CHAPTER FOUR
WHAT THE THEATRE CAN DO TO YOU
Saturday 29th 1984
The three Israelis are outside the theatre talking to aquaintances when Craney appears they have their back turned and do not see him coming.
“Hello” he announces, Amit turns and smile “Hi David, glad you made it, we were so busy talking we did not see you coming. This is Yoav.”
The two men shake hands, “Where did you come from? She wants to know.
"I was down by Leicester Sq at my favourite restaurant. It is a Greek one in Orange street, I love the Beef Stroganoff they do there. Then I walked up here.”
“Did you walk all the way from Leicester Sq to here?” Yoav asks with a surprised look on his face.
“Yes, I love walking in London, I find it relaxing. How did you all get here?"
“Tube," Amit interjected, “Let’s go in and take our seats, Nimrod is busy talking he can join us when he is finished.”
They go in and Craney is seated beside Yoav.
Amit leaned over and asks Craney, “What do you think Yoav does?”
He looks at Yoav and goes, “Hmmmmmmm, I would say he is a teacher!”
“Almost right,” Amit laughs, “he is an accountant!”
Yoav looks at Craney and nods, “Do you go to the theatre much David?”
“No, not very much, I would only go if something really interests me, what about you?”
“I love the theatre is Yoav`s enthusiastic response and the movies, I go to theatre or movies at least once a week.”
The two men now have a real conversation going, Craney tells Yoav, “The last time I was at the movies was in the USA, I saw a movie called Stripes, it was just out. I can remember a music scene, they played “the rubber band man.”
“Oh that is by the Spinners, I remember that,” Yoav replies, “Who was in the movie?”
“I cant remember, but it was funny. Do you like music too Yaov?”
“Yeah, I love music, but not as much as Amit does, she really loves music, don’t you?” he turns to Amit as he says this. She smiles.
“What type of theatre do you like Yaov?” Craney stares at him when he says this.
“I like all kinds of theatre, what kind do you like?” Yoav inquires.
Craney answers, “Do you know where the real theatre is in London? Speaker`s Corner that is where the real theatre is and what’s more it is free!” Craney is now laughing aloud as he says this.
“I know where Speaker`s Corner is but I don’t understand where the theatre is?“ Yoav is now genuinely puzzled.
“You mean you have never been to Speakers` Corner on a Sunday?” Craney stares at Yoav with an incredulous look.
“No, I have never been to Speaker`s Corner on a Sunday” Yoav is now bemused.
“I will tell you what, I will meet you there tomorrow afternoon, it is fabulous, you will really enjoy it. I will be better than anything you see tonight!”
Yoav turns to Amit and asks, “Have you been to Speakers Corner on Sundays?”
“Never” she says. She is also delighted, he is playing right into our hands, we can get him to stay the night and tell him we will all go to Speakers Corner tomorrow is her thoughts.
It was true they had never been to Speaker’s Corner they only went to places their potential targets were going and so far none of their targets had ever went to Speaker’s Corner on a Sunday.
Nimrod now joins them and he is told by Amit, “We are going to Speakers Corner tomorrow.”
“What is in Speaker’s Corner?” he asks. “I was telling them that is were the real theatre is! Craney leans over and gestures at Nimrod as he says this.
Nimrod looks at Amit then he says “Oh good.” They both smugly look at each other.
After the theatre show Amit instantly urges, “Let’s buy something to eat and go back to the house. We will buy some Chinese takeaways in Queensway first.” Yoav interjects.
“I do not really eat Chinese food, I prefer Kentucky, the only stuff I eat out of Chinese is Chicken Maryland,” reveals Craney, he was intending to leave them and get a meal before going travelling to his Ealing flat.
“Its no problem,” Nimrod assures him, “We will get you a Chicken Maryland, or you can go on up to the house with Amit and she make you coffee or tea, if you prefer, how is that?”
“OK.” says Craney, they catch the underground to Queensway.
At Queensway Nimrod and Yoav go to get Chinese takeaways, Amit grabs Craney’s whispering, “Come on David we will go on up to the house, let them run the errands, I will take your arm and you can escort me safely along these dangerous streets.” Amit utters all this like a giggling teenager.
As they pass the King’s Head, Amit giggles, “There is all your Nerd friends still playing chess!”
When they reach the house she puts on one of her music tapes. Phil Collins, "You can`t hurry love", this initiates a conversation about music, “I love music,” Amits starts, “All kinds of music.
What kind of music do you like David?"
"Oh I like Hebrew music," he replies. “What!” is the startled reply.
Nimrod and Yoav now arrive they bring the meals plus Sunday Times newspaper.
Nimrod did not read the paper, he bought it because certain sections of it sometimes contain coded messages for him. The other two are unaware of this.
“How do you like Hebrew music?” Amit is now eager to know.
“I have a Christian friend who gave me some Messianic music tapes. They are really good,” Craney answers her. She now looks at him with some suspicion.
As they eat their meals they start to discuss the play, “It just drama Craney says, reality is very different.”
“Do they really beat people up like that?” Yaov wants to know.
“No.” Craney looks at him disdainfully, “In real life the guy is probably and informer, so they beat him a little so he has a legal loophole to get off and it stops anyone being suspicious about his release.”
They are now listening carefully. He goes on, “Most of the people convicted implicate themselves by making statements admitting their guilt. The police alarm them by telling them all their colleagues have admitted everything, when they hear this most of them become frightened and admit everything to save their own skins.
You have to remember most of these guys are not hardened criminals to begin with, they are generally people who have been caught up in an out of control situation. The ones who say nothing and don’t make statements generally walk way free.”
“What if they are caught red-handed?” Nimrod wants to know.
“If they are caught red-handed it is just to bad, then they will be convicted, nothing can be done. Most of them are never caught red-handed, most of theme are arrested after the event, sometimes quite a while after the event.
Don’t believe everything you see in the theatre or TV, it may be good entertainment but it is not accurate.
Also when they are released from prison they are even more vulnerable, usually most people do not want to go back to jail again, so they can be pressured into becoming informers. Just wait in about 25 or 30 years it will emerge the biggest percentage of terrorists were in fact Government agents!”
Yoav and Nimrod nod their heads in agreement, saying, “You are probably right!”
Nimrod says, “Please excuse me, I must go to the bathroom.” Amit says, “I will clear these plates way,” she is now starting to feel nervous. She knows Nimrod is going to confront Craney with the file when he returns.
Nimrod returns with the file and says to Craney, "I was talking to someone who says he knows you the other day, he gave me this,” he then hands the file to Craney.
Craney starts to read the first page then he burst out laughing, “I hope you have not paid anyone money for this because you have wasted your money! My name is not David Craney!
The name on this file is David Craney, my name is David William Craney, you and your friend have mixed me up with someone else! Looks like you have been conned,” he says this sneerfully.
Nimrod is crestfallen, inwardly panic stricken, he has given them Joel Lipman for dud file!
Amit notices it is the first time she has seen Nimrod display uncertainty.
“What are you people playing at anyway? You are not supposed to have files like that?”
The trio are now anxiously looking at each other.
“Suppose I was this David Craney you have mixed me up with? What would you want with him?
Nimrod’s mood now changes, he instinctively knows the file is accurate, he feels bolder, “If you were this David Craney we could do some business.“
“What kind of business?” Craney looks at the three of them.
“Well” says Nimrod, “You could help us and we could help you!”
“Help me to do what?” is Craney’s question. “We could help you to be a politician” Yoav now joins in.
“I don’t want to be a politician” Craney laughs.
“What do you want to be?" asks Amit.
“I want to be anonymous!” is the reply.
“OK, we will help you to be anonymous,” Amit says very seriously
“There is just one thing you are forgetting,” states Cranely in an equally serious fashion, “I am not the David Craney in that file.”
They all look at one another and Nimrod says, “Sure we believe you, it is another David Craney.”
He looks at them and says, “Are you not concerned that I will go to the police and tell them about this?”
They laugh scornfully, Yoav grabs him by the shoulder and says, “Listen, this is what would happen if you went to the police. We would say we kindly invited you to the theatre, we went to get some food afterwards and while you were alone with Amit you tried to rape her.
We came in and caught you and threw you out of the house. You then went to the police to get even. There are 3 of us and one of you, who are the police going to believe? Show him what you can do Amit.
Suddenly the girl turned into a hysterical female weeping and wailing she had been attacked and was in terrible distress the tears instantly flowed like a river!
Carney is stunned ! “I can understand how you like the theatre so much, you should have been an actress!", the weeping and wailing instantly turned into hearty laughter.
They reply “That is just one scenario, there are lots of others we could use to make you look like a criminal and a lunatic fantasist.”
“We have lots of scenarios we can use to discredit people,” Nimrod laughed.
“So who exactly are you?” Craney wants proof of their credibility. Yoav suggests, “How would you like a tour round the Israeli embassy?”
Craney asks “Are the visitors to your embassy not being monitored?”
“Yes” says Amit, but all the visitors are usually legitimate, people calling to make genuine inquires about lost passports, prospective tourists looking for literature about travel and sights to see, people going in to arrange trade missions and group excursions. It can be monitored as much as it likes, it will reveal nothing.
“We ourselves never go near it“, Yoav says this and the trio all laugh uproariously.
“I am the only one officially linked to the embassy, I am very rarely in it but I can arrange for you to be given a tour if you like," Nimrod laughingly asks.
“That would be interesting,” Craney nods.
“OK, call at the Embassy next Wednesday at 2.00pm. If you are happy after that, we can discuss things further, how is that?”
“Sounds fine.” Craney nods affirmatively.
“Do you have a valid passport?” Yoav inquires.
“I have two valid passports,” Craney laughs.
“Two, you have two valid passports? how come? I am beginning to think there is something very strange about you. You hang about with nerds, now you have two valid passports, how is this?" Amit utters all this in a very heated and excited fashion.
Craney gives her a dirty look and tuts, “Look it is all very simple. A few years ago I booked a holiday in the USA. The British passport office went on strike so I had to acquire an Irish passport in order to be able to travel to the USA. After the holiday I was able to get my British passport. So now I just happen to have two valid passports, do you want to buy one by any chance?” he joked
They look at each other, then Yoav says to Craney, “That is very useful, it is good to know people with two passports. It is very late now why don’t you stay the night here and we can go to Speaker`s corner tomorrow.”
“Sure, you can sleep in my bed, I will sleep on the sofa, it is very comfortable, I do not mind at all,” interjects Amit.
No comments:
Post a Comment