Chapter 31
It was dusk when the helicopter, flying in from the Tel Aviv secure zone, approached the landing pad of the citadel of Maale Adumim. Before touching ground, Avi Eitan noticed the gas fires being lit up all around the old settlement. It had transformed since the evacuation to Cyprus in a fortress that was overlooking the Judean desert and controlling access to Jerusalem from the East. Beyond the stone desert, there was the white, salty spot that once used to be the Dead Sea. The last pools of water had evaporated less than one year ago, in the summer of 2052, and since then Avi always avoided to stare at it again. He preferred to look West, where the roofs and buildings of Jerusalem were casting black shadows over the purple horizon.
He got off the helicopter and headed to the control center, where he was met by Raphi Kaplan, the officer in command.
“Good morning, Colonel Kaplan. Is the team ready? We need to pay a visit to an old friend. Hopefully he did not move in the meantime.”
“He is still in the Old City,” Raphi replied immediately, “He lives in a flat on 23rd David Street, close to the Western Wall, but inhabitants relocate frequently, to try and get away from the mice infestations. They cannot afford the automatic perimeter defense systems we have here, so they have to be ready to move if the occasional pest swarm comes all the way up from the valley, in search for food.”
Avi activated his infrared goggles, and then boarded the second Humvee in the six-vehicle motorcade that drove down from the Mount of Olives and up the hill of Jerusalem, until they reached the Western Wall esplanade. They got off and walked into the Old City, their rifles ready to shoot.
“Who do we have to fear more, the rats or the snipers?”, he asked Raphi over the radio.
“At this time of the day, definitely the rats,” Raphi replied, half amused, “Snipers do not have much night vision gear, while rats can sense us a mile away.”
They turned the corner and moved up David Street. The navigation system showed they were less than two hundred yards away from their destination when the motion detector started buzzing in their ears. The threat was coming from behind.
The eight-people squad immediately took positions at the center of the tight road, except two members that pushed to the sides to cover the roofs and windows. They pointed their rifles toward the end of the street. After a few seconds, the first rats appeared, smelling the air around them, and turning in the direction of the Israeli team.
“Hold on, wait for the swarm to finish,” Raphi said, “Let’s try to get it done at one time. They are too close to use grenades so we have to make do with guns.”
Fifty yards away, the rats kept trickling around the street corner, in increasing numbers. The leaders of the swarm were slowly moving toward the Israeli squad, and then suddenly, as if they had felt they had built up a large enough team, they accelerated towards the soldiers.
The voice of Colonel Kaplan interrupted Avi’s thoughts.
“Ok guys, hold on another three seconds. One. Two. Fire!”
The six Israeli lightweight machine guns cut through the swarm, killing the first lines. But from around the corner, the supply did not seem to stop.
After four seconds of shooting, Avi had to reload his rifle, immediately followed by Raphi. The two soldiers who stood next to wall took over. The tide could slow down, but not stop. The swarm was now just twenty yards away.
“Fuck, how many are they?!” Avi thought out aloud, looking at Raphi for an instant.
“They’re bigger than usual, too” Raphi replied, “It’s definitely more than the occasional nuisance, Sir. We better move back to gain some time.”
The squad started moving, as they retreated they passed an abandoned ice cream shop. One window on the first floor flung open and they heard a man shouting at them in Hebrew.
“Don’t shoot on us, we are going to help you.” He then switched to Arabic, “Imad, whenever you are ready, fire.”
A second window on the opposite side of the street opened, and Avi saw the unmistakable shape of grenade launchers emerging from the upstairs window.
The two grenades shot opened in midair above the rat swarm, releasing a thick rainfall of small fireballs, that started moving as soon as they touched the ground, chasing the rats one by one. The swarm was destroyed, the few surviving rats dispersed along the alleys.
Raphi could not hide his surprise, as he took off the helmet and said to Avi,
“I wonder how they got their hands on the new microspider grenades….they have just been adopted by the Indians and we have not yet managed to replicate them..”
“You have to be ingenious, if you want to survive here in the Old City,” the voice they had heard from the window now echoed from the doorway below it, and before Avi could say anything, Yaakov emerged from the darkness.
“I guess you are looking for me,” Yaakov said, without letting Avi speak, “We better sit down in Imad’s house, he is very hospitable, even with you Israeli Army guys. And his house is in much better shape than mine.”
Avi and Yaakov entered the apartment, followed by Imad. Avi told Yaakov, in Russian, that the conversation had to remain confidential.
“Yes,” Yaakov replied, “provided we continue in Russian. Imad has no translation devices implanted.”
“Alright, Yaakov. We need you. We have to deliver a message to somebody in the United States and it cannot be delivered by us. By us I mean the Mossad or any other entity linked to Israel.”
“You kicked me out of service a few years ago, and now you are interested in my connections with the Latinos gangs again? I am surprised Eyal does not have a contact there.”
“We do, but we need the message to be delivered by someone trusted, yet completely outside of the power game,” Avi continued. “Someone without a vested interest…”
“..who can seem genuine and authentic. Why didn’t Eyal come personally then, and he send you instead? I might refuse it just out of pride. And don’t bring up the story that Israel or mankind needs it. I have to survive rats, cockroaches, cold and illnesses, like many others here. We will pull it off, one way or another.”
“You know why, Yaakov,” Avi broke in, calmly, “Because Eyal is sick. Big time. He can barely lead cabinet meetings in his Cyprus bunker. The parties in the Knesset are already seeking to appoint a successor, and he asked me to hand this over to you.”
Yaakov took the sealed envelope from his hands. It had been packaged according to the security standards he and Eyal had learned in the first security trainings, which had been more than seventy-five years ago. He checked the seals. No one had attempted to open it. He broke it open, extracted the single sheet of paper it contained and read it, making sure Avi could not see it. Yaakov then hinted to Imad and handed him the letter.
Imad had a long look at it, then nodded to Yaakov and handed him back the letter. Yaakov stood up, took a match and burned the message over the tap. He then sat back at the table with Avi.
“What am I supposed to deliver and when?” he asked. Avi took a bio-memory stick out of his pocket, which Yaakov grabbed and brought to his right temple. After a few minutes, the transfer was complete and he had all the information he needed. Yaakov could not hide his amazement.
“Is this the first time you use it?” Avi asked, knowing the answer.
“Yes, I heard about it last year, from one of my old contacts at Dimona, but I could not believe it. How long will the data stay?”
“Two, three weeks maximum. That’s why you have to leave now. We are taking you to Cyprus right away. I will tell you on the flight how to download the stuff back from your head.” Avi stood up and headed for the door, but he stopped upon realizing that Yaakov was not following.
“So?” Avi asked, “I thought you had made your decision.”
“We are not done yet, Sir,” Yaakov replied, hinting to Imad. “I cannot leave my house unattended during my absence.”
Avi balked, he was not supposed to bring anyone else than Yaakov out of the Old Cit
y. Before he could say anything, Yaakov continued.
“I need your team to leave three assault rifles and all the ammunition you have here. You just experienced how aggressive Jerusalem pests can be.”
Avi was relieved. He walked out of the door, and called Raphi.
“Colonel Kaplan, please bring the team inside. We have to leave some gifts before accompanying our guest.”