Honor Among Thieves

“…And all that time I really thought you were dead.”

“We had no way of letting you know,” said Scott.

“Still, it’s no longer of any importance, Simon,” said Hannah. “Sorry. ‘Scott’ will take a bit of getting used to. I may not be able to manage it in the time we’ve got left.”

“We may have more time left than you realize,” said Scott.

“How can you say that?”

“One of the contingency plans that Kratz and I worked on was that if any of us were caught and tortured while someone else was still free, we’d hold out for one hour before telling them the whopper.”

Hannah knew exactly what Mossad meant by the whopper, even if on this occasion she didn’t know the details.

“Although I have to admit this is one scenario we never considered,” said Scott. “In fact, the exact opposite. We thought that if we were able to convince them we had another purpose for bringing the safe to Baghdad, they’d immediately evacuate the building and clear the surrounding area.”

“And what would that have achieved?”

“We hoped that with the building empty, even if we’d been captured, the other agents who came over the border a day ahead of us might have a clear hour to get into the Council Chamber and remove the Declaration.”

“But the Iraqis would have taken the document with them.”

“Not necessarily. Our plan was that we would tell them what would happen to their beloved leader if the safe was closed by anyone other than me. We felt that would cause panic, and they’d probably leave everything behind.”

“So Kratz drew the short straw.”

“Yes,” said Scott quietly. “Not that his original plan is relevant any longer, after I was stupid enough to hand over the Declaration to Hamil. So we’ll now have to use the time to get out, not in.”

“But you didn’t hand it over,” said Hannah. “The Declaration is still on the wall of the Chamber.”

“I’m afraid not,” said Scott. “Hamil was right. I switched the copies after I set the alarm off. So I ended up giving Hamil back the original.”

“No, you didn’t,” said Hannah. “It’s because you believed you switched the original that you fooled Hamil as well as yourself.”

“What are you talking about?” said Scott.

“I’m the one responsible,” said Hannah. “I found the cardboard tube in the safe and switched the two documents, thinking I could get out of the building and then pass on a message to let Kratz know what I’d done. The trouble was, you and General Hamil arrived just as I was about to leave. So, when you locked yourself in the Chamber, you put the original back on the wall, and then you handed over the copy to Hamil.”

Scott took her in his arms again. “You’re a genius,” he said.

“No I’m not,” said Hannah. “So you’d better let me in on the secret of what you’ve planned for this particular scenario. To start with, how do we get out of a locked safe?”

“That’s the beauty of it,” said Scott. “It isn’t locked. It’s programmed so that it can only be opened and closed by me.”

“Who dreamed that one up?”

“A Swede who would happily take our place, but he’s stuck in Kalmar. The first thing I have to do is discover which wall is the door.”

“That’s easy,” said Hannah. “It has to be exactly opposite me because I’m sitting below the picture of Saddam, remember?”

Scott and Hannah began the short crawl on their hands and knees to the other side of the safe. “Now we go to t

he right-hand corner,” he said, “so that when we push, the leverage will be easier.”

Hannah nodded, and then remembered they couldn’t see each other. “Yes,” she said.

Scott checked the luminous dial of his watch. “But not quite yet,” he added. “We’ll still have to give Kratz a little more time.”

“Enough time to tell me what the whopper is?” asked Hannah.