The Haj - Leon Uris [123]
The Greek shook his head no.
Ibrahim took the bankroll from his pocket and laid it on the table. ‘That is every lira we have,’ he said.
‘How much is there?’
‘Just under two hundred.’
Harissiadis shrugged in sympathy. ‘Can I tell you the truth? It will cost me almost three hundred and fifty. To get a crew for such business, I’ve had to pay double and triple bonuses.’ He whipped out a pencil and scribbled furiously, bit his lip, and sighed. Three hundred and twenty-five and, believe me, I lose on the deal.’
Haj Ibrahim reached under his robes and took out two wrapped packages and laid them on the table, then unwrapped one, a five-kilo slab of hashish. Harissiadis crumpled a corner in his fingers, sniffed it, and put it to his lips. Twenty,’ he said.
‘You are stealing,’ Mr. Bassam said.
‘They give this stuff away in Lebanon. I sell it on the dock in Athens for maybe thirty.’
‘Twenty,’ Ibrahim agreed.
‘What else do you have?’ the Greek said. Ibrahim pointed to the second package. It was unwrapped and contained Ibrahim’s most magnificent possession, a bejeweled dagger some three centuries old.
‘I do not know if such a thing is junk or real.’
‘It is a treasure,’ Bassam said. ‘It is worth one or two hundred.’
Harissiadis looked the dagger over. ‘Twenty and I take a risk.’
‘I cannot let it go for that,’ Haj Ibrahim said. ‘Perhaps I keep it. I have a special use in mind for it.’
‘We are still over one hundred pounds short,’ the Greek said.
Ibrahim arose, opened the door to the warehouse, and nodded in the direction of his stallion. The Greek’s eyes widened at the sight of the animal.
‘I will buy the animal,’ Mr. Bassam said quickly. ‘I will give you one hundred fifty.’
‘One hundred fifty for el-Buraq?’ Ibrahim said in disbelief.
‘Another twenty-five. Times are terrible. Things are very bad,’ Bassam moaned.
‘Pay him,’ Haj Ibrahim said. Mr. Bassam el Bassam peeled the bills from a grapefruit-sized roll and gave Ibrahim the balance.
They shook hands on the deal and set a time.
‘One more thing,’ Harissiadis said. ‘No rifles, no handguns, no knives. My crew is honest. I am an honest man. And don’t hide weapons beneath your women’s skirts. Everyone will be strip-searched when we reach Beirut. The authorities there are taking anything and everything of value from the refugees. I can tell you for a fact that the Egyptians cleaned out everyone in Gaza.’
‘We are naked without our weapons,’ Ibrahim said.
‘If you take weapons and they are found—and they will be found—I will no longer be able to have Beirut as a port of call. I cannot live without Beirut,’ the Greek said. ‘One final thing. I can supply water, but you must bring your own food.’
‘We sold everything,’ Ibrahim said. ‘We have been eating from the Christian church.’ He turned to Bassam el Bassam. ‘I think that for the price you took my horse, as cousins, you can contribute a few hundred kilos of grain and fruit and milk for the babies.’
Haj Ibrahim’s eyes conveyed a message to Bassam that he might be the first to taste the jeweled dagger. ‘But of course,’ Bassam said. ‘I shall supply the food with pleasure.’
I arrived at the trading company a few minutes after the deal had been closed and gasped out that Kaukji’s soldiers had been looking for him, but said nothing of the rape I had witnessed. With good fortune, the family would all assemble at the Clock Tower later.
Bassam slapped his forehead and cursed. ‘It will not be possible for you to get on that boat.’
‘But ...’
The port will be watched. They’ll find you.’
‘Then we go by foot.’
‘All roads are closed, Ibrahim.’
‘We’re trapped,’ my father whispered.
‘Let the villagers keep the charter. The Iraqis will search them for hours before letting them board. That will keep them busy. You must go into hiding.’
‘I cannot be separated from my people!’
‘Can you tell me another choice?’
‘Father,’ I said. ‘We must do as Mr. Bassam says.’
Ibrahim was beaten and he knew it. He did not even have time for the luxury of bewailing his fate. Bassam took him to the basement