The Devil's Playground
Page 14
it appeared that President O had even managed to convince Mikhail, who like Benny, Barak, Saul, and Yossi, had a rabid distrust of anything North Korean due to the fact that the state had never recognized Israel and instead supplied personnel and technical support not just to the PLO but also to the Syrian and Iranian Nuclear Programs.
Even ever-doubting Saul had commented that the President appeared genuine. Nevermore so, when the man had compared Israel and Korea as similar over dinner the night before, when the young CEO had asked him why he were choosing to undertake this program now, O had responded, "Mr. Saul both our countries are surrounded by powerful enemies. Our mistake was in announcing to the world that we had an enrichment program. What we should have done is followed Israel's lead."
"How so?" Saul had asked.
"If we had showed the world that a nuclear device was plausible alongside no announcement of its possession," the President paused for a sip of beer, "snd then that could have been used as the ultimate trump card. For it would have kept everyone guessing as to when the weapons might become available." Everyone at the table had nodded in agreement.
"The world then wouldn't have then been able punish us for possessing the knowledge to defend ourselves," O had stated with wisdom displaying to Thomas right there and then that this was a man who understood politics better than most, despite his spy and military background. "In order for us to survive in the twenty-first century, we need to look beyond Juche and do what the Israel has done by using trade as the ultimate weapon," he continued expressively as he picked up an apple.
"That is why I intend to announce once this agreement has been concluded that Korea will announce the recognition of the State of Israel," he continued with a beaming smile. We need to make friends with people who are smart and strong!"
"That will upset your friends in Palestine," the ever-doubting Saul had said, whose first comment when he heard they were all going to Korea had been, "The moment immigration in Tel Aviv sees that entry stamp on my passport, I am going to have to spend the next two days being questioned by them on what I was doing in the fucking place!" Only to find out when they landed in Pyongyang that they didn't even ask for their passports. The fact that they hadn't had been something that Mikhail and the boys teased him about throughout the trip to delight of their minders who had kept asking him if he would like a tourist stamp on his passport.
Yet the answer President O gave to Saul's question referring to the fruit that was one of Israel's biggest exports had Thomas and his team convinced that this deal might actually happen. "Oranges feed your people," he had said. "Not ideology in the modern world."
From a personal point of view, what had surprised Thomas the most on this trip belonged to a moment he had shared with Robin Ashley.
One night after dinner while taking in the night air gazing the stars over the power cut stricken city while enjoying a Robusto, the man joined him on the balcony.
"He likes you a lot," Thomas had said to Rob, referring to President O's friendliness and genuine warmth that he had displayed with the CIA Agent throughout the visit.
"He likes what I promise," Rob had cynically answered knowing that because they were outside it was unlikely they were being spied on by listening devices.
"I am sorry by the way," Rob had said changing the subject as he took a puff of his own cigar.
"For what?" Thomas had asked wondering what he was referring to.
"For what happened to Nara," Rob had said.
At that moment not wanting to be reminded of the painful memory of Nara dying in his arms, nor the role the Agency had played in it, Thomas had chosen to remain silent.
"I am glad that Mrs. Field gave you those pictures," Rob had said ignoring Thomas silence.
Thomas's eyes widened; the second he had said "Mrs. Field," he had known exactly what was Rob referring to. The photographs that had led him to the location of Wasir Osman Hassan the same man who had ordered his death but instead killed Nara in an act of revenge for Thomas and his men foiling his CIA backed coup in Adwalland.
"That was you?" Thomas had asked to which Rob had nodded over a puff of smoke.
"What was it Hannah said?" Rob had continued, "God punishes but man takes revenge!"
"It doesn't bring them back," Thomas had muttered.
"But justice is never really about that," Rob stated with a sad smile before continuing. "It's about closure and bringing peace to a soul despite what the Church says."
"Thank you," Thomas had replied offering his hand, which Rob had promptly took and shook. No longer considering the man standing before him as a representative of an organization he hated, but now as that of a friend. Without those photographs Thomas would never had had the chance to avenge his beloved, and although he had been tempted to ask Rob why he had done it, he didn't.
Instead he had said, "Don't worry we get this done," thinking that because Rob had a lot riding on the program it was the reason why he had shared this classified information.
"I couldn't give two hoots about this," Rob had answered referring to the mission and putting Thomas firmly in his place in the process. "Life is a journey," he had continued, "This is just one stop along its way."
"I don't understand?" Thomas had stated.
"Our destinies are intertwined! For some reason life keeps pulling us together," Rob had cryptically answered while pulling out of his pocket his wallet, then a picture of an attractive Latino lady. Once Thomas saw her face he had immediately recognized as one of the agents on the ground in Africa holding a baby in her arms.
"My wife and son. But it wasn't until this lady became part of my life that I really understood why I did what I did, for without that night in Borama, Clara's and my paths would had never have crossed."
Thomas nodded, then had said as he handed the photograph back to him, "Bit of a risk carrying something this personal on you?"
"Bollocks," Rob had replied before adding, "A risk was putting my trust in you guys." Before slipping it back into his wallet referring to the fact that his senior team knew unlike their hosts he was a CIA intelligence officer.
"Thomas," Rob had then said with a serious look. "The reason I shared this information with you is that like me you believe in Kismet," he had said using the Arabic word for destiny. "And as you are a believer in the teachings of Homer," he had continued referring to the Homeric code of honor, loyalty, and revenge.
He had then paused and looked towards the dark city the guesthouse overlooked.
"I have chosen a life that may well end with the Devil finally catching up with me one day," Rob had said as a way of an answer, still using his cryptic statements before finally getting to the point with what he had said next. Something that by the time he had finished had surprised Thomas the most.
"Because quite frankly." he had said with a small sigh before requesting. "I want you to forgo Nara's vengeance with respect to my wife. I don't want my son growing up an orphan," he had added in effort to drive home his request. The second the man had finished, Thomas had known there and then he had completely misjudged him.
When he had first met Rob, he had thought he was typical English salaried servant of an Arab Prince who lived on eggs and chips and dreamed of a house in the country one day. This request he had just asked of him proved Thomas had never been so wrong in his life. The man was like him, a creature driven to act a certain way with Honor at his core. It was because of that code and Rob's understanding of Thomas as person he had asked him for his forgiveness on behalf of his wife and child.
Thomas immediately recognized that this was the type of man he would want as a friend, despite him working for an enemy. He recognized that it had taken great courage to ask him. Without hesitation Thomas answered him in Arabic, one of the seven languages he spoke fluently.
"You have my word, my friend."
The relief on Rob's face was plain for him to see. Whatever vengeance Thomas would choose to unleash, on the Agency and its instruments when that da
y came, he would keep his promise. Rob's wife would be spared.
Now, as he left his bedroom to join the rest of party downstairs in the lounge to share a final meal in the basement of the Yanggakdo Hotel at the Casino owned by Stanley Ho the famous Gaming and Ferry tycoon from Hong Kong, to celebrate the signing of the pipeline agreement, Thomas wondered what would be the price he was going have to pay to his other master in Moscow, before that though he had a score to settle in Bangkok.
11
Bangkok
The sweat streamed down Ahmet Rejejow's face as he made his way down Sukhumvit Road and into the Soi Cowboy district. The famous 400-yard red-light district of Bangkok with some forty bars that catered for the world's sex tourists and expatriates in the city of sin.
On reaching the small bar that he owned in partnership with a local Thai, he stopped for a few moments so allow him to check and see if anybody was lying in wait for him. It was a routine that since he had found his face not only on Interpol's most wanted list but on the FSB's and the FBI's as well for his role in the Adwalland crisis and for the attempted assassination of Sir Thomas Litchfield in England, had unfortunately become part of his daily life.
The only saving grace to date that Ahmet had learned from that disastrous effort, and probably the only reason why after two years those law enforcement agencies still hadn't caught up with him, was the owner's