Charles McCarry - The Miernik Dossier

3. Based on Christopher’s reaction, though not on any articulated suspicion, I assume he realizes that our interest in Khatar is connected to the Miernik operation. He has not been told full details of our suspicions vis-à-vis Miernik, nor has he been fully briefed concerning the Anointed Liberation Front. If the operation proceeds as Khartoum envisages, Christopher should be put into the picture to the extent Khartoum deems necessary after his arrival in Sudan.

COMMENT: This officer agrees with Christopher’s reservations concerning the recruitment of Khatar by the method proposed by Khartoum. All our knowledge of Khatar confirms Christopher’s judgment of him. Absent imperative operational considerations, this officer sees no net gain in causing Christopher to reveal himself to Khatar as this would certainly diminish his value to the Geneva station as a long-term and extremely effective asset.

In addition to standard equipment, the Cadillac automobile delivered on 10 June to Prince Kalash el Khatar for subsequent delivery to his father has the following devices:

1. Two voice-activated microphones, placed 3 inches on either side of dome light beneath ceiling fabric. Microphones feed into two minimum-speed tape recorders concealed beneath the floor of the trunk. Each recorder is capable of storing 70 hours of conversation, and they operate in sequence, i.e., one recorder activates as soon as the other has expended all its tape. Microphones can be activated and deactivated by electronic signaling device so that only vital portions of conversation can be recorded when an agent using this device is present. This device is disguised as a Zippo cigarette lighter.

2. A concealed compartment between the rear seat and the trunk. This compartment was provided at the prince s request. It is of sufficient size to accommodate an adult of normal size. Access is through the passenger compartment, with back of rear seat removed. This portion of seat will unlatch when electric window cranks on right rear and left front windows are held firmly in “closed” position with ignition off. It re-latches when same window cranks are held in “open” position with ignition off.

3. Water tanks with a total capacity of 75 gallons have been built into the trunk and engine compartment. A false tank, with visible spout and cap, has been installed in the rear wall of the concealed compartment described in (2) above. This was done to provide an explanation for the obvious false wall of the trunk.

Vienna, 10 June

My dear Tadeusz,

I can now tell you that the reunion we planned will take place on the sixteenth. As you know, I had doubts that my business would go quickly enough for me to keep to the schedule we discussed, but I now believe that the timing will be convenient.

There was some difficulty in locating the young lady we spoke about, but once I got hold of her she was delighted at the prospect of a holiday. She is well, and she reminds me greatly of her dear mother. She sends you her affection.

We will not meet again before our reunion. I will be traveling a great deal between now and then, so a letter will not find me. If for some reason you cannot keep our appointment, you can reach me by telephone here at 2315 hours on any day through 13 June.

I look forward to this meeting, for reasons you know so very well.

Ever your affectionate friend,

Sasha.

On the eve of departure for the Sudan, Prince Kalash el Khatar continues to press me on the matter of the Sten guns. I think I have persuaded him that it would not be a good idea to transport such weapons across European frontiers where his royal birth is unlikely to influence customs inspectors. He is more or less reconciled to doing without machine guns until we reach Cairo. May I once again emphasize the importance of your making the necessary arrangements for delivery of the weapons in Egypt. Prince Kalash will no doubt wish to accompany me on the purchasing mission in order to inspect the guns, so it will be necessary to arrange what will appear to him as a bona fide purchase, preferably from a non-European. (Prince Kalash wishes to have also 100 rounds of 9 mm. ammunition for his automatic pistol; he proposes to carry this pistol with him from the start of the journey.)

2. The itinerary has been changed somewhat at Miernik’s request. Miernik is insistent that we travel to Naples, where we take ship on 23rd June, by way of Vienna. He explains that he has never seen this city and wishes to do so before he leaves Europe. Since Prince Kalash has arranged for Miernik to be given some sort of Sudanese travel document, Miernik has taken to making heavy jokes about his future as a slave in the Khatar household. The fact that a side trip to Vienna is several hundred kilometres out of the way troubles neither Prince Kalash nor Miernik. I shall make telephone contact with our Vienna representative on arrival in that city, probably on 14th June.

3. It is my belief, in which Christopher seems to share, that Miernik has some reason other than tourism for the detour. I shall try to discover what this may be, though of course constant surveillance of Miernik by myself once we are in Vienna is impractical.

12 June. Until exactly 11:32 this evening, this wasn’t a bad trip. The Cadillac is comfortable. We rolled across Switzerland with the radio playing Mozart, attracting looks of desperate hope from girls on bikes (and glowers from their peasant lovers). In order to make time-Miernik seems to be in a hurry to get to Vienna-we ate sandwiches in the car, and kept on until we crossed the Austrian frontier. Collins knew a hotel in St. Anton in the Arlberg, and we arrived at about five in the afternoon. We made remarkable time-Kalash at the wheel all the way, his hand on the horn, slowing down to eighty miles per hour when threading his way among oxcarts on village streets but otherwise keeping to a steady 100 mph. “Tomorrow you drive,” Kalash said to me as we pulled into the hotel, “this car is a bit sluggish going up the mountainsides.”

We washed, had a beer on the terrace overlooking the Tirol, and ate an enormous meal. Kalash, who changed from European clothes to his splendid robes for dinner, stood the waiters and the other guests on their ears; he is, as you know, six feet eight inches tall and he has the head and the manner of an emperor. The headwaiter, who is old enough to have voted enthusiastically for the Anschluss, had never dreamed that there could be a black who would treat him as Kalash did: “There must be no pig fat and no alcohol in anything I eat unless you want your dishes on the floor.” To H.R.H., a lackey is a lackey.

After dinner, Kalash evicted an elderly Austrian from the best chair in the lobby by a simple device. He stood three feet away, absolutely erect in his desert clothes and his turban, and fixed the man, who was bald and rather fat, with a steady stare. Kalash possesses what I think could be called obsidian eyes-almost black and as opaque as volcanic stone. When his victim scurried away, the prince sat down and went immediately to sleep.

Collins went upstairs (I suppose to write his report; I am writing this at two in the morning while my roommate Kalash slumbers on, his thin legs protruding over the end of the bed). Miernik and I played a game of chess. Normally he beats me with little trouble. I defeated him in thee straight games, and when I had taken his queen for the fourth time, I suggested that we call it a night. Miernik nodded and crossed the room to the sleeping Kalash. He spoke his name, and Kalash opened his eyes, crossing over from deep sleep to complete wakefulness in the space of a second. “Why don’t you go to bed, Kalash?” Miernik asked. Kalash nodded and went upstairs.