Chapter 10
They landed in the renovated Benazir Bhutto airport serving Islamabad, that was actually in the Chaklala area of Rawalpindi, just before dawn. Thanks to the help of Rahman and the Pakistani intelligence service the Americans cleared passport control and customs without delay and without being registered. A chauffeur driven car belonging to the intelligence service waited for them at the exit from the terminal. The driver said that he had orders to take them wherever they wanted to go and they set out for the two hour drive to Gandaf. Nagib was impressed by the modernized airport and the contrast between it and the roads they travelled on, that the further they got from Islamabad the narrower they became and in need of urgent repair.
They turned off Swabi road towards Gandaf that turned out to be a fairly large village in a valley with a single narrow road climbing slowly through the valley and ending in the hills to the east of the village. Junaid directed the driver to the house of her relatives in the village. She asked them to wait in the car while she went in and explained that she needed to borrow one of their houseboats for a few days. Nagib said that he had to stretch his legs after the long flight and uncomfortable drive and despite Rahman's protests opened the door and got out of the car. The first thing that struck him was the smell of goats but despite the heat, the air was clear with a light breeze from the west, the visibility was good and he enjoyed stretching his legs. After a few minutes Junaid returned with a strange expression on her face. She got back in the car and said that she had been completely wrong — her relatives had a small shack near the river and not a houseboat, as she had imagined from her childhood days. She directed the driver to a minimarket near the center of the village and invited Alia to accompany her to buy some food for a few days. When they entered the store Alia gasped when she saw the merchandise — there was almost nothing there, and certainly no real selection, so she just told Junaid to buy whatever she thought would be edible. There were no plastic bags, or for that matter no paper bags either, so the shopkeeper gave them a used cloth bag in which Junaid stuffed the meager food she had bought. They returned to the car and headed to the shack that was nicely situated near the shore of the artificial lake that was created by the Tarbela Dam. When they reached the shack Nagib and Alia realized that it was almost empty of furniture — there were a couple of thin mattresses on the floor, no electricity and no running water. The toilet was an old fashioned smelly outhouse and the kitchen included a rough hewn wood table, a couple of wooden stools and instead of a sink there was a copper pot and an earthenware jar with a piece of cloth to keep out flies and other bugs. Alia announced that there was no way in the world that she would stay in a place like this and Nagib supported her. Even Rahman was speechless when he saw the living conditions in the shack and told Junaid that they would have to find somewhere else.
They first drove back to Junaid's relatives in Gandaf and returned the key to the shack. Her relatives were a bit offended that their warm hospitality was not well received but Junaid said that they were dealing with spoilt Americans who could not survive without some of their home comforts like electricity and a toilet with running water. After some discussion the relatives said that they had heard that the best hotel in the area was the Melmastun Hotel and restaurant in Swabi, but of course they had never actually stayed there or even seen it with their eyes. Rahman took no chances and checked it on the internet and saw that it opened in 2014 and in its homepage was described as "a beautiful resort along the River Indus offering delicious Pakistani food. Hotel rooms are also available for staying." Rahman checked the map and didn't quite understand how anything in Swabi could be on the shore of the Indus River but decided not to mention that. So they headed to the hotel and were glad to see that two rooms were available. Nagib and Alia were settled in one room while the other was taken by Junaid, and Rahman pretended to be sleeping in the car. Of course, they all knew exactly where he would be spending the night. Junaid found some poor peasants near the hotel and made them very happy when she gave them the food they had bought in Gandaf. The hotel's restaurant turned out to be everything it claimed — serving delicious Pakistani food typical of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. When they ordered their mutton Karahi the waiter asked if they wanted it mild, medium or spicy hot. Nagib said that he liked very spicy food but Junaid tried to tell him that in Pakistan spicy hot was like rocket fuel. However, Nagib prided himself on being a Palestinian man and someone who was used to spicy food. Rahman intervened and warned him that spicy in Pakistan was something else but Nagib who by now could not back out of it said that he insisted on having the spiciest flavored dish of mutton. Rahman told the waiter what Nagib wanted and in Urdu told him to bring a large jug of cold water and some yogurt. The food arrived and Nagib took one bite and beads of perspiration broke out on his forehead, his face was covered with a patina of sweat and he reached out to the glass of cold water and gulped it down, refilled it and repeated the action. Rahman and Junaid giggled quietly while Alia looked at his red face with deep concern until Nagib managed to say that he was fine and perspiration was the natural reaction of his body when he consumed hot, spicy food. He didn't eat any more mutton and asked for some more yogurt to cool his throbbing mouth.
The CIA station in Islamabad was one of the largest the United States maintained in Asia, or for that matter in any country. The reasons were evident to anyone who had studied recent historical events — in Pakistan there was a large following of radical Islamist movements, including Al Qaeda, and the highly permeable border between Afghanistan and Pakistan through which supplies, weapons and terrorists moved freely caused a constant headache to the forces of the US and its allies in Afghanistan. The position taken by the Pakistani government was ambivalent — they liked US economic aid but hated Americans. The raid to eliminate Bin Laden that took place on Pakistani soil without notifying the local authorities also added to the inherent tension between the two countries. The station chief, George (Blakey) Blakemore, an experienced CIA veteran who had seen real military and antiterrorist action in Iraq and Afghanistan, was in his office when he was summoned by the Director of the CIA, Admiral John J. Johnson, III, to participate in a video conference call on a secure line. The Admiral told Blakey, as the station chief was known by one and all, that Dr. Eugene Powers from the NNSA was on his way to Islamabad and that he expected full cooperation to try and contain the dire situation that was developing in Pakistan and threatened the national security of the USA. Blakey was not too thrilled with the directive he had received but said that he would do his best. The Admiral signed off without another word leaving Blakey with a puzzled look on his face.
Eugene's flight landed late at night and he was met by Blakey himself who was curious to know what caused all this excitement. When he heard Eugene's description of the missing classified information and what was at stake he was speechless. After some contemplation he realized that this was his chance to excel and get a promotion that would send him to a comfortable job in Langley until his retirement, much to the delight of his wife. Blakey told Eugene that he had some good contacts inside the Pakistani intelligence community but then continued to say that there were two main factions within that organization — one faction thought that closer relations with the West and strengthening democracy in Pakistan was the pathway for better life in Pakistan, and the other faction judged everything in terms of national pride. Any event that appeared to infringe on the honor of Pakistan as they perceived it, be it a defeat in a cricket match or a military skirmish with India was regarded as an insult to Pakistani manhood. Eugene said that he was familiar with this attitude as he had seen it in the Middle East and even in parts of Europe where tribal wars of old, between religions, families and people who had been neighbors for centuries, still erupted at the sight of a minor provocation. Once these started there was no telling how they would end although a bloody massacre was the usual outcome.