The Last Enemy - Part 2 - 2011-2023

by Luca Luchesini

  Chapter 29

  Valerio arrived in Zurich the afternoon of April 21, 2017, roughly a month after the kidnap attempt. He took the morning flight to Stuttgart, Germany and then hired a car using a fake driving license that had been provided by Tarek. He had to brief Louis about the latest developments, and the only way to do it was in person, since they could no longer trust any other means of communication. They met at Louis’ house, which was under surveillance of a Swiss police patrol. They walked along Witikonerstrasse for a few minutes, then took a taxi to the city center, walked along the lake shore and boarded one of the boats that were touring the lake. They sat at the bar inside the boat. It was impossible for someone to have followed them.

  “How miserable is your life, Louis?” Valerio started, staring at his friend. It was clear he had not had a decent sleep in weeks.

  “I am seriously starting to regret the discovery, Valerio,” sighed Louis. “The Swiss police are treating me more like a criminal than a victim. After two weeks of having my face on all the major newspapers, all of my neighbors recognize me and make sure to steer clear. I could eventually get over it, but Dora cannot bear the growing social isolation. She is feeling more and more depressed and this is affecting the pregnancy. In addition to that, three days ago there was an attack on the pill factory. The building was completely burned down. The firefighters said it was probably due to a short circuit. Bullshit. I designed every detail of that building, it was one of the safest in this country. It was destroyed, and Swiss authorities are siding with the attackers for some reason. I have no idea of who they might be. The Mossad? The CIA? Or our dear friend, Mr. Lee?”

  Valerio let Louis rant on, to allow him to discharge his tension. The boat was just about in the middle of the lake, when Valerio interrupted him. For sure somebody on the other side of the lake was waiting to listen in on their conversation, so he had to convey the important part of the message.

  “Listen, Louis, the situation is bad but we still have a chance. The Swiss are being manipulated by the Mossad, I checked with my connections in the German press and they confirmed the local media is being fed by companies that are typically used by the Israelis to spread their own ideas. There is worse news, though. Do you remember the case of the airliner that went missing over the Indian Ocean a few weeks ago? For a couple of weeks it hit all the headlines, now the story is brought up only on aviation media and it will soon be put on the backburner. Well, we know for sure that it was not coincidental and it is in fact linked to Telomerax...”

  Louis snapped back to reality in an instance and interrupted Valerio.

  “We know? How do we know?”

  “Rasim Al-Manna, the head of the Arab Emirates counterintelligence service, was on that flight. Shortly after the tragedy, the government of the Emirates received evidence that it was a brutal warning, not to mess up with the Telomerax trade.”

  Louis was getting impatient.

  “Jesus Christ, how do you know this? You are just exaggerating, aren’t you? Or does it come from Tarek?”

  “The tragedy kind of took a turn in our favor. After the death of Rasim, Tarek was called by the rulers of Abu Dhabi. They informed him that Rasim had made some very dangerous deals with the Russians, and this was the retaliation. Then, they asked him to take Rasim’s place to sort it out...”

  “So now Tarek is head of the Arab Emirates counterintelligence?” Louis cut in with a faint smile. “This is a piece of good news, at least.”

  “It is, because it gave Tarek access to information we did not have before. Unfortunately,” Valerio continued, “Rasim had been invited to Taiwan, as a trap set by George. Rasim had invited Tarek to join, but Tarek missed the plane. He was fishing and had gotten trapped in a mangrove. By the time he managed to clear his motorboat from the vegetation, it was too late to catch the flight.”

  A long silence followed, then Louis asked the question that Valerio and Tarek had been asking themselves for weeks now.

  “Was George aware that Rasim may have brought Tarek along? Did George actually ask Rasim to take Tarek to Taiwan with him or did Rasim have a plan of his own?”

  “We do not know. Rasim left no evidence and neither Tarek nor I want to ask George. One thing is sure, he did not even try to contact any of us since the accident.”

  Another long minute of silence followed. This time Valerio began again.

  “Louis, we are under attack. And those who are after us do not mind killing hundreds of innocent people to hit their target. I do not want to take a position on George, at least not for now. I do not want to blame him, yet we can no longer trust him. We have to reorganize ourselves, and this is possible in only two places right now. One is to join Tarek in Abu Dhabi..”

  “..and the other one is to go to Brazil with Helena,” Louis completed the sentence and continued, “I pick this one. Dora told me several times she would like to share the experience of raising the baby with the help of Helena, which by the way will be a boy.”

  The thought of the baby seemed to revive Louis, so Valerio lingered on the subject.

  “A boy! Congratulations, Louis! What are you going to name him?”

  “He will be Dorian, the last name however is still to be decided...it depends on the next set of passports that Tarek sends us,” Louis responded with a grin and then continued. “There is also another issue, can we still trust commercial airlines? What if they discover our identity and decide to shoot us down on our way to Brazil?”

  “Tarek analyzed the risks and came up with a plan,” Valerio said, as he placed a cardboard box about the size of a book in front of Louis. “Here you have three sets of passports and the airline itinerary. It is a bit complicated, but it should allow you to elude surveillance. It is all about timing. You have to leave Switzerland within six days from now.”

  “Six days?” Louis stared in disbelief. “My goodness, I have to dismantle the lab in my house and..”

  “Tarek and Helena calculated that is the time you need to transfer your assets to the new accounts, set up by Helena in Panama,” Valerio cut in. “As for the lab, just make sure you destroy all the sensitive data in your computers. Unfortunately, all what Dora and you can bring along has to fit in two carry-ons.” Valerio paused, he saw that Louis’ face was lost in thought. He started talking to himself, his eyes fixed on the table.

  “I hate escaping like a thief. Worse still, I am inflicting this on Dora. Despite all of our achievements, or actually because of them, she has to escape her world just like her father did, except with a son in her womb.”

  The boat slowed down, and was moored at the pier. The movement brought Louis back to the decision he had to make. He looked back at Valerio, then quickly grabbed the box and put it into his pocket. Valerio was trying to find something to say to console him, when Louis abruptly asked him,

  “Are you coming to Brazil, too?”

  “No,” Valerio answered. “I am going to live in Dubai, for now.”

  “I could have bet my house on that. Not that I need it anymore.” Louis commented. Before Valerio could reply, he hugged him, disembarked, and took the first taxi home.

  Chapter 30

  Tarek did not like the office that had belonged to Rasim, in the military city, but it was a part of the job he could not change. He had learned the real cause of Rasim’s death from Sheikh Hamdan, the Foreign Minister, just a few days after he had started his new job.

  His mission, the Minister told Tarek, was now to undo the deal that Rasim had set up with the Russians, but without losing all the benefits that the Arab Emirates had obtained. In other words, the Sheikhs wanted to keep the weapons of mass destruction that Rasim had acquired. The Americans and the Chinese had made it clear that they wanted the Russians to stop the drug trade and the Emirates to destroy their chemical weapons. Tarek needed to have the Russians on his side, but for some reason they were pushing the Emiratis to give in. If Russia stood firmly with the Emiratis, it would be easier to strike a deal with Chin
a, since a long term oil supply would be involved. And then the US would be cornered.

  Tarek needed something to get leverage on the Russians, but he could not find anything. He had had a number of talks with Arkady Dobrynin, the new Russian intelligence chief in the Arab Emirates, and he felt the Russians were hiding something from him. Tarek knew Rasim was giving them samples of the pill, which the Russians used to base their own version of Telomerax off of.

  He was still reflecting on the course of action to take when he received a text message on his phone, requesting his presence at the Aquarium of the Dubai Mall. It was from Rasim Al-Ibrahim.

  Very few people knew that Rasim used Ibrahim as a fake name, so the message must have come from somebody belonging to his inner circle. Could it be an ambush? Probably not, it made no sense to attack someone in the middle of the Dubai Mall. Tarek decided this was a good opportunity to spend the day out of the walls of the military base. He left the office and drove to Dubai, that sunny May morning.

  Two hours later, he was admiring the coral reefs in the giant pond at the entrance of the aquarium, when he was approached by a young, red-haired woman who greeted him in Arabic.

  “Marhaba, you must be Tarek. You match the description that Rasim gave me,” she said. “My name is Irina, and I am the predecessor of Arkady. I am currently working in Moscow, but I feel there is some unfinished work to do here so I took a short break and flew in yesterday. Has Rasim ever talked to you about me?”

  “Not too much, he told me he was quite happy with the way you had managed the Telomerax deal. Unfortunately, I am afraid that the new boss that has replaced you is not as cooperative. May I suggest we go have a cup of green tea?” offered Tarek, while moving towards the nearest coffee shop.

  As Irina sipped her tea, Tarek recalled that Rasim had told him that Irina was a young woman in her thirties. But she looked considerably younger. He decided to continue the conversation from there.

  “Irina, I must admit that Rasim was right,” said Tarek as he passed the sugar. “One of the few things Rasim told me about you, is that you were by far the most attractive agent in the country. I hope that you do not get these looks with some, how can I put it…unconventional methods.”

  “Let's leave flattery aside, I called you to discuss some work issues,” replied Irina, wondering what else Rasim could have told Tarek. “And I do not quite get what you mean by unconventional methods.”

  “I am talking about injections, pills, and other unnatural procedures. Sometimes they work but sometimes they lead to nasty side effects, if not properly manufactured.”

  “If you are referring to the pills that Rasim gave us, then yes, I have used them,” Irina responded promptly. “Why? Is their quality poor?”

  Tarek thought it was time to put all the cards on the table. He needed the help of the Russians to get his host country out of the corner where Rasim had forced it.

  “Oh, you do not run any risk if you use the original version. Unfortunately, poor imitations have sprung up, just like what happens with Lacoste shirts or Ferrari glasses. And the one from Russia has proven, bad effects on people’s aggressiveness, as we have witnessed in a few episodes in the Far East and Africa. There will surely be more to come.”

  “And how about the Chinese version? It is the same as the American one. Did you also have the opportunity to study it?” Irina asked. She wanted to show Tarek she was knowledgeable, too.

  Tarek paused for a while and then continued. Irina had managed to impress him.

  “The Chinese version...yes, we know it is out there. We have not yet carried out a full analysis. But we suspect nasty side effects as well. One of the best experts I know of thinks it is massively increasing the spread of tumors, and I’m afraid it is not going to stop. The pressure we are receiving from the Americans and the Chinese is overwhelming. They will not slow down the diffusion of the drug nor the multiplication of their variants any time soon. I think they are doing this to protect their own trade.”

  “You are totally right, Tarek. My new colleague, Arkady, has not realized it yet. I can give you some information that could help block the American and Chinese pressure, bringing Russia to your side. Of course, I would need something in exchange.”

  The eyes of Tarek flashed. Irina might be an angel sent by God to save him, he thought.

  “Absolutely. What do you need from us?”

  “Very simple. I want to know the name of the man who drew Rasim into the trap.”