'That's Khalid Nazir Jafaar,' he told Hershow. 'Nice kid. We used to call him Nazzie.'
'Well, well,' she said. 'That's interesting. You mind telling me how you know him?'
'Nazzie was one of the boys, one of Hurley's people. The DEA had a front operation in Nicosia, down the street from the embassy. The Eurame Trading Company. That's where I worked. And that's where I met Nazzie. Saw him there several times.'
'Well, well,' she said again. There was a funny note in her voice. 'The Jafaars -- they're into heroin, right?'
'Biggest in the Bekaa. Or they were until the Syrians moved in. The Jafaars were Lucky Luciano's heroin connection. They go back a long way in the dope business.'
'This kid, Nazzie -- are you saying he worked for the DEA?'
'Oh, sure. And probably for the CIA as well. Seemed like the whole damn family were CIA assets.'
'But why? I mean, why would they want to work for the US government?'
'Why? Hell, the Jafaars'll work for anybody against the Syrians -- they hate 'em so bad. They'd do anything to get Assad off their backs.'
'Okay. So what did he do?'
'Nazzie? Well, he was under age to be an informant, so he was probably on the DEA books as a subsource. I know for a fact he ran two or three controlled deliveries of heroin into Detroit.'
'You mean he was a DEA courier?'
'Among other things. But how come you're interested in Nazzie?'
