The Icarus Agenda

'Is he crazy"? All he needs is members of the Mossad in his house. It wouldn't do us much good if anyone found out, either.’

'How much did Manny tell you?'

'With his big mouth what didn't he tell me? He also called after you left the States with more information that Blue was able to use.'

'How, Blue?… Incidentally, do you have another name?'

'With respect, sir, not for an American. In consideration for us both.'

'All right, I accept that. What did Weingrass say that you could use, and how?'

The young man leaned over the table; all their heads were closer. 'He gave us the figure of fifty million—’

'A brilliant manipulation!' broke in Ben-Ami. 'And I don't believe for a minute that it was Manny's idea.'

'What…? Well, it could have been. Actually, the bank had no choice. Washington leaned hard on it. What about the fifty million?'

'South Yemen,' answered Blue.

'I don't understand.'

'Fifty million is a very large amount,' said the former leader of the Masada Brigade, 'but there are larger amounts, especially in the cumulative sense. Iran, Iraq, et cetera. So we must match the people with purses. Therefore, South Yemen. It is terrorist and poor, but its distant, almost inaccessible location, sandwiched between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, makes it strategically important to other terrorist organizations supported by far wealthier sources. They constantly seek out land, secret training grounds to develop their forces and spread their poison. The Baaka is constantly infiltrated, and no one cares to deal with Gaddafi. He's mad and can't be trusted and any week may be overthrown.'

'I should tell you,' interrupted Ben-Ami again, 'that Blue has emerged as one of our more knowledgeable experts on counter terrorism.'

'I'm beginning to see that. Go on, young man.'

'You are not so much older than me.'

Try twenty years, or close to it. Go ahead.'

'Your idea, as I understand it, is to have air shipments of munitions from Hamendi's suppliers all over Europe and America pass through Masqat, where supposedly corrupt officials close their eyes and let them fly on to Lebanon and the Baaka Valley. Correct?'

'Yes, and as each cargo plane comes in the damage is done by the sultan's guards posing as Palestinians, checking the supplies for which they've paid Hamendi while the crews are in quarantine. Each plane holds, say, sixty to seventy crates, which will be prised open by teams of ten men per plane and saturated with corroding acid. The process won't take more than fifteen to twenty minutes an aircraft; the timing's acceptable and we're in total control. The Masqat garrison will cordon off the area and no one but our people will be allowed inside.'

'Commendable,' said Blue, 'but I suggest that the process would also be too rushed and too risk-prone. Pilots object to leaving their planes in this part of the world, and the crews, by and large hoodlums with strong backs and no minds, will cause trouble when pushed around by strangers; they smell officialdom, believe me… Instead, why not persuade the most prominent leaders in the Baaka Valley to go to South Yemen with their veteran troops. Call it a new provisional movement financed by the enemies of Israel, of which there are quite a few around. Tell them there is an initial fifty million in arms and equipment for advanced training as well as for sending their assault forces up to Gaza and the Golan Heights—more to be supplied as needed. It will be irresistible to those maniacs… And instead of many air cargo shipments, one ship, loaded in Bahrain, rounding the Gulf here and proceeding south along the coast on its way to the port of Nishtun in South Yemen.'

'Where something will happen?' suggested Kendrick.

'I'd say in the waters west of Ra's al Hadd.'

'What happens?'

'Pirates,' answered Blue, a slight smile creasing his lips. 'Once in control of the ship, they would have two days at sea to accomplish what they must far more subtly and thoroughly than they would racing around an airport's cargo area, where, indeed, Hamendi might station his own people.'

A harried waiter arrived, whining his apologies and cursing the crowds. Ben-Ami ordered cardamom coffee as Kendrick studied the young Israeli counter terrorist. 'You say “once in control”,' said Evan, 'but suppose it doesn't happen? Suppose something goes wrong… say, our hijackers can't take the ship, or just one message is radioed back to Bahrain—only a word, “Pirates”. Then there's no control. The undamaged weapons get through and Hamendi walks away free, more millions in his pocket. We'd be risking too much for too little.'

'You risk far more at the airport in Masqat,' argued Blue, his whisper emphatic. 'You must listen to me. You came back here for only a few days a year and a half ago. You haven't lived here in years; you don't know what airports have become. They are zoos of corruption!… Who is bringing in what? Who has been bribed and how do I blackmail him? Why is there a change in procedure? Tell me, my Arab astiga, or my good Hebrew freund! They are zoos! Nothing escapes the eyes of the jackals looking for money, and money is paid for such information… Taking a ship at sea is the lesser risk with the greater benefit, believe me.'

'You're convincing.'

'He's right,' said Ben-Ami as their coffee arrived. 'Shukren,' said the Mossad control agent, thanking and paying the waiter as the man raced to another table. 'It must, of course, be your decision, Amal Bahrudi.'

'Where do we find these pirates?' asked Evan. 'If they can be found and if they are acceptable?'

'Being convinced of my projections,' replied Blue, his eyes rigid on Kendrick's face, which went in and out of the shadows created by the passing crowds, 'I broached the possibility of such an assignment to my former comrades in the Masada. I had more volunteers than I could count. As you loathed the Mahdi, we loathe Abdel Hamendi, who supplies the bullets that kill our people. I chose six men.'

'Only six?'

'This must not be solely an Israeli operation. I contacted six others I knew on the West Bank… Palestinians who are as sickened by the Hamendis of this world as I am. Together we will form a unit, but it is still not enough. We need six others.'

'From where?'

'From the host Arab country that willingly, knowingly breaks the back of Abdel Hamendi. Can your sultan provide them from his personal guards?'

'Most are his relatives, cousins, I think.'

'That helps.'

The illegal purchase of armaments on the international market is a relatively simple procedure, which accounts for the fact that relatively simple people from Washington to Beirut can master it. There are basically three prerequisites. The first is immediate access to undisclosed and undisclosable funds. The second is the name of an intermediary, usually supplied over lunch—not over the telephone—by any senior executive of an arms-producing company or a bribable member of an intelligence organization. This intermediary must be capable of reaching the primary middleman, who will put the package together and co-ordinate the processing of end-user certificates. This aspect in the United States simply means that export licences are granted for armaments on their way to friendly nations; they are rerouted en route. The third prerequisite should be the easiest but is usually the most difficult because of the extraordinary variety and complexity of the merchandise. It is the preparation of the list of weapons and auxiliary equipment desired for purchase. Apparently no five buyers can agree on the lethal capabilities and effectiveness of an arms inventory, and not a few lives have been lost during heated debates over these decisions, the buyers frequently given to outbursts of hysteria.

Which was why young code Blue's management talents were most welcome in terms of time and specificity. The Mossad's agents in the Baaka Valley forwarded a list of the currently most favoured merchandise, including the usual crates of repeating weapons, hand grenades, time-fused explosives, black PVC landing craft, long-range underwater tank and demolition accoutrements and assorted training and assault equipment, such as grappling hooks, heavy ropes and rope ladders, infrared binoculars, electronic mortars, flamethrowers and anti-aircraft rocket missiles. It was an impressive inventory that chewed up approximately eighteen million of the estimated twenty-six millions' worth one could buy from an arms merchant for fifty million American dollars—the fluctuating rates of exchange being always in favour of the merchant. Therefore, Blue added three small Chinese tanks under the technical umbrella of 'location defence' and the list was complete—not only complete but entirely believable.