Honor Among Thieves

“But we’d bomb Baghdad to the ground if he tried that,” said Dexter Hutchins.

“I doubt it,” said Scott. “How would our allies, the British, the French, not to mention the other friendly Arab nations, react to our bombing innocent civilians because Saddam had stolen the Declaration of Independence from right under our eyes?”

“You’re right,

Scott,” said Warren Christopher. “The President would be vilified as a barbarian if he retaliated by bombing innocent Iraqis after what a lot of the world would consider nothing more than a public relations coup, though I must tell you, in the strictest confidence, that we do have plans to bomb Baghdad if Saddam continues to undermine the UN inspection teams’ attempts to examine Iraqi nuclear installations.”

“Has a date been decided on?” asked Scott.

Christopher hesitated. “Sunday June 27th,” he said.

“The timing might well turn out to be unfortunate for us,” said Scott.

“Why? When do you think Saddam is likely to move?” asked Christopher.

“That’s not so easy to answer, sir,” replied Scott, “because you have to think the way he thinks. What makes that almost impossible is that he’s capable of changing his mind from hour to hour. But if he thinks the problem through logically, my guess is he’ll be considering two alternatives. Either on some symbolic date, maybe an anniversary associated with the Gulf War, or…”

“Or…?” said Christopher.

“Or he intends to hold on to it as a bargaining chip so he can retake the oilfields in Kuwait. After all, he’s always claimed he had an agreement with us on that in the first place.”

“Either scenario is too horrific to contemplate,” said the Secretary of State. Turning to the Deputy Director, he asked, “Have you begun to form any plan for getting the document back?”

“Not at the moment, sir,” replied Dexter Hutchins, “as I suspect the parchment will be every bit as well protected as Saddam himself, and frankly we only learned of its likely destination last night.”

“Colonel Kratz,” said Christopher, turning his attention to the Mossad man, who had not uttered a word. “Your Prime Minister informed us a few weeks ago that he was considering a plan to take out Saddam at some time in the near future.”

“Yes, sir, but he recognizes your present dilemma, and all our activities have been shelved until the problem over the Declaration has been resolved, one way or the other.”

“I have already informed Mr. Rabin how much I appreciate his support, especially as he can’t even tell his own cabinet the true reason for his change of heart.”

“But we have our own problem, sir,” said the Israeli.

“Make my day, Colonel.”

“The burst of laughter that followed helped to ease the tension for a moment—but only for a moment.

“We have been training an agent who was going to be part of the team for the final operation to eliminate Saddam, a Hannah Kopec.”

“The girl who…” said Christopher, half-glancing towards Scott.

“Yes, sir. She was totally blameless. But that is not the problem. After she returned to the Iraqi Embassy that evening, we were unable to get anywhere near Miss Kopec to let her know what had happened, because during the next few days she never once left the building, night or day. She and the Iraqi Ambassador have since returned to Baghdad under heavy guard. However, Agent Kopec remains under the misapprehension that she has killed Scott Bradley, and we suspect her only interest now is to eliminate Saddam.”

“She’ll never get anywhere near him,” said Leigh.

“I wish I believed that,” said Scott quietly.

“She is a bold, imaginative and resourceful young woman,” said Kratz. “And, worse, she has the assassin’s greatest weapon.”

“Namely?” said Christopher.

“She no longer cares about her own survival.”

“Can this get any worse?” asked Christopher.

“Yes, sir. She knows nothing about the disappearance of the Declaration, and we have no way of contacting her to let her know.”

The Secretary of State paused for a moment, as if he was coming to a decision. “Colonel Kratz, I want to put something to you which is likely to stretch your personal loyalty.”