by Odeda Yaari
He was taken to a holding cell, and his passport was kept in the possession of the on-call police officer. When he tried to ask questions, they ordered him to be quiet and stay that way.
***
Abraham flipped through his address book and called Santo’s direct number. He tried to sound at ease as he said, “I have what you need. I managed to get you the formulas from the Israeli company. I’ll board a plane to Colombia tomorrow night and bring them to you myself. Before that, we need to settle the matter of the money. The Israeli company wants twenty million dollars for the formula. Apparently, that’s what the Americans have offered them. I don’t know why they decided to sell it to you and not to them, but that might have something to do with their friend, Edo,” he said.Ron wrote down the sum of the deposit they had to make and the number of the account they had to deposit it to. Abraham repeated Ron’s request.“They need you put half a million dollars into Edo’s account. If that part of the deal doesn’t happen, I won’t be able to board the plane with the formula.”
As much as he tried to hide it, Santo was stunned. He couldn’t figure out why Edo hadn’t come to him directly, or what had happened with the Americans. Something must have happened in their negotiations, perhaps some new information the American company had just found out. It wasn’t as simple as Abraham made it out to be, but he said nothing. The formula would pay itself off very quickly, that was nothing more than simple math. His operation, unlike that of the Americans, was a strictly financial venture, and had no philanthropic purpose to it.“No problem, my dear friend,” said Santo with a smile. “Santo will make the deposit within the hour. You just let me know when you’ll be arriving so that we can pick you up at the airport. I really did miss my friend, Abraham. See you here soon.”
“Nice,” said Ron and smiled to himself. Just like in a game of cards, every move had to be anticipated.
33
“Can I have your attention, please!” David called out at the start of the unexpected meeting in the conference room. “Things have happened at the company over the last few days that may be a complete game changer. We didn’t want to tell you before we knew where we were headed.”David looked around him. It was almost nine thirty in the morning, and he had been waiting for all the employees to arrive to call the meeting. He tried to locate Edo among the people present, but he wasn’t there.“Yesterday, something extreme happened. I’d hate to use the word dramatic, because we still don’t know exactly what happened.”
At the start of his words, there had been murmurs around the table, but now a tense silence filled the conference room.
David revealed the chain of events that had taken place since the moment they had received the announcement about the funding from the Ministry of Agriculture being cut, followed by the American company that was interested in buying them out, and ending with the events of the previous night.
“I’m assuming that over the next few days, we’ll have police investigators coming and going to try and find some clues as to what’s happened to Ron. In the meantime, we will continue the work at full speed. I know it isn’t going to be easy, but we owe it to Ron. And one last thing. Edo, who started working here two weeks ago, didn’t show up to work today. Did he tell anyone he was going to take the day off or be late?”
Everyone present shook their heads no or shrugged their shoulders. None of them had really been able to get close to Edo or could provide an explanation of his absence.“Should any of you have any kind of information that could be useful, I’d like you to let me know.”
When David finished talking, a commotion broke out in the conference room. The normally quiet employees were upset. Their safe, secure incubator had been crudely trampled on. Tomorrow this would be all over the news, and they would become the focus of media and police attention.
“Efrat.” He called his secretary. “If anyone wants to talk to me, don’t set an appointment, just forward all the calls to me and let in anyone who comes into the office.”
If anyone knew anything at all about what had happened, he wanted them to come to him personally, even discreetly. He called the Bar residence to see if anything had changed since last night.
“Ron?” A female voice filled with hope and despair answered.
“No, it’s me, David. I gather there’s no news.”
“No, nothing. Hold on, my husband wants to talk to you.”
“David?” Judge Bar grabbed the phone.
“Yes?” said Edo. He could hear in Bar’s voice how old age had overtaken him at once.
“Did Edo come to the office?”
David was quiet. That was all the answer Bar needed. He spoke quickly. “Okay. I’ll hang up then. I don’t want the line to be busy, in case Ron calls.”
***
At the Hilton dining room, a rich breakfast buffet was being served. Yoni sat down to eat with Bob. On the table were two cups of coffee and some fresh buns. Neither of them was feeling very hungry.
Bob’s eyes, with dark circles under them, revealed the fact that he had had a sleepless night. Early that morning, he had checked with the front desk to see if there had been a message for him, waiting for an answer that was yet to come. He assumed some difficulties must have arisen, and the deal wasn’t going to be as easy as he had originally thought.
“Yesterday something happened that might change things completely,” said Yoni. “I can’t be sure yet, but in any case, it definitely puts a hold on everything for the time being.”
In a cool, calm manner, Yoni told Bob about the disappearance of Ron and the company’s secret formulas. “I’m assuming the police will get involved at some point, which is why I need to ask you something. As an investigations firm, we can help and contribute to the case. We have a great deal of information. However, because of the contract between us, we cannot divulge any information without your permission.”Bob was quiet for several long moments. The meaning of what Yoni had just revealed the connection between APC and the investigations firm. He tried to take in the magnitude of the downfall that would mean to him personally.When he game to grips with it, realizing a man’s life might be at risk, he said to Yoni, “I’m going to call our company’s vice president right now, despite the hour. He was the one who made the connection in the first place, and I need to ask for his approval. I believe, under the circumstances, there shouldn’t be any problem, and the company will be willing to cooperate.”
Yoni gave Bob his cell phone number and said, “That would be very much appreciated.”
***
The vice president was startled awake from a deep sleep by the phone ringing. It took him several moments to realize who was on the line. He asked Bob to hold on and got up to wash his face. He certainly did not like what he was hearing. The mere idea of exposing the company like that. This could reach the States and they could be accused of industrial espionage. On the other hand, the Israeli company wasn’t going to sue them because they needed their help. If they could assist in any way, they had a moral obligation to do so. He contemplated it for a minute, wondering whether he should bring the company president in on it, and finally decided to take sole responsibility for the decision. He thought of his friend Ya’acov, whose son was working for their company, of the deep connection he had made with the Israelis, and of the dozens of operations they had collaborated on, which nobody knew anything about.
“Yes,” he said finally. “You have my permission, and I hope this matter is solved as quickly as possible. Please tell the family to come to us if we can help in any way possible. I think you can come home now, until this whole thing clears out. I have our proposal ready, here on my desk, and we can transfer it to them later on.”
34
Ron went to the bathroom in Abraham’s hotel room. He washed his face in an attempt to freshen up. He hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in two weeks. He was tired and hungry, but circumstances forced him to act alert. Abraham ordered coffee and sandwiches for them. It was almost four a.m., and Ron
still had a long, tiring drive ahead. But soon this would all be over. They sipped their coffees in silence, both thinking about the events of the previous hours. Ron looked at Abraham and smiled. He took a big white envelope out of his jacket pocket, held it for a moment, then handed it to Abraham.
“This envelope contains the formulas. They are broken down to stages A and B, and all the necessary guiding instructions are there, too. I’m sure you know how much this invention is worth to the Colombians. I hope you’ll use at least some of the money you get out of this deal to do some good. I know you still don’t really get why I’m using you to hand these over to the Colombians, or why I’m letting you get a piece of the cut. I have my reasons, which I’d rather keep to myself.”
Abraham looked at the papers, the writing on which made absolutely no sense to him, and said nothing. He was about to become a multimillionaire.When they had finished their coffees, Ron picked up his bag and left the room. There were two security guards dozing off outside the door. He woke them up.“You can go in now,” he said.
***
Ron drove all the way back with his head in a fog. The first light of day was beginning to break and cast away the darkness. A new day was dawning over the Dead Sea and the sky turned a soft shade of red.
Ron tried to push away all the thoughts and explanations that had been filling his head since yesterday, but they took over, spanning over eras and people who had filled his life, over all the things he had done. Just a little bit more and this would all be over, he knew. He sincerely hoped that David would support the moves he had to make, despite the fact that he had not shared his decisions with him. He was willing to accept all the risks and responsibilities, and was determined to see this through. He saw the image of his brother, Gill, before his eyes. He had spent enough of his life carrying his dead brother with him wherever he went. Today the circle was coming to a close, and from now on, Ron would start living for real. Now he was ready for a clean slate, ready to turn a new page in his life and put the past behind him.
He thought of Dana and of the place in his life she possessed. When he thought about it, he really didn’t know her at all. She had told him very little about her life, and he did not even know where she lived. For the first time, it occurred to him that she had never even given him her home address or phone number. But none of that mattered now. What mattered was that they had met and that, thanks to her, he had dared to do things differently.
It was almost ten a.m. when he got to the outskirts of Tel-Aviv and entered the rush of the city. The roads were busy with traffic, full of restless, impatient drivers, all in a hurry to get where they were going. Everything was as it always had been.
***
At ten a.m. on Sunday morning, Yoni’s team was gathered at the office. On the table were the passenger lists of all the outgoing flights from Israel. Yoni was deep in thought. He tried to focus.
“Eran, say that again please. This can’t be right. Did we miss something?”“Edo was supposed to be on the five a.m. flight to the States. I’ve checked it, Yoni. I spent hours contacting every airline.”
“And he never made the flight?”
“No. His name’s not on the passenger list.”
“When did he buy his ticket?”
“A little before midnight.”
“Okay. Then where did he go?”
“I have no idea.”
“Itamar, what about the device?”
“It’s been down since around two a.m.”
“What was the last thing you heard?”
“It was unclear. He was at passport control, but there was all this noise and I couldn’t hear clearly. You know how the airport gets before the holidays, very noisy. It’s possible someone took his wallet at the security check-in and lost us our bug.”
“What if he changed his mind at the last minute and decided to go see his family?” said Sophie.
Yoni gave her a look, and she immediately went ahead to check whether this was the case. On the other end of the line, she heard Edo’s mother.
“Hi, this is Sophie, remember? From downstairs? How are you?” Sophie could tell Edo’s mother sounded depressed. “How’s Edo? I’m calling because some friends of mine are looking for someone talented to work for their company and I thought of him. Could I have his phone number?”
“I’m sorry,” said the mother. “Edo’s out of the country. He’s been traveling abroad for a long while, and I don’t know when he’ll be back.”
“What did you hear from him?” Sophie tried to keep the conversation going, but Edo’s mother was not cooperative.“Look, Sophie, I don’t feel so good right now. We’ll talk another time, okay, sweetie?” And she hung up.
Sophie reported to the team.
“I think she’s hiding something. She’s usually so open and talkative. She practically hung up on me.”
“Okay. For now, there isn’t much we can do. We have Ron to deal with as well. I’m going to report Edo’s disappearance to the police and leave it at that for the time being. Kobi, I need you to put Edo’s name on the wanted list at the border police station. The second he decides to leave the country, if it’s even up to him, we’ll be able to trace him.” Yoni took a breath. “And another thing. Itamar, what’s going on with Ron and the company’s bank accounts?”
“No movement so far.”
“Okay. Sophie, you come with me. Time to contact Bar.”
***
Edo sat hunched on a bench in a small room at the end of a hall. No one had spoken to him since putting him in the holding cell. They had made him leave his bag and wallet outside. None of the police officers had been willing to tell him why he had been arrested. Edo remembered how people in the movies always got one phone call.“Can’t I make a phone call?” he had asked the officer hours ago, when he’d brought him into the room.“Yeah, you can call whoever you want, but not now. You’ll wake everyone up. We’ll let you make all the calls you want in the morning. You can play secretary for the entire airport, for all I care. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sleep. Good night.”
But really, who was he going to call? His parents would panic; he had no friends he could call and he didn’t even know the name of a lawyer to consult with. The first practical option that came to his mind was to call Sophie.
He knew it was morning, but had no idea what time it was. His stomach was growling and he felt helpless. If only he knew why he was there. But it did not seem like anyone was about to provide an explanation anytime soon.
He took a sip of the water they had left him and closed his eyes. As soon as he managed to fall into a shallow sleep, he heard footsteps approaching the door. Two men were talking, and he heard the key turning. The door opened and, standing behind the policeman who had arrested him the previous night, was Ron.
“You’re free to go,” said the policeman. “Just sign this and collect your things. We had your backpack taken off the flight.”
***
Ron grabbed Edo’s heavy backpack and told him to follow him. They got into the car in silence and drove toward Tel-Aviv.
“We’re going to go to my apartment now. Once you’ve showered and had some coffee, we have a lot to discuss.”
“But I…”Edo tried to speak, but Ron cut him short and said, “Don’t say anything right now.”
When they got to Ron’s apartment, Edo went into the shower. Ron took a deep breath, mustering that extra bit of nerve he needed to reach the finish line. He picked up the phone for the first time since the previous evening.
“Tamir! It’s Ron. It’s done. I can meet you tonight.”
“Ron! You have no idea what’s going on here. Our guys at the police have passed on word, off the record for now, that you’ve been kidnapped. You’ve got the whole force on its feet!” he chuckled for a moment. “That’s a judge’s son for you. They must have pulled some serious strings for you. You make quite a story. Well, of course I kept my mouth shut, but it was hard. Your poor parents…I really
felt sorry for them. You need to call home because they’re losing their minds. You’re one hell of a story.”
“Thank you! Pleasure’s all mine,” said Ron. “And thank you for keeping quiet and letting me finish what I started. I’ll call everyone now and we’ll meet at my place tonight at eight. By the way, if any of your sources can find out when the minister of agriculture is planning to leave for Colombia, that would be great. From what he said on the phone, I think it’s going to be sometime tonight.”Sophie was on her way out of the office when she got the phone call from Ron. She sprinted back inside, signaling to Yoni that Ron was on the line.
“Where are you?” she asked, the minute she realized it was him. “Are you all right? Are you safe? Do you need any help?” Her tone of voice suggested to Ron that she was extremely concerned.“Everything’s all right,” he said calmly. “I’m home, and I have Edo here with me. Can you come here now, if you’re free? Oh and by the way, I’m calling my parents and David right now, so you don’t have to. I’m guessing they’ve been in touch with you.”
“Do you have any idea how worried we’ve all been? And Edo’s there, too? Thank God! I’m coming right now. I’ll be there in half an hour.”
Ron’s next call was to his parents. His father picked up so quickly, it was clear he had been sitting by the phone, waiting for it to ring. His voice was weary and full of pain. His usual greeting when answering the phone, “Bar residence,” was replaced by a desperate “Hello?”
“Dad, it’s me. Everything’s okay. I’m home. Can you come here with David at around noon? By then, I’ll have had time to rest for a bit, and we can talk.”
Bar let out a deep sigh of relief. There was nothing else he needed to know, apart from the fact that Ron was alive and well.“Of course, we’ll be there. Thank God you’re all right. We were so worried,” he said and hung up.He had to call Aviram Cohen and let him know Ron was safe and sound. He felt a little bad for stirring up such a commotion, but that was the last thing he cared about right now.