by Rose Fox
A tall man stood up from among the people and Abigail raised her eyes. He smiled pleasantly and shook her hand with his long arm as he apologized in a low and thick voice and introduced himself as Dimitri.
“I’m sorry,” she said in English, “I need somewhere to sleep and eat.”
She received a key to one of the rooms and Dimitri escorted her and showed her to the dining room. It was closed and she glanced inside at the arranged tables through the opaque windows. The man opened the door and she saw the small cloth-covered tables that lent the place a warm, homely atmosphere. Dimitri pointed to his wristwatch, to explain that food would be served from eight to eight thirty and possibly till nine and Abigail nodded. She was exhausted, her whole body ached from riding the bicycle and she was in a hurry to go as she gestured that she was going to sleep now.
Abigail opened the door to the room and, without checking what was or wasn’t there, laid her bag on a wooden chair, lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
In her dream, she envisaged herself in her apartment in Tel Aviv, hearing someone knocking on her door, knocking repeatedly and she was concerned and wondered who it could be. When she opened her eyes, she understood that someone really was knocking on the door. She got up with difficulty, her eyes refusing to open and dragged herself to the door. She saw a man in front of her and when she raised her eyes, she found herself looking at Dimitri. He looked concerned because he had been knocking at her door for quite a while. He pointed to his wristwatch and made signs of eating, but she shook her head and made signs that she would get up for breakfast the following day, turned away and sank back on the bed with her face in the sheet and fell asleep immediately as she lay on her stomach.
She slept like a log till she suddenly heard a creak or, perhaps, she was dreaming again but she opened her eyes. The room was completely dark, but she sensed someone’s presence. All her senses were alerted but she continued lying motionless in the same position, only parting her eyelashes a little and peeping through them. Complete silence reigned.
She was facing to the right, looking at the wall. Almost soundlessly, she turned her face very slowly to the left towards the bathroom and toilet and there, she noticed him, a slim black figure. She caught her breath, but didn’t wait long. At that second, she rolled off the bed, landing quietly on the cold floor close to the wall and crawled under the bed on her belly. Two feet came closer and stopped by the bed. Apparently he was looking for Abigail. She made good use of these seconds. Using her elbows she crawled forward under the bed to the feet in front of her, put out both hands and grabbed the black-clad feet from behind. In a single move, she pulled his feet towards her and the figure lost its grip on the floor and fell back like a sack on the floor. A dull thud was heard as his head hit the floor.
Abigail crawled back nimbly and came out from under the bed. She got up and turned on the light in the room. A man dressed in black from top to toe, except for his face lay on the floor. His closed eyes were slanted. A rivulet of blood trickled slowly down the man’s cheek to his chin and then ran onto the floor. Another one ran out from under the hood that covered his head and collected under his cheek. He was motionless.
Abigail stared at his face and only now did she realize her situation. Three attempts on her life made her suddenly understand what Barak had said to her the evening she left. She knew she had a problem and was in a race to save her life.
Abigail ate breakfast at half past four in the morning. The glass doors of the dining hall were opened specially for her.
That was only after a white transporter with a huge red cross on its side came and the body of the man in black, which had been lifted onto a stretcher and wheeled into the almost empty hall, was then loaded onto the ambulance. The few people who were around looking on in silence.
Abigail was pleased with her success that night. She recalled the slant-eyed woman who had sat watching her the day before she left on this assignment, then Modang, who had killed her sister and also had slanted eyes and now, this man, whose body was being removed.
She still had not recognized the full significance of the events and her lack of experience in connecting them would endanger her and might even cost her, her life.
* * *
Chapter Twenty
The leaders of the Mossad convened in its restricted and secret facility in the Kirya in Tel Aviv, called “The Pit”. This meeting had been postponed twice, but the sudden death of the agent, Anton, precipitated it.
Armed soldiers were always on patrol and a policeman sat guard in his hut and saluted the five, who arrived. Three specialists were called to this meeting. Two were from “The Weizmann Institute of Science” in Rehovot, Prof. Ephraim Assif and Dr. Ami Kadman as well as an officer with the rank of Major General, Reuben Ganz, who was known as Ruby.
The two guests from Rehovot were notified that morning. Their faces wore grave expressions and they looked at Albert Einstein, the head of the Mossad Committee. The man was tired of the remarks about his name, the same as that of the renowned scientist, to which he would respond with taut lips drawn into a quick cynical, unamused smile.
Albert opened the meeting with brief introductory remarks.
“Information has reached us about nuclear weapons in the possession of Pakistan and Iran” and he pulled the joints of his fingers making little clicking sounds as he continued.
“I’m sure I am not telling you anything new about North Korea, which is equipped with a nuclear device, but, since the danger it poses to Israel is not palpable or imminent like Iran, we will deal with what is pressing.” He looked at each of the men present and paused when his gaze reached the face of the officer.
“We have reports that radioactive material is being distributed by agents directly from the moment it’s extracted from the mines.” He looked at Prof. Assif and added,
“Details regarding the quality of the material that so concerns me and, I assume, concerns all of us, will be provided by the Professor, who has joined us especially today. If you please, Professor.”
Professor Ephraim was an older man, who wore a short beard. His blue eyes darted alertly behind the lenses of his rimless glasses. He rose to his feet and then sat down abruptly.
“I’m certain you can all see me well enough,” he pulled his lips into a brief smile and continued.
“Before I describe the material, let’s first become familiar with what it is called in the professional jargon. It is marked with the letter ‘U’. Now that we know its name, I will tell you that it is an isotope usually found in very small concentrations in nature. It is a chemical element found in certain minerals and is used to produce nuclear energy.”
Yuri Eliav, one of the members of the committee, came from Italy and he spoke Hebrew but pronounced the letter ‘T’ as if it was ‘S’. At first it was amusing, but as soon as they became accustomed to it the speech defect stopped arousing attention. He interrupted the professor’s remarks and asked:
“That’s all very well, bus whas does is look like?”
Ephraim nodded to him, paused momentarily and said:
“Do you know what? I’ll show the pictures before making my comments and giving a description. Come, let’s look at it and hear about it,” and he turned on the projector.
A silvery white material appeared on the screen and the professor explained.
“Here, look, it resembles a silvery or white metal and it is hard to the touch. It’s important to know that it is also poisonous.” He smiled his brief smile again and continued, “I’m also here to warn you, so I’ll tell you that it radiates radioactive material that may poison you. It accumulates in the body that absorbs it and may change the order or the conduct of human cells that are radiated. To put it simply, if you wish, this is the beginning of the formation of cancer cells. They spread quickly in our bloodstream, create clones that circulate and poison us.”
He looked at the members of the committee and switched off the microphone.
“I
hope I have succeeded in illustrating the danger of it,” then he went back and sat next to Ami.
Dr. Ami was a specialist in the field of nuclear arms. He was impressive. His mane of flowing brown hair gave him a more youthful appearance than his age. He spoke quietly and his speech was accompanied by a heavy Scottish intonation.
“It’s important that you know that we are in constant contact with intelligence bodies all over the world, thus we are familiar with the agreement for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.” He cleared his throat and added, “I am pointing that out before we continue.”
He switched on the projector and two long missiles appeared on the screen. Their heads ended in a cone that was a different color from that of the shaft of the missile. Ami touched the metal of the cone head. “This is where the uranium is placed as my colleague Ephraim explained to you earlier.”
“Can we have more desails abous she ssructure of she missile?” Yuri asked. Major General Ganz narrowed his eyes and stared at him in silence. Ami halted the flow of his words, thought for a moment, and then briefly explained how to assemble a detonator and how to embed the hazardous material in it.
“Like Ephraim, who tried to warn and frighten you with regard to the uranium, I will try and do so with the following photograph.”
A wrecked and burned site appeared on the screen. Indistinct charred parts stuck out of it.
“Yes, gentlemen, you are looking at a place that was hit by a missile containing uranium. I guess it’s superfluous to describe what happened there and what damage is caused to all forms of life in an area hit by a nuclear missile like that.”
The picture was depressing and when the projector was turned off, there was an awkward silence.
“Yes,” Albert aroused himself, “thank you, sirs, you have both enlightened and warned us.”
The two collected their belongings from the table, rose and shook hands with those present. The door closed behind them and Albert turned to the military figure.
“Yes, commander, we are waiting to hear what you have to say.”
Ruby was a member of the Chief of Staff’s family, to be exact, his nephew. He stood out as a very talented man and those who opposed him admitted that his promotion was correct and had nothing to do with his family connection. He was to complete his studies at the Haifa Technion and in another ten days’ time, he would transfer to his new post. This was also the reason that he was careful not to deviate from instructions and that is what caused him to create one problem that day or, perhaps, solve another one.
He leaned forward and quietly announced:
“Gentlemen, the things I am about to say here are classified as “partnership secrets”. They all stared at him. “It is a definition that is way beyond “top secret”.
Albert frowned, still not understanding what Ruby was getting it.
“I’m sorry if anyone is offended but I have to see the classification grading of all the members of this honored committee.” They all looked at him and then at one another. The Chairman of the Committee groaned and pressed a button on the telephone in front of him.
”Yes, Sir,” a youthful voice responded.
“May I get the classified grading of the members of this committee, please?"
“Yes, at once.”
Albert smiled at the military man and said, “You managed to frighten me even before you said one word.”
A soldier entered the room with an open binder in his hand. He laid it on the table beside Albert and pointed to a filed document, flipped back through the pages and pointed to another document.
“Your classified grades are noted both here and there.”
Albert perused the list and raised his eyebrows quizzically. He thanked the soldier and waited till he left the room and closed the door behind him.
He looked at the page again. Only four “top secret”. He paged back to the second page where it was noted that the four were cleared for “partnership secrets”, which is the highest sub-classification of “top secret”. Yuri’s name appeared as the fifth member of the committee and a restriction was noted with regard to him.
“Mr. Yuri Eliav is permitted to hear “secured” and/or “classified material”.
Albert turned to Yuri and asked softly, “I have to confess my sins now and regret not checking your security clearance earlier. What do you know about it?”
Yuri did know about it. He often participated in meetings of this committee, even though he knew he did not have the same classification as the other four, therefore he said nothing now. He stared at Albert, who muttered to himself.
“You’re actually not even permitted to sit in on “secret” or “top secret” discussions.”
Albert scratched his chin, stuck out his lower lip and asked Yuri just one question.
“Did you know?”
Yuri stared at him, saw his dilemma and heard the question clearly.
“If sill now I assended meesings and heard classified maserial with the clearance I have, nossing will happen if I consinue so do so. Whass she problem? I don’s undersand!”
The military man did not restrain himself and banged his hand on the table, still did not intervene but looked at the Chairman of the Committee. He sensed his confusion.
“If you will permit me to make a remark then up to this point the problem of this man’s presence at meeting he should not have attended cannot he solved, but the problem with the classified information I am about to discuss can be solved here and now.”
Albert recovered. “Yuri, I am asking you to leave the room.”
Yuri looked at him defiantly. He wasn’t prepared to give up.
“I have no insension of leaving and I will explode she meesing if I have so. Sis is a scandal!” He raised his voice and banged his fist on the table.
“This matter should be reported to the appropriate authorities,” Ruby said. “We should call the security guard and not ignore what has happened.”
After a second, he added, “at any rate, I will report this to my superiors.”
He stood up and gathered up his papers as he moved his chair back and prepared to leave. But, Albert got up and ordered him to return to his seat. He turned to Yuri.
“Are you banging on the table and calling this a scandal? Then I’ll tell you what the real scandal is. It’s a scandal that I didn’t know how low your security clearance is and I let you sit with us and listen to the most highly classified secrets that have ever been spoken of in this important committee!”
His face reddened and his anger drew deep lines in his face. “I mean to involve the investigation departments of the police and the army. I know how to bang on the table, just like you. I keep asking myself how you dared sit on a committee like this with such a low security clearance?!”
Yuri realized he was exaggerating and had gone too far so he picked up his bag and stood up to leave the room. But, that was when Ruby rose from where he was sitting across the table.
“Leave your bag exactly where it is,” he ordered firmly. “You’re not going anywhere before the security guard gets here.”
Two security men entered the room, one in civilian dress and the other, a uniformed policeman. Yuri was as white as a sheet. His hand that rested on his trousers under the table was shaking and he had difficulty swallowing.
His bag was opened and the all its contents were spilled out on the table. Two miniature tape recorders slipped out of it. One of them had a red light that was flashing. There were two cell phones in the bag as well as an odd-looking black Mirs device.
Yuri Eliav stood facing the contents of his bag on the table and looked at them as if he was seeing them for the first time in his life.
* * *
Following the discovery of Yuri Eliav, who was nicknamed the ‘mole’, an urgent meeting was called. One of the members of this committee was the judge, Adam, but since he was away, they were forced to organize themselves, anew.
It was summer and the air in the room they s
at in was hot and humid. Albert opened the top button of his shirt and flapped the sides backwards.
“What’s happened to the A/C? It’s as hot as hell here. I suggest we go outside and sit under the tree. It will be cooler there.”
He looked at his three colleagues on the committee. Ayah Sholl waved her kerchief to create some breeze and dabbed her forehead and her neck, Sir Wesley fanned himself with his newspaper and Ronnie drank out of a small plastic bottle.
“Were you serious about what you said about the tree in the yard?” Ayah asked and looked at the others. Ayah was the daughter of the famous Iranian author, Yanko Sholl. She had an M.A. in History, lectured on the East and was an expert in Iranian affairs.
Sir Wesley sat beside her. This colored man was proud to have been knighted by the Queen, herself. Wesley was the son of Lydia, a Jewess, and George Khalid, a Pakistani.
“I not only agree, I also will act upon it,” he said and stood up immediately, gathered his belongings then looked at Ronnie and nodded to him.
Ronnie Shurok corked the bottle and waited. As always, he was indecisive and followed the lead of the majority. His hair was combed with a parting on the right, which lent him the appearance of an obedient, well behaved schoolboy. Ronnie held an M.A. in Law, having specialized in Islamic and Far Eastern Law. He was married to a Thai woman, who worked on his parents’ farm where sheep and cattle were raised in the Negev. Now, Ronnie also stood up and gathered his belongings then they went out into the yard together and prepared to sit under the tree.
The exodus of the committee members from the conference room spoiled Major Benny Kanner’s plans. Benny was shaken when he heard about the exposure of Yuri Eliav, the number one ‘mole’ in the Korean espionage ring called ‘Black Pack’ to which they both belonged.