The Levanter Part 17

'I'll give you an example. A few months ago in Tel Aviv they had trouble with a new apartment building. The architect was an American and he had installed one of those fancy remote-control openers on the garage door. Each of the tenants was given a little thing with a press-b.u.t.ton on it to keep in the glove compartment of his car. Press the b.u.t.ton and the door opened, press again and it closed. Everything was fine except that the door would open and close sometimes when n.o.body pressed a b.u.t.ton. In the end the door did its closing act while a tenant was actually driving in and the roof of his car got crushed. They had to do something then. It took time, but they solved the mystery eventually. There's a hospital two blocks away. One piece of apparatus in the physiotherapy department was sending out a radio signal every time it was used. Not a very strong signal, but it was on the same frequency as the car opener and just strong enough to do the trick. See what I mean?'

'Yes, but . . .'

'Let's go back to this ship business.'

It was a very abrupt change of subject, and I didn't understand the reason for it until very much later. At the time I made no attempt to resist the change.

'What about the ship?'

'Tell me again what was said.'

I told him.

These four pa.s.sengers-I take it that Ghaled will be one of them-are to be allowed to give orders about the ship's course and speed. I've got it right?'

'That's right.'

He frowned. 'Why speed? Why course and speed? See what I'm getting at? If all this speculation of yours is correct - and it is only speculation - someone, let's say Ghaled, wants to be a few kilometres off-sh.o.r.e in the Tel Aviv area on the night of the third. There he's going to press the b.u.t.ton on the musical-box and set off some bombs planted ash.o.r.e. That's your idea, isn't it?'

'Yes.'

'Well, a simple change of course would bring him into a position to do his b.u.t.ton-pressing. He doesn't really have to nominate the course for that matter. All he has to do is ask what time the ship will be pa.s.sing Tel Aviv and ask the captain to go in a bit closer so that he can see the pretty lights.'

'He'd have to be sure that he was within range.'

'All right, I'll accept that. But it still doesn't explain why speed matters.'

'Timing? The Herd anniversary?'

'He stipulated the evening of the third before midnight, according to you.'

'Yes.'

'What other timing is involved? The charges to be exploded-certainly if there are to be as many as you think-will have to have been placed much earlier. You've no idea where he plans to have them placed of course?"

'No.'

He sipped his orangeade. 'It's all very sc.r.a.ppy,' he complained. 'Nothing solid.'

I pointed to the Magisch component. 'At least that's solid.'

'It may tell us something, it may not. The question is now, what are you going to do?'

'Me? I'm here talking to you, aren't I? I've done all I intend to do. It's up to you now.'

To stop Ghaled playing with that musical-box and pressing b.u.t.tons? How do you suggest we do that, Mr Howell? The Amalia Howell is your ship not ours.'

You would have thought that he was doing the favours, not the other way around. The nerve of it took my breath away.

'You're not suggesting that I stop the ship sailing I hope. Because if so. . . .'

'Perish the thought, Mr Howell. You'd be in trouble with Ghaled then, wouldn't you? Miss Malandra, too, I shouldn't wonder. He'd twist your arms right off, and that would never do. No, I'm not for a moment suggesting that you actually run any risks in defence of your high moral principles.'

The sarcasm came with a tight little smile. He was a good hater that one.

'Just talking to you is for me a risk,' I retorted. 'If your people can't work out an effective counter to this relay device, if that means that Ghaled's going to have to be stopped physically from pressing the b.u.t.ton, you'll have to do the stopping. I'll cooperate pa.s.sively, if I can reasonably do so, but that's the limit.'

'What do you mean by cooperate pa.s.sively?' He made it sound like cyanide of pota.s.sium.

"The Amelia is going to be in Ancona until Friday of next week when she sails for Latakia. I could arrange to take on a man of yours, a trained agent I mean, as an extra crewman.'

'One man against Ghaled with an armed bodyguard? What use would one man be in that situation?'

'Send two then, do-or-die boys.'

'Armed with what? Hand-grenades? Our people are not that expendable.'

'All right then, use superior force. You've got a navy. Send out an armed patrol vessel and intercept the Amalia before she gets near enough for Ghaled to do any damage. Board her and take him off, and his bodyguard. What's wrong with that?'

'You're asking me?'

That's right.'

'You, a ship-owner? You're asking me why we can't board a merchant ship flying a British Commonwealth flag on the high seas and kidnap some of her pa.s.sengers?'

'A state of war exists.'

He gave me a long-suffering look. 'You want to read up on your international law, Mr Howell. A state of war may exist, even though there's a cease-fire in force. What does not exist is a proclaimed blockade with some pretensions to being effective. Stopping and searching neutral vessels on the high seas without the justification of a recognised blockade is totally illegal. As for the kidnapping bit. . . .' He threw up his hands.

'I a.s.sure you that the owners of the Amalia Howell would not complain.'

'Will the owners of the Amalia, or you as their representative, be on board the ship at the time?'

I saw the trap opening and backed off at once. 'I most certainly will not be on board.'

'Then the captain of the ship would undoubtedly complain. He would have to, and rightly. The Defence Ministry would never authorise such an action.'

'Well, if the Defence Ministry don't want Ghaled pressing that b.u.t.ton in the vicinity of Tel Aviv, they'd better authorise something.'

He ignored that. 'Distances and the appearance of things can be deceptive at sea,' he said thoughtfully. 'Couldn't Ghaled's plan go a little wrong?"

'How?'

'Well, you will be pa.s.sing on Ghaled's orders to the captain. Supposing you changed them a bit. Couldn't the Amalia find herself in the vicinity of Ashdod instead of Tel Aviv at the appointed time?'

'Yes, and in near-zero visibility that might work. But Ghaled is no fool. In the sort of weather we can expect at this time of year, he would have to be half-blind as well as stupid to mistake the lights of Ashdod for those of Tel Aviv.'

"Then perhaps the Amalia could stray accidentally into territorial waters farther north. Say, somewhere just south of Haifa?'

'Stray! Did you say stray?'

These things happen.'

'The Amalia isn't a fishing boat with a clapped-out compa.s.s. She's a four-thousand-ton freighter with a competent captain and crew sailing in familiar waters.'

'You said that you wished to cooperate, Mr Howell. You ask for an Israeli patrol vessel and a boarding party to deal with Ghaled. All I'm asking is some slight a.s.sistance from you in creating the conditions in which we can oblige you.'

'You're not obliging me. I'm trying to oblige you.'

'Why can't the captain simply radio requesting a.s.sistance?'

'On what grounds? That he has a man with a musical-box on board that he doesn't like the look of? No, the initiative will have to come from you.'

'But what sort of initiative?'

'As you've pointed out, distances at sea can be deceptive. Let's say your coastal radar makes a slight error. He's really a mile outside, but your people insist that he's a mile inside. Anyway, he's acting suspiciously. So you order him into Haifa as a suspected smuggler or for verification of ship's papers.

Under protest he agrees to obey. You could always apologise later.'

'Is that the best you can do, Mr Howell?'

'Yes. The ball's in your court. If you people are too fussy to bend the international rules a bit, I'm sorry. Mind you, I don't think you are too fussy. You're just hoping that I'll do the bending for you. Well, I won't. I have enough bending of my own rules to keep me busy, my own company rules. The captain of a ship may be an employee of the owner, but he's not going to behave like an incompetent just because the owner starts issuing foolish orders. The captain is still responsible.'

'Even if the owner is on board and willing to take the responsibility?'

'Even then. And anyway, this owner will not be on board.'

He sighed theatrically. 'Cooperation? Ah well. Let's add up the score. We don't know the radio frequencies Ghaled's going to be using. We don't know the course changes he's going to give you to pa.s.s on to the captain. Correction! The course and speed changes. We don't know why speed comes into it. We don't know where ash.o.r.e these charges are going to be placed or how. Don't know, don't know. When will you be given these course and speed changes? Don't tell me, let me guess. You don't know.'

'That's right. As soon as I do know I'll get in touch again.'

'Not with me you won't. Don't even try.'

I got a beady stare with that, so I gave him one back.

'Okay. That suits me. We'll just forget the whole thing.'

'I understood that you were offering pa.s.sive cooperation. Are you now regretting the offer and now withdrawing it?'

'That's up to you. Let's say that I find your reception of the offer discouragingly unattractive. Yes, I wouldn't mind withdrawing it."

He snorted. 'Bulls.h.i.t, Mr Howell! You just don't like plain speaking. You came here to get something off your conscience. What did you expect? Bouquets of roses?'

'Ordinary courtesy would have done.'

'Oops! Sorry. We're very grateful indeed, Mr Howell, believe me. Very, very grateful for all this information and non-information you've brought us. Will that do? Now have some more orangeade and cool off.'

'No, thank you.'

He refilled my gla.s.s anyway. 'It's full of vitamin C. Don't like it? All right, don't drink it. I'll tell you, very courteously if I can, what I'm going to do. First, I'll have this component a.n.a.lysed. Maybe we'll find something, maybe not. Another don't know, but what's one more among so many? Second, I'll propose this interception you suggest. Mind you, I can't do more than propose. Other people will make the decisions. Third, whatever is decided about interception and, if there is to be one, the manner of it, I've got to have those course and speed changes well in advance. What do you say about that?'

'Ghaled is shrewd and always suspicious. He doesn't trust anyone completely.'

'How far does he trust you?'

'He can't quite make up his mind. If you're suggesting that I might just casually ask for the information and get it, I can tell you now that wouldn't work. The initiative will have to come from him. I can prod him of course.'

'How?'

'Amalia will be three days hi Latakia discharging and loading cargo. I could convincingly argue that in order to get the captain to accept the pa.s.sengers in the first place and then to aquiesce in the course changes wanted, I will have to work on him a bit.'

'Will you have to?'

'Not much.'

'So it will still be last-minute information.'

'I'll try and figure out a way of getting it earlier, but I'm not going to promise. And while on the subject of promises, you'll have to understand a couple of things very clearly.'

'You're wagging your finger again, Mr Howell. What do I have to understand?'

'My private orders to Captain Touzani of the Amalia are going to leave him with a lot of discretion. I don't yet know how much I'll have to tell him, but he's an experienced man and can be relied upon to act sensibly. If the course which Ghaled dictates will, with a slight modification, make it easy for your people to intercept the ship near Haifa, Touzani will make that modification. But if, unavoidably, he is obliged to steer a course that will take him directly into the Tel Aviv area, then my orders will impose restrictions.'

'Such as?'

'Ghaled proposes to operate this transmitter of his from somewhere just outside the six-mile limit, say seven miles. At a guess that probably means that its extreme range is eight miles or nine. My orders to Captain Touzani will be to keep at least ten miles offsh.o.r.e - if he can do so without arousing suspicion. You might expect to get away with a three-mile position error with the ship out of sight of land. But close off-sh.o.r.e, where there are chartered lights on which bearings can be taken, that's not so easy.'

'So?'

'So you have to face the fact that, if the Amalia gets within ten miles of Tel Aviv, your people will have to be ready, rules or no rules, to take instant action. What's the range of the Tel Aviv coast radar? Fifteen, sixteen miles?'

'About that.'

'Well then, there you are. Touzani may or may not be able to keep his distance. Your lot have got to be watching, and prepared to move in to intercept if he can't.'

'Supposing he can.'

'Then, presumably, there'd be no explosions ash.o.r.e that night and, presumably, Ghaled would soon know that something had gone wrong. Maybe he'd come back and try again another night. He'd certainly be looking for scapegoats. Captain Touzani's orders will be to see that there is no risk of his being among them. My people are not expendable either.'

'What about you?'

'As far as Ghaled is concerned I will have carried out my orders. Don't worry. I intend to be in the clear.'

'But you'd still like us to pick him up for you, if we can.'

'Don't you want to pick him up, for G.o.d's sake?'

'All right. Points taken. Intercept early if practical to do so, or later if he looks like getting too close. We'll do what we can for you.' For me! He was insufferable. 'Now, Mr Howell, about communications. As I said, nothing direct from you.'