Питер Джеймс - Billionaire

‘The reason the West thought Libya was behind that revolution was very simple: I don’t like to have anything traced to me. So all the contracts with the mercenaries, all the purchases of weapons and ammunition and all other related purchases were made in the name of a company, Eurocorps, the origins of which can easily be traced, first to a Liechtenstein holding company and secondly to a Panamanian Company with nominee directors, and only one share issued. That share is owned by Sahqd-As-Sah, a Libyan arms wholesaling company. Right now, to assist them with certain internal problems, soldiers, weapons and ammunition are arriving at Umm Al Amnah every day. To anyone taking the trouble to find out who is behind them, the answer is easily found: Libya.’ Culundis smiled.

‘Although, of course, it is actually you,’ said Elleck.

‘Of course,’ smiled the Greek.

‘So you have set up Libya, in the opinion of the world, as being Umm Al Amnah’s supporter — whether Amnah likes it or not?’

‘In a nutshell, yes. Libya isn’t going to deny it — it’s good publicity for them. Poor exploited little Amnah — it all fits into Gaddafi’s Islamic revolution activities very neatly.’

Elleck slowly nodded his head. ‘I’m following you. So Amnah is going to threaten to mine the Strait, with Libya as fairy godmother and Russia as the golden coach?’

‘No,’ said Culundis. ‘We are further than that. One month ago, something happened that was kept well out of the world’s press: an Oman Navy patrol boat picked up, in the Strait, a fishing dhow that was drifting with a dead crew on board. Also on board were eight twenty-kiloton nuclear mines, all with six-hour timer devices which would automatically prime themselves six hours after immersion in the water. They were utterly sophisticated devices that could not be reversed by a minesweeper. They had sonar detonators primed to go off as soon as any ship got within one hundred yards; if one of those had been dumped into the sea, the Lord only knows how it could ever have been got out again.’

‘Whose mines were they and how did they come to be on the dhow?’

‘The mines were Russian-made, for all intents and purposes. The dhow’s registration certificate showed its home port as being Al Suttoh. Al Suttoh is the chief port of Umm Al Amnah.’

‘And who was behind it?’ asked Elleck.

‘As far as the Western World believes, the Libyans,’ Culundis smiled.

‘And what does the Western World believe the Libyans have to gain by blocking the Gulf?’

‘In political terms,’ said Culundis, ‘that’s a good question. No one can be sure — but in economic terms it is very clear. Libya’s chief ports are on the Mediterranean. She is the only major oil-producing Arab country that does not need the Persian Gulf. If the Gulf was blocked for a considerable period of time, Libya would be in a position to ask just whatever the hell she liked for her oil.’

‘That’s a pretty good reason for Libya to block the Gulf,’ said Elleck.

Culundis nodded in agreement.

‘But you’re implying it wasn’t Libya who put those mines on that dhow?’

‘Correct, Monty. The mines were not, in fact, Russian-made at all — although they were made to look that way. They were actually made in France, by Lasserre Industriele. I arranged for them to be put onto the dhow.’

Elleck thought for some moments. ‘How come you were careless enough to let the Royal Omani Navy capture the dhow?’

‘Not careless,’ said Culundis very slowly, ‘careful!’

‘Careful?’

‘It was deliberate. Do not forget, Monty Elleck, we have been talking about a threat to block the Gulf — not an actual blockade. You yourself have said that a threat is useless unless you can show you have the ability to carry it out. Well, let me tell you something: Oman, because it actually occupies the land one side of the Strait of Hormuz, and because of its position at the base of the Gulf, is strategically one of the most important countries of the world. It is friendly to the West, but the Russians constantly are trying to infiltrate it, trying to erode the Government’s support by propaganda to the population. Oman is one of the most heavily-surveilled countries in the world; not merely because of its position as a watch post on the Gulf, but because of its strategically important position for the Americans and for NATO. There are more intelligence agents crawling around the sand dunes and rock caves of Oman than there are almost anywhere else in the world. There is not an intelligence agency in the world who did not hear about those nuclear mines being found aboard that dhow. You might not have read one word in the newspapers — because it was deliberately kept out — but I’ll tell you something: every government in the world right now knows those mines were on that dhow. They don’t know for sure why they were there — they can only speculate. But they know that they exist; they know that they were there; and if someone were to tell them that there were another thirty dhows out there, carrying a further 400 mines between them, you know what they’d think, Monty Elleck?’

Elleck slowly nodded his head.

‘Damned right, Monty Elleck. They’d bloody believe it.’

Elleck pulled another flat cedar taper from the silver box on the table, stuck one end of the taper in a candle flame, then held the burning taper to his cigar, puffed hard three times, then shook out the taper. ‘Couldn’t the mines be swept? There must be a way?’

‘Impossible. You cannot get near them without them exploding.’

‘Couldn’t they be detonated by remote control?’

The Greek shook his head. ‘Imagine 400 all within a few square miles. If one goes, there is a good chance it will set off others — perhaps even all the others; the result of nuclear mines detonating in that stretch of water is almost impossible to conceive. It would alter the entire floor of the Gulf — the Gulf isn’t that deep, and there would be a very real danger that a force of explosion of that size could raise up the entire bottom — making it impassable to all shipping for months and possibly years. It would create tidal waves up and down the Gulf that would wash away towns and villages, destroy the harbours — such a force of water that would break supertankers into little pieces.’

‘There must be some way to make these mines safe,’ said Elleck. ‘If your bluff was called and you had to put 400 mines in the Gulf, and then your demands were met, how would you make them safe? Or would you leave them? Umm Al Amnah has a coast on the Gulf — surely it would suffer as much as anyone if these mines did go off?’

‘There is a way to make them safe. These mines have been fitted with a detonating system that is primed automatically by six hours’ immersion in water. They can be defused only by a coded radio signal. The eight mines we put in the dhow which was captured had no such defusing system. We did not want anyone else to learn about the detonating system — I am sure you can understand?’

‘Naturally,’ said Elleck. He was pushing his mind forward, trying to anticipate what was at the end of all this, and he was finding it difficult; there were too many options.

‘What,’ said Elleck, ‘did Sheik Quozzohok, Emir of Amnah, have to say about all this?’

‘He never knew about it. It was felt in the Oman that it would be better to keep quiet — and keep watching Amnah to try and find out more about what might be going on. Amnah has no intelligence agents in Oman — nor anywhere else — for that matter,’ said Lasserre. ‘Now we come to the key part. Our aim is to push up the price of gold and, to do this, we need a major international conflict, preferably lasting several days, and worsening each day. You will probably not know yet, but the Sheik Quozzohok has abdicated, and the new Emir is his son, Abr Qu’Ih Missh.’