‘Who else is going to see him from here?’
‘Jason,’ returned the Commander curtly. ‘We all have different parts to play. It’s a case of horses for courses.’
‘So why am I here?’ I challenged sharply. ‘The only thing I do well is to play bridge. How can that help you?’
‘You’ll find out when you meet Menel,’ he replied easily. ‘Now… enjoy the food! It all has to be eaten otherwise the staff will have it for breakfast for the rest of the week.’ He pressed the envelope with the door key into my hand and laughed at his own joke before walking away to talk to other people.
‘What’s he talking about?’ I asked Penny directly. ‘You must know.’
‘It’s been left for Menel to tell you,’ she replied. ‘But seeing him has nothing to do with playing bridge. I can assure you.’
I became angry with her for not confiding in me but in the presence of one hundred strangers I was forced to remain silent. It then dawned on me that she probably had no idea anyway. No one ever told anyone anything of importance in this organisation. Penny had created havoc with my life and now she kept her distance with regard to important matters which I needed to know. I had no doubt that, like Primar, she would soon be asking me to trust her. After the refreshments we returned to the auditorium to listen to Commander Yasood once more.
‘You have now advance warning of the war to be waged within the next one hundred years,’ he began to his captive audience. ‘It will become known in the history books as World War Three. What is amazing is the fact that history tends to repeat itself. On two occasions in the twentieth century the Allies were caught out at the beginning of hostilities with their pants down. Despite advance information at the beginning of both World Wars they were totally unprepared. It would be the same again except for our intervention but this time any country under attack, which is caught on the hop, will be unable to recover in the face of a severe nuclear attack. Looking back at the Crusades… the Western invasion of the Holy Land between 1097 and 1191 a.d. against the Muslim powers… let’s see what lessons can be learned. The concept of the Crusades was to allow aid to fellow Christians in the east although some historians identify them as a result of social, economic and institutional growth in Western Europe. The prime goal was not to become involved in battle but to establish the successful defence of fortified positions. Open battle was a very uncertain and risky business in those days. The number of manoeuvred campaigns which ended without a major battle or siege far outnumbered the number of actual battles. Not only that but the war was seasonal. Once winter set in, field armies generally dispersed. However, such was Europe’s fear of Muslim power that the concept of the Crusades persisted well into the seventeenth century. Fortunately, in spite of the rhetoric about the Holy War, the Jihad made little difference to the average peasant whether his rules was Christian or Muslim. The force of Islam was unorganised, without a real military campaign, and they used brute force, courage and martyrdom in place of useful weaponry and strategic and tactical planning. You see, on the Christian side, there were never more than two thousand knights and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Furthermore, it was impossible to gather them all together. In rural areas, the Crusaders lacked sufficient numbers to alter the pattern of government seriously. It will be different this time. So too will be the weaponry. In the first Crusades, armoured knights on horseback used lances and swords but the primary weapons used by soldiers was the crossbow,. In the twenty-first century, the forces of Islam will threaten with weapons bearing nuclear warheads. Every country, every government, every person on this planet will live in absolute fear of annihilation.’
‘If what you say is correct,’ demanded the man at the rear of the hall who had asked a question earlier, ‘what happened with Saddam Hussein and Iraq? He was supposed to have had weapons of mass destruction. He also committed himself to wage a vicious war with Iran before attempting the acquisition of Kuwait. But he didn’t use them.’
Yasood’s face broke into a smile. ‘He didn’t have nuclear power or the weapons of that nature to use. In every organisation there are mavericks who make errors and try to cover them up. They are often faced with desperate measures to hide their inefficiencies. Saddam Hussein was no different. He almost made Iraq bankrupt by pursuing an all-out war with Iran, borrowing the finance from Kuwait. When the conflict ended, he demanded that the loan granted be cancelled. When Kuwait refused to do so, he invaded them to wipe out the debt and capture the oil wells. Every organisation has such problems… people who are over-zealous and over-ambitious who strive to aspire to higher levels… treading on others in their attempt to get there. A typical example can be seen in the break-up of Yugoslavia where there was a war of ethnic proportions. Muslims clearly were the main target and many of them died unnecessarily. Such zeal hopefully does not exist with our cause and we are watchful and observant to prove it does not happen. If it did, it would impose a greater burden upon us and be extremely unhelpful in stopping a Third World War. If we fail, the number of deaths worldwide will be counted in the hundreds of millions or mankind may even destroy itself on this planet. Are there any more questions?’
The room remained silent and sombre for a few moments as the audience digested the information. Commander Yasood wasted few words in his deliberation.
‘What can anyone do to prevent a nuclear invasion?’ asked another young woman inquisitively. ‘We may be able to learn which countries have nuclear weapons but how do we stop them from invading us with them?’
‘We have a man in this room today who may well be able to avert the danger with a weapon that has a more devastating effect than nuclear weapons.’
A ripple of comment ran through the audience and I looked round to see whether anyone was going to own up to this revelation. Then Penny touched my arm gently.
‘It’s you!’ she uttered in a whisper. ‘He’s talking about you!’
I stared at her in amazement. ‘Me? What are you talking about? I don’t know anything about weaponry!’
‘That’s why you’re seeing Menel tomorrow.’
I gave her an old-fashioned look because I had no idea what she meant. The Commander continued to ramble on about the Crusades, Islam, World War Three and the future, and then the lecture came to an end. I opened the envelope he had given me to find a door-key and the address in Arlosoroff Road in Tel Aviv and that of Menel in Jaffa.
‘How do we get to Tel Aviv from here?’ I asked my secretary.
‘We take a plane to Ben Gurion Airport,’ she advised me. ‘It’s necessary to come in by that route otherwise we might get shot down by Israeli artillery as a suspected invader. You can’t be too careful out here, you know.’
‘Why not?’ I commented flippantly. ‘Everything else has happened since Primar came on the scene. Why not get shot down this time?’
Commander Yasood came towards us to bid us farewell. He took me aside to whisper discreetly in my ear. ‘Between you and me and these rock walls,’ he whispered softly, ‘take care. We expect a lot from you. And watch out for Primar, I have a strong suspicion about his loyalty, Be very very careful!’
As we departed, Penny could hardly contain her curiosity. ‘What did he say to you?’ she asked sweetly.
‘You’ll find out in due course,’ I riposted, taking revenge for her reluctance to answer my earlier question. ‘In due course!’
Within an hour we were back in the air again. I sat at the port window staring down at the desert. Strangely enough, I was wondering where my wife was at that particular moment and with whom she might be. Despite my illicit affair with Penny, I still loved her dearly. My thoughts were probably a reaction from being angry at my secretary rebuffing me earlier and for her duplicity in this whole situation. Either that or I wasn’t anything as hard-hearted as Jan had described me in her letter. If that had been the case, I would have been able to exorcise her from my mind altogether by now… but I could not do so nor did I want to do so.