Honour Among Thieves (45 page)

Once
they were back in the courtyard, the Major dialled a number. Scott strolled
over to Kratz, who was standing behind the truck.

‘Did
you manage to switch the Declaration?’ were Kratz’s first words.

‘No,
I didn’t have time. It’s still on the wall of the Chamber.’

‘Damn.
And the copy?’

‘I
left it in the tube on the floor of the safe. I couldn’t risk bringing it out.’

‘So
how are you going to get back into the building?’ asked Kratz, looking towards
the Major. ‘You were meant to use the time...’

‘I
know. But it turns out he’s not the one who’ll be in charge of the safe. He’s
getting in touch with whoever it is I’ll have to instruct.’

‘Not
what we needed. I suspect that with the Major our first plan would have been a
lot easier,’ said Kratz. ‘I’d better brief the others so we can work on an
alternative if things go wrong again.’

Scott
nodded his agreement, and he and the Mossad leader strolled over to the truck
where Aziz and Cohen were sitting in the cab smoking. As the Colonel climbed
into the front, two cigarettes were quickly stubbed out. Kratz explained why
they were still waiting, and warned them that this could be the Professor’s
last chance to get back into the Council Chamber. ‘So when he comes out next
time,’ he explained, ‘we must be ready to go. With a little luck, we might
still make the border by midnight.’

How
could he possibly be alive? Hannah thought. Hadn’t she killed him? She had seen
his dead body carried out of the room. She tried to organise her thoughts,
which ranged from absolute joy to utter fear. She recalled her senior
instructor telling her, ‘When you’re in the front line, never be surprised by
anything.’ She felt she now had the right to contradict him, if she was ever
given the chance.

Hannah
pushed open the door and crept into the corridor, which was deserted except for
a pair of soldiers chatting by the entrance to the Chamber. She realised she
couldn’t hope to get past them without being questioned.

With
a pace to go, she was told to stop, and came to a halt between them. After they
had checked the cleaning box thoroughly, the one with two stripes on his arm
said, ‘You know it’s our duty to search you as well?’ Hannah made no comment
while he bent down, lifted her long black robe and placed his hands on her
ankles. The second one let out a raucous laugh as he put his fingers round the
front of her neck, and began moving his hands down over her shoulders and
across her breasts, while his colleague moved his hands up her legs and onto
her thighs. As the first soldier reached the top of her legs, his colleague
pinched her nipples. Hannah pushed them both away and stepped into the Chamber.
They made no attempt to follow, although their laughter increased in volume.

The
table had been returned to the centre of the room and the chairs casually
rearranged around it. She began by straightening the table before placing the
chairs at an equal distance from each other. She was still trying to take in
the fact that Simon was alive. But why would the CIA send him to Baghdad?
Unless... she stared up at the massive portrait of Saddam Hussein as she
straightened his chair at the head of the table. Then her eyes came to rest on
the document that was nailed next to his picture.

The
American Declaration of Independence was fixed to the wall in exactly the place
the Deputy Foreign Minister had claimed it was.

hand.
‘I am sorry to have kept you waiting. But don’t let me hold you up any longer.
Please show me your safe, which Major Saeed seems so impressed by.’

Without
another word the General turned and began walking towards the building, leaving
Scott with little choice but to follow. For the first time in his life, Scott
was terrified.

T
WO CARS SWEPT
UP TO the barrier and were ushered quickly through without the suggestion of a
check. Scott watched carefully as a large group of soldiers surrounded the
vehicles.

When
a tall, heavily-built man stepped out of the second car, Aziz said under his
breath, ‘General Hamil, the Barber of Baghdad. He carries a cut-throat razor on
his keyring.’

Kratz
nodded. ‘I know his complete life history,’ he said. ‘Even the name of the
young Lieutenant he’s currently living with.’

Major
Saeed was now standing to attention, saluting the General, and Scott didn’t
need to be told that this man was of a different rank and calibre to the one he
had been dealing with until then. He studied theiace of the man dressed in an
immaculate tailored uniform with several more rows of battle ribbons than the Major,
wearing black leather gloves and carrying a swagger stick. It was a cruel face.
The troops who stood around him were unable to disguise their fear.

The
Major pointed to Scott and said, ‘You, come.’

‘I’ve
got a feeling he means you,’ said Kratz.

Scott
nodded and strolled across to join them.

‘Mr
Bernstrom,’ the General said, removing the glove from his right hand, ‘I am
General Hamil.’ Scott shook his Hannah picked up a duster and some polish and
began to rub in small circles on the table while taking a more careful look at
the Declaration of Independence. The parchment was in such terrible condition
that she doubted if it could be repaired even if Simon were able to get it back
to Washington.

She
peered round the door into the short corridor, and spotted the safe she had
seen on the truck earlier that day. It was open, but was guarded by two more
thugs, chatting as much as the other two who were stationed at the door of the
Council Chamber.

Hannah
made her way slowly down the corridor, dusting and polishing the ledge of the
wooden skirting until she was opposite the safe and had a clear view inside.
She took a pace forward and peered in as if she had never seen anything like it
in her life before. One of the soldiers kicked her and she fell into the safe.
The inevitable raucous laughter followed. She was about to turn round and
retaliate when she saw the long cardboard cylinder in one corner, almost hidden
in the shadow. She leaned across and rolled it quickly towards her until it was
safely under her long skirt. She wondered if she could use it to get a message
to Simon. Hannah left her duster and polish on the floor of the safe, stepped
out backwards and bolted down the corridor, as if to escape the guards.

Once
she was back in the Chamber she removed another rag from the cleaning box and
began polishing the table until she was in a position where no one could see
her from either passageway. She then lowered herself slowly onto her knees
until she was below the table, and let the cardboard tube fall to the floor in
front of her. She quickly flicked off the cap, to find the cylinder wasn’t
empty. She pulled out the parchment, unrolled it and studied it in disbelief: a
magnificent copy of the Declaration of Independence, obviously made by a
craftsman, even if someone had tried to deface it. She realised immediately
that Simon must have been hoping to find some way of switching the copy for the
original.

Kratz
watched Scott follow General Hamil into the building, then walked slowly across
to the truck and climbed into the cab. He stared through the front window. No
one was taking any particular interest in what they were up to.

‘This
is too easy,’ he said. ‘Far too easy.’ Cohen and Aziz looked straight ahead,
but didn’t offer an opinion. ‘If Hamil is involved, they must suspect
something. The time has come for us to find out who knows what.’

‘What
do you have in mind, sir?’ asked Cohen.

‘I
have a feeling that our switchboard Major isn’t fully aware of what’s going on.
Either they haven’t briefed him, or they think he’s not up to the job.’

‘Or
both,’ suggested Aziz.

Kratz
nodded. ‘Or both. So let’s find out. Aziz, I want you and Cohen to take a
stroll down to the barrier. Tell the guards that you’re going for something to
eat, and that you’ll be back in a few minutes. If they refuse to let you
through, we’ve got a real problem, because that will mean they know what we’re
up to. In which case, come back to the cab and I’ll start working on what we
have to do next.’

‘And
if they let us through?’ asked Cohen.

‘Get
out of sight,’ said Kratz, ‘but keep in visual contact with the truck. That
shouldn’t be too hard, with these gawking crowds. If Professor Bradley comes
out with his cardboard tube and I rest my arm on the window ledge as I’m doing
now, get back here fast, because we won’t want to be hanging about. And by the
way, Cohen: if I’m not around for any reason, and the Professor should suggest
a detour to the Foreign Ministry, overrule him.’ Cohen nodded, without a clue
what the Colonel was talking about. ‘But if you spot that we’re in trouble,
keep well out of the way for one hour, and then pray that the whopper works.’

‘Understood,
sir,’ said Cohen.

‘Take
the keys with you,’ said Kratz. ‘Now get going.’

Kratz
stepped back down onto the tarmac, strolled over to where Major Saeed was
listening to one of his interminable phone calls, and placed himself a few feet
to his left as if wanting to attract his attention. At the same time he looked
over his shoulder to watch Aziz and Cohen walking towards the barrier.

Kratz
continued to try and attract the Major’s attention as Aziz came to a halt at
the barrier and started joking with one of the guards.

A
few moments later Kratz saw both of his men step under the barrier. Within
seconds they were lost in the crowd.

Major
Saeed came off the phone. ‘What is the problem this time?’ he asked. Kratz took
out a cigarette and asked the Major for a light.

‘Don’t
smoke,’ he said, and waved him away.

Kratz
walked slowly back to the cab and took his place behind the steering wheel, his
eyes never leaving the open doorway of the Ba’ath Party headquarters.

Hannah
stared at the Declaration hanging on the wall. It was only a few paces away
from her. She waited until she heard another roar of laughter from the soldiers
before walking over to the document and quickly trying to remove the nails.
Three came out with the minimum of effort, but the one at the top right-hand
corner refused to budge, and the Declaration continued to dangle from it. After
a few more seconds, she felt she was left with no choice but to ease the
document over the head of the nail. Once the parchment was in her hand she went
back to the table, placed the original on the floor and returned quickly to
attach the copy to the wall.

She
hardly glanced at her handiwork before she turned back to the table, knelt on
the ground, and rapidly rolled up the original, replacing it in the cylinder.
Once again she tucked it under her skirt. It had been the longest two minutes
of her life. She remained on her knees, trying to think. She knew she couldn’t
risk trying to get the tube out of the building, as the guards might decide to
‘search’ her again. There was no alternative. She walked quickly back down the
short corridor and was in the safe even before the two soldiers had stopped
talking. She let the cylinder fall to the floor, then pushed it back into the
darkest corner, exactly where she had first seen it. Then she picked up the
duster and polish she had left behind, stepped back out of the safe and showed
them to the soldiers, and ran back down the corridor towards the Chamber.

Hannah
knew she must get out of the building as quickly as possible, and somehow pass
a message to Simon.

And
then she heard the voices.

The
lift doors slid apart at the basement floor. The General stepped out into the
corridor and headed towards the Council Chamber.

‘And
just how large is this safe?’ he asked Scott.

‘Nine
feet in height, seven feet in width and eight feet in depth,’ responded Scott
immediately. *You could hold a private meeting in there if you wished to,
General.’

‘Is
that so?’ said Hamil, ‘But I am informed the safe can only be operated by one
person. Is that true?’

‘That
is correct, General. We followed the exact specifications your government
requested.’

‘I
am also told that the safe can withstand a nuclear attack. Is that the case?’

‘Yes,’
replied Scott. ‘The safe has a six-inch skin and would be unaffected by any
explosion other than a direct hit. In any other circumstances, everything in
the safe would be preserved, even if the building it was standing in was
completely demolished.’

‘Impressive,’
said the General as the guards sprang to attention and he touched the rim of
his beret with his swagger stick. He marched into the Chamber and Scott
followed, annoyed to find there was a woman polishing the table. He certainly
didn’t need her hanging around when he came back out. The General didn’t even
look at Hannah as he strode through the Chamber.

Scott
glanced across at the parchment before he followed the General out of the room.

‘Ah,’
Hannah heard the General say when he was still several yards from the end of
the corridor. ‘Pure statistics don’t do your safe justice, Mr Bernstrom.’ The
two soldiers remained rigidly at attention as the General studied the safe for
some time, before stepping inside. When he saw the cardboard tube on the floor
he bent down and picked it up.