081skin

In Nana’s MY RECENT DOCUMENTS the Sheik discovers a jpeg, traces its origin, and opens what he recognizes as a view from the northwest tower—Druk Yul Temple visible off in the distance. Unconvinced Nana has followed his instructions, dubious as to where her loyalties lie, skeptical of the Prince and his tale about what may (or may not) have happened, Sheik Hadithah prints out the photo and smirks. Addressing an overhead spy-cam, he points at Nana’s monitor.

SHEIK HADITHAH

Patch me into the Network.

A bank of surveillance views appears on Nana’s screen—one of which, CAM-4, displays a scene identical to the print he holds up for comparison.

SHEIK HADITHAH

Pan CAM-2.

The scene shifts left—movements can seen in foreground and background.

SHEIK HADITHAH

Pan CAM-3.

The scene shifts right—once again a breeze stirs clouds and vegetation.

SHEIK HADITHAH

Return to CAM-4.

Nothing, foreground or background, moves in the least.

SHEIK HADITHAH

You said she could not leave the Palace without being detected? Clever girl, clever girl. That...

(He points at the view from CAM-4.)

... is no doubt focused on one of these...

(He holds up the photograph.)

... fixed in front of its lens, I’ll wager, by some shrewd device.

(Once more speaking to the overhead spy-cam,

he issues orders.)

Verify this subterfuge, then summon a vehicle.

THE PRINCE

How, may I inquire, did you come by Nana's password?

SHEIK HADITHAH

It is every little girl’s password, is it not?

THE PRINCE

She never told me.

SHEIK HADITHAH

Ah. She changed it not long ago. Of late, it is DAD.

Opening a folder entitled ROOTS, the Sheik scans collated copies of D. O'ROURKE’s correspondence, the last of which expands to dominate Nana’s monitor—including three sites in Wellington and Stuyvesant Fink in close-up.

THE PRINCE

Who is he?

SHEIK HADITHAH

The Man himself; The Great Progenitor—Nana’s father, so to speak; she the fruit of his mind if not of his loins. I dare say you have met him. In facsimile?

THE PRINCE

No, I think not.

SHEIK HADITHAH

He does not look familiar? Times two? ‘Chang and Eng’? Oh, come, come; Nana’s recent masterpiece.

The Prince is clearly nonplussed, less by the resemblance than by the Sheik’s pervasive intelligence—evasions of which might very well prove lethal, Nana’s life and limb now in jeopardy no less than his own. Key to their success is the Sheik’s impending goose chase.

One hour after the Sheik, in his limo, exits the Palace, his vehicle returns—tinted glass obscuring the armed men inside.

The Prince, in a white burnoose, shuffling slowly, Nana at his side, emerges from a bunker-like garage and angles onto the Heliport.

Upon boarding the commandeered whirlybird, the couple lifts off, banks, and flees.