Traitor

by Jonathan de Shalit

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  1

  ROME, 1983

  The darkness fell out of nowhere. So blue and pristine just a few minutes earlier, the sky turned momentarily purple and then black, as if infused with ink. The warmth of the day, a pleasant enough one in early March, was replaced with a sudden chill. Shadows lengthened and darkened. Dim lights illuminated the street, while the beams of concealed floodlights washed over the walls. And in their glow, the magnificent structures took on the appearance of a grandiose backdrop for a play. The time was 6:02. A young man walked down the narrow street once more, tugging on his coat zipper, which was already pulled up as far as it could go anyway, and again passed by the iron gate of the American embassy. He was alone on the street, which appeared deserted for a moment. The noise of incessant traffic could be heard coming from the Via Veneto, the wide street that the splendid façade of the embassy, located in a building that had once served as a palace, overlooked. Whipped by the cold wind, its red and white stripes glowing in the beam of a spotlight, a large American flag flew at the top of a tall pole. To the young man, the huge building, with all of its windows sealed shut, looked empty and gloomy; but he knew its rooms were filled at that very moment with hundreds of people. He retraced his steps and firmly pressed the intercom buzzer on the gate. Two security cameras installed high above him rotated silently and focused on him.

  “Yes,” came a metallic, nasal voice from the intercom speaker.

  “I’d like to speak to someone from intelligence,” the young man said in fluent English, his voice steady.

  “Consulate hours are ten to two,” the voice responded. “You can come back tomorrow.”

  “I’d like to speak to someone from intelligence,” the young man repeated. “I don’t require consular services and I have no intention of returning tomorrow. I’m here on an important and urgent matter.”

  “What’s your name and what brings you to the embassy?”

  “The who and why are details I’ll reveal only to an intelligence representative.” The young man hesitated for a moment, and then added, “It’s a matter of national security.”

  “Come in, please,” the voice instructed. A brief click was followed by the sound of a metal door swinging open. The young man walked in, and the door closed behind him. He found himself enclosed between high steel walls, the black sky visible above him. It was a small yard, measuring two by three meters. The Rome street disappeared behind the gate that locked behind him. Bright lights shone on him suddenly, and he closed his eyes for a second. “Welcome,” said the metallic voice that had addressed him moments earlier. “You’ll need to remove your jacket and raise your arms. We need a clear view of your hands. A security guard will be with you soon. You need to obey his instructions. Is that clear?”

  “Perfectly clear.”

  Dressed in a suit covered by a leather coat, the guard entered the compound through a door that opened in one of its walls and passed a metal detector over the young man’s body. He then slipped the metal detector into one of his coat pockets and frisked him along the length of his raised arms, over his back, and down his legs. “Come with me,” he said.

  The young man followed the security guard into a structure that looked like a large glass aquarium. He was asked to remove his coat and take off his shoes, belt, and watch. He was then instructed to empty his pockets and pass through a large metal detector. “Where’s your passport?” one of the security guards asked. “I don’t see a passport here,” he continued, looking at the small pile of items the young man had removed from his pockets.

  “I’ll show my passport only to an intelligence officer,” he said.

  “You won’t be going any farther without a passport,” the guard replied in a brusque and stern tone. “You’ll be back on the street in no time.”

  “I left it at the hotel, but I have a driver’s license in my wallet.”

  The guard opened the wallet, pulled out two credit cards and a driver’s license, recorded the license particulars on a form he retrieved from a drawer under the counter, looked again at the credit cards, and returned them and the license to the wallet. He nodded to a second security guard, who then said: “Take your things and follow me.”

  They entered the embassy building through a side door and walked down a long neon-lit corridor. There was no one else around, and their footsteps echoed down the passageway. “Wait here,” the security guard said after they entered a small, illuminated room, bare and devoid of any superfluous items. It contained nothing but a metal table, two chairs, a small refrigerator that reminded the young man of a hotel minibar, an image of a bald eagle embossed on the wall, and an American flag standing in the corner.

  2

  Dressed in a dark suit, his graying hair a little too long and somewhat unkempt, the man who entered the room looked fifty or so. He approached the young man, who half rose from his chair, shook his hand, and, with the young man still motioning to stand, said, “Sit, sit, please.

  “My name is John Roberts, and I’m the deputy consul,” the man introduced himself, clearing his throat but only partially concealing the irony in his voice. He placed a writing pad on the desk straight in front of him. “And how may I help you?” he asked, his face lighting up all of a sudden.

  “I asked to meet with an intelligence representative,” the young man responded, inhaling deeply like someone who was about to keep talking.

  “This is an embassy, and we are all State Department officials,” Roberts said. “But I can assure you that whatever you have to say will be passed on to the very person who needs to hear it. Trust me, take it easy, and I’ll be able to assist you. We at the consular division handle such matters routinely and in a highly professional manner. Don’t worry. Would you like something to drink?”

  “Cold water, mineral water if possible. Thank you.”

  Roberts walked over to the small refrigerator in the corner of the room and retrieved a bottle of water and a plastic cup. “Look,” he said, “procedure requires us to begin with having you complete the following forms in the most detailed and comprehensive manner possible.” He opened one of the desk drawers and removed a pile of questionnaires printed on greenish paper. “I’d also like you to hand over all documents in your possession—passport, driving license, student card, whatever you have . . .” He retrieved several sheets of paper from the pile and placed them in front of the young man across the desk from him. “Fill them in. No need to hurry. We’ll speak afterward. I have time. You, too. Do a good job.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair.

  The young man reached for the pile of forms, glanced over them, and, his voice suddenly hoarse, said: “May I have a pen, please?”

  3

  An hour and fifty minutes later, Roberts collected the forms. The young man sat back in his chair and took another sip from the cup of water. He was pale and appeared extremely tired—on the verge of exhaustion. Roberts lifted the telephone receiver by his side, dialed four numbers, and said: “Bring us a pot of coffee, please. Black, strong. Yes, now.” He flipped through the forms, which were now filled with tight, neat handwriting. Details upon details upon details. Names, addresses, phone numbers, names of parents, schools attended, beginning with elementary school, academic studies, places of employment, military service, acquaintance
s, hobbies, favorite books, membership in organizations, social activities, overseas travel, relatives and friends, particulars, names, dates. “Okay . . . ,” he said, placing the forms on the desk, opening the top button of his shirt, loosening his tie, and then hesitating for a moment while glancing at the papers in front of him. “Okay, Alon, let’s start talking.”

  “To be honest,” Alon said, after realizing that Roberts expected him to say something, “to be honest, I first thought of approaching you about a year and a half ago, toward the end of 1981. As I’ve just written down, there on the forms,” he continued, nodding in the direction of the greenish papers, “I served as commander of a small shore-located naval base, with the rank of lieutenant. The navy is a small corps, but significant nevertheless. Almost all of the Israel Defense Forces’ operational plans include a naval element and perspective—troop transportation, search and rescue, intelligence and gunfire support, or even simply to be ready to counter an enemy response via the sea. Furthermore, we played a major role at that time in operations against the Palestinian terrorists in Lebanon. Naval commandos carried out operations of one kind or another almost every week, and the activities of the entire corps were focused on each one—truly the entire corps. So even the commander of a beach station was exposed to such operations, sometimes as the result of a specific mission he was required to carry out, and sometimes just to be in the picture in the event of unforeseen developments.

  “We believe, and justifiably so,” he went on, “that in order to think big—in order to take everything into consideration, and in order to make educated decisions, one has to see the complete picture. Okay, I wasn’t always aware of every detail; but for a young officer in charge of a small and pretty marginal unit, I knew a lot.”

  The young man paused for a moment. A tremor, unnoticeable, went through Roberts as he tried to regain the focus he had lost for a moment. He continued to listen, a look of concentration and interest on his face, while jotting down notes on the writing pad. Since the entire session was being filmed and recorded by a concealed audio-video system, he didn’t have to write down every word; experience had taught him, however, that such meetings always yielded extensive information. Usually random and insignificant, the details were sometimes important, and it was good to highlight various points and references by hand—for help later when writing up the summary report. It was important, too, for the walk-in—the term used to refer to someone who knocks on an embassy door and asks to meet with intelligence officials—to know that he was being taken seriously and that his statements were being noted. And yet, something about the manner in which this session had started appeared to indicate that something important was afoot, that this guy was serious. He couldn’t put his finger on it exactly. His candor, perhaps, his straightforwardness. The fact that he was proposing a simple and clear-cut deal: Invest in me now, for an extended period of time, and you’ll get your money’s worth in the end. I have potential. My experiences to date—military service as an officer, integration into the circle of Israeli parliamentary aides, academic excellence at university—are testimony to this potential. You will enjoy the fruits of its realization. Perhaps his self-confidence, the calculated coolness with which he was crossing the line of treason, the frozen gaze in his eyes were what caused Roberts to sit up and listen more intently, awakening in him a latent instinct of sorts, a delicate flutter, a pleasant and evocative thrill, one he had thought would never again course through him.

  “One day I received a top-secret envelope,” the young man continued, “the kind that has two red stripes printed in the corner—for my eyes only. As base commander, I was responsible for opening the envelope, studying its contents, and keeping it in my personal safe. The document bore the title ‘Large Pine—The Naval Campaign.’ Drawn up by the navy’s Operations Division, the document offered a detailed description of the role of all the corps’ units in the upcoming war. It left me astounded. I simply couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a plan for a complete takeover of Lebanon. To this end, the navy’s role included imposing a siege on the Beirut port, artillery and missile fire on targets from the sea, the defense of supply routes, deployment for the purpose of facing off against the Syrian naval forces in the arena, readiness to counter efforts by terrorists to infiltrate Israel from the sea—everything, absolutely everything. I have to say it troubled me. It troubled me a great deal. I was disturbed by the divide between the declarations concerning keeping the terrorist threat away from our northern border and the megalomaniacal plans to occupy Lebanon in its entirety and take control of its capital. As I saw it, and I knew so despite my youth and inexperience at the time, someone appeared to have lost his mind. An insane plan. And in a moment of desperation I thought to myself that you—yes, you—need to know of the existence of such plans. That you would realize we had lost it. That you’d have the power to prevent us from doing something foolish.”

  “And . . . ,” Roberts asked, “did you do anything about it?”

  “I copied the order and I kept the copy in the safe of my small office on the base, too, and later I shredded it. And no, I didn’t do anything, I moved on, I must have pushed it to the back of my mind; and a few months went by, June arrived and the war broke out and, you know, it was too late by then . . .” he said, his voice trailing off.

  “Yes,” Roberts said, “your situation in Lebanon, now, too—how should I put it—is a complex one.”

  The young man sitting across from him blinked and quickly ran a hand over his eyes, seemingly inadvertently.

  “It’s been almost two years since the war,” Roberts added. “What made you decide to come to us now?”

  Ashen-faced, Alon hesitated. He tried to pour some water from the plastic bottle into the cup by his side, only to sheepishly find it empty. Roberts went over to the small refrigerator, retrieved a second bottle of water, and poured some into the empty cup. Alon sat up in his chair and said: “You are the world’s strongest superpower. You may not know it yet, but in the not-too-distant future, less than a decade maybe, the Soviet Union will fall apart. You’re focused constantly on the Soviet Union’s tremendous military might, but I’m looking at its economy. The Soviet superpower’s economy is rotten, sick, a wreck. The Soviet Union is going to collapse, and you will be left as the world’s sole superpower. History,” he declared, his eyes bright, “history is about to change, a lot sooner than most of the world thinks. And we, in Israel, need you. Your protection, your support, your guidance. You need to help us help ourselves, help us overcome our terrible fears and inclination to self-destruct. And I want to help you do so. I’m young; I’m resourceful—very resourceful, if I may say so of myself. I can go far. I’m already a parliamentary aide. I’ll be a ministerial official within a year, in the bureau of one of the ministers. Within ten, fifteen years, I could be your man in the most strategic locations. I’ll be there; I know it. I’m smart and ambitious. And you can assist my rise up the ladder. Guide me, wield all your powers—to the knowledge of no one, of course. Invest in me now, and together we’ll go far.”

  The young man ended abruptly. His slim frame looked deflated. His dark eyes had narrowed, and appeared to Roberts to be slanted and cold. Roberts, too, suddenly felt exhausted by the deluge of words from the young man, who had spoken and spoken and tried so hard to demonstrate his broad perspective, his maturity, his ability to lucidly analyze global processes. He could feel the weariness spreading slowly behind his eyes. He had seen so many like him. Endeavoring. Groveling. But that same thing that had been echoing in his consciousness whispered to him to shake it off and fight through the exhaustion. Perhaps—after so long, way too long—luck had finally dealt him an ace.

  There was a soft knock at the door. A young man in a suit, his fair hair meticulously combed, entered the room hesitantly. Visibly nervous, he was carrying a tray bearing a pot of coffee, two mugs, a small milk jug, and a few packets of sugar and artificial sweetener. Roberts gestured for him to lay the tray on the table
, and the young man did so with somewhat shaky hands, softly mumbling, “Sir.” He then exited in a hurry, taking care to lightly shut the door. Fucking cadets, Roberts thought to himself ungraciously. Brings coffee, and is slow in doing so, and is all worked up as if he’s about to cross the border into East Berlin. I’m too old for this shit.

  4

  Roberts knew that this was the point at which the meeting should come to an end. The walk-in was squeezed dry. He, too, felt drained. He needed a deeper understanding of certain things. And for that he needed time. Time with himself. Time during which one’s thoughts could swirl almost haphazardly in the mind, circling, crashing into one another, and then instantaneously take on form and volume. He needed to achieve a moment of enlightenment. Who was this young man? Why was he really there? What was driving him? What was his mind, as sharp and impressive as it might be, seeking? And what was his soul after? How could he be of service? What was he worth right now? What chance did he have of becoming someone truly significant in the future, someone with real and intimate access to actual secrets? How much investment, if any at all, was he worth? How long would it take to maintain and develop a relationship with him, until it stabilized? He was going to have to decide if this young man had any value.

  “Okay, we need to end here now—this session, at least,” Roberts said. “I will pass everything on to the relevant parties. It may take a while before we get back to you.”

  Alon nodded.

  “I, or someone on my behalf, will contact you at some point,” Robert continued. “I, or someone on my behalf, will use the name Alan Stone, okay? We won’t meet with you in Israel—unless we have a special or critical need to do so. When we talk again, we’ll meet at one of our embassies overseas, in keeping with the options available to you. Preferably in Europe. We won’t use the word ‘embassy’ over the phone. It’ll be enough to say, ‘Our office in Rome,’ ‘Our office in Paris,’ and so on. Got it?”