by Nir Hezroni
I go into the storage cupboards and retrieve some clean clothes that were washed 9 years ago. I put on a shirt and shorts and go over to the cupboard with the dry food and canned goods. Everything is years past its expiry date but I don’t want to risk going up into the apartment above. I open cans of tuna, corn and pickles. The tuna is off. I throw it into the trash. The corn and pickles taste fine. I eat a little of each. My stomach is still not accustomed to solid food. Tomorrow I’ll begin training to get back into shape. I’m tired now after the run and walk from Ra’anana to Tel Aviv. I spread a blanket on the floor of the cage in the basement. Before I lie down on it, I place a carton of mineral water alongside the cage’s open door to prevent it from slamming shut and locking me in while I sleep.
I check again to make sure the carton is blocking the door.
And again.
One last time.
I write in the notebook, place it beside me, and go to sleep.
“Decrease thrust to zero”
- Thrust zero
“Turn automatic choke to off”
- Automatic choke off
“Activate de-icing of wings and engine”
- Wing de-icing and engine activated
“Fire up secondary power unit”
- Secondary power unit fired
“Oxygen in cockpit to 100”
- Oxygen in cockpit at 100
“Activate continuous ignition in engines one, three, and four”
- Activating continuous ignition in engines 1, 3, and 4
No response again, with only engine 2 still running at half its thrust capacity. Without any engines at all, the 747-200 can glide a distance of 15 kilometers for every kilometer of altitude it loses. Engine 2 buys us a little more time but we continue to lose altitude.
“Decrease thrust to zero”
- Thrust zero
“Turn automatic choke to off”
- Automatic choke off
“Activate de-icing of wings and engine”
- Wing de-icing and engine activated
“Fire up secondary power unit”
- Secondary power unit fired
“Oxygen in cockpit to 100”
- Oxygen in cockpit at 100
“Activate continuous ignition in engines one, three, and four”
- Activating continuous ignition in engines 1, 3, and 4
Nothing happens.
Fear paralyzes you at first. All the drills in the simulators are erased from your mind and replaced by self-pity and deep and despairing sorrow, but your mind quickly begins to recite the drill.
“Decrease thrust to zero”
- Thrust zero
“Turn automatic choke to off”
- Automatic choke off
“Activate de-icing of wings and engine”
- Wing de-icing and engine activated
“Fire up secondary power unit”
- Secondary power unit fired
“Oxygen in cockpit to 100”
- Oxygen in cockpit at 100
“Activate continuous ignition in engines one, three, and four”
- Activating continuous ignition in engines 1, 3, and 4
And nothing again.
From a cruising altitude of 11 kilometers, we’ve already fallen to 5—and we continue to lose height above the black water of the ocean. A bright moon illuminates the layer of clouds spread out like a woolen blanket beneath us. We’ll be among them soon; and when we are, the shaking of the airplane’s fuselage will illustrate to all the passengers that something is wrong. Most are fast asleep right now.
“Decrease thrust to zero”
- Thrust zero
“Turn automatic choke to off”
- Automatic choke off
“Activate de-icing of wings and engine”
- Wing de-icing and engine activated
“Fire up secondary power unit”
- Secondary power unit fired
“Oxygen in cockpit to 100”
- Oxygen in cockpit at 100
“Activate continuous ignition in engines one, three, and four”
- Activating continuous ignition in engines 1, 3, and 4
Nothing.
At our current rate of descent, we have 22 minutes left before we crash into the ocean. Did I remember to turn off the electrical system in the basement? I need to get everything done. It can’t all end now before I manage to put my plan into action. Where did I put the notebook? I have to write down everything that is happening here.
“Decrease thrust to zero”
- Thrust zero
“Turn automatic choke to off”
- Automatic choke off
“Activate de-icing of wings and engine”
- Wing de-icing and engine activated
“Fire up secondary power unit”
- Secondary power unit fired
“Oxygen in cockpit to 100”
- Oxygen in cockpit at 100
“Activate continuous ignition in engines one, three, and four”
- Activating continuous ignition in engines 1, 3, and 4
Engines 1, 3, and 4 fire up one after the other.
The Boeing accelerates gently and begins to gain altitude again.
“Dear passengers, this is your captain speaking. We’ll be touching down in Tel Aviv in about two hours. The cabin crew will serve you breakfast shortly and we will then begin the preparations for landing. The weather at our destination is partly cloudy with a temperature of eighteen degrees Celsius. We’ll be landing at five-thirty in the morning Israel time. We hope you enjoyed the flight and we look forward to seeing you again in the near future.”
I wake up.
It’s still night.
I record in my journal that this is my first dream outside Lowenstein Hospital. There’s no refrigerator in the basement so there’s no need to check any bottles of water. I allow the water from the faucet to run for a few minutes to discount the possibility that someone may have mixed something into the building’s water system, and then drink from the faucet and go back to sleep.
MORNING. 6 WEEKS AND 1 DAY SINCE WAKING.
The family living above me has sent their children to school and left for work. It annoys me to have to sneak into the apartment each time they are there so I consider killing them when they return in the afternoon, keeping them inside the bathtub, wrapping them in cling film to prevent them from smelling, and taking their place in my old apartment, but decide it would only arouse suspicion if they don’t show up to wherever they need to be and that it’s best to leave them alone up there. They offer good cover. I recall the words, “human shields,” from the army. In general, I can remember everything now—even things that happened when I was a kid.
In a drawer in the basement’s storage room I have €60,000 in cash left over from my last trip, along with 30,000 shekels. It’ll be enough for me to rent a house with a basement and begin purchasing everything I need for my plan. I only have a little less than a year left before the notebook I deposited with the law firm comes to light. I decided not to go to the firm and retrieve it but to stick instead to my original timetable. It doesn’t leave me much time and I’ll settle for renting a secluded house with a basement that I’ll be able to alter at will the moment I move in. I have to get out of here as quickly as possible. I have a lot of work to do. I also need to buy a car.
I undress and train for 3 hours—muscle-building work and cardiovascular exercise, and then I eat a little more canned food.
I look through the pile of passports next to the wad of euros in the drawer. I no longer look like the old photograph of me they all display. I’ll have to change the picture in the passports. They’ll be fine for entering less sophisticated countries but not for traveling to Europe or the United States. That’s okay, because I need to get to Bolivia. I need to check out this Uyuni thing. I’ll do so as soon as I find a computer with an Internet connection and check what’s happening with my bank account. I think it’s a place.
If what I read over and over again in the Bernoulli Project files before jumping in front of that bus 9 years ago is true, there’s an interesting surprise waiting there for me in a barrel. “Remember to buy a Geiger counter,” I jot down on a Post-it note that I stick to the wall alongside the others:
“Remember to change the photographs on all documents”
“Remember to check your investment portfolio”
“Obtain a yacht skipper’s license”
“Retrieve Avner’s address from the file of names you took off The Organization’s ERP server and take a cab there to check out the area”
“Remember to be outside Amiram’s house when he receives the package”
“Learn Russian”
“Re-read all the Bernoulli reports”
“It’s important to eat liver and legumes. Eggs, too.”
“Run a check on Kelly Grasso from Cymedix”
9 years ago, using money left over from the missions I carried out, I invested 30,000 Swiss francs, 102,000 Canadian dollars, and 30,000 Argentine pesos in Apple stock. I’m sure they’ve turned a good profit from 2006 until now. I noticed while lying in bed at the Loewenstein Hospital that almost every doctor there walked around with an Apple device.
It’s going to take a great deal of money to implement my plan.
I’m going to bring down The Organization.
I’ll detonate the bomb where it’ll hurt them most. Where it’ll bring The Organization to its knees. I’ll tie it to them.
It won’t be in Israel.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After studying physics in high school and completing several years of military service in intelligence, NIR HEZRONI retired to study economics and business management. He then proceeded to build a career in high tech. In 2014, he published his first thriller, Three Envelopes, which was enthusiastically received by critics and readers alike. He lives with his family near Tel Aviv. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Begin Reading
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. In particular, the emblems for CERN, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, and SLOWPOKE that appear in the book are used fictitiously, for purposes of plausibility, and are not intended to suggest that any organizations associated with those emblems have authorized, endorsed, or sponsored this novel.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
THREE ENVELOPES. Copyright © 2014 by Nir Hezroni. Translation copyright © 2017 by Steven Cohen. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Ervin Serrano
Cover photographs: man © Mark Owen/Arcangel Images; street © Daliu/Shutterstock.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Hezroni, Nir, 1968–|Cohen, Steven (Translator), translator.
Title: Three envelopes / Nir Hezroni; translated from Hebrew by Steven Cohen.
Other titles: Shalosh ma‘aṭafot. English
Description: First U.S edition|New York: Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin’s Press, 2017.|“First published in 2014 in Israel by Keter Books”—Verso title page.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016050281|ISBN 9781250097590 (hardcover)|ISBN 9781250097606 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Intelligence officers—Fiction.|Assassins—Fiction.|Israel—Fiction.|BISAC: FICTION / Espionage.|FICTION / Suspense.|GSAFD: Spy stories.|Suspense fiction
Classification: LCC PJ5055.23.E98 S5413 2017|DDC 892.43/7—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016050281
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].
First published in 2014 in Israel by Keter Books
First U.S. Edition: April 2017
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