Major Saeed was now standing to attention, saluting the General, and Scott didn’t need to be told that this man was of a different rank and caliber than the one he had been dealing with until then. He studied the face of the man dressed in an immaculate tailored uniform with several more rows of battle ribbons than the Major, wearing black leather gloves and carrying a swagger stick. It was a cruel face. The troops who stood around him were unable to disguise their fear.
The Major pointed to Scott and said, “You, come.”
“I’ve got a feeling he means you,” said Kratz.
Scott nodded and strolled across to join them.
“Mr. Bernstrom,” the General said, removing the glove from his right hand, “I am General Hamil.” Scott shook his hand. “I am sorry to have kept you waiting. But don’t let me hold you up any longer. Please show me your safe, which Major Saeed seems so impressed by.”
Without another word the General turned and began walking towards the building, leaving Scott with little choice but to follow. For the first time in his life, Scott was terrified.
Hannah picked up a duster and some polish and began to rub in small circles on the table while taking a more careful look at the Declaration of Independence. The parchment was in such terrible condition that she doubted if it could be repaired even if Scott were able to get it back to Washington.
She peered around the door into the short corridor, and spotted the safe she had seen on the truck earlier that day. It was open, but was guarded by two more thugs, chatting as much as the other two who were stationed at the door of the Council Chamber.
Hannah made her way slowly down the corridor, dusting and polishing the ledge of the wooden skirting until she was opposite the safe and had a clear view inside. She took a pace forward and peered in as if she had never seen anything like it in her life before. One of the soldiers kicked her and she fell into the safe. The inevitable raucous laughter followed. She was about to turn around and retaliate when she saw the long cardboard cylinder in one corner, almost hidden in the shadow. She leaned across and rolled it quickly towards her until it was safely under her long skirt. She wondered if she could use it to get a message to Simon. Hannah left her duster and polish on the floor of the safe, stepped out backwards and bolted down the corridor, as if to escape the guards.
Once she was back in the Chamber she removed another rag from the cleaning box and began polishing the table until she was in a position where no one could see her from either passageway. She then lowered herself slowly onto her knees until she was below the table, and let the cardboard tube fall to the floor in front of her. She quickly flicked off the cap, to find the cylinder wasn’t empty. She pulled out the parchment, unrolled it and studied it in disbelief: a magnificent copy of the Declaration of Independence, obviously made by a craftsman, even if someone had tried to deface it. She realized immediately that Simon must have been hoping to find some way of switching the copy for the original.
Kratz watched Scott follow General Hamil into the building, then walked slowly across to the truck and climbed into the cab. He stared through the front window. No one was taking any particular interest in what they were up to.
“This is too easy,” he said. “Far too easy.” Cohen and Aziz looked straight ahead, but didn’t offer an opinion. “If Hamil is involved, they must suspect something. The time has come for us to find out who knows what.”
“What do you have in mind, sir?” asked Cohen.
“I have a feeling that our switchboard Major isn’t fully aware of what’s going on. Either they haven’t briefed him, or they think he’s not up to the job.”
“Or both,” suggested Aziz.
Kratz nodded. “Or both. So let’s find out. Aziz, I want you and Cohen to take a stroll down to the barrier. Tell the guards that you’re going for something to eat, and that you’ll be back in a few minutes. If they refuse to let you through, we’ve got a real problem, because that will mean they know what we’re up to. In which case, come back to the cab and I’ll start working on what we have to do next.”
“And if they let us through?” asked Cohen.
“Get out of sight,” said Kratz, “but keep in visual contact with the truck. That shouldn’t be too hard, with these gawking crowds. If Professor Bradley comes out with his cardboard tube and I rest my arm on the window ledge as I’m doing now, get back here fast, because we won’t want to be hanging about. And by the way, Cohen: if I’m not around for any reason, and the professor should suggest a detour to the Foreign Ministry, overrule him. Your only job is to get him over the border.” Cohen nodded, without a clue what the Colonel was talking about. “But if you spot that we’re in trouble, keep well out of the way for one hour, and then pray that the whopper works.”
“Understood, sir,” said Cohen.
“Take the keys with you,” said Kratz. “Now get going.”
Kratz stepped back down onto the tarmac, strolled over to where Major Saeed was listening to one of his interminable phone calls and placed himself a few feet to Saeed’s left as if wanting to attract his attention. At the same time he looked over his shoulder to watch Aziz and Cohen walking towards the barrier.
Kratz continued to try and attract the Major’s attention as he watched Aziz come to a halt at the barrier and start joking with one of the guards.
A few moments later he saw both of his men step under the barrier. Within seconds they were lost in the crowd.
Major Saeed came off the phone. “What is the problem this time?” he asked. Kratz took out a cigarette and asked the Major for a light.
“Don’t smoke,” he said, and waved him away.
Kratz walked slowly back to the cab and took his place behind the steering wheel, his eyes never leaving the open doorway of the Ba’ath Party headquarters.
Hannah stared at the Declaration hanging on the wall. It was only a few paces away from her. She waited until she heard another roar of laughter from the soldiers before walking over to the document and quickly trying to remove the nails. Three came out with the minimum of effort, but the one at the top right-hand corner refused to budge, and the Declaration continued to dangle from it. After a few more seconds, she felt she was left with no choice but to ease the document over the head of the nail. Once the parchment was in her hand she went back to the table, placed the original on the floor and returned quickly to attach the copy to the wall.
She hardly glanced at her handiwork before she turned back to the table, knelt on the ground and rapidly rolled up the original, replacing it in the cylinder. Once again she tucked it under her skirt. It had been the longest two minutes of her life. She remained on her knees, trying to think. She knew she couldn’t risk trying to get the tube out of the building, as the guards might decide to “search” her again. There was no alternative. She walked quickly back down the short corridor and was in the safe even before the two soldiers had stopped talking. She let the cylinder fall to the floor, then pushed it back into the darkest corner, exactly where she had first seen it. Then she picked up the duster and polish she had left behind, stepped back out of the safe and showed them to the soldiers and ran back down the corridor towards the Chamber.
Hannah knew she must get out of the building as quickly as possible, and somehow pass a message to Simon. And then she heard the voices.
The elevator doors slid apart at the basement floor. The General stepped out into the corridor and headed towards the Council Chamber.
“And just how large is this safe?” the General asked Scott.