The Burgas Affair

by Ellis Shuman

  She leaned over and kissed his forehead. She picked up her crutches and hobbled to the doorway to follow Yaniv down the corridor. They needed to hurry to the airport in order to make the flight to Tel Aviv.

  Epilogue

  July 18, 2013

  It was a bright sunny day, the kind when sandy stretches of shoreline tempt bathers to the comforting waters of the Black Sea. A day full of summer’s warm promise. Seagulls circled in the cloudless sky and a narrow fishing boat swayed in the casual waves just beyond Burgas’s long, iconic pier. Two fishermen cast their lines into the water, a bucket overflowing with the day’s catch set between them. On the shore, a peddler walked along the water’s edge hawking hot cobs of sweet corn while a weary waitress at a beach café brought out a round of frosty beers for her latest customers. Toddlers played in the surf; their mothers sat on folding chairs goggling at glossy photos of celebrities in gossip magazines. Beyond the beach, the urban hustle and bustle of the busy city, with its bumper-to-bumper traffic and hassled pedestrians, was hidden from view by the foliage of the vast park parallel to the shore.

  At the edge of the parking lot at Burgas Airport, a memorial ceremony was taking place. A small crowd of solemn people stood before a large sculpture covered in canvas, listening to a series of formal speeches. Those gathered in the audience were dressed in dark dresses and jackets, with mournful expressions on their faces.

  “It is exactly one year since the tragic attack here at the Burgas airport,” the Bulgarian Interior Minister declared in English marked with a strong Bulgarian accent. “Five Israelis and one Bulgarian citizen lost their lives in a senseless bombing, an attack of unimaginable horror. The lives of six innocent human beings were cut short for no reason other than the terrorists’ desire to wreak havoc and destroy families.

  “We are together today,” the minister continued, “Bulgarians and Israelis. I welcome the family members of the Israelis killed in the bombing, although I wish you could have come to visit our country under more pleasant circumstances. Please know, our dear friends, that your pain is our pain. We are together today, just as we stood together at the time of the attack. Bulgaria has always respected, honored, accepted, and loved the Jewish people. We are together now, and we will remain united in the future.”

  A summer breeze blew through the crowd, rippling the canvas covering the memorial. Two flagpoles stood side by side; the flags they bore were lowered to half-staff. One flag bore a pair of horizontal blue stripes on a white background with a blue hexagram of intersecting equilateral triangles in the center; on the other there were equal-sized horizontal bands of white, green, and red. Beyond the parking lot, cars on their way to Terminal One slowed down, as if the drivers also meant to pay their respect. The speech continued.

  “We are working together, Bulgarians and Israelis, to solve this case,” the minister stated. “Our hearts go out to you, the families of those killed on that day. Bulgaria and Israel will remain together. Our cooperation and joint efforts to fight the terrorists will be a suitable tribute to those who lost their lives on this July day last year. I honor their memories. They will not be forgotten,” the minister concluded.

  The Bulgarian minister’s talk was followed by a short speech by Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister. “Blood-curdling terrorists do not distinguish between the blood of one person or another,” he said. “These killers try to attack innocent Jews and Israelis, and they will travel to any part of the world, and kill anyone who stands in their way, in order to do so. We will hunt down the perpetrators of this disgusting terror act by any means necessary, and pursue them to the bitter end,” he concluded emphatically.

  The crowd stood for a moment of silence, a minute when thoughts turned to five Israelis and one Bulgarian whose lives ended the moment a bomb detonated on a tourist bus in the Burgas airport’s parking lot. The canvas was rolled back and the memorial was revealed.

  Six tall, white columns of stone bore elements of an artistic design. When viewed from the front, the artwork on the first five pillars formed a white Star of David, the same symbol of the Jewish People that appeared on the Israeli flag, while the sixth pillar was marked by a crescent to honor the Bulgarian Muslim driver who had been killed. Separately, the slabs of stone were incomplete, but when viewed together, they formed a symbolic, united entity, one suitable for maintaining the memory shared by Israelis and Bulgarians.

  The monument, a project initiated by the mayor of Burgas and funded by donations from the two countries, captured the afternoon light. Beyond the parking lot, the roar of an airplane touching down on a runway temporarily drowned out the ceremony, a fitting sign that life continues.

  Two smartly uniformed policemen marched forward and laid a wreath at the foot of the memorial. Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, played over the loudspeakers. Israel’s ambassador to Bulgaria and those who had flown from Israel to attend the ceremony stood at attention and sang the words of their anthem. This was followed by Mila Rodino, the Bulgarian national anthem. The local participants took their turn in reverent song.

  The last notes of the anthems faded away. The Bulgarian hosts and their Israeli visitors shook hands and embraced, united in marking the memory of loved ones lost on that tragic July day one year earlier.

  As the ceremony was being held, and in the days before and in the weeks following, the battle against Hezbollah terrorists and their collaborators continued. On the front lines of this battle, operational agents tracked down leads; analyzed data; intercepted transmissions; followed suspects; and labored long, tiring hours. These missions, taking place in the dreary police headquarters of Burgas and Sofia; in the windowless Tel Aviv offices of Israel’s security agencies; and on the ground in foreign capitals all over the world; demonstrated the ongoing collaboration between the peoples of Israel and Bulgaria. In the aftermath of the bus bombing in Burgas, security officials in both countries continued their tireless efforts to prevent a reoccurrence of such a horrific terrorist attack. Their work goes on.

  # # #

  Thank you for reading

  If you enjoyed reading The Burgas Affair, please share your experience with others by posting a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or anywhere else that readers visit. The most important factor determining how well a book sells is the number of positive reviews it receives. If you leave me one, you are directly helping me to continue on this journey as an author.

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  My debut novel was also set in Bulgaria. I hope you will be interested in reading Valley of Thracians as well. Valley of Thracians is available on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.ca

  The Virtual Kibbutz is a collection of Israeli short stories. The Virtual Kibbutz is available on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.ca

  A word from the author

  My wife and I lived in Sofia for two years (2009–2010) when my job was relocated to Bulgaria. I had never previously visited Bulgaria and quite honestly, it was not on my bucket list of travel destinations. Alongside working full-time, we utilized our weekends to explore the country. We were fascinated by Bulgaria’s history and culture, and fell in love with its nature and picturesque villages.

  The terrorist bombing at Burgas Airport in July 2012 took me by surprise because I never expected that such an attack could occur on Bulgarian soil. Having grown up in Israel, I was unfortunately quite familiar with the horror of suicide bombings and explosions on buses. Israelis are very security-conscious, but Bulgaria, I believed, was supposed to be safe territory. And also, I had been to Burgas Airport so I could clearly picture where the bombing took place.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about the attack. The Bulgarian government issued contradictory announcements regarding Hezbollah’s involvement. Although the terrorists were later identified by name and nationality, no one was ever brought to justice. It was reported that the Hezbollah mastermind who orchestrated the bombing may have been killed in Lebanon.

/>   The more the events raced through my head, the more my creative mind kept coming up with plot lines and characters, a process that led to my writing The Burgas Affair.

  In the novel, many of the details of the bombing as well as the names of the suspects are based on information released to the media. However, the joint Bulgarian-Israeli investigation, the leads investigated, the suspected collaboration between Hezbollah and a Bulgarian crime organization, and the characters are all figments of my imagination.

  The Burgas bombing was a very real, deadly terrorist attack. Six people were murdered—five Israelis and one Bulgarian—and many others were injured. I hope that my fictitious description of the victims is not considered disrespectful by their families. With that in mind, I dedicate The Burgas Affair to them.

  Acknowledgements

  Although I lived in Sofia for two years, I cannot claim to be an expert on Bulgaria. Even so, I did my best to accurately portray the country as seen in the eyes of both native Bulgarians and Israelis visiting for the first time.

  I would like to thank Ivelina Rangelova, Martin Borisov, Alexander Tsonkov, Daniela Petrova, Bilyan Popov, Vesela Tabakova, and Irene Hurst for providing invaluable information about Bulgaria, and its culture and history.

  I gained additional insight into the Strandzha, a very unique and mysterious region of Bulgaria, from the writing of author Kapka Kassabova. The photography of Vesselina Nikolaeva in her book Simply a Line kept the Strandzha in my mind as I was writing this novel.

  My deepest appreciation to Ranen Omer-Sherman, who helped guide both the narrative and my writing journey. Thanks as well to Laura Lewis and Chetna Chakravarthy, two early readers whose comments, questions, and suggestions helped me improve the book in multiple ways.

  I am extremely grateful to Veni Markovski and Ludmila Filipova for their support in getting my writing translated into Bulgarian, and to Zahari Karabashliev and Dimitar Nikolov at Ciela for making this a reality. Emiliya Nikolova went out of her way to help launch the Bulgarian edition of the book, published asБYPГАСКАТА АФЕРА in May 2016. Special thanks are due to Nina Alexander for her assistance and unwavering belief that one day my novels would be published in Bulgaria.

  I thank my editor, Amber Barry Jones, who not only improved the grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure of my narrative, but also raised pertinent questions that helped me focus my message and descriptions. I take full responsibility for any errors and/or typos remaining in the book.

  Thanks are due to my loving family for putting up with me during the many hours I spent writing and editing. Children Reut, Merav, and Erez; son-in-law Nir; and granddaughters Daniela, Gali, and Lital; truly provide the inspiration that keeps me going.

  And finally, to my wonderful wife, Jodie. I could not have completed this novel without your love and encouragement!

  About the author

  Ellis Shuman was born in Sioux City, Iowa, and immigrated to Israel as a teenager. He completed high school in Jerusalem and served for three years in the Israeli army. Along with his wife, Jodie, he was a founding member of Kibbutz Yahel. After working for several years in the hotel industry, he today writes and edits online marketing content. In the years 2009 - 2010, his job was relocated to Sofia, Bulgaria. His writing has appeared in The Times of Israel, The Huffington Post, The Jerusalem Post, Israel Insider, and on a wide range of Internet websites. His collection of short stories, The Virtual Kibbutz, was originally published in 2003. His novel Valley of Thracians was published in 2013. Ellis lives with his wife, children, and grandchildren on Moshav Neve Ilan, outside Jerusalem.

  Ellis writes about Bulgaria, Israel, books, travel, and the craft of writing on his blog:

  Ellis Shuman Writes

  http://ellisshuman.blogspot.com