LONDON

This espionage thriller relates the trials of Amina Rifa'ee a young Syrian woman, was born in Damascus Syria; a beloved daughter of a prominent Ba'ath party member

London

"On both sides of the abyss"

An excerpt

The press attaché of the American embassy in Beirut did not have any press conference to attend, it was a good pretext to impress Amina and convince her that he has to leave her company on Thursday afternoon. He hailed a cab and drove to the embassy to communicate with Langley and get confirmation for the flight to London with Amina on next day's afternoon; although a plan's change option was agreed upon from the very beginning by his superiors as a very basic option, while he alone could decide what direction to take but he had to get a confirmation.

He spent the entire afternoon in his attempts to communicate with Langley but he could not reach them. It did not worry him at all; he decided to try again after landing at London's Heathrow airport.

At nightfall he returned to Amina to have dinner with her at the Gilgamesh restaurant next to her hidden apartment.

They were welcomed very politely each time they visited that restaurant, the owners were glad to see them back, while the permanent guests were used to hear them speak in English; seeing Amina in his company aroused their resentment at first, but realizing that he is a prominent foreigner eased the feelings of most of them, and they got used to see them together and listen to their prattle in English.

They talked freely in Arabic in the apartment, and he was sure that it was bugged; but that was the best way to deceive the local security service that he does not know that they are listening to them, and by gathering info about them, from the restaurant's owners and guests; the Lebanese internal security service had already the basic knowledge, which they needed on them and on their supposedly goals.

On Friday morning after a breakfast as usual at the Gilgamesh restaurant with and their scarce luggage, as they were supposed to return to Beirut at the end of the weekend, Ken hailed a cab and drove to Beirut's promenade as if they wished to take a temporary leave from this beautiful city. Ken kept the cab with their loaded luggage at their disposal, while they sat in a café watching the sea; they had lunch at the restaurant of 'The Bella Riva' Hotel up to three pm, and then they drove with the same cab to the airport.

The forty five minutes before boarding the British Airways plane they passed in the duty free shop, where Ken bought a perfume for Amina and a whisky bottle and cigarettes for his London's friend.

As he was sitting beside Amina in the plane's first class cabin, Ken could sum up satisfactorily the emergency plan first stage; he let his pursuers to keep an eye on him at their ease, but now he was out of their reach, and things were going to change very drastically.

They landed at Heathrow airport at eleven thirty pm after five hours and thirty minutes' flight, in which Amina dozed most of the time. They had to pass the night at Hilton London Heathrow Airport, and on the next morning after breakfast at the hotel's restaurant they hailed a cab and drove to the American embassy in London.

At the embassy Ken had some difficulties to enter with Amina, but he asked the embassy's duty officer to call the press attaché who was waiting for him in his office despite the weekend furlough, as they have planned it before hand when Ken called his colleague from Beirut. Jeff Foresight Ken's colleague came down, nodded his affirmation to the duty officer, and led them to his office.

'Well this is Nour Jeff and thanks old man for your trouble, sorry to have spoiled your weekend leave.'

'It's alright Ken and I'm very glad to meet beautiful Nour.' He Added and shook Amina's hand.

'Sit down please both of you and how can I help you?'

'And who's Nour if I may ask?' Amina turned to Ken in English teasingly with a surprised smile.

'It's your code name honey,' he answered her but he had some more urgent issues to solve with Jeff.

'I didn't manage to communicate with Langley yet to get the confirmation, and I need a genuine passport of some Arab country except Syria and Lebanon of course for Nour, and the address of the embassy's dentist.'

'No problems Ken I've a Tunisian passport for Nour to be filled up after the visit at the dentist, here's the dentist address I'll give him a call while you'll be on your way to him, and I'd a call from Langley yesterday night they expect a detailed written report on your next steps, you'll have to do it when you'll return.'

© Haim Kadman 2012 �" all rights reserved.

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