Last Instructions_A Thriller

by Nir Hezroni

  “AngelFire, commander here, over.”

  Meital took the Push-To-Talk. “AngelFire here, over,” she said.

  “Commander here with an update for you: Drop everything else and give top priority to the three sites, one of which is Ibn Gvirol. The matter we started on with those civilians a short while ago. Is that a Roger? Over.”

  “Roger, we are just about to begin with it now, over.”

  “Good. Don’t liaise with the individual you were working with previously. He isn’t available. I’ll be giving you a different contact. Over.”

  “Roger. A different contact. Over.”

  “Commander here, over and out.”

  Meital replaced the PTT. Both she and Dafna were standing on the raised platform with the computer screens and keyboard controls. Dafna swung and shook her arms to loosen her muscles, like she did before beginning a gym workout. Meital did the same.

  “Outer doors locked?”

  “Locked.”

  “Inner doors locked?”

  “Locked.”

  “Switching to Kinect.”

  The lights in the auditorium dimmed at once. And in their place, the entire ceiling of the large room took on a soft, light blue hue. Spotlights on the ceiling cast an orange glow over the raised control station. Dafna raised her arms to her sides, parallel to the floor, the palms of her hands turned downward. She stood like that for a few seconds before swiveling her wrists suddenly and directing her palms upward at the ceiling. A few small green LED dots lit up at the corners of the walls around them. Dafna slowly raised her arms upward toward the ceiling. All the facility’s walls around them began sliding up to reveal an almost-full circle of twenty screens, which linked up with the four that were visible previously and constituted just a small segment of a complete circle of screens all around the room.

  “Should we kick things off with Florence and the Machine, ‘Shake It Out’?”

  “Excellent choice.”

  The song started playing in the background and Dafna set the system in motion with a few deft hand movements. The control screen filled with counters to keep track of the percentage of material uploaded; the coordinates of the three locations were fed into the system; and three of the screens displayed the last image taken of the three places two seconds earlier. Two private homes and a building in ruins. Hands forward, palms pointing forward. Right hand retracts, the left remains outstretched. The counters run quickly in reverse. Right hand stops. In sync with the music, the surrounding speakers loudly announce: “Line Zero, December fourth, 2016, nine forty.”

  “I throw out and you keep track?”

  “Go for it.”

  The three screens displaying the three locations begin moving back in time at an ever-increasing rate. The individual clicks accompanying the switching images become a long string of rattles and then a buzz, Florence is singing in the background, and the system calls out the times. The demolished building is whole again. Far back in time on the building, on Ganei Yehuda, and Avner’s home, too, a suspicious movement a few days before the fourth of December in Ganei Yehuda, a deft hand movement and Dafna reproduces the screen she’s monitoring; the display appears on one of the other screens around them and Meital takes charge of it, starting to run the images forward and in reverse, documenting the routes of pedestrians in green and vehicles in yellow on the huge digital aerial photograph on the screen. Forward. Back. A mark. Back. Forward. Another mark.

  Shake it out

  Shake it out

  The two girls dance in sync to the chorus and laugh. Someone enters the ground-floor apartment of the soon-to-destroyed building through a window. A second replicated screen. Meital takes charge of that one, too. The images on her two screens run forward and backward and she plots routes on both at the same time. A third screen, from Avner’s house this time, and then another from the building on Ibn Gvirol, and another screen, and another. That’s why there are no male operators at the facility. Girls can multitask. Another screen. And another.

  Shake it out

  Shake it out

  All the screens around them are running forward and in reverse. Florence and the Machine booming through the speakers, and Dafna and Meital are engrossed in their mapping dance.

  “I adore her voice! Look at screen fifteen. He’s doing something in Rabin Square. It looks like he’s digging a big hole. Put a timeline tag on it.” Full revolution on the spot, a jump, hands in the air. “Screen nine, look how much time he spends hanging around their main base. He spends at least a month surveying the place.” Half a turn to the right, hands to the side. “He drives here for hours behind something that looks like a large truck.”

  “Throw me to eleven.”

  “Coming right at you. Bring up all we have from the Ra’anana area, too.”

  Shake it out

  Shake it out

  Routes plotted in green and yellow, timeline tags in red, targets numbered within blue circles on the backdrop of the two-second-interval images. The static images turn into a story, a motion picture, twists and turns and splits that move off in various directions and then come together again. Song follows song, and one dance follows another. Meital and Dafna dance 10483 to his demise.

  11/20/2016–49 weeks and 2 days since waking

  I open my laptop and look for the addresses of Avner and Amiram in the personnel file I took from the Organization some 10 years ago. I hope they haven’t moved in recent years, particularly not Amiram. My plans will be disrupted if the courier from the Aharoni-Shamir law firm doesn’t find Amiram and moves on to the next address on the list.

  Amiram will go straight to Avner’s house 15 minutes after the delivery of the notebook. That’s how long it will take him to realize what he’s received, dress quickly, put on shoes, and leave.

  I leave the house at 4:30 in the morning and drive to Amiram’s house to stake it out. Amiram still lives at the same address. I see him leave the house at 7 in the morning, get into his Land Rover, and drive away. I head out and buy a few items I need—a jerrycan, rubber sheeting, a sealant, and several other things. I fill the jerrycan with gasoline at the gas station and buy a tuna sandwich and a bottle of mineral water. I return home in the afternoon and install lighting in the tunnel I’ve constructed from the basement to the outside.

  I check through the material I took from the Organization for the location of the satellite branch nearest to Avner’s house. I assume that after reading through the notebook for an hour or 2, he will make his way quickly to the branch closest to him in order to gain access to a computer and make a few encrypted phone calls. The nearest branch is in Ganei Yehuda. I drive there dressed in a sweatshirt and sports pants, park the carpet van on HaMitnahalim Street, and jog around the area. The branch is disguised as a regular villa and is surrounded by cameras. If I disable the one pointing east, I can create a blind spot through which I’ll be able to get into the parking lot and deal with Avner’s vehicle.

  I visit the area of the satellite base in Ganei Yehuda and jog around there for a few more days, at different times, to figure out the guard rotation schedule and monitor the routine activity at the branch. It’s pretty sleepy.

  I open YouTube and type “turn DVD laser” in the search box and get a long list of video clips that explain how to disassemble an old DVD, remove the signal reduction component, and boost the intensity of the laser beam. One of the clips shows how to insert the mechanism into a Maglite flashlight and I buy the list of equipment that I need to do so at an electronics store and prepare the flashlight at home. I test it and aim the beam at a candle that I place on the other side of the room. The wick lights up. It’s very simple to turn an old DVD into a powerful laser. I read online through the specifications for Amiram’s Land Rover so I can figure out at what height to stretch my steel cable across the road in order to achieve the best result.

  I drive again to the satellite branch in Ganei Yehuda. I park my carpet van down the street a few dozen meters from the camera,
attach the flashlight to a camera tripod to keep it steady, aim the beam until the red dot is fixed on the camera lens, and leave it in that position for 5 minutes. 1st they’ll send a technician to try to repair it, but he won’t be able to. He’ll order a new camera and then replace the old one. I have a few days.

  I go the following morning to stake out Avner’s house. He, too, is still living in the same place, on Moshav Mazor. I examine the tall cypress trees that line the road into the community and measure the distance between them with fishing line. 28 meters of steel cable will do the job and when I get home later I’ll cut the cable so that I don’t have to carry around the entire 50 meters. The cable is very heavy. I’ll attach fixtures to the 2 ends of the cable to allow me to wind and tie the cable around the trees in a hurry.

  I buy a 2nd LG G3 prepaid cell phone and large D-type batteries. The LG’s internal battery is a Li-Ion 3000 mAh with an output of 3.7V. I connect 3 D batteries to one another. This gives me 4.5V. I prepare 2 more trios of batteries in the same way and connect the 3 trios in parallel. The output remains 4.5V but it will take them a lot longer to run out. The phone will function for about 2 weeks straight. I remove the original battery from the phone and solder the plus and minus terminals at the back of the open device to the large battery I’ve created and wrap everything together with black duct tape. I set up 2 fictitious Facebook accounts, install Waze on the phone, define the 2 Facebook accounts in the social network settings of the app, check that the 2 phones are partnered, and turn the new one off.

  12/03/2016–1 year less 1 day since waking

  It’s 9 in the evening and I’m sitting in the cargo bay of my carpet van near Amiram’s house and using my iPhone to view video of the house from the outside that’s coming from a GoPro camera fitted to the vehicle. I pour myself some coffee from a thermos I prepared and drink it. The courier is supposed to arrive at 10:20. The Aharoni-Shamir law firm had been instructed to deliver the package at precisely that time. I told them it was essential for the package to arrive on the right day and at the specified time. I see the courier arrive and walk into Amiram’s with the package containing the notebook I wrote 10 years ago. My day of revenge has arrived. 113 minutes suffice, and Amiram rushes out the house, gets into his Land Rover, and speeds away. I head for Avner’s house, making no effort to follow Amiram’s vehicle. I have enough time to get there and I don’t want him to suspect that someone may be on his tail.

  I reach the entrance to Moshav Mazor, park my van along a small side road, and use the time that Amiram spends in Avner’s house to tie the steel cable to one of the roadside trees. I run the cable across the road to the other side and leave it resting on the ground, with the loose end next to me in a ditch on the side of the road. I’m surrounded by darkness. Heavy clouds cover the sky and the moon peeks through now and then, briefly illuminating the road and black trees around me.

  Toward 11:30 I hear the Land Rover’s engine in the distance. I get up, pull the steel cable taut at the appropriate height, and tie the loose end to the tree next to me. I get back into the ditch at the side of the road and wait. The Land Rover speeds past me and immediately thereafter I hear the sound of screeching metal and shattering glass as the vehicle flips, flies into the ditch a few dozen meters away, and comes to a stop on its roof, engine still running, lights on, with upturned wheels spinning in the air. I walk over and peer inside. Amiram is unconscious. I go back to the road, untie the steel cable, roll it up, and return it to my backpack. I place the backpack on the ground next to the upturned Land Rover and then turn off the engine and lights and remove the ring of keys from the ignition. Amiram is hanging upside down in front of me and I remove the pistol from the holster on his belt. I also take his wallet and phone. I examine the ID in the wallet to verify that it’s Amiram. Yes. It’s him. Very good.

  I check again.

  One last time.

  I stroke my beard.

  I remove the battery from Amiram’s phone and place his phone, the battery, and his wallet in my backpack. Then I sit down in front of the open door of the Land Rover with Amiram’s gun in my hand and wait for him to wake up. In the meantime, I reach into the backpack to retrieve 2 pairs of handcuffs, a small bottle of mineral water, and a box of sleeping pills. I crush 8 pills into the bottle and shake it well.

  It’s 1:19 in the morning. The crickets and insects around me are making loud music. A vehicle speeds past on the road above me. It must be Avner hurrying to the Organization’s satellite branch after reading the notebook. I thought he’d appear sooner. He’s driving fast and doesn’t notice the Land Rover in the ditch. The moon is hiding behind the clouds and Avner is surely troubled and in a rush.

  Groans come from the vehicle in front of me. Amiram is moving in the seat and coming to. He releases his safety belt and falls on his head. It amuses me.

  Amiram crawls out of his vehicle and freezes when he sees me sitting in front of him with his own gun pointed at him.

  “What’s going on here?” he asks. I tell him I’ve come to collect him. I throw the 2 pairs of handcuffs to him and tell him to put them on—one pair on his wrists and the other pair around his ankles. I throw the bottle of water to him and tell him to drink it after putting the cuffs on.

  Then I sit quietly in front of him and wait an hour for him to fall asleep. I leave him sleeping alongside the Land Rover and go get my carpet van, which I parked on the road just above. I carry Amiram into the van, lay him down in the cargo bay, and tie the handcuffs around his wrists and ankles to the 4 metal rings welded to the floor of the vehicle.

  Avner was driving fast. He must have arrived at the Ganei Yehuda satellite branch by now. I drive to my rental home, remove the sleeping Amiram from the van, and place him in the cage in the basement. I leave him shackled for now in case he wakes up. I lock the door of the cage with a steel chain and heavy padlock, go upstairs, and close the door to the basement behind me. The house is secluded and no one will hear Amiram’s screams thanks to the mattresses covering the basement’s walls. I’ve also left the TV in the living room on, on Channel 2.

  I drive to Ganei Yehuda and park 2 blocks from the Organization’s satellite branch. I’m dressed in black, and my tools and the tracking device I’ve made from the cell phone and batteries are in my backpack. I approach the villa’s parking lot from the direction of the camera I disabled and spot Avner’s white Mazda parked next to another car that I recognize as the guard’s. Avner is standing outside. I wait for him to go back inside and then approach his car. I crawl under the Mazda, drill 4 small holes with the power drill, and attach the tracking device to the underside of the vehicle using 2 strong steel wires that I fix in place with screws through the holes I’ve made. I put my tools back into the backpack, making sure I haven’t left anything lying on the ground, and leave the parking lot through the same area the disabled camera isn’t covering.

  It’s almost 4 in the morning by now and I go back to Avner’s house. I park along one of the streets in the community, eat an omelet and tomato baguette sandwich I’ve brought with me from home, set my alarm for 7 in the morning, drink a bottle of mineral water, and go to sleep in the back of the van.

  I wake up at 7. I open the laptop, connect to the Wi-Fi network of one of the surrounding homes that isn’t password protected, and access the camera I have in the old basement on Ibn Gvirol Street. The room is dark and I don’t see any movement. They’ll probably get there soon, thanks to my explanation in the notebook they received about the existence and location of the basement. I use the time on my hands to change into the UPS courier uniform and check to make sure that the contents of all the drawers are neatly in place.

  Another check.

  One last time.

  I eat a few cinnamon-flavored Nature Valley energy bars for breakfast and drink another bottle of mineral water. I’ll go back to my rental a little later and make myself coffee and take a shower.

  At 9:15 I see some movement on the laptop screen. Someone is climbi
ng down the ladder into the basement. I begin recording the video feed from the camera and watch an entire team descend and start to map the location. They look over my works of art, step into the empty iron cage in which I’ve erased part of the amateurish inscription made on the floor by one of my subjects, and examine the walls. They’re wearing gas masks and I’m unable to identify the people there. Perhaps Avner himself has gone down into the basement with the team. I let them have their fun in the basement for 25 minutes and then use the laptop’s mouse to move the camera. They all freeze and then throw their equipment to the ground and make a dash for the ladder. I’m amused. I pick up my cell phone, unlock it, and lightly touch one of the 2 shortcuts I’ve set up in the Safari browser—

  203 Ibn Gvirol Street Blast

  I close the laptop and leave it in the van, take the parcel I’ve prepared, a UPS delivery form, the canister of nitrous oxide and the mask, a syringe and a vial of Diprivan, and walk toward Avner’s house. It’s raining. My uniform and the brown parcel I’m carrying get wet. I leave the equipment on the ground next to the house and hold on to just the parcel and the UPS form. I ring the doorbell and Avner’s wife opens the door. She signs the form I’ve prepared and the shoebox half-filled with earth stays with her. I tell her it’s an important parcel and that she needs to call Avner to tell him to come and collect it. She looks at me, doesn’t say a word, and goes back inside. I walk away down the driveway; and the moment I’m out the line of sight of the kitchen window, I double back quickly around the house and take up position against the wall to the right of the front door. Avner’s wife is on the phone; she hangs up and the front door opens. She rushes out and I hit her on the head with the nitrous oxide canister I’m holding. The 1st blow fails to stun her sufficiently and she lifts her arms to protect her head and tries to look at me. Another blow and she drops to the ground. I attach the mask to the canister and place the mask over her face. She closes her eyes. I insert the syringe into the vial of Diprivan, draw up some of the solution, and inject it into a vein in Efrat’s arm. That’s the name she signed on the form I gave her.