Paper or Plastic

by Mackey Chandler

  * * *

  "I'd say the person who wrote that should see their doctor about adjusting their meds, or make it a bit longer and hope for a Hugo," Ariel suggested. He tossed Haim's list of benefits offered and initial terms back on the table.

  "Hugo?"

  "An award. You mean in spite of that," he pointed at the sheet, "you don't read science fiction?"

  "Never have," Haim admitted. "It always seemed silly to me."

  "So why, in ten thousand words or less, do you believe any of that outlandish document?" Ariel asked and picked his coffee back up.

  "The three offering this," he patted the sheet, "were betrayed to the Americans the day before yesterday by that insolent pup that replaced you in New York. You knew when I called you he was causing me problems. Well the next day he ordered me not to have any contact with them, because he had offered them up to the Americans as a way to show he intended to cooperate with them much better than you had."

  "Idiot. It's a pact with the devil he wanted, one you never win. So what crime were they committing that he exposed?"

  "They asked me as a Commerce aide to find somebody with links to Israel with whom they could trade diamonds."

  "And..."

  "That's it. He didn't have time to investigate their backgrounds. He had no idea where they got the diamonds. He had no idea what they might be doing with the funds and because I classified the meeting record he had no idea how much money was involved either. He just intimated there was something darkly suspicious about them and invoked the magic word, terror, as pure gossip."

  "But the Feds smelled forfeiture money and none of the three were a name connected with any power politics, that might protect them. Right?"

  "Exactly. And he also had no clear concept of who he was exposing to having their door kicked down, in our own community. One of the people involved intimated they might put a price on the man's head and I don't think it was hyperbole. He basically destroyed the diamond trade in New York and uprooted much of the Orthodox community."

  "The Feds kicked down the doors of the diamond market on Shabbat and not knowing what stones were related to their warrant just took them all. I've heard it estimated a half billion dollars in diamonds are gone. We have to officially protest, but I don't see any hope of patching things up at all."

  "Not subtle. I was told he had been moved about because nobody wanted him as a subordinate. Everywhere he was sent there was always trouble, but none of it ever stuck to him. He was advanced to the next level to give him enough rope to hang himself."

  "Well, that certainly worked, didn't it?" Haim asked.

  "Yes, but I'm sure nobody saw what a mess he'd make doing it, or they would never have sent him to New York. Somebody will pay for that error."

  "Indeed. So, anyway – I went to their hotel and tried to warn them to get away. They were willing to leave and scrambling around getting ready to do so, but a team of Customs, Treasury and the FBI came in while I was there and knocked their door down. It complicated their exit and rather than stay and be associated with events, I accepted their invitation to flee to Israel with them."

  "Complicated? It should have made it impossible. How did they get out of custody and how could they ever get out of the country?"

  "They were never in custody Ariel. This is especially where the details of my story become a state secret, because we have to cover them with an alibi as part of the deal. Do you understand?"

  "Yes, if you think I have a need to know."

  "I believe so, yes. The entry team never got a single shot off. It was as one-sided as a bunch of middle school students attacking your headquarters with sticks. They weren't even afraid, it was more like – This is so stupid and unnecessary and they slaughtered them more in sadness than in battle lust."

  "I'm telling you this so you understand what a dangerous mindset these people have. If you get some foolish idea like the Americans, that you will just kick in their door and snatch their secrets you may jeopardize the survival of the entire nation."

  Haim waited for an objection that had to be an exaggeration, but Ariel just sat and looked at him.

  "They set the place on fire, most professionally I'd add and then booby-trapped their exit behind them as we went to the roof." Haim clammed up then suddenly realizing from his lack of reaction, that Ariel knew more than he was admitting.

  "I know something about that actually," Ariel admitted at the pause. "I spent the drive over making calls, but go on, please."

  "We got to the roof and boarded a strange small craft. It had neither propellers nor jets and yet it climbed away silently with great force. It climbed all the way to orbit and I saw the Earth below just like satellite photos. Things floated off my lap in the absence of gravity," he explained with gestures.

  "They gave me the choice to offer these things to our country, or the chance to just walk away if I wanted. They suggested if I thought you'd try to betray them, they should just go to the Swiss. Not for their safety – for ours because they would feel obligated to respond. I think it would be a great tragedy to send them away, Ariel. If you do, I think our children will be buying tickets to the moon from Swissair, instead of El Al."

  "Hmm, I suppose that would be pretty hard to fake. Like a Disney ride or something?"

  "Ariel, I called you instead of the Consul, because I didn't think he could wrap his mind around it. Don't make me regret it. Do you think I'm an idiot that can't tell a carnival ride from reality? Do you think they would take me to a flight simulator on the roof, after shooting a bunch of Federal agents? Or do you think they faked the blood and dead agents I had to step over in the hall, to go to the roof?"

  "No, no, I know the massacre is real enough," he said.

  Haim could tell he was reserving judgment on something. "They're somewhat upset about it. The fire gutted the top floor of the hotel and water damaged the next two floors rather badly."

  "The only reason I know anything about this, is they told us the minimum necessary to lodge a protest. Our man Ehud was at the hotel and involved. A lot of what they claimed still doesn't ring true. He didn't get out and I'm glad you did, because with two Israelis involved, we'd never convince them it wasn't our operation from the start.

  "They seemed to think we had him positioned to become a double for some reason. Idiots. They may even believe your three hellions were our agents. I think they are grasping at straws to explain things that don't make any sense. Or decide which agency he was involved with to blame. Anyhow he was trapped in the stairwell and wasn't completely burnt up like the ones in the hall, but I guess it wasn't a very pretty end. They never did explain why he couldn't escape."

  Haim could hear a definite question in the last statement, but he didn't volunteer what he knew.

  "So if their diamonds have been seized, we can cross that off the list of trade they are offering?" Ariel asked.

  Haim decided not to reveal the diamonds were in the consulate. He wasn't fully sure he could even trust Ariel. God, he was getting as paranoid as the trio. "You are not grasping the scope, Ariel. I sat and watched them engage Aaron Schumacher to do their diamond cutting and trading. They handed over something like a hundred million dollars of rough diamonds. They had already told Aaron they had over a dozen lots like that one to sell. Call it a billion dollars. Does that give you any perspective?"

  "Oh… yeah, I'm starting to get the idea," he admitted.

  "Get us in to see your boss," Haim begged him.

  * * *

  "This need not be taken before the whole government," Ariel's boss, Barak Menashe explained to Ariel and Haim. "Perhaps should not, would state it better. If that were to be done it would get enmeshed in a morass of political fighting over turf. Every agency will see need to regulate it and gain funding from it and their energies will be expended on infighting."

  "No, what we need is to keep it limited to the select few, who directly oversee our operations. The Prime Minister, a few of his cabinet and a very few in the K
nesset. If what you are saying is accurate, we have more than enough funds to divert to this project. Simply by being successful it would render many of those other projects irrelevant and free their funding up. Keeping it a closely guarded secret, we can move ahead quickly – relatively speaking of course."

  Chapter 24

  The villa Nava showed them was lovely. More importantly it was perched on a rocky point overlooking the sea. They walked through, discussing how the rooms could be used and what had to be remodeled. Then Nava left them to get the caretakers from their quarters to introduce. They ended up outside looking down at the sea. The shore was surf in tumbled rocks and the approach was naked to the house all the way up a treacherous slope.

  "Wouldn't a house in the city be safer?" Martee asked. "We'd be sort of - lost in a crowd among all the others?"

  "Nah," Josh dissented, "all the cover works for the other side too. The Americans can track us and use all the businesses and apartments from which to observe us. And once they think they have us located exactly, they could drop a pinpoint-accurate weapon right down our chimney from seventy thousand feet. Or at least they think they can. That doesn’t always work as smoothly as they'd like to admit."

  "Here there is nothing within a kilometer we can't identify as normal traffic. Our neighbors are few and we can catalog them quickly. If someone wants to snoop on us the only way to do it is perched on a hillside, or hanging around in a boat. The only thing we will have to do is find out which are the Israelis. I know damn well they will watch us, so we have to separate them from the hostiles."

  "That slope from the water would be a bitch to climb," Roger noted, "but there are a lot of rocks big enough to take cover behind. Do you think we could get a crew to demo any of the big ones down to where there is not so much cover?"

  "We could do that, but then they'd find another way to approach if it's obvious that one has been denied. I'd rather plant small charges downhill of every rock big enough for cover, but leave the hillside looking the same. If a force tries a frontal assault up the hill we let them land. Then we blow every point that might be giving them cover and also blow a line of bigger charges drilled into the hill higher up and tamped in real well. That will bring the whole face of the hill down and sweep everything into the ocean or bury it. Maybe even get their boat if it is in close enough."

  Roger just smiled, but Martee looked distressed, picturing it too well.

  "I also like to level and pave this area around the house with decorative patterns. The sort of paving bricks set without mortar in fancy geometric patterns. It looks nice and, we can leave various surprises under there too."

  Roger nodded agreement. "I think I know a guy – Phil Parham – to take most of this off our shoulders if you want. He's on a medical discharge like me. He wouldn't do the hands-on, but he can boss it. He was a combat engineer and he won't be shocked if we plant little presents under his work and he's done civilian contracting too. How about if I call him up and offer him a cash payment and a ticket to take a look at it and see if we can hire him?"

  "OK, but don't call him. Send a courier, so the agencies don't put the muscle on him before he ever gets here. If there's anybody back in the States that pissed you off, probably the nastiest thing you could do right now is to give them a friendly phone call. I'd bet they'd be picked up and sweated through an interrogation very quickly. We're going to need somebody for security too. I believe I'll inquire of Aaron Schumacher. He indicated they had a lot of security in New York who are out of work now."

  * * *

  The resident couple was the Golds. They spoke excellent English, better than Martee had managed yet. They seemed interested in the new renters, but didn't have that look of fear; as if they were worried they would be rejected and booted out. Roger asked what their normal duties were and they didn't fumble around with vague ideas. It was obvious Mara was a good manager and had a clear understanding with her support staff. They also had a long list of relatives in the village three kilometers away, who could be hired for single events like parties, or on a regular basis.

  "We want to be honest with you," Roger informed them. "We all are wanted on warrants by the Americans. I don't think that puts you in danger working for us, but if they came try to snatch us you might be in some danger just being in the house. We'll be making things as secure as we know how, but if you'd rather not chance it, I will make sure you are not hurt financially by turning us down."

  Mrs. Gold gave her husband a look that said it was up to him.

  "I'd rather get paid for doing something than not. Being an Israeli is a risk every day. We've learned to live with risks. Anyone who can afford a place like this probably has enemies, even if they are just from business. I'd like to stay, but if you can sweeten the pay we won't turn it down and maybe I can be of use to you if you have security issues."

  "Tell me more," Roger invited.

  "Well, we have relatives in town. We can spread a little money around with them and the store keepers. Let them know there is a bigger reward if strangers show up asking questions and they let us know promptly. My sister has a house on the road leading up here. She'll let us put a camera on her property watching the road, just as a favor – no fee needed."

  Roger named a figure that added half again to the couple's salary and asked if that would be adequate. They agreed without trying to haggle it up, so it must have been more than they expected.

  * * *

  Phil Parham had lots of ideas, all of them expensive. Roger suspected that he put them out at the interview so that he could turn down the job as underfunded. The fact that his bosses would entertain any of them seriously seemed to surprise him, but definitely pleased him. He recovered and formally accepted the job.

  In fact, Roger got the definite impression that he felt it was entirely his choice if he signed on and they already had decided they wanted him. That irritated Roger a little, but he let it pass rather than alienate the fellow by making the point that the interview cut both ways. He sensed that might offend the fellow unnecessarily and he didn't want to lose him in a clash of egos.

  The suggestion that his ideas for a safe room were too modest left Phil very surprised. Even Martee agreed it should be a real bunker, deeper and harder, with an escape tunnel and independent utilities. After the shock wore off he started enjoying himself. The design wouldn't stop a serious air dropped bunker buster, but the Raytheon Battlefield Laser Josh bought and had dropped by helo in their courtyard, made it clear any plane dropping a penetrator better be able to stand way off to release if. Something like prolonged five-inch naval gunfire could be kept up longer than the laser could fire and overwhelm it, but that would be a bit too obvious against sovereign Israeli soil. The Israelis might take serious exception to a prolonged shore bombardment from the Americans.

  * * *

  Six weeks after Nava showed them the house, the inside was torn up and busy with workmen. Several vital people had been hired although they had to find apartments in the village during the work. Fortunately the area had quite a few rental units because of its location on a picturesque stretch of the coast. On the down side that also meant they went for premium holiday rates.The changes were so extensive they agreed the proper thing was to buy the home form Nava. That's when they became aware of the complexities of land ownership in Israel. Absent a record of ownership back to the Ottoman land registry, land vested in the government and ownership was often indeterminate since the 1917 British mandate, without a court ruling.

  A phone call to Haim resulted in a visit from a government lawyer, with a case full of documents that confirmed Martee as owner, Nava was more impressed with that than anything else she had seen, including the diamonds. Martee was their choice because she had the Israeli passport and her personal history could be created from scratch without the complexities of the men's existing records.

  * * *

  They had all been into town for shopping or to have a meal out for variety. The three of them never v
isited the village together for security reasons and they missed doing that as it had been great fun in New York.

  Even Josh and Roger took hired security with them when they went into town or beyond. Between them, Roger and Josh had recruited several personal guards, who looked unlikely, but who they assured Martee were very capable.

  They still worried that Martee was not as aggressive as either of them, despite her performance in combat situations and made sure she always had at least two guards. She was so polite she might not recognize an attack or kidnapping being set up, until somebody laid hands on her.

  This was all because of how badly the Americans wanted to bring them back for a show trial. Customs and the other agencies refused to accept any responsibility for their actions in New York and a very public trial pinning the blame on somebody else would quiet the complaints in the press, about what was obviously a very bad seizure.

  The agencies were doing everything they could, to keep the matter from being presented to a court by lawyers for Aaron Schumacher and other diamond merchants. A conviction of the trio before any hearing on the forfeiture, would make a win almost automatic.

  * * *

  When trouble came it was as usual, not in the form they had anticipated. Martee was in town with her escorts, shopping and buying flowers before coming home. Their newest communications advisor Stacy, an American, was at the market buying a bag of grapes. The three agents who tried to render her missed Martee, a much better target, standing a few meters away. Worse, they missed her security and they apparently were unaware the market was owned by the extended Gold family, associated with the villa staff.

  "This is such a bad operation it's embarrassing," Roger said. "They were understaffed, undergunned and picked a bad location. Are you sure it was even an authorized snatch, or somebody just saw her and got carried away with an opportunity?"