On the way to the hotel, Robert tried reaching Chloe a couple of more times, but was unsuccessful.

Mehmet was waiting for him at the hotel’s reception desk. He nodded at Robert and said to follow him.

The sheikh's suite was huge with several spacious rooms in the elegant Edwardian style with a view of the Thames. In the distance, on the south bank, Robert could see the flickering lights of the 135-meter London Eye, one of the London’s main attractions.

The sheikh came up to Robert, greeted him and asked him to sit at a small table.

“People, Mr. Blanche, always desire to see more than they can,” he began in Arabic, pointing at the Ferris wheel. “But what they want most is to enjoy what they see. Isn’t that so? What do you think?”

“That is human nature, and there is nothing you can do about it. The desire to enjoy is the driver of progress, to some extent.”

“Robert… May I call you that? I call all my friends by their given name.”

“Of course, I’m humbled that you are calling me your friend.”

“You speak Arabic well. Not many Europeans speak Arabic as fluently as you do. These days, everybody wishes to speak only English.” The sheikh paused and then asked, “Would you like tea or coffee?”

“Thank you. Well, we are in England, so tea, only tea.” Robert smiled.

The sheikh poured tea into two porcelain cups and handed one to Robert.

“Did you know, Robert, that nearly three hundred million people speak Arabic,” the sheikh continued proudly. “That’s the size of the population of the United States. By the way, Arabic is one of the oldest languages in the world. And it is the language of the Holy Quran. Did you study it somewhere?”

“No, Your Highness. I had a very good teacher. We studied different languages every night, including Arabic. Ever since I was a child.”

“Well, let’s switch to English. After all, as you rightly said, we are in England and we are drinking English tea. So, it would be unfair not to use this opportunity and practice a bit, maybe improve my English,” offered the sheikh and continued in English. “What about African languages? Your teacher must have been a polyglot.”

“Bambara, that’s different,” Robert answered. “There is a story there, which, by the way, is related to the diamonds from Guinea and Sierra Leone."

“Well, I hope you will share this exciting story with me one day, but now I would like to ask you, Robert: when did you suspect or guess that they were scammers? My aide, the former chief of security, is a very experienced and cautious man, yet he was caught with his pants down, as they say.” He stressed ‘former’.

“It wasn’t just a guess. I don’t know much about gemology, but I do have pretty extensive experience in law and I do not rely on chance. The first time I had a suspicion was when Mr. Zimme suddenly had a heart attack. We had dinner at a restaurant the night before and he looked very healthy. Then, when we were in the conference room, I got a call from my law firm’s security service, which said that the heart attack was caused by some strong toxin. Comparing these facts, I realized that the gemologist was the weakest link. And the fact that he was introduced to us as a Guinean and my modest knowledge of Bambara – those are pure coincidences." Robert smiled and placed his cup on the table.

“I do not believe in coincidences; everything happens at the will of Allah. The bad and the good. You saved me a lot of money, Robert, and you helped preserved my authority. That is more important than the money. So, how can I thank you?”

“You’ve already done that, Your Highness. You have generously paid for the work of my firm as agreed, even though the deal was a bust.”