The Secrets We Live In: A Novel

by Fazle Chowdhury

  “I can’t tell you both to lie on my behalf, but I can tell him myself and face the consequences as needs be.”

  Then Zain’s cell phone beeped. It was a text from the Communications team that read, “Turn on the tv!.”

  The three men did so. News had broken out that the Paris police had conducted a secret raid on Zain’s mansion to obtain the body of Walter Ule was kept, breaking the protocol of the Foreign Ministry. But the real news was in two parts. One, the body had disappeared before their raid. Two, during the raid, the police had stumbled upon surveillance and hidden cameras inside the facility that the mansion’s security did not know about.

  Salima texted Zain that she believed this was part of a series of spying programs, one that was specially directed at the Ambassador himself. The nature of the monitoring was not clear, but what was uncovered was a series of tape recordings that belonged to someone the security did not know of. The police, however, could not play the records, as the devices required a passcode.

  On the television, Zain’s Prime Minister commented live.

  “We are taking this matter very seriously,” said Prime Minister Ikramullah Mandan, as he announced his intention to launch their own investigation into the matter. The news explicitly mentioned that Zain was the target. It was evident someone had leaked this news to the press. Zain turned to the two who were standing behind him.

  “Can you explain this?” he asked.

  Ferdash remained quiet, but Mazaar spoke up and coughed as he began.

  “It’s kind of difficult to explain,” he said.

  “You have all the time,” replied Zain as he was curious.

  “It was the only way to create a distraction to get Ule out and hand him over to Herzl’s men!” said Mazaar.

  “Who is Ule?’ asked Zain.

  “The not-so-dead man and Bagratuni’s boss!”

  “I don’t understand, and who were you trying to distract?”

  “General Kemal and Prime Minister Mandan,” said Mazaar.

  “I’m sorry,” said a confused Zain.

  “It’s really meant to get them off our backs with your nuclear deal and focus on the one thing we deem most important,” said Mazaar.

  “I would love to hear what that is?” asked Zain.

  “To make the missing nuclear design codes go obsolete.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Mazaar?” asked Zain in what he considered to be hearing drivel.

  “Ule was the bate to get Bagratuni nervous,” said Ferdash,

  “The nuclear codes Mazaar speaks of, well, since we can’t get them, we want to go after the main supplier and possibly use him as a trade.”

  “And who the hell is that and what trade?” asked Zain.

  “Bagratuni is the supplier, Sir!” replied Mazaar.

  “What trade?” asked a furious Zain.

  “A trade for your life, Sir!” said Ferdash.

  Zain looked at both the faces in front of him. Plagued with guilt, they were hiding what he should have known all along but didn’t.

  “Both of you should tell me everything before whatever this is, gets out of control,” ordered Zain.

  ╔ ——————————————— ╗

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-SIX

  ╚ ——————————————— ╝

  “Simon, can you get in here?" Donamessi said abruptly over the phone.

  Eldan composed himself by adjusting his blue tie. Some of the other staff looked at him to see if he would be thrown into an unkind form of fire that would lead to his demise. He buttoned his dark blue suit jacket and began to walk towards his boss's office. As he walked through the short-distance corridor, Eldan felt alone in a mission he had crafted for himself that was becoming lonelier by the minute. This was not the only summoning call he had received. Almost every day, he was asked by some committee member or another about possible leaks, conspiracies, or plain flat dumb questions related to what his job was. Even the air around felt rusty, and the dying lights made it ever so spooky. Feeling like a man with a target on his back, Eldan walked just as he had composed himself, with caution.

  He certainly had to be after his last debacle. A complaint had arrived a few months back that he had punched another staffer on the abdomen and in the groin repeatedly. Apparently, the staffer came home with a bad bruise and a few stitches. When a disciplinary committee asked what happened, the explanation provided by Eldan's attorney was that the agent wasn't even in his room. The staffer was harassing a woman at the other side of the building. Eldan testified he didn't even see the agent the entire day. Turns out the staffer had a hockey game that night before he came home. The bruise came from a bar brawl shortly after the game where a woman whom he did harass at work beat him up without holding anything back. Once the facts were validated, Eldan was given a fruitless apology. A nervous episode for Eldan as he seldom got out of these types of accusations.

  Eldan looked at his Raymond Weil Freelancer watch. A gift given to him by his illustrious late father after his early retirement from the Airforce. He kept glancing at it and thinking about how the needles in the watch were like the edge of a razor blade, hard to see, especially in poor light. If time was money, this situation was not so. Time meant harassment and more. The money was just pocket change for the greater good, whatever that was.

  Donamessi saw Eldan between the slightly opened door.

  "Come in, Simon," she called out.

  Eldan entered his boss's office only to see four other men standing by the wall in black suits. He took a seat and relaxed, not knowing the purpose of his summon.

  "For the record, we've been joined by Simon Eldan, from the office of Representative Donamessi," one of the men who was recording called out.

  Representative Scheinermann was also in attendance.

  Looking around, Eldan believed this was a light interview which could become an interrogation for something he probably had little idea about. He may be new to the subject, but the circumstance was not new to him. He had been in a similar situation before.

  "Do you know why you have been called in, Mr. Eldan?" asked one of the men in black suits.

  "No," he responded.

  The agent received a package from one of his subordinates and opened it. There was a large document inside. Once he pulled it out, he handed it to Eldan.

  "Do you recognize this individual?" he asked.

  Eldan looked at the photograph. It was the picture of Haviv. He took a deep breath and kept on looking at the photo. He used the time to think about what to do next. He was undecided on whether to speak the truth, lie, or both.

  "Mr. Eldan, I am asking you again, do you recognize this individual?"

  Eldan acted startled.

  "Yes, I have met him a few times," Eldan replied.

  "Under what circumstances?"

  "It was at odd moments; at the corridors here, sometimes at parks, here or there."

  There was a pause, and all men in the room looked at each other.

  "What is his name?" the agent asked Eldan.

  “Lieutenant Ariel Haviv”

  "How did you first meet him?"

  "Twelve years ago, I met him during a Combat System Officer Flight Training class at the Academy."

  "Would you consider him a friend?"

  Eldan thought about the question for a minute.

  "Not really," he finally said.

  The agent asking the questions took a step back. Then, another of his contemporaries weighed in.

  "Would you say you have kept a good communication channel with him over the years?"

  "No, not really," Eldan replied.

  "You mean to say you have never scheduled a time to meet with him anywhere?"

  "Not to the best of my recollection," Eldan replied.

  There was another pause.

  "Let him go. He's cooperated. What more do you want from him?" Donamessi protested.

  "Just a minute," Scheinermann s
aid as he continued to whisper to the four other men in attendance.

  Eldan began to look at the ceiling of the office. He suspected the office was bugged, so he looked deep into the sprinkler. He could not see if there was a camera installed there, but his suspicion remained. He began taking deep breaths, and one of the men noticed.

  "Are you perspiring?" the agent asked and smiled.

  "No," Eldan responded firmly.

  The agent leaned in on the table.

  "We do need a few things cleared up," he said.

  “About Lieutenant Haviv?” Eldan asked.

  "No, about you, Mr. Eldan."

  "I'm sorry, I don't understand," Eldan said.

  One of the men in a black suit provided another picture. Eldan had his back towards Haviv at a park in Dupont Circle in the picture.

  "Are you telling me this meeting too was not scheduled?" the agent asked sarcastically.

  Eldan looked at the picture again. It was a little blurred but accurate enough. It did look like him from the side view, but there could be doubts. It was not 100% him.

  "Mr. Eldan has been lying to us from the moment he stepped into this room," the agent said accusingly.

  Eldan looked up from where he sat, still holding the photo. He was trying to figure out what these men wanted.

  "Before you accuse me and go through the rigors of a trial, I don't know who the person in this photo is. This is not me." Eldan said.

  "Are you telling us that this is not you?"

  "No, that is not me. Have a look at my watch," Eldan said and displayed his present Raymond Weil Freelancer watch, which differed from the one in the picture.

  "The agent in that picture is wearing a Stainless-Steel Stretch Metal Replacement Expansion Watch Band. I am allergic to metal which is why I only wear watches with leather straps." Eldan said.

  There were looks of doubt on the faces of the men present.

  "I can remove my watch right now so you can check if there are metal marks on my wrist," Eldan proposed.

  The men looked on speechless.

  "Let me also point out that I don't wear sunglasses. As a former pilot, I have come to know that UV-blocking lenses are heavy, and I feel their weight on my face. I only wear my reading glasses." He took out his glasses from his pocket to show everyone what he was talking about. "Also, I am a Mets fan and not a Yankees fan," he said, referring to the cap his look-alike was putting on.

  The men who were questioning Eldan started feeling foolish.

  Eldan took a deep breath and then pointed at the agent's jaw in the picture. "I don't have a scratch mark on the right corner of my jaw as this picture suggests."

  Eldan lifted his chin and showed it to everyone present.

  He took another deep breath, looked at Donamessi before addressing the men. "Do you have any more things to accuse me of?"

  Scheinermann looked at the others and shook his head. There was a cold silence in the room.

  "Why are you guys inquiring about Haviv and his relationship with me?" Eldan asked.

  There was silence.

  "What did he do that you have brought me in for?"

  None of the men responded.

  "Haviv is dead," Donamessi said.

  "Jessica, you promised you would not interfere in this!" Scheinermann yelled.

  "Dead? How?" Eldan asked.

  "Stop the recording!" one of the men said.

  Donamessi spoke of the details of the final opaque minutes of Haviv's life. Four days before his death, he was supposed to be in an afternoon meeting at Eighteen hundred Tysons boulevard, a twenty-minute drive from his Georgetown condo at the capital. The location was a modern 27-floor office tower building covered in glass curtain walls around prominent green skyscrapers. His 2009 blue Honda Civic was parked in front of the building, which meant that the meeting was brief because if not, he would have parked in the garage. Nearby CCTV cameras recorded Haviv leap from one of the balconies. Seconds later, he was on the ground, dead.

  The police arrested two men. They were certified accountants who were supposed to meet Haviv to interview him for a senior executive role. However, both men insisted that Haviv had committed suicide before they had the chance.

  "Was there anything the postmortem examination could trace?" Eldan asked.

  One of the men spoke on evidence of antidepressants in Haviv's blood. He had lost a lot of weight in the last few weeks, a sure sign of considerable stress. Suicide or not, there were unanswered questions.

  "Were there any threats made to his life?" Eldan asked.

  "We don't know," one of the men replied quickly.

  "Wasn't Haviv your chief of Staff David?" Donamessi asked.

  "Yes, he was," Scheinermann replied. His face was creased into a frown as he answered the question. Obviously, he didn't want the others to know about his past relationship with Haviv.

  "With all due respect, shouldn't you all be questioning Representative Scheinermann instead of me on this matter? Surely he has more substantial evidence in the form of emails, phone conversations, and documents that could help," Eldan suggested.

  "He was my chief of staff for only one year, and I fired him five years ago," Scheinermann said defensively.

  One of the men explained that according to Haviv's cell phone records, at least one phone call had been traced back to the building and possibly to their floor. The agent described the incident as a security issue because both users on the call had unidentifiable frequency, leading them to believe that it was either a call with a foreign contact or a burner phone ―both deemed a security risk. Through surveillance software, the incident was identified, but the details of the call remained unknown. The agents explained that since both I.D.s of the callers were well hidden, not much could be done about it. Eldan looked at Donamessi, who also seemed concerned.

  "You still haven't told me why Haviv's death is being investigated?" Eldan asked

  Scheinermann looked at Donamessi as if he was confused about what to say.

  "They suspect Haviv was a double agent," Donamessi answered. She explained that he had consumed information for the last five years in his role at Langley. But as he did so, he gathered, processed, and built links with other intelligence networks worldwide. As a result, he knew about several activities. But the one that mattered to the investigation at hand was a list of offshore bank accounts connecting one specific criminal network.

  "This criminal network must have a name?" Eldan asked.

  "It's classified," Scheinermann said.

  Donamessi further said that the men in the room had searched Haviv's home for the account records. They checked his emails, cell phone, and other documents they found, but the records could not be found. They allegedly disappeared from his desk on the day of his death.

  "Well, I am sorry that I cannot be of further assistance on this matter," Eldan said.

  As soon as Eldan completed his sentence, another question arose.

  "When was the last time you met Haviv?"

  Eldan thought for a while before he replied, "Couple of weeks ago."

  "What did you two talk about," the agent asked Eldan.

  Eldan breathed in slowly. "He said he ran into someone that I extracted something from their mouth."

  "But you are not a dentist," Scheinermann said.

  "No, this is based on the Mike Murphy incident," Eldan said.

  Eldan explained that he was summoned to a review board after a fistfight with a commanding officer during his last week at the Airforce. He had broken his superior's neck and then used a pair of office scissors to pluck out the agent's front teeth to embarrass him over bullying another pilot. Haviv only mentioned that Murphy had recently become a Principal of a defense contracting firm.

  "I'm surprised that you were not fired over the incident, Simon," Scheinermann said.

  Eldan explained that while there was plenty of evidence of wrongdoing, he had already made known his intention to retire early. Therefore, the Review Committee allow
ed the completion of his honorable discharge provided he paid a fine and tendered a public apology over the incident, which he did.

  "And you have had no contact with him since?"

  "Not to the best of my recollection," Eldan said.

  "Do you have his phone number?"

  "No."

  The agent questioning Eldan looked unconvinced.

  "Can I see your phone, Mr. Eldan?"

  Eldan took out his iPhone.

  "Would you please unlock it?"

  Eldan entered an eight-digit code and unlocked it.

  The agent took out a piece of paper with Haviv's phone number and went through Eldan's calls list. The number wasn't found in the call log.

  "Thank you for that," the agent said as he returned the phone to Eldan.

  There was a knock on the door. Donamessi went to get the door. It was an intern who'd come to deliver a message that Eldan's weekly Friday food had been sitting on his desk for some time. It looked like the oil of the bag was leaking, and the garlic was stinking the place up.

  Donamessi looked at the men. "Surely he's allowed to go and take care of his mess and come back if you all have more questions."

  The men looked at each other.

  "No, we are done here, and he can go eat whatever filth is leaking," Scheinermann said.

  Eldan got up, buttoned his suit jacket, and began making his way out of the office. One of the men stopped him in his tracks.

  The agent handed him his card and said, "If you remember anything else that Haviv said to you, give me a call" he said.

  Eldan took the agent's card and placed it in his pocket. As he left the office, it occurred to him that although he usually ordered food on Fridays, he didn't order any food that day.

  When Eldan got to his desk, he saw the food in a brown bag. He opened it and found garlic bagel locks and cream cheese inside. He closed the bag and walked towards the exit of the building. When he got to a nearby park, he sat on a bench to see if his suspicions were correct.

  There was a small hard disk inside the bagel. Eldan looked around in search of the nearest place he could find a desktop to open the files. But on a Friday it would be challenging to find a place. The only option was a Print & Ship Services retail store outlet that did copying and printing. Eldan went inside.