Countdown in Cairo

by Noel Hynd

  “Your men need to be respectful as well as protective,” Alex said. “They should be married men with families and not inclined to socialize.”

  “I have the right people,” he said. “They know better than to mix pleasure with business. They can arrange with her a time when she goes out each day. And they will accompany her. Maybe between the hours of noon and three. Then again in the evening when she desires it. They can also inspect her apartment when she reenters to make sure no one is inside waiting.”

  “They’ll need to be armed,” Alex said.

  “That goes without saying.”

  Federov glanced at Janet, then back at Alex. He smiled. “What has this nice young woman done to get in such trouble with so many bad people?” Federov asked.

  “She saw something. Or she thinks she did. That’s all I can tell you.”

  “You work for a government security agency,” Guarneri said, probing gently. “I would be happy to arrange protection for her. But why can’t the government do it?”

  “In this case,” Alex said, flattering them, “I trust you more than I trust them.”

  Guarneri’s lips parted, and he flashed his expensive teeth. “Why do you trust me more? That’s a good one.”

  “I trust you more, Paul, because you want my help in the future with your Cuban situation. I’m prepared to advise you informally on that, perhaps even accompany you to the island. That’s not something you can purchase or obtain somewhere else.”

  She paused and, from his delighted expression, realized that she had pressed the proper buttons.

  “Again, I need to maintain certain professional ethics. I won’t tell you how to break the law, and I refuse to advise you how to avoid the law. But I can guide you in ways to attain what you need within the law. That has an extra benefit to you since any profit you might obtain you will not have to hide.”

  Guarneri nodded. Contentment came across his face. Simultaneously, a look of amusement went across Federov’s. Janet grinned innocently.

  Then, “All right, then. We have an agreement,” Guarneri said. Guarneri lifted his wine glass and held it forward. A moment later, three other glasses clicked with his.

  After dinner, they walked in pairs the short distance to the curb, Janet and Alex walking ahead, Federov walking several paces behind them with Guarneri.

  “I’ve never been with such dangerous men in my life,” Janet muttered, “and never felt so safe at the same time.”

  “Just go with the flow,” Alex said, “and don’t get too used to it. Hopefully, if I accomplish what I want to accomplish in Egypt, you’ll be safe when I return.”

  Anthony, the driver, sprang from the car when he saw the young women approaching. He opened the door and ushered them and their escorts into his vehicle. They sat comfortably in the back as Anthony then navigated the traffic to Alex’s apartment building where both women got out.

  In bidding each other good night, Federov stepped from the back of the limo and stood on the street with the two women. Guarneri remained in the car. Federov embraced Janet as a new friend. Alex clasped his hand and embraced him in a quick hug also, then turned to go.

  But Federov held her arm. Impetuously, he pulled Alex back to him and fully surrounded her with his massive arms. He pulled her into a strong embrace. He planted his lips to hers and gave her a long powerful kiss, one she initially tried to resist. Then, for reasons even she couldn’t explain, she felt a tremor inside her, a feeling she knew she shouldn’t have felt, and her resistance melted. She went along with it. She completely let him have his way until, several seconds later, he drew back from the kiss and released her, astonished, into the cold night.

  “See you soon again,” he said.

  It took her a second to gather herself. “Soon again. Good night, Yuri,” she said. “And thank you.”

  Janet and Alex walked to the doorstep of the brownstone. The limousine stood guard, not moving, till the women were inside.

  “I think that big Russian hood likes you,” Janet said on the stairs.

  “Much too much,” Alex agreed.

  “Is that cool or is it gross?” Janet asked.

  “Both.”

  Alex stayed over in New York at the apartment on 21st Street. Later the next morning, she slipped off to a small Episcopal church, one she had always liked, near Gramercy Park, to meditate and say a small prayer. She always found churches particularly restful. When she returned to the apartment she noticed that there was a Lexus parked next to the curb in front of the steps to her brownstone.

  Alex knew the driver was watching her. He was a rugged-looking guy with a very New York face, about thirty years old.

  Just an interested male, she wondered, or something more ominous? This carried an echo of the block surveillance that her apartment building had endured in Washington.

  Her hand drifted to her weapon as the Lexus window rolled down. But the man gave her an engaging smile and held up his hands to show that they were empty. He meant no harm. Cautiously, she approached the car.

  “Are you Alex?” he asked.

  “It depends who wants to know,” she said.

  He had a Brooklyn accent so thick she could carve it with a knife.

  “I’m Calo,” he said. “I work for Mr. Guarneri.”

  “Ah, then I’m Alex.” They shook hands. “Keeping watch?”

  “Yeah,” he said with a grin. “That’s what I was told to do. Nice day, huh?”

  “Beautiful,” she said.

  “Don’t worry none about your girlfriend. I’m equipped. See?”

  He parted the front of his windbreaker and revealed a nine millimeter automatic holstered under his arm. The gun had a massive silver frame. A cannon.

  “Just don’t get in trouble with the New York cops,” Alex said.

  He laughed. “Hey, forget about it,” he said. With his other hand, he reached to an inside pocket. He produced and flipped open a NYPD badge. “I am a cop,” he said. “I moonlight in security and doing bodyguard work.”

  “Beautiful again,” she said. “Stay safe.”

  “Yeah. You too.”

  She took the train back to Washington, arriving in the early evening.

  The next morning, she was back in Langley and connected again with Thomas Meachum, the ID expert. From a file in his office, Meachum pulled an assortment of freshly minted new documents, all with the most recent photographs of Alex. On top was a forged Canadian passport in the name of Josephine Marie LeSage. It had been backdated to reflect an issue in 2008. Various travel stamps had been impressed into it from England and Ireland, in addition to Canada.

  Alex looked at it and began the process of memorizing her new name and date of birth, as well as her cover story. For the purposes of Cairo, she was a Canadian university professor, a single woman, on sabbatical and spending a holiday visiting the antiquities of Cairo and the Nile.

  “I assume this will jibe with Canadian records?” she asked. “In case there’s a problem?”

  “Canada’s a friendly country, so yes,” he said. “Usually.”

  “Thanks for the ringing endorsement,” she said.

  She carefully examined the passport. She smirked at the new pictures, taken the day before. Not bad. She was now fifteen months older and had been born in Ottawa, eh? Her newest alternative universe took shape.

  She sorted through the rest of the envelope. There was an Ontario driver’s license and two credit cards along with an ATM card from the Bank of Toronto, all in the name of the fictitious Josephine.

  “I think I’ll go by ‘Jo’ for short,” she said.

  “Whatever, Jo,” said Meachum.

  He gave her a selection of pens. She signed everything, alternating pens. Using his skilled hands, Meachum then put some scuff and age on all the documents.

  “Which passport do I leave the United States on?” Alex asked.

  “Your American one,” he said. “I cross-checked your travel plans. In fact, your instructions are a little c
omplicated. You’re to fly to Toronto first on your US passport. We have a secure mail envelope. After you’ve gone through Canadian immigration, you’ll rendezvous with someone from our consulate in the Toronto airport. He’ll approach you and introduce himself as Ken, and he’ll say that he works in Detroit. We have an envelope ready. Give him your US passport in the envelope.” Meachum showed her the envelope, a padded manila one about four by six. “It will be returned to us via a diplomatic courier. Thereafter, you’re Josephine, a nice girl from the Canuck Midwest.”

  “Go, Leafs,” she said.

  “That’s the spirit. We worked things with the Alitalia reservation, also, so you can check in for the trans-Atlantic flight as the Canadian woman.”

  “Got it,” she said.

  The afternoon she spent packing and purchased a few guide books on Egypt, as well as a phrase book. She stopped by her doctor’s office. The wound to her arm was checked. It seemed to be healing properly. It was fitted with a new bandage. There was no lasting damage but some scar tissue would remain. That evening, she played basketball and had dinner with Ben at the hotel pub across the street.

  Then next morning she was at Dulles International and caught her midmorning flight to Toronto.

  She rendezvoused easily with her contact, Ken, at the Toronto International Airport. She gave up her United States passport to him, then killed a couple of hours in one of the airport bars, reading, drinking too many glasses of wine, and waiting for her departure.

  The ten-hour Alitalia flight took her across the Atlantic, down across Western Europe, and into Rome, where she arrived the next morning. She had booked a small suite at the Hassler Roma, another upscale lodging on the American taxpayer’s dollar. The hotel was situated just above the Spanish Steps in the heart of the Eternal City. After clearing customs and immigration, Alex took a taxi there, arriving shortly before noon.

  Fortunately, the hotel allowed her an early check-in. She was able to grab a shower and then lay back for what she hoped would be a short nap.

  TWENTY-NINE

  She blinked awake several hours later and looked at the clock by her bedside. It was almost 6:00. For several seconds she couldn’t figure out which 6:00 it was. Or where she was.

  Then gradually she realized. It was evening. The disorientation of trans-Atlantic travel had caught up with her. She came to her feet. There was a coffeemaker in the kitchen area of her suite, and she put it to use.

  She sat by a window and sipped coffee. The view of Rome from the Hotel Hassler had taken on the light blues and misty yellows of evening. From her window Alex watched the city grow darker and more vibrant as the evening approached.

  She went to the hotel dining room at seven, early by Italian standards, but her dining companion that evening, Gian Antonio Rizzo, had made concessions to Alex’s circadian rhythm.

  Carlo, the ramrod erect and proper maître d’, met her at the entrance to the dining room. She gave Rizzo’s name. Carlo managed a low bow and showed her to a reserved table set for three.

  She sat. Then, moments later, Gian Antonio Rizzo appeared, arms wide in a gesture of reception. A smile swept across his face. He was dapper in a light brown suit that almost perfectly concealed the ever-present pistol that he wore on his hip.

  “Well, well, well,” he said, greeting her in English.

  She stood and let him embrace her. He kissed her on each cheek, he released her, and they sat.

  “So?” he asked at length. “This hotel is usually up to my high standards. Is it up to yours?”

  The hotel was lavish, one of the most distinctive in Rome. She took his question with several grains of salt. “It’s excellent,” she said.

  “Ever stayed here before?” he asked.

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “But you’ll only be here for overnight?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Well, that’s a shame,” he said. “I have a formula. An equation, as you will. Gian Antonio’s Rule of how to stay in a hotel and be remembered forever.”

  “Leave bullet holes in the walls of your room?” she asked. “Or a body under the bed?”

  “Very funny,” he said, “but that’s not quite the effect I was after. I mean, how to be remembered favorably. Here’s what you do. You book for a week. On the first day give them your order for breakfast, exactly what you want and the hour you want it. Tell them what kind of jam or mustard you like, what sort of coffee or tea. Tell them which newspapers you want, I suggest the best local newspaper, Le Monde in France or Il Messassero or Il Corriero della Sera here, plus the American one, The Herald Tribune. Don’t ask for USA Today; it’s only the American peasants who read that.”

  “I get my news off the internet,” she said. “Maybe three or four sites per day.”

  “Of course you do. We all do. Don’t be silly. That’s not the purpose of this. Order the newspapers anyway.”

  “Okay,” she said, laughing.

  “Give each doorman a ten-Euro note when you arrive. Learn the name of the room service manager, the concierge, and the desk manager and give each one a twenty when you arrive and when you leave. Take at least two saunas. You’re a woman, so be seen at least in one outfit with a daring skirt and boots in the middle of the day. In your case, swim at least once so the staff can get a good look at your fine figure. Have dinner or cocktails prominently with at least three different men. Always order the same cocktail and have the concierge book your dinner reservations away from the hotel. Come back in a year, and they will remember you.”

  When she stopped laughing, she responded. “Gian Antonio, I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you to guide me through life,” she said.

  “Oh,” he said modestly, “you would survive most likely. Some people do. Just not as long or as well.”

  “Who’s the third?” she asked, indicating the third place setting. “Who’s joining us?”

  “Ah!” he said. “Good that you inquired! A young lady. A friend of mine, very close. She was an intern with the police in Rome; now she’s studying art, but she might want to do a career in forensic sciences. So I’m teaching her the ropes.”

  “Lucky her,” said Alex.

  “Yes, very lucky girl,” Rizzo said with mock conceit, or at least Alex thought it was mock. “Knowing me is better than three years at any university. And learning the black arts from me is, I suppose, much like learning piano from Mozart.” Alex laughed, to his obvious pleasure. “But, my heavens,” he continued, “she’s young, so who knows? Even she doesn’t know what she wants to do. Her name is Mimi.”

  “As in Puccini’s La Bohème,” she said, playing one of her best Italian cards and continuing the music motif.

  “As in La Bohème,” he conceded with a nod. “In the future you should come by Rome, and I’ll take you to the opera. The greatest opera house in the world is here in Rome. Compared to the Italians,” he said with all the humility he could muster, “the French, the English, and the Germans sing like second-rate canaries. And the Americans don’t sing at all.”

  “I’d love to do that with you sometime,” she said.

  “Sing like a canary?”

  “No, attend the opera in Rome,” she said, engaging his line of dialogue. “I can’t imagine the price of good seats at the Rome opera these days.”

  “Oh, I never pay,” he said. He playfully raised his brown eyebrows. “The tickets don’t cost anything if you work it right,” he said over the top of the menu as he glanced at it. “It’s all a matter of whom you know. And this Mimi,” he continued, bringing the conversation back to La Bohème, “my Mimi, is much healthier and more fit than the one who perishes of mezzo-soprano disease in Puccini’s act five. I’m happy to report this. And from the appearance of you,” he said, examining her as he ran his gaze across her bare shoulders, “you would appear to be, also. Fit and healthy.”

  “I’m in good shape, in good spirits,” she said. “Sorry to have only one night in Rome. I go on to Cairo tomorrow.”<
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  “Cairo?” he said with no humor whatsoever, turning over the concept. “Cairo.”

  “Ever been there?” she asked.

  “Many times.” He paused. “Officially and unofficially. Noisiest city I’ve ever visited and I’ve visited many.”

  “Noisy?”

  “The racket on the street is beyond belief,” he said. “Take earplugs.”

  “Sorry, I don’t have any.”

  “Get some here at the hotel pharmacy. You’ll be pleased you did. You’ll thank me later.”

  “I’ll try to remember,” she said.

  “What’s your business in Cairo?” he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Don’t tell me you’re fluent in Arabic now that I haven’t seen you for several weeks, and about to run a one-brave-lady operation against the whole bloody jihad.”

  She laughed. “Not a chance,” she said. “Seriously, it’s starting to smell more Russian than anything.”

  “Ha! Well, you’re becoming a bit of an expert there if you catch my drift.”

  “I catch it, and I wouldn’t say that you’re wrong. So you’re ‘mentoring’?” Alex asked, going back to the place setting that remained unattended.

  “You could say so,” he said. “Delightful girl. I’m enjoying it.”

  “So it’s more than professional?” she asked.

  “You could say so,” Rizzo said again.

  “And we can still speak freely when she arrives, if she arrives,” Alex said.

  “Absolutely.”

  “I ask because there’s a bit of shop talk to get through.”

  “I reckoned that ahead of time,” Rizzo said, “and I asked Mimi to come by at seven thirty. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Far from it,” Alex said. “That’s perfect.”

  A waiter arrived to take an order for predinner drinks. Alex was hardly in the mood for another boozy evening, but allowed Rizzo to talk her into a Prosecco, which actually worked very well. Alex moved to business.

  “One of the positives of the operation we just completed in Madrid,” she began, “was that for the first time, it allowed me to make some extensive personal contacts in the European intelligence community. Similarly, I had a very good relationship with an agent who worked for the Chinese service, the Guojia Anquan Bu.”