He nodded. British Foreign Minister Lord Covington and the Israeli foreign minister had been overnight guests, and the others were due momentarily. The private dinner was a prelude to tomorrow’s signing of a peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a treaty that could be a huge step in bringing peace to the Middle East.

Delara replied, “The American ambassador and the U.S. secretary of state have entered the grounds. The helicopter of Prince Abdullah is in the air, with an ETA of eight minutes. The Egyptian foreign minister’s plane just landed at Edinburgh, and a helo is waiting for him. Twenty minutes.”

“Very well,” he said, and straightened the sleeves of his midnight black tux. “Ladies, shall we go down and greet the guests?”

“Not until you tell me about Kyle.” Lady Pat crossed her arms and stayed put.

“Well, I showed him all around the perimeter and described our security precautions. Where guards would be on duty in static positions and the routes of the roving patrols. The electronics. I told him that if a squirrel shat out there, we would know it.”

“Jeff! Watch your language. Children are present.”

“I apologize, Delara,” he said. She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I told him how all of the international teams were cooperating and how tight this net was going to be, and asked if he thought he could penetrate such a band of security and take out a target.”

“Obviously he would tell you that he could,” Lady Pat almost snorted. “Little bastard thinks he is Superman.”

“Worse. He said it would be easy. So we extended the protective perimeter to two miles in every direction. Not only did Kyle say that still would not be enough, but insisted that protecting this place was tactically impossible. Centuries ago, it made sense to put a castle on a hill so it could dominate the region. In the twenty-first century, he says it’s a security dinosaur.”