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Austrian Airlines 774, leaving at 3:40 A.M., arrived in Vienna nonstop at 6:00 A.M.;
Air France 165 left at 5:25 A.M., arrived at Charles de Gaulle at nine A.M.;
British Airways 102 left at six A.M., stopping en route, arriving at Heathrow at 12:45 P.M.;
Aeroflot 516 left at three A.M. for Moscow, arrived thereat 7:10.
Only one nonstop to Rome, no direct flights,to Athens, not even a nonstop to Beirut! He could have his people connect through Dubai–remarkably, Emirates Airlines did fly out of Tehran into its own international hub, as did Kuwait’s flag carrier, but they, he thought, were not a very good idea.
Just a handful of flights to use, all of them easily observed by foreign intelligence services—if they were competent, as he had to assume they were, either they’d have their own people aboard the flights or the cabin staff would be briefed on what to look for and how to report it while the aircraft was still in the air. So, it wasn’t just time, was it?
The people he’d selected were good ones; educated for the most part, they knew how to dress respectably, how to carry on a conversation, or at least to deflect one politely–on international flights the easiest thing was to feign the need for sleep, which most often wasn’t feigned anyway. But only one mistake, and the consequences could be serious. He’d told them that, and all had listened.
Badrayn had never been given a mission like this one, and the intellectual challenge was noteworthy. Just a handful of really usable flights out, and the one to Moscow wasn’t all that attractive. The gateway cities of London, Frankfurt, Paris, Vienna, and Amsterdam would have to do–and one flight each per day. The good news was that all five of them offered a wide choice of qonnec-tions via American and other flag carriers. So one group would take 601 to Frankfurt, and there, some would disperse through Brussels (Sabena to New York-JFK) and Paris (Air France to Washington-Dulles; Delta to Atlanta; American Airlines to Orlando; United to Chicago)
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via conveniently timed connecting flights, while others took Lufthansa to Los Angeles. The British Airways team had the most options of all. One would take Concorde Flight 3 into New York. The only trick was getting them through the first series of flights. After that, the whole massive system of international air travel would handle the dispersal.
Still, twenty people, twenty possible mistakes. Operational security was always a worry. He’d spent half his life trying to outfox the Israelis, and while his continued life was some testimony to his success–or lack of total failure, which was somewhat more honest–the hoops he’d had to leap through had nearly driven him mad more than once. Well. At least he had the flights figured out. Tomorrow he would brief them in. He checked his watch. Tomorrow wasn’t all that far away.
NOT EVERY INSIDER agreed. Every group had its cynics and rebels, some good, some bad, some not even outcasts. Then there was also anger. The Network members, when thwarted by other members in one of their endeavors, often took a philosophical view of the matter–one could always get even later, and still stay friends–but not always. This was especially true of the media members who both were and were not part of it all. They were, in the sense that they did have their own personal relationships and friendships with the government in and out people; they could go to them for information and insights, and stories about their enemies. They were not, in that the insiders never really trusted them, because the media could be used and fooled–most often cajoled, which was easier for one side of the political spectrum than the other. But trust? Not exactly. Or more exactly, not at all.
Some of them even had principles.
“Arnie, we need to talk.”
“I think we do,” van Damm agreed, recognizing the voice that had come in on his direct line.
“Tonight?”
“Sure. Where?”
“My place?”
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The chief of staff gave it a few seconds of consideration. “Why not?”
THE DELEGATION CAME just in time for evening prayers. The greetings were cordial and modest on both sides, and then all three of them entered the mosque and performed their daily ritual. Ordinarily, all would have felt purified by their devotions as they walked back out to the garden. But not this time. Only long practice in the concealment of emotions prevented overt displays of tension, but even that told much to all three, and especially to the one.
“Thank you for receiving us,” Prince Ali bin Sheik said first of all. He didn’t add that it had taken long enough.
“I am pleased to welcome you in peace,” Daryaei replied. “It is well that we should pray together.” He led them to a table prepared by his security people, where coffee was served, the strong, bitter brew favored in the Middle East. “The blessings of God on this meeting, my friends. How may I be of service?”
“We are here to discuss recent developments,” the Royal Prince observed after a sip. His eyes locked in on Daryaei. His Kuwaiti colleague, Mohammed Adman Sabah, his country’s foreign minister, remained quiet for the moment.
“What do you wish to know?” Daryaei asked.
“Your intentions,” Ali replied bluntly.
The spiritual head of the United Islamic Republic sighed. “There is much work to be done. All the years of war and suffering, all the lives lost to so many causes, the destruction to so much. Even this mosque”–he gestured to the obvious need for repairs –“is a symbol of it all, don’t you think?”
“There has been much cause for sorrow,” Ali agreed.
“My intentions? To restore. These unhappy people have been through so much. Such sacrifices–and for what? The secular ambitions of a godless man. The injustice of it all cried out to Allah, and Allah answered the cries. And now, perhaps, we can be one prosperous and godly people.” The again hung unspoken on the end of the statement.
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“That is the task of years,” the Kuwaiti observed.
“Certainly it is,” Daryaei agreed. “But now with the embargo lifted, we have sufficient resources to see to the task, and the will to see it done. There will be a new beginning here.”
“In peace,” Ali added.
“Certainly in peace,” Daryaei agreed serioasly.
“May we be of assistance? One of the Pillars of our Faith is charity, after all,” Foreign Minister Sabah observed.
A gracious nod. “Your kindness is noted with gratitude, Mohammed Adman. It is well that we should be guided by our Faith rather than worldly influences that have so sadly swept over this region in recent years, but for the moment, as you can see, the task is so vast that we can scarcely begin to determine what things need to be done, and in what order. Perhaps at a later time we might discuss that again.”
It wasn’t quite a flat rejection of aid, but close. The UIR wasn’t interested in doing business, just as Prince Ali had feared.
“At the next meeting of OPEC,” Ali offered, “we can discuss the rearrangement of production quotas so that you can share more fairly in the revenue we collect from our clients.”
“That would indeed be useful,” Daryaei agreed. “We do not ask for all that much. A minor adjustment,” he allowed.
“Then on that we are agreed?” Sabah asked.
“Certainly. That is a technical issue which we can delegate to our respective functionaries.”
Both visitors nodded, noting to themselves that the allocation of oil production quotas was the most rancorous of issues. If every country produced too much, then the world price would fall, and all would suffer. On the other hand, if production were overly restricted, the price would rise, damaging the economies of their client states, which would then reduce demand and revenues with it. The proper balance–hard to strike, like all economic issues– was the yearly subject of high-level diplomatic missions, each with its own economic model, no two ever the same,
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and considerable discord within the mainly Muslim association. This was going far too easily.
“Is there a message you wish to convey to our governments?” Sabah asked next.
“We desire only peace, peace so that we can accomplish our tasks of restoring our societies into one, as Allah intends it to be. There is nothing for you to fear from us.”
“SO WHAT DO you think?” Another training rotation was completed. Present at the final review of operations were some very senior Israeli officers, at least one of whom was a senior spook. Colonel Sean Magruder was a cavalryman, but in a real sense every senior officer was an intelligence consumer, and willing to shop at any source.
“I think the Saudis are very nervous, along with all their neighbors.”
“And you?” Magruder asked. He’d unconsciously adopted the informal and direct mode of address common in the country, especially its military.