Plausible Deniability: The explosive Lex Harper novella

by Stephen Leather

  ‘He is called Saif - the name means Sword in my language - and he is my mentor, guardian, adviser and protector. He keeps me chaste-’ she gave Harper an ambiguous smile as she said it, which combined with her low, husky voice, set his pulse racing a little faster, ‘-by discouraging the attentions of unsuitable men, and sometimes suitable men also. My potential suitors tend to fear him and with good reason, because he can be merciless. Occasionally, I listen to what he has to say but more often than not, I tend to ignore him.’ Again there was the conspiratorial smile.

  ‘He was appointed my guardian by my father when I was just a baby and he has been at my side always. He was even with me at Benenden in England - the only man at a school for the daughters of royalty, billionaires and oligarchs - and at my finishing school in Switzerland, where the girls all loved him. His duty to me will not end until I am married, when my husband will take over the responsibility, unless I am disgraced or killed before then, in which case Saif will have to avenge me and then kill himself.’

  ‘Not a job with prospects, then,’ Harper said.

  She laughed. ‘Possibly not. As you may know, in my country the girls marry very young. I am already a long way past the time when by our customs, I should have been married, so Saif should already have retired and be tending his gardens. He has no family but me and he would enjoy some peace and quiet, but sadly for Saif, though not for me, I am not ready to become a loyal submissive Saudi bride just yet. ‘

  ‘Is Saif your only bodyguard?’

  ‘Yes, but he’s much more than just a bodyguard. Not only has he taught me the arts of diplomacy and the ways of various cultures, but from when I was very young he also instructed me in the traditions and skills of the Arab warrior. He has made me proficient in unarmed and armed conflict and I can use a large array of weapons - in fact everything from knitting needles to hand-held Surface to Air Missiles.’

  ‘Impressive,’ Harper said. ‘My grandmother could be pretty lethal with a pair of knitting needles, but a SAM missile was definitely well above her pay grade!’

  She smiled. ‘I also persuaded Saif to let me attend the Saudi-Arabian Special Forces Selection Course.’

  ‘And did you pass?’

  She nodded. ‘With honours. So, now I am a Major-General in the Royal Saudi Special Forces.’ As she said it, she yawned and stretched, showing off every curve.

  ‘Very pleased to meet you, Major-General,’ Harper said, hiding his surprise. ‘I never got beyond Warrant Officer myself.’

  ‘In the SAS?’

  He shook his head. ‘The Parachute Regiment, but now I’m a civilian, a security consultant.’

  ‘A description that covers a multitude of activities,’ she said. ‘But call me Laiya, please. And just because I have now told you all my secrets does not mean I would not like you to become one of my suitors, if you find me attractive.’

  Harper glanced at Saif and saw his lips twitching as he tried to suppress a smile. ‘After what you’ve already told me about Saif’s way with a suitor, I think I’ll take a rain check on that for now, thanks Laiya, but you never know, I might just try my luck sometime.’

  ‘As long as you are aware of the potential consequences, I think I would welcome that, though there is one further thing I should tell you. My guardian’s favourite weapon is the silken strangling rope he wears round his waist. He keeps it for the unsuitable men who chase after me. He learned the arts of its use from some obscure religious sect in the Himalayas and he has used it before on at least a couple of occasions. I hope you don’t find all this too off-putting.’ She glanced across at Saif and then back at Harper, once more with a mischievous smile playing around her lips. ‘See, even now he cannot keep from touching his rope.’

  Harper returned her smile but found himself moving a little further away along the bench as he did so.

  Before they parted, Laiya asked him to meet her in the Maglis later that day. When he did so, he found Saif there with her, still wearing his silk belt, sitting quietly to one side, but close enough to listen intently to everything that was said.

  ‘I have a confession to make, Lex,’ Laiya said, as soon as he sat down. ‘I wanted to meet you and evaluate you, so our meeting this morning was not entirely coincidental.’

  ‘I’d guessed as much.’ Harper said. ‘I’ve very much enjoyed my stay here but I learned a long time ago that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.’

  She inclined her head in acknowledgement. ‘I believe our Head of Chancery at the embassy in Bangkok mentioned the possibility of a joint operation to remove a source of nuisance to all of us?’

  ‘It was mentioned,’ Harper said, ‘but not in any detail.’

  ‘Well, in fact we have in mind a series of three operations in which your skills could be very valuable to us. I am the nominated commander of those missions, but you will need to discuss this with the head of our special operations team. His cover name is Anwar.’

  ‘And where will I find him?’

  She smiled. ‘In an office on the top floor of this building.’

  Harper grinned back. ‘Is there anyone in this resort at the moment who isn’t involved in special operations?’

  ‘Only the waiters, chefs and housemaids, and even they’ve all been security screened. Come.’ Still tracked by Saif, she led Harper out of the Maglis and up a marble staircase to the upper floor. She knocked on a door at the end of the corridor and stepped back to allow Harper to enter first.

  A man wearing the uniform of a Major in the Special Security Services division of the Royal Saudi Land Forces looked up from his desk, then stood up and gave the Arab greeting ‘As salaam alaikum.’

  Harper made the traditional reply ‘Wa alaikum a salaam.’

  ‘I’m Anwar,’ he said, ‘welcome.’ He pressed a button on his desk and an aide hurried in with tiny cups of treacle-like, heavily ginger-flavoured black coffee and a dish of fresh dates. After drinking the customary polite two cups, Lex shook the cup to indicate his thirst was quenched.

  As was the Saudi way, Anwar was in no hurry to address the purpose of their meeting and spent ten minutes making small talk with Harper about his stay at the resort and the delights of the Red Sea before getting to the point. In common with much of the Saudi elite, he had obviously been educated at an English public school, and spoke excellent, if still slightly accented, English.

  ‘Lex,’ he said at last, ‘let us understand each other. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is of course a rich and powerful nation, and, with the exception of the US, Russia and China, we spend more on defence than any country in the world. However - and I’m speaking frankly in the knowledge that this conversation is absolutely confidential.’ He waited for Harper’s nod before continuing. ‘The lion’s share of that expenditure has been on conventional weapons and forces, and our expertise in special forces operations and black ops has languished behind several other countries, including our traditional regional rivals, Iran and Israel. However, we can be very patient when it suits us and we are willing to learn from those with greater expertise, even when they are enemies. So we have studied the way other countries carry out their black ops. The Iranians often operate through proxies such as Hezbollah, providing weaponry, intelligence and other support, including advisers, but remaining in the background. The Israelis, by contrast, have little use for proxies. They are very methodical in pursuit of their objectives and utterly ruthless. They go in all guns blazing, do the job, take the flak and do not care what the world thinks of them, secure in the knowledge that their US allies will protect them from any backlash. American backbones, of course, are stiffened by an unholy alliance of the Zionist lobby and the born-again fundamentalist Christians itching for the US to provoke another Arab-Israeli war that will fulfil their prophecy that it will trigger “The Rapture”.’ He smiled and shook his head. ‘And the West talks about Muslim extremists. We are nothing compared with the Zionists.’

  Harper listened but said nothing. He cared little for politics
, all he needed to know was what was required of him, and he was happy enough to sit and wait so he smiled and nodded amiably.

  ‘The Russians are different,’ continued Anwar. ‘They try to carry out black ops secretly but their operatives are poorly trained and their methods clumsy, so the operations are often bungled or publicly revealed, like the attempted assassinations of Russian émigrés carried out on your own soil. The Americans themselves seem to suffer from some of the same failings and in any case, it is impossible to keep anything secret in Washington for long. We prefer the British way of operating, Lex. You carry out your black ops in the dark, as it were, leave quietly and when the balloon goes up, there is never a trace of a culprit and no evidence linking the op to you. We admire that sleight of hand and we aspire to act in the same way ourselves. I do know of some ops that have been carried out by, or on behalf of Britain, and I’m sure you could tell me of many others, were you to be so indiscreet, where often no one, not even the victims, realised exactly what had been done, let alone who had done it.’

  Harper nodded again and smiled. And waited. He resisted the urge to look at his watch.

  ‘So we have tried to absorb those lessons and now we have our own black operations team, modelled on the British approach, and as you’ve already discovered,’ Anwar continued. He flashed a smile at Laiya, ‘we even have female operators in our team. We have adapted the various selection methods used by other countries to toughen up the physical and mental attributes of the Saudi Bedu tribes. Our selection process is based on the strengths of the ancient Saudi warriors who spread the Word of Allah - blessed be his name - in the glorious past. We start by testing their ability to ride a camel and a horse, and then they have to live and travel for weeks in the vast desert wastes of our country. They also have to swim for long distances in the seas inhabited by all sorts of dangerous creatures, and finally they have to show their prowess with a rifle and other weapons. These are the ancient skills we look for. After that, we train them in the manner of modern operations. They have to be lethal in unarmed combat, able to handle all manner of weapons, be expert in one or more of a range of skills that include demolitions, sniping, surveillance and counter-surveillance, signals and battlefield trauma medicine. They must speak impeccable English, the language of the modern world. They must know how to conduct themselves in modern Western and Eastern society. And finally, they must be totally loyal to the House of Saud and to the country of Saudi Arabia. We have help from our friends to train them in all this because we know that time is important if we are to catch up with our rivals, and I would not be surprised if you were to come across a familiar face or two in the unlikely event you were ever to visit our training facility.’

  Harper’s smile was getting strained. It was clear that Anwar loved the sound of his own voice and while what he was saying was interesting enough, it was pretty much irrelevant.

  Anwar was oblivious to Harper’s discomfort as he continued his lecture. ‘However, our personnel have not yet reached the levels of expertise and experience that you and your British colleagues possess - how could they when they have been training for only a few years and have very little combat experience? ‘ He gave a broad smile and spread his hands wide. ‘So there you have it, Lex. We can offer you an opportunity to use your unique set of skills and talents, plus your knowledge of certain geographical areas, in matters of the utmost importance to us. We aim to launch joint operations using our own black ops team, in partnership with yourself and any additional personnel that you wish to bring in. Should you agree to take part - and should the agency which normally has first call on your services raise no objections to that - you will be extremely well rewarded. I am authorised to offer you a fee of one million American dollars - half in advance, the balance on completion - payable in gold, cash, or by transfer to any bank account anywhere in the world, as you prefer. Will you work with us?’

  Harper wanted to cheer now that Anwar had finally got to the point, but he simply smiled. ‘I thought you’d never ask. But I’d obviously appreciate a bit more information on the ops you’re planning.’

  Anwar and Laiya exchanged a glance. ‘I cannot discuss the second operation at this point,’ Anwar said, ‘because it is at a very delicate stage, but the first one will target a group of Somali pirates.’

  ‘Somali pirates? I thought that was all over now.’

  ‘So did we. The increased NATO patrols and a series of air raids targeting the pirates’ havens had seen the rate of incidents off the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden drop to about a tenth of what it had been five years ago. However, there has recently been a marked resurgence, fuelled not just by the collapse of the Somali economy - that has never been much more than what I think you British call a “basket case” anyway - but also by the growing influence of Islamic terrorists, Al Shabaab in particular. They have infiltrated southern Somalia and are moving steadily north and they are not only extorting protection money from the local warlords but also forcing them back into piracy and demanding a share of the ransoms they collect from hijacked ships.’

  ‘But it isn’t just terrorists,’ Laiya said. ‘The pirates are also being funded by a stock exchange in the Somali city of Harardhere where, probably by no coincidence, Al Shabaab has a strong presence. It’s not exactly the Square Mile of the City of London, but investors in Harardhere can buy and sell “piracy futures”: shares in forthcoming attacks and hijackings. Somali expatriates, mostly in North America, have also been providing funds, equipment and information on ship movements, either in return for a share of the profits or simply to provide an income for relatives still living in Somalia.’

  Harper was about to make a comment along the lines of ‘brains and beauty’ or ‘not just a pretty face’ but figured it wasn’t the time or place for levity so he simply nodded.

  ‘The pirate operations are increasingly sophisticated,’ said Anwar. ‘They even use currency-counting machines - exactly the same technology that banks and foreign exchange bureau use - supplied by corrupt currency dealers in Dubai. They aren’t the only pirates in pin-striped suits. Insurance companies, in particular, have greatly increased their profits by raising insurance premiums for shipping because of the threat of piracy, yet they haven’t required the companies to take even a single precaution to make hijacking more difficult, since the occasional ransoms they have to pay are dwarfed by the additional profits they are making. The shipping companies themselves routinely ignore the guidelines set by NATO and the IMCTC - the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition established by our Defence Minister Mohammad bin Salman Al Said - to minimise the risk of pirate attacks, since they involve additional expenditure. As always, the shipping companies prefer to cut their costs to the bone and take their chances with the pirates, secure in the knowledge that, although their crews may be captured, abused and even killed in the meantime, the insurance companies will eventually pay a ransom and the owners will get their ships back.’

  Anwar was back in lecture mode and Harper ground his teeth again to stop himself yawning.

  ‘International patrols of Somali waters like the NATO flotilla are there purely to deter private attacks and they ignore any other illegal activity taking place. The lack of any credible Somali patrols - they have no ships and no men to crew them even if they had - also allows foreign trawlers to empty their seas of fish, an annual harvest of tuna, lobsters and prawns estimated to be worth 300 million US dollars. Even worse, there is also a thriving trade in toxic waste. Foreign corporations, most of them front companies for the Italian and Russian mafia, are making fortunes by dumping millions of tons of toxic waste, even including nuclear waste, in Somali waters with complete impunity. Anyway, our own particular interest in this increased pirate activity is that twelve months ago, a supertanker owned by the Saudi Arabian Aramco oil company, loaded with highly flammable gasoline, was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden. We were forced to pay a $20 million ransom. I know,’ he said, clocking Harper’s expression. �
�Paying ransoms is never a good idea since it merely encourages further hijackings but this was a decision made at a very high level, either encouraged by the insurance underwriters or perhaps seeking to minimise the loss of face involved in being held to ransom by people we have always regarded as barbarians. The ransom payment was made up of large denomination US dollar bills, wrapped in sealed plastic sacks. It was supposed to be dropped onto the deck of the pirate’s mother-ship from a helicopter but, due to the fear or incompetence of the helicopter crew, it fell short of its target and landed in the sea.’ He gave a cold smile. ‘That crew has now been reassigned to much less pleasant duties than flying helicopters. The Somalis claimed that the ransom money sank before it could be retrieved and so we were forced to repeat the exercise and pay the money for a second time. However, our intelligence sources later established that the Somalis had in fact collected both ransom payments. This caused our government a considerable amount of embarrassment, as you can imagine.’

  ‘Hence the desire for some pay-back,’ Harper said. ‘Though if the ransom hadn’t been paid in the first place …’

  ‘Indeed,’ Anwar said. ‘I advised against it, but my advice was ignored.’

  ‘So, including the one you’re going to tell me about later, that’s two tasks,’ Harper said. ‘And the third?’

  ‘The one dearest to your own heart: eliminating the man who has been blackmailing two members of our royal family and, I gather, is also trying to blackmail you.’

  ‘You wouldn’t be leaving that op to last just to make sure that I participate in the other two, would you, Anwar?’ Harper said with a sly smile.

  ‘It is simply a matter of priorities, my friend, but at the due time, rest assured that whatever resources, equipment, funding or other support you need for that op will be provided without hesitation. In addition to the fee that we have already agreed, you will find us not ungenerous in respect of a completion bonus, when all the operations have been successfully concluded.’