Honour Among Thieves (43 page)

‘No
special treatment there, I’m glad to see,’ said Kratz.

Scott
nodded his agreement as Aziz eased the truck back into the road. The traffic
was much heavier now. Lorries and cars were honking their horns, managing to
move only a few inches at a time.

‘It
must be an accident,’ said Scott, until they turned the corner and saw the
three bodies hanging from a makeshift gallows: a man wearing an expensive
designer suit, a woman perhaps a little younger, and another much older woman.
It was hard to be certain, with their heads shaven.

Mr
Kajami sat at his desk, dialled the number that had been passed to him, and
waited.

‘Deputy
Foreign Minister’s Office, Miss Saib speaking.’

‘This
is the Minister of Industry calling. Could you put me through to the Deputy
Foreign Minister.’

‘I’m
afraid he’s out of the office at the moment, Mr Kajami. Shall I ask him to
return your call, or would you like to leave a message?’

‘I
will leave a message, but perhaps he could also call me when he gets back.’

‘Certainly,
Minister.’

‘Could
you let him know that the safe has arrived from Sweden and can therefore be
crossed off the sanctions list.’ There was a long pause. ‘Are you still there,
Miss Saib?’

‘Yes.
I was just writing down what you said, sir.’

‘If
he needs to see the relevant forms we still have them at the Ministry, but if
it’s the safe he wants to check on, it’s already on its way to the Ba’ath
headquarters.’

‘I
understand, sir. I’ll see he gets the message just as soon as he comes in.’

‘Thank
you, Miss Saib.’

Kajami
replaced the phone on the hook, glanced across his desk at the Deputy Foreign
Minister and smiled.

A
ZIZ BROUGHT
THE TRUCK to a halt in front of a tank. A few soldiers were moving around, but
there didn’t appear to be a great deal of activity.

‘I
was expecting a bigger show of force than this,’ said Kratz. ‘It’s the Ba’ath
Party headquarters, after all.’

‘Saddam’s
probably at the palace, or even out of Baghdad,’ suggested Aziz as two soldiers
advanced towards the truck. The first one shouted ‘Out!’ and they obeyed
slowly. Once all four of them were on the ground, the soldier ordered them to
stand a few yards away from the truck while a couple of other soldiers jumped
up on the back and removed the tarpaulin.

‘This
one’s a Major,’ whispered Aziz as a portly man covered in battle ribbons and
carrying a mobile phone advanced towards them. He stopped and looked up at the
safe suspiciously before turning to Kratz and introducing himself as Major
Saeed.

‘Open,’
was all he added.

Kratz
pointed to Scott, who climbed up onto the back of the lorry while several more
soldiers surrounded it to watch him perform the opening ceremony. Once Scott
had pulled the great door open, the Major joined him on the back of the truck,
but not until one of the soldiers had given him a hand-up. He stood a pace back
and ordered two of his men to go inside. They appeared apprehen ... sive at
first, but once they had entered the safe they began touching the sides and
even jumping up to try to reach the roof. A few moments later, Saeed joined
them, and banged the walls with his swagger stick. He then stepped back out,
jumped heavily off the truck and turned towards Scott.

‘Now
we wait for a crane,’ he said, sounding a little more friendly. He dialled a
number on the phone.

Cohen
climbed into the cab and sat behind the wheel, the keys still in the ignition,
while Aziz remained on the back with the safe. Scott and Kratz leaned against a
wall, trying to appear bored, while having a conversation on the alternatives
they now faced.

‘We
must find some way of getting into the building ahead of the safe,’ said Kratz.
Scott nodded his agreement.

The
clock in Victory Square had struck 12.30 before Aziz spotted the tall, thin
structure progressing slowly round the massive statue of Saddam. The four of
them watched as soldiers ran out into the street to hold up the flow of traffic
and allow the vast crane to continue its progress uninterrupted.

Scott
explained to the Major that the truck now needed to be moved to a position
opposite the front door. He agreed without a phone call. When the truck was
parked exactly where Scott wanted it, Major Saeed finally conceded that the
doors would have to come off their hinges if they were ever going to get the
safe and its trolley inside the building.

This
time he did make a phone call, and to Scott’s question, ‘How long?’ he simply
shrugged his shoulders and replied, ‘Must wait.’

Scott
was determined to use the ‘must wait’ period, and explained to Major Saeed that
he needed to walk the route that the safe would travel once they had entered
the building.

The
Major hesitated, made a further phone call, held on for some time before he
received an answer, and then, pointing to Scott, said, ‘You, only.’

Scott
left Kratz to organise the crane as it prepared to lift the safe off the lorry,
and followed the Major into the building.

The
first thing that Scott noticed as he walked down the carpeted corridor was its
width and solid feel. Every few paces there were soldiers lounging against the
wall who sprang to attention the moment they saw Major Saeed.

At
the end of the corridor was an elevator. The Major produced a key and turned it
in a lock on the wall. The doors of the elevator opened slowly. It struck Scott
that the size of the safe must have been determined by the width of the lift.
He doubted if there would be much more than an inch to spare all round once
they had succeeded in getting Madame Bertha on board.

The
Major pressed a button marked ‘- 6’, which, Scott noted, was as far down as
they could go. The lift dropped slowly. When the doors opened Scott followed
Major Saeed into a long corridor. This time he had the feeling that the
passageway had been built to survive an earthquake. They came to a halt outside
a pair of heavy, reinforced doors, guarded by two soldiers carrying rifles.

Saeed
asked a question, and both guards shook their heads. ‘The Chamber is empty, so
we can go straight through,’ he explained, then proceeded to unlock the door.
Scott followed him into the Council Chamber.

His
eyes searched quickly round the room. The first thing he saw on the far wall
was another massive portrait of Saddam, this time in a dark double-breasted
suit. Then he spotted one of the red alarm buttons next to a light switch that
Kratz had warned him about. The Major hurried on through the Chamber, giving
the impression of a man who hadn’t the right to be there, while Scott went as
slowly as he felt he could get away with. And then he saw it, just for a
moment, and his heart sank: the Declaration of Independence was nailed to the
wall, a corner torn and some of the signatures looking distinctly blurred.

The
Major unlocked the far door and Scott reluctantly followed him through into the
adjoining corridor. They continued for only a few more paces before coming to a
halt in front of a massive recess of inlaid brick that Scott didn’t need to
measure to realise had been purpose-built in anticipation of the arrival of the
safe.

Scott
took some time measuring the space, as he tried to think of how he could get a
longer look at the Declaration. After a few minutes, Major Saeed tapped him on
the shoulder with his swagger stick and indicated that it was time for them to
return to the courtyard. Scott reluctantly followed him back down the short
corridor, and into the Council Chamber, which the Major scurried through while
Scott lingered to measure the doors. He was pleased to discover that they would
have to be taken off their hinges. He stood a pace back as if considering the
problem. The Major returned and slapped the side of his leg with his swagger
stick, muttering something under his breath that Scott suspected wasn’t
altogether flattering.

Scott
stole a glance to the right, and confirmed his worst fears: even if he were
able to exchange the two documents, it would take an even greater genius than
Dollar Bill to repair the damage that Saddam had already inflicted.

‘Come.
Come. We must go,’ said the Major.

‘And
so must these doors,’ said Scott, and turning, added, ‘and those two as well,’
pointing to the pair at the other end of the Chamber. But Major Saeed was
already striding off down the long corridor towards the open lift.

Hannah
put the phone down and tried to stop herself trembling. They had warned her
many times at Herzliyah that however tough you think you are, and however well
trained you’ve been, you will still tremble.

She
checked her watch. Her lunch break was due in twenty minutes, and although she
rarely left the building during the day except on official business, she knew
she could no longer sit in that office and just wait for events to happen all
around her.

The
Deputy Foreign Minister had left for the palace at eight that morning, and had
told her not to expect him back until five at the earliest. A muscle in her
cheek twitched as she began to type out the Minister of Industry’s message.

For
fifteen minutes, she sat at her desk and planned how the hour could be best
spent. As soon as she was clear in her mind what needed to be done, she picked
up her phone and asked a girl on the switchboard to cover her calls during the
lunch break.

Hannah
put on her glasses, left the room and walked quickly down the corridor,
remaining close to the wall with her head bowed, so that those passing didn’t
give her a second look.

She
took the stairs rather than the lift, slipped across the hall past reception,
through the swing doors and out onto the steps of the Foreign Ministry.

‘Saib’s
just left the building,’ said a voice from the other side of the road into a
mobile phone. ‘She’s going in the direction of Victory Square.’

Hannah
continued walking towards the square. The crowds were so large and noisy that
she feared another public hanging must have taken place. When she reached the
end of the road and turned the corner, she averted her eyes as she made a path
between those who were standing, staring, some even laughing at the spectacle.

‘Quite
a high-up official,’ someone joked. Another more serious voice said that he had
heard he was a diplomat recently back from America who had been caught with his
fingers in the till. A third, an elderly woman, wept when someone suggested
that the other two were the man’s innocent mother and sister.

Once
Hannah could see the barrier she slowed her pace. She stopped and stared across
the road at the Ba’ath Party headquarters. She was pleased to be hidden in such
a large crowd, even if it did occasionally obscure her view.

‘She’s
facing the Ba’ath Party headquarters. Everyone else is looking in the opposite
direction.’

Hannah’s
eyes settled on the truck that was surrounded by soldiers, and then she saw the
massive safe that was perched on the back of the vehicle and the two young men
who were attaching large coils of steel to its base. One was Middle Eastern in
appearance, the other vaguely European. And then she saw Kratz – or was it
Kratz? Whoever it was disappeared behind the far side of the truck. She waited
for the man to reappear. When he did, a few moments later, she was left in no
doubt that it was the Mossad leader.

She
realised that she could not wait around in such a public place for much longer,
and decided to return to her office and consider what needed to be done next.
She gave Kratz one last look as a group of cleaners came out of the building,
walked across the tarmac and passed by the barrier without any of the soldiers
paying them the slightest attention.

Hannah
began to walk away from Victory Square, just as Major Saeed and Scott emerged
from the building into the courtyard.

‘She’s
on the move again, but she doesn’t seem to be returning to the Ministry.’ The
man on the mobile phone listened for a moment and then replied, ‘I don’t know,
but I’ll follow her and report back.’

When
Scott stepped back into the courtyard he was pleased to see that Kratz had
already got the crane into position to lift the safe off the truck. Aziz and
Cohen were fastening long steel coils around the body of Madame Bertha while
the specially constructed trolley, of which Mr Pedersson was so proud, had been
placed on the ground between the front door and the side of the truck.

Scott
looked up at the crane that was taller than the building itself and back down
at the operator, sitting in his wide cab near the base. Once Cohen and Aziz had
jumped off the truck Kratz gave the operator the thumbs-up.

Scott
pointed at the safe and beckoned to Kratz, who walked, over, looking puzzled.
He thought the operation was going rather well.

‘What’s
the problem?’ he asked. Scott continued pointing at the safe, and with
exaggerated movements indicated how he thought it would have to be moved, while
whispering to Kratz: ‘I’ve seen the Declaration.’ He moved to the other side of
the safe. Kratz followed, now also pretending to take a close interest in the
safe.