The Icarus Agenda Read Online Free Page B

That’s what I thought.… I don’t know yet. If anything breaks, you’ll be the first to know. In the meantime, oil up the equipment and work on a printout of all the construction firms in Bahrain. And if there’s a listing for what we call general or industrial contractors, I want that, too.… When? Yesterday, for God’s sake!” Swann hung up the phone, looked down at the phrases he had written, and then up at Kendrick. “You heard the words, Congressman. Do you want me to repeat them?”
    “It’s not necessary. They’re not
kalam-faregh
, are they?”
    “No, Mr. Kendrick, none of it’s garbage. It’s all very pertinent and I wish to hell I knew what to do.”
    “Recruit me, Mr. Swann,” said the Congressman. “Send me to Masqat on the fastest transport you can find.”
    “Why?” asked the deputy, studying his visitor. “What can you do that our own experienced men in the field can’t? They not only speak fluent Arabic, most of them are Arabs.”
    “And working for Consular Operations,” completed Kendrick.
    “So?”
    “They’re marked. They were marked four years ago and they’re marked now. If they make any miswired moves, you could have a dozen executions on your hands.”
    “That’s an alarming statement,” said Swann slowly, his eyes narrowing as he looked at his visitor’s face. “They’re
marked
? Would you care to explain it?”
    “I told you a few minutes ago that your Cons Op briefly became a household name over there. You then made a gratuitous remark about my elaborating on congressional rumors, but I wasn’t. I meant what I said.”
    “A household name?”
    “I’ll go further, if you like. A household joke. An ex-army engineer and Manny Weingrass even did a number on them.”
    “A number …?”
    “I’m sure it’s in your files somewhere. We were approached by Hussein’s people to submit plans for a new airfield after we’d completed one at Qufar in Saudi Arabia. The next day two of your men came to see us, asking technical questions, pressing the point that as Americans it was our duty to relay such information, since Hussein frequently conferred with the Soviets—which, of course, was immaterial. An airport’s an airport, and any damn fool can fly over an excavation site and determine the configuration.”
    “What was the number?”
    “Manny and the engineer told them that the two main runways were seven miles long, obviously designed for very special flying equipment. They ran out of the office as if they both were struck by acute diarrhea.”
    “
And?
” Swann leaned forward.
    “The next day, Hussein’s people called and told us to forget the project. We’d had visitors from Consular Operations. They didn’t like that.”
    The deputy director leaned back in his chair, his weary smile conveying futility. “Sometimes it’s all kind of foolish, isn’t it?”
    “I don’t think it’s foolish now,” offered Kendrick.
    “No, of course it isn’t.” Swann instantly sat forward in his chair. “So the way you read it, this whole goddamned thing is all about money. Lousy
money
!”
    “If it isn’t stopped, it’ll get worse,” said Kendrick. “Much worse.”
    “Jesus,
how
?”
    “Because it’s a proven formula for economic takeover. Oncethey’ve crippled the government in Oman, they’ll use the same tactics elsewhere. The Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, even the Saudis. Whoever controls the fanatics gets the contracts, and with all those massive operations under one entity—regardless of the names they use—there’s a dangerous political force in the area calling a lot of vital shots we definitely won’t like.”
    “Good Lord, you
have
thought this out.”
    “I’ve done nothing else for the past eight hours.”
    “Say I sent you over there, what
could
you do?”
    “I won’t know until I’m there, but I’ve got a few ideas. I know a number of influential men, powerful Omanis who know what goes on there and who couldn’t possibly be any part