A Hologram for the King Page #4

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- and we'll take look at the results, okay?

- Sunday?

- Our weekends are Friday and Saturday.

- Oh, right. Right, right.

- Will you be here on Sunday?

- Yes.

- I'll see you then, Mr. Clay.

- Thank you.

A woman doctor, huh?

- Where was she from?

- I don't know.

- But she was Saudi?

- Yeah, I think so, why?

We don't have

many women doctors,

so odds are against you running

into one at first opportunity.

- Was she veiled?

- Yeah, a hijab.

And you saw

her alone?

Interesting, interesting.

Hey, so what time

tomorrow?

Shut up.

Welcome

to the Hyatt Jeddah.

- This is Alan.

- Hey, it's Hanne.

- Good, how are you?

- I didn't ask you how you are.

- I guess I felt you should know.

- Okay.

- Are you already in bed?

- No, why?

- There's a party at the embassy tonight.

- At the Danish embassy?

Name, please.

Soren Kierkegaard.

City?

Copenhagen.

Vodka.

I'm looking

for Hanne.

Excuse me.

Hey, where

were you?

I don't know.

Where am I?

Let's make a mistake.

...higher, higher

Burning my desire

Baby, take me home

with you tonight...

Oh.

Okay.

You seem to have a plan.

I admire that.

- This is how much I excite you?

- I'm sorry. You're gorgeous.

But I can't help

but be distracted

by the fact that

I'm a little drunk...

- Mm-hmm.

- ...and I'm on the floor

of the Danish

ambassador's cloakroom

with a beautiful woman

I don't really know.

Mm. Ooh.

Would you take offense

if I tried something else?

I wouldn't

take offense, but I...

prefer if you didn't.

- So this is frustrating.

- Yeah.

What do you think we should

we do instead, then?

Would you like to hear

a really good joke?

- Hey, you like Elvis Presley?

- No! No!

What? Yes.

- Yes?

- Yes, just not now.

You know, your sleeping schedule

is beginning to worry me.

I had a really

weird night last night.

- Yeah? What...

- I can't talk about it.

- Why not?

- Because I promised not to.

Oh. Okay,

of course. Yeah.

Oof.

What has happened?

Hey, are you all right?

Yeah.

What happened

to the A/C?

It just

stopped working.

We've been asleep

about an hour, sorry.

Any chance of the king

showing up today?

No, he's

in Riyadh today.

All right, you know what?

I've had enough.

I'm gonna go up there

and come back with some answers

about the A/C

and the food and the Wi-Fi.

And at least some

semblance of a timeline.

Wow, Alan, where's all

this bluster coming from?

I don't know, Rachel.

But I promise to utilize it

to everyone's advantage.

Good morning.

Hello.

Hello, Maha. How are you?

Is Karim Al-Ahmad in today?

I'm afraid he's not.

And will he be in today?

- I don't think so, he's in New York.

- New York?

- What about Hanne?

- Hanne?

Danish girl,

works in payroll.

- I...

- I'll be all right. Thank you, Maha.

Excuse me.

Can I help you?

I'm looking for Hanne,

the Danish consultant.

I'm afraid she's in Riyadh today.

Can I help?

Alan Clay.

I'm with the Relyand Group.

Karim Al-Ahmad.

Karim...

Karim Al-Ahmad?

- You're not in New York?

- No, I'm not.

My apologies, Mr. Clay,

but I have to leave

for a meeting

and I'm already late.

Why don't you join me and we can

discuss a few things along the way?

Where to?

To that area of construction.

Where the condos are being built.

I'm meeting one

of the architects.

- Your receptionist said you were out today.

- I'm sorry, she's new.

- Were you here the last two days?

- No.

Nice.

- Would you like to drive?

- Oh, no.

Ah, please.

Be my guest.

I assure you, no other vendor

is more important to us

than the Relyand Group.

Well, that's very good to hear.

- But there are issues.

- Tell me.

We cannot set up

our presentation out there.

- Why not?

- Because we are in a tent.

I'm sorry, but that's the designated

presentation area.

- We need a hard line.

- I cannot do that.

We need very good

Wi-Fi at least.

I will have it fixed.

What else?

The air conditioning

doesn't work.

- My team is suffering.

- It will be addressed immediately. What else?

How do we eat?

We've been bringing food from the hotel.

After the weekend,

you will have catered meals every day.

Anything else?

How long will we be

waiting for the king?

Turn left here.

- Is it days? Weeks?

- I do not know. I don't know.

- Months?

- I hope not.

Wow.

I can see you must be driving

a sports car yourself in the US.

No, no, no.

It's an executive

privilege thing.

We used to have

private races down in Texas.

When you were

with Schwinn?

Yes.

I owned a Schwinn

bike as a kid.

- You did?

- Yeah.

I lived in New Jersey

for about five years.

And then later

in business school,

Schwinn was one

of our case studies.

Mm.

Interesting period.

This way.

Schwinns were made

in the US,

the Raleighs in England,

the Italian bikes, French...

For a time, you had real

international competition.

You were choosing between

very different products

with different heritages,

sensibilities, techniques.

- Well, that's gone now.

- What happened, in your view?

- I thought you studied our case.

- I did.

- Schwinn went to China.

- We did.

They could build our bikes a

lot cheaper and a lot faster

- and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

- But it wasn't?

Well, obviously not.

We taught them how to build

a good, solid bicycle.

They took that wisdom and started

making all the bikes themselves.

- Now they own the market.

- Because they can sell them for nothing.

But it's just a matter

of taking different stickers

and putting them

on the very same bikes.

It was built in the same factory

somewhere in Asia,

all the brands there are,

and now Schwinn is just one of them.

Do you ever feel you might

have done it differently?

- Me personally?

- You were on the board of Schwinn

when all that

happened, no?

Do you think there might have been

a way for the company to survive?

In America,

I mean.

It was complicated.

Hmm.

Do you know that some

of our people are already living here?

- Really?

- Yeah. You should take a look at one of the units.

Me? Why?

You'll be spending some time

implementing the IT plan, no?

Well, yeah.

If we get the job, yeah.

Excuse me.

Huh.

This is going

to take a few minutes.

Go ahead,

it's on the fifth floor.

The elevators

don't work just yet.

Take the stairs.

It's not a long way up.

Ring the doorbell at 501. There's a

man, Hassan, he'll show you everything.

I'll be with you shortly.

- Mr. Clay, I presume.

- Hassan?

Very good to meet you.

Come in.

Karim Al-Ahmad called me.

He apologizes, he had to leave.

He ditched me?

I don't know.

I was told to give you a ride.

Tea?

Or something

more compelling?

Would you have

a cold beer?

Of course.

- Oh, thank you.

- You're welcome.

So, you actually

live here?

No, this is the sales room.

I have a separate space upstairs.

Ah.

So, how's business?

Honestly, quite trying.

- Oh, that's too bad.

- We're not getting any firm commitments from anyone.

What about those restaurants you're

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