‘The point, my dear Ashe, is that if we’re to take your line any further we need… well, more than inspired guesswork. How does all this anti-Masonic activity give us a departmental programme? We can’t simply take on a global or semi-global prejudice, however ill informed or perverted. Our official task is to isolate the Oddball, not to redeem the world from darkness, propaganda and superstition. We leave that job to politicians.’
The archdeacon nearly coughed up his wine.
Ashe slammed his glass hard on the table. ‘Well, I’m sorry, Commodore, not to have been able to name the perpetrators of the Kartal Lodge bombing today, or reveal who funded them and why.’
‘Steady on, Ashe! Please, please don’t get me wrong! This old file you’ve dug up may be important; it may not. Perhaps if you could just summarise for us what you think is significant about it, and more importantly, what you propose we should do about it?’
Ashe flicked through the pages of the old file. ‘It is a very old file, I admit. In fact it’s two files combined. One from the late sixties and one from the early nineties. And I’d like to thank Karla for tracing it for me at such very short notice.’
‘I second that.’
‘Thank you, Archdeacon. Now, the subject of the first file is one Jalal al-Qasr.’
‘Never heard of him!’
‘Jalal al-Qasr, Commodore, was a fanatical supporter of the Iraqi Ba’ath Party. The Party gained control of Iraq in the 1968 coup. Even fellow Ba’athists considered Jalal al-Qasr extreme on two issues. He was rabidly anti-Masonic and irrationally hostile to Israel. Not that these were issues on which he would find much essential disagreement among his associates in the Party, but it was a question of the degrees to which he was prepared to go in furthering his hostility. Jalal was instrumental in securing the death penalty for Freemasons that became statute law under Saddam until the Coalition invasion – and Jalal linked Freemasonry to Zionism at every opportunity. Even though Jalal was an unreconstructed Stalinist socialist with no fundamentalist religious convictions, he was one of the few Ba’athists to make an impression on Egyptian radical circles, out of which al-Qaeda would eventually emerge. Though secular, Jalal’s politics were drenched with a quasi-mystical flavour. His political statements could be read like prayers, his rants against enemies like incantations.’
‘Sounds like an Oddball, Ashe.’
The committee nodded and murmured their agreement.
‘Indeed, Commodore. And someone else thought so too. Jalal al-Qasr disappeared in 1982. Israeli Mossad agents were suspected. Jalal’s body has never been found. His beliefs, however, were transmitted to a cadre of followers. They’ve spread far and wide. Followers include his son, Sami, a remarkable scientist. This Sami al-Qasr, the subject of the second file, worked at Cambridge with Sir Moses Beerbohm until quitting Britain abruptly, and mysteriously, in 1983.’
There was a knock at the door. Marston looked at his watch. ‘That’ll be Reynolds. Excuse me, Ashe, some members have taxis and trains to catch. Enter, Reynolds.’
‘Taxis, sir. I’ll fetch hats and coats.’
Ashe’s mobile rang. Someone tutted; mobile phones were absolutely forbidden at ODDBALLS meetings.
‘Dr Ashe!’
Ashe blushed and quickly exited the Tower, relieved to be in the open air again.
A voice crackled on his mobile. Ashe pressed it closer to his ear. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.’ The crackling got worse. ‘Who is speaking? Who? Who?’
Ashe walked away from the Tower onto the freshly cut lawn, hoping to improve the signal.