Hatchet

by Israel Levy

  The box did not remain on the table.

  Returning to work seemed impossible, but she knew that she must if she was to come to grips with all that had happened and maintain her sanity.

  “Good to have you back,” Yael welcomed her warmly.

  “Morning, friends. Come bring me up to speed, please.”

  She found herself drowning in paperwork and law books.

  It took several long days before she had a chance to unwind.

  “Shuli, want to meet at the Victoria?”

  “I sure do. And I’m sure you have a lot to tell me, after a whole month, you jerk!”

  Naomi smiled to her herself. It was good to be home.

  She ended up making an involuntary detour on her way home.

  The beach was empty. She got out of the car with the beach bag she always kept there, opened the trunk and took out the oil painting. She started walking towards the water. Plastic bags were stuck in the bushes, flapping in the wind, like a contemporary art installation. The waves crashed on the beach and a crab scampered towards the reef.

  She stopped at the water’s edge, placing the painting by her side, and sat down on the sand, letting it fill the gaps between her toes, leaning her head against her knees.

  Images raced through her mind like frames from a high speed film: Moshe in the water, her sister, the Victoria all blown up, the darkness and the skiff cutting through the waves, Musa’s face on the computer screen as he descended to the computer room, him in her arms taking his final breaths. She let all the held back tears flow and they washed over her face.

  Alone on the beach, amid the shrubs, with her memories and the waves, the tears streamed down her cheeks. She reached in the bag, took out the book with Jabotinsky’s face on the cover and threw it into the sea, shouting “Why?! God damn it, I don’t understand why!”

  She grabbed the painting, looked at the naked image of herself, and was about to chuck it in the water when she heard her phone ringing, insistently, until she finally picked up.

  “Naomi, what time are we meeting?”

  “Ten.”

  “Okay.”

  She brought the painting back with her to the car and drove home to get ready for a night out.

  The loud music greeted her as she entered the pub. Slowly she started to relax. She turned to the bar and saw Shuli was already there, waiting for her.

  “Two mugs of Guinness,” Shuli requested from the smiling bartender.

  “Make that three.” Naomi recognized the voice but wouldn’t look in its direction, positive everyone could hear her heart thumping loudly in her chest.

  “I’m sorry, have we met?” Shuli turned to him.

  “Shuli, I’d like you meet Moshe,” said Naomi without turning her gaze.

  He bent down and kissed her on the cheek.

  “Oh, the ghost has finally come out of hiding,” said Shuli.

  Naomi and Moshe burst out in uncontrollable laughter. Shuli didn’t see what was so funny. Moshe put his arms around Naomi and she whispered in his ear, “You still have a lot of explaining to do.”

  “We have our whole lives ahead of us for that,” he said and kissed her on the lips.

  Naomi rested her head against his chest.

  “Careful,” he whispered in her ear. “I got this bad blow and am still a little sore.”

  “You must have had it coming,” she smiled.

  Both their phones chimed at the same time. They read their text messages and looked at each other. “We need you tomorrow at Yirmiyahu,” they read out loud at the same time and the smiles on their faces turned to relieved laughs”.

  “Shuli, I’m sorry, we have to go.”

  “Never mind, I’ll tell Yair to come over.”

  “We’ll take my car?”

  “Sure.”

  They were absorbed into the hustle and bustle of the city.

  The waves crashed on the sand, carrying the book back to land. The little crab made its way back to its hiding place in the bushes, darting across the wet pages of the book, once again the sole occupant on the beach.

  The End.

  About the Author

  Israel Levy served as a commander in a secret unit in the IDF and as a security officer for El-Al Airlines. He is a graduate of the Technion University in Haifa, Israel is a black belt in Karate (8 Dan).

  Levy is an expert in marketing and branding, a creative director, an author and a poet who has written two volumes of poetry and collection of short stories, one Zen insights illustrated book and a novel. Hatchet is his second novel.

  Message from the Author

  Israel’s reality and the fight against terrorism is full of extraordinary stories about secret warriors, Mossad agents and special units who take their experiences to the grave without exposing them to anyone. Sometimes it is one of these events that actually takes their life. This book attempts to honor these secret warriors. The names and details are fiction but are based on real events and real people, allowing the reader entrance into an ongoing, sometimes secret war, in which terror is being fought moment by moment.

  Before you go, I’d like to ask you for a little favor.

  If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review on its Amazon book page.

  Independent authors such as myself, depend on reviews to attract new readers to our books. I would greatly appreciate it if you’d share your experience of reading this book by leaving your review on Amazon. It doesn’t have to be long. A sentence or two would do nicely.