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TIME

he wanted to watch TV. He shook his head and put the food aside. A little

later, she went quietly to bed.

Yuri came in at midnight, a little drunk. He entered the living room and

switched on the light. He was surprised to see his father sitting there.

He took a frightened step back.

Rostov stood up and looked at his elder son, remembering the growing

pains of his own teenage years, the misdirected anger, the clear, narrow

vision of right and wrong, the quick humiliations and the slow

acquisition of knowledge. "YurL" he said, "I want to apologize for

hitting you."

Yuri burst into tears.

Rostov put an arm around his broad shoulders and led him toward his room.

"We were both wrong, you and I," he continued. "Your mother, too. I'm

going away again soon, rfl try to bring back a new guitar."

He wanted to kiss his son, but they had gotten like Westerners, afraid

to kiss. Gently, he pushed him into the bedroom and closed the door on

him.

Going back to the living room, he realized that in the last few minutes

his plans had hardened into shape in his mind. He sat in the armchair

again, this time with a soft pencil and a sheet of paper, and began to

draft a memorandum.

TO: Chairman, Committee for State Security, PRom: Acting Chief,

European Desk copy: Chief, European Desk DATE: 24 May 1968 Comrade

Andropov:

My department chief, Feliks Vorontsov, is absent today and I feel that

the following matters are too urgent to await his return.

An agent in Luxembourg has reported the sighting there of the Israeli

operative Nathaniel ("Nat") David Jonathan Dickstein, alias Edward

("Ed") Rodgers, known as The Pirate.

Dickstein was born in Stepney, East London, in 1925, the son of a

shopkeeper. The father died in 1938, the mother in 1951. Dickstein

joined the British Army in 1943, fought in Italy, was promoted sergeant

and taken prisoner at La Molina. After the war he went to Oxford

University to read Semitic Languages. In 1948 he left Oxford without

graduating and emigrated to Palestine,

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where he began almost immediately to work for the Mossad.

At first he was involved in stealing and secretly buying arms for the

Zionist state. In the Fifties he mounted an operation against an

Egyptian-supported group of Palestinian freedom fighters based in the

Gaza Strip, and was personally responsible for the booby-trap bomb which

killed Commander Aly. In the late Fifties and early Sixties he was a

leading member of the assassination team which hunted escaped Nazis. He

directed the terrorist effort against German rocket scientists working

for Egypt in 1963-4. -

On his file the entry under "Weaknesses" reads: "None known." He appears

to have no family, either in Palestine or elsewhere. He is not interested

in alcohol, narcotics or gambling. He has no known romantic liaisons, and

there is on his file a speculation that he may be sexually frozen as a

result of being the subject of medical experiments conducted by Nazi

scientists.

I, personally, knew Dickstein intimately in the fortnative years 1947-8,

when we were both at Oxford University. I played chess with him. I

initiated his file. I have followed his subsequent career with special

interest. He now appears to be operating in the territory which has been

my specialty for twenty years. I doubt if there is anyone among the

110,000 employees of your committee who is as well qualified as I am to

oppose this formidable Zionist operative.

I therefore recommend that you assign me to discover what Dickstein7s

mission is and, if appropriate, to stop him.

(signed)

David Rostov.

TO: Acting Chief, European Desk FROM: Chairman, Committee for State

Security COPY: Chief, European Desk DATE: 24 May 1968 Comrade Rostov:

Your recommendation is approved.

(signed)

Yuri Andropov.

TIUPLE

To: Chairman, Committee for State Security PRom: Chief, European Desk

copy: Deputy Chief, European Desk DATE: 26 May 1968 Comrade Andropov:

I refer to the exchange of memoranda which took place between yourself

and my deputy, David Rostov, during my recent short absence on State

business in Novosibirsk.

Naturally I agree wholeheartedly with Comrade Rostov's concern and your

approval thereof, although I feel there was no good reason for his haste.

As a field agent Rostov does not, of course, see things in quite the mane

broad perspective as his superiors, and there is one aspect of the

situation which he failed to bring to your attention.

The current investigation of Dickstein was initiated by our Egyptian

allies, and indeed at this moment remains exclusively their undertaking.

For political reasons I would not recommend that we brush them aside

without a second thought, as Rostov seems to think we can. At most, we

should offer them our cooperation.

Needless to say, this latter undertaking, involving as it would

international liaison between intelligence services, ought to be handled

at chief-of-desk level rather than deputy-chief level.

(Signed)

Feliks Vorontsov.

TO: Chief, European Desk

FRom: Office of the Chairman, Committee for State

Security copy: Deputy Chief, European Desk DATE: 28 May 1968

Comrade Vorontsov:

Comrade AndrGpov has asked me to deal with your memorandum of 26 May.

He agrees that the political implications of Rostov's scheme must be

taken into account but he is unwilling to leave the initiative in

Egyptian hands while we merely "cooperate." I have now spoken with our

allies in Cairo, and they have agreed that Rostov should command the

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team investigating Dickstein on condition that one of their agents serves

as a full member of the team.

(Signed)

Maksim Bykov, personal assistant to the Chairman.

(penciled addendum)

Feliks: Don't bother me with this again until you've got a result. And

keep an eye on Rostov-he wants your job, and unless you shape up I'm

going to give it to him. Yuri.

To: Deputy Chief, European Desk

FRom: Office of the Chairman, Committee for State

Security copy: Chief, European Desk DATE: 29 May 1968 Comrade

Rostov:

Cairo has now nominated the agent to serve with your team in the

Dickstein investigation. He is in fact the agent who first spotted

Dickstein in Luxembourg. His nitme is Yasif Hassan.

(Signed)

Maksim Bykov, personal assistant to the Chairman.

When he gave lectures at the training school, Pierre Borg would say, "Call

in. Always call in. Not just when you need something, but every day if

possible. We need to know what you're doing-and we may have vital

information for you." Then the trainees went into the bar and heard that

Nat Dickstein's motto was: "Never call in for less than $100,000."

Borg was angry with Dickstein. Anger came easily to him, especially when he

did not know what was happening. Fortu. nately anger rarely interfered with

his judgment. He was angry with Kawash, too. He could understand why Kawash

had wanted to meet in Rome-the Egyptians had a big team here, so it was

easy for Kawash to find an excuse to visit-but there was no reason why they

should meet in a godd

bathhouse.

Borg got angry by sitting in his office in Tel Aviv, wondering and worrying

about Dickstein and Kawash and the others, waiting for messages, until he

began to think they would

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not call because they did not like him.; and so he got mad and broke

pencils and fired his secretary.

A bathhouse in Rome, for God's sake-the place was bound to be full of

queers. Also, Borg did not like his body. He slept in pajamas, never went

swimming, never tried on clothes in shops, never went naked except to

take a quick shower in the morning. Now he stood in the steamroom,

wearing around his waist the largest towel he could find, conscious that

he was white except for his face and hands, his flesh softly plump, with

a pelt of graying hair across his shoulders.

He saw Kawash. Ile Arab's body was lean and dark brown, with very little

hair. Their eyes met across the steamroom and, Me secret lovers, they

went side by side, not looking at one another, into a private room with

a bed.

Borg was relieved to get out of public view and impatient to hear KawasWa

news. The Arab switched on the machine that made the bed vibrate: its hum

would swamp a listening deviM N them were one. The two men stood close

together and spoke in low voices. Embarrassed, Borg turned his body so

that he was facing away from Kawash and had to speak over his shoulder.

"Ne got a man into Qattara," Kawash said.

"For?Wdable," Borg Wd, pronouncing it the French way In his great relief.

"Your department isnt even involved in the project."

"I have a cousin in Military Intelligence."

"Well done. Who is the man in Qattara?"

"Saman Hussein, one of yours."

"Good, good, good. What did he findT'

"The construction work is finished. They've built the reactor housing,

plus an administration block, staff quarters, and an airstrip. They're

much farther ahead than anyone imagined."

"What about the reactor itself? That's what counts."

"They're working on it now. It's hard to say how long it Will

take-there's a certain amount of precision work."

"Are they going to be able to manage that?" Borg wondered. "I mean, all

those complex control systems . . ."

"The controls don't need to be sophisticated, I understand. You slow the

speed of the nuclear reaction simply by pushing metal rods into the

atomic pile. Anyway, there!s been another

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development. Saman found the place crawling with Russions.91

Borg said, "Oh, fuck."

"So now I guess they'll have all the fancy electronics they need.91

Borg sat on the chair, forgetting the bathhouse and the vibrating bed and

his soft white body. "This is bad news," he said.

"'Ibere's worse. Dickstein is blown."

Borg stared at Kawash, thunderstruck. "Blown?" he said as if he did not

know what the word meant. "BlownT'

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"Yes.

Borg felt furious and despairing by turns. After a moment he said, "How did

he manage that ... the prick?"

"He was recognized by an agent of ours in Luxembourg."

"What was he doing there?"

"You should know."

4&Skjp 19t

"Apparently it was just a chance meeting- The agent is called Yasif Hassan.

He!s small fry-works for a Lebanese bank and keeps an eye on visiting

Israelis. Of course, our people recognized the name Dickstein----~'

"He's using his real nameT' Borg said incredulously. It got worse and

worse.

"I don't think so," Kawash said. "This Hassan knew him from way back."

Borg shook his head slowly. "You wouldn't think we were the Chosen People,

with our luck."

"We put Dickstein under surveillance and informed Moscow," Kawash

continued. "He lost the surveillance team quite quickly, of course, but

Moscow is puffing together a big effort to find him again."

Borg put his chin in his hand and stared without seeing at the erotic

frieze on the tiled wall. It was as if there were a world-wide conspiracy

to frustrate Israeli policy in general and his plans in particular. He

wanted to give it all up and go back to Quebec; he wanted to hit Dickstein

over the head with a blunt instrument; he wanted to wipe that imperturbable

look off Kawash's handsome face.

He made a gesture of throwing something away. "Great," he said. 'Me

Egyptians are well ahead with their reactor; the Russians are helping them;

Dickstein is blown; the KGB has

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