'I was to take the others to the Aradous Hotel,' answered Yaakov, code name Blue.
'Get yourself some decent clothes so you won't get thrown out of the lobby. There are shops here in the airport, clean jackets will be enough.'
'These are our working clothes,' objected Black.
'Paper bag 'em,' said Weingrass.
'What are we to do at the Aradous?' Blue got off the table he was sitting on.
Manny looked down at his notes, then up at the young leader. 'In Room two-zero-one is a man called Azra.'
'Arabic for “blue”,' interrupted code Red, glancing at Yaakov.
'He's on the terrorist council in Masqat,' broke in Orange. 'They say he led the team that stormed the Teverya kibbutz near the Galilee, killing thirty-two, including nine children.'
'He planted bombs in three settlements on the West Bank,' added Grey, 'and blew up a pharmacy, paint-spraying the name “Azra” on a wall. After the blast the wall was pieced together like a puzzle, and there it was. The name Azra. I've seen him on television.'
'Pig,' said Yaakov quietly, adjusting the straps of his weapon under the jacket. 'When we get to the Aradous, what do we do? Give him tea and cakes or just a medal for humanitarianism?'
'You stay out of his sight!' replied Weingrass harshly. 'But don't let him out of yours. Two of you get rooms near his; watch the door. Don't get a glass of water, don't go to the toilet, just watch his door every minute. The two others take up positions in the street, one in front, the other by the employees' exit. Stay in radio contact with each other. Work out simple codes, one-word codes—in Arabic. If he moves, you move with him, but don't let him suspect for even a moment that you're there. Remember, he's as good as you are; he's had to survive, too.'
'Are we silently escorting him to a private dinner party?' asked code Blue sarcastically. 'This is a plan without the most rudimentary blueprint!'
'The blueprint will come from Kendrick,' said Manny, for once not rising to the insult. 'If he really has one,' he added softly, concern in his voice.
'What?' Ben-Ami rose from his chair, not, however, in anger but in astonishment.
'If everything goes according to schedule, he'll pick up the Arab at ten o'clock. With his Masqat terrorist in tow, he expects to make contact with one of the Mahdi's agents, someone who can lead them either to the Mahdi himself or to someone else who can.'
'On what basis?' asked the incredulous Ben-Ami from the Mossad.
'Actually, it's not bad. The Mahdi's people think there's an emergency, but they don't know what it is.'
'An amateur!' roared code Red of the Masada unit. 'There'll be back-ups, and blind drones, and back-ups for them. What the hell are we doing here?'
'You're here to take out the back-ups and the drones and the back-ups behind them!'' shouted Weingrass in reply. 'If I have to tell you what to look for, go back and start all over again with the Boy Scouts in Tel Aviv. You follow; you protect; you take out the bad guys. You clear a path for that amateur who's putting his life on the line. This Mahdi's the key, and if you haven't understood that by now, there's nothing I can do about it. One word from him, preferably with a gun to his head, and everything stops in Oman.'
'It's not without merit,' said Ben-Ami.
'But it's without sense!' cried Yaakov. 'Suppose this Kendrick does reach your Mahdi. What does he do, what does he say?' Code Blue shifted to a broad caricature of an American accent. '“Say, pardner, Ah gotta hell of a deal for you, buddy. You call off your dumb goons and Ah'll give you mah new leather boots.” Ridiculous! He'll be shot in the head the moment he's asked “What's the emergency?”'
'That's not without merit, either,' repeated Ben-Ami.
'Lawyers now I've got!' yelled Manny. 'You think my son is stupid? He built a construction empire on mishegoss? The minute he has something concrete—a name, a location, a company—he contacts Masqat, and our mutual friend, the sultan, calls the Americans, the British, the French and anyone else he trusts who's set up shop in
