Читать книгу Maximum Reach - Adam MD Hamedi - Страница 8

“Hamilton here,” announced Brad as he picked up the ringing telephone.

“Brad, this is Abbas.”

“I was not expecting to hear from you so soon. Did you graduate in a week?”

“I have something for you. I don’t know if you want to pass it on to the Israelis, but do what you want with the information.”

“What do you have, Abbas?”

“Tomorrow night there will be an incursion into Israel, coming through the south. They will be in rubber boats.”

“I can put you in touch with the Israelis, you can give them the information yourself.”

“I will not deal with the Israelis Mr. Hamilton. I never shall. If you feel like passing the information on, be my guest, but I will not.”

“Go ahead and give it to me.”

Abbas relayed all the pertinent information including the location and the strength of the invading party.

“Will you accompany the group?” asked Hamilton.

“I will not.”

“All right then. Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me Brad. This will be the one and only time I do this. I want to concentrate on school, bring my grades up, and be left alone.”

“That will be fine, Abbas. Just call me when you are ready to move out.”

“Thank you, Brad. I will,” said Abbas as he hung up, terminating the conversation.

Abbas had made the call from a phone booth in the town of Tripoli. He wanted to ensure his privacy in case they had the house bugged.

He walked out of the booth with a smile. Stage two set in motion, he thought.

The next evening, the raiding party went through their plans one more time leaving nothing to chance, got in their vehicles and headed for the south of Lebanon.

After Israel was forced by the world community to withdraw from Lebanon, they occupied a ten kilometers wide strip as a security zone. By doing so, they reduced the number of incursions into their own territory and faced the Palestinians on Lebanese soil.

The Palestinians knew it would be difficult to penetrate into Israel through Lebanon but this time they were trying something new.

Two rubber boats with six insurgents each made their way out to sea under cover of darkness. They knew the Israelis would be on the look out for them on land, but this was going to be a surprise, and it would have been had the Israelis not had the information relayed to them by the CIA the previous day.

As soon as the boat occupants disembarked, they were washed with daylight. The Israelis had lights aimed at them from all directions. The men did not want to be captured and as they looked at each other one more time knowing they were betrayed, pulled their weapons. Before they could fire a shot, they were mowed down.

When two days passed and their comrades did not return, the Palestinians at the camp called for a meeting, at the urging of Abbas.

“I am not sure what happened to our party. I am not sure if the Israelis got lucky or whether there are more traitors amongst us, but I am tired of this shit.” Abbas started addressing the council.

“This operation should have gone without a hitch and our boys should have accomplished their objective. I spent many days putting the plan together. This was supposed to be the biggest surprise the Israelis faced. I am tired of sacrificing our men, therefore I have a new plan.”

Abbas waited for the room to calm down and when everyone there realized he was quiet, they stopped talking and waited for him to continue.

“I am quitting,” Abbas announced.

Utter silence.

Abbas was studying the faces and he liked what he saw. He saw relief on many of those faces. His plan was working.

“I want to go to college in America,” Abbas continued.

Everyone in the room started asking questions and when they were not getting any answers, they were quiet again.

“That’s not all,” continued Abbas. “When I graduate, I will join the CIA.”

It was as if someone had detonated a bomb in the room; the calm before the storm.

They were all talking, shouting, no one listening to anything. They were in total denial.

Again Abbas had to wait.

“Here’s my plan,” he finally continued. “When I join the CIA, they will assign me to this part of the world because of my knowledge of the culture and the Arabic language.” “Because I am one of you, I will have first hand information on everything that takes place here. I will know who the traitors are and we shall eliminate them.”

Abbas waited to see the reaction his revelation evoked.

He was pleased. They all seemed to approve with nodding heads.

“I know this will take a few years, but better late than never.”

They agreed again.

“I have one request though. I want to keep this in complete confidence. If the CIA or the Israelis find out, I will be killed. I will make you all one solemn promise; if anyone finds out what my plans are, I will find out who squealed and will do to them and their families what I did to the other traitors.”

They all knew Abbas meant his threat and no one wanted to cross his path.

After the meeting, Abbas packed his bags and left the camp. Even though the school year was not over, he was not willing to stay there and take a chance on reprisals. Before he left, he made arrangements with the council for a monthly deposit to be made into a numbered account.

The next day he made a call to Hamilton.

“I am ready to leave for the States,” announced Abbas.

“But the school year is not over yet,” responded Hamilton.

“I know, but I cannot take a chance on staying here after what I did.”

“Does anyone suspect you?” asked Brad.

“No they don’t. Here’s what I have done.”

Abbas went on and filled Hamilton in on what had transpired at the council meeting explaining that by convincing them he was on their side, they would not send anyone after him. He did not have to promise loyalty to Hamilton, not after sacrificing twelve Palestinians.

“I’ll make the arrangements immediately,” said Hamilton. “You can be on a flight to the States tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Brad. You will not be disappointed.”

“I know I won’t. The Israelis are grateful for the information by the way. They told me they would have lost many people if they hadn’t had the specifics of the operation.”

“I didn’t do it for the Israelis, said Abbas. I did it for myself. I wanted to reassure you of my loyalty.”

“I don’t doubt it, Abbas. Come and see me tomorrow morning and you will be on your way.”

“Thank you Brad,” said Abbas as he hung up the phone.

The next day, Abbas set off for New York City, his plan in full motion.