Singapore Under Attack (International Espionage Book 1)

by Uzi Eilam

  “That was a dream,” Osman whispered. “There’s still sherry in our glasses. Shall we raise another glass to this evening?”

  “Sure,” Ronit replied. “But we’ll also drink ‘to your health,’ as the French say, since where there’s health, there’s also life.”

  Ronit was pleased that Osman didn’t try to continue the conversation. She was left with mixed emotions of satisfaction accompanied by doubt and apprehension.

  As he drove back to Ronit’s apartment, Osman was afraid anything he said might unravel the evening’s magic and didn’t try to look too far into the future. They parted with a soft, gentle kiss, and Ronit left the car and headed home.

  Chapter 20

  The sun had already risen far above the horizon at the late morning hour at which General Razek entered his office, swaying unsteadily.

  “Give me a headache pill!” he commanded his secretary, who quickly complied, serving him green tea in a china cup to go with it. Razek’s personal assistant and the administrative staff knew they should proceed with caution when the general arrived after a wild night.

  “What’s on our itinerary today?” he asked his assistant hoarsely. The assistant bowed his head, powered on the computer, and displayed the daily schedule. “Can you say something?”

  “In half an hour, there’s a meeting at the Ministry of Defense, sir. Per our request, it was scheduled for noon,” the assistant whispered. “Its purpose is for the minister to meet General Ja’afari. General Najib Ibrahim, the minister of defense, has accepted your recommendation that he meet the new Iranian ambassador.”

  “And where’s Ja’afari?” Razek asked, instantly alert once more.

  “He’s on his way here, sir, and you’ll both go down to the minister’s bureau together.”

  “Ah, okay then.” Razek was appeased. “Any updates overnight? Did anything noteworthy happen?”

  “No sir, tonight was quiet, though we haven’t heard anything new about the three students that Singapore’s security forces arrested on the Johor Causeway.”

  “What exactly does that mean… ‘We haven’t heard anything new’? Who’s handling this?”

  “The head of the Operatives Department, sir.”

  “Get him here immediately!” Razek barked. “I want a full update before we leave for the minister’s office.”

  ***

  Razek addressed the minister of defense as he entered General Najib Ibrahim’s office along with General Ja’afari. “Minister, it’s my honor to introduce you to my friend General Ja’afari, Iran’s new ambassador to our country.”

  “And you’re already friends?” the minister asked as he shook Ja’afari’s hand.

  “Oh, we’ve rekindled an acquaintance that began many years ago. It began at the end of the long war between Iran and Iraq in the eighties. General Ja’afari was a major, commanding a battalion of youth warriors. I, too, Minister, was a major on a force the UN had sent to maintain the ceasefire along the border between the two countries.”

  “We enjoyed a blessed cooperation,” Ja’afari said, “and I’m glad to announce, Minister, that I believe this cooperation will continue in our current roles as well.”

  “General Ja’afari commanded the Revolutionary Guard and, for several years, built up an exemplary organization. We’re lucky to receive such a talented ambassador. We have so much to learn from him,” Razek said.

  “Bless you, General Ja’afari,” the minister said. “I’m glad to hear about your personal relationship, which is important. I understand you’re both involved in the case of the three students arrested on the Johor Causeway?” The minister had surprised him.

  “Ahhh…that’s an affair whose details are still emerging,” Razek apologized. “These are talented students, enrolled in the senior year of their master of science degrees. It’s possible that the security agencies in Singapore are maligning them for no good reason.”

  “We’re in the picture, Minister,” Ja’afari chimed in. “And it does indeed take time to uncover all the missing details.”

  “The political situation in the region is volatile,” the minister said, “and you both have to do everything possible to prevent us from being swept into an unnecessary diplomatic conflict.”

  “We’re aware of that,” Razek promised, rising from his seat.

  “Thank you, General Razek,” the minister said. “Why don’t you leave General Ja’afari here for two minutes?”

  “Of course, sir, I’ll wait just outside.”

  “I wanted to consult with you, General Ja’afari, about the extent to which your country supports the policies you’re promoting these days, primarily action against Singapore. I’m concerned about the possibility that our involvement will be exposed. Singapore’s international status might affect us detrimentally.”

  “Don’t worry, sir. Tehran is aware of everything we’re carrying out here. I recently attended a series of meetings in Tehran, and I promise you that our Supreme Leader is thoroughly apprised of the situation.”

  “I’m not sure how well you know General Razek…” The minister hesitated. “He’s brilliant and talented, but he’s also frivolous and reckless. The pleasures of life can distract him, which has happened before. His role as the head of our intelligence agency requires caution. I found it appropriate to emphasize this to you.”

  “I’m very appreciative of General Razek’s capabilities, Minister,” Ja’afari replied, thinking that Razek’s hedonism and greed actually served his purposes well. “Please, rest assured you have my word that I’ll take care to maintain caution.”

  “Thank you, General Ja’afari. May Allah’s blessing be with you in everything you do,” the minister said as he rose to walk Ja’afari to the door.

  “What did my ‘square’ minister want from you?” Razek promptly asked once they returned to his office and were on their own again.

  “He wanted to confirm that Tehran supports the moves we’re promoting here. I promised him this was indeed the case. We can’t continue our course of action without analyzing what happened with the students. Are you unconcerned by the information on what happened in Singapore? Perhaps we should have our Dr. Fakari join your intelligence team dealing with communication and surveillance? He’s an expert who’s well versed in cyber technology.”

  “That’s fine with me, my friend. We’ll handle that starting tomorrow morning. In the meantime, to clear our minds and get ready, I have an idea.”

  “An idea? What are you proposing?”

  “I’m inviting you to join me at a spa like you’ve never seen before. I’ll pick you up at the embassy in the early evening,” Razek stated. “Don’t eat too much during the day.”

  Throughout the afternoon, since returning from his meeting at the Ministry of Defense, Ja’afari’s thoughts kept returning to the invitation extended by his friend, the Malaysian general. He already had a good sense of Razek’s taste in women. The secretaries at his office were young and attractive. Ja’afari guessed that Razek’s criteria for choosing his administrative assistants favored physical appearance. He waited expectantly for the scheduled time and left without saying a thing to his secretary or his personal assistant. Razek greeted him with a firm handshake as Ja’afari sat beside him in the shiny limousine.

  “Let me remind you, my friend,” Ja’afari began hesitantly, “that with my diabetes, I have to be careful about overeating, especially when it comes to sweets. Just to make sure, I asked Dr. Fakari, our computer whiz, to link my insulin pump to my smartphone. And now, in preparation for my evening of wild celebration with you,” he continued with a somewhat forced smile, “he’s programmed my pump to account for a greater consumption of insulin.”

  The beefy doorman stationed at the entrance to the building in Kuala Lumpur’s luxury district needed no more than a split second in order to recognize General Razek. He saluted and quickly ope
ned the door. The opulence was already apparent in the staircase leading to a reception hall. It was designed in quiet, soothing hues and softly illuminated. The place seems to embrace you from the very first minute, Ja’afari thought.

  “Good evening to you, General Ja’afari,” the owner, who still exhibited signs of her former beauty, said. “I’ve heard only good things about you from General Razek. Two of our best masseuses, girls with a true golden touch, are waiting for you. I’m certain you’ll be satisfied. But first, please have a drink.”

  Soon two hostesses, wearing very little, entered bearing chilled glasses of champagne and two trays loaded with Malaysian appetizers. Razek pointed out the delicacy roti canai, explaining that it was hand-kneaded and pan-fried dough. It was accompanied by a spicy chicken curry dip, as well as a delicately flavored peanut sauce. The Malaysian general further displayed his expertise when he described the second appetizer, popiah, originating in Penang Island, as a masterpiece of North Malaysian cuisine. It consisted of a Malaysian bun filled with jicama sprouts, cucumber slices, and ground shrimp in chili sauce.

  “This is a real celebration.” Ja’afari beamed, alternately dipping his roti canai in the spicy and sweet sauces. Both generals were beginning to exhibit the effects of the champagne.

  “Just wait,” Razek whispered. “The best is still to come.”

  Two beautiful young women, dark skinned and scantily clad, welcomed Ja’afari in the massage room. The room was illuminated solely by candles, and the sweet smell of aromatic massage oil filled the space. Quickly and gently, the two women assisted Ja’afari in shedding all his clothes and lying down, initially on his belly, on the massage bed. The madam had indeed been right when she’d said they had the golden touch, Ja’afari told himself. He soon ceased to think, allowing himself to succumb to the caressing touch of four hands accessing every spot on his body. Gently, they flipped him over to his back, and he felt the warm oil dripping on his body. Slowly, the wondrous hands increased their pace and moved more vigorously, until the ultimate release of the climax, which tore loud moans of pleasure from his throat.

  “You were right, my friend Razek,” Ja’afari said as they both lounged together, wearing silk robes, after the searing steam bath and a stay in the dry sauna. “That was an unforgettable experience, and I’m grateful to you.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Razek replied. “I think it’s a bit different from the desert at the southern border between your country and Iraq in the late eighties.”

  “We were young,” Ja’afari replied. “We had different priorities.”

  The small room in which the two men were sitting grew silent as each of them returned nostalgically to his memories of the past. Neither of them thought to bring up the failure on the Johor Causeway. It could wait till tomorrow, each of them told himself.

  ***

  “Please call Dr. Fakari over immediately, as well as the officer from the Quds Force, and get me a strong cup of coffee,” Ja’afari instructed Farin, his administrative assistant, without bothering to say hello. He needed something that would eliminate the cobwebs of sleep from his eyes and distance him somewhat from the sweet memories of the evening at the massage parlor with Razek. He wanted Fakari to reprogram the insulin pump from his personal computer. Without it, as bitter previous experience had taught him, he would be unable to function. In retrospect, he was angry at himself for allowing Razek to tempt him into losing control with excessive eating.

  Ja’afari began once Dr. Fakari and the officer from the Quds Force were sitting across from him. “What do we know about the failure in crossing the Johor Causeway? The subject has already come up in questions from the minister of defense here, and neither I nor General Razek was able to explain exactly how it happened.”

  “In my humble opinion, those students might be gifted academically, but they weren’t properly trained or guided,” the officer ventured to reply.

  “I want to add,” Fakari chimed in, “that this was an assignment that Malaysian intelligence personnel took upon themselves—”

  “That’s not good enough for us,” Ja’afari interjected. “How did the defense agencies in Singapore become aware of the students? How did we not notice they were being monitored?”

  “General Ja’afari,” Fakari said, “you’re right, and I believe that information conveyed from our embassy to General Razek’s office is being leaked…”

  “A leak? Who? How?”

  “That’s exactly what we have to find out, sir,” Fakari replied. “Beyond that, I want to point out that we’ve discovered initial, insufficient details about the forming of an international task force that has begun to meet in Singapore.”

  “This is new to me. What task force? Who’s taking part in it? For what purpose?” Ja’afari roared.

  “We still don’t have reliable information, sir, but we do know that the United States and Israel sent representatives. The general goal of the task force’s activity is preventing our attacks. Someone there knows too much about our intentions.”

  “I want to add,” the Quds Force officer said, “that we should use experienced people, rather than relying—with all due respect—on the people that Malaysia is training. We have Hezbollah members here, at our special course in the training facility, as well as Hamas fighters, and if necessary, we can bring over people from Quds Force.”

  “By this afternoon, prepare a file with all the information we currently have as well as recommendations for action. We have to take control of the next steps, and without accurate, accessible information, we won’t be able to do so. I’m setting up an immediate meeting with General Razek and his people. I already agreed with him yesterday that you would work with his communication and surveillance team to find out what’s happening in Singapore.”

  Fakari and the Quds Force officer left the room with their heads bowed, while Ja’afari continued to experience an odd combination of memories from yesterday, overshadowed by a concern for his gradually obstructed operational capacity. He was especially wary of a chain reaction of failure threatening his entire endeavor. Suddenly, he was aware of the difference between commanding the Revolutionary Guard, with a variety of people and measures at his disposal, and the status of an ambassador, commanding an assistant and a half. He had to be realistic, he reminded himself, and rely on his actual resources.

  Farin, the administrative assistant, tiptoed in bringing him another cup of coffee along with particularly tiny sandwiches, which she knew her boss loved to snack on. Ja’afari continued to contemplate his circumstances and the attacks whose success would determine his own future.

  Chapter 21

  The technology lab was quiet as Dan arrived at his room. He needed the time and the quiet in order to find answers to the questions troubling him. He thought back to Deutsch’s proposition to channel the IOT system into defending Singapore from the variety of attacks threatening it. Gideon had wholeheartedly supported Deutsch’s opinion, claiming this was the most important assignment. Dan had accepted their view with understanding, although it was hard for him to relinquish the commercial ventures. He felt that now that he had a pilot of the system for civilian use, it would not take much to convince the industries in Singapore of the validity of this new reality and to talk them into joining the IOT venture in Singapore.

  The pilot in its defense-oriented conversion focused upon installing sensors on a sample of shipping containers, as well as laying out a limited array of sensors near the American and Israeli embassies, and included surveillance of communication networks in Malaysia, as well as communication in the entire region.

  Once he had activated the pilot, it had immediately been clear to Dan that two types of sensors out of the five installed in the system were not functioning in accordance with his expectations. He hoped to find a direction ensuring the required performance in the innovative field of gallium nitride components. But how would these compon
ents be obtained? Had Deutsch’s intimations regarding the United States’ refusal to supply the components been definitive? And if so, could General Tan motivate the Taiwanese to supply them? The commitment made by the electronics industry in Singapore had yet to yield results as well, despite Dr. Chang’s persuasive promise.

  Gideon interrupted Dan’s contemplation. “What’s going on with your pilot?”

  Dan chose a virtual metaphor. “I have too many windows open. It’s a lot more complex than I thought.”

  “Well, in that case, you just have to deal with the issues window by window. What’s lacking in the pilot’s performance?”

  “Uhm… the sensor components are old school, heavy, and clumsy. They’re made of gallium arsenide, and I’m sure that switching to gallium nitride will elevate the entire system’s performance. In the meantime, the pilot is generating too many false alarms, as well as cases of information that isn’t intercepted…”

  “We’ve talked about this,” Gideon reminded him, “and I don’t think we should expect the Americans to provide us with components for such an advanced technology. It’s not in accordance with their policy, even when it comes to assisting an ally like Singapore or Israel. Deutsch phrased it diplomatically, but it’s obvious that Taiwan is whom we should be approaching. What other issues are you dealing with?”

  “The communication between the sensors I’ve installed in the shipping containers at the port will be upgraded if Taiwan can indeed provide us with the components. But I have my doubts about the full system’s capability to deal simultaneously with all the information intercepted by the surveillance equipment. The transition from the pilot to a full system isn’t a trivial matter…”