by Yossi Porat
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. Just a little bruise on my knee from your front fender.”
“But I insist on taking you to the emergency room! I’m so sorry! Please, get into my cab and I’ll take you.”
Without waiting for Sayeed, who was left in the middle of the street, Shlomo closed the door of the cab and began driving. Leora laughed, “You know, I really did get hurt a little! I’m not Superwoman, you know.”
He turned to smile at her, “To me you are.”
Leora immediately called Menahem. “The Syrian told me about a new attack the day after tomorrow. Here in London. And the other Saudi is coming, on a phony passport, and apparently not directly from Saudi Arabia.”
Soon the British and the Americans all knew about Azmi’s impending arrival in London.
Chapter Thirty-One
The regular program of the BBC was interrupted. A solemn-faced announcer reported, “We have just been informed that two suicide bombers have succeeded in blowing up two Tube stations, Earls Court and New Park. Al-Qaeda has taken responsibility for these attacks. Two more attacks were planned, at Piccadilly and Oxford Circus stations, but they were foiled by our police. It has been established that the four suicide bombers were British-born Muslims with no previous connection to terrorist activities. The attacks at Earls Court and Green Park have left devastation and death. The Prime Minister has promised that those responsible for this horrendous attack are under surveillance, and that we can expect their imminent capture.”
The pictures on the television were terrible: the cameras focused on blood spilled on the pavements and the walls, the wounded crying and in shock. A pair of old people lying on the ground, hands interlaced, as the old woman bled her life away. A child’s doll, a baby carriage, a small child with dark hair crying for her Mummy, picked up tenderly by a policewoman. Wrecks of Tube trains, clothes and handbags, hats and coats and shoes, strewn everywhere.
“Our sources at the hospitals have confirmed sixty-one deaths, including nine children and infants. The toll is still rising, as we have 221 wounded, including 43 in critical condition. Shock and trauma victims are streaming to the hospitals. The financial loss is enormous and is being assessed at this moment. As we previously announced, the police and security forces will be making arrests shortly of those directly responsible for these appalling acts.”
…..
Andrew, Omar and Sayeed sat in the main office of Control, staring at each other. “It wasn’t a complete success,” Andrew began, “but we did manage to pull of fifty percent. What do you think was meant by what they just said – they have us under surveillance?? Who could be responsible for that? Do you think it’s true?”
“I think if it’s anyone, it’s your former partner, Adam,” Omar snarled. “I’ve been suspicious of him from the beginning. Get him in here, right away!” Andrew called Adam at home and ordered him to come in to the office right away.
“I hope you people weren’t involved in these attacks,” Adam said fearfully. “What? Of course not? What are you thinking?” Andrew tried to laugh him off. Adam said, “Look, I don’t want to see those Arabs. If I come in, I want only you to be in the office, is that understood?”
“Of course, Adam,” Andrew put his finger to his lips to sign to the Arabs to be quiet. Hanging up, he told the two that Adam would be in within the hour. “But, listen,” he said. “I’ve got something else I want to discuss. We can use this time when the police are busy elsewhere to break into the bank I was telling you about. There’s a lot of money, and jewels besides. All I have to do is transmit an order to our police officer. He’ll go in, and together with the woman in charge of the deposit boxes, whom we’ve also programmed, will empty all the safe deposit boxes. Then he’ll leave, put the case in his car and walk away, which is when we erase both their memories. What do you think? Great plan, isn’t it?”
“What do we need the jewelry for?” Omar objected. We’ve got enough money without them.”
“For the sport, my friend,” Andrew smiled. “It’s a perfect crime, and all through my technological genius.”
“Well,” Sayeed agreed “we can always give lots of presents!”
…..
Morris felt the familiar warmth in his neck and head as he got out of his car. “Why didn’t I listen to the doctor when he told me not to use my cell-phone?” he thought to himself. He entered the bank and again met the nice woman in charge of the safety deposit boxes. Together they opened all the boxes and filled Morris’ bag with cash and jewels. The woman would not look Morris in the eye, and just continued to fill his case, as if she were a robot. Suddenly an alarm went off close to their ears. It was programmed to sound off automatically if an inordinate number of boxes were opened simultaneously. The doors to the vault locked automatically, and their cell-phones shut down, all part of the prearranged security system of the bank.
Morris suddenly became conscious of his surroundings. “What exactly are we doing?” he asked, confused.
“I don’t know,” the woman answered. She had started to cry. “I’ve been working here for thirty years, and I’ve never done anything like this before!”
“Wait here,” he comforted her. “I’m going to call for help. I’m a police officer.” He strode to the vault door and knocked loudly. When the door opened, there were two guards standing in front of the door, guns drawn. “Raise your hands high,” they shouted. They clicked their handcuffs shut on his wrists, even as he tried to remove his police identification badge from his pocket. “I’m a police officer, please!” he shouted back at them. When they had done the same to the woman, Morris turned to her, “I’m sorry I got you involved in this, really. But we’ll soon clear this up.”
Benjamin was waiting at the police station, smiling. “I got the police report and I know everything. Good work, Morris. You’ll be getting a promotion for this, if I have anything to say about it.”
…..
Adam walked with Dick toward the office, but Dick suddenly stood still, tail raised in warning. Adam understood from this reaction that the Arabs were
still in there, that Andrew had lied to him. He approached Laurie’s desk and wrote Sir Joseph’s direct phone number on a piece of notepaper. “Laurie, could you please call this number immediately and say that I need help here right away.”
He entered the office and said in a low, threatening voice, “Why did you lie to me? Why have you done this?” Dick stood by him, his teeth bared, giving Adam a feeling of security.
“Listen, Adam,” Andrew asked as if Adam had said nothing. “We need to know who you told and what you told them. By the way, you’re still involved, you know, so don’t play the innocent.”
“Screw you!” Adam cursed him, for the first time ever. “Do you know how many people died today? How many children?”
“Not my problem,” Andrew answered calmly. “This is strictly business. We’ve proved the technology works, now we can sell it and make billions.”
“If you have anything left to sell,” Adam answered contemptuously. “I hope you all get put away for a very long time.” He turned to the door. “I’m out of this. I never want to see any of you again.”
Sayeed took a thin, sharp knife out of his belt, and called, “Adam!”
As Adam turned toward him, Sayeed threw the shining knife towards Adam’s chest. Adam tried to turn away from the blade, but as he turned, the knife stuck into his right shoulder. Adam collapsed in pain on the floor by the door.
“What have you done?” Andrew screamed. “An eye for an eye, Andrew,” Sayeed answered. “This is revenge for his betrayal of our plans.”
Sol opened the door. Menahem had called him in answer to MI5’s message. Sayeed neared Sol, threatening to push him out the door.
Sol readied himself for an attack and said calmly, “Be careful. I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”
Sayeed pushed into Sol, but Sol threw him back on to the floor of the office, where his stout body lay motionless. Omar ran, his ha
nds waving, to his friend on the floor. Andrew rose, his large, athletic body moving swiftly towards Sol. “Don’t move!” Sol shouted at him. “I’ll finish you off, here and now!” Andrew stopped in his tracks.
“Laurie, call for an ambulance. Adam’s been stabbed. Call the police as well!” he called to the outer office. Taking off his jacket, he wrapped it around Adam, in an attempt to staunch the blood. Adam was growing paler by the minute, his loyal dog licking his face, trying to revive him. “Don’t worry, Adam, you’ll be fine,” Sol tried to comfort him.
Sol felt danger, and saw out of the corner of his eye that Sayeed was pulling out another small knife, this time from a strap above his shoe. He threw it straight at Sol, who managed to duck at just the right second. The knife hit his shoulder and glanced off. Sol looked down and saw blood starting to color his shirt, but he knew that this was only a superficial wound.
Just then Morris entered the office, accompanied by three plainclothes policemen and two paramedics carrying a stretcher. He had received a message straight from Sir Joseph. “What exactly is happening here?’ he said in an official tone.
Sol answered, “I heard yelling and came in to see what was happening. One of them stabbed Adam, and I also have a superficial wound. This is Andrew, the head of the company.”
The policemen brought the two Arabs to their feet and handcuffed them. The paramedics put Adam on the stretcher and started an infusion. They cleaned Sol’s wound and bandaged it, advising him to go to the emergency room as soon as possible. They left with Adam on the stretcher, Dick following loyally.
“Well, you’ve earned this,” Morris said to Andrew as he handcuffed him. As Morris led him to the elevator, Andrew glanced at Laurie. Morris requested
that she close the office immediately and make sure that everyone knew that it was closed, probably for good. Laurie nodded, and after the elevator doors had closed, picked up her cell-phone to report to Menahem.
…..
Menahem called the team in Gujarat and instructed them to begin the mission. Dan, Tami, and Rob entered the division managers’ office and planted the virus on their computers. After thirty-five minutes, Tami was able to report to the two men that the program had succeeded, and all the technology was erased from the company’s computers.
At the same time, Leora called Francine and told her to break into Andrew’s safe, finishing the job that she had been sent to do. She was soon at the office, punching in the secret password. She gave thanks that the camera she had planted was at exactly the right angle to catch the password on tape. Then she used the keys she had copied and opened the safe. She hurried to the far corner of the office as the contents of the safe were spontaneously destroyed. She hurried back to see the backup discs melting, and a pile of banknotes burning slowly. She removed a pair of diamond earrings, a matching necklace and bracelet, and smiling, put them in her purse.
When she reported to Menahem, he told her to leave the safe open and to return immediately to Tel-Aviv. After removing the tiny surveillance camera and the bug on Andrew’s desk, she took off her curly wig, and left the office.
…..
Menahem was talking to Vikram. “All the technology has been destroyed, including the backups in the programmers’ homes and those in the division managers’ office. The teams took all of the computers from the company
employees. We’ll compensate them with brand-new laptops, and probably give most of them jobs in different government departments here. These people didn’t have any idea what they were working on, as each one had only a
small piece of the larger picture. They’re all very talented – so why shouldn’t we use their talents? We also know about the leak to you from here in India. It was one of the division managers. He was tired of Andrew’s supercilious, condescending attitude towards him, and this was his way to get back at him. He’ll be given a much smaller punishment than the other two division managers – they after all did have some idea of what the company was up to.”
“Thanks for everything, Vikram. I owe you!” Menahem said good-bye to his friend and colleague.
…..
The Prime Minister’s red telephone rang. He heard the British Prime Minister at the other end. “It seems we have put an end to this threat completely. In addition to all that you know already, I would like to inform you that one hour ago our authorities picked up Azmi Bin-Laden at Heathrow, who was attempting to enter the country under a false passport as a Moroccan businessman. He was arrested on the charge of attempting to smuggle foreign currency into Britain. So we have really progressed in our battle against terrorism, but I just have one warning for you, sir. I hope not to hear again that your people have been operating undercover on our territory.”
After he hung up, the Prime Minister called Avram and Menahem, to report on the conversation. They both entered his office. Avram said drily, “So, I understand that the technology has been completely destroyed. Is there no way to theoretically build it again? Maybe we can get to their programmers?”
“Not really,” Menahem said, quietly satisfied. “I got word from the British and the Indians that all their code has been destroyed, along with their computers.”
“Damn!” Avram exclaimed furiously. He left the room, too angry to continue the discussion with Menahem and the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister smiled faintly at Menahem. “You got word from the British? Really? We both know that you were directly in touch with the Indians.”
Menahem smiled back. “By the way, sir, I’ll need a special budget to buy the Indian people new computers and laptops.” He left the room and felt like dancing.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The regular CNN program was interrupted by breaking news. Margaret Keller, the CNN reporter, was relating the story of the hoax in Barcelona, how CNN and the other networks cooperated with the British government to lull the perpetrators into a false sense of security and to continue with their evil plans. There followed a combined press conference with the President of the United States, and the Prime Ministers of Britain, Israel, and Spain. The station’s ratings had never been higher.
Meanwhile, Deborah, Lance and the children were relaxing in the first-class section of British Airways on its flight to New York. “Attention passengers. For an exciting announcement, turn your headsets to Channel Four. You’ll hear a live press conference with the American President and the Prime Ministers of Britain, Israel, and Spain.”
The American President was speaking. “Good evening, citizens of the world. We are here today to thank those brave few – British, American, Israeli, and Spanish law enforcers – who succeeded in destroying a most terrifying technology that, if it had been allowed to operate, would have threatened the peace of the entire world. It was designed to transmit orders to individuals who would wreak terror on all of us, fulfilling the orders of their masters. We were able to destroy all the technology as well as every back-up in existence, and we have all the master planners under arrest in Britain. These include Azmi Bin-Laden, one of the heads of Al-Qaeda, his Saudi cousin Omar Bin-Hamdan, and a top man in the Syrian Intelligence Service, Sayeed Abu-Razik. I would especially like to thank those wonderful people without whose cooperation this would never have succeeded: Ms. Deborah Thomas of London, Detective Morris Breitman of the London Police, and Dr. Brian Stanley and Mr. Robert Fielden, our computer experts. We would all like to express our deep condolences to all the families of the dead and the wounded in the two bombing attacks in London. God save us all.”
He nodded to the British Prime Minister. “The cooperation between all our different countries proves that we can fight together against terrorism. I’d also
like to report that we have confiscated terrorist moneys that were deposited in
banks in Britain and in Switzerland, sixty-five million pounds in all. This money will go toward compensating the victims of the attacks in London, as well as helping those who cooperated in our investigations.” As the world leaders shook
hands, the broadcast ended.
The stewardess was on the speaker. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are honored to have Ms. Deborah Thomas, her husband and sons, flying with us today. Ms. Thomas, as you just heard, was influential in helping in the operation against the terrorist plans.” Deborah looked at Lance, tears in her eyes. The entire first class was on its feet, applauding her. The stewardess approached with the airplane phone. “Ms. Thomas, the President of the United States.”
Deborah took the phone nervously. “Ms. Thomas, it’s an honor to speak to you. The people of the United States are very grateful to you for your part in the investigations, and I would like to invite you and your family to the White House for dinner, to show our appreciation.”
“Thank you so much, Mr. President,” Deborah breathed into the phone. “I really didn’t do very much, sir.”
