The Jeweler's Loupe Read online

PARTMENT - NIGHT

  Jonus and Shazadi sit together on a small worn couch.

  SHAZADI

  Jonus, I’ve known you for two months now but sometimes I feel like I don’t know you any better than the first day we met. I see you enjoy your life. You enjoy the buying and selling, the haggling and dealing with people. But there are times when I can almost see you wince when you see the news and you see how this region is about to explode again. What do you really want to do?

  JONUS

  You may know me better than I know myself. If I could do it -- and I know I can’t -- I would bring a little peace and order to this region. But I do feel I can help to keep it from exploding or falling apart. These countries are really large groups of tribes. They have been packaged together by past colonial masters to make it easier to manage, the same way a manufacturer of sweets has different types for different tastes. In the past the Arab tribes and countries have frequently tried to conquer each other. Sometimes they succeed and remake the map for a while.

  SHAZADI

  What difference does it make if these leaders redivide their lands?

  JONUS

  There is always a lot of blood spilled and only a few people at the top of the winning side really benefit. Look at the situation here in Lebanon. So much potential but because of tribal animosity there is continual war. What reduces the bloodshed now is Israel, the Zionist usurper. They do not do it intentionally. They would probably like to take all the Arab lands for themselves but they know they cannot do that. So they maintain an armed truce in the region. As long as the Zionist state exists there is a chance for the Arab tribes to have a degree of peace. They all have this common enemy against which they unite. Remove the Zionists and the Arabs will be back at each other’s throats.

  SHAZADI

  How do you play any part in this? Is there an insurance policy against war?

  JONUS

  No, but there is a part that I can play. I will act as an intermediary as far as my skills permit me. I pass a little information to one side and different information to the other side. Both of them are happy to have the information and both pay me a little. They are happy to let me conduct my business as long as it is clear I am not an agent of one or the other. Is this clear? Do I seem to be doing something honorable or do you think I am a lying monster who steals from both sides just to make myself richer?

  SHAZADI

  Even if I did not love you like I do I can see that you enjoy what you do more than you want the money. Otherwise, you would not be living in this miserable flat. You could have a job with many large international companies. My father has contacts who could put you in a regional manager’s position in two weeks time. Obviously, that is not what you want.

  JONUS

  Good, I think you understand me about as well as I understand myself. My mother in Vilnius would be happier to see me as a regional manager as well. You are leaving soon. I don’t know when we will see each other again. I work with other people who share many of my views. We all make a small living by exchanging information. We all want to see this current uncomfortable peace remain in the middle east. Would you be willing to help, if it meant keeping the peace a little longer?

  SHAZADI

  Of course, what decent person wouldn’t want to help? What would my role be?

  JONUS

  When you are in Damascus you will be in a geographic position to help me -- to help us all. I showed you how to examine jewels and jewelry in close detail. I think we both find it to be a pleasant hobby. There are people in Iran who have access to information which is useful in helping the opponents of the current regime in Iran restrain the regime’s aggressive nature towards the other tribes in the region. Many of these people do not have modern technological capabilities. They cannot operate fancy cameras and small satellite transmitters to send information out of the country. But they can package small pieces of microfilm in a pendant or another large piece of jewelry. Sometimes large rings. It is easy to send this jewelry abroad so once it goes into the jewelry stream, it is easy to move it from one place to another.

  SHAZADI

  Will it go to you?

  JONUS

  No, I am just another link in the chain like you will be. I will show you how to spot the pieces that contain information. You would need to find these objects and then send them to an address I will give you. You will actually be selling the piece to the recipient so you will receive payment for the object. You will not lose any money on this. The person you send the jewelry to is a collector and a casual dealer who would be most happy to conduct normal collector trading activities with you. If you enjoy being an active collector and trader, there are circuits and clubs to support this type of activity. And it is almost in your blood since you are from Damascus. What do you think so far?

  SHAZADI

  It sounds exciting. You know I have travelled a lot and lived in many places. I have collected a lot of souvenirs of places we have lived but some of these are not practical now. How many stuffed animals does a young woman need? Show me what I need to do and we will make a couple practice runs before I return to Damascus.

  BACK TO PRESENT

  Amir looks at ring with a loupe.

  AMIR

  Yes, I see what you mean about the differences in quality. The stones in this ring are much better positioned than in the other ring.

  SHAZADI

  There could be a number of factors which account for this: the use of better optic and measuring devices, the pay to the workman, the final price the manufacturer expects to receive. It is not wrong to sell poorer quality goods because some people are only buying a piece as a gift to a business associate who will throw it in a drawer and never look at it. But when you are the buyer, you want to ensure that you receive value for money. You don’t know who you are going to sell or trade it to, and the better the quality you receive, the higher the price it can legitimately command.

  AMIR

  I understand, Mrs. Taja. I really appreciate these instructions. I intend to examine the entire stock here and recommend to my uncle which pieces I think we can reprice.

  SHAZADI

  You learn very quickly, Amir.

  INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM - DAY

  Ibrahim sits on a hard chair in the middle of a room with a bright light over his head. He is strapped to the chair so than he cannot fall from the chair. He has a very tired look on his face and a growth of beard. His prison uniform is dirty. There is a table nearby with a tape recorder and microphone on it. Three men enter the room: Kuzbari, an older man who is dressed like a doctor and a muscular younger man in dirty uniform.

  KUZBARI

  Ibrahim, you look like you have not rested enough. All you need to do is tell us what we want to know and we’ll let you go home to your mother. All we ask is a little cooperation. But today I think it should be better. I have a little drug which will make it easier for you to answer my questions correctly. The doctor is going to give you a small injection and then I will ask you to tell me what I need to know. Doctor, please administer the drug.

  DOCTOR

  (concerned)

  These dosage levels are not written in the same way that I am used to seeing them so we will start with a very small dosage. The doctor puts a rubber tube around Ibrahim’s left arm to raise a vein. He charges the hypodermic from the bottle of Russian chemicals and injects it into Ibrahim’s vein. He removes the rubber tube. For a few seconds there is no reaction, then Ibrahim begins to breathe very spasmodically. His eyes become wide, his mouth grimaces in pain and a gasping sound comes from his throat. The technician and the doctor unfasten him from the chair and place him on the dirty floor. The doctor feels for a pulse then places his stethoscope on Ibrahim’s chest. The breath leaves Ibrahim. The doctor looks at Ibrahim’s glazed eyes and closes the eyelids. He stands.

  DOCTOR

  I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about this drug. It could have been a dozen things that killed hi
m. Tell your Russian friend to keep his drugs for his Russian prisoners. If we want to kill our prisoners we know better ways to do it without his help.

  INT. LARGE DETECTIVE OFFICE AREA - DAY

  Addem and Alexei sit at the desks talking. Kuzbari enters the room in a very angry manner. He stands in front of Alexei and slams the vial down on the desk in front of him.

  KUZBARI

  (angrily)

  Alexei, what is this shit? Our prisoner is dead! The doctor gave him a small does and the prisoner was dead 30 seconds later!

  ALEXEI

  Kuzbari, I am very sorry to hear this. As I said, these are not commercial drugs. They are not tested. They are made in very small batches by different chemists. We have had similar problems in the past but I was told that other vials from this batch had been used without harm. It could be your prisoner had an allergy to something in the drug or the doctor gave him too large a dose.

  KUZBARI

  You aren’t the one who has to tell his family, or worse yet our boss. This is not going to improve Russian-Syrian relations, not in this office anyway.

  INT. JEWELERY SHOP SHOW ROOM - DAY

  Shazadi and Amir are looking at a large pendant with the loupe.

  SHAZADI

  Amir, this is a lovely pendant. I don’t recall seeing it before.

  AMIR

  No, madame. It just arrived in a package from Iran. I think it sat in customs for a month before they let it through. They had opened the box and there were dirty fingerprints on everything but at least the contents match the shipping documents. I had to clean it very thoroughly.

  SHAZADI

  I think I am going to trade you this piece for another one I own which you can sell for a greater price than this one would bring. There is something particularly excellent in the workmanship in this one. Only a collector would appreciate it. In time you will be able to see the difference as well.

  Amir’s cell phone rings. He answers it and listens for a minute then hangs up. Tears come to his eyes. Shazadi sees his behavior and looks concerned.

  SHAZADI

  Amir. What is it? What is wrong?

  AMIR

  He’s dead! My uncle is dead!

  SHAZADI

  Are your sure? Maybe he is just very sick and they are afraid he might die. We can take him to a good hospital for treatment.

  AMIR

  No, madame. They said he had been feeling ill and then he must have had a heart attack. The doctors did all they could to save him but it was of no use. They will return his body and we will have services tomorrow.

  SUPER: JERUSALEM

  EXT. LARGE GOVERNMENT BUILDING - DAY

  Two men in casual business attire approach each other smiling. Teo is Jonus 25 years older.

  LEV

  Teo, I just saw the analysis on the message you received in the last piece of jewelry. It matched the electronic transmission we had three months ago. Those camels are slow.

  TEO

  Yes, they are but at least they corroborate the electronic messages. I am still reluctant to trust everything we learn through the airwaves. It is just too easy to generate false documents. We don’t want to start a war because some clever bugger in a developing country wants to have us make a first strike. The costs of these old techniques is very low. We maintain the old skills.

  LEV

  You’ve had that source now for over twenty-five years. Do they know where you are?

  TEO

  I don’t believe they do. They may suspect but I don’t think they know where I am. But we do exchange a little message now and then.

  LEV

  What? How do you do that without them being able to trace it?

  TEO

  Oh, that is very easy. Every five years about the time we last saw each other I send them a pendant I order anonymously from another country. I pick one similar to the ones we looked at when we met. They are generally old, collector items. It is always from a different country. For them to contact me, they use their loupe and a scribe to inscribe a very small letter of the place we met on the item they send to us through our drop. You have to use a jeweler’s loupe to be able to see it.

  END FADE OUT: