Eight o'clock in the evening.
Baghdad Green Zone, in the top floor suite of a certain hotel, Song Heping stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, playing with an ancient Ottoman Empire silver coin in his hand.
The coin flipped through his fingers, it was something Yusuf had given to him.
Having a trinket to play with while thinking helps keep the mind agile.
The front of the coin had a combination of Arabic letters in a calligraphic pattern, meaning forever victorious Shah Ahmed (the Sultan at the time).
This was a relic of a vanished empire, particularly fitting on this land that has witnessed countless rises and falls of empires.
Outside the window, the Tigris River meandered through the night like a black ribbon, and the old city of Baghdad across the river had only scattered lights.
