then.’
‘But so far your evidence is merely hypothetical, Arabs and Jews have been known to kill people. Some Arabs and Jews don’t like peacemakers. You are a peacemaker. Your car blows up. Therefore it was blown up by Arabs or Jews. I don’t think my old algebra master would have gone much on that – and algebra’s another arabic word.’
Roskill looked round for support.
‘Aye,’ said Butler. ‘And when it comes to peacemakers I could give you the name of two Belgian firms and a Swiss group – and a Czech one, I shouldn’t wonder – who’d weep bitter tears the day peace was declared. There’s not so much profit in ploughshares these days – small arms shares pay better dividends.’
‘And some of their salesmen have been known to protect their terriitory with their product,’ said Roskill. ‘So far we haven’t got a shred of proof about anything.’
‘Two shreds – so far we’ve got two shreds,’ said Cox. ‘One from Bicester, one from the car.
‘We did Bicester pretty thoroughly yesterday, because there was just a chance someone might have seen the car while it still had someone in it. We drew a blank there, but two people think they saw something very near where it was left at about the right time. One said “Wog”, meaning apparently “Middle Eastern, inclined to Arab”; the other was more educated – he said “Cypriot, maybe”, which could mean “Middle Eastern, inclined to Israel”.’
‘That’s a shred, right enough,’ said Butler.
‘Agreed – just a shred. The car’s a bit stronger, though.’ Cox consulted a small red notebook for a few seconds. ‘T.P.D.X. – do you know what that is?’
‘At a guess, one of those innumerable plastic explosives?’
‘Quite right. A plastic explosive. Russian, very new – and strong medicine. Just the thing for guerrillas, and sure enough the Russians obligingly supplied them with a consignment of it in January. It was the first time anyone received any outside the Soviet Union, as far as we know.’
‘Well, that pins it on Fatah – if that’s what was used in the car,’ exclaimed Roskill.
‘It was used on the car all right, but it doesn’t pin it on Fatah,’ Cox shook his head sadly. ‘That would have been too easy! Unfortunately they moved it — or a good deal of it – to one of their front line posts in the Ghor as Safi area, south of the Dead Sea.’
Roskill groaned. ‘Don’t tell me! The Israelis raided the place!’
‘Right again. Softened it up with an air raid on January 20. The next day what they euphemistically call a “purging operation” was effected. In this instance they purged Fatah of a large amount of T.P.D.X., among other things of lesser importance.’
‘So it fits the Bicester evidence exactly – Wog or Cypriot. It could have been either of them.’
‘Was the Ghor as Safi raid laid on to take the T.P.D.X.?’ Audley asked.
Cox looked questioningly at Yeatman.
‘We rather think it was,’ said Yeatman. ‘I’d lay you three to one on.’
Audley tapped the table. ‘Then what you’re saying is that they’re so damn good they can scoop up the stuff within a fortnight of its arrival, and then so damn clumsy they can’t wrap it up properly. Frankly, I don’t think they would use it – ever. They just wanted it out of circulation. But if they did use it, it would go off under the right man.’
Roskill caught his breath: Audley was temping fortune now.
‘Perhaps it did,’ said Butler, thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps –‘
‘Blow up what’s his name — Jenkins? In the way most likely to ensure the Special Branch and heaven knows who else would be called in?’ Audley ridiculed the idea with a wave of the hand. ‘Let’s stick to what’s within the bounds of probability at least. And I think that rules out the Israelis.’
‘They have been known to miscalculate, you know,’ Llewelyn protested. ‘Karameh, for example. The Nahal Diqla business and the Abu Zaabal raid.’
‘By
‘But so far your evidence is merely hypothetical, Arabs and Jews have been known to kill people. Some Arabs and Jews don’t like peacemakers. You are a peacemaker. Your car blows up. Therefore it was blown up by Arabs or Jews. I don’t think my old algebra master would have gone much on that – and algebra’s another arabic word.’
Roskill looked round for support.
‘Aye,’ said Butler. ‘And when it comes to peacemakers I could give you the name of two Belgian firms and a Swiss group – and a Czech one, I shouldn’t wonder – who’d weep bitter tears the day peace was declared. There’s not so much profit in ploughshares these days – small arms shares pay better dividends.’
‘And some of their salesmen have been known to protect their terriitory with their product,’ said Roskill. ‘So far we haven’t got a shred of proof about anything.’
‘Two shreds – so far we’ve got two shreds,’ said Cox. ‘One from Bicester, one from the car.
‘We did Bicester pretty thoroughly yesterday, because there was just a chance someone might have seen the car while it still had someone in it. We drew a blank there, but two people think they saw something very near where it was left at about the right time. One said “Wog”, meaning apparently “Middle Eastern, inclined to Arab”; the other was more educated – he said “Cypriot, maybe”, which could mean “Middle Eastern, inclined to Israel”.’
‘That’s a shred, right enough,’ said Butler.
‘Agreed – just a shred. The car’s a bit stronger, though.’ Cox consulted a small red notebook for a few seconds. ‘T.P.D.X. – do you know what that is?’
‘At a guess, one of those innumerable plastic explosives?’
‘Quite right. A plastic explosive. Russian, very new – and strong medicine. Just the thing for guerrillas, and sure enough the Russians obligingly supplied them with a consignment of it in January. It was the first time anyone received any outside the Soviet Union, as far as we know.’
‘Well, that pins it on Fatah – if that’s what was used in the car,’ exclaimed Roskill.
‘It was used on the car all right, but it doesn’t pin it on Fatah,’ Cox shook his head sadly. ‘That would have been too easy! Unfortunately they moved it — or a good deal of it – to one of their front line posts in the Ghor as Safi area, south of the Dead Sea.’
Roskill groaned. ‘Don’t tell me! The Israelis raided the place!’
‘Right again. Softened it up with an air raid on January 20. The next day what they euphemistically call a “purging operation” was effected. In this instance they purged Fatah of a large amount of T.P.D.X., among other things of lesser importance.’
‘So it fits the Bicester evidence exactly – Wog or Cypriot. It could have been either of them.’
‘Was the Ghor as Safi raid laid on to take the T.P.D.X.?’ Audley asked.
Cox looked questioningly at Yeatman.
‘We rather think it was,’ said Yeatman. ‘I’d lay you three to one on.’
Audley tapped the table. ‘Then what you’re saying is that they’re so damn good they can scoop up the stuff within a fortnight of its arrival, and then so damn clumsy they can’t wrap it up properly. Frankly, I don’t think they would use it – ever. They just wanted it out of circulation. But if they did use it, it would go off under the right man.’
Roskill caught his breath: Audley was temping fortune now.
‘Perhaps it did,’ said Butler, thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps –‘
‘Blow up what’s his name — Jenkins? In the way most likely to ensure the Special Branch and heaven knows who else would be called in?’ Audley ridiculed the idea with a wave of the hand. ‘Let’s stick to what’s within the bounds of probability at least. And I think that rules out the Israelis.’
‘They have been known to miscalculate, you know,’ Llewelyn protested. ‘Karameh, for example. The Nahal Diqla business and the Abu Zaabal raid.’
‘By
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