Defection Games (Dan Gordon Intelligence Thriller) (32 page)

“We can’t go to court just now,” said Benny, “the whole case is super confidential at this time.”

“I thought of that as well,” I said. “According to Kenny, he can ask for a seal and a gag order, to protect the integrity of a fraud recovery or similar investigation.
 
We can move quietly in the BVI Court, by filing
ex parte -
without the other party present, just
we
and the Judge. However, all ex parte orders in the
 
BVI
 
require the Applicant to make full disclosure of all
material facts.  This requires a very full, detailed, and objectively supported Application. And therefore we may have a serious problem.”

“Still, nice job, Dan, but I don’t think the Israeli government would allow that, and, frankly, I don’t think that the U.S. government would go for it, either.”
     “Then there’s the ultimate solution,” I said smiling, anticipating the obvious. I enjoyed toying with Benny, for once, after being subjected to his little games throughout our decades of friendship. “There are no alternative ways to obtain the disclosure of documents which show who actually stands behind a
 
BVI
 
company available to a private person, except for foreign government financial intelligence units. They can issue requests to the
 
BVI
 
Financial Services Commission for the same data. Any such request is heavily guarded and protected.”

Benny looked at Paul and Eric. “Can FinCen do it?” He was referring to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network established by the U
.
S
.
Department of the Treasury to provide a government-wide multisource financial intelligence and analysis network.

“Sure,” said Paul, “will do
.”

“And now, to the main news,” I said. “According to Ali Akbar Kamrani, General Cyrus Madani, the real one, is being held
captive in Dubai by Shestakov.” I expected the sky to fall, but it did not. “If he’s right, then the person you are holding, Madani Number 3, is a fake.”

Eric took the initiative. “We already know that Number 3 is
fake
. It took us one day to discover that. He’s in a federal prison now.”

“On what charges?”

“Multiple, for example, making false statement to a federal agency about a matter within the agency’s jurisdiction. Let me have all the information you have regarding Madani in Dubai.”

XXII

September 2007 – Washington, D.C.

Two months went by. I was busy reducing my caseload, looking forward to spending a vacation with my children, when I was called to a meeting in Washington
,
D
.
C
.
with Benny, Paul, and Eric. I wondered if there was something to run my blood hot and to cool off my vacation plans.

“Dan, this meeting is intended to wrap things up. The Tango case is closed,” said Eric. “Madani was pulled out of Dubai, he is here, he is the real thing, and he is talking. And,
”
he added,
probably anticipating my usual skepticism, “he is not a dispatched agent.”

“How did he get to the U.S
.
?” I asked. I’d heard nothing since I’d given Eric the address in Dubai that might have been where Shestakov was holding Madani. 

Paul answered, “A team of NAVY seals raided the villa. He was flown to the USS
John C.
Stennis of the 5
th
Fleet. In South Africa he boarded a U.S. military plane to Washington
,
D.C. The Iranians have no clue where he is, but they are uncharacteristically keeping quiet about it.”

Benny said in a philosophical tone, “You probably remember the biblical story of Saul, who went looking for lost donkeys and found himself becoming a king?”

“Yes?” I said
,
waiting for the punch line. “Explain the connection.”

“Well,” said Benny, “you went searching for the security breach and found the real Madani.”
             

“Does that make me king
?
...
” I asked ironically.

“No, just our hero for the day.”

That was good enough for me.

“Dan,” said Paul, as if he’d just remembered, after listening to Benny, “I also want to thank you.”

“Oh, it was my duty,” I said in an atypical modesty.

Paul smiled, “Let me finish. There were plenty of things you did right – and a few that you did wrong, but the second most important achievement was retrieving the fake credit card, while the first was of course discovering where Madani was held.”

I’d almost forgotten about the credit card.

“Was it valuable?”

“Definitely. You assumed, correctly, that the card’s supposed account number was a key --
parameter that determines the functional output of a cryptographic cypher. Without it, the cypher cannot be broken. Here it seems that the Iranian mathematicians used the numbers they imprinted on the fake card
. They
built in a formula as an encryption key. However
,
they made two mistakes, one
,
by hiding it in a credit card with a combination of numbers that do not exist in a genuine card. They should have known better. Second, by not generating a truly
 
random sequence of numbers, but
by
following the credit company’s formula – and then they mis-did it….
”

“It took NSA’s cryptology experts just a few hours to run the number crunchers, breaking the code, and use the key to decrypt crucial communications between Tehran and its agents throughout the Middle East and Europe. It took Ali Akbar Kamrani a full day to report to Tehran that the card had been taken, and they immediately changed the key. But since NASA already had on its computers thousands of encrypted messages that could not be broken without the key, now they were able to crack these messages and the intelligence fruits derived were abundant, and …juicy.” He smiled.

I knew I couldn’t ask what they were. But the pat on the back was pleasant. Eric, on the hand, just smiled – a rare occasion, and said, “So much for the Stimson dictum…
.
”

We all laughed.  In 1929, during the administration of President Herbert
Hoover,
Secretary of State Henry Stimson had
closed down the State Department’s cryptanalytic office.
 
“Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail,” he reasoned.

“What about the BVI account?” I asked. It all sounded like ancient history now.

“There was no need to go to a BVI court,” said Benny. “Once we broke the cypher with the key you brought, we had all the information. The account’s ultimate beneficiary was a high-
ranking Iranian politician who benefited from each sale of equipment to Iran. Ali Akbar wanted Madani to give him a portion of the commissions Madani was earning from Shestakov. Madani refused. Therefore, Ali Akbar tried to blackmail Madani by threatening to tell the Iranians about the commissions Madani was receiving from Shestakov. So, as a precautionary countermeasure, Madani decided to defect. He had to choose between us
and
Shestakov
, before he was arrested by VEVAK. He chose Shestakov, and with the help of Shestakov’s men, he was smuggled out of his house arrest.”

“How could they do it?” I asked.

“Remember that Shestakov was highly esteemed by the Iranian regime because he was such an important figure supplying them with nuclear reactor components. Therefore, his men could roam in Tehran without any problem. I’m sure they found a hole in the security detail that was watching Madani and hoisted him out to Dubai.” He paused.

“I’m listening,” I said, “please continue.” In fact I was extremely eager.

“We think that Madani escaped from his house arrest very close to the time of your arrival, which he wanted to avoid, due to his earlier agreement to side with Shestakov. However, VEVAK
knew you were coming. Madani told us that he confided to Shestakov that we were about to extricate him from Iran, but that he – Madani – preferred to go with Shestakov, who promised him a European passport and asylum. By that time, Madani had amassed a fortune from commissions paid to him by Shestakov, and therefore giving up the $3 million we promised was not that difficult.”

“How did VEVAK know I was coming?”

“First, they control all airline traffic in Iran in and out. Second, Shestakov tipped them off, hoping that they would take care of you.”

“The son of a bitch,” I said, thinking of Madani. Well, at the last moment I also added Shestakov…
.

“Anyway, where are Shestakov and Chennault?”

“We know that Shestakov managed to flee Dubai. He was not in the villa during the raid. We think he might be hiding in Russia. We’ve asked for the Russians’ help. However, the list of countries that want “to talk” to him is rather long, and I’m not sure we are anywhere near the top. We do have Christian Chennault, though. He’s a small fish and we’ll soon release him to whomever wants him enough to extradite him. We are consulting with I
nterpol
.”

I poured myself some water from a bottle that was on the table. But the taste was stale. There was also a bowl of apples. Benny took one, and bit into it.

Eric continued, “VEVAK therefore had a problem. The real Madani had disappeared and you were coming to meet him. The plan was to arrest you both and try you as spies. Without the real Madani, however, they turned the problem into an opportunity to fool us again. They located a former major in the Revolutionary Guards who has some physical resemblance to Madani and placed him in the high-rise apartment in Teheran to pose as Madani, to make you escort him out of Iran.”

“Ahaa,” I said, “Now things fall into place. Do you know if Hammed, the Kurdish Mossad contact that I met in Damascus, was
bona fide
?”

“We don’t know, but assume he was,” answered Eric.

“He connected me with his cousin Khader in Tehran, and Khader was holding the fake Madani that I escorted out of Iran,” I was still unsure of who was good and who was bad in the scenario I’d just heard. “Where is Khader?

“The Khader you met in Tehran was fake,” said Benny.

“And where is the real Khader?”

“Sad,” said Benny. “VEVAK apprehended him and we don’t know what happened to him, or whether he’s even still alive. He was an important link threatening the success of the VEVAK ploy operation. He knew you were coming and he knew Madani, therefore, he had to be removed from the scene one way or another. Instead, VEVAK placed one of their men, called him Khader, and instructed him on how to treat you.

“That’s why they moved me to the apartment,” I said.

“Right, because VEVAK didn’t know what arrangements we had made for you at the hotel.”

“And they were angry when I returned to the hotel once without their permission,” I said.

“Exactly. You’d never met Madani before, you only had his photos. The Mossad combatants who were in contact with Madani had left Iran immediately after he disappeared, fearing that a mega search by VEVAK for Madani could uncover them. Therefore, it was easy to introduce the new face of the fake Madani.”

“That explains also the bizarre incident on the train when he disappeared.”

“Right,” said Paul, “While you were asleep, he went to report to a VEVAK agent on the train.” There was a tad of
criticism in his tone. I chose to ignore it. The final successful result is what should count.
“You’re wrong,”
said my inner little devil, but I ignored him too.

“And even stranger was what happened after he was taken off the train, and then released on $100 bail. Was that part of the charade?” I asked.

“Of course,” said Benny. “Madani had to be inspected by the police to increase his
bona fide
appearance, and taken off the train for some reason. But the stupid cop at the police station didn’t realize that the one million Rials that he asked as bail – to him a huge amount – would translate to a mere $100, and so that backfired, because it made you suspicious. He should have asked for an amount a thousand times bigger to force you to seek help and enable them to follow your steps to more of our operatives.”

“What about the Iranian politician who was bribed as well?” I asked, sensing it’d soon be a new case for us.

“We are working on it,” said Benny with his signature sly fox smile. 

“Anyway,” said Paul, “Good job, Dan, the Iranians are still in the dark regarding the whereabouts of Madani.”

“You said that before, but how come? Didn’t the Dubai intelligence services help them discover what happened?” I asked.

“They tried, but got nowhere, because even they are in the dark,” Benny chuckled. “The Dubai border control records cannot show whether Madani is still in Dubai. When Dubai offered that explanation to the Iranians, it created friction with Iran, which questioned whether Dubai was hiding Madani, or, worse, selling Iran out to the U.S. for some unknown benefit.”