The Secret Servant

Did you know they were planning to kidnap Elizabeth Halton and ransom her for your friend, Sheikh Abdullah?”
    “I knew nothing of their plans. These boys are extremely well trained. Someone highly skilled is pulling the strings.”
    “Someone is.” Gabriel hesitated. “Maybe that someone is you , Ibrahim. Maybe you’re the one who masterminded the entire operation. Maybe you’re the one they call the Sphinx.”
    “The willingness to believe outlandish things is an Arab disease, Mr. Allon, not a Zionist one. The more time you waste pursuing silly notions like that, the less time we have to find the ambassador’s daughter and bring her home alive.”
    Gabriel seized on a single word of Ibrahim’s last answer, the word we .
    “And how are we going to do that?”
    “I believe Ishaq is one of the terrorists holding the American woman hostage.”
    Gabriel leaned forward in his chair. “Why would you think that?”
    “Ishaq left Copenhagen two weeks ago. He told Hanifah that he was going to the Middle East for a research trip on behalf of the Islamic Affairs Council. In order to maintain that fiction, he telephones the apartment every evening at Ahmed’s bedtime.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Because Hanifah has told me so.”
    “Have you spoken to him yourself?”
    “I’ve left messages for him, but he never calls me.”
    Gabriel placed a notepad and pen on the table and slid them toward Ibrahim.
    “I need the address of the apartment in Copenhagen. And I need the telephone number.”
    “Hanifah and Ahmed have nothing to do with this.”
    “Then they have nothing to fear.”
    “I want you to promise me that no harm will come to them.”
    “You’re in no position to ask for anything, Ibrahim.”
    “Promise me, Mr. Allon. Promise me you won’t harm them.”
    Gabriel nodded once. Ibrahim wrote down the information, then pushed the pad toward Gabriel and recited two lines from the twenty-second chapter of Genesis:
    “‘So early the next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him.’”
    “You know your Hebrew scripture,” said Gabriel. “But he’s no longer your son, Ibrahim. He’s infected with the virus of jihad. He’s a monster.”
    “Perhaps, but he’ll always be my son.” He looked down at the notepad in shame. “If I remember correctly, the Jews believe that Abraham went to Beersheba after passing God’s test. But what will happen to me? Will I be shipped to Egypt for further questioning or do I remain here?” He looked around the room. “Wherever here is.”
    “I suppose that depends on the Americans.”
    The disdainful look in Ibrahim’s eyes made it clear how he felt about Americans. “I suggest leaving the Americans out of this,” he said. “It would be better for you and I to cross the bridge over Jahannam alone. Whatever you decide, do it quickly. The ambassador’s daughter is in the hands of a young man whose sister was murdered by Pharaoh’s henchman. If he is ordered to kill her, he will not hesitate.”

28
     
    P ARIS : 9:25 A.M. , T UESDAY
     
    T he interviewer from France 2 was shuffling his note cards, a sign that time was rapidly dwindling. Yusuf Ramadan, professor of Near Eastern history from the American University in Cairo, resident scholar at the Institute of Islamic Studies in Paris, and terror mastermind from the Sword of Allah, knew he would have to make his final point quickly.
    “…And so I think the greatest danger of this crisis is not here in Europe but in Egypt itself,” he said in his faultless French. “It is my understanding that the security services of the Egyptian regime have responded with a rather heavy hand, and if this behavior continues, it is likely to provoke a backlash that might very well threaten the stability of the regime itself.”
    The interviewer, intrigued by Ramadan’s comment, ignored the instructions of the floor director to conclude the segment. “Are you accusing the government of Egypt of torture, Professor Ramadan?”
    “The methods of the Egyptian police and security services are well known,” Ramadan said. “You can be sure they are using torture and other unsavory methods in order to help the Americans find the ambassador’s daughter.”
    “Thought-provoking as always, Professor Ramadan. I hope you’ll join us again to help us analyze this ongoing