Munir Abu Jihad, as Nagib now called himself, arrived in Cairo and was in no rush to claim the suitcase. He checked into a small hotel and presented his Pakistani passport. The proprietor had not seen many tourists from Pakistan and was glad to see that Nagib spoke Arabic with an accent he did not recognize and assumed it to be Pakistani, while in fact it was a Palestinian accent with some American influences. Nagib paid cash so no further questions were asked. Nagib was aware of the restlessness that permeated the Egyptian capital due to the ongoing tension between the Muslim Brotherhood and the regime that was largely controlled by the army. This did not bother him too much as he tried to stay away from demonstrations and street riots.
He had to first make arrangements to get himself and his precious luggage into Israel. He had several options but each had risks involved. The most obvious and straightforward would be to contact smugglers in Sinai that specialized in crossing the Israeli border with drugs, munitions or people and joining one of the groups. The main problem was that they may simply murder him, steal his luggage and bury him in the middle of nowhere never to be heard from again. Another option was to travel by public transportation to one of the ports in Sinai, take a ferryboat to Aqaba in Jordan and cross into Israel either in an assumed identity through one of the controlled border crossings or clandestinely with smugglers or terrorists. This option offered a safe trip for the first part of the journey but the second part was almost as risky as the first option. A third option was to try and penetrate into Israel's long shoreline by a fishing boat or by a small rubber inflatable fast boat. He knew that the maritime borders were closely watched by electronic measures as well as by naval patrols and in view of the size and weight of the suitcase he would have to reach the shore without swimming. The easiest and quickest entrance route depended on his ability to obtain a foreign false identity, board a flight into Ben-Gurion airport and hope to get onto the plane and through Israeli passport control without being apprehended. He also considered an option that would minimize his personal risk but had a high probability of failure. The idea was to send the suitcase separately, either in a shipping container with other legal merchandize or as unaccompanied luggage that was erroneously not sent to Tel Aviv, and then try to enter Israel, legally or illegally, without being encumbered with the suitcase.
He knew that he would at best receive limited assistance from the Pakistani official delegation and was quite sure that Pakistan was not very popular in Egypt, despite its possession of the only atom bomb that Sunni Islam had. So, he had to make up his mind which of the options he considered would best serve his objective and then make the necessary arrangements. For example, if he wanted to get into Israel through the Sinai Peninsula he would have to contact the Bedouins that controlled the smuggling operations, and then find a guide who would lead him to the area controlled by the Palestinian Authority where he could hide for a while until the time set for the act. Getting in touch with Palestinian activists in Jordan seemed to be simpler and he seriously considered taking a sightseeing trip as a tourist to establish the necessary contacts, and then return to Cairo to fetch the suitcase. After some further deliberation he ruled out the naval option as unrealistic without considerable support of an experience commando unit. He also assessed his chances of getting into Israel with his suitcase as an innocent passenger on board a flight from Europe and thought that with airport security in the city of departure and especially in Tel-Aviv his chances of getting away with this were extremely slim. Finally, he decided that sending the suitcase as unaccompanied luggage or in a shipping container was not an attractive option because he wasn't sure that the slight amount of radiation emitted from the suitcase would not be detected.
The bottom line was that he believed that the Jordanian option, with the help of Palestinians to cross from Jordan into the Palestinian Authority and from there into Israel presented the best alternative. So he decided to stay away from the Pakistani embassy until he returned from his exploration trip to Jordan. Unbeknown to him this turned out also to be the safest route to avoid capture. He checked the schedule and saw that there were three daily trips by bus from Cairo to Nuweiba port via Taba. The bus trip was long, about 13 hours, but it was much cheaper and safer than the flights to Sharm El-Sheik. Taba was a crossing point into Israel but Nagib knew he stood no chance of passing Israeli security, with or even without his suitcase, and anyway as holder of a Pakistani passport he wouldn't allowed into Israel. For a fleeting moment he considered getting some innocent tourist to act as a courier and transport his suitcase from Taba into the Israeli resort town of Eilat but was afraid that it would be lost, or even worse, confiscated. So he booked himself on the morning bus to Nuweiba and decided to look for a ferry to Aqaba once he arrived there.
Nagib was exhausted after the long bus ride from Cairo. He had expected a rough ride but was favorably surprised by the comfortable, air conditioned bus that was packed with European tourists who wanted to spend a vacation on the wonderful beaches of the Red Sea. However, there were many roadblocks set up by the Egyptian army and for a large part of the trip the bus was accompanied by a military escort to assure that it was not attacked by Bedouin supporters of the Islamic State that terrorized the Egyptians in Sinai. Fortunately there were no unpleasant incidents and when the bus arrived at Nuweiba all he wanted was to find a place to lie down and rest. During the long ride a couple of German girls took an interest in him and tried to involve him in their conversation and vacation plans. They told him that they had just arrived in Egypt and were headed straight to the beaches of the Red Sea that were famous as free-for-all tourist resorts. Nagib who had always been faithful to Alia was invited to accompany them to their hostel and was slightly tempted but thought better of it and declined. Instead he headed straight to the small Nuweiba port to check the schedule of the ferry to Aqaba on the north-east shore of the Red Sea that was the only sea port Jordan had. He found an appealing catamaran ride that offered reasonable prices including all marine fees, departure tax from Egypt and even a soft drink and croissant on board. He saw that tickets needed to be booked at least 24 hours in advance so made a reservation for departure in the morning of August 2nd and went to look for a hostel for two nights.
He entered the first hostel he saw and checked in. He left his room to find a restaurant and have dinner and ran into the two German girls from the bus. They greeted him with smiles and asked him if he knew where they could eat and when he said that he, too, was looking for a restaurant they invited him to join them. They walked along the beachfront until they came across a quiet place that had a large veranda facing the Red Sea. The evening breeze was very pleasant and after the heat of the day abated it was a welcome relief. They ordered an assortment of salads and freshly caught fish as the main course. The girls wanted to order some beer but the proprietor said that there was no alcohol, but he offered them strong, bitter coffee and a nargilah. They were not familiar with the word so Nagib explained to them that it was a water pipe used for smoking flavored tobacco, and said that it was also a kind of social recreation when the tobacco contained other substances. They said they wanted to try it and asked him to teach them how to use it. Nagib called the proprietor and with a wink asked him to add some of his special flavored tobacco. The German girls who were no strangers to Marijuana understood what was involved and invited Nagib to take a seat between them and they both put their arms around him. They passed the water pipe from one girl to the other and each time Nagib took a deep breath and inhaled the flavored smoke, so after a while they were all a bit intoxicated. They paid the proprietor and went for a walk along the shore hand in hand. They found a secluded spot and the girls invited Nagib to sit on the sand beside them. Nagib could no longer resist the allure of the two girls when they suggested that they all go for a swim. Bathing suits were not needed, of course, so he simply joined them. They entered the water gingerly and were surprised by the warmth of the water. The full moon highlighted the white bodies of the girls against the dark background of the water and when they laughingly encircled Nagib their blonde hair and white arms were like snakes beside his darker skin. The two girls took turns kissing Nagib and each other and he felt as if he had reached heaven. At present, he had his hands full with the two girls who were obviously not virgins and he could only imagine what it would be like with the 72 virgins promised to Shahids who sacrificed themselves for the grandeur of Allah and Islam. They returned to the beach and for a short moment they couldn't find the spot where they had left their clothes. The girls giggled when they saw the look of consternation on Nagib's face and then one of them spotted the clothes and they chuckled at the transformation of his facial expression from dismay to relief. As Nagib started to get dressed the two girls said that they had a surprise for him and asked him if he would like to be the meat patty in the hamburger they were just getting ready to prepare. Once again they laughed when they saw the look of confusion on his face and one of them said that he need not worry they would be the buns and both just hugged him. Nagib thought that this may be his last chance to make love in this life and succumbed to their gentle endearments and ministrations. They returned to the hostel as good friends and arranged to spend the next day together.