Now that I ve got my rating for jets, it was great fun. I was able to fly the Lear.
What was it you wanted to run by me?
I wondered if you d thought any more about my suggestion that Talbot International might consider extending the Bacu Railway line into Rubat.
She said, I ve raised the matter with Gregory, and he seems to think that the instability with Yemen next door might raise difficulties.
Owen said, All we re asking for is an extension of the track and the pipelines. It would give us access to Southport and its tankers, and that would be more efficient for us. Remember that one-third of the world s oil from southern Arabia passes through the system. To interfere with that, Yemen would have to invade Rubat, a sovereign state. Any interference with oil supplies would cause chaos on an international scale. If the UN didn t put a stop to it, the Americans would, backed by powerful Arab interests. Yemen would be ground into the dust.
I like it when you re this way, Owen, full of enthusiasm. She smiled. You certainly make a good case. I ll speak to Gregory again.
As they started the return run, he realized with some surprise that she was absolutely right. The idea as put forward by his Al Qaeda masters was totally misconceived.
They crossed Park Lane and he said, Tell Gregory there will be a Saudi delegation arriving Thursday to be here for the President s visit on Friday. Powerful sheikhs involved in the oil business, but also a general or two, possibly looking for interesting arms deals. I d be happy to help with introductions. He frowned. But what am I thinking of? There s the reception on the terrace at Parliament.
I heard, she said. It s the social event of the year.
Well, I ve been invited and partners are allowed. Why not come with me?
She was actually quite thrilled at the idea, but said, Good heavens, Owen, are you sure?
Talbot International supplies military hardware to half the countries on earth and has an excellent reputation for integrity in the Arab world. Who better to represent it at such an affair than the chairman?
I admit I m tempted.
Dinner tonight at San Lorenzo. We ll discuss it then. I ll pick you up at seven-thirty.
He half ran along the pavement. She watched him enter his apartment block, then turned and walked away, suddenly absurdly happy.
As Owen crossed the sitting room, making for the bedroom suite, pulling his sweater over his head, a phone sounded. He hurried into his office and took a mobile from the top drawer. It was his sole link with Al Qaeda through an individual he d come to know only as Abu. The man spoke the perfect dry and precise English of an academic, with no clue as to age or nationality.
Good morning, Owen, Abu said. Did you enjoy your run in Hyde Park with Jean?
Owen had got past being surprised at how up-to-date Abu s information was, particularly about Rubat. He had gotten used to the idea that he was under some sort of surveillance.
She s excellent company!
What s the feedback regarding the extension to the Bacu?
Owen gave him chapter and verse. Frankly, it s exactly what I expected the company to say. Yemen makes everyone nervous these days, including my own people in Rubat.
Our orders demand that we persist.
I m doing the best I can. As you know, I m a guest at the terrace reception for the President. I ve invited her to join me, with a promise to introduce her to various Saudi dignitaries.
I like that, Abu said. It s good for business from a Talbot International point of view. It could possibly have an effect on their attitude to the Bacu extension. You ve done well.
We aim to please.
Kelly has filled me in on the Murphy business in New York.
Yes, I suggested he speak to you personally, Owen said.
You were quite right. We need to do something about Ferguson and his Holland Park setup. The wretched people he employs have been a thorn in our sides for years. Now we have Ferguson s latest recruit, this Sara Gideon. Jewish, I understand. She probably has ties to Mossad.
I wouldn t blame her. That bus bombing that killed her parents in Jerusalem saw off fourteen Palestinians as well. It was rather careless of Hamas.
Take care, Abu said. Or we may start to wonder whose side you re on.
That s easy. I m on Owen Rashid s side. What s our next move?
I ll order Kelly to activate some of his sleepers here in London. He s boasted of them enough, so let s see if we can give Ferguson and his people a few problems.
Owen said, Let s be practical. Ferguson and Miller spent years fighting a war in Ireland. Dillon and Holley were on the other side and have now crossed over. Their friend Harry Salter may be a wealthy developer now, but he was a notorious gangster in his day, and his nephew has taken after him. And the Gideon girl s record speaks for itself. What do you think you ll be able to accomplish?
I ve been doing some research. Are you familiar with the Irish National Liberation Army? Their members were recruited from the professional classes. Years ago, they killed an MP with a car bomb as he drove out of Parliament. No one was ever caught.
All right, but that was a long time ago, Owen said. What are you saying?
I m saying some things never go out of style. I m going to speak to Kelly. I want this Charles Ferguson business taken care of once and for all.
Owen Rashid, with plenty to think about, went into the bathroom and stood under a hot shower, cursing the day he d got involved with Al Qaeda, but he was, and would have to make the best of it.
As he finished dressing and moved into his office area, the phone sounded. It was Kelly, and he wasn t pleased.
I don t like being ordered around by that creep Abu. He sounds like an undertaker.
I suppose that s what he is in a way, Owen told him. You could always resurrect one of your sleeper cells and give instructions to bump him off.
If only it were that simple, Kelly said. Just like I have visions of getting Charles Ferguson and his entire outfit all together in a van, so it would only take one bomb planted underneath to get rid of them all.
And pigs might fly, Owen said. Anyway, Abu thinks we need something special. He s discovered that INLA once killed a Member of Parliament with a car bomb.
But that was years ago.
Well, he s impressed not only that they got away with it but that the cell consisted of middle-class professionals.
Yeah, that was a newspaper story that got out of hand. Kelly laughed harshly. Each time it reprinted, a bit more was added, until in the end, it was better than the midnight movie.
Owen Rashid found himself genuinely interested. How do you know?
Because I ve always suspected a friend of mine was involved. He wasn t Irish, and his only connection with the IRA was a girl named Mary Barry, whom he loved beyond rubies.
Tell me about him.
In 1976, like a lot of IRA volunteers, I was sent to a training camp in the middle of the Algerian desert, courtesy of Colonel Qaddafi. We were trained in all kinds of weaponry and shown how to make what they now call improvised explosive devices, car bombs and such.
So what s this got to do with anything? Owen Rashid demanded.
Our instructor was named Henri Legrande. He spent three years in the Foreign Legion in the Algerian War. Joined at eighteen, got wounded and decorated, and discharged on his twenty-first birthday. Then he was recruited by Algerians and got well paid to give people like me the benefit of his experience for six months.
What happened to him when you left the camp?
We were his last group. He had an English aunt in London who d left him well provided for, and her estate included an antiques shop with an apartment above it in Shepherd Market.
That s not far from here, Owen said.
Lots of shops like that there.
He decided to go to London University to study literature and fine arts, of all things. It was still a popular destination with Irish students like Mary Barry, the daughter of a friend of mine. I told her to look him up.