Traitor
Page 29
His commander was right. The loss of Cobra was a serious blow. The Israelis had exposed and eliminated one of their best resources. Agents like that were few and far between. But agents like Viper were an even rarer breed. Alexander did know—you couldn’t win every battle. Sometimes you got hit hard, but you still needed the strength and resilience to get to your feet again. The defeat in the case of Cobra was tempered by the impressive achievement of safeguarding Viper. The Israeli security services would rest on their laurels now. As far as they were concerned, they had chopped off the head of the snake, without realizing that another still slithered there among the rocks. His commander loved that imagery, and Alexander had learned to appreciate it, too. The math was simple: Viper would go on spying for them. They would continue, as always, to remain one step ahead of their bitter rivals in the Israeli Shin Bet. Yes, he thought to himself, this vodka is well deserved.
The head of the directorate and the SVR commander sat there in the pleasant silence, their bodies warmed by the icy beverage. The last bit of light filtering through the wooden shutters gradually died out. The purple shadows darkened. A welcome weariness washed through them. The SVR chief’s slender back remained upright despite the unrelenting pain. And only his sharp intelligence fired a spark in his eyes, his brain already planning the battles of tomorrow.
About the Author
Jonathan de Shalit is the pseudonym of a former high-ranking member of the Israeli intelligence community. His books must pass a rigid vetting process, including the approval of the Governmental Ministers’ Committee. De Shalit has translated into Hebrew the American novel A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter, and John le Carré’s autobiography, The Pigeon Tunnel.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Keter Books, Ltd.
English language translation copyright © 2017 by Jonathan de Shalit Books Ltd.
Originally published in Israel in the Hebrew language in 2015 by Keter Books Ltd.
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The Library of Congress has catalogued this as follows:
Names: De Shalit, Jonathan, author. | Cohen, Steven (Translator), translator.
Title: Traitor : a thriller / Jonathan de Shalit ; translated by Steven Cohen.
Other titles: Boged. English
Description: First edition. | New York : Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2018. | First published in Hebrew under the title Boged (Yerushalayim : Keter, 2015).
Identifiers: LCCN 2017019334 (print) | LCCN 2017031277 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501170508 (Ebook) | ISBN 9781501170485 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Traitors—Fiction. | Moles (Spies)—Fiction. | United States. Central Intelligence Agency—Fiction. | Israel—Politics and government—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Thrillers. | FICTION / Political. | FICTION / Espionage. | GSAFD: Spy stories. | Suspense fiction.
Classification: LCC PJ5055.19.E2235 (ebook) | LCC PJ5055.19.E2235 B6413 2018 (print) | DDC 892.43/6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017019334
ISBN 978-1-5011-7048-5
ISBN 978-1-5011-7050-8 (eBook)