‘You heard the words, Congressman. Do you want me to repeat them?’
‘It’s not necessary. They’re not kalam-faregh, are they?’
‘No, Mr. Kendrick. none of it’s garbage. It’s all very pertinent and I wish to hell I knew what to do.’
‘Recruit me, Mr. Swann,’ said the congressman. ‘Send me to Masqat on the fastest transport you can find.’
‘Why?’ asked the deputy, studying his visitor. ‘What can you do that our own experienced men in the field can’t? They not only speak fluent Arabic, most of them are Arabs.’
‘And working for Consular Operations,’ completed Kendrick.
‘So?’
‘They’re marked. They were marked five years ago and they’re marked now. If they make any miswired moves, you could have a dozen executions on your hands.’
That’s an alarming statement,’ said Swann slowly, his eyes narrowing as he looked at his visitor’s face. ‘They’re marked? Would you care to explain it?’
‘I told you a few minutes ago that your Cons Op briefly became a household name over there. You made a gratuitous remark about my elaborating on congressional rumours, but I wasn’t. I meant what I said.’
‘A household name?’
‘I’ll go further, if you like. A household joke. An ex-army engineer and Manny Weingrass even did a number on them.’
‘A number…?’
‘I’m sure it’s in your files somewhere. We were approached by Hussein’s people to submit plans for a new airfield after we’d completed one at Qufar in Saudi Arabia. The next day two of your men came to see us, asking technical questions, pressing the point that as Americans it was our duty to relay such information since Hussein frequently conferred with the Soviets—which, of course, was immaterial. An airport’s an airport, and any damn fool can fly over an excavation site and determine the configuration.’
‘What was the number?’
‘Manny and the engineer told them that the two main runways were seven miles long, obviously designed for very special flying equipment. They ran out of the office as if both were struck by acute diarrhea.’
‘And?’ Swann leaned forward.
‘The next day, Hussein’s people called and told us to forget the project. We’d had visitors from Consular Operations. They didn’t like that.’
The deputy director leaned back in his chair, his weary smile conveying futility. ‘Sometimes it’s all kind of foolish, isn’t it?’
‘I don’t think it’s foolish now,’ offered Kendrick.
‘No, of course it isn’t.’ Swann instantly sat forward in his chair. ‘So the way you read it, this whole goddamned thing is all about money. Lousy money!’
‘If it isn’t stopped, it’ll get worse,’ said Kendrick. ‘Much worse.’
‘Jesus, how?
‘Because it’s a proven formula for economic takeover. Once they’ve crippled the government in Oman, they’ll use the same tactics elsewhere. The Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, even the Saudis. Whoever controls the fanatics gets the contracts, and with all those massive operations under one entity—regardless of the names they use—there’s a dangerous political force in the area calling a lot of vital shots we definitely won’t like.’
‘Good Lord, you have thought this out.’
‘I’ve done nothing else for the past eight hours.’
‘Say I sent you over there, what could you do?’
‘I won’t know until I’m there, but I’ve got a few ideas. I know a number of influential men, powerful Omanis who know what goes on there and who couldn’t possibly be any part of this insanity. For various reasons—probably the same mistrust we felt whenever your Cons Op flunkies showed up—they might not talk to strangers but they will talk to me. They trust me. I’ve spent days, weekends, with their families. I know their unveiled wives and their children—’
‘Unveiled wives and children,’ repeated Swann, interrupting. ‘The ultimate shorbet in the Arab vocabulary. The broth of friendship.’
‘A harmonious mixture of ingredients,’ agreed the congressman from Colorado. ‘They’ll work with me, perhaps not with you. Also, I’m familiar with most of the suppliers on the docks and in the lading offices, even people who avoid anything official because they make money out of what you can’t get officially. I want to trace the money and the instructions that come with the money and end up inside the embassy. Someone somewhere is sending both.’
‘Suppliers?’ asked Swann, his eyebrows arched, his voice incredulous. ‘You mean like food and medical supplies, that kind of thing?’
‘That’s only—’
‘Are you crazy?’ exclaimed the deputy director. ‘Those hostages are our people!. We’ve opened the vaults, anything they need, anything we can get to them!’
‘Like bullets and weapons and spare parts for weapons?’
‘Of course not!’
‘From all the accounts I read, what I could get my hands on at the newsstands in Flagstaff and Phoenix, every night after el Maghreb there’s four or five hours of fireworks—thousands of rounds shot off, whole sections of the embassy sprayed with rifle and machine-gun fire.’
‘It’s part of their goddamned terror!’ exploded Swann. ‘Can you imagine what it’s like inside? Lined up against a wall under floodlights and all around you everything’s being blasted with bullets, thinking, “Jesus, I’m going to be killed any second!” If we ever get those poor souls out, they’ll be on couches for years trying to get rid of the nightmares!’
Kendrick let the emotion of the moment pass. ‘Those hotheads don’t have an arsenal in there, Mr. Swann. I don’t think the people running them would allow it. They’re supplied. Just as the mimeograph machines are supplied because they don’t know how to operate your copiers and word processors for the daily bulletins they print for the television cameras. Please try to understand. Maybe one in twenty of those crazies has a minimum intellect, much less a thought-out ideological position. They’re the manipulated dregs of humanity given their own hysterical moments in the sun. Maybe it’s our fault, I don’t know, but I do know they’re being programmed, and you know it, too. And behind that programming is a man who wants all of Southwest Asia to himself.’
‘This Mahdi?’
‘Whoever he is, yes.’
‘You think you can find him?’
‘I’ll need help. Getting out of the airport, Arab clothes; I’ll make a list.’
The deputy director again leaned back in his chair, his fingers touching his chin. ‘Why, Congressman? Why do you want to do this? Why does Evan Kendrick, multi-millionaire-entrepreneur want to put his very rich life on the line? There’s nothing left for you over there. Why?’
‘I suppose the simplest and most honest answer is that I might be able to help. As you’ve pointed out, I made a lot of money over there. Maybe this is the time to give a little of myself back.’
‘If it was just money or “a little” of yourself, I’d have no trouble with that,’ said Swann. ‘But if I let you go, you’ll be walking into a minefield and no training on how to survive. Has that thought struck you, Congressman? It should have.’
‘I don’t intend to storm the embassy,’ answered Evan Kendrick.
‘You might not have to. Just ask the wrong person the wrong question and the results could be the same.’
‘I could also be in a cab at Twenty-third Street and Virginia Avenue at noontime today and be in an accident.’
‘I presume that means you were.’
‘The point is I wasn’t driving. I was in a taxi. I’m careful, Mr. Swann, and in Masqat, I know my way around the traffic, which isn’t as unpredictable as Washington’s.’
‘Were you ever in military service?’
‘No.’
‘You were the right age for Vietnam, I’d guess. Any explanation?’
‘I had a graduate school deferment. It kept me out.’
‘Have you ever handled a gun?’
I’ve had limited experience.’
‘Which means you know where the trigger is and which end to point.’
‘I said limited, not imbecilic. During the early days in the Emirates, we kept ourselves armed at our construction sites. Sometimes later also.’
‘Ever had to fire one?’ pressed the deputy director.
‘Certainly,’ replied Kendrick, his voice calm, not rising to the bait. ‘So I could learn where the trigger was and which end to point.’
‘Very funny, but what I meant was did you ever have to fire a gun at another human being?’
‘Is this necessary?’
‘Yes, it is. I have to make a judgment.’
‘All right then; yes, I did.’
‘When was that?’
‘When were they,’ corrected the congressman. ‘Among my partners and our American crew was a geologist, an equipment-logistics man, and several refugees from the Army Corps of Engineers—foreman types. We made frequent trips to potential sites for soil and shale testings and to set up fenced compounds for machinery. We drove a camper, and on several occasions we were attacked by bandits—wandering nomad gangs looking for strays. They’ve been a problem for years, and the authorities warn everyone heading into the interior to protect themselves. Not much different from any large city over here. I used a gun then.’
‘To frighten or to kill, Mr. Kendrick?’
‘By and large to frighten, Mr. Swann. However, there were times when we had to kill. They wanted to kill us. We reported all such incidents to the authorities.’