Hatchet

by Israel Levy

  A google map image of the Mediterranean Sea appeared on screen. Abraham zoomed in to Libya and the camp, situated about twenty kilometers south of the shore in the heart of a desert region. A satellite map showed the camp’s exact location and structure in high resolution. It was so detailed they could spot people, jeeps and tents.

  Next, they were presented with an exact simulation of the camp, incorporated into video footage.

  “As some of you may know, Doron team from the Matkal unit spent time in the field and provided us with satellite images that show a camp of tents and the movement of people. So far, those findings have not supported the information we have concerning a computerized command and control station on site, wired through a Russian satellite to headquarters and banks around the world.

  “That sort of operation requires a computer room that can house an especially large server and highly advanced equipment which we did not think could exist in a tent camp in the middle of the desert.

  “However, information given to us by Aisha, by the collaborator and by Gadiel completes the puzzle.

  “We learned a fortified computer room exists hidden beneath the tent camp, but that only a limited number of people know how to enter it. The deputies do not know where the entrance is located as it varies according to a random schedule, entrusted to and determined by the organization’s religious Imam. Even the new leader only knows about the change of entrance two hours before it takes place.”

  Abraham then went on to describe the target of the action. It is clear that transmission orders to the banks, which hold the organizations’ funds, can only be carried out through the server in the camp’s computer room.

  Should a transfer or order of any kind reach one of the banks from any other server, without the double code known only to the commander, the banks are instructed to issue a complete lockdown, delete all existing orders and unlock a secret file that contains new instructions. Orders will then be transmitted from a different location, which the Mossad has not been able to identify, nor has it been able to discover the code.

  “The goal of our action is to establish lookout posts in an attempt to identify the point of entry in real time. Should we locate the entrance, a swift takeover will be ordered, as quietly as possible, with the intention of seizing the commander alive. In case of resistance or threat to one of our operatives, a kill order will be executed.

  “If we fail to locate the entrance point and to obtain the access code, the computer squad will try to crack the code via satellite with our computer center here in Israel.

  “Keep in mind, we have only this one opportunity to carry out this operation, the result of more than five years’ undercover work.” (“ Five years?!”)

  No one said a word. They all felt the import of the enormous task they were to undertake.

  “I know you understand how essential this mission is. If we fail, we do not know if and when we will have another chance to strike our enemies in such a way that will damage their operations for years to come.”

  “Please pay attention now to your assignments,” the Matkal deputy commander joined in.

  “Yaniv and Keren fly to Paris and from there to Libya. You join our people who are present at the site under the pretense of an archeological tour sent by the Sorbonne. Three SUV’s will be at your disposal. Your cover story is prepared down to the last details.”

  He paused for a moment to make sure everyone was paying attention.

  “Aaron and Gila will arrive at the Libyan capital using a different route, we won’t go into its details here. There, you will wait in a hotel room, arranged already by Yaniv and Keren, until you receive the go order from Hatchet. The three SUV’s will arrive at the hotel and transport you to a location, the coordinates of which you will be given later. You are to move as soon as you get the order from Hatchet. Aaron and Gila will be given instructions in the field and execute their mission, which involves operation of the computers. Later, the vehicles will be used to retreat to the beach. Yaniv and Keren, you are Hatchet One. Aaron and Gila, you are Hatchet One Experts. You will be given more details in a separate debriefing.

  “Hatchet Two is the observation and takeover squad, which consists of Naomi, Ziv, and two other soldiers from Yaron’s Matkal unit. Naomi and Ziv will fly directly to Marseille. The navy Seals will be on a different flight. Prearranged taxis with our drivers will pick you up and take you to the port where you will board a ‘Nigerian’ crate ship, called the “Louisiana Two”.

  “The ship has been sailing for a few days. A command room has been constructed on it and it will hold all the equipment and the operational teams. It will sail for about half an hour more once you reach the Libyan coast. Gilad’s Seals team, Udi, Adam and Peter, will swim to shore and consolidate a beachhead. The rest will arrive in the Morena boats. The Seals will secure the beach until the end of the action and will wait to join the retreating forces. Team Adam will operate under Yaron’s command. You are Hatchet Three. The front command base on board the ship will be Hatchet.

  “Throughout the action we’ll have search and rescue teams from Unit 669 and Matkal unit on a missile boat equipped with a helicopter and more ships in a radius further out to sea ready to intervene in case there is a need for rescue under fire. F15’s will provide cover from the air and will patrol the international airspace. We’ll also be working in cooperation with the Sixth Fleet who will be on standby, ready to intervene in certain specific scenarios throughout the operation. Hopefully, we won’t need them.

  “As I said, each team will receive specifics in a separate briefing.”

  The navy Seals commander stood up and said “Remember, the entire action, from start to finish is conducted on radio silence. When it’s completed and everyone has retreated back to the ship, the F15’s will swoop in and destroy the target. This will take place if the mission fails too, but it cannot fail. I hope that is clear!”

  The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. On screen was starlight footage of the camp.

  “People,” the Chief of Staff rose to his feet. “You have performed many tasks, all important and vital to the safety of Israel. But at times, there are certain missions that can affect the course of history. This is one of those missions. For the first time ever we have the ability to cut off these terrorist organizations from the extensive funds they have at their disposal. We will not only hurt them financially, but also severely damage their morale and send a clear signal to those countries that support the Palestinian terror to keep their distance. The Security Cabinet believes the success of this action will bring about a dramatic change for which the citizens of Israel and the free world have been waiting. Failure might cause the opposite, so it is simply not an option. I wish us all good luck and expect to see every one of you at the debriefing session when the operation has concluded. You will get your plane tickets shortly. All gear will be waiting for you on the ship or at the pickup spots in Libya. Good luck.”

  Abraham wrapped up the meeting. “Good luck.”

  Chapter 11

  Naomi decided not to go by the office (“Leibowitz will understand”) and instead went to visit her mother.

  “I just felt like sitting down for a cup of coffee with you.”

  “Noomik, you keep surprising me. When did you become such a good daughter?”

  After two hours of coffee and listening to her mother talking about her various ailments, she went to Shuli’s.

  “Hey, Naomi! This is a surprise, seeing you in the middle of the day like this.”

  “Shuli, I have to go away. Don’t be nervous, please, but if something happens to me, take care of Mom.”

  “Naomi, what are you talking about?”

  “Shuli, you know I can’t say any more. Everything will be fine, I’m sure. But just in case something happens, promise me you’ll look after her.”

  Shuli’s eyes be
gan to turn red. It took all her strength not to burst into tears. Naomi looked at her, fighting too, to keep her composure, and they said goodbye with a long embrace.

  At the airport, she spotted Ziv among the passengers crowding the various airline counters and went up to him, ignoring Yaron and his guys. She almost didn’t recognize the navy men at the other counters dressed in civilian clothes. She obtained her boarding pass and soon they were on the plane, sitting next to each other, with the rest of team scattered around (“They look like the security guards”). Some of the undercover security guards chosen for this flight had been Matkal soldiers themselves, and were therefore warned not to converse with the team members they might recognize from their military service.

  “All passengers are kindly requested to return to your seats, bring them to an upright position, and buckle your seatbelts as we prepare for landing,” Naomi was woken by the flight attendant’s voice (“How can I even be sleeping with all this stress?”).

  They landed in Marseille, went through passport control, and entered the arrivals hall. The place was swarming with people speaking Arabic (“They all look to me like terrorists”). One of the ‘terrorists’ came up to Naomi and she tensed as he approached her.

  “Hatchet,” he said. He took Ziv’s bags and hers and led them to a taxi that was waiting outside. She saw Team Yaron getting into two other cabs. It was a short, quiet trip to the port. The car pulled up to the ship gangplank and Naomi saw its name, the “Louisiana Two” in big, bold letters. Some seemingly local porters hung out lazily by the gangplank (“Security guards”), and Naomi also spotted a second circle of security in the form of snipers lying flat on top of containers stacked in an orderly formation on the dock. They boarded the ship and were greeted by Abraham.

  “Each pair gets a sleeping cabin. Inside your cabins you will find your equipment, weapons, vest and the rest. Go over it thoroughly. We have a few solid hours of sailing ahead of us, so I suggest you use it for sleeping.”

  The sky looked like a big, black blanket spread above the ship, dotted with a thousand twinkling lights. Naomi stood at the bow, leaning against the railing as the boat steered its way through the foamy waves. The sound of groaning metal emanated from the ship as the sea worked its power on the vessel. The lights of Marseille vanished in the distant horizon.

  The wind blew her hair and coated her face with salty water.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” she turned and saw Abraham behind her.

  “I was just trying to make a mental recap of everything I’ve been through since that first day we met at the office, so many ups and downs, so many experiences, such a huge transformation in my life. I was trying to decide how I feel about everything that has happened to me.”

  To her surprise, he sat down next to her. He emanated personal warmth.

  “I know what you mean. I sometimes ask myself who gave me the right to intrude into people’s lives and change them so thoroughly, to affect them so dramatically, but I have faith in what we do and that gives me the strength to demand that others contribute to the effort, even if they don’t fully realize what it is they’re getting into at the beginning.”

  Naomi kept her eyes on him. She had the feeling there was more he wanted to say, something that was troubling him, something he wanted to apologize for. She couldn’t quite figure it out but certainly agreed that his entrance into her life changed its course utterly and completely, a course that had been so clear and rigid: making her way up the office ranks, becoming a named partner at the firm, getting married to some Tel Aviv yuppie, living in Florentine.

  Her train of thought was interrupted by a seven meter wave that rose and crashed back in the water in a mighty splash and washed over the deck. She and Abraham held on to the railing as tightly as they could. The sea was becoming stormier. The captain steered the bow into the waves, cutting through them, the boat rising and falling, its decks flushed with seawater.

  “I think we better go inside,” said Abraham.

  “I’ll stay out a bit longer, if you don’t mind. I’ve never experienced anything this awesome.”

  “Alright, just stay safe. You know you have a job to do.”

  “Of course,” she smiled.

  Abraham turned to the sleeping quarters, treading carefully so as not to slide across the slippery deck, his hand tightly on the rail.

  Naomi stayed out on the bow. With the boat behind her and nothing but the dark sea ahead, with its white foam ‘swans’ and salty water spraying her face, she felt as if she was challenging an angry giant, and conquering it.

  After about an hour she made her way inside, leaning against the metal railing, swaying with the ship’s every movement, careful not to slip on the wet deck, her face showered with ocean spray. She forcefully opened the metal door, entered the corridor and made her way to the cabin, soaking wet. Ziv was asleep in the bottom bunk, snoring, and she noticed he went to bed with his clothes and shoes on (“Crazy”). As she looked at him, she thought about how he was one of the few people in her life she could trust totally. She took off her wet clothes and entered the tiniest, narrowest shower she’d ever used.

  She got dressed, but remained barefoot. She couldn’t sleep, though she knew she should, to store strength for what she was about to face. She kept waking up, checking the gear that lay at the foot of the bunk bed. Ziv was fast asleep (“I really envy him, being able to stay so calm and sleep like that before a mission”). She checked the laptop, the binoculars, the starlight enhancer. Her weapon was clean (“Fresh from the oven, the only smudge on this clean barrel is clearly from the calibration shooting”). Again she tried to fall asleep and again woke up to check the map and make sure she had the arrival route memorized down to the last detail (“I know I’ll have the GPS, but still, best to be on the safe side”).

  Before she finally succumbed to sleep, her mind wandered to Moshe. She saw him at the beach and on that last dinner they’d shared (“Enough, when will I cut him from my thoughts?”), before falling into a deep sleep.

  She woke from the touch of Ziv’s hand and felt the ship moving at a slower pace.

  “Naomi, it’s time to get ready.”

  She was up on her feet in two seconds, she jumped into the bathroom, took a quick shower and then she and Ziv helped each other apply the yellow and brown face paint to match the desert camouflage clothes they’d been provided. They collected their gear. Her backpack was quite heavy but it was nothing she couldn’t handle, and they stepped out to the corridor.

  The rest of the team emerged from their cabins onto the deck. It was four in the afternoon, the sun was at an angle towards the west. The sea had calmed and the deck was bustling with the navy men. They removed the covers from the Morena boats and readied the lowering cranes. Naomi was impressed by the way they did everything without uttering a word. Everyone knew his exact role at any given moment. A cool breeze blew, sprinkled with sea spray. All the teams were dressed in desert camouflage. Yaron gestured for them to gather and they formed a huddle around him.

  “Hatchet Two will be split into two boats. You, you and I take this one,” he pointed to Naomi and one of his soldiers.

  “Ziv and the others take this one. Two skippers will be joining us. The Hatchet Three crew will have a head start to seize and secure the beachhead.”

  At five p.m. the ship stopped and dropped anchor. Gilad, Adam, Peter and Udi descended into the water in wetsuits, equipped with weapons and radios. Two ‘Pigs’ were also lowered unto the water – two-man underwater vessels. The four divers sat in the ‘pigs’, started their engines, and were propelled forward towards the coastline, disappearing under water, a strip of white foam trailing behind them.

  From the moment the operation was ‘on’, tense silence came over the deck. Hatchet Two clustered by the boats, which had already been loaded with the equipment, waiting for the go order. Three hours passed before they heard a voic
e on their radio earpieces.

  “Hatchet, this is Hatchet Three, do you read?”

  “Hatchet here,” said the deputy Matkal unit commander’s voice.

  “Hatchet Three here. We have control of the meet point. The coast is clear and secured, over. Awaiting Hatchet Two.”

  “Hatchet here, calling Hatchet Two, over.”

  “This is Hatchet Two,” said Yaron.

  “This is Hatchet. You’re clear to go, over.”

  “Roger that.”

  The Morenos were safely lowered to sea level, lightly smacking the side of the ship on their way down. A navy Seal was stationed inside each boat as its skipper. The boats were detached from the cranes as they touched water and the skippers brought them around to the bottom of the rope ladder next to which Hatchet Two were waiting.

  As Yaron gave the order Naomi looked up to the ship’s control room and saw Abraham’s concerned face watching them. She nodded at him.

  They had plenty of practice climbing down a rope ladder to the skiffs and performed the maneuver quickly. They positioned themselves in the boats and sailed to the south, slowly becoming engulfed by darkness. After about half an hour the skippers turned off the engines and pulled the boats from the water as they rocked in the soft waves. Yaron put on his starlight enhancing device and the rest of the team followed suit. Naomi looked towards the shore and saw the infrared flicker that marked the beachhead. They lowered their oars into the water and rowed together in synchronized rhythm, leaning against the boat’s smooth, round edges.

  They were propelled forward onto the beach by the waves and felt the bottom of their boat touch the sandy beach. Yaron and Naomi jumped off and ran to shore, falling flat and securing the perimeter. Another flicker revealed Gilad’s location on top a small sandy hill.

  Yaron made a hunched sprint towards Gilad and after exchanging a few hushed words ran, crouching, to shore and gestured for the others to start moving. The two navy Seals, with the help of Adam and Gilad, pulled the Morena boats onto shore and planted them amid the bushes covering the sandy hills.