by Dana Arama
I signaled through the glass wall for Linda to enter the room. She came and I asked her to notify the medical team and the security forces. “Tell them to check the ambulances for explosives as well as any reports on stolen or missing ambulances in the last week. Even for a few hours. They need to check them carefully. They may have been returned but wired with explosives.”
Linda opened her eyes wide in alarm. “That is a devious plan,” she muttered as she walked out.
I continued talking with Jonathan, hoping the conversation wouldn’t further traumatize him. “Do you remember anything else Jonathan? Maybe more specific details? Names of places, people… things like that?”
He nodded. “The embassy in Washington. He said it was problematic because of their security, their defense systems and the fact that there are other foreign embassies in the area. He said he had signed some sort of an agreement with the Malaysian government and that the Malaysian embassy was going to celebrate in his honor. According to Yassin, the Malaysian embassy is not far away from the Israeli embassy. Catering trucks were supposed to come and then there will be a demonstration against the apartheid in Israel and then the snipers will shoot at the demonstrators and there will be chaos and when the security forces arrive, he will blow up the trucks.”
I looked over at Linda. She was still on the phone. I wrote on my laptop: Cancel the permission of the demonstration that is supposed to march towards the Israeli embassy in Washington. I signaled for one of Linda’s aides to come in. “Please note,” I said, “I am passing an order online, effective immediately.” I continued with Jonathan.
“Jonathan, you are doing exceptionally well. Do you feel okay to continue?” I asked, as if we had any choice in the matter but to carry on.
“Sure,” he said, smiling. “It’s helping, right?”
“You have no idea how many lives you are saving right now. What else do you remember?”
“He spoke of Miami. That they have cameras which film the direction the security forces will be coming from. They spoke about the sniper, positioned in the hotel opposite and about a 30-story building whose ground floor is strictly businesses. There is an electronic car park there and in the parking lot there will be a Tesla car wired with explosives and when the sniper shoots the bottom of the car then…”
“The whole building will collapse…” I whispered in fright. Once again, I wrote another order: A wired Tesla car in an electronic car park. Near the Israeli embassy in Miami. Neutralize the car. Find the sniper in the hotel opposite there. After a minute I added: There is a hotel opposite a 30-story building. Please check that this data is correct before sending out the security forces into the field. If the boy’s trauma had led him to fantasizing a terror attack, then I was sending out security forces on a goose chase in an arena the size of the whole of the United States.
“About Los Angeles,” Jonathan continued, “He mentioned some long road with a lot of consulates. Next to the Israeli embassy there is a post office and they will send a parcel there. He said that the parcel is ‘especially interesting’, in those exact words. In the parcel, there will be a suspicious white powder and they will evacuate the whole building and when they evacuate the post office and all the embassy workers, the sniper will shoot at everyone and then the security forces will come and then the post office’s van will blow up.”
I wrote yet another order: Israeli embassy in Los Angeles, nearby post office. Check post office vans. One of them or more could be wired. A parcel or envelope with white powder. Order the security forces not to evacuate the people from the building. I repeat, do not evacuate into the street!
“What more can you remember Jonathan?” I smiled at him encouragingly, more to disguise my own despair.
“He didn’t go into too much detail on Philadelphia. Only that there is a sniper ready to start shooting at people in the street and cars blowing up near the consulate when the security forces arrive on the scene.”
I wrote: Philadelphia -- Check wired cars near the Israeli consulate, and sent the order along to the appropriate team leader.
I returned my attention to Jonathan and he continued. “He mentioned Atlanta. The sniper will be waiting in some penthouse in a tall residential building opposite the embassy. I think he said the apartment is for sale.”
I wrote: Atlanta, penthouse overlooking the Israeli consulate, for sale. The sniper is in place.
“And then they spoke about a building called Park Plaza in Boston. Something about a coffee shop where lots of people sit, including Israelis. There will be an attack. A driver will run over people sitting in the coffee shop.”
“No sniper this time?” I asked because stopping a vehicle-ramming attack would be hard enough. Every driver in every car is a potential attacker.
“No sniper, but with a car wired with explosives and programmed to blow up once the security forces arrive.” He finished his can of Coca Cola and added, “Oh, and the wired car is already there.”
I added to Boston’s instructions: Close the coffee house, check the parked cars in the vicinity. There are wired cars with explosives.
On the screen in front of me, Jonathan asked the agent from the embassy, “May I have a hamburger and fries and another Coke, please?”
The man got up from his seat, patted Jonathan’s shoulder fondly and asked someone standing at the door to get him the food.
“They spoke about an attack in Chicago. A sniper there will also shoot at civilians passing by near the Israeli consulate and when the security forces arrive, another wired car will explode.”
Close the area surrounding the Israeli consulate in Chicago, look for a wired car parked in the area.
“Jonathan, did they mention anything about the wired cars? Any specific color? Type? Do you recall something anything like that?”
He thought before he answered and shook his head. “Besides the fact that they mentioned vans and ambulances, they never mentioned any specific type of car.”
“Okay, let’s continue. What else can you remember?”
“That he was very proud of his plan for San Francisco because they infiltrated a pro-Israeli group and organized a pro-Israeli demonstration supporting Israel. During the demonstration two snipers will shoot at the people and another one will blow himself up when the security forces arrive. And that is it… I can’t remember if they talked about any other attacks.”
I wrote on the instruction page: Cancel pro-Israeli demonstration in San Francisco. Look for two snipers in the area near the embassy. Try to locate the terrorist with explosives strapped to his body. And I sent the instructions off. In my heart I added an ‘amen’, because the chances of stopping all these attacks were looking slimmer and slimmer.
***
I finished my interrogation of Jonathan and immediately called Gideoni. I said, “I know it is against Israeli policy, but you cannot open any of the Israeli embassies or consulates today in the United States.”
“I will pass on your recommendation to our Foreign Ministry.”
I heard indifference in his voice which bordered on arrogance and I didn’t like either. “Maybe I haven’t explained myself well enough. These attacks are scheduled for today, at the hour that all the embassies are open and if the attacks occur simultaneously, you won’t even have time to warn them.”
“The State of Israel receives threats on a daily basis. Our policy is not to give in to terror. We take extra precautionary steps but will not stop living. Otherwise, we would never open any embassy or consulate any day of the year.”
“This is not a regular threat. This --”
“I know,” he interrupted me, “And that is why I am passing on your recommendation together with my own. Maybe there will be an agreement this one time, or we will postpone activity for a few hours. In any case, we will update our security officers at all the consulates and request they be more alert than ever.�
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“I think that would be wise.”
“You do realize that if we give in to the United States’ pressure, we would have to close down all over the world?”
I nodded my head wearily, answered, “I understand,” and hung up. I closed my eyes and allowed myself a sweet moment of rest. Right before I fell asleep in the chair, I got up and walked into the computer room.
“I need you to switch on these computers now. This is our only chance to stop this attack.” I had just finished my sentence when, miraculously, one of the agents, quite plump in build, jumped out of his seat, whooping in delight: “I’ve cracked it!” Everyone in the room clapped, and a spontaneous feeling of relief swept through us, as if a pressure valve had been slightly released.
“Keep the information flowing. Next to each of you is a liaison officer whose job is to relay commands to the local police. The local police are standing by the Israeli consulate in each city, awaiting your further instructions.”
The plump guy went from screen to screen, using his magic touch, until all the screens displayed pictures.
“You,” I pointed at him. “I have a task for you.”
He walked up to me and, with a mischievous smile said, “Your wish is my command, ma’am.”
“We have a number of wired cars with explosives in them. I believe they are rentals. Check with the large rental companies, those who have branches in a few cities and a wide range of cars. See if there’s anyone who rented a large number of cars.”
“Got it.” He nodded his head. “We will try and locate the cars by their GPS devices.” I nodded. The guy not only had a calming smile but was also a quick thinker.
Linda walked into the room and said, “Allimi wants to talk with you.”
“Linda, can you stay here and make sure the officers in the field get the pictures of each building? Attach the evidence the boy gave you to each photo. He has a phenomenal memory. He remembered almost verbatim everything being said there.”
“He is cool as a cucumber. To remember everything while under duress…Maybe he repeated the information to himself over and over,” Linda said.
“It makes sense, with his background. Israeli security is about aware of your surroundings all the time.”
“Just hope that he actually does have a phenomenal memory and that he remembered everything correctly,” Allimi noted from behind. “Because if he just spurted out any information to keep the police force busy, we are in real trouble.”
“Please, do tell…” I turned to him.
“I have received information from different sources. We are flooded with intel right now. Apparently, the terror attack in Paris aroused quite a few dormant cells and the amount of chatter we have picked up over the last three days encouraging terror attacks in the United States has exceeded numbers from the entire year to date.”
“We have a flood of information. The problem is trying to decipher what belongs to this event,” Linda said.
“Add to that, bodyguards for all the candidates running for Congress, the rioting in Chicago and the knowledge of the apparent terror attacks on the planes and we have ourselves security work 24/7,” I agreed.
“I saw the pile of paper coffee cups on your desk,” he smiled. “By the way, someone is waiting for you in your office.”
“Keep them on it all,” I told Linda, “The clock is ticking.”
As I got closer to my office, I recognized his shoulders. Whatever had already been running through my heart suddenly turned to fear. Was he waiting there with bad news?
“Hey Gordon,” I said as I walked inside.”
“Hi Laura.” He smiled and gave me a package wrapped in familiar brown paper. “I brought you a pastrami sandwich from that deli you love. I told them it was for you and they put extra pickles, just the way you like.”
I smiled and sat in my chair. I stretched out my hand to him and our fingers brushed together for a moment as he handed me the sandwich. “What are you doing here?” I asked.
“To tell you that I have received orders to take your place here, but also because I just started thinking that if, at noon, our world as we know it is really going to end, I wanted to be here with you.”
“So, what are you planning on doing?” I asked, unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite. It tasted like heaven and it must have showed on my face.
“Bon appetit.”
“Thanks,” I said, my eyes closed in a moment of pleasure. “You have no idea how much I appreciate this. But what are you going to do with the command?”
“By the time you fill me in, we will be at the point of no return. It is much simpler for you to tell me how I can be of help.”
I opened my eyes and looked at him. He wasn’t kidding. He added, “You are commanding this operation brilliantly. I can’t see any good reason to take over. I have come to be with you and be of help any way I can.”
I rewrapped the remains of the sandwich, as if it was a hoarded treasure, and laid it down next to the pile of paper coffee cups.
“Very well. Your specialty is to coordinate different forces. That is exactly what we need right now. We have managed to crack the computers and we have the pictures of the different buildings. I still didn’t know if those were the buildings being targeted, or the snipers were inside of those buildings. We have to make sure that the files with the plans open up, to try and find what is relevant for us to stop these attacks and pass on the information to the field officers. We have...” I glanced at my watch, “just over an hour.”
I got up from my chair and Gordon joined me on my way to the computer room. “I have already put forces in the area of the Israeli consulates. They are awaiting further instructions.”
“I understand that the sniper in New York was neutralized.”
“Assuming he is the only one. It is an assumption we can’t afford to make.” I opened the door of the computer room and added, “Only Yassin knows the whole plan. When you arrived, I was on my way to try to contact his interrogators to see if they managed to get any information out of him.”
When Gordon walked into the room, there was the sense that he was stepping in front of an orchestra without a conductor. He said, “I need a split screen, the names of all the field officers and direct communications with them.” Things immediately became more coherent. Within minutes all the large screens were split to the points showing the buildings that were on Yassin Graham’s screens. Next to each building appeared a small square containing the portrait of the field officer in charge.
“I also need all the written data you have managed to crack so far and Jonathan Niava’s evidence.” Gordon was so polite, yet decisive and calm. I watched him from the side and felt that, at long last, I had been given an oxygen tank. He noticed my stare as he put on his headphones. I smiled at him and he winked and returned my smile with a hint of his own. He loosened his tie, took off his jacket and got to work.
I went to see if we had received any shortcuts to clean up the mess that was brewing, or, in other words, if Yassin Graham had started to talk.
***
The shortcut turned out to be a dead end. Yassin was prepared to sacrifice his wife and son on the altar of devastation. The interrogator promised me that “in a few days, when the drugs in his body wore off and stopped counteracting the drugs they had given him, he would break.”
To which I replied, “I really hoped that in a couple of days we won’t be forced, for political reasons, to release him…” In which case, I thought Yassin’s double could be used to our advantage. I hung on to a fragment of hope -- that at least we might get the information about the planes with enough time to stop part of the attack.
***
I returned to Gordons’ symphony hall. Reports were coming in from the field about neutralizing the snipers. Despite that, the tension in the room could be cut with a knife. It felt like w
alking on a frozen lake even though you know that the ice is thin and fragile. Any wrong step could bring disaster. We had to cover all our options in an extremely short period of time. If Yassin could plan all these activities in such a finely coordinated manner, we should be able to do so too.
The first was the Tesla car, which had been found in the parking lot. I saw the security forces close down the area and the bomb squad begin to dismantle the explosives. The dilemma was whether to evacuate the building or not. In the end, Gordon gave the command to evacuate them, but through the back exit of the building. The results were slower, but they had the advantage of being far from the sniper’s sights. Shooting experts calculated the optimal place where a sniper could hide, and the police force were on their way to the nearby hotel.
From New York, we received a confirmation that the hotel had been scanned and there were no more snipers. The search for two missing ambulances was still on. I reminded the agents that the ambulances were wired. The wired Tesla had gotten the attention of all those who were skeptical, and no one dared disregard the warning.
“We have a problem in Chicago,” Gordon said. “We don’t have enough policemen to use for the search because of all the riots. They are an hour behind us, but the rioting has been going on all night long. I have the National Guard instead.”
“What about Los Angeles?”
“Three hours behind us. The time there is eight thirty, which is good. I have given an order not to open the post office. I’ve closed all the nearby roads. There is no entry to the building. They have already started the search for the sniper in the area around the post office.”
Linda walked in, and said, “All the Israeli consulates have been given an order to remain closed today. There will be no public reception. The consulates which haven’t opened their doors yet won’t open at all. In the consulates where it was possible to do so, they already evacuated, except for the emergency forces.”