Nelson Demille - The Lion's Game

The good news was that Koenig and Nash were out of the country.

Anyway, during a little lull in the beehive activity, I looked at the printouts that Kate was still running from cyberspace.

I started with a New York Times story, dated March 11, 1989, headlined, "Blast Wrecks Van of Skipper Who Downed Iran Jet." This was about the Vincennes captain, and didn't seem pertinent, except as an example of what we suspected was happening now.

Kate handed me an Associated Press article, dated April 16, 1996, headlined, "Libya Seeks Trials Over 1986 Air Raids." I read aloud, " Libya demanded Monday that the United States surrender the pilots and planners behind air raids on Libyan cities ten years ago, and Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi, insisted the United Nations take up the case." I looked at Kate and said, "I guess we didn't hand anyone over, and Gadhafi got impatient."

"Read on," she said.

I continued, "We can't forget what happened," Gadhafi said on the anniversary of the U.S. attacks, which Libya said wounded over a hundred people, and killed thirty-seven, including Gadhafi's adopted daughter. "These children… are they animals, and Americans are human beings?" asked Gadhafi, in a CNN interview in the ruins of his bombed-out home, left standing a full decade after the raids.'" I looked up at Kate.

She said, "I'm guessing that Asad Khalil lived in this military compound with the Gadhafi family. Remember, there was a family connection, according to our files."

"Right." I thought about this and said, "Khalil would have been about fifteen or sixteen when the raid occurred. His father was already dead, but he must have had friends and family at this compound."

Kate nodded. "He's avenging them, and the Gadhafi family."

"Makes sense to me." I thought again about what Gabe had said earlier. I said to Kate, "Now we know what's motivating this guy, and I have to tell you… I mean, I don't sympathize with the bastard, but I understand."

She nodded. "I know." She added, "Khalil is more dangerous than we thought, if that's possible. Read on."

I read the end of the AP story, '"Gadhafi spoke as Libya conducts ceremonies in remembrance of the U.S. raids on the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and on Benghazi. The raids were in retaliation for the bombing of the La Belle discotheque in Berlin on April five, nineteen eighty-six, which killed one U.S. serviceman. Libya's demands mirror U.S. insistence that Libya turn over to American or British courts two men wanted for the nineteen eighty-eight bombing of Pan Am Flight One-Oh-Three over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed two hundred seventy people."' I put the article aside and said, '"Round and round it goes; where it stops, nobody knows.'"

"Indeed. A war without end. This is just another battle brought about by the last battle, which will lead to the next battle."

There's a depressing thought. I scanned a few more articles, and came across later articles about the captain of the Vincennes incident. As I said, there was no direct connection with Khalil, but I noticed an interesting progression of headlines, one of which, from the New York Times, read, "Bombing Inquiry Moving from State Terror Theory." The first of the succeeding articles indicated that maybe the Iranian government wasn't involved after all, and maybe no extremist groups were involved. Maybe it was a lone political weirdo, or maybe it was just a coincidence, or a personal grudge, leaving one wondering about who the captain or his wife pissed off down at the officers club. Bullshit. It was incredible how Washington spun these stories to calm people down and not get everyone worked up about Iranians, or Iraqis, or Libyans, or other countries who really didn't like us, and who got their own people worked up over the slightest incidents.

There must be some sort of great diplomatic strategy at work, but I didn't get it. By this time next month, Asad Khalil would be described as a lone malcontent, angry at the U.S. for smearing ink on his entry visa. If you don't think anyone knows what they're doing in the White House or the J. Edgar Hoover Building or the Pentagon or Langley, try the State Department-they're totally adrift with one oar in the water. Anyway, geopolitics aside, Asad Khalil was either done and gone, or heading toward his next victim. I said to Kate, "Any word on the crews of that mission?"

"No. But they won't necessarily tell us. By now, the FBI could have the survivors covered."

"I think they should tell us. In the NYPD, the investigating detective knows and is responsible for everything."

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, John, but this is not the NYPD, and you'll be lucky if you even get a phone call telling you Khalil has been arrested."

This really sucked. I racked my brain for ways to get a piece of the action, but all I could think of was that Jack Koenig owed me a favor, though we disagreed on that obvious and simple fact. But Koenig wasn't around, and I had no pull or influence here, and no one else owed me anything. I asked Kate, "Have you slept with a supervisor who could do us a favor?"

"Not in New York."

" Washington?"

She seemed to be thinking about this, counting on her fingers and murmuring numbers until she reached seven, then said, "I think I called in all those favors." She laughed to show me she was just kidding.

Anyway, I flipped through a few more news articles that had arrived from another dimension. I'm not real sure how the Internet works, but it seems to tell you what you ask for, and it does what it's told, which is more than I can say for a lot of people I know.

I came across an article from the Boston Globe that was informative. It was dated April 20, 1986. It was a chronology of the events that led up to the American air attack. The first date of the crises was January 7. It said, "President Reagan accuses Libya of armed aggression against the United States, and orders economic sanctions against Libya, and orders all Americans out of that country. Western allies refuse to join the boycott. United States links Libya to an attack by Palestinian terrorists, December twenty-seven, nineteen eighty-five, on Rome and Vienna airports, which killed twenty people."

I continued reading, "January eleven, senior aide to Colonel Moammar Gadhafi says Libya will attempt to assassinate Reagan if United States attacks it. Gadhafi invites Reagan to visit him, saying a meeting might change Reagan's attitude."

I wouldn't have bet the rent money on that. I scanned the chronology and saw a definite pattern of two strong-willed macho males engaged in a pissing contest: "January 13, two Libyan jet fighters approach a U.S. Navy surveillance plane; February 5, Libya accuses U.S. of helping Israelis locate and bring down a Libyan plane, vows revenge; March 24, U.S. warplanes strike a Libyan missile site; March 25, U.S. forces hit four Libyan patrol boats; March 28, Gadhafi warns that military bases in Italy and Spain or any country aiding U.S. 6th Fleet would be targets for retaliation; April 2, bomb explodes on TWA flight en route from Rome to Athens, killing four persons-Palestinian group says it was in retaliation for U.S. attacks on Libya; April 5, bomb explodes in West Berlin disco, killing two U.S. servicemen;

April 7, U.S. Ambassador to West Germany says U.S. has very clear evidence of Libyan involvement in disco bombing…" I looked down the page at the rest of the events that led up to April 15, 1986. No one could say they were surprised by the bombing raid, given the personalities involved, and, as we would say today in a gentler America, the misunderstandings brought about by unfortunate cultural and political stereotyping. The answer to the problem might well be in more immigration. At the rate we were going, most of the Middle East would be in Brooklyn within five years.

I picked up the last piece of cyber-news on my desk and scanned it. I said to Kate, "Hey, this is interesting. Did you i see this April, nineteen eighty-six Associated Press interview with Mrs. Gadhafi?"