Diamond was stiffly silent for a moment, then he drew a short breath and said, “I have decided to pay a visit to Hel’s place in the Basque country.”
“This will be the first time you have met him face to face?”
“Yes.”
“And you have considered the possibility that it may be more difficult to get out of those mountains than to get in?”
“Yes. But I believe I shall be able to convince Mr. Hel of the foolishness of attempting to assist Miss Stern. In the first place, there is no logical reason why he should take on this assignment for a misguided middle-class girl he doesn’t even know. Hel has nothing but disgust for amateurs of all kinds, including amateurs in terror. Miss Stern may see herself as a noble soldier in the service of all that is right in the world, but I assure you that Hel will view her as a pain in the ass.”
Mr. Able tilted his head in doubt. “Even assuming that Mr. Hel does look upon Miss Stern as a proctological nuisance (whether or not he reflects on the happy pun), there remains the fact that Hel was a friend of the late Asa Stern, and you have yourself said that he has strong impulses toward loyalty to friends.”
“True. But there are fiscal pressures we can bring to bear. We know that he retired as soon as he had accumulated enough money to live out his life in comfort. Mounting a ‘stunt’ against our PLO friends would be a costly matter. It’s probable that Hel is relying on the eventual sale of his Wyoming land for financial security. Within two hours, that land will no longer be his. All records of his having bought it will disappear and be replaced by proof that the land is held by the Mother Company.” Diamond smiled. “By way of fringe benefit, there happens to be a little coal on that land that can be profitably stripped off. To complete his financial discomfort, two simple cables to Switzerland from the Chairman will cause Hel’s money held in a Swiss bank to vanish.”
“And I imagine the money will turn up in Mother Company assets?”
“Part of it. The rest will be held by the banks as transactional costs. The Swiss are nothing if not frugal. It’s a Calvinist principle that there is an entrance fee to heaven, to keep the riff-raff out. It is my intention to perform these fiscally punitive actions, regardless of Hel’s decision to take or reject Miss Stern’s job.”
“A gesture in memory of your brother?”
“You may think of it that way, if you like. But it will also serve as a financial interdiction to Hel’s being a nuisance to the Mother Company and to the nations whose interest you represent.”
“What if money pressures alone are not sufficient to persuade him?”
“Naturally, I have a secondary line of action to address that contingency. The Mother Company will bring pressure upon the British government to spare no effort in protecting the Black Septembrists involved in the Munich Olympics debacle. It will be their task to make sure they are unmolested in their skyjacking of the Montreal plane. This will not require as much pressure as you might imagine because, now that the North Sea oil fields are producing, England’s economic interests are more closely allied to those of OPEC than to those of the West.”
Mr. Able smiled. “Frankly, I cannot imagine the MI-5 and MI-6 lads being an effective deterrent to Mr. Hel. The greater part of their energies are applied to writing imaginative memoirs of their daring exploits during the Second World War.”
“True. But they will have a certain nuisance value. Also, we shall have the services of the French internal police to help us contain Hel within that country. And we are moving on another front. It is inconceivable that Hel would try to enter England to put the Septembrists away without first neutralizing the British police. I told you that he does this by buying blackmail material from an information broker known as the Gnome. For years the Gnome has evaded international efforts to locate and render him dysfunctional. Through the good services of Her communications subsidiaries, the Mother Company is beginning to close in on this man. We know that he lives somewhere near the city of Bayonne, and we’re actively involved in tightening down on him. If we get to him before Hel does, we can interdict the use of blackmail leverage against the British police.”
Mr. Able smiled. “You have a fertile mind, Mr. Diamond—when personal revenge is involved.” Mr. Able turned suddenly to the Deputy. “Do you have something to contribute?”
Startled, the Deputy said, “Pardon me? What?”
“Never mind.” Mr. Able glanced again at his watch. “Let’s do get on with it. I assume you didn’t ask me here so you could parade before me your array of tactics and interdictions. Obviously, you need my help in the unlikely event that all the machines you have set into motion fail, and Hel manages to put the Septembrists away.”
“Exactly. And it is because this is a bit delicate that I wanted those two buffoons out of the room while we talked about it. I accept the fact that the nations you represent are committed to protecting the PLO, and therefore the Mother Company is, and therefore CIA is. But let’s be frank among ourselves. We would all be happier if the Palestinian issue (and the Palestinians with it) would simply disappear. They’re a nasty, ill-disciplined, vicious lot whom history happened to put in the position of a symbol of Arab unity. All right so far?”
Mr. Able waved away the obvious with his hand.
“Very well. Let’s consider our posture, should everything fail and Hel manage to exterminate the Septembrists. All that would really concern us would be assuring the PLO that we had acted vigorously on its behalf. Considering their barbaric nature, I think they would be mollified if we took vengeance on their behalf by destroying Nicholai Hel and everything he possesses.”
“Sowing the land with salt?” Mr. Able mused.
“Just so.”
Mr. Able was silent for a time, his eyes lowered as he tickled his upper lip with his forefinger. “Yes, I believe we can rely on the PLO’s sophomoric mentality to that degree. They would accept a major act of revenge—provided it was lurid enough—as proof that we are devoted to their interests.” He smiled to himself. “And do not imagine that it has escaped my notice that such an eventuality would allow you to slay two birds with one stone. You would solve the tactical problem at hand, and avenge your brother at one stroke. Is it possible that you would rather see all your devices fail and Nicholai Hel somehow break through and hit the Septembrists, freeing you to devise and execute a maximal punishment for him?”
“I shall do everything in my power to prevent the hit in the first instance. That would be best for the Mother Company, and Her interests take priority over my personal feelings.” Diamond glanced toward the First Assistant, It was most likely that he reported directly to the Chairman on Diamond’s devotion to the Company.
“That’s it then,” Mr. Able said, rising from the conference table. “If there is not further need for me, I shall return to the social event this business interrupted.”
Diamond rang for Miss Swivven to escort Mr. Able out of the building.
The Deputy rose and cleared his throat. “I don’t assume you’ll be needing me?”
“Have I ever? But I’ll expect you to keep yourself available to execute instructions. You may go.”
Diamond directed the First Assistant to roll back the information on Nicholai Hel and be prepared to project it at a slow enough rate to accommodate the literacy of Starr and the PLO goatherd, who were returning from the exercise room, the Arab rubbing his inflamed eyes as he put his English/Arabic dictionary back into his pocket. “Goodness my gracious, Mr. Diamond! It is most difficult to read in that room. The lights along the walls are so bright!”
“I want you two to sit here and learn everything you’re capable of about Nicholai Hel. I don’t care if it takes all night. I’ve decided to bring you along when I visit this man—not because you’ll be of any use, but because you’re responsible for this screw-up, and I’m going to make you see it out to the end.”