by Ethan Jones
The last thing to take care of before leaving Bahrain was the sensitive call to the Iranians. Javin rehearsed the call with his team, then called Salimi. The Iranian operative replied only after the fifth call, in Persian, and in a gruff tone.
“Salimi, this is Javin. We need to talk…”
“Eh, what… Javin, do you know what time it is?”
Time to wake up, Javin wanted to say, but it wouldn’t be helpful. “This can’t wait.”
Salimi yawned, then a shuffling sound came, followed by footsteps. “What is it?”
“It’s about the scientist.”
“Dr. Niyazov.”
“Yes, there has been a complication.”
“What sort of complication?”
“The location has been compromised.”
“How?”
Javin swallowed hard. “It’s my fault. Our communications have been intercepted.”
“By who?”
“Not sure, but it’s a good idea to move him right away.”
Salimi swore. “This wasn’t supposed to happen, Pierce…”
“I know, Salimi, but it did. I’m giving you the heads-up, so you’re not caught off guard…”
Salimi swore again, then a loud noise came as if he were punching something hard.
Javin said nothing and looked at Yael and Claudia.
Yael shook her head while Claudia shrugged.
He had put Salimi on speakerphone, so they could hear both sides of the conversation.
“Where am I supposed to take him now?” Salimi said in the same gruff tone he had used when he first answered the call.
He wasn’t really looking for an answer, so Javin said nothing.
A brief, tense pause followed, then Salimi said, “All right, we’ll move him right away. And I won’t give you the new location, since you can’t keep it safe.”
Javin frowned. “Salimi, you’re changing the deal—”
“The deal changed when you compromised the information, Pierce. That jeopardizes the life of the doctor and our agents.”
“I get that, Salimi, but we can’t convince anyone if we don’t have—”
“You already have enough to show that we’re willing to cooperate. You have the recordings, which, by now, you’ve verified as authentic…”
“We’re still working on them—”
“Well, work faster. The clock is ticking…”
Javin looked at Yael, who leaned closer to the phone. “Salimi, this is Yael. Look, we’re close to convincing my boss that you’re the real deal. But we need the doctor to secure the authorization.”
“No, I’m not risking it anymore. You’ll have to get the authorization without him.”
“You’re being unreasonable…”
“No, I’m being careful. If the doctor dies or is kidnapped, my neck’s on the line.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Javin said.
“Not if I can help it. Now, I’ve got to make a call and get him to a new, safe location.”
“No, wait. It’s—”
“Pierce, I don’t think you understand… I have to go.”
Salimi ended the phone call with a parting curse.
Javin glanced at Yael and said, “That went well…”
“It happens.” She shrugged.
Claudia said, “Let’s hope the Mossad team doesn’t get there before Salimi moves the doctor…”
“I doubt they’ll be so swift. Contrary to the popular impression we love to portray, the agency is slow, meticulous, painstakingly so. Especially when it comes to dealing with Iranians and in a friendly country, like the UK.”
Javin nodded. “Maybe we’ll get there with plenty of time to stop the attack. Otherwise, we’ll have to deal with a big mess…”
Chapter Twenty-three
Aboard the Gulfstream G280
Somewhere over Europe
Javin woke up from a short, broken sleep. The oversized white leather chair was more than comfortable, allowing him to curl up like a lazy cat. One of the flight attendants had brought him a fuzzy white blanket, with what he thought was a silk trim around it, and the pilot had kept the temperature at an enjoyable twenty-two degrees Celsius. However, Javin couldn’t relax. The covert operations first in London and then in Barcelona were front and center on his mind.
He stifled a yawn, then looked across from him. Claudia was sleeping in the opposite chair, wrapped in a similar fuzzy blanket. Her hair had fallen to the side, and she looked at peace, floating somewhere in dreamland.
Javin sighed. I wish I could just chill for a few hours… He glanced at his wristwatch. Three more hours until they landed. Maybe I should get up and get some work done, he thought and glanced at the laptop on the desk a couple of steps away. He pulled out his phone and signed in using his fingerprint. A photo of him and Liberty, which he had taken during their time in Iraq, appeared as the wallpaper. Javin shifted lazily in the chair. Then his eyes drifted farther ahead, to the flight attendants sitting on the divan near the back of the airplane. Javin turned his head to his left, toward Yael’s chair, but she wasn’t there.
He turned his head and looked up into her curious eyes. “Who’s that?” she said and pointed at the phone.
“Eh, nobody…”
Yael grinned. “If I were your girlfriend, I wouldn’t like being called ‘nobody.’”
Javin smiled. “You’re right. She’s my girlfriend.”
“What’s her name?” Yael sat in her chair to Javin’s left.
“Liberty.”
“Lovely name, and she’s very pretty.”
“She is.” Javin put the phone away. “I’ve never asked you about your personal life…”
“Ask me now…”
“Boyfriend? Fiancé?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Yael shrugged. “No time.”
“No time?”
“Yes, I’m always away, and I can’t tell people where I’m going or when I’ll be back… If I’m back.” A look of sadness spread across her face. “How are you making your relationship work?” She gestured toward the phone in his front jacket pocket.
“We’ve just started to get serious, but it’s a struggle…”
“How are you going to make it work?”
“Not sure.”
“A word of advice?”
Javin gave her a sideways glance. “From the woman that has no time for relationships…”
“It wasn’t always like this. Look, loneliness kills even the hottest, passionate love. If you’re not going to be around when Liberty needs you, it isn’t going to work.” Yael gave Javin an intense look.
He held her gaze for a long moment. “Is that what happened to you?”
“Yes. I… I was engaged to this guy, very sweet, generous, kind. But I was gone all the time. I couldn’t tell him where I was, or how long I would be gone for. He couldn’t come along. When we’d meet, I couldn’t say much about what I did or was going to do.”
Her voice was low, and wavered. “Love can last only so long. You need more to make things work.”
“I know. I did make things work once.”
Yael’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. “You were married?”
Javin nodded. “Three happy, wonderful years. Her name was Steffi…”
“Like the German tennis player, Steffi Graf?”
Javin smiled. “Yes, she was named after the player.”
“Was she German too?”
“No, Austrian.”
“And did work pull you apart?”
Javin shook his head. “No, work was never a problem. She was a journalist, the investigative kind. She talked very little about her job, until I saw her articles. I told her as much as I could about my ops. When something I worked on ended up in the paper—mostly a botched op that I was sent to correct—I would buy a copy of the paper. She’d find the article and figure things out.” His voice had turned slow with a tinge of regret.
“If it worked w
ell, what happened?”
Javin’s wounded face should have done the talking, but somehow Yael had missed the clues. “She died in a car accident…”
“Oh, Javin, I’m… I’m so sorry…”
“It’s alright. It was a long time ago.”
In fact, it had been just a scant few months ago. And the truth was slightly different. Javin’s wife hadn’t lost her life in an accident. He sighed. “It’s alright. It really is.”
Yael gave him a thoughtful look. “I’m not so sure, Javin.”
“What do you mean?”
“The way you sound and look when you mention your wife, I… I don't think you’re really over her.”
Javin frowned. “Are you my new shrink now?”
“No, just a woman that can read between the lines and realize when a man is still mourning the loss of his wife…”
Javin shrugged. “I’m sure I finished mourning a long time ago.”
“Perhaps you did in your mind, not in your heart.”
Javin looked away and said nothing.
“Think about it, Javin, and how this might affect your relationship with Liberty…”
She stopped short of saying that he couldn’t start loving Liberty if he hadn’t gotten over the loss of his wife. Yael didn’t have to say it. Her eyes did all the talking.
Javin shrugged and said nothing for a long time.
When he looked at Yael, she smiled and said, “I’m here if you want to talk about it…”
“Not now.”
“Okay. So, about the doctor’s new location. I talked to my partner, and he gave me some good news. The Mossad team lurked in the shadows, but didn’t attack the Iranians’ safehouse. It was heavily guarded. The team counted at least eight people when running recon. Then, after Salimi gave the orders to move the scientist, another two men appeared as back-up.”
“Ten people,” Javin said in a voice louder than necessary.
“Ah, what?” Claudia jumped up in her armchair.
“Sorry, I woke you up,” Javin said with a concerned frown. “How did you sleep?”
“Alright, I guess. Where are we?”
Javin looked at one of the monitors fastened to the wall. “Somewhere over Greece. It’s going to be another couple of hours, at least.”
Claudia stifled a yawn. “I can’t sleep anymore.” She stretched her arms, stood up, and headed toward the galley.
Yael tipped her head toward Claudia. “Let’s wait for her, so I don’t have to repeat myself…”
“Tell me at least if he has the new location where they moved the scientist?”
“He does, otherwise, this wouldn’t be good news.”
Javin smiled. “I’m going to get coffee. You want some?”
“Sure. Black as usual.”
Javin returned in a couple of minutes. Claudia was back in her seat and had turned her body slightly toward Yael standing in the aisle. “I was just telling Claudia about the scientist’s transfer to his new location.”
“Where is that?” He handed Yael her coffee and looked at Claudia. “Do you want anything?”
“I’m good, but thanks.”
“The new place is in the same neighborhood, Finsbury Park, just a few blocks south. I’m downloading a series of maps and pictures of the area.”
“How large is the Mossad team in place?”
“My partner doesn’t know. Considering the number of Iranians, I’d say six, at least.”
“We have the four Bahrainis, who should be in London by now, and us.”
“Great odds if we work together,” Claudia said with a sigh.
Yael shrugged. “At least we’re not working against one another.”
“How are we dealing with the actual handover, considering we’re not even supposed to be there?” Javin said in a nervous tone.
“It will depend on what we’ll find on the ground, but I’m getting the paperwork ready.”
“Will the Iranians buy it?”
“I don’t know, but it’ll look as authentic as it gets…”
Javin nodded. “Okay, so we have the location. Once on the ground, we’ll assemble the team and go over both scenarios. If the paperwork approach fails, we’ll move on to Plan B.”
“B as in Bahrainis?” Yael grinned.
“Exactly.”
“And when they realize we tricked them?”
“We didn’t trick anyone. We just got bad intel. That happens to everyone.”
“Not bad intel; mis-intel,” Yael said.
“Is that even a word?”
“I just said it, so it is now.”
Javin groaned. “The Bahrainis hate the Iranians as much as the Israelis. The four NSA operatives won’t mind an extra gunfight to show them who’s the boss…”
“Not if they die trying,” Claudia said.
“They’ll provide extra support, but let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.”
He said the words without much conviction, knowing that it was very likely things would go sideways.
Chapter Twenty-four
Finsbury Park
London, United Kingdom
And they did, but not immediately.
Javin, Yael, and Claudia met the four Bahraini NSA operatives at a half-empty café in Lisson Grove, a short distance south of London’s Central Mosque. Yael had already forwarded them all the intelligence they had gathered so far. The two teams had communicated constantly over secure phone lines, and everyone was clear as to their purpose. The meeting served mainly to decide on the finer points of the operation.
The NSA operatives were led by a tall, barrel-chested man called Ziyad. He explained to Javin the Bahraini team’s understanding of the operational details, then Javin walked everyone through the scenarios. After everyone nodded in agreement, Javin asked if there were any questions.
No questions.
“Alright, then,” Javin said and sipped the last of his coffee. “From this point on, we’re going dark. No comms. Remain in the SUV until we signal to come out, or it has been ten minutes.”
Ziyad nodded his big head. “We get it,” he said in a slightly annoyed tone.
“Remember, they have eyes everywhere. Stay well hidden. If they see you, they’ll open fire.”
“We’ll do that.”
Javin had told the NSA operatives that the Al-Qaeda mastermind was hidden in the London safehouse. He was guarded by only two gunmen and was expecting Javin to deliver a message from a Qatari prince whom the mastermind trusted. He didn’t know the message was going to be a bullet to the head. The job of the Bahraini team was to provide backup in case of emergency and safe extraction.
Javin shook hands with Ziyad and the rest of his team, then watched as they got into their armored white Land Rover. Javin had opted for something less conspicuous, a gray Nissan Qashqai SUV. They just needed room for one extra man, Dr. Niyazov.
“So, what do you think?” Javin asked Yael as the Bahrainis rounded the corner. They were going to meet up with Javin’s team as they drew near the safehouse.
“I really don’t know.” Yael shrugged. “We’ll do the best we can with what we’ve got…”
Javin got behind the wheel of their SUV and drove south, toward Gloucester Place. Further along, he turned onto Marylebone Road and headed toward the east. He looked in the rearview and sideview mirrors, checking for any vehicles that might be following them.
They were in the clear.
When they drove past Madame Tussauds wax museum, Javin glanced at the greenish dome, then turned his head to Yael. “So, is this going to work?” He gestured with his hand toward her phone.
She glanced at the screen. It showed a letter signed by Mossad’s director. Of course, the letter was a fake. Yael had drafted it last night. Just a short paragraph, authorizing her and other Mossad operatives to investigate the Iranians’ claims about their nuclear weapons program. The signature was forged. Yael had replicated it from a commendation she had received two years ago.
She k
new full well that her subterfuge would get her in serious trouble, if they were discovered. However, faced with the option of being thrown out of the agency in disgrace, or bringing in the potential linchpin of the case about the Iranian nuclear weapons program and saving her career, Yael had made her choice. While she might not believe a word the Iranians were saying, she was determined to get to the bottom of this story.
Yael didn’t respond right away. “We’ll find out soon.”
Her soft voice inspired no confidence in Javin. He ran his right hand over his shoulder holster and touched the grip of his Sig Sauer pistol. He drew in a deep breath and felt a wave of warm reassurance wash over him. He nodded to himself, then found Claudia’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
She said, “Relax, Javin. It’s all good.”
“I hope so,” he said in a firm voice.
They drove mostly in silence until they came to Seven Sisters Road. Javin glanced over his shoulder and noticed a white Land Rover pull in behind them from the side.
Yael shifted in her seat and looked in the sideview mirror, then turned her head. “Is that Ziyad and company?”
“It has to be, but let’s double-check.”
Yael pulled out her Jericho II pistol and held it in her lap.
Javin grinned. “Is that how you double-check?”
“In case it’s not Ziyad.”
It was the Bahraini team. The driver was a small-statured man called Dhaif. He gave Yael and Javin a small nod as he drove next to them, then the Land Rover fell into place behind the Nissan SUV.
Yael heaved a sigh of relief and returned the Jericho to her waistband holster. “We’re good.”
Javin nodded and looked through the windshield. They were coming up on Axminster Road. The safehouse was now just two minutes away.
Javin looked at the mostly ethnic storefronts on both sides of the road—establishments with names like Nuray Dry Cleaning, Al Rayan Halal Boucherie, and Hua Run Chinese Supermarket. A few people were walking on the small sidewalks, chatting in front of the stores, or sipping drinks at sidewalk cafés.
He drove through the next intersection, then turned left when they came to Hornsey Road. They were now among mostly residential buildings. When they passed an Esso gas station, Yael sat up straighter in her seat. She removed her pistol and readied it for action.
