‘A klaxon has no other practical benefit beyond making a noise and alarming people without letting them know where the danger is,’ rejected Blom.
‘Making a noise has a very practical benefit,’ disputed Charlie. ‘It makes your villain run.’ He nodded to the other two security chiefs next to him. ‘And they don’t need initially to know where the danger is, just that there
‘This is a system that has been perfected over a number of years and never found to be wanting,’ insisted Blom.
‘How many potential security disasters has it averted?’ asked Giles.
‘There have been a number of alarms,’ said Blom.
‘False alarms or real alarms?’ asked Levy.
‘Fortunately there has never been a real danger,’ conceded Blom.
The American appeared to be coming over like Levy, thought Charlie. How much real pressure were either prepared to exert, though? He said: ‘So it’s never been properly tested in real circumstances? Just practise and false alarms?’
‘I’ve not the slightest doubt it will work as it is designed to do in any real situation,’ said Blom. He paused, looking directly at Charlie. ‘Which we’ve yet to confront,’ he added.
Any discussion with Blom was like making rude faces at himself in the mirror, thought Charlie. He said: ‘Is this it? Just this television surveillance and the physical security checks?’
‘All the bomb checks have been carried out. Every member of every support staff had been vetted,’ assured Blom.
‘That wasn’t what I was immediately thinking about,’ said Charlie. ‘Do you intend having aerial surveillance, from helicopters, while the conference is on?’
There was the briefest of pauses. Blom said: ‘There is a helicopter provision within the complex.’
‘Will there be helicopters in the air?’ asked Giles, coming out even more strongly with demands upon the Swiss.
‘If it is considered necessary,’ conceded Blom.
‘While we’re talking about it, what about air space?’ said Levy.
Blom experienced yet again that stomach-sinking sensation of things moving too quickly away for him to be able to grasp. ‘Air space?’ he asked, weakly.
‘Is the entire overflight area being closed to commercial aircraft?’ asked the Israeli.
‘It will be,’ promised Blom, with increasing discomfort.
Charlie indicated the group of screens showing the approach and entrance areas and said: ‘Five manholes, I’ve just counted them. Are they sealed?’
Once more Blom looked to his assistant, who responded with a shoulder-shrugging gesture of uncertainty.
Charlie said: ‘The sewers must extend out beyond the boundary into the city. It would be the obvious and perhaps the easiest way for anyone to get in undetected.’
‘Why bother to get in?’ asked Levy.
Charlie looked to the screen again and nodded in agreement. ‘You’re right,’ he said to the Israeli. ‘With the area swept and declared clean all that’s necessary is to clamp explosive devices beneath those manhole covers and set them to detonate when the cars of the delegation leaders pull up for the official arrival. No one would survive.’
Blom swallowed and said: ‘All the manholes will be checked and then sealed. And the sewer lanes secured against any human entry at the complex boundary, until the conference concludes.’
It had not been a waste of time, decided Charlie. In fact it had been very worthwhile. He said: ‘Can we look outside?’
It was a more subdued Swiss intelligence chief who led the group into the gardens, deferring to the assistant unnecessarily to point out the cameras feeding the control room they had just left. Giles made a point of identifying manholes as they made their way through the side courts and surrounding gardens, picking up two in the gardens where the photograph was to be taken, and at Blom’s urging the aide made notes on a small pocket pad for them to be sealed.
At the gardens Charlie stared around, starting to isolate the overlooking buildings, when Levy announced: ‘I wasn’t happy with our entry this morning.’
Charlie turned back on to the group as Giles said, in agreement: ‘We weren’t checked.’
‘The car was recognized to be official!’ insisted Blom.
‘The cars carrying all the delegation leaders will be official,’ pointed out Levy. ‘My people are going to sweep our vehicles before we set out each day and I know the Americans will do the same. But what if someone were to attach a bomb to one of the other delegation cars, in some hotel park overnight? And again time the explosion?’
Charlie was glad Levy had brought it up, sparing him the need.
‘It could cause a bottleneck,’ protested Blom.
‘I think it would be justified,’ said Giles. ‘And the congestion could be eased by opening up more than one entry point and covering it with more men.’
‘Possibly with sniffer dogs,’ encouraged the Israeli.
‘Yes,’ admitted Blom. ‘It would possibly be a good idea.’ He started back towards the conference block, anxious physically to get away from the concerted pressure: they were playing games, all of them, each trying to prove who was the best counter-insurgency expert. Damn the scruffy, ridiculous, posturing Englishman who’d started it all! Blom was glad the Swiss protest had been made to London. He could not understand why the man had not been withdrawn: certainly it had been a mistake letting the other two persuade him into letting the man accompany them on the security tour. The final satisfaction was going to be his, of course, when the conference ended and all these fantasy precautions were going to be shown to have been quite unnecessary.
There was a moment of uncertainty among them back at the entrance, where Blom’s car was waiting, and Giles said: ‘My people picked up something about an attack on a member of the Palestinian secretariat?’
Blom’s face tightened, perceptibly. ‘It is not a matter for us,’ he said. ‘It is a police investigation.’
‘What happened?’ asked Charlie, curiously.
‘Street crime: a mugging,’ said Blom. ‘A member of the Palestinian translator staff. Mohammed Dajani.’
Long-time Arafat supporter, Charlie remembered, from the Israeli files. Identified as a moderate and advocate of negotiation, certainly with no marked involvement in what Jerusalem regarded as terrorism. Charlie said: ‘Have your people talked to him?’
Blom sighed. He said: ‘This is not something into which to start reading significance. I have personally seen the full police report. He was attacked last night near the university. Unfortunately quite badly injured: a broken pelvis. But it was a robbery, pure and simple. He lost a watch and a quantity of money.’
‘What about any sort of documentation to have gained access here?’ demanded Levy.
Blom smiled, happy for the first time with a question. ‘Precisely why the evidence was submitted to me,’ he said. ‘There were some accreditation documents found near him. There’s been the most detailed check with what was found and what remained in his hotel room. Nothing whatsoever is missing.’ Blom saw the disappointment on the faces assembled around him. ‘As I already told you,’ Blom said, continuing to enjoy himself, ‘it is a regrettable street crime, nothing more.’
‘How many people involved in the attack?’ asked Charlie.
‘He thinks only one, but he’s not sure.’
‘Description?’ pressed Giles.
‘There was absolutely no street lighting: he saw nothing.’
‘It wouldn’t seem to have any significance,’ agreed Levy. ‘Not with all the documentation remaining intact.’
‘I am glad you agree with me,’ said Blom.
It was Giles who resolved the impasse about what to do next, inviting everyone into the American secretariat section where American security had established their headquarters. Blom declined, remarking heavily that there were further arrangements he had to make, but Charlie and Levy accepted.
