“Oh, you know,” Dox said. “In these matters, the government usually continues the investigation just to determine whether what they’ve achieved is merely a ‘great victory,’ or if it could in fact be more accurately described as a ‘historic triumph.’ I’m sure they don’t think the network’s still operational after all that clever spying they did to stop it.”
“It is operational,” Delilah said. “Despite the arrests. It’s like Al Qaeda-the leadership is damaged, but then new, less centralized actors begin to emerge in its place.”
“Al-Jib?” I asked.
“Exactly. Ali Al-Jib is part of this new generation. He was educated in East Germany, the Central Institute of Nuclear Research in Rossendorf. There are more like him, men who were trained behind the Iron Curtain and then lost to the world’s intelligence services in the turmoil following the end of the Cold War. A lucky find of some Soviet-era documents pointed us in the right direction.”
“Maybe we should switch the frequency back to Hilger and company,” I said. “Not that this isn’t interesting, but we don’t want to get distracted.”
“You don’t understand,” Delilah said. “Al-Jib is a dangerous man, very dangerous. What Lavi does with conventional explosives, Al-Jib is trying to do with nuclear weapons. We’ve been hunting him for a long time and he is exceedingly difficult to track. We can’t let him walk out of here tonight.”
“Look,” I said, “he sounds like he’s another problem child, it’s true. But we’ve got our hands full as it is. Hilger and Manny are the primaries. That’s going to be hard enough to do. Let’s not complicate it by rearranging our priorities in the middle of the proceedings.”
“You don’t understand,” she said again.
“I do understand. These aren’t my decisions to make. Your people hired me to do a job, I’m doing it. If they wanted to hire me to do Al-Jib, too, they should have brought it up sooner and I would have priced it in. And they damn well shouldn’t have turned on me after one little hitch in Manila.”
“Is that what this is about?” she said. “You won’t do this… out of spite?”
“I won’t do it because it’s not sensible to do it. We’ve got two targets already. If I put Al-Jib at the head of the line, it reduces the chances that I’ll be able to get to the other two. So let’s just stick to the plan.
“Jeez, partner,” Dox said. “I don’t know.”
“Goddamnit,” I said, “what happened to all that ‘The judge and the executioner, they’re different roles’ shit you were spouting at me the other day?”
“I think I meant that more as a guideline than a rule, man,” he said. “And this feels like, you know, an exigency.”
We were all quiet for a moment. I thought, This is exactly what I’m talking about, we’re arguing about this idiot Al-fucking-Jib instead of monitoring what’s going on in the room. Getting distracted, jeopardizing the whole operation.
“If the opening is there,” I said, “I’ll take him out. But Hilger and Manny are still the priority. Okay?”
There was a pause, then Delilah said, “Okay.”
“Good. Now switch the frequency back. Please.”
We went back to Hilger and company. It sounded like Hilger was making a sales pitch. Something about diversified investments, Asian emerging markets equities, average yields of over twenty-five percent.
“What about your commission?” Al-Jib asked.
“The twenty-five percent yields are after my commission, which is twenty percent.”
“Twenty percent. Is that in keeping with American SEC regulations?”
“Not at all. But then, not much of what I can do is likely to be approved by the SEC.”
Al-Jib laughed. “I have to tell you, your proposal is interesting and I think there is a lot you might be able to do for my people, but I would not have agreed to meet you. Not even with the people who vouched for you. Your former affiliations are too… suspect. There are people who believe you are still in the employ of the U.S. government.”
“That impression can be useful in my work. I don’t go out of my way to dispel it.”
“I understand. Still, it can be hard for men to trust each other even when they are from the same village. When they come from such different villages as ours, the suspicions linger, do they not?”
“They do. But I hope the test you devised was adequate to ease your doubts.”
“More than adequate. Killing a U.S. diplomat in Amman… there are some things that a U.S. government agent simply cannot do.”
Hilger laughed. “It was a creative solution. I’m glad it worked.”
“You never told me one thing, though. How did you manage to have the Jordanians blame Al Qaeda for the man’s death?”
“That was a case of someone rounding up the ‘usual suspects,’ ” Hilger replied. “When a senior member of USAID is assassinated, someone has to be blamed. Who better than AQ?”
“Yes,” Al-Jib said. “I suppose that’s true.”
They were quiet for a moment. Then Hilger said, “One thing that’s so useful about my ambiguous status with the United States government is that I’m in touch with many, many people who are in a position to do me favors. They’re receiving the same twenty-five percent you will be, and are always looking for an opportunity to invest something more. So tonight, in addition to the logistics of setting up your accounts and transferring funds, I would very much like to talk about what you need that the U.S. government might unwittingly provide. I’d like to help with all that, too.”
“For your usual twenty percent fee?”
“Of course. Everything I do involves personal risk.”
“I don’t begrudge you. I only wanted to confirm. If you can provide what I need, I think we’ll both be satisfied with the arrangement.”
“Tell me, then,” Hilger said. “I’m intrigued.”
There was a moment of quiet, then Al-Jib said, “As you know, Dr. Khan’s organization was chiefly able to provide know-how and machinery to its customers. The missing link in our product lineup was always material.”
“Uranium? Plutonium?”
“Either one is greatly desired.”
“If it’s uranium you need, highly enriched is your best bet. The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration and the International Atomic Energy Administration are supervising the repatriation of HEU from all over the world right now, and I have extensive contacts in both organizations. You might have heard of the program-the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, a joint operation between the United States and Russia to secure Soviet-era nuclear fuel.”
“Yes, I know of it.”
“Then you probably know that six kilograms of highly enriched uranium was just repatriated from the Czech Republic to Russia. The transfer was secret until it was completed, but I knew about it beforehand. There are others that are being secretly planned even as we speak. HEU is being moved from Bulgaria, Libya, Romania, Serbia, and Uzbekistan. With your background, I don’t think I need to tell you how many opportunities there are en route for a diversion.”
“What will it cost?” Al-Jib asked, and I thought, Nice sales pitch. The guy’s ready to whip out his checkbook.
“A lot,” Hilger said, and they all laughed.
Manny said, “What did I tell you, Ali?”
Al-Jib said, “Yes, it seems we can do business together.”
Manny said, “I’ve been telling you that for what, three years? I’ve made a lot of money with this man and he’s done me a lot of favors.”
Hilger said, “Cheers,” and I heard glasses clinking.
Manny said, “Excuse me for a minute.” I heard a chair sliding back, then their door open and close.