. If paradise was like any city in the world, surely Zurich would be at the top of the list. He watched two tour boats churning south toward the lake. The sounds of laughter-young and feminine-broke into his thoughts. He turned toward a sidewalk café across the street, on the bank of the river. There were four in the quartet-or perhaps he might say the bouquet- of exquisite Swiss fräuleins. They sat giggling under an umbrella at a white wrought-iron table. He did not need to blink even twice to see they were blond, well figured, and perhaps in their mid-twenties. They were all blue-eyed. They were Swiss; how could they not have eyes theBrown, Don is the author of 'Treason', published 2005 under ISBN 9780310259336 and ISBN 0310259339.