by David Hunter
~ ~ ~
"Sir, this is Gilad Smith. We arrived at the scene just now. Agent Schneerson's body is in the kibbutz infirmary. He is confirmed dead. We'll escort his body to our morgue once completing our investigation here."
"Thank you agent Smith, what else have you learned?"
Halevi thought about Smith's parents. His Jewish mother and Gentile father were two of the finest people he knew. He was always surprised that John Smith had not converted to Judaism, as he seemed to relish all things Jewish. Based on his wife Lilah's heritage they immigrated to Israel when Gilad was still very little, just a toddler if Halevi recalled correctly.
John had, some years after making aliya to Israel and establishing himself, been recruited to work for the Mossad. It was Mossad's strategy then, and now, to never recruit any Israeli citizen until it was confirmed that they could first: Fit comfortably and seamlessly into society, second: Establish themselves professionally, and third: Be able to pass the cursory background checks before an invitation was extended.
John passed these preliminaries with flying colors. The fact that he learned Hebrew quickly and was able to blend into society so well, and then establish his own successful tax accounting business, proved that he would be able to easily blend into most any population that was predominantly Caucasian.
Laila loved traveling with him to different assignments in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. She, always believing he was doing audits for large corporations, never once thought otherwise. The fact of the matter was, he really did conduct audits in these countries – he simply conducted other, more clandestine, business as well.
Recently retired, they were living happily in Beit Shemesh, a grandchild just one house over with another due in a few months. Halevi smiled at the memory of Gilad's look of surprise, followed by that faint light of understanding turn on, when he was told about what his father did for Israel as he was being invited to work for Shin Bet.
Gilad told the person conducting the initial interview that he was surprised the few times his father would get a phone call late at night, only to leave for the airport immediately for a tax audit. Asking his mom about the quick departure, she'd just shrug her shoulders and say, as a joke, that "there's no accounting for the way other countries ignore time zone differences." Gilad didn't think that international corporations would be oblivious to time zones, but he was raised too well to contradict his mom on such a seemingly unimportant issue.
As his profile prophesied, Gilad proved to be resourceful and have an instinct that would serve him well. Recognized by his peers as being efficient, and capable, he intuitively tapped into how individuals think. He was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge, a human lie detector, and so personable and charming that he completely disarmed even the most paranoid.
Meir believed that if Gilad were to continue as he was now he'd be sitting in the Director's Office two, maybe three Directors after Meir's retirement.
Gilad continued his report."Sir, we've dispatched an agent to the Tech Department in Tel Aviv to digitally combine all of the photos and video taken by the mobile phones of the witnesses at the scene to form a cohesive view of images taken at the scene. We have also started depositions with those first at the scene, working our way back chronologically to those last to arrive. Kibbutz security is being very cooperative. Unfortunately, there were no closed-circuit TV cameras in the area where No'am kept residence. Finally, at least for now, the woman described by most of the witnesses was able to elude the CCTV along her exit path. This appears to have been planned in advance. We believe she was here to either kidnap No'am, or kill him. Events appear to have altered her plans. We are dusting the residence of No'am now. It's doubtful any fingerprints from the perpetrator will be uncovered; she was a consummate professional."
This was something Halevi liked about Smith, he always spoke using the "we" pronoun to deflect attention to himself where his work was so well and admirably executed. Yet if he made an error in judgment, or a very rare mistake in his work, he would own up using the "I" pronoun. In a group of "Yes I can" personalities, this was an unusual trait. It was an attribute that Halevi wished he could cultivate in others, without diminishing the very high level of self-confidence required by such a profession.
"Thank you Agent Smith; that will be all. Keep this line open and update me if anything significant comes up."
"Yes sir."
Phase II, Meir knew, had already started. It may be too late.
Table of Contents
26. Once More to Prepare
"Organize yourselves, prepare every needful thing . . ." - Section 109:8 (Doctrine and Convents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Jerusalem, State of Israel
Dr. Jeff Stauffenberg's family required a few days to settle into their home within the compound of the facility where he did most of his work. Nobody was happy with the unexpected situation, but they adapted and made the best of it. Lynn, especially, set out to work to make the small house a home with the touches she knew would most put her family at ease in this new environment.
The facility did a great job of keeping the residents as busy as they desired, with frequent socials geared to singles, families, and children of specific age categories.
Brian got right to work with online college courses. Samantha surprised everybody with her desire to go to the classes in the high school established for the Israeli students.
Two days after their arrival Moshe asked Jeff for a meeting in his office.
"Thanks for coming on such short notice Jeff. I understand your family has taken to their new surroundings?"
"Yes Moshe, they have. Not without some initial bumps and bruises. They are already adapting better than I would have expected. Brian and Samantha, in these couple of days have made friends already and seem to see this as an adventure. How long their enthusiasm will last before the limitations on their travel and socializing set in, I don't know."
"Probably not long, knowing the universal nature of youth. How about Lynn, how is she doing?"
"It's more difficult for her, leaving parents, siblings, and a large network of friends behind. The fact that we thought she would be able to be a part of the Mormon community here, but now that it's not even a possibility, is weighing heavily on her. She has never lived anywhere where she was religiously isolated. I think it's going to take some time for her to adjust, but she is maintaining at least a façade of making the best of it. She's strong but I'm concerned for her."
"Me too." Moshe responded. "I'll ask Rachael to visit with her and see how she's holding up from a psychological perspective. Lynn can also speak with Rachael, you know, woman-to-woman, in ways we obviously can't. Also, I've asked the Prime Minister for special permission to allow the leader of the Mormon community visits with your family on occasion. Though the ranking Mormon here is somebody highly thought of and respected in Israeli circles, the PM denied my request. It was worth a try."
"Thanks for trying, Moshe."
Moshe's face seemed to alter expression a little as he pressed on. "Now to another matter at hand. It's time you begin your training for the second phase. A comparison of the archives in the shielded area against the time-altered archives is very promising. We haven't found anything to indicate that deleting Martin McGlothlin's two sons from history has caused any negative ripple effect in our present space-time. Considering the fact that we believe the terrorists have advanced their schedule for the attacks by at least three weeks, we must get you prepared as quickly as possible. Are you ready?"
"You know I am." Jeff responded with his characteristic "can do" approach.
"Good. Most of your preparation will be a repetition of your first landing. Extensive physical training, psychological support, and so on. Beyond that you'll be tutored in basic Farsi and Arabic, as well as the cultures, histories and important events of Persia and Egypt of the 1930s. Remember, the Islamic Republic of Iran was first named Persia – that's your
first history lesson!"
"I knew that I'd be going to Egypt and Iran – excuse me, Persia – for the second phase of the operation. To better prepare I've been doing as much as I could to study on my own time. This includes watching videos made in each country and a great deal of reading. Moshe, there is just no way I could learn either language in the time frame before us, let alone both."
"I'm glad you've already been doing some research. As to the languages, there isn't need for fluency. Any American could get by in both countries in the 1930s with English. We want you to have an understanding of some basic words as your operational cover will be that of a pharmaceutical sales agent. With diseases such as polio affecting so much of the world, the Americans were pouring money into medical research and production. Countries without a great deal of financial resources to produce their own medicines were eager to buy them from the Americans."
"Your cover will be ideal for you to contact medical leaders and wealthy industrialists in each country. This will enable you to meet with Ghasem's maternal grandfather. Once identified positively, you will have to find a way to make sure he never meets the woman he married. We have two photos of him, as well as many samples of his handwriting."
"Now for the part that may be particularly difficult for you. We have no photos of either of Abd's grandfathers but we do have a few photos of one of his grandmothers. We can't allow her to marry his grandfather under any circumstance."
Moshe saw Jeff mentally puzzle his mission, wheels in his mind spinning as he wondered how he could prevent two marriages of what would then be still young children.
Jeff exited the building, needing some sun and air to clear his head. Finding no relief in nature, he walked to his family house that reminded him of military housing on American bases in the 1950s. Theirs was a quaint house, but rather small. Jeff was glad that he and Lynn felt it best for them to stop at two children.
Entering their home he saw Lynn and gave her a kiss.
"Well that was the most mechanical kiss you have ever given me. Even your - don't bother me, I'm watching my favorite sports team - kiss packs more passion. What's going on?"
"Nothing."
"Oh no, don't do that!"
"What?"
"You know what!"
Exasperated, Jeff wasn't in the mood to play mind reader with his wife. "Why don't you tell me."
Lynn gladly did so, "For years you had this huge secret you kept from me. The only reason I learned about it was because of the fact that we had to move here, for goodness knows how long. No more secrets. If something is bothering you, I have a right to know."
"Sweetheart, I love you, you know I do. I wish I could have been honest with you from the beginning. I really do. You know as much as you actually do have the right to know now. Surely you realize that I can't divulge everything, nor am I under any obligation to run everything by you first."
"Okay, okay. I do understand that." Lynn grudgingly admitted. "You have to realize that all of this is very tough on me – more than you could possibly understand. So if something is going on that will impact our family, more than it already has – I mean, just look around us – then you have to at least let me know how I can help. Jeff, I understand you can't tell me everything. Based on what you revealed to me last week I'm pretty sure I don't want to know everything, but you can't come home like this then expect me to carry on as if everything is fine. Well, it isn't. I refuse to live in this shoe box, cut off from family, friends, and community; while sublimating my life and well-being to heaven knows what, while I also have to watch whatever this is, do what it's doing to you."
"Lynn, I really don't know what to say. I'm between a rock and a hard place here. I just can't discuss . . . maybe I can in a very roundabout way. Is that acceptable to you?"
"Anything is better than this. As to acceptable, I have the right to reserve judgment on that for now."
"Suppose I were to ask you to do something totally outside of your nature, could you do it?"
"That depends on what this something is. Define it."
"Okay, suppose I tell you that you have to slap Samantha so hard that you knock her down. For no other reason than it'll help us sometime in the future."
"Before answering with a resolute 'no' tell me why I should slap her, what did she do wrong?"
"She did nothing wrong."
"Well, that's just absurd. Naturally I would refuse. I hope you would too, or you're not the man I thought I married." Lynn responded.
That was a knife through his heart.
"Okay, let's add this to the equation. By slapping her so hard she runs to her room crying and won't leave it no matter how much you apologize and plead with her. Had she had a regular day, she would have gone to a dance, met a boy that we wouldn't have liked, then eloped to marry him."
"Then rather than slap her, I would simply have found a reason to not allow her to leave the house."
"Oh, she finds a way. Probably climbing out the window to go to the dance."
"Bars on the window." Lynn had a ready answer for everything.
"This is Samantha, she'd find a way and you know that. Or it could be Brian as the example. It doesn't matter. Whichever child, no matter what you do short of slapping, finds a way to get out of the house and marry somebody we don't approve of. Slapping is the only way to change the events of that night so that they never meet this undesirable person, preventing a disastrous future."
"Wouldn't that ruin my relationship with my child?"
"No, you can say you were sleep-walking or something – whatever – but the relationship is mended and she finds a nice young man and lives happily ever after."
"I'm still not sure I'd slap either of my children when they had not done anything wrong. But . . . " Lynn chose her words carefully, "if I knew in advance that going to that dance would bring about severe consequences that couldn't be repaired in any other way, and that nothing else would keep them home, I'd do it."
Throughout the remainder of the night Jeff was restless, unable to sleep.
In war, he thought, sometimes casualties of innocent people happen – terrible as it is. But in war he never targeted an innocent. Then again, depending on the side for which you are fighting, it could be argued by the other side that they are the innocents and you are the aggressor.
On one assignment he was sent to assassinate a hostile who killed hostages after the ransom had been made. At just the perfect opportunity, with the target's head in the crosshairs of his rifle, the man's wife and children pulled up to the apartment block. Jeff couldn't allow his family to enter their flat and see their husband and father dead like that. He waited for another opportunity, taking it with no regret. There was a world of difference punctuating his feelings about innocent bystanders, even when the person living among them is a monster.
Hours of internal debate brought no resolution. Even his discussion with his wife was, at best, purely academic and of little to no help.
As the hot sun rose over the eastern horizon Jeff decided to speak with Rachael as she precisely knew his predicament.