“Beseder” she answered nonchalantly. Then with typical efficiency she noted that there was a Chinese place just around the corner, though she hadn’t tried it.
“Tov!” said Brom, as if he were talking to a young officer who had just quickly solved a minor tactical problem. “I-louse of Chin Le, I know it. The food’s tasty” he told her quickly, and he might have added, but didn’t, cheap.
They drank blistering tea despite the desert heat. Israelis of their generation were not much on booze. The food and drink was indeed good and inexpensive, and put Brom into a better mood.
“How do you like Arad?” he asked her as if she had just arrived. They’d both lived in the city for better than two years. “I like it.”
“And your brother?”
“Benny? I don’t think he cares at all where he lives” she said between bites, trying to be polite, but also eager to eat. “We’ve both moved around a lot, especially as our parents passed when we were still young. His home is where his work is, not where he lays his head at night.”
“And you?”
Her food was getting cold. Was he flirting, or being polite? She wasn’t quite old enough not to care, but she felt that she was close.
“I wouldn’t mind settling down here” she said. “What about you” she added as an afterthought, giving her space to chew and swallow.
Brom began a lengthy soliloquy, which didn’t seem to be his usual style, but which Mina found agreeable—not least because she was able to start in on a portion of Hunan beef. He liked Arad. It was a change from Tel Aviv where he had lived with his wife until she left him to move to America. His oldest daughter joined the mom, and now was a waitress in Manhattan. His son had just finished his army service and was somewhere in Thailand last he heard.
Finally it was Mina’s turn again. She couldn’t think of anything except to get back to business, which she needed to do anyway. The little interlude had been nice while it lasted.
“What are the chances do you think, that we’ll be able to move forward with Slingshot?“ she asked, keeping her voice down.
Brom gave her a worried look, uncomfortable talking shop openly in the restaurant. But the place was nearly empty, and what were the odds of espionage at House of Chin Lee? Still, surveyed the room before answering.
“We’re going to move forward. We wait for authorization” he said.
This she knew already. “But what do you really think are the chances that it will go?”
“After what we heard today, not good. It’s possible that Arbel will convince the PM to move forward quickly, just before caving into the Americans.”
“A last fling, so to speak” she said.
“If you want to put it that way” Brom said, offering her a wry smile. “But” he continued seriously “don’t count on it.”
Brom and Mina parted at the restaurant, each setting off on a modest walk home. It was just after 8:00pm. Ten minutes later, Mina reached the small rented house where she lived with her brother. She was surprised to his car already in the drive. She’d often take a bus back from Dimona at a reasonable hour, and leave the car for him.
Feldhandler was sitting at the modernish plastic and metal dining table in their cramped kitchen, nursing a container of yogurt. He looked up, seemingly pleased to see her, but also visibly apprehensive.
“How did it go?” he asked.
She just made a face and sat down. “Let me make you something decent to eat.”
“You’ve eaten?”
“Yes, with Brom, on the way back. At that Chinese place.”
“You could have brought me something” he said a bit petulantly.
“I didn’t think you would be home” she said quickly, but realized that she hadn’t even thought of it. He seemed to be slipping into one of his morose, almost childish moods. Feldhandler might be the smartest man on earth, but that didn’t mean that he had good temperament or the best judgment.
“So?”
“What can I say? It didn’t go well. Brom thinks that Arbel will advise the PM to give the Americans what they want.”
“And what’s that?”
“Pretty much everything.”
He curled his lower lip. “What do you think?”
She was tired and irritated. Between Arbel, the Americans, Brom and now her brother, she found herself thinking that she just wanted a lukewarm shower, clean sheets and sleep. “What do I know about such things? You could have gone yourself. Arbel would have preferred that.”
“The Americans too no doubt” he said. “Tell me something—anything.”
“I don’t know” she said with a shrug. “But if I had to guess, I’d say Brom was right. The days running our own fusion reactor and playing with the space /time continuum are numbered.”
“Okay” he said, with some vigor. “We’ve known this day would come, and planned well for it. You are still with me, right?”
“Yes. I’m not sure I like it so much anymore, but yes.”
“Don’t worry. It won’t affect you—”
“You don’t know that for sure” she said with some emotion. “And besides, it means losing you. That affects me.”
He reached out awkwardly for her. She pulled away. So much for tenderness in the Feldhandler family they both thought, and then recognizing their common wavelength, laughed.
“What chance does Brom give on Slingshot?” he asked, getting back to business.
“Low. But they are proceeding according to plan. By tomorrow the sayeret will be assembled, fully equipped and ready to go. It’s just a matter of getting them in the capsule…”
“And me—and Perchansky too.”
“So you are taking her?” Mina asked. “You know she will hate you, and not in just a feminine way. She will truly hate you.”
“They all will” he said resignedly. “But what choice do I really have. It’s too much of a risk to leave her—she knows too much. She could make life for you hell. And I will probably need her on the other side. You know I get too much credit for what I do.”
“That’s certainly true. But you don’t want to leave her.”
“What’s this with you and Brom?” he asked, ignoring her comment about Perchensky. Mina was too composed a woman to blush, but the question embarrassed her anyway.
“We had dinner after a long day. End of story. Do you have your own gear?” she asked, changing the topic again.
“Yes, it’s taken care of. Menachem, in the armory has it all for me, ready to go. I just have to grab it. It took a few shekels—he’s a greedy man.”
“What will be his story?”
“That I circumvented security and stole everything. I am the smartest man in the world after all” he said happily.
Mina smiled at him, saddened by his determination, but relieved that the discussion was done. It was time for that shower and a nice clean bed.
Chapter 7
The capsule looked a bit like a pharmaceutical but in fact was about the size of a midget submarine, ten meters long and 1.7 meters in circumference. Eight foldable seats ran along each side of the interior of the capsule, each with a set of shoulder harnesses. A control panel adjoined the forward-most seat on the left side, which was accessible to a strapped-in soldier. However, the men inside the capsule had little need to manipulate the controls. The capsule was almost entirely managed from the mission center deep within the Dimona facility.
The capsule theoretically accommodated sixteen combat troops. In actual deployments, both in testing and during the Natanz raid, loads were constrained by a combination of mass calculations, and the desire to limit losses in the case of a mishap. For Operation Slingshot twelve troops were approved, with all their personal equipment, plus an additional load of support weapons and gear. Slingshot was designed to go on the fly. The moment the Israelis received actionable intelligence on a movement by Mughniyeh, Yatom and his team would be alerted, strapped into the capsule and ready to go within ten minutes.