The Dreadful Renegade: A Thrilling Espionage Novel (Techno thriller, Mystery & Suspense)

by Charles Z David

  The bottom line was that he believed that the Jordanian option, with the help of Palestinians to cross from Jordan into the Palestinian Authority and from there into Israel presented the best alternative. So he decided to stay away from the Pakistani embassy until he returned from his exploration trip to Jordan. Unbeknown to him this turned out also to be the safest route to avoid capture. He checked the bus schedule and saw that there were three daily trips by bus from Cairo to Nuweiba port via Taba. The bus trip was long, about 13 hours, but it was much cheaper and safer than the flights to Sharm El-Sheik. Taba was a crossing point into Israel but Nagib knew he stood no chance of passing Israeli security, with or even without his suitcase, and anyway as holder of a Pakistani passport he wouldn't allowed into Israel. For a fleeting moment he considered getting some innocent tourist to act as a courier and transport his suitcase from Taba into the Israeli resort town of Eilat but was afraid that it would be lost, or even worse, confiscated. So he booked himself on the morning bus to Nuweiba and decided to look for a ferry to Aqaba once he arrived there.

  July 31st, Nuweiba port, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

  Nagib was exhausted after the long bus ride from Cairo. He had expected a rough ride but was favorably surprised by the comfortable, air conditioned bus that was packed with European tourists who wanted to spend a vacation on the wonderful beaches of the Red Sea. However, there were many roadblocks set up by the Egyptian army and for a large part of the trip the bus was accompanied by a military escort to assure that it was not attacked by Bedouin supporters of the Islamic State that terrorized the Egyptians in Sinai. Fortunately there were no unpleasant incidents and when the bus arrived at Nuweiba all he wanted was to find a place to lie down and rest. During the long ride a couple of German girls took an interest in him and tried to involve him in their conversation and vacation plans. They told him that they had just arrived in Egypt and were headed straight to the beaches of the Red Sea that were famous as free-for-all tourist resorts. Nagib who had always been faithful to Alia was invited to accompany them to their hostel and was slightly tempted but thought better of it and declined. Instead he headed straight to the small Nuweiba port to check the schedule of the ferry to Aqaba on the north-east shore of the Red Sea that was the only sea port Jordan had. He found an appealing catamaran ride that offered reasonable prices including all marine fees, departure tax from Egypt and even a soft drink and croissant on board. He saw that tickets needed to be booked at least 24 hours in advance so made a reservation for departure in the morning of August 2nd and went to look for a hostel for two nights.

  He entered the first hostel he saw and checked in. He left his room to find a restaurant and have dinner and ran into the two German girls from the bus. They greeted him with smiles and asked him if he knew where they could eat and when he said that he, too, was looking for a restaurant they invited him to join them. They walked along the beachfront until they came across a quiet place that had a large veranda facing the Red Sea. The evening breeze was very pleasant and after the heat of the day abated it was a welcome relief. They ordered an assortment of salads and freshly caught fish as the main course. The girls wanted to order some beer but the proprietor said that there was no alcohol, but he offered them strong, bitter coffee and a nargilah. They were not familiar with the word so Nagib explained to them that it was a water pipe used for smoking flavored tobacco, and said that it was also a kind of social recreation when the tobacco contained other substances. They said they wanted to try it and asked him to teach them how to use it. Nagib called the proprietor and with a wink asked him to add some of his special flavored tobacco. The German girls who were no strangers to Marijuana understood what was involved and invited Nagib to take a seat between them and they both put their arms around him. They passed the water pipe from one girl to the other and each time Nagib took a deep breath and inhaled the flavored smoke, so after a while they were all a bit intoxicated. They paid the proprietor and went for a walk along the shore hand in hand. They found a secluded spot and the girls invited Nagib to sit on the sand beside them. Nagib could no longer resist the allure of the two girls when they suggested that they all go for a swim. Bathing suits were not needed, of course, so he simply joined them. They entered the water gingerly and were surprised by the warmth of the water. The full moon highlighted the white bodies of the girls against the dark background of the water and when they laughingly encircled Nagib their blonde hair and white arms were like snakes beside his darker skin. The two girls took turns kissing Nagib and each other and he felt as if he had reached heaven. At present, he had his hands full with the two girls who were obviously not virgins and he could only imagine what it would be like with the 72 virgins promised to Shahids who sacrificed themselves for the grandeur of Allah and Islam. They returned to the beach and for a short moment they couldn't find the spot where they had left their clothes. The girls giggled when they saw the look of consternation on Nagib's face and then one of them spotted the clothes and they chuckled at the transformation of his facial expression from dismay to relief. As Nagib started to get dressed the two girls said that they had a surprise for him and asked him if he would like to be the meat patty in the hamburger they were just getting ready to prepare. Once again they laughed when they saw the look of confusion on his face and one of them said that he need not worry they would be the buns and both just hugged him. Nagib thought that this may be his last chance to make love in this life and succumbed to their gentle endearments and ministrations. They returned to the hostel as good friends and arranged to spend the next day together.

  Nagib felt some remorse for being unfaithful to his beloved Alia, but then thought that they would never see each other again and mumbled that a man has to do what a man has to do. The three of them spent the next day relaxing in the sun, but as the evening came the two girls apologized to him and said that they were invited to a small party by a couple of English youths that had promised to bring an ample supply of booze. Nagib felt some relief considering that his age was almost the same as their combined age, and in any case was preoccupied with worries about the near future and the trip to Jordan.

  August 3rd, Cairo, Egypt

  The frustration of the CIA agents that had been posted close to the Pakistani embassy grew from day to day. There was no sign of Nagib or of Munir or whatever he called himself and sitting for hours in a café, a public bench or a parked car took its toll. The mosquitoes were particularly vicious, and unlike most members of the species that were active only after sunset, the brand that rightfully earned the name "Nile Tigers" due to their miniature dark stripes, were bloodthirsty 24/7. They were very small and agile and presented an unbearable nuisance. An outside observer may have been amused to see two grown men waving their hands and occasionally even striking their own face in a futile attempt to wipe out the little torturers.

  The Mossad agents that were aware of the American CIA agents and kept their distance fared no better. They complained bitterly about the assignment but obeyed their orders and kept an eye on the Pakistani embassy. Mossad knew that the "cultural attaché" was in fact the mission head of the Pakistani intelligence services in Egypt and watched him but didn't discern anything irregular in his behavior. There was no point in following him around the clock, something that would require a lot of effort with little potential gain.

  August 3rd, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

  Alia's 18 hours flight from Islamabad to Mexico City was long but uneventful, except her excitement when she discovered that the shortest route was over the northern pole. She used her Pakistani passport to enter Mexico, spent a couple of nights in Mexico City and then made her way by public transportation to the border city of Ciudad Juarez. She preferred the anonymity of the 26 hours bus ride over the one and half hour flight, assuming correctly that whoever tried to trace her movements would find it practically impossible to follow her trail.

  While living in New Mexico she had travelled to Ciudad Juarez a few times to get a taste of live
ly Mexico. Some people jokingly regarded the Mexican city of Juarez and the Texas city of El-Paso as twin cities separated by the Rio Grande, but no one in his right mind would ever think of them as identical twins. Juarez at one time was considered as the murder capital of the world as the rivalry between the drug cartels and the police and between themselves led to the indiscriminate murder of gang members, policemen and mainly innocent bystanders. She stayed at a small hotel near the center of the city and within less than a day, with some help from the man at the front desk, arranged a meeting with a shady representative of one of the organizations that smuggled people into the United States. He was surprised that she couldn't speak Spanish and that her English was with an American accent and didn't seem to believe her story about an estranged husband who was haunting her, but as long as cash was involved he didn't ask too many questions. He told her that the next group would be crossing the border the following night and that she could join it for a reasonable fee. She said she needed to get to Tucson, Arizona and he said that would double the price as there were several roadblocks on all the highways leading from the border area into the United States and she agreed to pay the additional fees.

  August 5th, Amman, Jordan

  Nagib's boat trip from Nuweiba's small port in Egypt to the large port of Aqaba in Jordan was delightful. The mountains on both sides of this narrow strip of the Red Sea and the clear blue waters combined with the breeze created by the motion of the catamaran allowed Nagib to relax for a few hours. From the boat he could clearly see the two cities on the northern shores of the Red Sea, Jordanian Aqaba in the east and on the west shore Eilat in Israel. They were so close together and almost touching. Each had a large number of big hotels and it was almost impossible to believe that they belonged to different countries. He thought of the night he spent with the two German girls and wondered if he would ever be able to share this foretaste of paradise with Alia. For a moment he even reflected if his betrayal of her and of his adopted country were turning him into a multidimensional renegade.

  He disembarked in Aqaba and after showing his Pakistani passport was admitted into Jordan without any problem. As a former Palestinian he knew that it would be easier to find support for his plans in the slums and refugee camps near Amman than in the prosperous city of Aqaba. He checked the bus schedule and saw that the buses from Aqaba to Amman ran with a very high frequency, more than twice an hour during most of the day, so just walked over to the central bus station and boarded the first bus to Amman.

  The bus ride took about five hours, mostly through sparsely inhabited desert areas although part of the ride was through spectacular mountains. Nagib dozed off and was awoken from his dreams when the bus came to a stop in the noisy and bustling central bus station of Amman. It was late evening and Nagib found a cheap hotel near the station. He was hungry so he left the room and in a narrow alleyway found a falafel stand that was still open. He bought himself a super size falafel sandwich wrapped in fresh pita bread and smeared with spicy sauce. After one bite and a sniff of the heady aroma he was transported in his mind to the time he was a youth in the mountain village near Hebron and the emotions were so powerful that he almost burst out crying. He realized that he hadn't had a good falafel sandwich since he left Palestine more than a decade earlier. In the morning he headed to the Amman New Camp that was one of the largest Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan.

  The fact that Palestinian refugee camps still existed seven decades after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and five decades after the 1967 Six Day War was due to the self-perpetuating organization called United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In all other parts of the world where refugee camps were established the residents assimilated in the local populations after a few years, but the dependence of the Palestinian refugees on the handouts from UNRWA made it difficult for them to leave. UNRWA was the only organization that allowed generation after generation of refugees to obtain benefits. In addition, the local Arab populations in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon were not too keen to see their "Palestinian brethren" become full fledged citizens in their countries. These refugee camps were a breeding ground for terrorists because young men who had nothing better to do than wait for their monthly food ration and pocket money from UNRWA had a lot of time on their hands and were fertile ground for radical ideas. The Amman New Camp proudly counted Ibrahim Nasrallah and Nihad Awad as two of its former residents.

  August 6th, Amman New Camp, Jordan

  Nagib took a crowded bus from the central bus station to the Amman New Camp and went to a café that was located near the largest mosque in the camp. He noted that most of the streets and alleyways were named after towns and villages in Palestine like Nablus and Al Khaleel or in Israel like Yafa and Al Ramla. He sat down under the slowly revolving ceiling fan and ordered coffee and kanafe, a cheese pastry in sweet syrup. The proprietor regarded the man who was obviously a stranger but spoke Arabic with a Palestinian accent from the Hebron region. There had been several agents of the Dairat al-Mukhabarat al-Ammah, the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate (GID), who had come to the café to spy or carry out surveillance on Palestinian supporters of the Islamic State terrorist group. Some of them affected a Palestinian accent and some were really Palestinian working in the service of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Nagib noticed the distrustful attitude of the proprietor that was not unexpected and just quietly sipped his coffee. He ordered another cup and when the proprietor brought it over to his table he asked if there was someone of authority he could talk to about some important business deal that involved the homeland. The proprietor now noticed the slight American accent and regarded him suspiciously, but said that he would see what he could do. Half an hour and two coffees later, three stocky men entered the café and approached Nagib. Their leader asked him to accompany them and led him to a short, dead-end alley in which the three men frisked him. They found his Pakistani passport and asked him about it, as he was obviously not a Pakistani, and Nagib told them that he was a Palestinian who had lived in the United States for many years and the passport was an assumed identity. This appeared to grip their attention and they blindfolded him and led him to a house that was surrounded by a two meter high wall. A couple of men stood at the gate and although no weapons were in plain sight it was obvious that they were armed. Nagib felt a change in temperature as the blindfold was removed and he was led down a short stairway into a basement.

  An old man was seated in an armchair in the center of the room and introduced himself "I am Sheik Tawfiq. What business proposition do you have in mind?"

  Nagib answered "I have a very precious and unique package that I need to deliver in Tel-Aviv."

  Sheik Tawfiq looked at him as if he had lost his mind "So why don't you send it by mail or by courier?"

  Nagib laughed "No sane courier would take this package. My package is the kind that no one wants to handle, that is why I have to do this personally. I have an account to settle and this will more than compensate for it".

  The Sheik thought about this for a moment and asked "Obviously you are not a Pakistani as you had admitted to my people. Who are you?"

  Nagib gave him a short version of his childhood in the village near Hebron, of his studies in Las Cruces and work at Los Alamos and briefly described his trip to Pakistan and the agreement he had made with them. He went into some detail about his brother's martyrdom in the service of the Palestinian people and the price his family paid. He concluded "I now have the perfect means to avenge my brother's murder by the Zionists and to play havoc on them in the name of the Palestinian people. All I need is a way to get into Tel-Aviv with my package".

  "Nagib, I am impressed by your dedication and brilliance. How big is the package you wish to deliver and when do you want to do it?"

  Nagib described the suitcase and added "I think that the best way for our people to celebrate Eid al-Fitr is to see the Israelis and the Americans count their dead. The blood of the tens of thousands of infidels
will cleanse the streets of Tel-Aviv and Los Angeles."

  The Sheik nodded and smiled "You shall have our full cooperation".

  Nagib bowed slightly and said that he would be back with the package at the end of August. He asked the Sheik if there was somewhere safe for him to spend a month in prayers and prepare himself for the ultimate sacrifice and Sheik Tawfiq assured him that he could remain in the Amman New Camp with full immunity.

  August 6th, Tucson, Arizona

  Alia found a small motel in a quiet area of Tucson in which she could rest and relax after the border crossing from Juarez. The crossing was by far the scariest thing she had ever experienced, not so much because of the risk of getting caught by the US border patrols or arrested at one of the roadblocks but due to the fact that the two guides that led the small group of frightened people kept arguing with each other in Spanish about something she didn't understand but felt that it concerned her. The younger guide consistently tried to get her separated from the group and when they were alone tried to force himself on her, while the older guide told her to stick with him and never leave the group. There was a loud exchange of words and expletives between the guides, and the older guy even drew a knife and threatened the younger guide to stay away from Alia. The rest of the group didn't utter a word when all this was going on and she was greatly relieved when the younger guide took the rest of the group towards El Paso on foot while the older guide accompanied her in a battered pick-up truck driven by a drunk Mexican. The driver seemed to know his way and used dirt roads to circumnavigate the roadblocks and get to Tucson.