The G5 touched down in Israel just after 4 p.m. local time. Costello and the Bennetts were met at the airport by Mossad chief Avi Zadok, who briefed them on the way to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.
“We don’t have many leads at the moment,” Zadok said, “but we have two working theories. The first is that the assassination attempt was an act of Muslim retribution for Dr. Mordechai’s ‘Ezekiel Option’ memo. The second is that the attack could have been carried out by ultra-Orthodox Jews because of Dr. Mordechai’s public claims about Jesus.”
Privately, Bennett wished there were evidence of Islamic extremism. But the truth was, most of the region’s Muslim community was mourning its dead and was shell-shocked by the extraordinary losses of its holiest sites. To him, it strained credibility to believe active cells of jihadists were capable of a carefully orchestrated attack so quickly after such devastation. More likely was the Jewish angle. Israeli outrage at Mordechai’s “betrayal” was widespread among the Orthodox, heated, and very public.
Zadok showed them copies of written death threats — letters and e-mails — that Mordechai had received in recent weeks. Even letters to the editor of major Israeli newspapers and callers on local radio shows had been warning Mordechai to watch his back.
But then another wave of questions flooded Bennett’s thoughts. How exactly was it possible to gun down a former Mossad chief inside Israel? True, Mordechai had given up his full taxpayer-financed security detail. But that was because the Mossad and Shin Bet had told him all the threats were just talk, that he really had nothing to fear. They had assured him that they would keep an eye on him. Zadok had personally chosen Mordechai’s driver, a former special-forces commando, and insisted he carry a sidearm and be with Mordechai at all times.
How, then, could this have happened? Was it possible someone in Doron’s inner circle wanted Mordechai dead?
14
They found Mordechai under heavy sedation.
According to his doctors, he was barely hanging on for his life. Bennett stared at his mentor through a glass window and silently pled with God to spare him.
All of a sudden a dozen security agents began taking up positions throughout the hallway. Bennett turned and looked at Erin and then at the elevator as the door opened and the prime minister and two of his top aides stepped off.
“It’s good to see you both,” David Doron said as he shook their hands. “I’m sorry it’s under such tragic circumstances. I want you to know I’ll do everything I can to bring the monsters that did this to justice.”
The Bennetts thanked the prime minister, as did Costello.
“It can’t be doing you any political good to be here right now,” Bennett acknowledged.
“I don’t care,” said Doron. “He was my friend, no matter how much we disagreed.”
A doctor stepped into the hall. He was startled to see the prime minister but addressed the Bennetts. “He just opened his eyes, and he asked for you. But he doesn’t have long. Did you bring a rabbi — er, a priest?”
They had brought neither and didn’t know any pastors in Israel. “I’m afraid we just got here from the airport,” said Bennett.
“Very well,” said the doctor. “You can have a few minutes with him. Follow me.”
The Bennetts entered the dimly lit ICU room. They were immediately overwhelmed by the array of technology keeping their friend tethered to this world, and they were completely unprepared for the visual impact of Mordechai’s broken body. His body was wrapped in gauze and bandages, as were his hands and feet, but it was his charred and blistered face that made Bennett wince and, for a moment, look away.
When he regained his composure, he looked back and saw casts on both of Mordechai’s arms and legs and the tangled spaghetti of tubes and wires running in and out of his body. He scanned the various instruments, glowing and beeping in the dark. Mordechai’s pulse and blood pressure were weak.
Bennett gathered his strength and said, “Dr. Mordechai, it’s Jon and Erin.”
Slowly, the old man opened his eyes. A nurse gave him some ice chips, and Bennett noticed that his lips were about the only part of his face not severely burned. But they were chapped and cracked and covered with dried blood.
It took a few moments, but in a raspy, faltering voice, Mordechai said his first words. “I’m sorry.”
Bennett noticed tears trickling down Erin’s cheeks. He fought back his own.
Then Mordechai spoke again. “I should have liked more time with you both.”
“Hey, hey, don’t talk like that,” said Erin. “We’ll have plenty of time together. You still need to teach us how to make that curry of yours.”
“Erin sent an e-mail to everyone on your list serve, explaining what happened,” Bennett added. “She posted it on your weblog as well. The response has been overwhelming. Millions are praying for you to recover, Dr. Mordechai, and I have no doubt you will.”
A faint smile began to form on the old man’s lips, and crinkles formed around his bloodshot eyes. “Jonathan, my son, you’re a good boy, but you still have much to learn… . I’m afraid I no longer have the privilege of being your teacher.”
“Don’t say that, Dr. Mordechai,” Bennett pleaded, his voice wavering. “You’re going to pull through this.”
“No. My time has come. The Lord blessed me with a long and full life, but now I’m ready… to meet my God face-to-face, and to see my beautiful Yael once more… . And I tell you both, I cannot think of anything I want more.”
“But we need you here,” said Bennett. “There’s still so much we don’t know, so much to be done.”
“No, Jonathan,” Mordechai said softly. “This is your time. Make the most of it.”
“What if I’m not ready?” Bennett asked.
But Mordechai would have none of it. “You are, and so is Erin. But be on guard. A new evil is rising, more deadly than anything that has ever come before. I should have seen it coming, but I was so busy. I let my guard down, and then… ”
There was a long pause. The old man’s eyes were at half-mast. His strength was quickly fading. “You both must promise me something,” he said at last.
“Anything,” said Erin.
“You must find… them… ”
“Who, Dr. Mordechai?”
“… and stop… them… ”
His hands were trembling. His pulse was becoming erratic.
“Who, Dr. Mordechai?” Bennett pressed. “Who did this to you?”
“… before they… ”
“Before they what?”
But Mordechai’s eyes barely registered a response. He seemed to be drifting away, and there was another long, wrenching silence. Bennett saw tears streaming down Erin’s face as she covered her mouth to keep from being heard. Then he looked back at the man who had been his spiritual father and put his ear close to his mouth. He thought Mordechai said something like “start with,” but the next word was barely audible. Break? Brock? Broke? Mordechai was mumbling the same word over and over, but Bennett couldn’t make sense of it.
Then suddenly, it was as though Mordechai had gained a second wind, if only for a moment. “I should have liked to have met my Lord in the clouds,” he said finally.
And then he closed his eyes and breathed his last.
An alarm on the heart monitor went off. Then the ventilator alarm went off as well. Mordechai was flatlining. Doctors and nurses burst into the room, forcing Bennett and Erin to move aside. A nurse plunged a needle into Mordechai’s chest. Another pulled electric shock paddles off the wall. A team of specialists raced through a series of emergency procedures, heroically battling to save a man most of them believed was a traitor. But it was too late. There was nothing they or anyone else could do.