Honour Among Thieves

bit of shut-eye, Colonel?' Kratz nodded and watched Cohen jump out of the cab and offer Aziz a cigarette before disappearing behind a palm tree. He checked the surrounding countryside carefully, and decided Cohen was right. When he returned to the truck, he found Aziz and the Sergeant were already asleep, while Scott was sitting on the ledge watching the sun come up over Baghdad. 'What a peaceful sight,' he said as Kratz sat down beside him, almost as though he had been talking to someone else. 'Only God could make a sunrise as beautiful as that.' 'Something isn't right,' muttered Kratz under his breath. SADDAM NODDED TO THE PROSECUTOR.'Now we have dealt with the traitor, let us move on to the terrorists. What is the latest position, General?' General Hamil, known as the Barber of Baghdad, opened the file in front of him - he kept a file on everybody, including those sitting around the table. Hamil had been educated at Sandhurst and returned to Iraq to receive the King's Commission, only to find there was no King to serve. So he switched his loyalty to the new President, Abdul Karim Qasim. Then a young Captain changed sides in the 1963 coup and the Ba'ath Party took power. Once again Hamil switched his loyalty, and was rewarded with an appointment to the personal staff of the new Vice-President, Saddam Hussein. Since that day he had risen rapidly through the ranks. He was now Saddam's favourite General, and Commander of the Presidential Guard. He had the distinction of being the only man, with the exception of the President's bodyguards, allowed to wear a side-arm in Saddam's presence. He was Saddam's executioner. His favourite hobby was to shave his victims' heads before they were hanged, with a blunt cut-throat razor that he never bothered to sharpen. Some of them disappointed him by dying before he could get the rope around their necks. Hamil studied his file for a few moments before offer- ing an opinion. 'The terrorists,' he began, 'crossed the border at 21.26 last night. Four passports were presented to the immigration officer for stamping. Three were of Swedish origin, and one was from Iraq.' 'I'll skin that one personally,' said Saddam. 'The four men are travelling in a truck that appears to be quite old, but as we are unable to risk taking too close a look, I cannot be sure if we are dealing with a Trojan horse or not. The safe that you ordered, Mr President, is undoubtedly on the back of the truck. 'The truck has driven non-stop through the night at a steady pace of around forty miles per hour in the direction of Baghdad, but at 4.09 this morning it turned off into the desert, and we ceased to monitor its movements, as that particular path leads nowhere. We believe they have simply come off the road to rest before travelling on to the capital later this morning.' 'How many miles are they from Baghdad at this moment?' asked the Minister of the Interior. 'Forty, perhaps fifty - an hour to an hour and a half at the most.' 'So, if we now have them trapped in the desert, General, why don't we just send troops in and cut them off?' 'While they are still bringing the safe to Baghdad?' interrupted Saddam. 'No. That way lies our only danger.' 'I'm not sure I understand, Sayedi,' said the Minister of the Interior, turning to face his leader. 'Then I will explain, Minister,' Saddam said, exaggerating the final word cruelly. 'If we arrest them in the desert, who will believe us when we tell the world they are terrorists? The Western press will even claim that we planted their passports on them. No, I want them wrested right here in the Council Chamber, when it will be impossible for Mossad to deny their involvement and, more important, we will have exposed their plot and made fools of them in the eyes of the Zionist people.' 'Now I understand your profound wisdom, Sayedi.' Saddam waved a hand and turned his attention to the Minister of Industry. 'Have my orders been carried out?' 'To the letter, Excellency. When the terrorists arrive at the Ministry, they will be made to wait, and will be treated curtly, until they produce the documentation that claims to come from your office.' 'They presented such a letter at the border,' interrupted General Hamil, still looking down at his file. 'The moment such a letter is presented to my office,' continued the Minister for Industry, 'a crane will be supplied so that the safe can be transferred into this building. I fear that we will have to remove the doors on the front of the