Tracks (44 page)

Without a word, they all filed
out of the room and leaped down the stairs.

Later in the car, Aziz, in a
jovial mood, boasted:

“We caught a big break!” he
said excitedly.  “The intelligence was spot on!  We caught them
totally off guard!”

“What kind of a command post
is that?” Elena questioned.

“Oh, they put “innocent”
families in there during the night, but during the day it’s a hub of terrorist
activity, you can be sure of that! That is exclusive Shiite territory we
robbed!” he exclaimed.  “They never expected anyone to hit them there or
they would have had the place fortified.”

“But you didn’t know that,”
Elena persisted, “and besides, how did we get past their roadblocks?”

“We took a big chance here,”
he said eyeing her.  “It could have gone the wrong way.  We may have
had to fight our way out of there, but we probably would have never gotten in,
if there had been guards hanging around. And as for the roadblocks, well, I’m
afraid that’s trade secrets but I’ll tell you this much: we have definitely
disturbed the ceasefire.  Now they’ll start blaming one another but they
will not know the real reason we raided them since we did not take the
computer.  They’ll see only the stolen guns and ammunition.”

“I’ve never done anything like
this in my life!” Elena whispered to him. 

“You did great,” Aziz commended
her.  “Let’s hope we’ve got something real other than those guns and
magazines.”

Aziz came to her apartment at
eight in the morning with two of his men carrying a computer and a
screen.  They placed it on the kitchen table and connected the cables.

Elena began to scan the
files.  Most contained invoices of arms dealings, a primitive list of
transactions that contained payments made to various suppliers, lists of
various armaments purchased, and their distribution allocation.  Most were
names of people, not organizations, and it was hard to decipher who belonged
where. Finding a connection to Sons of Jihad would prove tricky.

She called Aziz over to have
him look at the names.  He sat next to her for a while scrutinizing the
names carefully.

“Anyone seem familiar?” 
Elena inquired.

“Oh yes, I recognize quite a
few of the names,” Aziz commented matter of factly.

“Anyone
worth investigating?”

“Ahmed Abu Salah,” he said
pointing to a name on one of the
lists,
“is a known
arms dealer. 
Gets his merchandise mostly from Iran.”

“Doesn’t everyone here?”

“Syria is the other major
supplier and some comes from Russia and Eastern Europe direct.  Abu Salah
supplies the Shiites in Beirut. The place we raided probably belongs to him.”

“We need a connection to Sons of
Jihad.”  Elena reminded him.  “Is he a lead?”

“Possibly, but let’s continue
with these lists.  We may find more clues.”

“You think the Sons of Jihad
are a Shiite faction?”

“Yes I do!” Aziz declared.
“It’s a method of operation that would fit these bastards.”

Elena gave him a quizzical
look.

“They have no qualms using
children for any purpose.  In the Iran/Iraq war they used children as mine
detectors.  They would walk them in front of the troops and have them
blown up together with the mines.”

“Any other Shiites you
recognize on these lists?”

“I do recognize a few known
Shiite collaborators,” Aziz said, studying the lists. “Is there any more
information in the discs we brought?”

“I’ll bring up the hidden
files and let’s see what we find there,” Elena offered.

Aziz got up to make coffee
while Elena continued the search. He poured them two cups of boiled black
coffee, added sugar and sat down besides Elena, thinking out loud.

“I met Abu Salah a few months
ago when we were negotiating a prisoner exchange.  We wanted back two of
our lieutenants in exchange for two of his collaborators.  As soon as the
exchange was made our two guys were blown up by a remote control bomb stuffed
inside a small bag they were given.  One died on site, the other lost an
arm.”

Elena continued to scan the
hidden files.  Aziz sat and smoked.  From time to time he would
assist in clarifying and scrutinize various items.

The hidden files contained
actual distribution sites and names of various organizations but as far as
Elena could tell there was no reference to Sons of Jihad.

“Make a list of all the
distribution sites,” Aziz suggested.  “We may be able to make a connection
through those.”

He looked carefully at the
names of the organizations that appeared on the lists.

“The connection has to be
through one of these,” he remarked.  Sons of Jihad must be a secret
organization within one of these outfits.”

She had written down all the
organizations’ names which he thought were worth investigating but did not come
up with something more concrete.

“We were told this
organization was established with support from the Arab League but that it is
so secret, few know about it in the Arab world,” Elena reminded him.

“That is correct.  I had
no idea it exists until Kessler briefed me before you came along.  This is
why I suspect they operate under another, larger organization like those Shiite
bastards for example.”

“Aziz, what we have in these
files are mainly lists of organizations who deal in arms.  Who’s to say
Sons of Jihad has anything to do with this?  After all their primary
function is kidnapping and training children to spy.  Why would they need
arms?”

Aziz gave her a forgiving
smile.

“First of all, everybody has
weapons in these parts.  Without weapons, one cannot survive.  You
can be sure Sons of Jihad have plenty of arms.  They not only need it for
protection but they most likely teach these kids how to use it.  Linking
this outfit to an arms deal is probably the best way of finding anything about
them.”

Elena studied the list she had
put together from the floppy discs they had confiscated in the raid.

“OK.  Anything
ring
a bell?” she asked Aziz.

Aziz studied the lists. 

“Of these twenty or so names,
I can point to three who should be worth investigating.  Abu Salah’s
organization would be the first we go after.  He’s the biggest and
supplies a vast number of smaller organizations.  He’s what you call a
wholesaler.”

“OK.  Who are the other
two?”

“Abu Salah’s organization is
connected with Al Qaida, an ultra-extremist group that is supported by Saudi
Arabia.  They are the ones who blew up the American embassy here in ’82
and made a big hole in the Twin Towers in New York two years ago.  They
were actually trained and supported by the Americans during the Russian campaign
in Afghanistan.  The other two are Hezbollah which are strongly supported
by Iran and the Islamic Jihad supported by Syria.  Saudi Arabia is the big
contributor behind the scenes but you’ll have a hard time connecting them to
anything that goes on here.”

“So we have names of
organizations, names of actual clients, the payments made, types of armaments
and the distribution sites,” Elena summarized.  “If we look through this,
there are one, two....four sites connected to Abu Salah, six connected to Hezbollah,
and looks like another four connected to Islamic Jihad.”

“Yeah, but of those, I see
only two sites in Beirut that belong to Abu Salah, one for Hezbollah, and two
for Islamic Jihad.  The rest are spread mostly in the south and I see a
couple in the north.”

“OK, so where should we
begin?”  Elena queried.

“I need to investigate a bit
more before we can begin,” Aziz said, lighting another cigarette. “I’ll make a
few inquiries, and make a decision.  You need to stay here.  I’ll
leave Fiad down in the building’s lobby to watch out for things.  You
should not leave the apartment for now.  The raid has made some noise and
the troops are out in force looking for us.  We may have disturbed the
ceasefire.”

He took out a pistol, checked
the magazine, and handed it to her.  “You know how to use this?” he asked.

“I think so,” she said. 
“I’ve shot a few of these in my life,” she said, thinking of the target
practice Stavros used to make her take.

“They aren’t all the same,”
Aziz said, taking the magazine out, showing her how to release the safety and
cock the weapon. “This is a Beretta 9mm. You stick in the magazine, release the
safety, cock then take aim and pull the trigger.  Aim for the body and
hold it in both hands or it will jump around.  The closer you are to the
target the better, so don’t try it farther than the length of this room.”

Elena nodded as he handed her
the gun.  She put it on the desk next to the computer, and went to lock
the door after him.

“Do not open this door unless
you hear the agreed code.  And never stand in front of the door, always to
the side.”

After he left, she went back
to the computer and began to reorganize the lists according to the priorities
Aziz had mentioned.  She had had high hopes for the information on those
floppy discs and was rather frustrated at the lack of progress.

CHAPTER
FORTY

David Kessler knew he was
walking a thin line.

The information they had
received from Sam was astonishing and explosive. 
A
network of Islamic child kidnappers operating in the US to abduct babies then
train
them to spy on their own country – it was a plot that boggled the
imagination.  It was so evil, yet so bold, that he was forced to
reevaluate the capacity of the enemy.  He realized they had been getting
more clever and daring with time.  Obviously the growing support funds
from “friendly” countries did not hurt, but he had a feeling the threats they
were making were no longer something to laugh at.

These people had a mission,
and they were carrying it out right under their noses.

He knew the matter should have
been taken up by proper government
agencies,
and not
by some amateur voluntary group with a bunch of mercenaries, but he could not
overlook Sam’s track record.  None of the expert government agencies had
been close to flushing out such an astounding scheme.  How had it eluded
his agency and others for so long?  True, this was found out by pure
chance, but if it had not been for the group’s amateur perseverance, this plot
would have gone on for a very long time.

There were other reasons that
caused him to eventually proceed in the manner that he did.

Assets in Lebanon were scarce
and most of them were at the end of their rope.  He could use only a few
existing assets and new ones were hard to come by at such short notice. 
They had to be found, trained, and tested before they were deemed suitable and
even then there was always a risk.  Sam’s people, though not formally or
professionally trained,
were
experienced and most
important, had no links to any of the well-known secret service agencies around
the world.  They could be used once, and only once, but that’s all that
was needed.  Once they found the source, the government agencies would
come down hard on the entire network globally.

Several meetings took place following
the brief at the Dan Tel Aviv, involving agencies from the US, Britain, and
Israel.

The matter had explosive
written all over it.

The State Department was ready
to begin taking precautions.  Immigration and customs personnel were to be
on the lookout for American passport holders arriving from the Middle East and
airline companies were to be directed to report any small children boarding
planes with no proper family escort.  Children under three would be
allowed to board if, and only if, a genuine family member was escorting
them.  Security organizations would begin to investigate records of
missing children from years past and surveillance would be set up on government
people who had spent much time abroad in their youth.

It was a bone of contention
with those who thought these precautions would alert the terrorists and cause
them to alter their ways.  A strong argument was made to leave things be
until the source had been found and then hit them globally.

“Panic would play into their
hands,” several argued adding that it would then be impossible to apprehend any
existing moles that were already in the system.

One British intelligence
representative thought an all-out raid on Beirut was in order.
Except no one knew who to raid and where.

The consensus was that this
information should be kept under wraps for as long as possible until a link was
found into who was running it and from where.  Sons of Jihad were
obviously operating under a larger, more structured organization
who
supported them, funded them, and gave them room to
operate.  And if, indeed, this operation came from inside Lebanon,
Lebanese government officials had to be involved.

Now the question became how to
find this link.

The Israelis were obviously
the best equipped.  They were the neighboring
country,
they had the best contacts and knowledge of the area and the understanding of
the enemy’s methods of operation.  The Israelis had a long history of
using collaborators and agents inside Lebanon as well as a successful record of
raids performed inside that country.  But the Israelis were stretched thin
on manpower and assets, having to perform so many operations simultaneously.

The American and British
intelligence agencies were not much better off in terms of manpower so Kessler
argued that using Sam’s outfit could offset some of the manpower
pressures.  He thought they had proven to be extremely resourceful and
that it was a unique situation where an experienced outfit, one that was
personally involved, could be employed and
take
some
of the load off.

Also, it was not uncommon for
intelligence agencies to use contracted outfits to perform such operations,
especially in conflict areas where it was difficult for agents to penetrate and
go unnoticed for long periods.   Harley’s unit had been used in such
a manner in Ireland and Bosnia, though no one would admit to it, including
Harley’s people themselves.

Kessler’s superiors were
reluctant to employ an amateur outfit without a proven record, but when he gave
them an overview of the Center’s activities in past years, including their hunt
for little Sammy’s abductors, the objections were greatly reduced.

The British were in agreement
since they had faith in their ex SAS people, so it was left to the Americans to
give a final nod.

Since the main potential
victims of the scheme were the Americans, all were in agreement that it was
essential to distance American involvement in the uncovering of the plot for as
long as possible, so as not to allow the true objective to be uncovered, hence
the use of foreign assets such as British and Israeli.  But the plan could
not fail and therefore the Americans wanted control, which they could not have
with British and Israeli operatives doing the job.

It was finally decided that
three officers, one from each country, would run the operation together from
Tel Aviv with veto privilege and final say given to the American.  So, in
effect, the American was in charge, but the assets were Israeli and British
which gave the two others significant pull.

It was no surprise David
Kessler was chosen as the Israeli officer. Group Captain Harry Fleming was the
British liaison.  His forte was flying Tornados, but had joined British
intelligence after he ejected from a jet with a failed landing gear and hurt
his back.  He had been handling agents in the Middle East for the past
seven years with notable success.  The American liaison was Colonel Doug
Collins, ex-Green Beret who ran operations for the CIA in Saudi Arabia.

Collins was an outspoken man
who did not keep things bottled up and let everyone know what he thought. 
He did not like the arrangement but went along with it for lack of a better
plan.  He had respect for the Israeli secret services, but was experienced
enough to know that covert government agencies did not like to share
information, to say the least, and he verbally articulated his concerns to the
forum.

Fleming was his opposite, a
soft-spoken man, as was customary for a British gentleman, who kept his
thoughts and concerns mostly to himself and let his actions do the talking. He
did not trust either of his colleagues, but did not let his feelings interfere
with the job at hand and his job was to take care of his country’s interests.
He realized the primary threat was to the United States but who was to say what
they would uncover.  Better to be part of the team than to rely on their
good will.

The three met on their own for
the first time in Tel Aviv, two months before the operation was launched. 
A special office was set up in an anonymous building in the heart of the city,
near Dizengoff Center.  The apartment was fitted with all the latest alarm
and security equipment, and guarded around the clock by Shabac operatives who
lurked in the surrounding streets.  The place was connected to a host of intelligence
sources for the latest data from the area of interest, including US satellites,
Israeli reconnaissance assets, various listening posts, surveillance data, and
the lot. A steady stream of information came from operatives and collaborators
inside Lebanon through covert channels assisted by whatever resources existed
for the British and the Americans. 

Kessler had briefed his two
colleagues on the latest intelligence before they began to consider a plan of
action and it was he who drew up the skeleton plan using Sam and Devlin’s
people to perform the initial track down of Sons of Jihad.  It took them
nearly two months before they finally agreed on the details and laid the
foundation for the operation.

Now it was time for David
Kessler to deliver and his plan was floundering.

Aziz was a reliable operative
who had been recruited during the Lebanon war of 1982.  He had set up an
effective network inside Beirut.  His
team were
assisted by intermediaries from the Israeli-backed Southern Lebanon army known
as “Tsadal” led by General Lahad.  Information was passed south to Israel
by an alliance of farmers who backed Tsadal.  Kessler’s people would meet
them at Marge A’youn, a rather large village placed in a strategic position
above the Litani River, marking the northern most line under Israeli control.

Once it began, Kessler had
made Marge A’youn his headquarters for the duration of the operation and would
report to his colleagues in Tel Aviv daily via messengers.  There was a
delay of at least a day and sometime even two  between the time Aziz would
send his updates and Kessler would receive them and unless it was an emergency,
the directive was never to use electronic or radio means that could be
intercepted.

Only once since the operation
began did Aziz make his way all the way down south to meet with Kessler. 
That was when he got his orders and was given the identities of the people
involved.  He also got paid a healthy sum.

This time it was Aziz who insisted
meeting Kessler in person.  They met on the banks of the Litani late at
night.  Kessler was escorted down by a Special Forces unit who spread out
and kept watch while the two men met.  He briefed him on the raid and the
data found in the floppy discs and asked for assistance analyzing the
information.

Kessler could not provide
answers on the spot.  Any one of the three groups mentioned was capable of
concocting such a ruthless scheme and all of them had the monies to back it up.
What worried him most was that if, indeed, one of these groups were responsible
for Sons of Jihad, it would be very tricky for his people to deal with such
dangerous organizations especially on their home turf and he realized that both
Aziz, his network, Elena, and whoever else he sent over there, were in real
danger now that they’d stirred up the hornets’ nest.  He was actually
quite surprised to learn that none of those groups were associated with Yasser
Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO.

The PLO, he more or less knew
how to deal with.  These terrorist groups were much more extreme and much
more brutal.  He also realized that when he reported these findings to his
two colleagues, eyebrows would be raised.

He asked Aziz to hang around
for a day so he could consult his sources and come back with some useful
advice.  Then he climbed the laborious trail back to Marge A’youn and was
choppered to Tel Aviv where Doug Collins, Harry Fleming, and a team of
intelligence experts, warned in advance, were waiting in the apartment for an
emergency session.

“We have names of
organizations, names of clients, payments, types of armaments and distribution
sites,” Kessler announced to the group gathered in front of him. “What we need
to figure out to help the team is who to go after.”

There was a low murmur of
discussion in the room as people absorbed the information.

“We obviously cannot go after
everyone.  That’d mean tracking half the terrorist population in
Beirut.  I need to go back with the best educated guess we can drum up to
point our assets in the right direction.”

The murmur in the room grew as
people began discussing the information among
themselves
. 
Kessler waited patiently. The best and most experienced people from the
intelligence community were gathered in the room and he needed to give them
time to evaluate the data.

Fleming and Collins approached
him.

“Where were these specifics
found?”  Collins asked, as they cornered him in the small kitchen,
speaking in low voices.

“They were downloaded from a
computer at a Shiite command post in Beirut three days ago,” Kessler divulged.

“Shall we try and
cross-reference the information with our sources?”  Collins pressed.

“Be my guest,” Kessler said.
“Just do it quickly.  We have little time.”

“I’d put my money on Al Qaida. 
They’re the only group with proper resources and worldwide support to pull off
such a feat,” Fleming remarked.  “They’re also the only organization we
know of who can think up such a scheme.”