WASHINGTON DC: The Sadir Affair (The Puppets of Washington Book 1) (21 page)

When Sabrina heard Aziz’s voice, she erupted in a string of questions. “…How did it go? How is she? Is she awake? When can we see her?”

Aziz was sitting in front of a full breakfast and eating already, which pleased Jay no end. “She’ll be fine... She’s got to rest for a few hours... She still in I.C.U...”

“Have you talked to her yet?”

Still munching on a piece of bacon, Aziz took the phone from beside his ear, looked at it and shook his head. “Sabrina…!”

“Oh! Sorry…, I’ll put you through right now.”

After a moment of silence, Aziz heard James’s voice. “Sabrina tells me Talya will be fine, is that true?”

“Yes, James. I’ve talked to the surgeon who assisted in the operation, and the verdict is good—very good, in fact. She should be walking in a few weeks”—Aziz smiled up at Jay—“With Jay’s help she’ll be on her feet in no time, I’m sure.”

“That’s the best news I’ve heard in months. When can we come and see her?”

“Probably not before tomorrow, but as soon as they’ll allow visitors, I’ll let you know.”

“What about you? How are you handling it? Will you be okay?”

“Now…, I’ll be just fine, James. It’s up the hill from now.” Aziz took another forkful of scrambled eggs to his mouth. “Will you call Khalid or shall I?”

“Don’t worry about any of that for now, I’ll take care of it. You just take care of Talya and leave the rest to me, okay?”

“Okay, James, but what about the lawyer…?”

“What did I say just now?” James sounded a little flustered.

“Alright, alright, I hear you. I’ll call you when she’s able to receive visitors.”

“You do that... And take care of yourself, do you hear me?”

“We’ll do...”

As soon as Aziz flipped his cell phone closed, he hurried to finish his breakfast under Jay’s amused gaze.

It was late in Paris when the phone rang on Khalid’s desk. He was surfing the net and picked up the receiver distractedly. “Yes, Marie…?”

“Monsieur Flaubert is on the line, Capitaine, shall I put him through?”

At the mention of James’s name, Khalid sat up. He was all ears now. “Yes, yes, please go ahead, Marie.”

He waited for a moment but as soon as James was on the line, Khalid erupted, “How is she? Was the surgery successful…? Oh…, I’m sorry, James, I am forgetting my manners. How are you?”

“Don’t worry, I know how you feel. I’ve been waiting for the news for hours and I was about to make my way to the hospital when Aziz finally called and told me everything went fine.” James’s voice told the story—Talya was going to walk again.

“Praise to God, James. She deserves all of His blessings...”

“Darlene! To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” Lucien Billycan asked cheerfully as he pointed to a chair across his desk.

“To the fact that I come bearing gifts, my dear Lucien.”

The US Attorney laughed quietly as he shook hands with his guest. “And I shouldn’t look a gift-horse in the mouth, is that it?”

Darlene sat down and crossed her legs, a teasing but generous smile lighting her face. “You got it!”

Billycan liked the woman. He had seen her in action on both sides of the border and he always wished she would settle in Washington one day. He rolled his chair closer to the desk and put his elbows on it. Facing him, Darlene looked relaxed and rather amused. He wondered why—she actually looked like the proverbial cat that swallowed the canary.

“So, are we going to unwrap this gift or is it just open for grabs?”

“No wrapping, Lucien—just many little boxes in one big one.”

Darlene knew she was a hit with the US Attorney. And she was determined to use all of her feminine powers to get what she wanted in this particular instance—Lucien Billycan’s full cooperation and undivided attention.

“Okay, let’s hear what you’ve got.” Billycan was anxious to get to the crux of the matter.

“First, I’d like you to tell me if you think you can make the case against Sadir.”

“What I think is not important here, Darlene, but whether I have enough evidence for a jury to convict him.”

“Okay, good, because that’s why I’m here. I’ll try to give you some of these missing evidence pieces.” Darlene uncrossed her legs, took her yellow pad out of her briefcase and looked up at Billycan once she had found the page she was looking for. “I’ve just come from a meeting in Ottawa yesterday with one of our witnesses and he—that’s Mark Gilford—described for me the radio-call he intercepted while he was aboard the Marianne.”

“You mean the fishing trawler on which the two murders occurred?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Agent Gilford had a conversation with a man who
said
he was Slimane.”

“Yes, I’ve read something about that call. Did Gilford know it was Slimane before the man identified himself?”

“No, and that’s the first little box.” Billycan smiled. “The man spoke Arabic…”

“And Agent Gilford answered him in Arabic?” The US Attorney sounded surprised.

“Yes, he did. The caller asked three things…”

“I’m listening...”

“First, he asked if Nadir (Agent Gilford purported to be Nadir) had seen Ms. Kartz. Second, he asked to keep on the look out for her and third he asked Nadir to call him back if or when he saw her near the boat.”

Darlene had the US Attorney’s full attention now.

“Was Agent Gilford able to confirm the man who called him was not Slimane?”

“Not exactly. All he could say was that when he compared the
attitude
of the man on the radio with that of Mr. Slimane—when they met in Paris—he didn’t
think
they were the same person.”

“And you think Agent Gilford is a pretty good judge of character?”

“I’d say he is. In fact, let me open the second box for you and you’ll see what I mean.”

Billycan shook his head and smiled. Although Sadir wasn’t on trial for the murders that occurred on the fishing trawler, the evidence Darlene was putting in front of him now would be useful one way or another, he thought. “Okay, what’s in this one?”

“Alright. When Gilford and Talya were in Paris, they met Slimane. According to Agent Gilford’s statement, Slimane demonstrated some sort of admiration for Talya…”

“Are you saying Talya and Slimane knew each other, because that could actually backfire? It could prove collusion, not to say conspiracy between these two.”

Darlene raised a hand to stop the US Attorney from going any farther on the wrong track. “No, that’s not what I am saying, Lucien. Just listen to the next comment... Mark Gilford said, and I quote, “
He proffered threats... under the circumstances, he had to force Khalid and Mr. Flaubert’s hands. In hindsight I’d say his threats were empty threats—even better than that—they were designed to protect Ms. Kartz.
” And I believe Agent Gilford meant every word he said.”

“Wait a minute... Let me see if I understand this correctly. We should conclude the man on the radio
was not Slimane
because he spoke Arabic, and Mark Gilford thought Slimane showed admiration for Talya, and even when Slimane proffered threats toward her, Gilford thought these were designed to protect her. Have I got that right?”

“In a word, yes.”

Billycan leaned back in his chair and joined the tips of his fingers in front of his chest, flexing them rhythmically. “I hate to say this, but Agent Gilford’s personal impression will not stand up in court. It will sound as if the agent does not want Slimane involved in the Marianne incident, which again could backfire and show Slimane as an innocent party…”

“But isn’t that what you want to show in the end?”

“Are you telling me that by showing he was protecting Talya and ended up as the victim in this case, the jury would have to look at Sadir as the guilty party?”

“That would be my strategy, yes. While you’re trying to show the link between Sadir and Slimane, you could demonstrate Slimane’s reticence in following Sadir’s orders.”

“Okay, that’s an angle I haven’t thought of, I must admit.”

Still flexing his fingers, Billycan thought about this for a long moment before he resumed with his next question, “Okay, have you got another box for me before I give you my summation?”

“Yes I have, and this one is the best of the lot, although it’s not the last.”

“I’m listening.”

“We could prove that Slimane didn’t make the radio-call…”

“Now, you’ve got me! I’d have to tell you first, though, that I have gone through every darn report on this case, and there’s nothing—zero, naught—that could show us that Slimane didn’t make the radio-call.”

Darlene waited for Billycan to finish his expostulation. “Do you want to hear me out or not?”

“Alright, alright, go on.”

“Okay. Fred Gibson stated that he got reports from the FBI to the effect that no one could identify Slimane as the person who made the radio-call from the harbour shipping office on Grand Cayman.”

Silence.

Darlene looked pleased with herself.

Lucien Billycan shook his head. “I’ve never seen any statement of the sort! Let’s see…” He opened a folder that he had taken from the pile on the side of his desk, and pulled a one-page list out of it. “Here’s the FBI’s list... See for yourself, there’s nothing in it saying they’ve interviewed anyone in Grand Cayman regarding the radio call. There’s only one report from forensics regarding the call’s provenance—nothing else.”

Darlene took the list he handed her and scanned the length of the page. Lucien was right; there was nothing on it related to an interview conducted on Grand Cayman. She handed the list back to the US Attorney. “I guess you could call Gibson and get a copy from him or you could call the FBI and get the report from them, or you could do both.”

“Okay, I’ll do both, but whatever the result of this little investigation is, let me just say thank you for bringing that
box
to my attention.” He held Darlene’s gaze for a fraction of a second too long.
She is really the best
. “You said this wasn’t the last box, I don’t know what else you could have...”

Out of her travelling case, which Darlene had deposited beside her chair when she came in, she pulled out the shoebox—Talya’s shoebox. “This one is an actual box, as you can see.” She put it on Billycan’s desk. “You can open it, but I suggest you don’t touch what’s inside.”

The US Attorney lifted the lid up gingerly and peered inside the box. “Holy Cow!” he shouted. “Is that the murder weapon?”

“Correction! That is the weapon that injured
but did not kill
Mr. Abib.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll give you that. But where did you get it. We thought Ms. Kartz had thrown it overboard or in a garbage can somewhere.”

Darlene shook her head, an air of delight about her. “No-no, Lucien dear, this knife is ‘
symbolic
’ as Agent Gilford described it. It has a history, and Talya didn’t want to part with it.”

“Is that why she didn’t mention it in the statement you filed with this office before her surgery?”

“But, if you recall, she did mention having a knife hidden on her person, yet she didn’t say what she did with it afterwards.”

“Yes, yes, of course...” Billycan drew the shoebox closer to him and looked in it again. “This is quite a knife! I’ve never seen another one like it...” He lifted his face to her. “Did you get details on its history?”

Darlene shook her head. “I didn’t take the time to hear anything about it. I wanted to get to you before the week was over.”

“I’ll get it to forensics right away.” He pressed a digit on the intercom. “Charlene, would you mind giving a call to the forensic boys in town and ask one of them to come to my office with a large evidence bag?”

“Yes, sir. Right away.”

“Thanks... Oh, and after that call, would you book a table at the Willard Room for Ms. Stovall and me for 7:30 this evening?”

“Shall I have a car pick her up at her hotel?”

“Yes, why don’t you do that? Thanks.”

Darlene was all smiles when he looked up at her. “I haven’t heard you invite me yet, nor have I said I was free.” She shook a finger at him. “You’ll never change, will you?”

“Why should I?”

“You shouldn’t...” She crossed her legs again and relaxed. “Now are you going to draw a picture for me with all of the boxes I brought you, or do you want me to tell you what I think?”

“Why don’t you do the sketch and I’ll fill in the blanks.”

“Okay, but why don’t we leave the drawing until we get to the restaurant? I’d like to get to my hotel first and freshen up, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay, let’s do that then. I’ll get a car to take you…”

One word could describe the Willard Room—sumptuous. Champagne carts welcoming every patron, tables set with exquisite cutlery, soft lighting, and discreet servers gave one the impression of stepping in a lavishly decorated, yet private dining room. The maitre d’ led the couple to their table and asked them if they wished to have some champagne before their meal. Darlene accepted readily and Lucien nodded, “Yes. That will be fine.”

As soon as they were settled, Lucien seemed anxious to hear Darlene’s summary of the case.

“Okay, now that you’re ‘all freshened up’ and that you have champagne in front of you, would you mind drawing the first sketch for me?”

Darlene looked at Lucien. Men’s impatience always amazed her. They never seemed to enjoy the journey to their destination. They’re always in a rush to get to where ever they’re going. She shook her head. “Why don’t we have dinner first? I’m famished.”

Lucien stretched to the back of his seat, looking disappointed. “Are you always the impossible child, hiding everything you think or do behind a wonderful smile?”

She flashed him one, and drank some more of the champagne. “I guess, you could say that…, but really, the reason I’m stalling is because I’d like to hear what you’ve got that will not hold water in court, and see if I can help in any way.”

“Where does that generosity come from? You must want something…”

Darlene shook her head. “No, Lucien, this is not generosity, this is looking after my client’s interest, but you’re right, I want something in return.”

“What’s that?”

“An assurance that you treat Talya fairly during the trial, and that you realize the woman is the key to this affair. She can, and if you let her, she could blow this case wide open. She knows a lot more than she’s willing to divulge at this point…”

“Are you saying she’s hiding something?”

“You see”—Darlene pointed a finger at the US Attorney—“that’s exactly what I mean; you’re conditioned to think everyone is guilty until proven innocent.”

Lucien raised an eyebrow. “I’m not!”

“But you are, Lucien.” The Canadian attorney laughed quietly. “You are conditioned to think that every potential guilty party has to pay for whatever they may or may not have done.”

He lowered his eyes and played with his salad-fork distractedly. Lucien didn’t want to answer. He knew Darlene was right.

“Okay,” Darlene said, “let’s backtrack a little. Give me something, a fact, a piece of evidence—anything—that presents a problem for you and I’ll see if I can help.”

Lucien finally looked up. “I hate this.”

“What?”

“I hate to hear you describe me as an unfair man.”

Darlene peered into the eyes that were riveted on her face. “Listen, Lucien, I am a friend and as such, it is my duty to tell you what I see in you or what could be detrimental to your career.”

“And you think you can change me? I’m too old to change, Darlene…”

“I would never be as presumptuous as to think I could change you. No. I just want you to look in the mirror and see what you’re doing. Think about it and tackle your problems from another standpoint. That’s all.”

Lucien nodded and retreated to the back of the chair again. He no longer looked at the beautiful woman sitting opposite him. “Okay, let’s say, we do it your way, and take the pieces of this puzzle that don’t fit and see what’s wrong with them—then what?”

“You know, this puzzle analogy is a tired one, but it is still a good one. But to answer your question, I should think I could provide the answers that would make the pieces fit, much like the boxes I brought you this afternoon. By being an outsider of your inner-circle, I could obtain bits and pieces of evidence that may be just the thing you’re looking for.”

“And for doing that, all you want is for your client to be treated fairly?”

Darlene sipped on her champagne and nodded. “Yes, but more than that I want you to hear the whole story. Apart from Talya, Prince Khalid is the only other person who knows what happened since this affair began.”

“Okay, let’s do it then…, but not here. It would be better if you came back to the office in the morning...”

“No problem. Let’s order something now before I get drunk... that champagne is really good...”

Lucien chuckled and waived for a server to come to their table.

An hour or so later, as they were sipping on their coffees, Darlene felt it was time for her to give Lucien what he wanted. “Alright, are you ready for my sketch now?”

“More than ever.” Lucien smiled.

“Okay, here it goes... When Sadir was informed that Talya, with Mark and Dr. Hendrix, was driving north on her way to Ottawa, he saw his chance of killing two birds with one stone. He knew Slimane was hiding in Flint already and Talya was on her way to Detroit—a stone-throw from Flint—he pointed the finger to Slimane and to Talya, telling Mossad they were in it together and they were responsible for the sending of faulty weapons to Israel. But what Sadir didn’t count on was Slimane suspecting him of treachery. Slimane knew that the only way to show a different picture to Mossad was to come out in the open. That’s when he made his way to Paris to meet Prince Khalid. He had no idea that he would find Talya and Mark Gilford together with the prince in Paris. During the meeting and when Slimane switched tack and pretended that he wanted Prince Khalid to kill his uncle, Prince Abdullah—foiling Sadir’s plans to have Mossad blamed for the killing—Sadir put another plan into action. As soon as Slimane returned to the States, he went to Flint where Agent Meshullam was waiting for him.

After Slimane’s death and Talya’s injury, Sadir thought he was out of the woods for a while until Prince Khalid showed up and told him he wanted to make his way to Australia to confront Samuel, the man who had shot Talya. At that point, Sadir saw an opportunity to get the prince eliminated and have Mossad, once again, blamed for an open attack on Saudi Arabia.

Then, he made another mistake; he asked Gibson to send Talya to Sydney to get her out of the way under the pretext that, if she didn’t, she would be arrested for killing a CIA agent in Florida.

Gibson was uncomfortable with the idea—he knew Talya had not killed anyone—and asked Mr. Badawee, CSIS’s legal advisor, to guide him through this maze. Badawee advised him to have the Australian prepare an arrest warrant against Samuel Meshullam and to have him extradited.

Once advised of this change of course, Sadir knew he had to get out from under the suspicious scrutiny of his colleagues and the CIA’s Deputy Director.

He wanted to flee to Seattle and make his way by car to Vancouver from there. He wanted to take matters in his own hands. I think, at that point, he planned to kill Talya himself. He had rented an apartment adjacent to hers. Originally, I believe, he attempted to organize a confrontation between Samuel and Prince Khalid that would have ended up in a blood bath. Ultimately, and in view of the latest development, he then planned to shoot her while she was sitting on her terrace, although I haven’t seen the apartments in question. I can’t be sure at this point that Sadir is even a marksman who could aim from any distance and hit his mark.

The chain of events that followed was out of Sadir’s hands. He couldn’t stop the ball from rolling downhill until he was arrested.”

Lucien had listened to Darlene’s entire exposé without saying a word. Now he fixed his gaze on her. “Very well done, Darlene, but you haven’t broached on the relationships that existed between Samuel Meshullam and Talya Kartz for one thing, and on what we discussed briefly this afternoon—showing Slimane was a victim rather than the man following Sadir’s orders.”

Darlene drank the last of her coffee and peered again into her friend’s eyes. “That’s because I have some problems with this. I mean, all the way through we’ve been led to believe that Sadir was at the helm, that he was the one making all of these decisions, and to me this whole bluff is only a red herring designed to lead us down the wrong path.”

Oddly enough to Darlene, Lucien nodded. “That’s exactly what I am thinking. Ever since we began looking for evidence against Sadir, we’ve been hitting brick walls. We’ve received bits and pieces from almost all parties concerned, but nothing that will hold up in court, let alone get a conviction against Sadir.”

“Will the evidence I brought you this afternoon help in any way, or will it throw a wrench in the works?”

Lucien waved a dismissive hand in front of him. “Oh no, don’t think that for a minute, and that’s why I was asking you to elaborate on the relationships between Talya, Samuel and Slimane, because I think these pieces may provide us with another way out of this mess.”

“Okay then... Let’s go back ten years ago...” Lucien raised an eyebrow. Darlene smiled. “We are in Australia. Samuel Meshullam is in love with a woman by the name of Talya Krist...”

“Woah… Hold on a minute... Are you telling me that Talya knew Samuel?”

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying…, and you shouldn’t sound so surprised if you’ve read the reports from Sydney—it’s all in there...”

“Not exactly. What I’ve received or read was mainly showing that Meshullam was hiding out after Slimane’s killing and Talya’s shooting, but nothing related to their backgrounds or that they knew each other.”

“Maybe CSIS, once they had read the Aussie’s report, didn’t want to promote the idea that Talya and Samuel knew each other, which could lead to the wrong conclusion, such as the conclusion you, yourself, drew earlier about the relationship that appeared to exist between Slimane and Talya. It sounds strange, though. Anyway, let me give you the background then.”

“Okay, go ahead.” Lucien was uncomfortable with the idea that Fred Gibson was apparently holding back some vital evidence from him. He would have to get some answers from the man at some point.

Darlene waited until she had Lucien’s attention once again. “As I said, this goes back ten years now.” Lucien nodded. “Samuel is avid to travel the world and he knows Talya can’t follow him—she was looking after her mother and couldn’t leave her—so he makes his way to Israel, and one thing leading to another, Mossad engages him and trains him to become one of their agents. Meanwhile, Talya returns to Vancouver after her mother’s death and is hired as an admin assistant at Carmine Resources.” Darlene paused and smiled at Lucien. She knew he was giving her a grilling. “A year later, Talya goes back to West Africa, where she was raised, to find out what happened to the half a million dollars that Carmine had entrusted in the hands of a Mr. Amadou Savoi. That’s when the troubles started.” Darlene took in a breath. “The rest you know, I guess.”

“Yes I do, but I’d like to hear your summing up of the events that led up to this point…, do you mind?”

Darlene drank a swig of water. She thought she was in court giving an opening statement. “Okay…, here we go. Talya soon finds out that Savoi is a small-time drug dealer at the stipend of a man named Osnoir. This Osnoir fellow was the lynchpin in the CIA’s operation, which was designed originally to exchange drugs for weapons—weapons that saw their way to Israel. Unbeknownst to Talya at the time, she was becoming a disruptive party in the CIA’s scheme and had to be side-tracked or otherwise eliminated. Prince Khalid comes on the scene at about that point. He soon realizes Talya is in danger for her life. The prince’s father played a part in Osnoir’s operation, but he didn’t know the CIA was the organizing party.

“Then Khalid and Talya go to extreme to evade Osnoir and his goons for a while and when Osnoir dies in a car accident, Khalid is hoping to take Talya away from the turmoil and down to Cayenne where Carmine needs his help to get some of their geologists out of the jungle.”

Lucien raised a hand in front of him. “Sorry to interrupt you, but that was a plot apparently designed to attract both the Prince and Talya into a trap, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, but at the time, Carmine was led to think their men had been taken and held at ransom by some guerrillas. They had no idea there was a connection between the events that had occurred in Africa and what was happening in South America.”

“But why would they send the Prince and Talya to the rescue? Wouldn’t it have been better to get the French authorities involved?”

“Yes, and in fact Carmine did ask for the French’s help, but they were given the brush off.”

“Do we know why?”

“Yes we do. The French government didn’t know of any guerrilla’s deployment in the region, and that was the first clue that something was wrong with this whole thing.”

“But again, why sending Khalid and Talya down there?” Darlene was a bit annoyed with Lucien going off on a tangent, and it showed on her face. “I’m sorry, but I’m just curious. I didn’t have a chance to interview these people myself yet, and since you have, I’d like you to use me as a sounding board, if that’s okay with you.”

“That’s okay…,” Darlene said, playing with some of the breadcrumbs on the tablecloth. “Okay…, Carmine needed the prince’s assistance because that was part of his job. He had offered his services to transport men in and out of their various mine-sites.”

“Okay, what about Talya? Why would she be going to the rescue of geologists and put herself in danger?”

“Carmine didn’t ask her to go to Guyana. There were only two reasons for which she was to accompany the prince on the journey.”