‘No,’ said the Greek, ‘not anyone. Only those with access to nuclear mines.’
‘And who has access to nuclear mines?’
‘As far as I know, only three people can get their hands on a worthwhile quantity without any questions being asked: the Chairman of the Soviet Union, the President of the United States, and myself.’
‘I’ll remember to give you a call next time I need some,’ said Elleck.
Culundis blew him a kiss. ‘It will be no problem — just let me know the quantity and send me your cheque.’
Elleck looked down at the table, then out through the French windows at the dark blue, balmy warm night. ‘So how, with your unlimited supply of nuclear mines, which you will threaten to throw into the Strait of Hormuz, do you actually bring the world to the brink of war?’
‘In your line of work, it must be very important you keep up with the news, eh?’
Elleck nodded.
The Greek continued. ‘Some years ago, you may remember a small disturbance in the Middle East — in the United Arab Emirates? One of the Emirates, Umm Al Amnah, broke away and became once more independent. All the world said the Libyans were behind this revolution — with, of course, the Russians behind them. Well, it wasn’t the Libyans. I know — because I supplied the men and the weapons to Umm Al Amnah, and the Libyans were not involved. No outsider was; this was purely an internal situation. The old Emir Quozzohok fell out with the Government of the UAE just after oil was discovered in Amnah. He and the Government had never got on too well, and he was damned if they were going to have any benefits from his oil. This coup, of course, greatly upset the UAE and alienated Quozzohok from the governments of the Western World — they didn’t want to lose their valuable friendship with the UAE, so they had to spurn Amnah. The Libyans and the Russians courted Quozzohok, but he didn’t want to know.
‘The reason the West thought Libya was behind that revolution was very simple: I don’t like to have anything traced to me. So all the contracts with the mercenaries, all the purchases of weapons and ammunition and all other related purchases were made in the name of a company, Eurocorps, the origins of which can easily be traced, first to a Liechtenstein holding company and secondly to a Panamanian Company with nominee directors, and only one share issued. That share is owned by Sahqd-As-Sah, a Libyan arms wholesaling company. Right now, to assist them with certain internal problems, soldiers, weapons and ammunition are arriving at Umm Al Amnah every day. To anyone taking the trouble to find out who is behind them, the answer is easily found: Libya.’ Culundis smiled.
‘Although, of course, it is actually you,’ said Elleck.
‘Of course,’ smiled the Greek.
‘So you have set up Libya, in the opinion of the world, as being Umm Al Amnah’s supporter — whether Amnah likes it or not?’
‘In a nutshell, yes. Libya isn’t going to deny it — it’s good publicity for them. Poor exploited little Amnah — it all fits into Gaddafi’s Islamic revolution activities very neatly.’
Elleck slowly nodded his head. ‘I’m following you. So Amnah is going to threaten to mine the Strait, with Libya as fairy godmother and Russia as the golden coach?’
‘No,’ said Culundis. ‘We are further than that. One month ago, something happened that was kept well out of the world’s press: an Oman Navy patrol boat picked up, in the Strait, a fishing dhow that was drifting with a dead crew on board. Also on board were eight twenty-kiloton nuclear mines, all with six-hour timer devices which would automatically prime themselves six hours after immersion in the water. They were utterly sophisticated devices that could not be reversed by a minesweeper. They had sonar detonators primed to go off as soon as any ship got within one hundred yards; if one of those had been dumped into the sea, the Lord only knows how it could ever have been got out again.’
‘Whose mines were they and how did they come to be on the dhow?’
‘The mines were Russian-made, for all intents and purposes. The dhow’s registration certificate showed its home port as being Al Suttoh. Al Suttoh is the chief port of Umm Al Amnah.’
‘And who was behind it?’ asked Elleck.
‘As far as the Western World believes, the Libyans,’ Culundis smiled.
‘And what does the Western World believe the Libyans have to gain by blocking the Gulf?’
‘In political terms,’ said Culundis, ‘that’s a good question. No one can be sure — but in economic terms it is very clear. Libya’s chief ports are on the Mediterranean. She is the only major oil-producing Arab country that does not need the Persian Gulf. If the Gulf was blocked for a considerable period of time, Libya would be in a position to ask just whatever the hell she liked for her oil.’
‘That’s a pretty good reason for Libya to block the Gulf,’ said Elleck.
Culundis nodded in agreement.
‘But you’re implying it wasn’t Libya who put those mines on that dhow?’
‘Correct, Monty. The mines were not, in fact, Russian-made at all — although they were made to look that way. They were actually made in France, by Lasserre Industriele. I arranged for them to be put onto the dhow.’
Elleck thought for some moments. ‘How come you were careless enough to let the Royal Omani Navy capture the dhow?’
‘Not careless,’ said Culundis very slowly, ‘careful!’
‘Careful?’
‘It was deliberate. Do not forget, Monty Elleck, we have been talking about a threat to block the Gulf — not an actual blockade. You yourself have said that a threat is useless unless you can show you have the ability to carry it out. Well, let me tell you something: Oman, because it actually occupies the land one side of the Strait of Hormuz, and because of its position at the base of the Gulf, is strategically one of the most important countries of the world. It is friendly to the West, but the Russians constantly are trying to infiltrate it, trying to erode the Government’s support by propaganda to the population. Oman is one of the most heavily-surveilled countries in the world; not merely because of its position as a watch post on the Gulf, but because of its strategically important position for the Americans and for NATO. There are more intelligence agents crawling around the sand dunes and rock caves of Oman than there are almost anywhere else in the world. There is not an intelligence agency in the world who did not hear about those nuclear mines being found aboard that dhow. You might not have read one word in the newspapers — because it was deliberately kept out — but I’ll tell you something: every government in the world right now knows those mines were on that dhow. They don’t know for sure why they were there — they can only speculate. But they know that they exist; they know that they were there; and if someone were to tell them that there were another thirty dhows out there, carrying a further 400 mines between them, you know what they’d think, Monty Elleck?’
Elleck slowly nodded his head.
‘Damned right, Monty Elleck. They’d bloody believe it.’
Elleck pulled another flat cedar taper from the silver box on the table, stuck one end of the taper in a candle flame, then held the burning taper to his cigar, puffed hard three times, then shook out the taper. ‘Couldn’t the mines be swept? There must be a way?’
‘Impossible. You cannot get near them without them exploding.’
‘Couldn’t they be detonated by remote control?’
The Greek shook his head. ‘Imagine 400 all within a few square miles. If one goes, there is a good chance it will set off others — perhaps even all the others; the result of nuclear mines detonating in that stretch of water is almost impossible to conceive. It would alter the entire floor of the Gulf — the Gulf isn’t that deep, and there would be a very real danger that a force of explosion of that size could raise up the entire bottom — making it impassable to all shipping for months and possibly years. It would create tidal waves up and down the Gulf that would wash away towns and villages, destroy the harbours — such a force of water that would break supertankers into little pieces.’