by Rose Fox
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 sat 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.
Benny joined them when he was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant and went on to advance to the Number Two position in its surveillance cell. He was successful and rose in the operational ranks and became responsible for all the wiretaps. Benny developed technology that enabled the Koreans to carry out real time tapping of the discussions of the Israeli Security Council. The technology was based on the ability to connect to the existing security system and attach devices that transmitted the information. Thanks to him, the Korean organization cancelled or changed decisions after hearing the discussions held in this conference room and the decisions made in their wake.
A month earlier, he had been appointed to a new assignment; the responsibility of tracking two agents, the judges, who were sent to Russia. Aside from the honor of the job, it also added a great deal of money to his bank account. For several days he had tried to find out the route of the judges’ itinerary. The difficulty was that they were posing as innocent tourists and had succeeded in misleading their pursuers.
Everything had changed two days ago when Yuri Eliav, who was in charge of the content of the meetings, said out loud and clear at one of the meetings.
“I underssand that swo of our agenss on mosorcycles are abous so receive a package of uranium in the lass kilomesers of the Naliboki Foress.”
That was an important statement because it was the first indication of their whereabouts. A man from the ‘Black Pack’ was immediately sent after them. He took advantage of the fact that the elusive hikers stayed in one place for more than a day and one of them, Anton Stolov, was killed.
At another meet
ing, once again speaking on top of his voice, Yuri said.
“I underssand shas Advocase Abigail is going so replace Judge Ssolov.”
The truth was that she had been marked for assassination a long while before by the ‘Black Pack’. First, little Modang was sent, armed with her cord of death, followed by another agent, who was sent to kill her on the day of her departure on her special assignment and ending with the man, who had succeeded in obtaining the key to her room at the inn, on her first day in Russia, who was killed by Abigail.
Now a new plan was taking shape to kidnap Abigail and Justice Ayalon. In this new plan the ‘Black Pack’ was cooperating with an Iranian terrorist organization called ‘Walid-el-Allah’ (The Son of God). The Koreans were involving the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in this assignment and approved their use of both of them in any way they wished.
The members of the committee sat round a plastic table with four small bottles of water in front of them. A light breeze blew under the branches of the Cedar tree that cast its shade on them. Albert sat down and began to speak.
“Listen, friends, the topic for discussion today is to cancel or stop the mission of the agent who left to go there on Wednesday. She is supposed to meet up with the existing agent who is carrying the material.”
“Why cancel if she has already left?” Ronnie asked.
“There is a new report from the ‘Mossad’. She is being followed, attempts are being made on her life and she is likely to endanger the agent there.”
“Who’s following her?” Ayah asked.
“The day before she left on the assignment she had a confrontation with the Korean woman and wiped her out, and the next day, on her very first day on assignment, she was compelled to kill another assassin, who entered her room. She has been exposed to the enemy and is being pursued. That makes her the weakest link.”