Daniel and Ted exchanged a knowing glance. She was about to say more, but was interrupted by a commotion at the entrance to the cafe. An Arab with a bulging waistline had barged past the security guard at the door and was reaching into his jacket.
“Get down!” Leah shouted, realizing what was happening.
They ducked under the table just as the explosive belt detonated sending splinters of wooded furniture and shards of crockery flying across the room.
Chapter 66
Ben Gurion Airport seemed to have an even bigger police presence than usual. Baruch Tikva noticed this as he stood in line at passport control. He suspected that he might be the subject of this interest — the very thing he had tried to avoid, just as he had sought to avoid being identified when he left Britain.
He had shaved off his beard and was not wearing his religious garb, ensuring that he looked different to his Israeli passport picture. Also, he was not using his Israeli passport, even though he was supposed to under Israeli law. But there was no danger of Border Control catching that on their computers, because he was also using a false name. His late mother had been American and for that reason he had been entitled to an American passport. He had always had one and when he went to England, although he had left Israel on his Israeli passport — as required by Israel law — he had entered the UK on his American passport.
While in the UK he had made an “emergency” visit to the American embassy, applying for a new or at least temporary American passport. He had not claimed that his American passport was lost, for that would have delayed the process. Instead he pointed to the fact that he had shaved off his beard and that consequently he no longer looked like his passport photo.
To add a new layer of security to this, he applied for a change to his surname on the passport. If he had been submitting the application by post he would have had to send in some supporting documents, such as a court record of an official name change. A woman could submit a marriage certificate. But because he was making an in-person appearance at the embassy, he could simply make a declaration to the effect that he was now using his mother’s maiden name for all legal purposes and would be changing his name legally at the earliest opportunity thereafter. In order to avoid the wrath of God, he affirmed rather than swore an oath. But his mother’s maiden name would also appear on the records in Israel, so he simply invented a different name.
Thus armed with a new beardless image and a new name — Baruch Finkelstein — he was able to enter Israel with his America passport. There was a tense moment, when the woman in the immigration booth at passport control eyed him up suspiciously and asked if he had an Israeli passport. He said no, with an awkward smile and although she still showed signs of suspicion, she stamped his passport with a three month tourist visa and let him through with a polite “have a nice stay in Israel.”
Chapter 67
Leah Yakarin opened her eyes in the intensive care wing of the hospital.
“What happened?”
There were tubes sticking out of her and monitoring equipment keeping track of her vital signs. It was clear that she was still dazed and weak. But she was out of danger. Sarit spoke gently
“There was an explosion. A suicide bomber. You saw him… you warned us… If you hadn’t warned us… we’d all be dead.”
Leah Yakarin had ducked for cover too. But she had been the nearest to the bomber and she bore the brunt of the explosion. In fact, the last thing she remembered was the bomber looking over at their group just before he detonated the bomb.
“Were there many casualties?”
There was a hint of guilt in her voice, as if she would blame herself for any deaths — even though it was not her fault. Daniel and Ted — who themselves had been mildly injured — knew the answer to the question. But they exchanged a nervous look, as if wondering whether it would be appropriate to let her know about the deaths of others when she was so obviously fragile, emotionally as well as physically.
Finally it was Sarit who answered.
“Four. Four dead and about twenty injured. It could have been a lot worse if other people hadn’t heard your warning. Most of the people ducked for cover just in time… thanks to you.”
Daniel realized that Sarit had called it right. Leah needed the reassurance. For all Leah knew, the casualty toll might have been substantially higher. And she was eating herself up over this. Four deaths was four too many. But it was a lot less than it might have been. This way, Leah had the reassurance that the death toll was low and that she had been instrumental in saving lives.
“He was… looking… at us.”
She was still straining to speak, even though she was now wide awake.
Sarit’s phone buzzed. She took it out surreptitiously and looked. It was a message from Dovi:
Go outside and call me ASAP!
She slipped the phone back into her pocket and said “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Outside she lost no time in calling Dovi.
“What is it?”
“I just saw some intercepts from Urim. Shalom Tikva called a man known to SHaBaK — an Arab with Hamas contacts.”
“When?”
“While you were in transit from Italy.”
“You think there’s a connection?”
“Well before that, he received a call from the Vatican. He has a man on the inside there, believe it or not. The man told him that the three of you were on your way.”
“So it wasn’t random.”
“No. You were being targeted.”
Sarit got irritated at this.
“Why don’t you just arrest him? All of them. Shalom Tikva and that son of his… and anyone else in their organization who might know anything.”
“We’re going to.”
“You should have done it already.”
“The problem is that once we arrest him, he’ll clam up and we won’t get any more.”
“So instead you put us in danger — and damn nearly got us killed!”
“It was a tough call. Anyway SHaBaK are going to pull him in and grill him!”
“That may not stop other members of Shomrei Ha’ir.”
“I know. We’re sending some people over to guard Leah Yakarin and the others, if they’ll cooperate. In the meantime stay alert.”
Chapter 68
They had come in numbers — police and General Security Services — but still a mob was beginning to form. It wasn’t just Shomrei Ha’ir who were anti-Zionist. Many of the ultra-orthodox sects were. And whilst some of the people in Mea She’arim were from the pro-Zionist Agudat Yisrael faction, the overwhelming tendency of the residents of the area was towards opposition to the State of Israel and its institutions.
So the mob that gathered to “watch” as the police and SHaBaK came to arrest Shalom Tikva was to say the least somewhat hostile. But the police had been aware of this. That is why they turned out in force. Treading lightly in order not to alienate a large part of the community was all very well. But after the explosion at the cafe, it was gloves off. Singing the praises of terrorist organizations was bad enough, but doing business with them crossed the line. One can sup with the devil, but selling ones soul to him put one beyond the pale.
And Shalom Tikva wasn’t just wanted in connection with the suicide bombing by Hamas, he was also wanted in connection with the abduction of the Sasson twins. That meant that a cozy cell now awaited him.
The trouble was — as the police found when they battered down the door to his apartment — that the bird had flown. Whether he had been tipped off or merely read the writing on the wall, the result was still the same.