England.
Never a breath of scandal appeared in the Court Circular, nor indeed any news story that might embarrass anyone. Anton Zilber was handsomely paid, with an exclusive beat among lavish parties and dinners. And every Embassy in London sent its glossy copies home to let their Ministers know they were not idling around.
What no one knew was that Anton had a very prosperous little sideline. He never printed a hot story himself, but he had a web of contacts on national newspapers, especially in the society diaries, where ill-connected journalists could hardly wait to hear that Anton had seen a member of the Royal Family or the Government misbehave badly at an Embassy party.
Anton Zilber could stop a busy newspaper diary in its tracks with the conspiratorial opening he always affected… 'Hello, Geoff. Not a word about me of course, but something happened at the Belgian Embassy last night I thought might amuse you… '
At $300 a pop, this was a profitable little business.
'Yes,' he replied, carefully, to the jovial but incredible revelation about the SAS Officer from the man from Whitehall. 'That does sound a bit careless. No one we know, I suppose?'
'No one I know, old boy,' chuckled the mandarin. 'Some bloody SAS killer, I think. Just a Major, nothing big. But it happened in Hebron during that nasty battle last spring. A lot of people are very exercised about the whole thing. I say, shall we try another glass of that excellent champagne. Say one thing for the Indians… they always push the boat out, eh?'
That was all it took. The following morning Anton Zilber was on the telephone to one of the very senior defense correspondents of London's Daily Telegraph, John Dwyer, a former military man who would have no need of the Press Office at the MOD.
He phoned his oldest friend in the Ministry of Defence, a Brigadier, who had helped him over the years with a variety of difficult stories. But today was different. There was not a semblance of help. John Dwyer, himself a former Colonel in the Gloucestershire Regiment, ran into a brick wall for a full ten minutes of conversation. The Brigadier claimed to know absolutely nothing about any disappeared SAS Major.
But just before he terminated the conversation, the Brigadier offered one sentence of assistance. 'Tell you what, Johnny. You mentioned Hebron, battle of the Jerusalem Road. I did hear we lost a couple of our chaps in that. I expect they were SAS and that will be in the public records. Have a look there.' It was a classic backside-covering sentence from a senior official.
John Dwyer replaced the receiver thoughtfully. Don't know how the hell to do that, he thought. Since I don't even know their bloody names. And no one's going to tell me.
He decided the story was beyond his expertise in the field of newspaper sleuthing. But he called his editor with the scant information he had, and the editor, who was equally inept at such down-and-dirty investigations, tipped off his news editor, a bellicose, ex-crime reporter named Tom Howard, from Liverpool, who probably should have been a policeman.
Tom put six men on it. Two at the Public Records Office, checking the death certificates of all serving military personnel from May to July. One at the Hereford County Records Office checking deaths, burials, and funerals. One at Whitehall, to try and pressure the Press Office into revealing all in the public interest, and another in the town of Hereford, checking pubs, garages, and supermarkets for rumors of SAS men who had recently been killed.
They did not succeed in nailing the story down. But they turned up some details, and produced a slightly half-baked, but nonetheless intriguing, story for those interested in such matters:
BRITISH SAS TROOPS MAY HAVE FOUGHT HEBRON BATTLE
The Ministry of Defence last night refused to confirm there had been an official squad of SAS troops serving with the Israeli Defence Forces during the Battle of the Jerusalem Road in Hebron last May.
An MOD spokesman said: 'We have had close ties with the Israeli Army for many years, and have assisted them with training since the country's start in 1948. However, the MOD never reveals details of SAS operations.'
Nonetheless, there is a deep mystery surrounding that battle. Two SAS NCOs are believed to have been killed in the Jerusalem Road action. They were Sergeant Frederick O'Hara and Sergeant Charles Morgan, both of Hereford.
Their deaths are recorded in the official British ROD, and the place of death is listed as Hebron, Israel, on May 14th. Both men were cremated, though the Army declines to say when and where, confirming only that the formalities took place in England.
A far greater mystery concerns the unnamed Commanding Officer of the SAS in that conflict during which 100 people are known to have lost their lives.
SAS personnel stationed in the area have all been recalled, but there is no record of any senior officer accompanying them. A Whitehall spokesman would not confirm or deny that Major Raymond Kerman was the officer in charge, or that he was officially listed 'missing in action.'
However, sources close to the SAS garrison in Hereford insist he has not returned from the Holy Land.
The military attache at the Israeli Embassy in London would only say, 'We are occasionally requested to provide information on missing service personnel in the Middle East. We have no information on any Major Kerman.'
Four days later, a team of London Daily Mail reporters, following up the Telegraph report, cracked the story. The headline announced:
MYSTERY OF THE MISSING SAS MAJOR
North London Shipping Tycoon Accuses MOD of 'Lying about my son'
There followed a detailed interview with a 'devastated' Richard Kerman and his wife, Naz. Without a qualm, Major Kerman's father outlined every last inquiry by commanders of his son's Regiment, and investigators from the Ministry.
'Our son is missing,' he said. 'We have heard absolutely nothing from him since he left England last February. The mission was of course classified, and they did not even tell us he had been in Israel until August — three months after he disappeared.'
Mr. Kerman pointed out that his wife was 'brokenhearted,' and it was obvious there was a great deal not being told to them or anyone else. 'We don't know if Ray is alive or dead,' he said. 'That's a terrible burden for any parent to cope with. At the moment we are just living from day to day, hoping for news of our son.'
And in that, Mr. and Mrs. Kerman were not alone. British Military Intelligence did not believe him dead. And they very much wanted to know where he was. But for rather different reasons.
Major Ray Kerman knew a great deal too much about British Special Forces in the Holy Land — enough to cause a public outcry if the truth should ever come out. He was also, in his own right, a military treasure to any other government or even a group of dissidents.
Major Kerman was a lethal exponent of unarmed combat, a polished operator in every form of military activity, a man who could turn an armed disorganized rabble into a smooth, efficient force against the West.
Ray Kerman, Harrow educated, star of his year at Sandhurst? That was one thing. Ravi Rashood, former student of the Koran, missing somewhere off the Jerusalem Road in Hebron? That was entirely another. And Britain's innately suspicious Ministry of Defence understood the problem all too well.
No one in Whitehall or Hereford would ever comment on the newspaper stories, but they found their way around the world in short order. Within two hours of publication, the Mystery of Ray Kerman, the Missing SAS Major, was on the Internet.
Shortly after 10 P.M. (Eastern time), the CIA's Middle Eastern desk in Langley, Virginia, electronically fired the Daily Mail's story onto the Duty Officer's desk in the Military Intelligence Division of the National Security Agency (NSA), in Fort Meade, Maryland.
The calculated speed with which the CIA moved on this was revealing. All Western Intelligence Agencies, and their natural allies, Special Forces and Special Agents, are apt to react with horror at the possible defection of
