Tess Awakening (10 page)

Finally, groaning from overindulgence, they
effusively complimented Mamma—it’s the law, an absolute requirement
in Italy. They gave her hugs, and Jake assured her that from now on
he would feed Tess regularly.

They finally spilled outside, negotiated
ancient cobblestones, and joined the locals on their daily evening
passeggiata, the civilized custom of taking an after dinner walk to
help digest the food, to see and be seen.

After some exploration, Jake and Tess sat at
a seaside café, had a coffee and finished with two glasses of wine.
They were across from Castel dell’Ovo, jutting out into the bay on
a tiny island, one of the oldest castles in Italy built by the
Normans. Jake started another historical lecture but pulled back
when Tess gave him a dirty look.

They returned to the hotel giddy, almost
forgetting the reason for their being there. They both took
showers, and Jake lay down in bed, marveling at the spectacularly
dismal quality of the local TV service.

Tess came out of the shower with a towel
wrapped her body. “Don’t bother with the telly here. It’s not going
to improve. Most of the networks are owned by Silvio Berlusconi,
and he is betting that the long suffering Italians will tolerate
this crap. In any case, we have better things to do.”

She tossed the towel away and got on top of
Jake. He didn’t resist.

Tess started kissing him softly, gradually
with more intensity. Jake responded, but this time, she would not
allow him to have his way. Tess insisted he stay still, and started
to kiss his stiff penis. She gently sucked the nub and licked the
shaft as if it was a delicacy. “Roger, my ex, was very prudish and
unimaginative. He would never allow me to do this,” Tess explained
between licks. “Yours is gorgeous; a real masterpiece. I like to be
intimately acquainted with something that I take into my body;
delicious.”

“Thank you, love, but don’t be rough. I am
sure you noticed that I am not circumcised.” Jake tried to move,
but she pushed him back.

Tess lowered herself on him, gradually
descending, delighting in the sweet invasion into her body. Jake
again tried to move, but she kept kissing him, insisting that he
remain still. Jake found her desires more and harder to comply
with. She continued to kiss him softly, moving at her own pace, and
suddenly shuddered with a shattering climax.

She lay still on top of him and started to
slowly yield. Jake moved her on her back and gently eased himself
into her body again. He moved deeply into her, with slow strokes
that increased in intensity. Tess responded again.

Tess felt entirely possessed by her lover and
gasped again with delight. Jake spent himself into her. They
continued to hold each other until they fell asleep in each other’s
arms.

Chapter 12

In the morning, they had breakfast and
walked to the
Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III
,
the central library of Naples. Occupying the eastern wing of the
18th-century
Palazzo Reale
, the library oozed art and royal
architecture.

Jake explained. “In quantitative terms this
is the third largest library in Italy, after the national libraries
in Rome and Florence. It has 1,480,747 printed volumes, 319,187
pamphlets, 18,415 manuscripts, more than 8,000 periodicals, 4,500
incunabula and the 1,800 Herculaneum papyri.”

Tess now realized that Jake’s affinity for
facts, figures and an incredible knowledge of history were based on
something deeper than enthusiasm.

“I am not sure if I should be impressed or
afraid. Or maybe you are joking.”

Jake smiled. “Sorry. I have an eidetic
memory, and I remember everything.”

“Everything?” Tess exclaimed. Jake shrugged
his shoulders, “Every damn thing: experiences, impressions, people,
facts, and figures.”

“I hope that’s a good thing.”

They were in the library to do some research
on the city of Istanbul. They had an address provided by the
General’s man at the big house in Iraq. Assuming it was correct,
they needed to find the place and understand the environs. They
also needed to develop a strategy. They retrieved facts, figures,
and maps. Jake did not make any copies. He memorized
everything.

Jake briefly summarized their challenge.
“Assuming that we can find Amir, he is not likely to hand over
Kejal’s girl to us without some less than friendly persuasion. We
also have a severe complication; in Turkey, Amir has not broken any
laws, so it would not make sense for us to go to the local police.
In fact, doing so would result in the local authorities raising a
lot of questions.”

Jake logged into one of the CIA databases
that contained profiles of most prominent Iraqis and found General
Amir Alkan al-Saadi’s file. The information revealed that they were
dealing with a formidable opponent.

Amir was groomed to become an Army officer by
attending the British Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, where he
graduated with honors. He followed this training by graduating from
Cambridge University, again with honors.

His ascent in the Iraqi Army was rapid. He
was decorated for leading a brigade in the Iran-Iraq war, one of
the bloodiest conflicts of the century.

In terms of the tactics used, the conflict
has been compared to World War I. Both sides employed large-scale
trench warfare with included barbed wire across trenches, machine
gun placements, bayonet charges and human wave attacks across a no
man’s land.

The combatants also deployed chemical weapons
such as mustard gas by the Iraqis against Iranian troops. The
Iranians responded in kind.

The next act has Amir, as a Colonel,
commanding a Republican Guard tank brigade during the first Gulf
war. He was one of the few survivors after his unit was annihilated
by the Americans.

Considered an important officer in the Iraqi
military, Amir wisely managed to avoid becoming a member of Saddam
Hussein’s inner circle.

Jake scratched his head. “This guy is tough,
experienced, wily and competent, not to mention ruthless. I am not
sure how we can persuade him to release the girl, assuming she is
still alive.”

Tess, reliving her experience of dealing with
Amir, seemed to lose her confidence. “We have everything stacked
against us. There must be a way to get to him.”

Jake kept reading. “It appears that he has no
intention of getting back to Iraq at any time soon. He probably
will wait until the war is over and things have settled down.”

“I think he can afford to do that. It says
here that he is old money, has several houses in Europe, and he
might be connected all over the place as well. He told me that
members of his family have held important diplomatic posts going
all the way back to the Ottoman Empire.”

Jake pulled his chair back and interlocked
his fingers. “Assuming we find him, we might be able to talk sense
into him, and offer him a carrot in exchange for the girl.” Tess
raised her head from the computer. “What do you mean by
carrot?”

“I am sure that the allies and the new Iraqi
government will want to arrest Saddam’s guys so they can answer for
their atrocities against their own people. I might be able to work
up some sort of immunity deal if he cooperates.”

“Assuming that your contacts can do that, it
might work,” Tess observed, “I remember though, that he has been
careful to steer away from the less savory actions of Saddam’s
camp. He might not feel threatened because he believes that he
hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“Did you say that he might have been involved
with the gassing of the Kurds?” Jake asked. It may provide us with
some leverage.”

Tess was overcome with sadness, thinking of
how Kejal sacrificed herself to help her escape. “The girl’s mother
is dead; it all depends on whether we can find evidence that he was
involved in the massacre, and whether he feels any guilt about
it.”

“That’s a lot of ‘ifs,’“ Jake observed, “but
it’s the only leverage we may have.”

Tess stood up. “Let’s go to Istanbul, and see
what happens.”

Jake logged out of the computer and added
that they would need a better plan that that. “What kind of plan, I
have no idea.” They left the library in silence.

Walking back to their room, Jake asked, “Have
you thought about what you are going to do with the child if she
gets released?” Tess stopped walking. “I haven’t gone that far
yet.”

Chapter 13

General Amir Alkan al-Saadi walked out of a
stately office building. He had visited a friend who was a Turkish
government minister. They had discussed the invasion of Iraq, and
the likely consequences of the conflict in the region.

Amir was contemptuous of the naiveté of the
Americans, the absurd notion that so-called democracy would be a
desirable goal in the Middle East. Arabs never had democracy.
Throughout history, the cult of the strong leader had been
impressed upon them. He just could not see how any other political
approach would be desirable or acceptable with tribal societies
with customs and attitudes far removed from the modern world.

The history of Iraq defined turbulence and
interference by the Western powers. In 1920, Iraq became a League
of Nations mandate under British control. The British established
the Hashemite king, Faisal I of Iraq, who had been forced out of
Syria by the French, as their client ruler. British authorities
placed selected Sunni Arab elites in government and ministry
posts.

Britain granted the Kingdom of Iraq
independence in 1932. A succession of weak Kings followed until
1941 when a Coup d’État overthrew the government. During the
subsequent Anglo-Iraqi War, the British (which still maintained air
bases in Iraq) invaded Iraq for fear that the new government, with
its links to the Axis powers, might cut oil supplies to Western
nations.

Upon restoration of the Hashemite monarchy, a
military occupation followed. The occupation ended in 1947,
although Britain was to retain military bases in Iraq until 1954. A
succession of autocratic Prime Ministers during the occupation
followed.

In 1958, another coup d’état ended the
monarchy. In July 1979, the succession of ruling Generals ended
when General Saddam Hussein took over. Ever since, Iraq was held
together as a nation by his iron fist. Just as the British had
done, he assured the domination of Sunnis in the government and
suppressed the majority Shiites and Kurds. These three peoples just
can’t seem to work together. They are forced to coexist in an
artificial country.

Now that Iraq has been conquered by the
Allied Coalition, it will need to be governed. In his estimation,
Amir feared that the task would not be easy. He had little faith
that a competent successor to Saddam was available. The situation
did not portend well.

Anticipating the worst, Amir had removed the
most important family heirlooms from the house in Iraq, and
distributed them among his houses in Istanbul, Paris and London. He
was prepared to lay low until a clear indication of how things
would develop in Iraq.

Due to his influence, he obtained assurance
from Turkish authorities that he would be welcome to stay in the
country. After all, several of his ancestors had been Generals and
Ministers of the Ottoman Empire, and his family had owned a mansion
on the Bosporus for two hundred years.

Amir’s car arrived at the mansion, and he
dismissed the driver. He walked through the house to the garden,
toward a woman and a child reading a book. The girl saw him and
raced toward him giggling with delight. “Uncle Amir!”

He picked her up and received a hug from the
girl. “I have missed you, uncle Amir,” she cooed. Are you going to
stay?”

Amir kissed the child on the cheek and swung
her around in a pirouette, enticing giggles of delight. He brought
her inside and showed her some toys he had bought for her.

The girl jumped out of his arms and started
to open the presents. While she was occupied, Amir went back to the
garden and met the head of his guards. They inspected the grounds,
walked around an ornate fence on the perimeter of the property and
discussed security arrangements, maintenance, and routine
matters.

He had dinner alone, thinking of a strategy
that would make sense in the current chaotic world. Should he just
abandon Iraq, or should he try to return? If so, what role should
he seek? Would it be better to retire into a comfortable life of
leisure?

At last, he pondered an important question.
What will he say to Aara about what happened to her mother?

Chapter 14

On the way back to the Pensione in Naples,
Jake went to the Turkish Consulate and paid for two Visa documents
required to enter the country.

In the morning, Jake and Tess took a cab to
the airport and flew to Istanbul.

Looking at the city from the window of the
plane, Tess was amazed by the size of the city, and the many
instantly recognizable historical monuments.

Jake, as usual, accessed his encyclopedic
mental resources to recall basic information about Istanbul. “The
city was founded around 660 BC as Byzantium. In 330 AD, it was
reestablished as Constantinople and for nearly sixteen centuries it
was the capital of the Roman and Byzantine empires. The Ottomans
conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic
stronghold and the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate.”

Tess wondered if long term, she could stand
living with an encyclopedia.

Upon landing, they quickly passed customs and
took a cab to a safe house, courtesy of the CIA. Tess never ceased
to be amazed at Jake’s ability to arrange for necessary things.
They climbed the stairs to the second floor. Jake picked up the key
from the top of the door frame and presented Tess with a beautiful,
large apartment with two bedrooms and a comfortable living room.
Jake volunteered that sometimes, the place accommodated up to five
persons. Tess knew better than inquire about what five CIA agents
would be up to in Istanbul.