Chapter Fifty-Three
Yosir’s only contact with the outside world was through phone calls from Zubair, to whom he reported on the current situation, but only occasionally in the presence of Juma, who did not really like to get too close to the satellite phone, remembering what had happened to Dudaev in Chechnya, and so more often the report was given in the presence of one of Juma’s aides, usually his nephew Ilkhom, who always tried to correct Yosir as he was speaking on the phone. But on the rare occasions when Juma was sitting beside him, after his report Yosir always told Zubair that the commander was there and handed the phone to Juma so that he could he could exchange hasty pleasantries with Zubair in his unnatural, sugary voice.
Even though Zubair was now the head of the Devan, or po
