ARAB by Ingraham Jim

Author:Ingraham, Jim [Ingraham, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CascoBay Books
Published: 2011-07-13T23:00:00+00:00

Within the hour Nick was sitting across from his CIA contact in the coffee shop on the roof of the Fontana Hotel. Isaac Roach, still referring to himself as “Richard,” was smiling.

“We’ll deny everything, of course,” Isaac said, holding a flame to the tip of his cigarette, then sliding forward on the chair so that he could pocket the lighter. He usually affected manners of refinement but occasionally gave himself away with moves like that. Beneath the patina of respectability lay the personality of a thug.

“Until they pick me up?” Nick said.

“Oh, that won’t be for a while. A lot of channels to go through.” He dragged on his cigarette. “Yes, and, as to Bashir Yassin, we also know that he did not leave Egypt but was thrown off that shrimp boat in Marsa Mutruuh, spent two days in a hospital there and boarded a train for Cairo.”

“How’d you know that?”

“He used a debit card.”

“He came back here?”

“We don’t know. He’s cagey. He knows the police are after him. There are many stops along the way.”

“Does he know we’re after him?”

“He probably doesn’t distinguish us from the police.”

“Well, before we get into that,” Nick said, “why did you give me that bullshit about the three rabbis?”

“It’s what we were given. Considering who gave it to us, I suspect the lie, if it is a lie, and I’m not convinced of that … but if it is, it originated with Yassin. I suppose he thought it would endear him to the people who brought him across the border. And that, I’m informed, involved Uthman al-Ajami in some way. He has become a very busy man. You know of him?”

“The name,” Nick said. “I know that Shkaki was trying to contact him. He works for the government or something. But I don’t give a shit about him or any of the people he deals with. That’s your problem. All I want to know is why you want Bashir Yassin. I’m going to lose Habib, you know. Without him I don’t have a chance of finding Bashir. Habib knows this city. If I do get my hands on Yassin and lose Habib, where the hell am I supposed to tie the man down while I call you?”

“We’ll have to revise that. In fact, I suppose I’ll have to tell you…. You know, we’ve just never been sure how close you were to Aziz al-Khalid.”

“That’s a goddamn insult!”

“Yes, you have a right to think so. But in my business—”

Nick waved that off. “So why do you want him?”

“When I mentioned Uthman al-Ajami. I noticed you didn’t flinch.”

“As I said, all I know is he’s the guy Shkaki was trying to reach.”

“And nothing more?”

“He’s a lookout or something for the People’s Assembly.”

“And you know he’s linked somehow to the Sudanese insurgents who are coming into this country.”

“I know nothing about that and don’t give a shit. Those are your problems.”

Isaac smiled. “I think you’re more interested than you pretend to be.”

Nick coldly watched burning tobacco move through cigarette paper toward the man’s lips, like the fuse on a firecracker.

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