Honour Among Thieves

take the hotel minibus to the airport and go to the bookshop on the ground floor, where she was to browse until she was contacted. A courier would then arrive at Hannah's side and leave a small package containing Saib's passport with the photograph changed, the airline ticket in Saib's name and any baggage tickets and personal items that had been found on her. Hannah was then to board the flight to Paris as quickly as possible with only the one piece of hand luggage she had brought with her from London. Once she had landed at Charles de Gaulle she was to pick up Karima Saib's luggage from the carousel and get herself to the VIP carpark. She would be met by the Iraqi Ambassador's chauffeur, who would take her to the Jordanian Embassy, where the Iraqi Interest Section was currently located, the Iraqi Embassy in Paris being officially closed. From that moment, Hannah would be on her own, and at all times she was to obey the instructions given by the embassy staff, particularly remembering that in direct contrast to Jewish women, Arab women were subservient to men. She must never contact the Israeli Embassy or attempt to find out who the Mossad agent in Paris was. If it ever became necessary, he would contact her. 'What do I do about clothes if Saib's don't fit?' she had asked Kratz. 'We know I'm taller than she is.' 'You must carry enough in your overnight bag to last for the first few days,' he had told her, 'and then purchase what you will need for six months in Paris.' Two thousand French francs had been supplied for this purpose. 'It must be some time since you've been shopping in Paris,' she had told him. 'That's just about enough for a pair of jeans and a couple of T-shirts.' Kratz had reluctantly handed over another five thousand francs. At 9.27 the phone rang. When Tony Cavalli and his father entered the boardroom, they took the remaining chairs at each end of the table, as the chairman and chief executive of any distinguished company might. Cavalli always used the oak-panelled room in the basement of his father's house on 75th Street for such meetings, but no one present believed they were there to conduct a normal board meeting. They knew there would be no agenda and no minutes. In front of each of the six places where the board members were seated was a notepad, pencil and a glass of water, as there would have been at a thousand such meetings across America that morning. But at this partic-ular gathering, in front of every place were also two long envelopes, one thin and one bulky, neither giving any clue as to its contents. Tony's eyes swept the faces of the men seated round the table. All of them had two things in common: they had reached the top of their professions, and they were willing to break the law. Two of them had served jail sentences, albeit some years before, while three of the others would have done so had they not been able to afford the finest lawyers available. The sixth was himself a lawyer. 'Gentlemen,' Cavalli began, 'I've invited you to join me this evening to discuss a business proposition that might be described as a little unusual.' He paused before continuing, 'We have been requested by an interested party to steal the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives.' Tony paused for a moment as uproar broke out immediately and the guests tried to outdo each other with one-liners. 'Just roll it up and take it away.' 'I suppose we could bribe every member of the staff.' 'Set the White House on fire. That would at least cause a diversion.' 'Write in and tell them that you won it on a game show.' Tony was content to wait for his colleagues to run out of wisecracks before he spoke again. 'Exactly my reaction when we were first approached,' he admitted. 'But after several weeks of research and preparation, I hope you will at least grant me an opportunity to present my case.' They quickly came to order and began concentrating on Tony's every word, though 'scepticism' would have best described the expression on their faces. 'During the past weeks, my father and I have been working on a draft plan to steal the Declaration of Independence. We are now ready to share that knowledge with you, because I must admit that we have reached a point where we cannot advance further on this project without the professional abilities of everyone seated around this table. Let me assure you, gentlemen, that your selection has not been a random exercise. 'But first I would like you all to see the