He looked at Farouk, his trusted lieutenant. “Do you understand it?”
“Yes. It is very clear.” He was troubled. “How do we know their schedule?”
“We have received confirmation from inside.”
“Why am I not able to know the source? I should know everything about this mission. What if there is interference?”
The Sheikh was growing annoyed. Farouk seemed reluctant. “You might be captured—”
“They would never capture me—”
“You would never intend to talk. Agreed. But there are ways. We have been over that. What is it about this that causes you to question it suddenly?”
“I am not questioning it. I want to know the extent of my authority. I do nothing without your authorization.”
“You have complete authorization. Exactly as we discussed.”
“Yes.” He looked at the chart one last time, having already committed every detail to memory.
“And then we go to the world and tell them who we are, and who we were at Gaza, and why we are taking our stand. Now. Here.” The Sheikh exhaled with deep contentment. “We will show them, and then we will tell them. It will be exactly as we planned. The first communiqué is prepared.” He drank some water from a cup on the table. “Go. Make sure the men are ready. They must be strong and faithful.”
“I give you my personal word.”
“What did you think of my father?” Irit asked, slipping her hand into Vialli’s as they strolled along the beach.
“Serious.”
“Very serious. He’s a good man, though.”
“How come you still live at home?”
She hesitated. “Only sometimes.”
“When?”
“I’m not sure what my next move is. I don’t have a teaching job, and I’m not married. I sort of needed to be home for a while. They’re a very stabilizing influence on me.”
“Any brothers or sisters?”
“Two brothers. Both older. One’s in the Army, and the other one works for Hebrew University, teaching biology.”
Vialli watched the sun reach the horizon and hover for a minute. “Thanks for inviting me. I appreciate it.”
They stopped along the shore of the flat turquoise Mediterranean. She smiled at him. “I didn’t think you’d come.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s a big step. I just didn’t expect you to come. But I’m glad you did.”
He put his arm around her and lowered his head to hers. They walked again. “So tell me about tomorrow.”
“We’ll take the bus to Tel Aviv in the afternoon. I’ve reserved a room at a wonderful hotel on the beach there, and we can go out to my favorite restaurant in the whole world. Greek. Right on the beach. They have wonderful desserts…”
“Greek?”
“Sure. You’ll love it. I promise—”
“We should do Italian, since that’s where we met.”
“Good idea. I’ll think about that.” She smiled. “Anyway, then we’ll go to a club I know, where there will be lots of people, and I’ll probably know several of them. I’ll introduce you as my American fighter pilot boyfriend, which will make them all jealous. We’ll dance, and stay out too late, and then I’ll get up the next morning for my interview. I’ll cover the bags under my eyes with just the right amount of makeup and go try to impress the airline and see if I can get all the way through the interview without falling asleep. Then we’ll take the bus to Jerusalem, I’ll show you the Wall, the old city, the Via Dolorosa even though you’re a Catholic and don’t care—”
“What’s that?”
“You really don’t know?”
“No.”
“You’ll see. And then we’ll come back to Nahariya.”
He nodded and thought of the wonderful time ahead. He looked forward to it. “Sounds like a blast. It’ll be fun just to be with you. What are we going to do tomorrow before we leave?”
“Stay around the house. Go for another walk. My parents will probably want to talk to you some more.”
“I’d better be on my best behavior.”
“Just think. In three weeks you’ll be back again. This will be old hat.”
“Old hat?”
She looked surprised. “Is that the wrong expression?”
“No.” He smiled. “What will be old hat?”
“Israel. You’ll know all about it. You can show your Navy friends around.”
“I’d rather just spend the time with you. Alone.”
“That would be fine with me,” she replied.
“I don’t want to share you.”
“I’m glad,” she said. She stopped and kissed him gently. He held her and they felt closer to each other than either expected. They were comfortable, and pleasantly surprised.
9
“How come we didn’t take the train?”
“We’d have had to go this morning. I didn’t want to leave until later. So is Israel like you expected?” she asked over the sound of the diesel engine of the bus and the thirty school children bouncing on the seats. The bus windows were open and the two teachers were spending much of their time trying to keep the grade-schoolers from jumping out onto the Tel Aviv highway. Irit and Vialli had been riding for thirty minutes and initially found the children amusing, but were now becoming annoyed by their noise. They had hoped for a nice quiet bus ride to talk. Other than the teachers, the only other adult riding on the bus was an Israeli soldier, who sat casually behind the driver.
Vialli looked out the window at the beach and the sea. The sun had set fifteen minutes before. It was a beautiful if unspectacular sunset. Vialli had already seen more than a hundred at sea, and was growing accustomed to the sun dropping suddenly into the water. “I’m not sure what I expected, but it’s smaller and more arid than I thought. It’s beautiful. Reminds me of Southern California — not that I’ve been there. Woods’s always going on about San Diego, and how beaut — “ He stopped as a different look came over her face. He peered out the bus window following her gaze.
Something had caught her eye on the darkening water.
He leaned toward the window and saw several men in dark uniforms running up the beach carrying assault rifles. They were coming from rubber boats they’d pulled up on the shore. “Look like SEALs,” he said.
“Why would they come ashore in Israel?”
“They look like them, but I’m sure they’re not. Do you have navy commandos?”
“We have commandos, but I don’t know if they’re with the Army or Navy…”
“Wait a minute,” Vialli said, focusing on the armed men.
“What are they doing?” There was concern in her voice.
“I don’t like this,” he said, jumping up from his seat. He got to the front window just in time to see three of the men cross the road a hundred yards ahead of the bus and turn and point their guns directly at the driver.
“Go around them!” he said to the driver.
“No! They are security—”
“No, they’re not!”
The driver looked ahead, examining the men as he slowed the bus. He looked quickly at Vialli and said something in Hebrew. The Israeli soldier sitting in the seat directly behind the driver stood, holding his M-16 by his side as he looked out the windshield over the driver’s shoulder. He didn’t like what he saw.
“Gun it! Run them over!” Vialli yelled.
The soldier didn’t speak English and shouted something in Hebrew at the driver. As the bus rolled to a stop, one of the armed men pointed his rifle at the driver while the other two ran directly toward the bus.