Devreaux walked Alex to the waiting jet, its engines now spooled up, ready and waiting for take off. ‘I’ll contact our people in Cuba and let them know you’re coming. Do you think Bishop will co-operate?’
‘If what Hunter said was right, he’s already burned his bridges with The Agency so he’s clearly not afraid to take a confrontational stand. I don’t think there is much we can threaten him with. Hunter’s contact says he has a daughter. We’ll bring her into play to see if we can leverage some emotion out of him.’
‘And if that doesn’t work?’
‘Then we’ll need to force his hand. He thinks he is safe in Cuba. While the Russia House charter still stands then let’s use that leverage to expel him from his exile. If he’s forced to confront those he betrayed from a less safe haven, he may see the prudence in giving up his insurance policy.’
‘I’ll deal with it personally. One thing.’
‘What?’
‘I’m assuming you sensed we’ve rustled ben-David’s jimmies. You need to tread carefully. Mossad can be very unpredictable when provoked. You don’t need your enemies’ list growing any stronger.’
‘Hopefully getting this deal done will placate them. Our interests only conflict so far as the safe return of Zara. After that I will happily remove myself from involvement in the equation and they can be about their business.’
‘I’ll make some diplomatic overtures. I think he misunderstands the nature of your relationship with Gadaffi. He needs to know it was an any port in the storm situation and not an indication of new allegiances.’
‘I’ll leave that to you. We’ll call you when we land.’
Alex and Nish got on the plane leaving Devreaux to return to his waiting car. The door closed and the jet headed down the taxiway at Amman’s air force base towards the runway before accelerating to speed then climbing off into the night sky. Devreaux watched the jet depart before getting in his car.
‘The pilot’s asked for a flight plan,’ Nish said as he returned from the cockpit.
‘Tell him to head for the Azores to refuel,’ Alex replied as he took out a large map. ‘We need to figure out the best way in to burgle the house undetected. After nine-eleven they’ve got the borders wired up tighter than your wallet. Anything coming out of the Middle-East isn’t getting near the place.’
‘I can call Trevor.’
‘Do we have to?’
‘Can you think of anyone better?’
‘Several. But none likely to answer our calls right now.’
‘Guess it’ll have to be Trevor then.’
‘When you think things can’t get any worse...’ Nish returned to the cockpit to update the pilots of the routing whilst Alex pored over the map. Nish returned with a bottle of vodka and poured two glasses. Alex shook his head. ‘Where are they not going to be looking?’
‘The D.E.A have the south border pretty well locked up these days. Miami will be awash with Navy. Canada is a complete non-starter. French Quebec with a phone call from Laurent can be done,’ Nish replied.
‘Puts us a long way from California, we don’t have time to be trekking around the wilderness getting over borders.’
‘Where’s the last Spanish port of call for cruise ships returning from the Caribbean circuit to Fort Lauderdale?’
‘Dominican Republic. Lax landing restrictions. Questionable embarkation checks, short hop back to Florida.’
‘Grab some obnoxious aloha shirts and big hats. Few thousand annoying tourists. We’ll blend right in.’
‘How do we get onto the boat? And we’ll need some wives to make it look legit.’
‘You leave that to me,’ Nish said.