The Levanter 1972

Author:Eric Ambler
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-09-29T19:57:24+00:00

Chapter 5

TERESA MALANDRA

May 18 to June 10

The reason why Michael is so difficult to understand -especially for journalists - is that he is not one person but a committee of several. There is, for instance, the Greek money-​changer with thin fingers moving unceasingly as he makes lightning calculations on an abacus; there is the brooding, sad-​eyed Armenian bazaar trader who pretends to be slow-​witted, but is, in fact, devious beyond belief; there is the stuffy, no-​nonsense Englishman trained as an engineer; there is the affable, silk-​suited young man of affairs with smile lines at the corners of wide, limpid, con-​man eyes; there is the mother-​fixation managing director of the Agence Howell, defensive, sententious and given to speechifying; and there is the one I particularly like, who . . . but why go on? The Michael Howell committee is in permanent session, and, though the task of implementing its business decisions is generally delegated to just one of the members, the voices of the others are usually to be heard whispering in the background. Ghaled certainly detected the faint sounds of those prompting voices, but to begin with he positively identified only the engineer. About that member of the committee at least his judgement was correct; the Englishman’s professional pride borders on the obsessional.

In the days that followed that second meeting with Salah Ghaled there seemed to be no more enthusiastic and devoted adherent to the cause of the Palestinian Action Force than comrade Michael. Within forty-​eight hours the drawings and specifications of the fuse adapter ring had been completed and sent to the Beirut machine shop. A day later, after a telephone discussion, a price had been agreed and work on the sample ring put in hand. Meanwhile, the probable Howell shipping movements for the months of June and July had been analysed and a number of projections made. Then the possibilities of change and manipulation were explored.

It was like a mad chess problem.

On July 2 the MV Amalia Howell (4000 tons, Captain Touzani) must sail, possibly though not necessarily in ballast, from Latakia bound for Alexandria. Problem: bring this sailing about in not more than three moves, none of which may be observed by your opponent (in this case your own shipping agents) or, if observed, not recognised as moves.

Michael thought about it on and off for days. In the end he found a solution requiring only two moves: first, the contrived, temporary withdrawal of the Amalia’s Deratisation Exemption Certificate (required under Article 17 of the International Sanitary Regulations) which would hold her idle in port for three or more days; second, a consequential re-​arrangement of Howell freighter sailings which would send the Amalia, when released, to Ancona to pick up a cargo for Latakia. His eyes gleamed with pleasure as he went over the mechanics of it with me.

‘Tell Issa to pass the news on,’ he said finally. ‘No details, just the name of the ship. You can tell him, too, that the sample ring will be in our hands on Monday next.

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