"Дон Пендлтон. The Libya Connection ("Палач" #48) " - читать интересную книгу автора

Shahkhia, could step from the Khadaffi shadow and claim the ruling power of
Libya as his own. It was his destiny, he would tell himself. His fate. He
deserved no less. And now... yes, now the time had come. Shahkhia's visions
of a lifetime were about to become reality.
Ahmad Shahkhia knew that he would not make the same mistakes as
Khaddafi.
While in Moammar's shadow, Ahmad had observed and studied very closely,
and he felt that he had learned his lessons well.
He had even been with Khaddafi when the two men attended Britain's
Sandhurst military college together, the only time in his life when Ahmad
had ever been away from his beloved desert. The young men had walked about
London in their traditional Bedouin robes, causing all manner of sensation
at a time when such an act was considered an Arab defiance of the West. And,
indeed, it was exactly that!
Ahmad Shahkhia and Moammar Khaddafi had been lowly captains together in
the Libyan army when Khaddafi commanded his efficient bloodless military
coup against Libya's Western-backed monarch, King Idris, while the
eighty-year-old monarch was out of the country in 1969.
The country belonged to Moammar then.
Khaddafi became, now and forever, Brother Colonel, the all powerful
leader of his people; the invincible agent of Allah's will on earth.
And jealousy ate at Ahmad's guts like a spreading cancer.
Precious oil beneath the Sahara sand became the key to a power far
greater than anything imagined by either Shahkhia or Khaddafi.
The Soviet Union needed oil for survival as much as the West did. And
Moscow was willing to offer far more than the petrodollars of the
capitalists.
Russia rapidly became Libya's principal arms supplier.
Oil deals with the USSR had allowed Khaddafi's military to acquire more
than $10 billion worth of highly sophisticated Soviet weaponry.
But always, with the weapons... came conditions.
Khaddafi - and Shahkhia - knew that Libya was expected by the Kremlin
to supply the fist behind Soviet expansion in Africa.
Still, such a role could only lead to more power.
Khaddafi was happy to oblige.
Colonel Ahmad Shahkhia shared in the power. But always - always! -
awaiting his chance to step out from Khaddafi's shadow.
Ahmad was careful to mask his ambition. He bided his time.
Two months ago, his waiting paid off.
He had been discreetly approached by General Pornov, of the Russian
Embassy in Tripoli.
For some time now, it was explained by General Pornov, Brother Colonel
Khaddafi had become increasingly too "ambitious." For ambitious, read crazy.
Pornov had not elaborated, but implied that the Kremlin was far from
pleased. It was past time for a change. They were scouting for someone new
to take Khaddafi's place, fast. Someone who would be more... appreciative,
more stable.
Someone like Colonel Shahkhia.
A deal was struck. Ahmad would plan and lead a coup to overthrow
Khaddafi.