The Gemini Project

By Vaughn A. Carney

THE GEMINI PROJECT is a legal thriller set in modern-day Saudi Arabia, concerning a disgraced, expatriate American lawyer, Trevor Osborne, who is working as a low-level grunt in a Riyadh law firm. It's a sad, lonely existence for him until he stumbles upon a fortune in bribe money intended for a powerful Saudi prince, part of a plot by a top-secret cabal of western oligarchs to destroy OPEC and undermine world democracy. The storyline also explores the conundrum of western-educated Saudi women and the dilemmas - and dangers - they face in such a repressive, misogynistic society. This feature appears in the person of a young, attractive, well-educated Saudi woman, a colleague in the law firm, who is desperate to escape an arranged marriage, and turns to Trevor as an ally as the two seek to flee the Kingdom.

THE GEMINI PROJECT has been pre-selected for the Harvard Authors' Bookshelf of Harvard Magazine (Nov.-Dec. issue). The book will be available on Amazon, B&N, Nook, iPad/iPhone, Android, eBooks and other apps.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664141346

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Copyright © 2020 by Vaughn A. Carney.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 11/09/2020

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CONTENTS

September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001

September 27, 2017

November 4, 2017

November 4, 2017

November 7, 2018

September 24, 2019

September 24, 2019

Riyadh

Riyadh

Riyadh

Washington, D.c.

Riyadh

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Washington, D.c.

Riyadh

Riyadh

The Arabian Desert

Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Washington, D.c.

Riyadh

Aspen, Colorado

Riyadh

Washington, D.c.

Riyadh

Washington, D.c.

Riyadh

Riyadh

London

Riyadh

Riyadh

Riyadh

Washington, D.c.

London

Riyadh

Washington, D.c.

Riyadh

Riyadh

London

Riyadh

Ypenberg, The Netherlands

Amsterdam

Washington, D.c.

Zurich

Washington, Dc

Paris

Paris

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Washington, D.c.

Washington D.c.

Washington, D.c.

Washington, D.c.

Washington, D.c.

Washington, D.c.

Dallas, Texas

Washington, D.c.

Riyadh

St. Barts

Noord, Aruba

Oranjestad, Aruba

Afterword

TO REBEKAH – WHO PUT ALL THE PIECES OF MY

PUZZLE TOGETHER. LOVE ALWAYS.

Please refer to the Afterword, which summarizes the

Royal Family of Saudi Arabia, the House of Saud.

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SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA

Prince Bindar bin Ahmed, an Oxford student visiting his mother’s modest villa in Jeddah, had spent the previous day discreetly tipping off a few close friends that something major was about to happen in Manhattan, and that they should immediately leave the U.S.

The fact that Prince Bindar was an outcast and outlier with respect to the royal family stemmed solely from his low-birth circumstances: his father, Prince Ahmed, was one of the Sudairi Seven brothers, all of them the principal sons of King Saud, founder of the Kingdom. But his mother was a nameless, faceless black Sudanese slave owned by Prince Ahmed, making Bindar a bastard. She was given her freedom, a small villa and an annual allowance, with the tacit understanding that Bindar was debarred from, and would formally renounce, any claim to royal succession. He and his mother were sent to Jeddah, far beyond the inner circles of royal prerogative in Riyadh, where his aunt joined them. A quiet life with his mother and her sister was his fate until a chance meeting in Riyadh with his powerful grandmother when he was eight years of age.

But on the afternoon of September 11, 2001, he requested a late lunch in his private quarters, with orders not to be otherwise disturbed. Then he settled in to watch the coming horror on his wall of television screens.

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SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

WASHINGTON, D.C.

In Washington, D.C. Robert Perkins sat in the study of his Georgetown mansion, transfixed before the television screen for the remainder of that day with myriad mixed emotions, predominantly shock and a grudging admiration at what he had just witnessed.

Twenty-four hours later, after the perpetrators were revealed to be mainly Saudi, he was thrilled. A warm wave of euphoria washed over him and his heart leapt with the joy of this discovery. His mind opened in only one direction. Already he was calculating, having found the silver lining that the day’s events had presented him. It was the perfect opening, a fortuitous opportunity that he could never have imagined. He decided to let no one in on his scheming except on a need-to-know basis. This was to be a long-term proposition, a marathon rather than a sprint. It would require airtight planning, perfect execution and measuring every step out there in the darkness.

But the payoff, the end result, would completely change the course of history and make everyone involved, himself included, the wealthiest and most powerful men who ever lived.

His first telephone call was to a former colleague from his days at Langley. Perkins already knew exactly who he wanted in his inner circle. The next calls went to Dallas, Houston and New York City.

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SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

TANGIER, MOROCCO

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, sixteen years of age and the favorite son of Salman bin Abdulaziz, the future king, was visiting his father at his palatial villa in Tangier. Prince Mohammed, who had watched the horror of the attack on television, rushed to his father’s private quarters to awaken him from his afternoon nap with the news. Later that evening, Salman received an urgent telephone call from his brother, King Fahd, who ordered him back to the Kingdom immediately.

The Saudi royal family knew exactly who was behind the attack: Anti-royalists who sought to punish the U.S. for its support of the royal family. The House of Saud, otherwise known as the royal family, was commonly disparaged as a nest of kleptocrats, hedonists, perverts and money-hustlers. But who was behind the anti-royalists, their sworn enemies, pulling the levers out there in the darkness?

None of this was lost on young Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS to the popular media), the 33-year-old favorite son of King Salman, had pulled off a masterpiece of manipulation. His 81-year-old father was long rumored to be increasingly senile, likely the onset of Alzheimer’s. At the urging of his impetuous son, he was relieved to cede more and more of the powers enjoyed by the monarch.

Salman, one of the last two of the Sudairi Seven sons of King Saud, detested living in the Kingdom for its restrictions and religiosity. He privately believed that Islam should be left largely in the mosques, where it belonged. The customs and strictures on everyday life in the Kingdom made it insufferable for him. He acceded to the throne only because it was thrust upon him by tradition; to him, the crown was a chore and an imposition. Establishing a legal residence in Tangier, in a spacious villa, however, offered the best of both worlds: official residence in a Muslim city, with Spain’s Costa del Sol only a fifteen-minute flight by private helicopter. It was there, in Marbella, where he had his most lavish villa, and where he moored his 350-foot yacht. This happy arrangement satisfied the tiresome optics of royal life in that he did not appear to be the sybarite he actually was. The thought of going back to the Kingdom to live out his days was repugnant to him, but it also made him much more receptive to handing over day-to-day responsibilities – and more – to his son.

For his first move, MBS, had his father summon the then-Crown Prince Nayef, Mohammed’s first cousin and heir-apparent. Without any preamble, Nayef was given an official-looking document to sign; it was a sworn and sealed renunciation of any and all rights to the throne in exchange for a sum to be determined. Mohammed, orchestrating the meeting, smilingly offered the sum of five billion Euros. Nayef, shocked and angered by this ambush, was now hotly offended by the proceedings, and said so. Mohammed, his smile gone, face tight and grim, made a second offer:

Four billion Euros.

Nayef then understood that this was a power play, a deadly form of extortion, where Mohammed was holding all the cards. Nayef insisted on entering the amount in the document, then in resignation signed it in triplicate.

King Salman immediately named Mohammed as Crown Prince, and his accession to the throne was secured.

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NOVEMBER 4, 2017

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

On November 4, 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, MBS, stunned the Middle East and the world by ordering the surprise mass arrests of over 200 prominent Saudi businessmen, including members of the royal family, on the flimsiest of pretexts: charges of public corruption and conflict of interest. It was an unprecedented act of ham-fisted ruthlessness, topped with a callow naivete.

An entire wing of the posh Ritz-Carlton Riyadh had been cordoned off by Saudi Internal Security, and the detainees were upon arrest immediately stripped of their cell phones and PDAs, along with their belts, shoelaces and wristwatches. Doors to the hotel rooms were to remain wide-open at all times. All televisions, radios and telephones were removed from the rooms, and newspapers were forbidden. Contact with all outsiders, including family and attorneys, was prohibited. Among the most prominent detainees were Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire international businessman, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, former Ambassador to the U.S.

All of those imprisoned found themselves exiting various stages of shock as the rules of their detention were explained to them. They were given a choice: Confess to the trumped-up lists of offenses and pay up, or refuse and face trial, certain conviction and imprisonment. Some of the detainees were blindfolded while being questioned. Others suffered health crises under the nonstop browbeating and crude extortion, and were refused medical care. There were unconfirmed reports of physical beatings. Two or three deaths were also reported, but not confirmed.

It was estimated that over 100 billion Euros were extorted from the victims of this primitive shakedown. And to add insult to injury, upon release, all of them were required to wear electronic ankle-bracelets so that their every movement could be monitored. Formal and express permission to leave the Kingdom was suddenly required. The detainees, while attempting to put the best face on the matter, were inwardly seething with rage.

Crown Prince Mohammed had foolishly antagonized some of the most powerful people in the world. The sheer indignity and public humiliation would never be forgiven, or forgotten. Even with the most extensive personal security in Saudi history, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was deemed, in private, a dead- man walking.

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NOVEMBER 4, 2017

NEW YORK, N.Y.

Prince Bindar bin Ahmed sat having tea with his mother and aunt in their floor-through apartment just beneath the penthouse in Trump Tower, overlooking Fifth Avenue and Central Park. The upper floors were strictly private with extremely tight security, protected by armed guards, metal detectors and multiple cameras. Considering the number of Russian oligarchs who lived there, this level of security was not unusual. It was for this reason that Bindar chose to wait out the current crisis in the relative safety – and anonymity – of New York City.

Bindar, now fortyish, tall and handsome, cut an impressive figure in his Savile Row suits and accessories, and hand-lasted John Lobb shoes. He was conveniently out of the Kingdom and incommunicado when Crown Prince Mohammed imposed his draconian orders, as he had been tipped off by a high-level American contact. Many royal family members, fearing for their lives, were hiding out in London, living quietly in Mayfair and South Kensington. Others were hiding elsewhere overseas. Many of them feared for the lives of family in the Kingdom, and were effectively underground, terrified that one false step, one careless comment, could bring harm to their loved ones at home.

Always an outlier among the royals due to the circumstances of his birth, Bindar was never taken seriously. For the illegitimate son of Ahmed - the youngest of the Sudairi Seven brothers – life for this Prince did not stream with usual possibilities. His Sudanese slave mother meant that Bindar could have no meaningful seat of leadership. Of course he would be well cared for, being as how his father was a tall prince and full brother of King Fahd, but he would forever dwell on the fringes of the royal family. It was even more damning when his father, Ahmed himself, commonly viewed as a weak-minded pleasure-seeker, was removed entirely from the line of succession, meaning that neither Ahmed nor any of his legitimate sons could ever accede to the title he and all his brothers savored: Crown Prince. It was a bitter pill for Ahmed, but it infuriated his principal wife even more, because it meant that all of her sons were forever locked out from the inner sanctum of the royal family. And all because of that Sudanese whore.

Due to the circumstances and provenance of his birth, Bindar was largely ignored by the royal family. As a child, he was allowed to visit his father in private once or twice a year. It was during one of such visits, after Bindar had just turned eight, that he had a chance meeting with his grandmother – the formidable and powerful Hassa Al Sudairi, King Saud’s widow. Almost immediately she recognized something compelling in this grandson,