Married to the Mossad

by Hessel, Shalva

  Sally too felt betrayed. Jacques, the charming man who was always willing to help, was the one behind the system of cameras that invaded her privacy? “Why do you think he was killed?”

  “I don’t know. He may have asked for too much money or became unneeded. In any case, I went to the police and told them everything. As usual, they’re investigating and investigating and investigating.”

  “You don’t have any other conflicts? Business rivals?”

  “I do, but not the kind that would push my driver into a ravine.”

  “That’s odd,” said Sally, contemplative. “A truck rammed into me about ten days ago, in Tel Aviv. I’m also being followed and phone threats are being made to my house. Jerry claims a criminal gang is behind all of this, a group that wants your money and invests significant resources for that. He believes Ben David is just the tip of the iceberg.”

  “That makes sense and fits with what happened to Jacques,” said Marin, then added excitedly, “Can you understand why she prefers a small and ugly man to me?”

  “I presume something was lacking in her life with you.” She remembered Joel asking her what “a cold man” meant. “Something emotional,” she added. “Maybe warmth.”

  Marin nodded in approval. “I may be difficult, but that’s no reason to betray me.” He shook his head. “It’s hard to live in an environment where you can’t trust anyone,” he said with a sigh.

  Sally put her hand on his in a gesture of consolation. “You can trust me.”

  He placed his other hand on hers. “I thank God for sending you to me,” he said emotionally. “Were it not for you, they would devour everything I have.”

  “We won’t let them,” said Sally and stood up. “Now please forgive me. I need a shower.”

  Marin looked at his gold watch. “I suggest we meet again in the dining room in an hour.”

  39.

  Even though she knew the surveillance cameras in the guest quarters were no longer active, Sally covered the lenses with pieces of sticky tape she found in her purse. Then she undressed, changing from her travel clothes to a suit. At five minutes to one, she walked along the path leading to Marin’s house, arriving at the dining room at one o’clock sharp. Marin was already waiting there, seated on his chair. He examined her with a long, mournful look. Sally had to stop herself from walking over and hugging him. She suddenly realized that she wasn’t looking to console him, but rather to comfort herself for all the tribulations she and her family had experienced, and for Jerry’s alienation.

  Overwhelmed by the discovery, she sat across from him with measured movements. Natalia rushed to serve chilled white wine, and the regular parade of waiters arrived with various dishes. “Do you eat all these delicacies even when you’re alone?”

  “This meal is for you.” Marin poured wine for both of them and raised his glass with feigned joviality. “To the brave woman sitting across from me!”

  Sally smiled, embarrassed. “And to you as well.”

  Marin grew serious. “I’ve been thinking a lot about Muriel.” He cut a piece of fish on his plate. “In times of crisis, I tend to redefine my goals, or more precisely the things I want to attain. In this case, I realize I’ve lost Muriel, so all I want is a fair divorce where the children will live with me. Muriel has proven she’s irresponsible and certainly can’t raise our children,” he asserted.

  “We’re left with Ben David. As I told you, I want to destroy him,” he said, raising his arm in a gesture of reassurance. “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything silly. But I want him to return everything he stole from me, even if that means he and his family will live on the street. The thought that he tricked me, one of the biggest businessmen in Europe, won’t leave me. As a first step, I want him out of that house. I’ve already spoken to my lawyers. They’re working on a restraining order, and think it shouldn’t be a problem. After all, I pay the rent and have signed the contract.”

  “Who will prepare Joel for his Torah reading?”

  Marin was silent.

  “You won’t deprive him of the big event of becoming a Jewish adult?”

  “I’ll tell you the truth.” Marin wiped his mouth with a napkin. “There was a moment where I decided that my son will be a citizen of the world, with no religion. All this Judaism, what good is it if Jews aren’t loyal to each other? Do you know why I donated to Israel all these years?”

  “Because you have a Jewish soul.”

  Marin laughed. “You’re very romantic, Sally. The reason is much simpler. I donated because I can’t forget the day we fled Morocco. Muslims ratted on my father that he was a Zionist spy. We left all the lights on and left our home with two suitcases before the secret service arrived. They probably would have released him a few weeks later—after all, we were rich and connected. But he would have come out a broken man. The image of my mother and father sitting terrified in the car to the airport, while our driver was sure we were only leaving for a holiday in Switzerland, haunts me. I believe it’s good the Jews have a state and we must protect it.” Marin breathed in. “But recently I discovered that swindlers also live in Israel, and some are even considered spiritual authorities.” He slapped his forehead. “I thought Judaism would protect my son. My father would say that Jews stand up for one another, but if our people also have imposter rabbis who can sin and sleep with the mothers of the boys they teach, it’s better to live among the gentiles. No gentile has ever done to me what Ben David and Ovadia did—”

  “But—” Sally cut him off.

  Marin signaled to her that she should let him finish. “Yes, there is a ‘but’ and that’s you. I’ve been thinking about you, and about the fact that Judaism also produced people like you, all love of others, lovingkindness, and honesty. Therefore, I decided that as long as it’s up to me, Joel will be Jewish. But I have a condition: You will supervise it. Find me a rabbi to come here, live in the guesthouse, and teach him.”

  “Meaning Joel will live here?”

  “Of course, together with Rubi and me.”

  “I’m not sure you’ll be able to remove the children from Muriel’s custody.”

  “I am. There’s nothing that good lawyers can’t do, and my lawyers are the best. They claim that if she slept with our children’s religious teacher, they can be separated from her. They just—” he hesitated for a moment “—well, they’re somewhat incredulous, and say they need to see proof and maybe present it in court.”

  “You know this proof can’t be presented,” Sally said.

  Marin didn’t lose his confidence. “I believe they’ll find a way.”

  The two ate in silence for a few minutes. “Are you angry with Muriel?” Sally suddenly asked.

  Marin thought for a second, then answered, “Not at all. She’s unimportant.”

  “She was important enough to have two children with.”

  “She was important when we married and had them, but even then, for reasons that had little to do with her—”

  “Then with who?”

  He shrugged and sipped from his wine. “You see, in the circles I travel in, being married to a beautiful woman is like owning an expensive painting.”

  “So to you a woman is an object.”

  “Maybe.” He looked at her with surprise. “I haven’t thought about it that way. My father took pride in my mother’s beauty and elegance, and I took pride in my first wife and then in Muriel. It means something, to marry a supermodel who appears on the covers of the most famous magazines, doesn’t it?”

  “You see it as an achievement, but in my mind it’s a weakness,” Sally said.

  Marin regarded her doubtfully.

  “I’m sorry if I offended you, but that’s my opinion.”

  “No, I wasn’t offended at all. I’m simply not used to such critical women,” he said. “Most of the women I knew had no complaints toward me. They even admi
red me.”

  “Admiration is an empty thing.”

  “You’ve never admired a man?”

  “I’ve only appreciated one,” she answered.

  “Jerry?”

  “Yes, as well as my father and a few others.”

  “And did you want them to appreciate you?”

  “Very much so. I’m not so bothered by the opinion of other people, but when it comes to people I appreciate—I could die for their appreciation.”

  “I appreciate you,” said Marin, “and I realize that my relationship with Muriel and my offer yesterday to physically knock off Ben David haven’t added to your opinion of me.”

  “On the contrary. It’s because I appreciate you that I’m so saddened by your choice to marry a woman simply because she was a famous model and reflected your financial power. Clearly you have other qualities that could draw women. Intelligence, for instance. You need to find a woman who you appreciate and who appreciates you, not one who’ll follow you for your money and good looks.”

  He didn’t respond, but Sally could clearly feel his contentment with the compliment imbedded in her words. “You know,” he said suddenly, “I’ve never been in a relationship with a woman who’s my equal—someone like you.”

  Sally pursed her lips with discomfort. His attractive appearance and her sense of loneliness set her mind wandering. “There are many independent women,” she said.

  “You represent the ideal woman to me,” Marin said. “The courage, the power, the liberation. Liberated women in Europe adopt masculine characteristics to display their independence. In Israel, I saw gentle women in uniform carrying rifles. They seemed very sure of themselves. Did you serve in the army?”

  “No. I come from a traditional family, and it would have hurt my father. Although I believe he would have agreed today—”

  Sally’s phone rang and Jerry’s name appeared on the screen. Sally froze for a moment. “Excuse me, it’s Jerry,” she said as she left the room for the closed porch. The view she saw through the glass reminded her of the last time she stood there with Jerry, united in their love and in the knowledge they were doing the right thing.”

  “When do you return?” asked Jerry in his solid, frigid manner.

  Sally’s heart leaped. “Do you miss me?” she asked with hope.

  “I need you to testify to the police.”

  “Why the police?”

  “My car was set on fire last night parked underneath our house. I filed a complaint with the police, and, of course, couldn’t hide your involvement with the Ben David issue. Since it’s a Mossad car, the police are investigating all sorts of directions, including security ones. They want explanations.”

  Every time she was challenged or attacked, a rush of adrenaline surged through her body. “I’ll be there in two or three days and sort everything out,” she said confidently.

  “Why two or three days and not today? There are night flights, and if they’re full I’m sure your millionaire can arrange a private jet to take you.”

  “He’s not my millionaire.”

  “He’s yours more than your family, which you’re endangering to help him. I want you to be here by tomorrow to give your testimony.”

  Sally tried to remember the things left on her agenda: Finding a rabbi for Joel, banishing Ben David from Muriel’s home, and organizing the campaign against him. “I need two days,” she said bluntly. “I can’t imagine the testimony is that urgent.”

  “It’s urgent to me. It’s very inconvenient for me to be involved in this even indirectly, and it’s only a matter of time until this is publicized. I assume the Mossad’s legal adviser will issue a gag order, but you know the Internet doesn’t obey such orders. I want you to come here for me and for our family. I consider your cutting ties with Marin and his problems a test of our relationship.”

  “Why are you so intent on exacerbating this crisis?” Sally asked with anger.

  “I expect to see you no later than tomorrow morning,” said Jerry and hung up.

  Sally remained standing before the view, swallowing her tears and regulating her breath. She waited a few minutes so as not to return to the table with swollen eyes. When she finally returned to the dining room, she discovered that Marin had remained in his seat without touching his food. She guessed the sad expression on her face did not escape him, but he merely asked, “Do you want your dish reheated? Should a new one be brought?”

  “I have no appetite,” Sally said and sat down. She overflowed with emotion.

  “Jerry’s angry,” he commented.

  Sally looked at him with wonder.

  “Do you think I don’t understand? His wife is involved up to her neck with the affairs of a foreign man, and meanwhile she and her family are being threatened.”

  “It’s worse. His car was burned. It belongs to the Mossad and an investigation was opened.” She thought of Aaron and her conversation with him in the café. “Maybe now he’ll receive security and I’ll be less stressed.”

  “Do you want to leave immediately, tonight?”

  “I like to finish things I start. As soon as we receive the restraining order, I’ll make sure Ben David leaves the house. Then I’ll leave my Israeli investigators, who I trust, in surveillance, and fly home. I’ll look for the man to prepare Joel for his bar mitzvah from Israel, or perhaps in Israel.”

  40.

  The lawyer seemed somewhat scared, squeezed in the van between the investigators Jacob had collected half an hour earlier at the airport. They had a very Israeli look—jeans, T-shirts, and windbreakers. Their hair was cropped short, their faces covered in stubble, and their entire look reflected their military backgrounds.

  To their left, in the lake, a white boat sailed; a party yacht that filled the air with music every evening. This time it drifted silently, its deck void of celebrators. Sally couldn’t rule out the possibility that it had been hired by Marin to track the removal of his foe.

  Jacob’s men, who observed Muriel’s house instead of the Swiss investigators who’d defected, reported that Ben David was inside. Sally looked at her watch. Three hours remained before the children returned from school, and in that time the operation must be completed and the scene left clear. The car turned off the lakeside road and began the descent toward Gstaad. When they reached the house, they stopped before the closed gate. Jacob signaled with a glance and two of his men got out of the car. One of them tested the lock, but the gate didn’t open. His friend returned to the van, pulled out a crowbar from underneath the front seat, and jammed it between the two gate doors. The van entered the courtyard and parked in the center of the front lawn. The investigators leaped out of it and quickly surrounded the house. Jacob, accompanied by Sally and a lawyer, rang the doorbell.

  The door opened and an elderly woman stood in the doorway. The lawyer turned to her in French, she answered him, and Sally repeated her words in Hebrew for Jacob’s sake. “The owner is gone and they could not be let in.”

  The lawyer showed her the warrant he held. “This warrant allows us to enter the house on behalf of the renter, Monsieur Pierre Marin, and remove any person inside other than his wife and children.”

  “Who is Pierre Marin?” The servant’s voice rose with indignation. “I don’t know any Marin. My employer is Muriel and she is currently out.”

  “Ask her who hired her,” Sally said.

  The lawyer repeated the question, and the woman answered, “A friend of the owner, and I don’t have to answer that.”

  The lawyer ran out of patience. He marched in with a boldness Sally never guess his small body possessed. The servant reached out her heavy arm to stop him, but Jacob gently moved it aside, led her to the kitchen, and shut the door. A staircase led to the bedrooms, separated by a large landing. An open door revealed a children’s room. The other doors were shut. The lawyer stopped and called out in F
rench, “Madame Marin.”

  No answer was heard.

  “Mrs. Marin,” he called again in English.

  Noises could be heard behind one of the doors, and Sally imagined a man’s voice. “What do you want? Who are you?” a woman called out, and Sally recognized Muriel’s voice, which was no less terrified than it was during their last conversation at the gate of the apartment Ben David had rented for her in Beersheba. “Go away. This is my house and you have no right to disturb me.”

  “Madame,” the lawyer said, “we have a restraining order for everyone in the house besides Mr. Marin’s wife and children. I was permitted to allow the cook and the maid to remain. Anyone else must leave.”

  Muriel grew silent. Sally could sense her alarm even through the door. Again, whispers were heard and Muriel said, “There’s no one with me.”

  “Then please open the door. The warrant allows me to check all the rooms in the house.”

  Silence remained for a long while behind the closed door. “Madame,” the lawyer finally said, “your children will soon return from school and the situation will become less pleasant. I suggest you open the door. Mr. Ben David will come out, take the warrant banning him from here, and that will end the matter.”

  Muriel burst out in a wild, uncontrollable cry. The doorknob moved and immediately stopped. A man’s voice said in broken English, “They can’t force us to open.” Muriel sobbed and answered, screaming, “Please, Honorable Rabbi, please leave. I can’t have my children discover us. I’m terrified of what Pierre will do to us as it is.”

  “You’ve done nothing wrong,” Ben David said. “I’m your spiritual teacher and we met in here to discuss your personal problems. What’s wrong with that?”

  “We have forty more minutes,” the lawyer said. “Then you’ll have to explain to your children who this man is and why he’s holed up in a closed room with you.”

  Sally assumed the threat wouldn’t help. After all, Ben David controlled Muriel and would not allow her to open the door. But to her surprise the doorknob turned. A small crack opened up between the door and the doorframe, then opened wide. Muriel, wrapped in a bathrobe, stood at the entrance. She was skinnier than Sally remembered her, her eyes red from tears and the corners of her mouth turned down. She lowered her eyes. If she recognized Sally, she didn’t even hint it.