Chapter One
HOW DO YOU DO?
HOW DO YOU DO?
David Craney enters the King’s Head bar 33 Moscow Road of Queens way. It is a Monday night 17th September 1984 at 8.oo pm and the weekly blitz chess tournament is in full swing.
All the boards are taken so he was to find somewhere to sit. The only table available near the chess tables has a young girl sitting at it. “How do you do, Do you mind if I sit here?” he says to the young girl. “No, not at all” she replies with a slight Middle Eastern accent.
Every kind of accent could be heard in this particular place, Eastern Europeans, Italian, French and the whole gamut of UK dialects as well.
Craney notices she has a book with her, “What is the name of the book you are reading” is the obvious question. “To Eliminate the Opiate” it is a book I have to know for my studies“. Craney hade never heard of the book, he thought it must be about drugs.
“Oh is it about drugs?” “No!” the girl laughs, she laughs so hard she can hardly stop. Craney starts to laugh as well, it is always a good sign if you can make a female laugh he is thinking.
She then quickly says “It is about treachery, very skilful treachery.”
“Oh, that is very interesting, you are studying about treachery, I know a bit about that.” he laughed as he said these words. “What is your name?”
“Amit,” she coyly smiled, though she immediately thought his laughter sounded very much like a cackle, “Where are you from?” persued the friendly questioning, “Israel, Netanya, Israel,” the young girl said this with a serious look on her face.
“So, you are from Israel and you are studying treachery?”
“Yes!” said Amit, “You speak funny, where are you from? “I am from Belfast and my name in David Craney” he also said hello to a passing middle-aged gentleman as he said this. “Really?” was the reply and she held her hand out to shake hands, Craney smiled and shook her hand.
Amit seemed very relaxed and at home, "I suppose you are here to play chess with all these nerds, are you?" she giggled.
“Yes I am, I am here quite often and they are not nerds“.
“What are they then, are they your friends? “ He looked at her with a frown, lent forward and stated “No they are not my friends they are just people who I play chess with.” Craney thought she seems so confident for such a young girl about 20.
The girl was anything but confident or relaxed, it was all an outward show, she was in fact very worried but she had been so skilfully trained she could conceal the fact.
She did not believe in coincidences either. The thought of a stranger coming to sit at her table just out of the blue filled her with dread. Especially a stranger who seemed to be so relaxed, confident, and probably very clever. She had made the big mistake of thinking all chess players are clever. This had only increased her carefully camouflaged paranoia.
“What brought you in here Amit? I have never noticed you here before?” her new tablemate asked her with a quizzical look on his face. “Oh, I am here to meet my cousin.” was the ready reply. “I have never seen you in here before” Craney said the second time, looking very directly at her.
Her excited mind was thinking he is beginning to ask to many questions but she still showed her outward composure and said, “No
I don’t usually come into places full of nerds. My cousin wanted to meet me her for some reason best known to himself!”
“Maybe I know him? Does he play chess here?” the conversation continued, “No he does not play chess, I think he just works in this part of the city sometimes and this is a place where he likes to eat.”
She was very pleased with herself, she had just made the whole thing up of the top of her head exactly like she had been trained to do. Though she was now wishing the man facing her would just go away.
She saw two people leave a chess table and quickly told Craney, “There is a board thing empty now, why don’t you go and play?”
"Oh, I did not notice thanks for telling me, see you.”
“What is your name again?” Amit asked, “David Craney” was the reply and where were you from? The girl went on. “Belfast.” “Fine” she said, “I will remember that, perhaps we will meet again, nerds can be so funny, how do you spell your name?” she laughed, “C-R-A-N-E-Y” spelt out Craney, she was still laughing as Craney went to a chess table.
About twenty minutes later Amit`s cousin came into the King’s Head. They embraced each other and fell into conversation. Amit`s cousin seemed like he was in his early thirties, he ordered a meal and they continued to converse just like any other couple in the place.
When the meal finished they immediately left and then really started to converse, the girl was angry and shaken, “Something is wrong” she complained to her cousin, though he was not her real cousin, he was actually her superior officer and his name was Nimrod Reznik.
“Calm down! what is the big problem?” he firmly told her. “That guy who came over to my table is the problem, there is something wrong they are watching us, he came over to let us know they are on to us.”
Who did he say he was Nimrod demanded, “David Craney is the name he gave” she said, “he says he is from Belfast.” Why would he want to come and sit right across the table from me she fumed. “His name is spelt C-R-A-N-E-Y.”
Nimrod paused for a while. He took a package out of his coat and told her, “Here are the passports, Go to the house and stay there. Don’t go out I will get back to you later. Remember if anything happens, you are Amit Kershner you are here on vacation, I am your cousin, I work in the Israeli embassy.
That is all you say if you are arrested, don’t worry we will soon have you released, the Brits are really quite friendly they will accept you are Amit Kershner, they will accept I am your cousin, even though they know it is not true but we will check out who your new friend is.“
She was really angry now as she thought Nimrod was patronising her. He was her superior officer there was nothing she could say or do. She had to obey his orders, so off she went to the house.
Amit went to the empty house in Chapel Side just of Moscow Road. She really loved this house and enjoyed staying in it but at this moment in time she had no pleasure in it. She lay down on the sofa and began to cry. She felt so alone, she felt she was just a pawn being used by more senior people mostly men. She had no control over anything, most of the time she did not understand why she was sent to this city or that city carrying messages she was not supposed to read and pretending everyone she met was her cousin.
When she started her training she thought she was going to be instantly important, and have full knowledge of every operation she was involved in, she was only twenty one years of age, it all seemed too much, She switched on the television intending to find something to watch but she wished she was home in Israel.
After lying down for an hour hoping to sleep she feels she has no choice but to go for a walk. The girl is fully aware she has been instructed not to leave the house but she needs to get out to clear her head. She goes for a walk hoping Nimrod does not phone.
The Queensway streets were busy every night at this time, she looked jut like most of the other young people around the area. She walked along Bayswater Road heading down toward Hyde Park Corner direction for twenty minutes then turned and retraced her steps. She starts to feel better after being out in the air, She goes into a newsagents to look at the magazines, she sees a fashion magazine she particularly likes and takes it back to the house with her.
She really hopes Nimrod or Yoav are not in the house as she takes the key out to unlock the door. They would immediately want to know why she went out after being told to stay put. The house is empty she feels relieved and rejuvenated. Amit went to the kitchen, made her nightly Horlicks drink. She flicks casually through the magazine as she drinks, now she is starting to relax, half an hour later she is fast asleep, it lasts for a couple of hours, the rest of the night she is restless.
While Amit has been undergoing her mini-emotional crisis Nimrod has been busy. He travels to his associate’s apartment in Nevern Place in the Earls Court area. Yoav Hoffman is unsurprised to see Nimrod as he is a frequent visitor. “I will make my own coffee,” Nimrod jokes as he heads straight to the kitchen, Yoav follows him and they both sit down at the kitchen table.
“I need you to get your friend to check someone out for me, it is a David C-R-A-N-E-Y, from Belfast, now possibly residing in the London area.” Yoav feignedly looks bored and says, “Is that all, no problem, I will get on to it first thing in the morning.”
Nimrod has made coffee for two and he pours two cups of coffee out, “I will be staying the night if you don’t mind, I hope I am not causing any problem?”
Yoav smiles, saying “Tonight you are not, tomorrow night you would be.”
Tuesday 18th September 1984
The two men rise at 7:30 am, make a light breakfast and discuss the day’s business. “About 8:00am is the best time to phone the guy, I catch him at home then, he will probably tell me to phone him at work about an hour later.”
“Fine” is Nimrod’s reply. “It is now time for a little fun, let me use the phone.” He phones the Chapel Side house, the two men are now laughing they know, Amit hates getting wakened up by early morning calls. Amit answers the phone, “How are you, did you sleep well? Nimrod breezily asks.
“What do you want? Amit wearily asks, “Nothing,” is the surprised reply, “I just phoned to let you know we will be over about 10:00am.”
“What do you mean? Is that it? You woke me up, got me out of bed to tell me this! Goodbye,” and she ended the conversation by slamming the phone down.
The two men laugh hysterically, “We will have to buy her a small gift just to calm her down,“ laughs Yoav.
Yoav phones his contact at 8.00am, his wife answers and asks who is calling, “It`s Yoav,” he hears the woman repeat the words then she adds, “He is coming now.”
“Hi Yoav, let me guess, you want a name checked out on the police computer system?” “Right as usual,” Yoav laughs.
“Give me the name,” Yoav read the piece of paper Nimrod has written for him, “It is a David Craney, C-R-A-N-E-Y. From Belfast, possibly now residing in the London area.
“Call me at work in an hour, and remember I may need you to do the same for me some day.” “Of course, I will be glad to help,” grins Yoav
An hour later Yoav gets the response form his contact, David Craney is a trace but there are no details
There is probably some sort of link to shady matters. Possibly some sort of politically motivated nature. I can make further inquiries give me a few days, then give me a call.”
Yoav nods and tells the man FSR. This lets the man know he will get the payment for his unofficial assistance, For Services Rendered.
Yoav puts the phone down and gives nimrod the thumbs up sign, “Maybe something for you to look into Nimrod.” As soon as Nimrod gets this information he uses Yaov`s phone to gets in touch with one of his most important contacts who can get information on sensitive files. The two men greet each other warmly over the phone, “I am interested in any files you may have in a David Craney from Belfast, C-R-A-N-E-Y. He is probably now residing in the London area.“ The man on the other end of the phone asks, “Any other details, DOB, height, distinctive features?
“No nothing like that at the moment, I would estimate around the thirty, thirty five age range.” Nimrod adds trying to sound helpful.
“OK, leave it with me, I will meet you at the usual time and place next week, if I am not there something important will have come up and I will make alternative arrangements to meet you as soon as possible.” The man put the phone down.
Nimrod looks at Yoav, raises his eyebrows and sighs, “He did not seem to have heard of the guy but he says he will have a check, we should know more next week.”
The men put on their jackets and leave the flat then they travel on the tube to Queensway to meet Amit.
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