Independence Hall

by Roland Smith

“In other words,” Heather said, “lie.”

  “Exactly.” Boone noticed the laptop lying on the master suite bed. He opened it and saw that he needed a password to boot it up. “Hang on a sec, Heather.”He muted the call.

  “Get Xin here,”he told Vanessa.

  “He’s not going to be happy about that,” Vanessa said. “You know what he’s like when his equipment is down.”

  “I don’t care!”Boone snapped. “I want him in here right now!”

  Boone got back on with Heather. “I need a couple of things,” he said.

  “Name them.”

  “Hardened security,” Boone said. “These guys Buddy T. hired are worthless. We need professionals. People we can trust. Tell Buddy T. you want me to be in charge of tour security. I’ll get the right people.”

  “Buddy T.’s not going to buy that. What does an old roadie like you know about tour security?”

  “Tell him while he was in New York these morons let someone into the motor coach, which is the truth. If Roger or Blaze found out they’d go ballistic. I’ll keep it between the three of us if he turns security over to me.”

  “He’ll probably go along with that. What’s the second thing?”

  “Your flight is going to be late leaving Chicago. Mechanical problems. I want Roger and Blaze back here at the last possible moment. Ideally, I don’t even want them to have the time to stop at the motor coach. I want the limo to take them directly to the Electric Factory from the airport.”

  “You’re starting to make me really nervous, Boone.”

  Boone had no soothing words for her. “Is Marie or Art around?”

  “I just saw Marie. Let me find her. By the way, Roger and Blaze are absolutely wild about them. I assumed they worked for you. Who would have thought a couple of spooks could be such great personal assistants. I just might start recruiting PAs from the CIA.”

  “The way things are going in the CIA these days,”Boone said. “You’d probably get a lot of takers.”

  “Here she is… Marie, it’s for you.”

  Boone told Marie to call the pilots and arrange the bogus mechanical problem. She asked him what was going on just as X came into the coach with a sour look on his face.

  “I’ll tell you later.” Boone ended the call.

  “I’m kind of busy,” X complained. “What do you need?”

  Boone handed him the laptop. “A password.”

  “Whose laptop?”

  “I don’t know, but I think it’s Angela’s.”

  X started typing in possible passwords one after another.

  “Don’t you have a program that can do that?” Vanessa asked.

  “Yeah,”X said. “And it could take two hours to crack the password using it. I assume you’re in a hurry.” As his fingers flew over the keys he told them about the virus. “I think it might have been better if they had used a bullet. I’ve never seen anything like it. It might take a week to untangle it…if I can untangle it. And I think while they were at it they uploaded all of our data.”

  “Everything?”

  “I won’t know until everything’s back online,”X said, still typing. “But yeah, I think they now have everything we had. Ah…that was it.”

  Angela’s screen came to life. She hadn’t closed the exchange she’d had with Q. Boone, Vanessa, and X crowded around the screen and read every word.

  “Get Felix in here,” Boone said. “We’re going to have to proceed carefully or Malak will bolt. And we’re not going to have the advantage of X’s surveillance equipment.”

  “It’ll be just like the old days,” Vanessa said with a little smile. “And if you remember, we were pretty good at it.”

  “Once upon a time,” Boone said grimly.

  While Vanessa called the others Boone asked X what the password was.

  “November 30, 2004,” X answered. “No spaces.”

  Liberty Bell

  “See?” I said. “That wasn’t so bad.”

  It had taken us a grand total of seven minutes to reach Independence Hall, and as far as I could tell, we hadn’t been followed. But it was obvious by the way Angela was scanning our surroundings she was not nearly as certain as I was. We were sitting on a bench outside the hall and there were a lot of people around. School groups, tourists, street people-there were even a couple of policemen on foot patrol.

  “It’s almost three,” Angela said, looking at her watch. “Maybe we missed her.”

  I shook my head. “We’re not that late. She didn’t tell us exactly where to meet her outside Independence Hall and this is a big place. Your mom wouldn’t have gone to this much trouble and not show because we were a few minutes late.”

  Angela sighed. “What if it isn’t my mom?”

  It seemed to me that I had brought this possibility up more than once. “If it isn’t your mom then we’re in huge trouble and I hope they taught you in your martial arts class how to defend yourself-and more importantly me-against a terrorist leopard.”

  Angela smiled and was about to say something when a policeman limped up and sat down on the other side of her. This was about the last person in the world we wanted to join us on the bench, but we couldn’t very well get up and rush away without looking guilty of something. It was a school day. I figured he was going to ask us what we were doing there alone. But if that was going to be his question he decided to ease into it.

  “A beautiful day to visit Independence Hall,” he said.

  It was actually overcast and looked like it might rain. He looked like he was in his mid-fifties, a little overweight, with blue eyes, and spoke with a slight accent.

  “Have you been into Independence Hall before?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Angela answered.

  He looked at the old brick building for a second then said, “A great deal of history was made beyond those walls. Decisions that changed the world. Courageous sacrifices that are still changing the world.”

  “Like the Declaration of Independence,” I said.

  The policeman nodded. “Did you know that the men who signed that document were considered traitors by the British? Now they’re heroes and the Brits are your staunchest allies. The passage of time changes everything. You fought the Germans and the Japanese in World War II, now they’re your allies too. I guess it’s just the natural ebb and flow of history. Evil people wash ashore with evil ideologies. We clean them up…and wait to see what the next tide brings.”

  I’d never had a conversation with a Philadelphia cop (or any cop for that matter) but this seemed like a weird thing to say to a couple of kids sitting on a bench.

  “It would be nice if we could just skip the war part,” he continued. “But the maniacs and fanatics and their blind followers usually make this impossible.” He nodded at the old brick building. “Even in more recent times sacrifices have been made inside that Hall. Decisions that were so audacious and bold that the even the passage of time might not uncover the truth of what happened.”

  I was getting nervous…or I should say, more nervous… and it wasn’t because he was a cop. It was because I was beginning to think he wasn’t a cop. “…your staunchest allies…. You fought the Germans and the Japanese…” He should have said our and we. Where was he from?

  I looked at my watch. “Wow,” I said. “We’re late! We were supposed to meet Mom and Dad fifteen minutes ago.”

  I stood up, fully expecting Angela to join me, but she remained planted on the bench, staring at the policeman through her dark sunglasses. Apparently her highly tuned Secret Service-trained brain had gone deaf. She hadn’t heard the Liberty Bell alarm clanging that this guy is not a cop, so therefore he’s a terrorist or Mossad agent. “The redcoats are coming! The redcoats are coming!” I wanted to shout. But in this case the red uniform was blue.

  “We have to go,” I insisted. “You know how worried Mom gets when we’re late.” I would have yanked Angela off the bench, but I was afraid she might plant her foot in my ear.

  The poli
ceman looked at me. “Your mother is in Chicago,” he said. He looked at Angela. “And your mother is down the street. Waiting.”

  “Who are you?” Angela asked quietly.

  “You can call me Ziv,” he answered.

  Angela stood up (finally). “You’re with Eben Lavi! You’re with the Mossad!”

  “I was with Eben Lavi,” he said calmly. “But I was never with the Mossad, although they believe that I was.”

  “Where’s Eben?” Angela asked.

  “He’s gone dark,” Ziv answered. “He’s off the grid. Do you know what that means?”

  Angela and I shook ours heads.

  “He has resigned from the Mossad and is working on his own. He’s a rogue agent…for the time being. Or maybe permanently. Who knows?”

  “Is he still in Philadelphia?” Angela asked.

  “I suspect he is.”

  “What does he want?” Angela asked.

  “He wants to kill a leopard. He wants to avenge his brother.”

  “Aaron,” Angela said.

  Ziv nodded. “But he’s after the wrong person. The leopard did not murder Aaron. Salim Kazi and Amun Massri took Aaron’s life.”

  So the second guy at the Paris café and the boy who tried to blow up Independence Hall was named Amun Massri. Boone and his team would be interested in that information.

  “Salim Kazi was killed in Tijuana three weeks ago,” I said. “Eben killed him.”

  Angela turned to me, and even though I couldn’t see her eyes under the shades I could tell she was glaring.

  “Mr. Boone is well-informed,” Ziv said. “But that is not correct. Eben had nothing to do with Salim Kazi’s death.” He smiled. “That pleasure was all mine.”

  A chill ran down my spine. Boone had said that Salim Kazi had been beaten and tortured before he died.

  “Who do you work for?” Angela asked.

  “I work for the good of mankind,” Ziv answered.

  Salim Kazi probably didn’t agree with that, I thought.

  “I’m serious,” Angela said sharply.

  “I am being serious,” Ziv said. “I’m the monkey that watches the leopard’s tail. I’m her second pair of eyes and ears. I make certain that no one stalks her while she stalks her prey. But she’s a good leopard. She only kills those who deserve to die. Aaron Lavi was not one of them, but she could not stop Salim and Amun without compromising herself.”

  “You tapped into the bugs that Eben planted in our bus,” I said.

  Ziv shook his head. “We could have, but there was no need to since I was working with Eben, Devorah, and Carma at the time–or so they thought.”

  “Where are Devorah and Carma?” I asked.

  “I ordered them to return home, but like Eben, I doubt they obeyed. They’re trying to make a name for themselves. And they can’t do that by returning to the Institute with a failed mission and their tails between their legs. Carma and Devorah will try to get together, if they aren’t already together, and see what they can salvage from the mess we’ve created for them. I think Eben will remain on his own. He’s had enough of those two.”

  “You said my mother was waiting for me,” Angela said. “That means she’s alive.”

  “Indeed she is, but I’ve already said too much.”

  “Does Eben know that my mother had an identical twin?” Angela asked

  “No he doesn’t,” Ziv answered. “That’s a very carefully guarded secret and the reason we’re all here.” He looked at his watch. “You must go. But I have a request before I tell you where she’s waiting.”

  “What is it?” Angela asked.

  “I assume your cell phones have tracking abilities.” Angela nodded.

  “And I assume you disabled your cell phones so Mr. Boone could not follow you here.”

  Again Angela nodded.

  “Did either of you bring your cell phone with you?”

  “I left mine back in the bus,” I said, wishing now I had palmed it, which I could have easily done without Angela noticing.

  “I have mine,” Angela said.

  “I need to borrow it.”

  “Why?”

  “To make sure you don’t turn it on when you meet your mother,” Ziv answered. “And to lead the SOS team in the opposite direction. She doesn’t want to meet Mr. Boone at this time.”

  “And if I say no?” Angela asked.

  “Then I’m afraid we will have to part ways,” Ziv answered. “Your mother has risked everything by contacting you–against my advice, by the way. Now it’s your turn to take a risk.”

  Angela handed over her BlackBerry and its battery.

  Ziv told us where the leopard was waiting.

  Ziv watched the children walk away. He waited a few minutes, then got up from the bench, leaving Angela’s BlackBerry and battery behind concealed beneath a newspaper. A few minutes later another man walked up to the bench and slipped the BlackBerry and battery into his pocket. The man was the leopard’s second monkey.

  Rogue

  “You know,” I said after we’d walked half a block in complete silence, “it might not have been such a good idea to give him our only mode of communication.”

  “I know,” Angela said. “But he wouldn’t have told us where to go if I hadn’t. And he took your word that you left your BlackBerry back at the coach. You did leave it back there?”

  “Unfortunately,” I said, still kicking myself.

  “I think he would have searched you if he thought you were lying. That means he trusted you. I think we can trust him.”

  I laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Boone gave me the same lecture this morning,” I answered, without elaborating.

  “I feel bad about setting up Boone,” Angela said. “As soon as he picks up my cell signal he’s going to come running and he’s not going to be happy when he finds the phone without us.”

  “After your ditching Felix at the hotel and my leaving the coach without telling Boone I doubt he’s capable of getting madder than he already is. If we were six-year-olds he’d probably spank us.”

  “I wouldn’t blame him,” Angela said.

  We were headed to familiar territory–the restaurant across the street from the dry cleaner where we had first spotted Eben. There were apartments above the restaurant. Ziv said that Angela’s mother would be waiting behind door #3.

  Angela was still keeping an eye out for a tail, but not nearly as carefully as she had before. She was either eager to get this over with (like I was) or she was confident that Ziv had some-how cleared the way for us.

  “So you trust Ziv,” I said

  “I don’t think he’s working with Eben, if that’s what you mean,” she said. “He would have grabbed us at Independence Hall. No one would bat an eye at a policeman hauling off two kids. So I guess I do trust him.” She paused. “It’s weird. As soon as he started talking I felt a connection with him. It was almost like I knew him, a familiarity that I can’t explain.”

  “That is weird,” I said. “Especially after he told us what a pleasure it was to murder Salim Kazi in Mexico. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never met a murderer, at least anyone who bragged about it.”

  “I don’t think he was bragging,” Angela said.

  “Confessing murder to two total strangers is bragging,” I said. “Do you think Ziv and your mother are working alone?”

  “I don’t know,” Angela said. “I just hope that it’s my mom. And you don’t have to come with me, Q. This is not your problem. It would be safer if you went back to the…”

  Eben stepped out in front of us with a knife. He grabbed me by the arm before I could react and held the sharp blade against my ribcage. Angela’s fast feet and hands weren’t going to work this time. It didn’t look like either of us were going to make it to door #3.

  The Ten of Hearts

  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t absolutely terrified. And it wasn’t just the knife tip stuck between my second and third rib
s. It was the way Eben looked. The night before when he followed Angela he looked feral and predatory. Now he looked feral, predatory, and very, very angry. His appearance wasn’t helped by the hideous black eye and his bruised, swollen jaw. If anyone needed sunglasses to disguise himself, it was Eben Lavi.

  “Let him go!” Angela shouted.

  “If you raise your voice again,” Eben hissed, “or attempt to run away I will kill him.”

  He pulled me through a doorway. Angela followed. Eben kicked the door closed behind us. We were in an abandoned restaurant with booths and tables layered with dust and rat droppings. Eben must have been following us from the beginning. He had gotten ahead of us, broken into the restaurant, then waited.

  “This has nothing to do with Q,” Angela said.

  “It did not seem that way last night.” He pulled the ten of hearts out of his pocket and flipped it onto a table. “Sit.”

  Angela sat on the edge of a filthy bench.

  Eben didn’t offer me a seat nor did he take the knife away. He was obviously leery of Angela after what she had done to him the night before, which was no doubt why he had grabbed me instead of her. I needed to learn taekwondo.

  “Dump the contents of your backpack on the table,” he demanded.

  Angela did as she was told. This is not the way I wanted to learn what she carried around in the tattered old pack. Among the pile were several pairs of sunglasses, a thick pocketbook, a notebook, an iPod, a set of earphones, pencils and pens, two paperbacks, and the photo of her mother. Nothing of any consequence, making me wonder why she bothered to carry the pack at all. But Eben was interested in the photo. He picked it up and looked at it for a moment, then slipped it into his pocket.

  “Give the photo back!” Angela said.

  “Empty your pockets,” Eben said.

  She turned her pockets inside out. The only thing inside was one yellow origami crane made from a McDonald’s cheeseburger wrapper.

  “Satisfied?” Angela said. “Now give me the photo back.”

  I wished she would stop using that sharp tone of voice. I was the one with the sharp knife digging into my side.

  “I’m going to keep the photo,” Eben said. “And I am far from satisfied.” He stepped behind me, grabbed the collar of my shirt, and put the point of the knife on the side of my neck. He glared at Angela. “Stand up and turn around.”