Chip Barber glanced at his watch. The time in Washington was still seven hours earlier than that in the Gulf. Langley would be finishing its lunch. In London it was only two hours earlier, but senior officers might still be at their desks.
Barber went hotfoot back to the U.S. embassy and sent a blitz message in code to the Deputy Director (Operations), Bill Stewart, who, when he had read it, took it to the Director, William Webster. He in turn called the White House and asked for a meeting with his President.
Simon Paxman was lucky. His encrypted phone call caught Steve Laing at his desk at Century House, and after listening, the head of Ops for Mid-East called the Chief at his home.
Sir Colin thought it over and placed a call to the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robin Butler.
It is accepted that the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service has a right, in cases he deems to be an emergency, to ask for and secure a personal meeting with his Prime Minister, and Margaret Thatcher had always been notable for her accessibility to the men who ran the intelligence services and the Special Forces. She agreed to meet the Chief in her private office in 10 Downing Street the following morning at eight.
She was, as always, at work before dawn and had almost cleared her desk when the Chief was shown in. She listened to his bizarre request with a rather puzzled frown, demanded several explanations, thought it over, and then, in her usual way, made her mind up without delay.
“I’ll confer with President Bush as soon as he rises, and we’ll see what we can do. This, um, man—is he really going to do that?”
“That is his intention. Prime Minister.”
“One of your people, Sir Colin?”
“No, he’s a major in the SAS.”
She brightened perceptibly.
“Remarkable fellow.”
“So I believe, ma’am.”
“When this is over, I would rather like to meet him.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged, Prime Minister.”
When the Chief was gone, the Downing Street staff placed the call to the White House, even though it was still the middle of the night, and set up the hotline connection for eightA.M. Washington, oneP.M.
London. The Prime Minister’s lunch was rescheduled by thirty minutes.
President George Bush, like his predecessor Ronald Reagan, had always found it hard to refuse the British Prime Minister something she wanted when she was firing on all cylinders.
“All right, Margaret,” said the President after five minutes, “I’ll make the call.”
“He can only say no,” Mrs. Thatcher pointed out, “and he shouldn’t. After all, we’ve jolly well done a lot for him.”
“Yes, we jolly well have,” said the President.
The two heads of government made their calls within an hour of each other, and the reply from the puzzled man at the other end of the line was affirmative. He would see their representatives, in privacy, as soon as they arrived.
That evening Bill Stewart headed out of Washington, and Steve Laing caught the last connection of the day from Heathrow.
If Mike Martin had any idea of the flurry of activity his demand had started, he gave no sign of it. He spent October 26 and 27 resting, eating, and sleeping. But he stopped shaving, allowing the dark stubble to come through again. Work on his behalf, however, was being carried out in a number of different places.
The SIS Station Head in Tel Aviv had visited General Kobi Dror with a final request. The Mossad chief had stared at the Englishman in amazement.
“You really are going to go ahead with this, aren’t you?” he asked.
“I only know what I’ve been told to ask you, Kobi.”
“Bloody hell, on the black? You know he’ll be caught, don’t you?”
“Can you do it, Kobi?”
“Of course we can do it.”