You simply cannot believe the pressures and restrictions placed on the shoulders of the director of KGB” He laughed again. “But the job has its compensations, and so will you, as you shall soon see. I I “Comrade”
Kurshin asked, confused. He felt as if he were sitting next to a high-tension wire. The slightest wrong move on his part and he would be dead. “You are going to kill McGarvey for me-and for yourself as well, I suspect-and afterward you are going to strike En Gedi, only this time your method will be so spectacular, so completely unexpected, that they will be talking about you for many years to come. With respect, Arkasha.
And fear.
At first Orraine Bborf wanted nothing to do with McGarvey. As she said, he could have been anyone with some inside knowledge. Even Mossad trying to trick her into revealing the extent of her own information. “If I were a Mossad agent, it would have been an extraordinary admission on my part, telling you about En Gedi” he’d said. “If it’s true she’d countered. “That’s what I’m here to find out”
They had left the cocktail lounge early, and Megarvey had gone up to his room where he cleaned up and changed clothes. A few minutes before nine he went up to her seventh-floor room and knocked on the door.
“I want to tell you one thing” she said, letting him in. “I am no spy”
“Neither am I.” McGarvey said and he motioned for her to keep silent.
For a moment or two she had no idea what he was trying to tell her as he gestured at the ceiling, the drapes, the television set, and the telephone, but then she caught it. “The room is probably bugged” he mouthed the words. She nodded her understanding. “Are you ready for dinner” he asked out loud. She was dressed in a simple dark skirt and white silk blouse, sandals on her feet, and only a slight amount of makeup to accent her high cheekbones and wide eyes. She looked freshly scrubbed, almost but not quite innocent. She nodded a little uncertainly. “Here in the hotel” she asked. “I thought we’d go for a walk first. It’s a nice evening. Afterward you can buy, last time in San Francisco it was my treat, remember” She shot him an angry look, but got her purse. They picked up their tail as they crossed the lobby to the front doors, and outside they walked across the broad driveway and headed back into the city, the night pleasantly cool with a nice breeze from the sea. “Did you call the general” McGarvey asked when they were well away from the hotel. Traffic was still fairly heavy. The city smelled of car exhaust and something else, something almost exotic. “No.
I didn’t think it was too smart under the circumstances”
“They’re probably going to kick both of us out of the country by morning McGarvey said. He didn’t bother turning around to see if their tail had followed them from the hotel. He knew the man had.
Instead, he kept his eye on the passing cars and trucks, because he had even less doubt that he had been made from the moment he’d shown up at the hotel. The Mossad would be frantically trying to figure out what the hell he was doing here.
Lorraine bridled. “I’ll be damned if I’ll let them” she snapped. “I’m still an NPT representative, and there are still questions about the incident for which I’ve received no satisfactory answers. “This is their country, Dr. Abbott” he said. “And they consider themselves at war. U they want you to leave Israel you’ll have to go” He looked closely at her. She was angry, but he could see just a little fear and uncertainty tinged in her eyes. Trotter had told him that she’d done a little work for the Company. But it had mainly been of the variety of keeping an open eye and reporting what she saw. “If and when they ask you to leave, I want you to go without an argument. She stopped short and faced him.
“Who the hell do you think you are” she demanded. “At this point, someone who is trying to save your life, Dr. Abbott” he said firmly.
She was taken aback. Her mouth opened. “There have already been half a dozen lives lost” he told her. “And if you get in the way they won’t hesitate to pull the trigger, no matter who you represent … or how pretty YOU are. II. This last stung. “Goddamnit she started to protest angrily, but McGarvey took her arm forcefully and they continued down the street.
“Now, just what is it I’m supposed to be looking for out at En Gedi” he asked. “Airvents” she said after a moment. “And the equipment for a laminar airflow installation. If they’re storing weapons out there, they’ll probably be deep underground” She looked at him. “They’ll shoot you”
“I’ll take my chances”
“You’re crazy if you think you can just sneak in and look around. “It’s called a finesse” McGarvey said. “Now let’s get to a very public restaurant. You and I are going to have a loud argument.
McGarvey pulled the small dark blue Fiat he had stolen from a side street in Tel Aviv to the side of the road and doused the lights.
Below in the valley about two miles away was the En Gedi Nuclear Research Station, lit up like a small town along the shore of the Dead Sea. A faint wisp of steam came from the one small cooling tower. Even from this distance he could see some activity within the compound. If the weapons were stockpiled down there, the Israelis would have been fighting a difficult battle from day one. If they guarded the place too heavily, it would call attention to the fact that something more than research was going on. If they were too lax, it would invite penetration. Lorraine had put on a convincing performance, raising her voice so loudly that everyone in the restaurant had stopped and looked at them. She had jumped up and started to leave, but he managed to grab her arm. Immediately she whirled around and slapped him in the face.
“You sonofabitch” she shouted, and she stomped off. McGarvey threw down enough money for their bill and hurried out after her, but she was already halfway down the street. “Then go, bitch” he shouted, and he turned and stormed off in the opposite direction. In the first sixty seconds the Mossad team who had been watching them was confused. This wasn’t what they expected at all. McGarvey had been easily able to shake the one man who’d split off to follow him, had doubled back to an area of apartment buildings, finding the Fiat, and headed out of the city.
His cheek still stung, and he reached up to rub it, a faint smile coming to his lips. He had told her to go directly back to the hotel and start packing without a word to anyone. He hoped that she had done just that.
He had been told a long time ago that if getting in the back door was impossible, you could always try the front door. The trick was in coming up with the key. Trotter had wanted him to confirm the existence of the weapons stockpile here. Going through the back door could get him killed, so he’d been provided with a key. It had come with his weapon in the diplomatic pouch. He pulled the plastic NPF Inspection Service badge out of his pocket, clipped it to his lapel, and switched on the headlights. He pulled away from the side of the road and headed down into the valley. For most of the way he drove slowly but steadily, keeping the car in a straight line. It was getting late, nearly midnight, and there was no other traffic on the road. At the bottom the highway curved south. A broad road led east for two hundred yards to the research facility’s main gate. Anything that moved on the highway in the vicinity of the entrance road would be carefully monitored. Guard towers rose every three hundred yards or so from the inner fence. As he neared the access road, McGarvey sped up a little, then stabbed on his brakes as he swung the car left, nearly running it off the highway. When he finally got the car straightened out, he turned onto the entrance road and shakily drove toward the main gate, swerving from side to side, alternately hitting his brake and the accelerator. Two men came out of the gatehouse and watched him. A second later one of them hurried back inside while the other stepped around the barrier and started to wave his arms. McGarvey slumped over the wheel at the last moment and let the car roll slowly the last few yards, crashing it gently into the fence, his head bouncing off the wheel and then lying on the horn. Someone was shouting something, and a moment later the car door was yanked open and he was pulled away from the steering wheel. He let his eyes flutter.