Tsunami Connection

by Michael James Gallagher

  "Sure. Why?"

  "I tried to rush him away from you that day 'cause he was really intrigued. I should've known he wouldn't keep it professional. Looking at you now, though, I am very glad, he didn't. You'll be the key to success here. If you can't get him back, no one can. I can't tell you how grateful I am that we have you."

  "Is that a tear I see in those droopy eyes?"

  "I sure hope so. That boy is like a son to me. You know, Yochana and I got you two about the same time, in the same circumstances."

  "I know. She told me. Let's take the stairs again. I need the exercise to clear up my feelings."

  "Tell you what … my girth precludes another assault. I'll meet you at the car. We have some things to settle with Yochana tonight."

  The drive back to Melchette Street was quiet. Sam and Kefira were a bit in shock and used the drive to take a breather from the emotional roller coaster. Yochana was behind the wheel when they got to the car, so she drove. True to form, she used the time to plot her answers to the coming debate over dinner. They stopped at Mivhar MashKaot, a liquor store with lots of local beers.

  "We're going to cook and drink some beer. Our boy is alive and one step closer to normal," said Sam as he got out and opened the back door for Kefira.

  "Let's choose all of our favorites," said Kefira as she leaned back into the car on the driver's side.

  Kefira kissed Yochana on the cheek and laid her head on her shoulder while she played with her stepmother's hair. She pulled her head out of the window to see Yochana shedding her first tear.

  "Christ, you really are human after all. I know you didn't want this mess. I guess shit happens."

  Yochana got out of the car and headed into the store with Kefira. Sam gave them an appreciative once over as they joined him. They also purchased some eggplant and shrimp at a fruit store. Yochana said she had great wine on ice and they returned to her penthouse suite on Melchette Street.

  SUBMARINE CAPTAINS TEST

  Mid-May 2012

  The owl, symbolizing wisdom and hard learning, looked down from the school's motto on Kefira and Zak as they passed through security at the entrance to the submarine operations school of the 7th Submarine Flotilla at Haifa Naval Base. Both were dressed in ceremonial uniforms and crisp salutes greeted them as they cleared security. Once inside the submarine operations school building, the universal sounds of study calmed them down.

  "Where exactly is our appointment, Colonel?" enquired Zak as he followed the Colonel's lead.

  "We are to meet in the submarine simulator room. It is an amphitheatre with a room off it to accommodate the Canadian Aviation Electronics simulator training units. We will be watching an amphibious training assault practice insertion technique, given by the youngest submarine Captain in Israeli Naval history, Captain Astruc," said the Colonel.

  Only Kefira and Zak entered a steeply inclined room with about 150 seats. There were lights at the large desk beside a stand. A slightly larger than man-size fiberglass cocoon lay open on the table beside the podium. There was a young man looking at the device thoughtfully, his uniform hat held tightly under his left arm. He looked up as Kefira and Zak approached. Zak noticed the three golden, leaf-shaped pips on his epaulets. Kefira and Zak saluted crisply and both nodded slightly. Though they were dressed formally for an official funeral later in the day, training sessions were usually informal affairs where information was exchanged among experts and there was little code of conduct protocol. Training often but not always happened on a first name basis. The submarine Captain, young for his rank, tended toward formality.

  "Nice to see you up and about, Colonel," he said using Zak's IDF rank. "We thought we had lost you back there. Always a pleasure," he added, nodding to Kefira.

  "Up and about, Captain Astruc?" replied Zak, his rising voice conferring a question.

  "So, it's true then. You don't remember."

  "Fraid so. Let's get on with this anyway. We have an appointment at the military cemetery just after 3 p.m."

  Kefira started by touching the amphibious unit and looking at Zak for recognition in his eyes. He was certainly curious, but he did not appear to be familiar with it.

  "Zak, you could really help me here if you got into the unit for the first part of the simulation. Here, give your hat and coat to Kefira. That's it, climb up on this chair and lie down."

  Zak followed orders and found himself being closed into an amphibious unit, lying face down on the cushioned supports. The comms and oxygen were automatically connected and he could communicate with the outside without any adjustments. Kefira and Captain Astruc, Claude, looked at each other. Claude shrugged in a typically Gallic manner that he had inherited from his grandfather who did not survive the holocaust, having perished in the Treblinka death camp. Astruc whispered into a device around his neck as he applied pressure to his vocal cord covers.

  "Well. Are you at ease, Zak?"

  At first, Zak did not answer. He was feeling strange. His head was filling with a cacophony of information. He started to sweat as voices and memories flooded into his mind. "That sounds like my voice," he said aloud.

  "What did you say, Zak?" asked Captain Astruc and Kefira in unison, their voices sounding hopeful.

  "Are you piping in simulated messages, Captain?" added Zak, sounding uncharacteristically formal.

  "No. You are just getting used to the amphibious unit."

  "Get me out of here now," shouted Zak.

  The cover of the unit came unsealed with a smooth suction sound. Zak looked at Kefira and then at Claude, then back at Kefira. He broke into a cold sweat, shook his head, and recounted what he had heard after the two officers helped him out of the shaped fiberglass cocoon. The room was spinning a bit for him and he behaved as if he had had too much to drink. Captain Astruc motioned for Zak to sit down, but Kefira had to stabilize him with a strong grip on his arm. His arm was slick with sweat and she almost let go of him.

  "I was in the water in one of those. You, Kefira, were communicating with me. You ordered me and my team to go into a bunker, but I said I was in the water and you said I was on the beach. I am baffled, but something is coming back to me. We worked together in these units, didn't we?"

  "You can't imagine how I have been waiting for you to say that," said Kefira.

  "I have the strangest feeling that we are friends. I am just confused. It's so much all at once," blurted Zak all in one breath.

  Kefira knelt down in front of him and pushed open his knees. She forced herself between his legs. Her smell permeated to his nose and revived other memories, more erotic experiences, then suddenly there was a bright light, an explosion and he passed out in her arms. Captain Astruc called a medic on his cell phone. He looked at her as she stayed between his legs, hugging him to her. He shouted, "The light, the light," before he passed out.

  "He's opening up. That doctor friend of yours sure had a good idea. I've never witnessed something like that before. He's come back to us. Let's just hope he didn't regress due to the shock."

  Kefira felt a thousand pounds lift from her shoulders. She knew he would come back now. The medic arrived with two stretcher carriers. They sedated Zak before he woke up. Kefira rode to the hospital with him, holding his hand while she composed Doctor Mordicai's number. The siren made speaking difficult, but the doctor was waiting for them when they arrived at emergency. Kefira recounted their experience in the amphitheatre. When she finished, Doctor Mordicai took a step forward and hugged her close.

  "You did it. I told you I had a good feeling about him. It is a classic recovery move. In the coming days, he will be confused, but he will be more and more himself. I give him a week to recover all of his memories. Congrats. He remembered having sex with you. It must be great to have been more important than the explosion. Maybe your love saved his mind from making an enduring cocoon around the pain."

  "Thank you, doctor. I'll go to him now."

  "I suggest a second bed in his room, right beside his bed. I'll arr
ange it right now," said Mordicai as he picked up a landline phone.

  Kefira made her way up the stairs to Zak's room, nodded to the outside guard and then the inside guard. Both of them let her in without inspection formalities. Zak lay peacefully on his bed. She stretched out beside him on his bed and fell fast asleep. From a deep fog an hour later, she emerged feeling someone breathing in her ear. There was a whispering sound. She turned toward the sound. Zak was facing her, cradling her in his arms.

  "Livia, Livia, my lioness," he said, "I have returned from the dead with memories of our love flashing about in my mind."

  Tears streamed down Kefira's face and she cuddled into his arms, grateful for this chance to live again. They rested that way until an employee interrupted them with a dinner tray. She was brusque. Kefira caught the woman by the arm and asked her if she had the correct time. The nurse's aide said it was one thirty.

  "Zak, we have to get a cab. The funeral is in ninety minutes," said Kefira.

  "That won't be necessary, Colonel," said a young man in a crisp dress uniform.

  "Thank you, Captain."

  "There's really no rush. We have an escort. You have fifteen minutes to eat."

  Kefira noticed their dress uniforms on hangers on the back of the door. The two of them ate silently and then solemnly donned their dark colored dress uniforms. Just as they were walking out the door, Doctor Mordicai appeared.

  "Hmmm. Where are you two off to with all that 'fruit salad' on?" asked the doctor, referring to the medals they were wearing.

  "There's a ceremony today for our units," Kefira answered.

  The Captain intervened, "With all due respect, I am afraid we do not have time, Doctor."

  "Of course. Will you two get back to me today?"

  "If we are free."

  The three of them left the doctor staring after them. They walked down the stairs, passed an uncharacteristically brief security check, and walked to two waiting Cadillac Escalades. Blue flashing lights assured that traffic cleared in front of them. They entered the military cemetery on Jaffa Street near the Haifa Naval Submarine Base. There were thousands of people standing in the cemetery. The Yediot Haifa newspaper had carried a story in its morning edition: 'Soldiers Who Died Preventing A Genocide To Be Honored Today'. Even the streets in both directions along the seaside were brimming with school children and crying citizens. A sea of small blue and white Israeli flags and hastily made banners welcomed the living legends. Zak understood his role in the operation now and Kefira looked at him.

  "Do you remember how many died?"

  "Yes.

  They made their way through crowds, feeling encouraging squeezes from many of the participants. There was a sense of ease under all of the tension. No one would dare disrupt this crowd. Still, the secret service formed four-officer diamonds around all the pairs of surviving soldiers, and a pair of military drones was monitoring the event from a discreet distance.

  WALTZING MACAULEY

  March 23, 2012

  Hours drifted into days for Ben and Tahila. The MacAuley duo slept, ate, argued and defecated like clockwork. On the twelfth day of incarceration, Tahila received word from Sam that the mission in Syria was a partial success. He said that agents would be coming to relieve them shortly. Just after the phone communication, there was a loud thump from inside the makeshift prison. Looking down from the Plexiglas top of the prison, Ben saw that MacAuley was prone on the floor and his sister Michael was pleading with him to do something. He got down from the step ladder they used to check on their captives and conferred with his superior. Neither one of them wanted to mess up their first mission.

  "One of us has to go in there to check his pulse," said Tahila.

  "He's a crafty prick. I don't trust him for a minute. Let's use the gas," answered Ben.

  "You mean the horse tranquilizer darts."

  "That's exactly what I mean."

  "I don't know. I really feel like a Nazi doing that. What if it kills him?"

  "It's your call. You're in charge here, Captain."

  "Use the taser."

  "Ok."

  Ben followed orders and slipped the taser pistol in a slot in the Plexiglas top. MacAuley was lying half on the floor. The darts struck him in the neck, just under his chin. His body shivered slightly when they entered the skin. Afterwards, he lay still. Tahila entered the room and Ben kept a second taser aimed at them. She leaned over him, being careful to keep MacAuley between her and Ben. She held a taser in front of her. The sister, Michael, was droning on about MacAuley having a heart condition. With one hand on his neck and the other on the taser also on his neck, her finger on the trigger, Tahila found that MacAuley had no pulse. She got up, looked at the sister and shrugged, as if to say sorry. Michael shuddered deeply, the Irish habit of mourning coming out in a deep groan. Tahila left the room and secured the door.

  "Fuck it. He's dead."

  "Jesus. You're kidding."

  "Here, take the taser and check for yourself. I'll cover you from above, but I'm going to use live ammo, so don't get between him and me."

  "Ok."

  Ben went in and confirmed it. He left the room, carefully sidestepping the corpse. They decided to get him out of there. They anchored his feet and threw him overboard beside the houseboat inside the boathouse. They then returned to keep the vigil on the sister until the cavalry arrived. It had not been an easy task. A one hundred and ninety pound deadweight did not budge easily. They were sure that they would not be caught with a corpse in their possession.

  MacAuley had outsmarted the two young officers. He had used a pill that he always secreted in one of his molars. Snapping out the false tooth and biting on it produced a state of unconsciousness and virtually no heart rate discernible without sophisticated medical equipment. The cold water of the river snapped him awake, but he held his breath as Ben looked on for about thirty seconds to see if the corpse would float. MacAuley, the wet rat that he was, chuckled to himself as he rose to the surface under the dock. He was free.

  Now he had to liberate his sister, but then he thought again. That bitch got me caught for the first time in my career. I'm done protecting her.

  He swam away and made his way into the boarded up summerhouse. There was no food, but plenty of clothes and a moped in the garage. Tahila and Ben thought it odd when they heard the moped so close by, but went back to their routine guard duty. Somehow knowing of her brother's duplicity, Michael cursed under her breath.

  SEVERAL MONTHS LATER

  Summer 2012

  Kefira sat on the edge of her chair in the meeting room. She did not like what she saw in front of her. Sam sat on her left. Zak was at ease at the head of the highly polished oak table. The three of them were looking at the translations of the Chinese documents that Kefira's team had brought out of Syria.

  "Let's look at the video of the room again," said Zak.

  The video rolled, showing a series of computer screens and two rows of Chinese-made High Definition Plasma or LED screens. There was also a row of cubicles equipped for customer service, complete with very high quality headphones for communicating over the Internet.

  "Who were they going to communicate with here?" asked Zak.

  "I can't imagine. Wait. I have an idea. It's more elaborate than our set-up, but it looks like a drone control room."

  "Come again?" said Kefira.

  "Those screens are for watching what is euphemistically called 'pred porn'," added Sam.

  "Then why all this reference to what looks like a university course in hypnotism?" interjected Zak.

  "I am getting a bad feeling here," said Kefira.

  "As odd as this may sound, that's what I was hoping. It's also why Sam and I want you to come out of retirement. Your intuition is honed sharper than the two of us put together. Besides, I don't have time to give this my full attention. What do you say?"

  "I guess I miss the adrenalin. I can't go back in the field, though. Researching this enigma sounds right up my alley
."

  "Great."

  "What about resources?"

  "You can have an assistant and the sky's the limit if it appears to be more threatening than at first flush."

  "Can I bring in that Doctor Mordicai as a resource?"

  "Just be sure what you and he learn stays under wraps. I don't want him leaking to the CIA. And we need to meet regularly on this. How does every Thursday at 16:30 right here sound?"

  "I can do that, but sometimes it will be video conference, ok?"

  "Fine by me. Ok Sam?"

  "Keep me apprised, but I am not hands-on on this one. I am over my head in analysis of Yochana's Egyptian data."

  The three of them shifted uncomfortably in their seats at hearing Yochana's name. After Kefira's return to Israel, Mossad had put her through the meat grinder, days of interviews explaining her whole life since Yochana picked Kefira up shortly after the tragic death of Kefira's parents. Since Kefira was Yochana's protégé, her debriefing risked tarring the younger woman with the same brush as the one that had secretly, dishonorably discharged Yochana. After all, the 'Spear Program' was the ex-IDF General's brainchild.

  Kefira's decision to kill Shafiq, a life-long agent for Mossad who was handled by Yochana, was the focus of most of the bureaucracy's consternation. It was Shafiq's association with the MacAuleys, especially the woman, which cinched Mossad's approval of Kefira's decision to execute him. As well, Kefira's ultimately correct choice to trust her instincts and go to Argentina to find MacAuley when all of the evidence, including regular sightings by Navy Seal Predators in Aceh Province in Sumatra, pointed to South East Asia.

  The ex-sleeper, Kefira, received an insignificant punishment for her unsuccessful initiation of the MacAuley interrogation, but, as she expected, the crucial success of the interrogation counted more than the work-up. She was, however, taken from fieldwork because of the spotter's report of her behavior. Part of the evaluation committee respected her statements about her methods and noted their support in their final report. As a result, Kefira took a much-needed leave of absence, but did not burn her bridges.