Farlimas looked at Ali, who was still looking disgruntled.
“Ali will brief you. He worked with Honourable Elder Sergei in the last months, so he will bring you up to speed,” Farlimas then raised his tone a bit, “Now that Elder Sergei has left us, he is the leader, so I trust you can support him in the best possible way.”
Reassured, Ali conceded a slight smile, and hugged his grandfather while Farlimas left them.
Ali had not yet released Tarek from his hug, that his grandfather whispered in his ears.
“When did Farlimas exactly give the order to kill Elder Sergei?”
Ali jumped away from Tarek, so he continued to talk louder, completely indifferent to the surprise shown by his nephew.
“Do not bullshit me, Ali, you heard Farlimas, I have to support you, if you play Goldilocks I won’t be able to do that and I will resign right away,” he was spitting words rather than talking, “It’s pretty clear there was a major screw up in your project, and Elder Sergei paid for that. He was so high in our hierarchy that only Farlimas could make the decision to get rid of him, while for some reason you are still alive and now in charge. I need to know if you want me to help out or not.”
Tarek paused, as surprise in the face of Ali gave way to a sense of satisfaction.
“I was the one who uncovered the leak and reported it to Farlimas. The rest, was his decision. It was exactly twelve days ago.”
Tarek pondered the information. Twelve days was a very short time, to decide the death of an Honourable Elder, organize his demise, and appoint a new organization in place.
“This is still about the Whip of God, isn’t it?” Tarek asked, as he activated the switch to close the chapel door, “How did you find the leak?”
“I am not authorized to tell you about the project details, even if you are now charged with its security,” Ali replied, “The leak was just apparent. Some of our agents identified an increased activity in the European secret services, they opened files to investigate on a case code-named the ‘Whip of God’.”
“Alright, that is not a good reason to blame it on Elder Sergei alone,” Tarek said, “You and me, and every other member of the Supreme Council had heard the name.”
“You don’t get the point,” Ali said, “The files were opened with very detailed information that was never disclosed in the Council meetings, and was known only to me, Farlimas and Sergei.”
“Then why not kill you?” Tarek noted plainly, then, chuckling, “Why not Farlimas?”
“It’s very simple,” Ali said, “We are not working alone on this project. Elder Sergei had the exclusivity of contact with our partner, which now will move directly to Farlimas, at least for the time being. What was leaked, aside from the code-name, which was our own, was known only to our partner and Elder Sergei.”
“Well, the leak could have happened on the partner’s side,” Tarek proceeded with inesorable logic, “How do you know there was a personal responsibility of Elder Sergei?”
“That’s what we thought initially, the information was apparently known to our partner only, so it seemed more like their problem. That’s the assessment that Elder Sergei gave about three weeks ago, when our agents raised the alarm for the first time,” Ali said, “But then, I saw information that was known only inside here.”
“It could be another mole,” Tarek observed, “Did you check if anyone in the Supreme Council had access to the same information?”
“It would require time we do not have to figure that out,” Ali burst, “A full enquiry would take us months, and we barely have a few weeks. When I told Farlimas the information, twelve days ago, he had to make a quick decision.”
“We have a few weeks?” Tarek asked, then smiled, his eyes gleaming, “Success or failure in a few weeks, then I can go on holiday?”
Ali looked at him with some disgust.
“I wonder how Farlimas can think you are moving towards awareness, at times you seem to me the usual, rude and blunt grandfather I always knew,” he sighed, “Anyway, yes, in few weeks we will celebrate the greatest victory for our faith or be damned forever. I cannot tell you more. Now I need your help to tighten security around Farlimas and I.”
“Absolutely, Ali,” Tarek took on his most mood, “Tomorrow I will be in your office to discuss the details.”
Chapter 23
Avi Eitan left the plane that had taken him from Cyprus to Jerusalem and boarded the third van of the convoy that would take him to the meeting point.
The motorcade set itself in motion, and took the road to Jericho, which immediately started descending. A huge storm was building on the Eastern bank of the Jordan, with dark clouds topping the mountains, while on the West Bank the hot, afternoon sun of late August was finishing to bake the stones of the Judean desert. Avi had traveled the road many times, yet the steep descent to the Dead Sea always made an impression on him.
At the end of the descent, the convoy continued to the old border of Jordan, which now was the first outpost of the Arabian Union. All had changed, except the no-man’s land where certain meetings could take place. The convoy stopped at a refueling station two miles away from the border. Avi and his assistant entered a run-down restaurant next to the gas station while the rest of the escort took place around the compound. There was nobody inside, so they took place to the first, long table to their right, next to a window looking to the Jordanian border.
The waiter, a woman in her forties dressed with a t-shirt and jeans as run-down as the restaurant, came to the table asking for their order. They both got two cokes, and they were immediately distracted by some dust on the horizon. It soon became clear that the small cloud was caused by a similar convoy that stopped at their restaurant, exactly opposite of theirs. The same professional bodyguards came out, and two people walked briskly to enter the restaurant.
As the first man entered the locale, Avi immediately recognized the face of Moussa Nafaa, the all-powerful head of the Arabian Union secret service, who was with a taller man, wearing a keffiah that hid his face. Moussa smiled at Avi and moved to his table, slightly waving his hand and sitting opposite him, but without shaking hands. Avi turned his eyes to the man with the keffiah, who had made the same gestures of Moussa and sat in front of Avi’s assistant. The man removed his keffiah, Avi made an effort to hide his surprise. It was Yaakov Mayer.
“I am a free lancer, Avi,” Yaakov said, “I am now consulting for the other side, but rest assured that it is not against the interest of my homeland. On the contrary, I believe I am doing you a favor.”
“That’s why you disappeared from Jerusalem,” Avi thought, “I will be more reassured once you are back and we have a private conversation about this.” He then looked at Moussa, and said,
“I understand Yaakov has helped you frame the requests you have for the meeting of today, right?”
The eyes of Moussa flashed, like two bright blue stones set in an otherwise dark, handsome Mediterranean face and framed by a two-day long beard. Avi thought that the legend that wanted him as the son of a Russian agent and the former head of the Palestinian secret service maybe had something going on.
“Dear Avi,” Moussa said quietly and politely, “Thanks for having agreed to meet us. We have some very sensitive information we would like to discuss with you, before we decide the best course of action.”
He then looked to Yaakov, who laid a thick paper file on the table.
“Your friend Yaakov helped us make sense of a lot of things, yet there is something only you can manage. Yaakov will give you the details.”
“It’s very simple,” Yaakov continued, “Avi, somebody in the Mossad, at a very high level, is playing a very risky game with Farlimas. It’s not just the tactical cooperation that’s been going on in the Strip in the last few years, which annoyed Moussa and his team and which I did not like either, for the reasons I told you last spring. It’s much bigger than that, we are talking about organizing an attack on the scale of the Great Leak, or even worse.
”
“Talking about the Great Leak,” Moussa chimed in, “We still do not know the details, but we know that some hackers involved in it were acting on behalf or at least under the inspiration of the Navibahais. Unfortunately, Farlimas does not have a formal secret service, just a loose network of sympathizers, so we cannot pin him down directly. He was one of the great beneficiaries of the turmoil, nonetheless…together with the Remnants of the Strip, of course.”
“I thought we should talk future, not past,” Avi interrupted, showing his irritation, “If you want to talk about the Great Leak, we do not need this type of meeting.”
“Indeed,” Yaakov agreed, “It’s the next thing that is even more worrisome. It’s code-named the Whip of God, which we do not know much about. What we know is scary enough to share with you.”
“On the Navibahai side, we have reliable sources that mention this as a top-level project being discussed in Farlimas’ inner circle and entrusted only to his most loyal aides, whose name we’ll leave out,” Yaakov rushed, as time for this type of meetings was always limited, “while on the Israeli side the name is used in connection to technology involving the massive usage of nanodrones.”
“I know what you are referring to,” Avi said, almost triumphantly, “The Indian drones modified to attack Dorian Picard and the death of Guil Gursky.”
Yaakov opened his eyes in disbelief, so Avi continued.
“We also found his death suspicious, and we opened an enquiry,” Avi was as convincing as possible, “Gursky was part of a plot involving some extreme fringes of the Remanants of the Tel Aviv strip, which modified and sold this technology to the Navibahais. To our knowledge, Farlimas was and might still be planning to attack some high-profile targets, maybe Louis Picard himself, or the early circle of immortals. But we uncovered the plot, and uraveled the trade.”
“So,” Avi thought, “If this is all you have to nail me down, it’s way too little.”
“We are afraid it is not yet over, Avi, but branching out now,” Moussa said plainly, “What is comforting us, is that we are not the only one to think this way”
“Indeed, the manipulation of the nanodrones sent high alerts in India as well,” Yaakov continued, “so the Indians launched an in-depth investigation around the whole MND-2 program, tracking all the production so far. It turns out that there are exactly forty-two MND-2s gone missing, of which thirty-six disappeared from American and Russian hospitals belonging to or with strong associations to Jewish organizations. In other words, the perfect environment where the sayanim network can yield results. I checked a few cases personally, and discovered that the order to steal the MND-2s came from the usual channels of the Mossad.”
Yaakov stopped, looked at Avi and tried to guess from his expression if the information was new to him or not. The chief of the Mossad managed to keep control of his facial expression.
“In case you were wondering,” Yaakov added, “I did not share any information about the sayanim with the team of Moussa. He is a professional like us, and understands I cannot tell him everything. In any case it is irrelevant with respect to our goal.”
“Just to add my two cents,” Moussa jumped in, “We also verified that at least five of those nanodrones ended up at West African institutions linked to the Navibahais. We still have a pretty efficient network down in Africa. But we could not verify how much they had been modified. We know of course that the MND-2 software is very flexible. We saw how it can be twisted in the case of Dorian Picard and….a few others.”
A moment of silence followed, then Avi took the file from the table and wrapped up the conclusion.
“Alright, now I have a better understanding of why you asked to meet me.” He spoke with the lowest tone he could manage, “You are basically suggesting that large sectors of my organization are actively cooperating with the Farlimasians, far beyond what would be a tactical deal.”
“Exactly,” Moussa looked at Avi straight in the eyes, “We have been longtime, honest foes, Avi. We do not like you morphing into something we do not quite understand, nor should you. You have to identify the cancer cells and remove them, quickly.”
“I don’t like it either,” Avi stood up, heading for the exit, “You understand I cannot promise much more than taking a good look at the information you’ve given me.”
“We are not your boss, Avi,” Moussa said, adding with an evil grin, “We just do not want that Eli, your prime minister, has the least doubt that he cannot trust your organization. He would not be very comfortable knowing that one of the most prestigious institutions of the Jewish State has a reliability issue.”
Avi ignored the threat, as he closed the door of his van. He looked at Yaakov and hissed
“Looks like I am not the only one with a reliability and trust issue.”
As the motorcade drove back to Jerusalem, Yaakov and Moussa stayed still, as the wind blowing from East was bringing fresh waves of stormy air.
“Do you think he is part of the problem or not?” Moussa asked Yaakov. “He didn’t give out anything.”
“It does not make such a big difference,” Yaakov continued, “If he is, things will accelerate right away. If he is not, it will take just a few extra days before the extensive internal enquiry that Avi needs to set up puts the Farlimas friends on high alert.”
“Acceleration means we will have less time to figure out what exactly is going on,” Moussa commented, “We learned a lot in the past weeks, yet we still miss key pieces of information, like the possible targets.”
“That’s true, however acceleration also means more possibility for our enemies to make a mistake,” Yaakov repeated the conclusions of countless meetings held in the previous weeks, “so we have to take this risk, don’t we?”
“Yes, we do,” Moussa concluded, “It’s always about placing the right bet.”
They left the restaurant, leaving their soft drinks on the table, untouched.
Chapter 24
The bi-weekly meeting of the Supreme Council of the Navibahais was just finishing up. It had been a good meeting, by all measures, thought Ali.
Elder Joachim of Germany had shown the latest data of the spreading of the faith. With three-hundred million converts, the new religion was now in third place, behind Islam and Christianity, which were both losing faithfuls to Farlimas by the day. If the trend continued, it was a matter of months rather than years, for the Navibahai to become the first.
Yet, in his seat, Farlimas did not look happy. Ali knew why, so he dared placing the question openly.
“My beloved Leader, are you worried about the growth of nonbelievers?”, Ali asked, “They have indeed moved forward like us, and are now the biggest group, with roughly five-hundred million people defining themselves this way.”
Farlimas nodded, while Elder Joachim sat back in his chair, disguising his uneasiness, as Farlimas took the word.
“It’s not worth becoming the first religion if too many of our brothers remain blind and deaf to the Truth, to our being and feeling part of a bigger design,” Farlimas was visibly touched, as he continued, “we have to double our effort to help the Alimighty achieve His goal, which is clearly to reunite mankind under the torch of the Single Truth.”
Tarek looked at Elder Joachim, whose expression clearly showed that he was deeply reflecting on whether or not he had tried his hardest, and, most importantly, if the Almighty and Farlimas had understood it.
“Take for example our brother, Honourable Elder Tarek,” Farlimas switched subjects suddenly, “Last week, he made the conscious decision of taking the anti-Telomerax drug, like his friend Valerio had done before him. That’s the kind of examples we need to propagate. But time will soon come, when people will realize the fallacy of their hopes in science and technology, in knowledge alone. A fallacy, by the way, which is fully shared by the preceding religions, which are today nothing more than an empty shell of false hopes.”
Being called upon, Tarek knew he had to contribute to the discussi
on, something he always tried to avoid in Council meetings.
“My Leader,” he said, after the silence following the remark of Farlimas was getting too long, increasing the sense of embarrassment in the audience, “There is something I do not understand, though. If knowledge is our enemy, why do we invest so heavily in the space missions that Elder Ali is leading? Couldn’t we just funnel those resources to the spreading of the faith, that Honourable Elder Joachim is managing too well?”
The relief that appeared on the face of Elder Joachim was in perfect balance to the slight frown on the one of Elder Ali. Having noticed both of them, Farlimas spoke again, showing off the smile he used when he had been expecting this question.
“Honourable Elder Tarek, I said knowledge alone, not knowledge in general,” Farlimas stressed the alone, then moved on, “We are for knowledge, as long as its growth helps us to contemplate the Almighty more. That’s what the activities of Elder Ali are all about, we have to prepare to launch a new set of probes in the open space in the next few weeks that will greatly increase the awareness of mankind in the right direction.”
This was new, Tarek thought. It was the first time that Farlimas mentioned the probes, Tarek looked immediately at Ali, who took a second too long to hide his disappointment at the revelation.
“So,” Elder Joachim added, “the probes are the Whip of God that Elder Sergei used to work on?”
Tarek had to control every muscle in his body so as to not give away the fact he was relieved Elder Joachim had just asked the question. Ali immediately felt uncomfortable, and looked at Farlimas, who put up the straightest face he could manage and spoke up again.
“Forget the Whip of God,” Farlimas said, “the name, which Elder Sergei came up with, was indeed quite inappropriate, and the project has since been repurposed by Honourable Elder Ali, under the privacy given by the new security organization so successfully set up by Honourable Elder Tarek, whom I have to bring again as an example to you all. He is serving the project without even knowing what it is about, a perfect example of faith in the ways of the Almighty!”
The Last Enemy - A history of the present future - 1934-2084 Page 48