by Uzi Eilam
“No, no. You’re right. That’s not a safe option.” Sulat was beginning to lose his patience.
“In any event, sir, we’ll need a few days to monitor the target’s regular schedule, although he’s undoubtedly making sure to avoid routine.”
“You don’t have a few days,” Sulat barked angrily. “You have two days at the most. Make sure you’re ready to execute by then. Two experienced lookouts from the embassy will be at your disposal. You’ll have to make do with that. Now get to work.”
***
Dan was worried. The communications between Paris and Tehran had referred to Gideon by name. And although he was not absolutely certain of the context, he knew that no good could come of it. He immediately phoned Gideon and told him about what he had found, and his heart sank when Gideon refused to take the matter seriously.
The personal security of all the members of the task force was important, he told Dan, and it was the responsibility of the French to ensure it. Frustrated by his mentor’s refusal to recognize the personal danger he now faced, and after imploring him to reconsider, Dan felt he had no choice but to take the new information directly to Professor Bernard.
“Why hello, Monsieur Avni,” Bernard said, greeting the young Israeli warmly as he entered his office. “You said it was urgent. How can I help you?”
“It’s Gideon. I’m worried about him…” Dan was ill at ease meeting alone with the wise, authoritative, and high-ranking leader of the task force.
“Is it something in particular?” Bernard asked. “Have your wiretaps yielded any new information? Or are you just worried in general, as we all are sometimes in this business?”
“I recorded some conversations between the Iranian embassy and Tehran. They make specific mention of Gideon’s name, but I still haven’t been able to piece together the context. In any case, I warned Gideon, but he didn’t take it seriously. He said I was blowing things out of proportion.”
“Unfortunately, Dan, your concern is warranted,” said Bernard. “We cannot afford to underestimate the possibility that the Iranians will try something to get Gideon out of the picture, and your vigilance is much appreciated. Continue monitoring the communications, even more closely than you have been until now. I’ll step up Gideon’s security. And don’t worry—we’ll keep him safe.”
“Thanks, Bernard,” Dan said, relieved. “I knew I could count on you.”
***
True to his word, Professor Bernard ordered that an undercover security detail be assigned to Gideon. The team set up its base in the hotel room beside Gideon’s, and the security camera that had been installed on their floor was linked directly into a monitor in the room.
The team had been informed of Gideon’s attempts to avoid routine. On the morning of the second day of the detail’s assignment, the agents’ screen showed a suspicious man who did not appear to be a hotel employee attempting to open Gideon’s door while he was at a meeting at Interior Ministry headquarters. But by the time one of the agents silently opened the door and peered out into the hall, the man had vanished. Gideon was unaware of his new layer of security.
In accordance with the instructions he had been issued in Tel Aviv and again in Paris, Gideon had given up almost all aspects of his normal daily routine—all except one: his morning workout. When Haim was still around, he had woken up early to go for a jog in the chilly Paris air. Gideon preferred to start his day in the hotel fitness center, which was located in the basement.
When Gideon entered the gym on the third morning of his new protection detail, a hotel guest was already walking vigorously on the treadmill. A few minutes later, another man, whom Gideon did not recognize, arrived and began working out on the bench-press machine. The hotel’s fitness center certainly was popular, Gideon thought, as he began the last part of his warm-up.
When the man on the treadmill walked into the lobby of the fitness center to get a drink from the cooler and wipe himself off with a towel, it happened. The second man sprang from his machine and pounced on Gideon, locking his hands tightly around Gideon’s throat. Completely stunned at first, Gideon struggled to free himself from the choke hold of the burly attacker. For approximately a minute, which to Gideon seemed like a lifetime, he fought to free himself and struggled for air.
Then, just as suddenly as the attack had begun, the man released his grip and crumpled to the floor. The man from the treadmill had returned from his break and, with one precise, powerful blow, had taken the assailant out of commission. Breathing heavily as his body labored to compensate for the oxygen of which he had been deprived during the attack, Gideon was filled with a sense of gratitude to the man who had come to his rescue and thanked him repeatedly. Wasting no time, the man asked Gideon to help him secure the attacker in case he regained consciousness, and the handcuffs binding his wrists and ankles ensured that, when he came to, he would not be going anywhere.
“Just doing our job,” the man said. “Help me take him up to the hotel entrance and put him in the car. Our interrogators are ready for him, and they won’t be wearing kid gloves.”
The interrogation team of the Interior Ministry’s Counterespionage Division had already assembled in the detention room when the Iranian was brought in, escorted by the undercover agent who had been on the treadmill and two other guards. They were taking special precautionary measures on the assumption that the attack had been carried out by the Quds Force. There was also concern that other Quds Force operatives may be on the lookout in the area and would try to free their man. The prisoner proved to be a particularly formidable challenge in the interrogation room. He refused to talk, and although he made gestures conveying that he did not understand French, he also did not respond to questions asked in Persian. At this point, it was clear that the interrogation would take more than one day to complete.
“Good morning, Gideon.” Professor Bernard had phoned as soon as he heard about the attack. “I hope you’ll forgive me, but etiquette is unclear about what to say to a dear friend and colleague who has just survived an assassination attempt. So I’ll just say that I’m glad you’re still with us.”
“Thanks, Bernard,” said Gideon. “Listen, I really want to thank you and your security team. Without them, I probably wouldn’t be talking to you right now.”
“You also might want to thank Dan. He’s the one who alerted us about the threat against you. We are all indebted to him.”
“He sure is an amazing asset. I’m glad to see you value him as much as I do.”
“We’ll drink to this morning’s favorable outcome later, Gideon. Now we need to get back to work. We’ve already started interrogating the Iranian, but it will be some time until we get anything out of him. Quds Force members are tough and well trained. In the meantime, we need to move ahead with the rest of the work of the task force. I’ll be waiting for you in my office.”
“I hope he gives up something about Quds Force operations soon. In any event, I’ll get myself together and meet you in your office as soon as I can.”
Chapter 41
The main restaurant of the Hotel Soleil Saint Germain was almost empty as Gideon made his way slowly along the breakfast buffet, studying its bounty and taking care not to load too much onto his plate. It had been the French security authorities who had recommended that the American and Israeli task force members move to this hotel. They had done so, the French explained, after indications of a Quds Force assassination plot grew increasingly frequent.
“And how are you feeling this morning?” asked Dr. Deutsch, setting his plate down across from Gideon and pulling up a chair.
“Fine, Gerald. You look well rested,” Gideon said and received a grin and a wink in response.
“I’m waiting for Dan,” Gideon said, looking concerned. “He’s not answering his cell phone, and it’s not like him to be late for breakfast.”
“Let the kid rest, Gideon,” said Deut
sch. “He probably went to bed late last night.”
“That may be true, but being half an hour late is extremely out of character for him. I’m going to call his room.”
When Gideon returned from the house phone near the entrance of the restaurant, it was clear that the call had not allayed his fears. “There’s no answer. I’m going upstairs to check on him.”
What Gideon found when he entered Dan’s room was even more disconcerting. The bed was still made, and it looked as if Dan had not slept in his room the night before. His backpack lay on the table and appeared to be untouched.
Gideon picked up the room phone and immediately dialed the number of Binyamin’s mobile phone in Israel. “Good morning, Binyamin. It’s Gideon.”
“Gideon. It’s good to hear your voice.” Binyamin’s low voice reverberated through the earpiece. “Is there something special you wanted to report? Has the project had a breakthrough?”
“No, nothing like that…I’m calling to inform you of an extremely troubling development.”
“What happened?”
“Dan has disappeared.”
“What?! When?! Are you sure?!”
“Listen—I’m calling from the phone in Dan’s room, so I can’t go into detail. Let me get over to the Defense Ministry Delegation building so I can tell you more over a secure line. Can I call you back in twenty minutes?”
“Certainly. I’ll be in my office, waiting for your call.”
When Gideon returned to the restaurant to update Deutsch, he also found O’Connor, who had joined him while he was upstairs.
“You look worried,” said Deutsch, with a look of concern. “What did you find?”
“Dan’s gone. He didn’t sleep in his room last night, and he’s not answering his cell phone. His backpack, holding important documents and his listening equipment, was still sitting on the table, apparently just as he left it yesterday when he went back to his room.” Gideon paused for a moment to take a breath and made an effort to sound calm and levelheaded. “I updated our superiors in Israel in brief, and I’m on my way to the Defense Ministry Delegation building to talk to them in more detail.”
“What has Dan’s monitoring uncovered in the past few days?” Deutsch asked anxiously.
“All he’s told me recently had to do with a Quds Force plan to carry out an attack in Paris. But, as we know, I was the target.”
“I don’t know about you guys,” interjected O’Connor, “but I’ve been getting the feeling—especially over the past few days—that the Iranians possess a significant amount of information on the work of our task force. I have no idea whether it’s the result of sophisticated listening or some other kind of leak. I just don’t think it can be a coincidence.”
“We saw them in action in California,” Deutsch pointed out. “We all know what they’re capable of, and we mustn’t underestimate their abilities.”
“That’s all well and good,” Gideon said, “but how is that going to help us figure out what happened to Dan?”
“Hmm… Maybe the Iranians learned a thing or two from their failure in California.” Deutsch said.
“Meaning?” asked Gideon.
“Maybe they learned the hard way about the importance of real-time information,” continued Deutsch. “It’s true, Gideon, that they singled you out as a target for assassination, based on their familiarity with your abilities, in order to get you off their backs.”
“Okay, Gerald,” Gideon said impatiently, “but why Dan?”
“Well, if O’Connor’s hunch about the leak of task force activity is correct,” Deutsch said, “then they also probably know about Dan’s unique abilities and his especially effective brand of intelligence gathering. It seems to me that someone on the Iranian side has decided to put an end to this work, or at least reduce it to a minimum.”
“That’s serious, Gerald!” Gideon said, looking panicked now. “It means it could be more than simply an abduction for the purpose of negotiations—it could end in assassination. We need to move as quickly as we can to make sure they don’t have the time to carry out their plan. I’m going to the embassy now. Then I’ll press Professor Bernard to shift into high gear in dealing with what appears to be a kidnapping. You two are people I trust, so please—stay in the picture.”
***
The head of the Defense Ministry Delegation in Paris was expecting Gideon when he rushed into his office in the Israeli embassy.
“Good morning, Gideon. What’s happening with Dan? Our brief phone conversation left me wondering.”
“Dan’s gone missing, apparently since last night. I was in his room this morning, and it’s clear that he hasn’t been there since yesterday evening. He’s most likely been kidnapped by operatives of the Guardians of the Revolution, and I’m extremely worried about his safety.”
“Gideon, isn’t it possible that he left town for some reason without letting you know?”
“Dan would never do that,” Gideon insisted. “I know him well. He would never just up and disappear.”
“The first thing we need to do is inform our director of security,” the head of the delegation said, after taking a moment to think it through. “I’ll send him to meet with you in the communications room. Do you have any problem with him being in the room when you call Israel?”
“Of course not,” Gideon said quickly. “I’ll be updating Yitzhak Nahari’s people in Israel, and I have no secrets from your director of security.”
“Hello, Gideon.” He immediately recognized Binyamin’s deep voice over the secure line. “You can speak freely. I’m listening.”
“As I said, Dan Avni has disappeared.” The words were becoming increasingly difficult for him to say. He had been responsible for the young man’s safety, he thought, certainly in the eyes of Dan’s father, Yehuda, and Gideon’s own precious daughter, Noam. “I only discovered it this morning. It turns out that he didn’t sleep in his room last night.”
“Although he certainly deserves some rest and relaxation after all the work he’s been putting in, am I correct in assuming that you don’t think he has taken some kind of short, unplanned vacation?”
“Yes Binyamin, you can. I’m certain of it. Dan wouldn’t just get up and take a vacation like that,” Gideon insisted. “We’re in the middle of a project, and Dan knows, perhaps better than anyone else, where things stand at the moment. We have no choice but to assume that the Iranians have kidnapped him.”
“Really?! What do your colleagues on the task force have to say?”
“I’ve filled in the Americans, and I’ve been pressuring the French to use everything at their disposal to find Dan, safe and sound, I hope—”
“Hold on a second, Gideon. Let me get Yitzhak on the line. He’ll want to hear this from you.”
“Hello, Gideon.” Yitzhak Nahari’s cool, authoritative voice was unmistakable. “I’ve been told that Dan’s been kidnapped. How did you guys let that happen?”
“We had received warnings of an assassination attempt to be carried out by Iranian Quds Force operatives. We knew that a special team had been sent from Tehran to Paris, and we took precautions in accordance with the instructions of the director of security. They tried to take me out, as you know, but the French stopped them—”
“And what happened to Dan?” Nahari asked, cutting short Gideon’s narrative.
“We still don’t know, Yitzhak. I have the French working on it, and I’m in contact with the Americans. We’re starting a search operation, but Paris is a big city.”
“Have you received any word from the Iranians? Perhaps a ransom demand or threat of some kind? What do the French have to say? And what about the Americans?”
“We still don’t have any leads, Yitzhak. I promise to get in touch as soon as I know something.”
“Continue to keep your partners focused. This needs to be the only co
ncern at the moment,” Nahari instructed decisively. “I’ll send Binyamin over immediately, along with another one of our men. They’ll help you with whatever you need. Tell them what needs to be done and supervise them. They’ll contact you when they arrive in Paris. I have complete confidence that you’ll be able to oversee the operation effectively,” said Nahari, uttering the first words of encouragement he had offered during the entire conversation.
“Thanks, Yitzhak. I’ll do everything humanly possible to find him.”
***
An “emergency meeting.” That’s the term Professor Bernard used to refer to the morning consultation he convened in the interior minister’s conference room. He had agreed to Gideon’s urgent request to mobilize all relevant parties to find the missing task force member. Gideon was pleased to see not only Deutsch and O’Connor, but the commander of the gendarmerie’s elite unit, the director of counterespionage in the French prime minister’s office, and General de Villiers of the General Secretariat. The two representatives of the American Embassy in attendance, Deutsch informed Gideon in a whisper, were the directors of the local branches of the CIA and the NSA, which worked out of the embassy.
“Good morning, everyone,” said Professor Bernard, bringing the meeting to order in a more somber tone than usual. “You already know about the disappearance of Dan Avni, and you are undoubtedly aware that our primary assumption is that he’s being held by operatives of the Guardians here in Paris.” Everyone at the table nodded and listened intently. Bernard continued. “At the moment, time is the most important factor. We need to do everything in our power to find some sort of lead—something, anything that will lead us to the kidnappers. Unfortunately, because Dan is not with us, we’re lacking our previous ability to monitor communications just when we need it the most.” Bernard stopped and nodded to Gideon.
“I’d like to remind everyone of a few things we know based on Dan’s work,” Gideon began. “The Iranians were clearly pressured by our success in stopping their smuggling operation. They have been trying to move parts for weapon systems to Iran, including controlled materials they procured from European companies. The Guardians responded by sending over operatives of Quds Force, an executing arm that carries out terrorist operations and sophisticated acts of sabotage both inside Iran and abroad. If our information is correct, these are the people who are holding Dan. Finding him will require an intelligence effort focused on Iranian communications. As we all know, they’re professionals who know how to communicate without being detected. We’ll need to think about all possible directions and cast a broad listening net, including cracking the codes used by the Iranians to conceal their communications.”
