Contract with God aka The Moses Expedition

53

Saturday, 15 July 2006. 2:06 a.m.

Orville Watson’s safe house and Albert’s apartment were almost twenty-five miles apart. Orville travelled the distance in the back seat of Albert’s Toyota, half asleep and semi-conscious, but at least his hands had been properly bandaged, thanks to the first-aid kit the priest carried in his car.

An hour later, dressed in a towelling bathrobe – the only thing of Albert’s that fit him – Orville swallowed several Tylenols with the orange juice the priest had brought him.

‘You’ve lost a lot of blood. This will help stabilise you.’

The only thing Orville wanted was to stabilise his body on a hospital bed, but given his limited options he decided he might as well stick with Albert.

‘Would you happen to have a Hershey’s bar?’

‘No, sorry. I can’t eat chocolate – it gives me pimples. But in a while I’ll go by a Seven Eleven to get something to eat, some extra large T-shirts, and maybe some candy if you want.’

‘Forget it. After what happened tonight I think I’m going to hate Hersheys for the rest of my life.’

Albert shrugged. ‘It’s up to you.’

Orville pointed at the array of computers that cluttered Albert’s living room. On a table about twelve feet long sat ten monitors connected to a mass of cables as thick as an athlete’s thigh that ran along the floor next to the wall. ‘You have great equipment, Mr International Liaison,’ Orville said, speaking to relieve the tension. Observing the priest, he realised they were both in the same boat. His hands were shaking slightly and he seemed a little lost. ‘HarperEdwards System, with TINCom motherboards… That’s how you tracked me down, right?’

‘Your offshore in Nassau, the one you used to buy the safe house. It took me forty-eight hours to track down the server that stored the original transaction. Two thousand one hundred and forty-three steps. You’re good.’

‘You too,’ Orville said, impressed.

The two men looked at each other and nodded, recognising fellow hackers. For Albert, this brief moment of relaxation meant that the shock he had held at bay suddenly invaded his body like a group of hooligans. Albert didn’t make it to the bathroom. He vomited into a bowl of popcorn he had left on the table the night before.

‘I’ve never killed anybody before. That kid… I didn’t even notice the other one because I had to act, I shot without thinking. But the kid… he was just a baby. And he looked me in the eye.’

Orville didn’t say anything, because there was nothing he could say.

They stood like that for ten minutes.

‘I understand him now,’ the young priest finally said.

‘Who?’

‘A friend of mine. Someone who’s had to kill, and who’s suffered because of it.’

‘Are you talking about Fowler?’

Albert eyed him suspiciously.

‘How do you know that name?’

‘Because this whole mess began when Kayn Industries contracted my services. They wanted to know about Father Anthony Fowler. And I can’t help noticing that you’re also a priest.’

This made Albert even more nervous. He grabbed Orville by the bathrobe.

‘What did you say to them?’ he shouted. ‘I have to know!’

‘I told them everything,’ Orville said flatly. ‘His training, that he was connected to the CIA, to the Holy Alliance…’

‘Oh God! Do they know his real mission?’

‘I don’t know. They asked me two questions. The first was, who is he? The second: who would matter to him?’

‘What did you find out? And how?’

‘I didn’t find out anything. I would have given up if I hadn’t received an anonymous envelope containing a photo and the name of a reporter: Andrea Otero. A note in the envelope said Fowler would do anything to make sure she wasn’t harmed.’

Albert let go of Orville’s robe and began pacing around the room as he tried to piece it all together.

‘Everything is starting to make sense… When Kayn went to the Vatican and told them he had a clue to finding the Ark, that it could be in the hands of an old Nazi war criminal, Cirin promised to put his best man on the case. In exchange, Kayn had to take a Vatican observer on the expedition. By giving you Otero’s name, Cirin made sure that Kayn would allow Fowler to be part of the expedition because then Cirin could control him through Otero, and that Fowler would accept the mission in order to protect her. Manipulative son of a bitch,’ Albert said, restraining a smile that was half disgust, half admiration.

Orville looked at him with his mouth open.

‘I don’t understand a word you’re saying.’

‘That’s lucky for you: if you did then I’d have to kill you. Only joking. Listen, Orville, I didn’t rush out to save your life because I’m an agent with the CIA. I’m not. I’m just a simple link in the chain, doing a favour for a friend. And that friend is in serious danger, in part because of the report you gave Kayn about him. Fowler is in Jordan, on a crazy expedition to recover the Ark of the Covenant. And as strange as it might seem, the expedition may prove a success.’

‘Huqan,’ Orville said, barely audible. ‘I found something out by chance about Jordan and Huqan. I gave the information to Kayn.’

‘The guys at the Company retrieved that from your hard disks, but nothing else.’

‘I managed to find a mention of Kayn on one of the web-mail servers used by terrorists. Do you know much about Islamic terrorism?’

‘Only what I’ve read in the New York Times.’

‘Then we’re not even at square one. Here’s a crash course. The media’s high opinion of Osama Bin Laden, the villain in this film, makes no sense. Al Qaeda as a super-evil organisation doesn’t exist. There’s no head to chop off. The jihad doesn’t have a head. The jihad is a commandment from God. There are thousands of cells at different levels. They drive and inspire each other without having anything to do with each other.’

‘It’s impossible to fight against that.’

‘Exactly. It’s like trying to cure an illness. There isn’t a miracle cure, like the invasion of Iraq, or Lebanon, or of Iran. We can only produce white blood cells to kill the germs one by one.’

‘That’s your job.’

‘The problem is that it’s not possible to infiltrate Islamic terrorist cells. They can’t be bribed. What motivates them is religion, or at least the twisted notion they have of it. You can understand that, I suppose.’

Albert’s expression was sheepish.

‘They use a different vocabulary,’ Orville went on. ‘It’s a language that’s too complex for this country. They can have dozens of different aliases, they use a different calendar… a westerner needs dozens of checks and mental codes for each piece of information. That’s where I come in. With one click of a mouse I’m right there, in between one of these fanatics and another three thousand miles away.’

‘The Internet.’

‘It looks much prettier on a computer screen,’ Orville said, caressing his flattened nose, which was now orange from the Betadine. Albert had tried to set the nose straight using a piece of cardboard and some tape, but he was aware that if he didn’t get Orville to a hospital soon, in a month they’d have to break the nose again to straighten it.

Albert thought for a moment.

‘So this Huqan, he was going to go after Kayn.’

‘I don’t remember too much, other than that the guy seemed pretty serious. The truth is that what I gave Kayn was raw information. I hadn’t had a chance to analyse anything in detail.’

‘Then…’

‘It was like a free sample, you know. You give them a little then sit back and wait. In time they’ll ask for more. Don’t look at me like that. People have to earn a living.’

‘We have to get that information back,’ Albert said, drumming his fingers on his armchair. ‘First, because the people who attacked you were worried about what you knew. And second, because if Huqan is part of the expedition-’

‘All my files have disappeared or been burned.’

‘Not all of them. There’s a copy.’

Orville was slow to understand what Albert meant.

‘No way. Don’t even joke about it. That place is impregnable.’

‘Nothing is impossible, except one thing – that I go another minute without eating,’ Albert said, picking up his car keys. ‘Try to relax. I’ll be back in half an hour.’

The priest was about to go out the door when Orville called to him. Just the idea of breaking into the fortress that was Kayn Tower was making Orville feel anxious. There was only one way to overcome his nerves.

‘Albert…?’

‘Yes?’

‘I’ve changed my mind about the chocolate.’