The Angel Read Free Page B

Dubi stood off to one side, keeping eye contact with Goren.
    They didn’t wait long. At precisely the time they had set with Marwan, he entered the lobby, carrying a black briefcase. Dubi immediately recognized him from the description he’d received: tall, slim, dark. Goren thought he recognized him as well but wanted to be sure. He glanced at the photo and back at the man. The photograph was from Ashraf and Mona’s wedding four years earlier and was clipped from an Egyptian newspaper. Goren hesitated. Another look at the photo, and then again at the man who stood in the lobby, and that was enough. He looked at Dubi and noddedslightly. Marwan stood tense as Dubi walked up to him, extending his hand and smiling.
    â€œMR. MARWAN,” HE said to him quietly in Arabic. “It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Alex.”
    The young Egyptian was visibly surprised by the Arabic. He, too, worried that a trap had been set by the Egyptian Mukhabarat. He replied in English, “Are you Israeli?”
    Dubi switched into English as well, confirmed that he was Israeli, and tried to calm the fellow’s nerves. They exchanged a few more words, and Dubi suggested that they go up to a room where they could talk. Marwan nodded his assent. Goren, who was not far from them, took a deep breath of relief when he saw them walk toward the elevator. The initial contact had gone off without a hitch.
    Up in the room, Marwan felt considerably more at ease and led the conversation. He asked Dubi if he knew who he was. Dubi had been around long enough to know that he didn’t need to reveal everything he knew. Marwan began describing himself at length, his public stature, his marriage to Mona, his relationship with Nasser and Sadat, and the fact that he worked in the information bureau in the President’s Office under Sami Sharaf. Dubi tried to commit every detail to memory.
    Marwan explained his role at work, slightly overstating his importance. For Dubi, the more interesting question was not Marwan’s status or his relationship with Nasser’s successor, but what kind of information crossed his desk. He raised the point carefully and politely. Marwan smiled, almost boastfully. He explained that the most important information in all of Egypt was concentrated in the hands of Sami Sharaf. Dubi asked him to be more specific. Was it political information? Military or diplomatic? Relations with the Soviets? Marwan had been waiting for the question. Picking uphis suitcase, he produced a number of pages of handwritten Arabic and told Dubi that he was handing over, as a kind of down payment, something of great interest to Israel. He began reading aloud. Dubi, who had some understanding of military affairs, realized that Marwan was giving over details from a top-secret memorandum cataloging the Order of Battle (OB) of the entire Egyptian military. Dubi began quickly writing down the details of units, their location, commanders, and equipment at their disposal. Occasionally he would stop to ask Marwan to clarify one point or another. When Marwan finished reading, the Mossad officer looked over the list. It was incredible.
    Marwan’s willingness to pass along information so sensitive about Egypt’s military capabilities encouraged Dubi to ask more specific questions. For years, the Mossad had worried about whether Egypt would try to develop unconventional weapons. In the early 1960s, the agency had launched a controversial campaign to stop the operations of German scientists working with the Egyptians to develop biological and chemical weapons. In the mid-1960s, Egyptian forces used these chemical weapons in the civil war in Yemen. For Israelis, fresh memories of German gas chambers made the issue of chemical weapons being used against civilians especially sensitive. Thus, information about Egyptian chemical weapons development continued to be a high priority for the Mossad. They knew Marwan had a degree in