Haggai Carmon - Triple Identity

“I think we should talk in person,” I said, “as soon as possible.”

“I'll send Tom around to pick you up. Be ready in thirty minutes.”

Eric was in the safe house when we arrived. “Benny came to Munich last night, and he called ten minutes after we spoke. I told him about this meeting. He'll be here shortly.”

“Good timing.” And, I thought, Benny's presence always instills sanity into a conversation. I proceeded to brief Eric on my Moscow trip, omitting the important details. I wanted Benny to be around to hear those.

A few minutes later Benny arrived.

“Greetings, friend. Looks like we coordinated our return to Munich.”

“Like clockwork.”

We sat down at the table and Eric began. “Benny came with a positive answer from his government. So the Mossad is in.”

“Great,” I said.

“There are certain conditions attached,” said Benny. “This will be a joint operation. We share everything – means and information. As to the operation itself, we condition our participation on silent entry without the use of explosives at the vault.”

“Does that complicate matters?” I queried.

I meant for Eric to answer, but Benny responded. “Not really. I think we solved that problem, largely thanks to you.”

I was flattered. “What did I do to deserve the honor?”

“You remember the woman you caught on film after she left Guttmacher's office?”

“Yes, I remember. So tell me more.”

“I had her followed during her lunch break. While she was having lunch in a restaurant, our guys picked her pocket and took her keys, went outside, made an electronic imprint, and returned the keys to her purse.”

I laughed, “And she didn't catch on?”

“No. My guy is an expert; he could strip you of your underwear while you're wearing your pants.”

“Tell him not to try.” I laughed. “So you have the vault keys now. But will Shimon still need to enter through the roof?”

“No. She had keys to the back door of the bank as well. We checked them already. Our copy works fine. But I don't know if the vault's copy will also work. Obviously we couldn't test it.”

“Talking about matched keys,” I said, “you may want to consider an additional target: Cyrus Armajani, the head of the Iranian's nuclear purchasing mission in Europe.”

“And where do we find him?” asked Eric.

“Right here in Munich.”

“And we call information to find his address?” asked Eric sarcastically. “We've been looking for him for months now.”

“Your search is over. Here's the address. I checked out the building; it's purely residential. It could be his home address in Munich.” I gave Eric the address I copied from DeLouise's file.

“How did you find it?”

“A present from hell or heaven, depending on where you think DeLouise is now. He left some documents behind and the address was among them. But that could be a stale address, so check it out.”

Eric didn't even blink when I gave him the information. “So you suggest we break into Cyrus Armajani's home?”

“Yes. Verify and break in. Since the Iranians don't seem to have an office here, I guess he'd be keeping some hot stuff. I'd plan it for the same night as the break-in at the bank.”

“Why?” asked Eric.

“Because if we do just one break-in and they suspect that the documents connected to him are the target, they'll move them from his place for sure.”

Eric gave me a long look and made some notes.

As usual, he demanded more. “Anything else I should know?”

“I prepared a copy of the complete file. See for yourself,” I said, and pushed the papers in his direction.

Benny sensed what was going on.

“You certainly were on top of things, weren't you?” said Benny. “Now tell us how you got the file.”

“DeLouise left it for Ariel. I found her in Moscow, and it's some of what I got for my trouble.” I looked at Benny and figured he was wondering what else I got.

“Tell me more,” said Benny. “I know this guy,” he said to the others. “He needs to be asked.”

“Ariel said she went to Moscow on her own, after reading the letter her father had left her with details of his scheme. Apparently he felt that his rivals were closing in on him. Your earlier theory about DeLouise's ploy checks out. Ariel gave me the same story. He was definitely planning to double-cross the Iranians. He was going to rip them off and trade the information they gave him for a sweetheart deal with the U.S. government. He hoped that the material he'd turn over to the U.S. would be so good that they'd forgive him and allow him to go back to the States with only a slap on the wrist, rather than prosecuting him on felony charges and sending him up for a long prison term. I think that the documents I found confirm his expectations.”

“So what about Ariel?” asked Benny. “How does she fit into this?”

“Ariel said that after she learned that her father had been murdered she was certain it was an Iranian plot and decided to expose them, their Soviet suppliers, and their nuclear plans. I have doubts about that story, though.”

“Who put it into her head?” asked Benny.

“The connection was detailed in her father's notes, and for Israelis, all Iranians are villains,” I said. “Anyway, to carry out her plan she needed to meet with some Soviets who were willing to sell nuclear materials to the Iranians. But while Ariel is a very smart lady, she is an amateur in intelligence operations and basic security, and before long there was an attempt to kidnap her in Moscow.” I didn't raise the possibility that I was the intended target of the car chase and the shoot-out. “I think it was only the beginning,” I continued. “My suspicion is that she attracted the attention of at least two groups of bad guys. Frankly, I don't even know if the attack was connected to her father or to her own plan. I didn't need to find out; I simply got her out of Moscow that same evening.”

“What proof do you have that there were two groups after her in Moscow?” asked Eric.

“I don't,” I corrected him. “That's why I said that I have suspicions, not proof. One of them could be a group of rogue scientists, probably backed by the Russian Mafia, and the other could be the Colombian group, although I don't know if they still have their original agenda.”

Benny chipped in. “If the Colombians are the ones who chased Ariel to Moscow and made the kidnap attempt at the hotel and later during the car chase, then it might indicate that their original goal when they kidnapped her in Munich was not achieved. We could also assume that the papers they were after are so important that they'd send somebody after them all the way to Moscow.”

“I think so too,” I agreed. “On the other hand I didn't like what I heard from Ariel about her connection in the Soviet Union. Based on her description of her local contact, and maybe also the guy I manhandled, it's possible that they are from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, or another neighboring Soviet Asian republic. These guys shoot first and ask questions later, and then you don't understand what language they used. It's possible they either wanted to hold her for ransom or to get a better deal on their goods. Under any circumstances I concluded that she had no business being there.”

I handed Eric a short report I had written about Igor. “These are the details. You may want to do something about it.”

I caught Eric off guard. “Who?”

“Igor Zurbayev, the contact of DeLouise whom Ariel called in Moscow.”

Eric nodded, said nothing, and put the report in his file.

“Next on the agenda is Ariel's meeting with Guttmacher,” I said. “She wants to see him, and I need your input on that.”