“That’s what I was afraid of. I trust you because Bakr is the one who planned the bombing at the restaurant where your sister Hanna was. I heard she never recovered from it. That’s too bad, Hanna was a lovely girl.”
I could feel a buzzing between my ears.
“Do you think that’s all it’s going to take?”
“What about this: do you know about your brother Eli’s and his partner Max’s business dealings? They’ve brokered loans on behalf of a company named Baltic Invest to the tune of at least ten million euros. Baltic Invest is owned by an Israeli businessman, Benjamin Hararin. His affairs are under investigation in Israel, because Baltic Invest launders a hell of a lot of drug money for the Russian mob. We have copies of all the money transfers. They look really ugly. We also have photographs, videotapes and audio tapes.”
Dan smiled as if he were remembering a funny story.
“It’s strange how you think you know people but you really don’t. I was under the impression that Eli and Max were faithful family men, but when I saw a couple of videotapes, I had to adjust my views. It’s so easy to stray when you’re far from home.”
I clenched my teeth so hard they ground.
“Does Eli know where the money comes from?”
“Probably not. He was just greedy, like the rest of us. But that won’t have much bearing if this all goes public.”
My shoulder-muscles tensed, rock-hard.
“But it doesn’t have to,” Dan continued. “It would be easy for us to arrange to have one branch of a larger investigation left uninvestigated if…”
If I had felt a momentary empathy for Dan, all I wanted to do now was wipe the self-satisfied smirk from his face.
“Let’s go for a little walk,” I said.
Dan looked skywards and spread out his arms.
“I’ve always liked the Helsinki rain, there’s something special about it.”
The guard sitting in the hut buzzed open the gate and we turned towards Malminrinne.
“One more thing,” I said. “There wasn’t any terrorist attack being planned, was there?”
Dan stopped.
“Do you think Bakr and Saijed had changed their ways and started loving Jews? The attack was just a matter of time. But I know what you mean. No, there was no attack being planned. Yet.”
“What about the visit of the foreign minister?”
Dan smiled.
“Don’t you get it yet?”
“Not everything. Tell me.”
“The most important thing was to get Bakr and Saijed dead or alive, preferably alive, because they knew a lot. We also wanted to send out a message that Israel does not forget, that the killers of Israeli citizens never escape vengeance. Thirdly, we wanted to wake you up from your daydreams. Can’t you see how you and your leaders are being fooled? Everyone feels sorry for the Palestinian children being killed by cruel Israeli soldiers. In the Nordic countries, Israel is a dirty word. Your leaders don’t even want to meet with ours, but when a Palestinian terrorist shows up here, the same men embrace him with open arms and expressions of sympathy. You’ve offered safe haven to the terrorists who kill our citizens.”
The Dan I saw in front of me was someone I didn’t know. This Dan wasn’t the least bit funny; he was a fanatic whose opinion there was no point trying to change.
“Our children are killed too,” Dan went on. “They’re blown up on their school buses, they’re shot and stabbed. The only reason people hate us is because Israel has decided that its citizens will never be slaughtered like sheep again.”
“That’s the only reason?” I replied.
“It’s time you opened your eyes. Some day your children and your decision-makers may be the victims. Then you’ll be begging for our help. No, our foreign minister was definitely not coming here.”
“Why the whole charade, then?”
“It gave our men a good excuse to come help with the operation. Plus, we wanted to get some real fireworks while we were at it. Thanks to the visit, we’ll get some show-stopping headlines: ‘Israeli foreign minister cancels visit due to terrorist threat’, ‘Terrorists plan attack on synagogue’, ‘Terrorist strike thwarted in the nick of time’. Lots of headlines, lots of controversy.”
“You planted weapons and explosives in Tagi Hamid’s basement and Laya’s apartment and framed them as terrorists,” I said.
“Of course. The whole is made up of parts, and all the parts have to fit together.”
Dan took a step towards me and held out his hand.
“You’re a Jew, in your heart you have to understand. I protect my citizens the way you do yours.”
I looked at the extended hand, but I didn’t shake it.
“Say hello to everyone for me.”
“Have you forgotten that you’re under arrest?”
Dan had already managed to take a step away from me. He stopped and turned. There was a gun in his hand.
“A gun in the synagogue, very naughty,” I said. “And one more thing: you guys got screwed. The brilliant Mossad has been royally duped.”
Dan’s carefree expression warped into a strained smile.
“Do you think I believe you?”
“Your colleagues were apprehended near the airport. At the time of arrest, the woman was wearing an El Al flight attendant’s uniform and the man was posing as a co-pilot.”
Dan was momentarily silent. He realized that something had gone wrong.
“So what? They’re both prepared to live, die and suffer for Israel. They’ve been raised and trained for it.”
“In this case they won’t suffer for Israel, but because of your stupidity. We also found the package you were mailing. The man you thought was Bakr is not Bakr, and the man who fell from the bridge was not Saijed.”
Dan’s face was like a mask. I had said something he couldn’t take in. He snapped, almost angrily: “You’re lying!”
“In reality your Bakr is an Algerian-born drug trafficker named Abbas Musaw. The man you thought was Saijed is his compatriot Salah Madri, also a drug trafficker. Both have been identified. They were in Finland negotiating drug deals with Tagi and Ali Hamid. Laya was in on it too.”
I could feel the rain start to trickle down my back from the collar of my coat. I didn’t let it bother me; Dan had it worse.
“The Hamid cousins needed money to start up their narcotics business. One of them came up with the idea that they could get it from Mossad, as long as the bait was big enough. They sold you a bill of goods, claimed that Bakr and Saijed were hiding out in Finland. Your helper Tagi knew that the men were suspected of having left Denmark. Finland was a good match for the scenario. After that, there was no shortage of funds. Unfortunately for him, someone from Mossad got a little too excited and decided to put on a real show.”
Dan was listening, but he was also scanning around in disbelief.
“Plus, Ali Hamid went and used the drug money to buy an auto-body shop. After that, they didn’t have the money to pay their French contacts for the drugs. When the cousins realized that their lives were in danger, they came up with a brilliant idea. They offered their business partners to you as terrorists. That turned out to be easy, because Mossad got all fired up when they saw an opportunity for an act of heroism that would stun the world.”
You’re not supposed to take pleasure in others’ misfortunes, even your enemy’s, but I was only human.
“You know there aren’t many photos of Bakr and Saijed, and those that exist are old. That’s why Musaw and Madri were perfect for the part.”
Dan’s defences momentarily crumbled. I could see fear in his eyes. He glanced rapidly around.
“Believe me,” I said. “The game’s over. You lost.”
Dan raised his gun and aimed at my chest.
“My father and mother loved you like a son. We were like brothers.”
I looked Dan in the eye.
“That was then. Before you went off the deep end.”
The mournful rising and falling of
the shofar could be heard from the synagogue. It was the sound of joy and sorrow, victory and destruction from bygone millennia.
I took a step towards Dan. He was aiming at me, and his hand wasn’t trembling.
“This really sucks, Ari, but…”
A shot cracked through the sound of the shofar, and Dan shuddered from the hit. I thought it came from the van parked on the other side of the street, when several men in dark suits jumped out. Then I realized that my uncle was standing behind me with a gun in his hand. I didn’t see how he had approached us without our noticing.
My uncle dropped the gun and looked at me.
“I couldn’t let him kill you, and I didn’t want you to kill him. It’s too heavy a burden. You’re still young…”
I bent over at Dan’s side. I raised his head from the wet ground. I could see that the shot had been lethal.
“This really sucks, Dan.”
Dan looked at me and tried to smile. His rigid face softened and his eyes closed. My friend Dan Kaplan had died a long time ago. Now it was just Dan Kaplan who died.
The police officers gathered around me, and Huovinen placed a hand on my shoulder. Ignoring the wet asphalt, my uncle dropped down at my side. The prayer accompanied every Jew at death. We uttered it together: “Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam, dayan ha’emet…”
“Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the universe, the one true judge.”
The sound of the shofar rose from the depths of despair and died out.
BITTER LEMON PRESS
First published in the United Kingdom in 2012 by
Bitter Lemon Press, 37 Arundel Gardens, London W11 2LW
www.bitterlemonpress.com
First published in Finnish as Ariel
by Werner Söderström Ltd (WSOY), Helsinki, 2004
Bitter Lemon Press gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Arts Council of England and the WSOY Literary Foundation
© Harri Nykänen 2004
English translation © Kristian London, 2012
Published by arrangement
with Werner Söderström Ltd (WSOY), Helsinki
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced in any form or by any means without
written permission of the publisher
The moral rights of the author and the translator have been
asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs, and Patents Act 1988
All the characters and events described in this novel are imaginary and any similarity with real people or events is purely coincidental.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
eISBN : 978-1-904-73893-0
Typeset by Tetragon
Printed and bound by Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire
Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Copyright Page
Nights of Awe Page 23