Married to the Mossad

by Hessel, Shalva

  “He’s neither a murderer nor a rapist, and in Switzerland they take their electronic bracelets very seriously.”

  Policemen led Darmond and Ben David out of the hall.

  “I want close surveillance of Ben David’s apartment,” Sally said, frustrated. “Take into account how cunning he is.”

  “He may be cunning, but he has nowhere to run. He can’t return to Israel, because the organization that handled him will give him no rest, and he can’t hide anywhere in Europe.”

  The entrance to the courtroom was buzzing with people. Ben David’s lawyer gave interviews on the steps to an army of reporters. None of them knew that the short man and the elegant woman standing next to him were the only ones to know about the entire affair. “Who will take care of Ben David now that he’s under house arrest and Muriel is in a mental institution? Who will bring him food, or visit him?”

  “Don’t worry.” Jacob smiled, waving his phone in front of her face. “My people in Israel tell me his wife is on her way over. Have I already asked you what it is about him that makes women fall at his feet?”

  “You asked and I answered,” Sally answered bitterly, and added, “I’m willing to admit that Diana, Muriel, and Mrs. Ben David don’t add to women’s reputations.”

  They continued walking along the street, and when they arrived at a small parking lot, Jacob stopped. “Can I take you anywhere?” he asked.

  “Thanks,” she said, pointing at a red Avis sign. “I’ve hired a car.”

  “Has something happened?” He looked at her curiously. “Something I don’t know about?”

  Sally smiled. “No, not at all. I just didn’t want Marin’s car to arrive here and run into some journalist.” She patted Jacob’s back. “We’ll speak on the phone.”

  A beige Volkswagen Passat awaited her at the car rental company. Sally got in and quickly drove to the lakeside road. She passed by Ariana Park with the Palais des Nations at its center, white and imposing among the wandering peacocks. She thought how ironic it was for the United Nations—former League of Nations—to be situated among a flock of peacocks.

  At the next intersection, Sally turned onto a narrower road that climbed into the mountains. The air became cooler, and she wound up the window. A French radio station broadcast classical music and colorful flowerbeds smiled at her. But all that was not enough to make her happy. The meeting she was headed to was too painful, too difficult.

  After a drive of over an hour, she entered a parking lot adjacent to a building with a red tile roof. “Oberge des Chasseurs,” read a copper sign attached to a short flight of stairs. She climbed them and entered a wood-decked reception hall. Taxidermied animal heads were hanging on the wall, befitting an establishment celebrating hunters. The receptionist smiled at her. “Can I help you?”

  Sally looked at the wall behind the woman. It was covered with hooks, some of which held keys attached to wooden bars containing room numbers. “Yes,” the lady said, “we are a rustic business. We have no locks activating by magnetic cards. Which room, please?”

  “No, I haven’t ordered a room. I have a meeting. Can you please call Dr. Moore?”

  The clerk looked through her room cards. “Dr. Moore, yes.” She picked up the old receiver and said, “Dr. Moore, you have a guest.” The echo of a man’s voice could be heard through the phone. She put the receiver down and said, “He’ll be with you in a moment.”

  Sally looked up at the staircase. A pair of shiny shoes appeared on the top landing, followed by gray trousers, an ironed shirt and jacket, and finally Jerry’s strict face. She walked toward him, her arms spread out to the sides, either seeking a hug or in greeting. Jerry held one of them and shook it formally. Then he walked Sally to the edge of the lobby and waited patiently for her to take her seat on the couch. He pulled up a chair and sat across from her. “We have an hour,” he said. “No more. I need to reach the airport and travel on to New York.”

  “I could have met you at the airport and spared myself this ride. That way we’d have more time to talk.”

  “Yes, of course,” he said in a low voice. “I saw the circus you made in court this morning. I certainly need no part of that. After all that’s happened, the questioning by Mossad, the telephone threats, Michael’s anxiety, all I needed was to be seen with you at the airport and my entire cover would be blown.”

  “I’m sorry for all the pain caused to you,” Sally said, placing her hand on her chest. I’m really sorry and I want everything to be as before.”

  A dark shadow of anger crossed his eyes. “Are you sure you’re emotionally prepared for that?”

  Sally hesitated.

  “I’m no idiot; I know exactly what happened between you and Pierre Marin. I also have to confess to my part in that. I’m even ready to consider trying to start again together and fix everything that went wrong between us. But I need to know that you’re completely available for that, meaning that you will entirely disconnect from him and his business.”

  Sally swallowed hard. “With him, yes,” she said. “But his business… I’ve spent my entire life trying to do good for people who need it, and finally, I’ve found a job I really like. Why do you want to send me back behind the computer screen? Are you trying to punish me?”

  “Not at all,” Jerry said calmly. “I just know that to end a relationship you need complete detachment. If you want to come home, you’ll need to give up on both Marin and the job. I’m not telling you to go back to working for the insurance company. I understand you’re far beyond that now. I also believe you can find interesting work in Israel, where you can do good for people.” He leaned back and his face softened a little. “Come back. We’ll have a big Passover Seder at your parents’ house like every year, and everything will be back to normal.”

  “My father won’t be home,” Sally said faintly. “He’s celebrating the Seder here. So are my mother and brother. I was planning to ask the children to come, and I was hoping you would too.”

  Jerry’s face grew stern again. “I won’t celebrate the Seder with Marin,” he said decisively.

  Sally nodded with understanding. She admitted to herself that she would react similarly.

  “You can still come home,” Jerry said, and she knew how difficult it was for him. “If your father is staying here, we can have a small Seder at home, with the children.”

  “I can’t disappoint Dad, Mom, my brother. I owe it to Marin too.”

  “You don’t owe it to Marin—you want to be with Marin.” He sat up rigidly. “Stay here. The children will come to you, if they want. I don’t intend to settle scores with you through them. As I said, I know—” he swallowed hard “—I know I haven’t been the perfect partner. I’ve thought about it a lot recently. I’m closed, I speak little, I may not be very emotional or easy to compliment. I know living with me was emotionally like living in the desert, and I’ll change. I promise.”

  Sally wiped away the tears of emotion from the corners of her eyes. “I—I really don’t know what to say.”

  “Say you’re coming back. I love you and want us to be a family again. That’s why I stopped my trip and came here, to meet you.”

  Sally was overwhelmed with emotion. She’d never heard a confession of love from him. She held his arm, expecting him to shake her off, but he didn’t. “Please understand. I can’t leave my entire family in Gstaad after bringing them there.”

  “They’ll do just fine on their own. Your father is at ease anywhere, and if your mother and the rest of the family are with him, he’ll bloom.”

  Sally didn’t reply. After a long silence, Jerry said, “I understand.” Without adding a word, he turned around and walked to the stairway. Sally watched with an aching heart as he moved away, until only his shiny shoes remained on the landing, before they too disappeared.

  55.

  She chose a small but quality hotel next outside th
e city, next to the lake. “A chef restaurant and heated pool,” the online ad declared. Sally wasn’t interested in the restaurant or in the pool. She needed distance from developments, to plan her next moves.

  As she entered the room, the phone in her pocket rang. “I thought you’d come here,” Marin’s pleasant voice said. “It’s a great day, after all. We won.”

  “Yes, we won,” said Sally joylessly, which he immediately noticed. “What happened?”

  “The big matter is solved, and now I have to face my personal crisis.”

  “Did you speak to Jerry?”

  “Yes,” she said, but immediately added cautiously, “on the phone.” All of Jerry’s movements were secret and under cover. He couldn’t reveal his real name while traveling, and certainly not meet with her.

  “I don’t want to bug you, but just wanted to know you’re all right. Do you have somewhere decent to sleep? To eat?”

  “I’m at a hotel in Geneva.”

  “Somewhere comfortable?”

  She scanned the room. The furniture was somewhat old fashioned, but exuded homely warmth. “Yeah. Looks good.”

  “Rest. It’s been a long day.” He paused for a moment, then added, “May I call tomorrow?” His speech was polite, cautious.

  Sally replied, “You may call whenever you like. We’ll remain friends. I just need to decide where to go from here.” A wave of nostalgia overcame her and she rushed to hang up. Her decision to forgo her wonderful, generous lover was painful. She turned on the TV to serve as company. After flipping through a few boring channels, she settled for a fashion show, watching young women strut up and down the catwalk, as her mind drifted to where it always would when she was in distress: Her parents’ home.

  The home was far, but her father was nearby, at Marin’s guesthouse, three hours’ drive away. For a second she wanted to ask Fred, Marin’s driver, to bring him to Geneva; but immediately decided it wouldn’t be fair to ask her elderly father to take to the road only because of her mood swings. She had to solve her problems alone. She took a piece of paper with the hotel’s emblem, and jotted down the options she had: Her dream job versus her family. Another wave of nostalgia for Marin overcame her. Perhaps she should follow her heart?

  A dark, slender figure marched down a red carpet on the screen. She smiled to the camera, and Sally identified her immediately. Melody. She immediately recalled the things Marin said about her, treating her as nothing more than a luxurious accessory. But Sally also remembered him declaring how different she was to him, and wanting to stay with her. She walked to the bathroom and examined her image in the mirror. She didn’t have Melody’s youthfulness, but she was still presentable, even pretty. Her large, blue eyes glowed over pronounced cheekbones, a small nose, and full lips. Her blond hair flowed softly onto her shoulders. How much longer would she remain pretty, and how long would Marin find her attractive? She thought of her mother, whose face remained pretty but also full of wrinkles. Would Marin remain by her side in her old age? She knew he wouldn’t. In women, as in business, he was motivated by the same impulse—hunting. If Jerry was the flowing river of her life, Marin was the froth on top of the water. She returned to her room and let her mind wander in circles, until she fell asleep.

  A loud ring awoke her from her troubled sleep. She looked at the screen. Marin was the caller and the time was 1:13 a.m. “Yes?” she answered in a sleepy voice.

  “Muriel is gone,” Marin said with alarm. “The driver arrived at the mental institution for a visit with the children, and she wasn’t there. The management and staff were stressed. First they asked them to wait, then asked them to leave and return in an hour because she wasn’t feeling well. When they returned, they stalled further, but finally confessed that she simply took off without saying a word to anyone. I went there. The room looked as if she were about to return in a moment, but she didn’t.”

  “Any idea how she left?”

  “It’s a closed institution, but not a prison. There’s a gate with a guard, but he mostly prevents unwarranted entry. There are psychologists, cooks, waiters, repairmen on staff, as well as invited guests. Anyone can leave.”

  “Maybe she went for a walk in the area and got lost.”

  “I don’t think this was a short stroll. She took the only thing that ties a model to her home: Her makeup kit. Now, the only question is where she went and whether Ben David is connected to this.”

  “Ben David can’t accept guests and his wife is with him. In addition, there’s my investigator by the house. If Muriel were to arrive, I’d be informed.” Sally sighed. “All right, how are the children reacting?”

  “Terribly. Rubi is crying and Joel won’t talk. Even your father was unable to cheer him up.”

  Sally’s thoughts raced. “Have you already opened her account?”

  “Yes.” Marin’s tone became tense. “Do you think she’ll withdraw money from it?”

  “I hope not,” said Sally, with no certainty.

  “She knows the money is meant for the children, if something happened to me,” he said, as if trying to convince himself.

  “That never stopped her before. When Ben David is in the picture, she loses all her will power.”

  “Do you think he’s connected to her disappearance?”

  “If not him, the organization behind him. Following her appearance with the investigator judge this morning, they may have realized he’s finished and chosen an independent course of action.”

  “And kidnapped her?”

  “I’m not sure they kidnapped her, but she may have cooperated after being told they needed money to free the holy man she loves. In any event, I suggest that the police ask the bank to inform it of any withdrawal from the account. I’ll ask my men to tighten their surveillance on Ben David’s home, in case her disappearance is part of a larger plan, which also includes his escaping…”

  Marin was silent.

  “Are you there?”

  “Yes. I’m simply concerned.”

  Sally understood him, but couldn’t offer words of encouragement. She resorted to the area she was best at—operations. “OK, I’ll start working on my side. Goodbye.”

  “Wait, Sally, I know I’ve already told you this, but thanks for caring. I have other assistants in different areas, but no one works with such devotion.”

  “You know I’m not like your assistants. I’m a friend,” Sally said, doing her best to remain formal. She hung up the phone and immediately called Jacob.

  56.

  Two sad-looking children sat at the long table, completely oblivious to their surroundings. Natalia, the housekeeper, walked between the guests and filled their glasses with wine. Sally’s father stood up, and with him stood all the guests: Her brother and sister-in-law, their children, various guests, and of course Marin, who nudged Rubi to stand up too. Joel, who sat across from him, stood up last. “Blessed be God, who made us live to witness this time,” Sally’s father said.

  “Amen,” answered the people gathered around the table.

  After the hand washing, everyone ate bitter herbs and chanted the ancient Aramaic words “Ha Lachma Anya.” Her father signaled to Rubi, who began singing “Ma Nishtana,” but broke into tears. Marin looked at Sally helplessly. She signaled to the door with her eyes. He stood up, placed a comforting hand on his son’s shoulder, and walked him out.

  The Seder continued in a somber mood. Everyone gathered knew why Rubi was crying and felt sympathy for his older brother, Joel, who filled in for him and sang in a broken voice. He would be celebrating his bar mitzvah in a few weeks, and his mother, who had again vanished from his life, would not be there. Sally’s father joined him in singing. The others joined in the refrain, but it was not enough to clear the air.

  Sally’s father turned to Joel and said, “Here, let me answer you. We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and God removed us from there w
ith a mighty hand.” He went silent, signaling to Sally’s brother, who continued running the Seder, then passed it over to one of his sons. It was the point where Sally’s sons would also take part in the ceremony, but they weren’t there. She felt the pain of their absence, but part of her understood and even appreciated the fact that they chose to remain with their father and alleviate his loneliness on this night.

  Natalia appeared quietly behind her, handing her a note with just one word on it: JACOB. Sally met her father’s eyes, which blinked their approval. She quietly apologized and left the room. In the foyer, Marin and his son sat in an embrace. Sally passed by them and went up to her room, where she pulled out her mobile phone and dialed Jacob’s number.

  “I’m afraid we’ve failed,” he said, cutting straight to the point, with no niceties.

  Sally was alarmed. “Was she found dead?”

  “No, no one died, thank God. But Ben David is also gone.”

  “How, with an electric bracelet and your surveillance on the apartment?”

  “An electric bracelet can be removed, and our guard… Well, it’s a long story.”

  “Tell it to me,” Sally insisted.

  “According to our surveillance log, two policemen arrived at the house and left an hour later. We assume one of them was Ben David. It’s hard to believe the Geneva police are corrupt. More likely, the uniform was stolen or rented from a theatre warehouse.”

  “And Ben David’s wife?”

  “She went shopping and never returned. That’s the moment we realized we’d been had. We called the police, who found the apartment empty and the electronic bracelet on the table, flashing as usual.”

  “Where did the second policeman go, the one whose clothes Ben David took?”

  “After a long search, he was found tied up in one of the closets. He’s a stripper who claims he was hired to entertain a group of women who were meant to undress him.”

  Sally exhaled with exasperation. “So we have nothing now.”