“I shouldn’t have an appetite after this” said Mina “but I do. You should eat too.”
“I have to talk to Brom” Feldhandler said tiredly.
“So let’s go to the canteen” said Mina. “He might be there about now anyway.”
Feldhandler grimaced and shrugged, then followed her towards the little cafeteria. He noticed immediately that Perchansky was not there, nor was Yatom. Several of Yatom’s enlisted men were spread across two tables, greedily wolfing down a mess of burgers, falafels and Israeli salad. They appeared to be in high spirits. Feldhandler marveled at them. He was a knot of anxiety. Seeming to match his mood was Brom, who sat alone, dyspeptically nibbling an unappetizing piece of overcooked chicken. The general looked up at them and waived them over. He pushed a plastic seat across the table out with his boot for Feldhandler and swung the seat next to him out with his arm for Mina.
“Have you heard from Jerusalem?” asked Feldhandler without saying hello.
“Benny, let me get some food and then we can talk” said Mina still standing by the table. “What would you like?”
“Whatever you order is fine.” Mina shrugged and walked to the serving area.
“So, now tell me…”
Brom wiped chicken grease from his chin then motioned toward Mina as she walked away.
“We’ll update her in a minute” said Feldhandler.
“You won’t like it.” Brom was used to delivering bad news and good at it—quick and to the point. “They are going to shut the reactor down.”
Feldhandler’s expression changed from his usual impassivity to incredulousness. Then he laughed.
“It’s no joke.”
“Yes it is” Feldhander practically shouted. Several ofYatom’s men looked over at the table, as did Mina from the serving line. She threw down a few shekels at the cashier’s station and hurried across the room.
“The reactor can’t just be shut off like a light” said Feldhandler like he was talking to a child. “It can’t be shut down at all, in a conventional sense, any more than you can shut down the sun.” Mina arrived and set down a tray of soups and salads too quickly. The soup spilled over creating a mess. She ignored it and sat down.
“It can be shut down” Brom said calmly “as you know better than anybody, when the fuel supply is exhausted. According to Dr. Perchansky that will be the day after tomorrow—unless the machine is refueled—and it won’t be unless we get some specific authorization from the government.”
Feldhandler and Mina exchanged crushing glances. The iron siblings had been hit hard Brom thought, noting the hint of a tear in Mina’s eyes.
“It’s still ridiculous” protested Feldhandler. “Why do the politicians fear the Americans? We could send Yatom’s sarayet into the White House if we had the balls—how would the President like that?”
Brom ignored him.
“There is a tiny silver lining, however.” said Brom. “Slingshot is a go, provided we get some actionable intelligence in the next day or two.”
“That’s just a sop—they know the chances of that are next to nothing.”
“Arbel had to fight for that” said Brom earnestly. “It’s not meaningless. If the intel comes in it’s a go.”
“I don’t believe it” said Mina, turning her head from Brom.
“Benny’s right.”
Brom shrugged his shoulders resignedly, and walked off.
“Well, that’s that” said Feldhandler. “It’s now or never.”
Mina just sighed and nodded her head.
“Tomorrow morning then” said Feldhandler.
Chapter 8
Early the next morning the sayeret assembled fully equipped for another drill, loading in and out of the capsule. Climbing in and out of the capsule was boring but seconds would be critical if the capsule happened to land at the wrong place or at the wrong time. Movements had to be automatic.
The three commando teams boarded the capsule in reverse order of the planned exit. Shapira’s team went in first. The lieutenant jogged to the capsule and ushered in Chaim, his radioman/grenadier, the marksman Bolander and Roi the machine gunner, before climbing in behind them. Mofaz repeated the process with team Bet, filing in after Itzak, Ilan, and Roskovsky the demolitions man. Finally, Alef boarded, with Ido, and the B-300 gunner Rafi going in first, followed by Yatom’s radioman/grenadier, Nir and the sayeret leader himself. Yatom. the last man to board would be the first man out.
All the commandos carried the same basic gear: standard IDF olive drab uniforms, personal radio headsets, helmets, and a unified ceramic vest. The vest doubled as a bullet proof flak vest and a load bearing equipment set. The standard set-up allowed for rifle magazines, additional pouches for grenades, canteens, compasses, GPS units, personal radios, canteens, night vision goggles and medical emergency medical kits. Properly outfitted, a fully loaded commando looked like a man in a fat suit.
Individual commandos customized their set-up according to their jobs. Ilan, the sniper, carried his magazines in specialized pouches for his 7.62mm SR-25 rifle. Likewise, Roi, the Negev gunner, only had a pistol to hand, although otherwise, his body was virtually covered in customized pouches and sacks held 600 rounds of ready 5.56 bullets for the machine gun.
The Tavors were equipped with the ITL MARS battery operated reflex sight and removable flash] sound suppressors. The sights allowed the commandos to shoot accurately and instinctively and with both eyes open. It gave them excellent situational awareness even while shooting a specific target. In addition, all team leaders carried handheld MARS hand-held thermal imagers, which were capable of sighting and designating distant targets in the dark or through fog or smoke.
Bolander carried a more powerful TA31 daylight scope and a NOGA NL61/3 night vision scope for his Tavor STAR, along with his own thermal imager. He also humped extra ammo for Roi.
All the men carried 9mm Sig 228 automatic pistols as a backup weapon. The budget conscious IDF didn’t automatically issue pistols, even in the best units. But Yatom’s sarayet did not want for money, and the men liked the compact black handguns.
During the loading drill Yatom noticed that several extra military style containers had been stowed under benches in addition to the extra squad weapons and equipment on his list.
He made a mental note to ask Feldhandler about that. Then instead of repeating the drill, he ordered the men to eat and drink, and then use the latrine.
When they were done, still, harnessed into all their gear, Yatom sat the sayeret down a dozen meters from the capsule and discussed the various possible scenarios that they could encounter, likely in Lebanon, if and when the government gave the authorization to launch.
At about 6 a.m. Feldhandler finally appeared with several of his ubiquitous assistants including Perchansky and Mina. Oddly, neither Feldhandler nor Perchansky wore their usual white smocks, but instead they were dressed simple army fatigues and light dessert style combat boots.
Yatom, Mofaz and Shapira walked over to the scientists. “What’s with the outfits” asked Yatom.
Feldhandler just stared, preoccupied as usual.
“If you won’t answer that question, then explain the extra cases in the capsule.”
“We’re going to make the drill a bit more useful” said Mina.” Drs. Feldhandler and Perchansky, will load with you to simulate two additional troops. The extra crates are just there to test estimates of expanded load parameters.”