The Druse pilot

An excerpt of my 12th book "On both sides of the abyss".

Jack Steiner woke up on Sunday morning with a splitting headache. He left his room and went down to the Basel Hotel restaurant where he stayed the night, to have breakfast worried and frustrated; he fulfilled exceptionally well his duty by bringing with him the Druse pilot and now he wished to return to his family and his office and his daily routine, but he needed Guy's permission to leave.

After breakfast he went to the Yarkon Street and turned the corner to Frishman Street and ended up in the bustling Ben Yehuda Street, looking for a public phone post. He found one after a few minutes' walk southward; and dialed the center's number.

A bored female's voice announced to him that there is a meeting at ten am at Guy's office. He sat in the nearest café for another cup of coffee before hailing a cab and driving to the organization's compound, he had still a few moments to spare to try to get rid of his headache and watch meanwhile the passers-by.

He reached Guy's office right on time to meet all the department's senior members that are currently present in Israel. He exchanged greetings and smiles, shook hands and thumped on several shoulders and sat down among his waiting colleagues for the arrival of Guy and Idan.

Silence fell when the department's head and his deputy entered.

'Okay the meeting is delayed to eleven am, we've to free Jack as soon as possible; he's to return to Ankara, and there're a few urgent issues, which we've to discuss with him so I'll see all of you at eleven.'

After a slight commotion when the half dozen men got up, moved their chairs and went out, Jack was left with his two superiors and sat facing them impatiently.

'Although you're usually the one who's most updated on project Nour and its most current developments Jack, being here with us after your excellent contribution to the project; there're several changes that are known to us, and should have reached your desk if you were still in Ankara. Idan will give us a short summary of all the latest developments.'

Idan pulled out a small notebook from his breast pocket, and after a few seconds of browsing its pages, he opened up:

'The Druse pilot Ayoub Shakra gave us a minute detailed description of his flight with the very prominent member of the Syrian internal security service to Byblos, or Jbeil as they call this town in Arabic. There's not the slightest doubt that the young woman that they've flown to Beirut and back to Byblos is Nour. She sat between the Druse pilot and the other passenger, and he described her features very accurately. He was passed a polygraph test and was found telling the truth, and that's what you believe too Jack isn't it?'

'Yes I was sure then that he told me the truth as I'm sure now, and I'm sorry having learned that unpleasant truth, but nevertheless we can cope with it I believe.'

'Fine we'll talk about it a bit later.' Idan Karni remarked. 'He must have panicked by the open surveillance tactics particularly while driving, and that's why he deserted and reached us. As a chopper pilot he was used to be all alone up there.' Idan added to emphasize the possible reason that drove the Druse pilot to a panic-stricken state.

'By the way he was taken to Hertselia airport to test him, and he had to prove that he knows how to check a chopper before flight, and how to start its engine. We're very lucky to have him and his testimony, as there was not a real threat on his life for truth sake. He was suspected by the prominent passenger of leaking the flight details that's our guess of course, and that's might have been the reason why the latter ordered to frighten him a few days.

'So that prominent passenger operates Nour, and he must have been behind her abduction…'

'Yes Jack that's how it looks like.' Guy agreed with him. 'And she's with him now in Palmira, which she's supposed to inspect or maybe in Damascus.' Guy added thoughtfully.

'So how are we going to treat her from now on?' Jack wondered aloud. He had his own ideas but he wished to know what his superiors think, and have surely planned already.

'For the time being we'll treat her as if she's on our side, and learn what's on her operator's mind; the American as we already noted shouldn't know a thing about it, thus we'll make the Syrians believe that they've beguiled us and Nour is their reliable double agent. We'll study carefully whatever she'll bring back from each mission, and make our move when the time will be ripe.' 

'What are we going to do with Ayoub? Maybe I shouldn't have asked it but I'm curious.'

'He's a bachelor but left his parents and five brothers and two sisters in Swaida near the border with Jordan, so we thought we should keep him for a while before sending him to Majedal Shams to his relatives; where he would stay as an illegal resident that crossed the border on foot from Kuneitra in the south, and Majedal Shams students that study in Syria will spread the rumor that he crossed the border to marry his cousin. We're supposed not to know anything about his stay there; it will save his family from arrest and harassment.'

'It will calm him down for a short while,' Guy concluded the matter. 'But as soon as the Syrians would realize that he didn't crash and the Turks would find the chopper, he's doomed and we'll have to keep his defection as a top secret case; that's the little we can do to keep the project going.'

'We can change his identity and help him to find a job in some Arab country, he's a pilot…' Jack ventured to suggest.

'Well yes but after several months or a year when his case will be forgotten.'

© Haim Kadman December 2013 " all rights reserved.

 

Author's Note

Merry Charistmas to all my dear Writercafe colleagues!

Reviews

[Haim Kadman]

"Any other man would have shed tears on parting with me, not those types like Murad, Abdul or even Ken. I'll better get rid of my illusions and think of more realistic ways to survive. Nour concluded disillusioned."
My heroine in this very book.