“Al right then, Adala it is,” replied Alan, “and may justice be served. Brian, if you wouldn’t mind beginning.”
The former MI-6 operative stood up. He hung his suit jacket on the back of an adjoining chair. Then he paced. “Herb and I have assessed some candidates for both security and undercover operations, Alan. These are good folks with years of experience,” he said, passing him a single page with a dozen or so names on it. “I also made up a profile of what I think we should look for in our applicants.”
“Great! Let’s hear them,” said Alan.
“First and foremost, they have to be fluent in both Arabic and English and have a beard or be wil ing to grow one.”
“A beard? Why?” quizzed Alan.
“Without one they’d stand out in some Arab countries,”
“No argument there,” Alan agreed.
“They should be between twenty-five and forty-five years of age.”
“And forty-five might be pushing it if they’re not in prime shape,” Herb added.
“We’re looking for males only, guys in good health, and preferably single. Our man has to be of at least average intel igence. He has to be wil ing and able to put himself in very tough situations without cracking. He has to be trainable in the art of investigation. And, the biggie, he has to be wil ing to assassinate without compunction.”
“That is most certainly a big one,” Herb agreed again.
“That’s our starting point. I’m sure we’l develop additional criteria as time goes by.”
“Good. Herb?” Alan said.
“I’ve been thinking about the various kinds of training we wil need to provide these guys, and it’s considerable,” offered Herb. “The physical training wil be intense. These people must be in top physical condition when they go out on assignment, and the physical conditioning won’t even compare to the mental rigors. Going undercover requires a psycho-logical toughness second to none. You don’t just play the part, you become the part.”
“Without letting it swal ow you up,” Brian added.
“Indeed, with a big exclamation point.” Herb agreed. “Then there is the skil s training: weaponry, explosives, arson, espionage, assassination techniques, disguises, and whatever else might arise. They can’t just be adequate at these things; they have to be pros.”
“They have to be versed in local customs: local politics, local folklore,” Brian said, “you slip up on why the locals eat watermelon for breakfast on Friday and you are dead.”
“We get the picture,” Alan assured him, “which al goes to suggest that we need a real y private place to train and live and study. It’s got to be as secure as a military base and as out of the way as we can make it,” said Alan. “I’ve met with our real estate manager, and he’s working on it.”
“The location has to be top secret, to be sure,”Brian concurred,“which leads to several security issues worth considering even at this early stage. We should start with somewhere between four and ten trainees if we can, get them trained and out on assignment before the next group begins training. This is so that no trainee should know or be able to identify more than nine other trainees.”
“To avoid a mole or a plant, each trainee must undergo a protocol of specialized testing before they ever get a thumb’s up. This means dispositional testing and as many polygraph tests as we think are necessary.” Herb did the honors, fil ing coffee cups and talking at the same time. “Which reminds me, al trainee meals must meet Islamic requirements. We don’t want to slip up there.”
“I guess if anyone flunks the testing, which must come before any training begins, we send them packing no wiser than when they applied. That’l make it a bit less dangerous flunking any of them and sending them home.” said Alan.
“Exactly,” said Herb. “We’re bound to have a couple of failures despite our screening, and we need to be able to cul them out, which reinforces the need for a location with no identifiable characteristics.”
“What about instructors?” Marie asked.