chapter thirteen clarity hid in the back of the recreational vehicle with montana , and a few minutes later , habib and charles took the wheel and passenger seats , driving the half truck to the parking lot of lhotel bahrain , a luxury boutique hotel , promising an intimate retreat from the urban setting in the prominent kingdom of bahrain , an archipelago of thirty three islands in the arabian gulf established between saudi arabia and qatar , boasting the oldest legal system in the gulf , a stable political system and a constitutional monarchy for the regions increasingly global elite .