‘You mean, he said he was,’ Sachs replied laconically.
‘His history was that he was a small businessman, not a radicalized fundamentalist.’ She added to Spiro, ‘In answer to your question, yes, we vetted him.’
Ercole Benelli had returned from the evidence room and Rossi had briefed him on the latest developments. The young officer now said, ‘Mamma mia! This is true?’
Spiro was speaking. ‘Allora. A US government asset — Ibrahim/Hassan — in Libya recruits two terrorists, Ali Maziq and Malek Dadi, and sends them to Italy masquerading as asylum-seekers, to orchestrate bombings in Vienna and Milan. He’s got an operative on the ground here — this Gianni — who is providing explosives and helping them. The two men are in place and the weapons are ready. But then this Ibrahim/Hassan gives you information about the attacks, so you can put together an operation with your madman kidnapper to foil them. Why? I see no avenue in which this makes sense.’
McKenzie could only, it seemed, stare at the floor. Who knew what she was thinking?
Spiro extracted and sniffed his cheroot then replaced it in his pocket, as if the accessory distracted him.
Rhyme said to Spiro, ‘Something you mentioned. A moment ago.’
‘What was that?’
‘“Masquerading as asylum-seekers.”’
‘Sì.’
Rhyme to McKenzie: ‘You reported to Washington who the terrorists were, how they’d gotten into Italy — pretending to be refugees.’
‘Of course.’
‘And the CIA would contact the Italian security services about it?’
She hesitated. ‘After our operation was over, yes.’
Rossi said, ‘But I don’t see the implication that seems significant to you, Captain Rhyme.’
Spiro was nodding. ‘Ah, but I do, Massimo.’ He looked toward Rhyme and added, ‘The conference that’s going on in Rome now. About the immigrants.’
‘Exactly.’
Rossi was nodding. ‘Yes. A number of countries are attending.’
Rhyme said, ‘I read about it on the flight over. The New York Times. Can we find the article?’
Ercole sat down at a computer and called up the online version of the paper. He found the story. Those in the room clustered around the screen.
ROME — An emergency conference on the flood of refugees from the Middle East and northern Africa is under way here, with representatives of more than 20 countries present.
Humanitarian issues top the agenda, with sessions detailing the plight of the asylum-seekers, who risk death on the high seas and mistreatment at the hands of human smugglers who abandon, rob and rape those desperate to escape from war zones, poverty, drought, religious extremism and political oppression.
The crisis has reached such proportions that countries that up until now have resisted taking any significant number of asylum-seekers are considering doing so. Japan and Canada, for instance, are entertaining measures to increase the quota for refugees considerably, and the United States — traditionally resistant to the idea — has a controversial bill before Congress that will authorize the immediate intake of 100 times the number of refugees now allowed into the country. Italy’s parliament too is considering measures relaxing deportation laws and making it easier for refugees to attain asylum. Right-wing movements in Italy, and elsewhere, have vocally — and sometimes violently — opposed such measures.
‘Ah, Capitano Rhyme,’ Rossi said, his face twisted into a troubled smile, ‘this makes sense: Ibrahim and Gianni are not terrorists at all but soldiers of fortune.’
Rhyme said, ‘They were hired by someone on the political right, here in Italy, to recruit asylum-seekers to carry out terrorist attacks. Not for any ideological reasons but just to make the case that refugees pose a threat. It’d be used as ammunition by opponents of the new measure that your parliament’s considering, about relaxing deportation.’ A chill laugh. ‘Seems you got played, Charlotte.’
She said nothing but gazed at the article with a stunned expression.
‘Cristo,’ whispered Ercole.
‘We thought it was curious,’ Charlotte McKenzie said, ‘Ali Maziq and Malek Dadi were the actors. Neither of them was radicalized. They had moderate, secular histories.’
Rossi offered, ‘They were coerced, forced to go on their missions.’
Amelia Sachs was grimacing. ‘You know, I was thinking when we heard the story about the planned attack in Vienna — the consulate general mentioned a half kilo of C4. Dangerous, yes. It could cause fatalities, but not a massive explosion.’
Rhyme added, looking at McKenzie, ‘In Milan too. Didn’t you say, in the warehouse, it was just a half kilo?’
Dismay on her face, McKenzie said, ‘Yes, yes. Of course! Whoever hired Ibrahim and Gianni didn’t need to kill a lot of people. It was just to show that terrorists could be hidden among the refugees. And that would scare parliament in Rome into rejecting the proposal.’
‘So who is the mastermind? Behind the plan?’
Spiro looked at Rossi and shrugged briefly. Rossi said, ‘There are many who would oppose making immigration easier or deportation harder. The Lega Nord Party, of course, which opposes our being in the EU and accepting refugees. There are others as well. But for the most part those movements are regular political parties not given to violence or illegal activity like this.’
Spiro’s eyes gleamed coldly. ‘Ah, but there is also Nuovo Nazionalismo. The New Nationalism.’
Rossi nodded. He seemed troubled at the mention of the name.
The prosecutor continued, ‘The NN does advocate violence against immigrants. And the movement has boasted they have infiltrated governmental institutions. I wouldn’t be surprised if a senior NN official hired Ibrahim and Gianni to carry out this plan.’
Rhyme’s attention then slipped to Ercole Benelli, who was gazing at a blank wall, troubled.
‘Ercole?’
He turned back to the others. ‘There’s something that occurs to me. It might be nothing...’ He paused. ‘No, I think it is something. Most definitely it is something.’
‘Go on,’ Spiro said.
Ercole cleared his throat: ‘Your spy,’ he said to McKenzie. ‘Hassan, or Ibrahim, told you there were three plots, not two. Vienna, Milan and another one. Correct?’
‘Yes, here in Naples. But Khaled Jabril was thoroughly interrogated and he knew nothing of any attacks. That was the failure of intelligence I mentioned. It was a mistake.’
‘No, no,’ Rhyme whispered, understanding Ercole’s point.
The Forestry officer continued, speaking in an agitated voice, ‘But mistake is impossible. If Ibrahim reported three attacks, there had to be three attacks because he’d arranged all three of them himself!’
Wide-eyed, McKenzie said, ‘Yes, I see what you’re saying. But Khaled, he knew nothing. I’m sure. Our techniques work.’
Rhyme asked, ‘Did your asset actually give you the name “Khaled”?’
‘Yes, and that he was being held in the Capodichino Reception Center.’ She fell silent. ‘But, wait, no. Actually he didn’t. All he gave me was the family name. Jabril.’
Rhyme glanced toward Spiro, who said, ‘You kidnapped the wrong person, Signorina McKenzie. The terrorist is Khaled’s wife, Fatima.’