A hand rose from the hole. A whirring sound cut through the silence, then disappeared up toward the sky.
Two minutes later, Liora’s voice sounded in Nir’s coms. “All clear.”
Nir slapped Dima’s back. The Russian poked his head up and looked around. “Confirm clear.”
The big man pulled himself up through the opening in the ground. Nir followed him, then laid flat as he waited for Gil, Imri, and Yaron to follow. Big deals were made about the tunnels Hezbollah and Hamas had dug into Israel. Much less was known about the very discreet underground passages that Israel had constructed going the other way.
The five men remained on the ground for three minutes, silently listening for voices or footsteps or snores. Once they were convinced they were alone, they stood and began moving forward. The tunnel had begun on the Israeli side just south of Metula, Israel, and terminated near the corner of an olive grove on the outskirts of Kfar Kila, Lebanon.
Nir carefully scanned for movement amongst the trees. These next four kilometers were when they would be at their most vulnerable. Farms and orchards were spread across the countryside. At any moment, a shepherd could bring his small flock of sheep around a corner or a property owner who had come out for a nighttime smoke could appear from between the trees. Slowly and carefully, the Kidon team wove their way through this semi-populated area so that they could reach the more sparsely populated hills that separated Kfar Kila to the east from Taybeh to the west. Higher ground didn’t mean they were home free, but at least the likelihood of being spotted would greatly decrease.
Nir had initially argued for going in from the water. Doing so would have been quicker and far less physically taxing for his team. However, the higher-ups determined that the heightened tensions between Israel and Lebanon had led to the coastline being closely watched. So it was left to Nir’s team to hoof it in, while Ehrlich’s backup team waited out in the waters just in case.
Dima had taken point, while the rest followed in the same order they had exited the tunnel. Each man was similarly outfitted. Their base layer was all black, including the beanies they wore on their heads. Front and back plated body armor added extra weight to every stride they took, but the protection was worth the sweat. Each had a 9mm Jericho holstered on their hips and an IWI X95 strapped to their chests. In appropriate places on their vests and belts, they carried an assortment of loaded magazines, frag and flash-bang grenades, zip ties, a combat first aid kit, and various other necessities for killing some and keeping others alive. In addition, each had a fixed tactical blade strapped to a leg and several metal tubes to their backs, courtesy of Lahav’s brainstorm.
Back at CARL, Lahav had said, “If all you need is more height, I can get you an extra fifteen meters, no problem. We’ve got strong, reinforced aluminum pipes that I could rig up so that you can carry them in pieces and assemble them on the roof. Easy peasy. That will give you enough angle to Ethan Hunt your way onto the rooftop.”
Sure enough, three days later, Lahav had the sections ready. Initially, the team focused on assembling and disassembling what amounted to a tall pole. When the simplicity of that was proven, they each did target practice with a rope gun. Yaron was quickly named the shooter, but it was important that they all had the skill to accomplish the task in case they ran into trouble. Finally, the moment came for the first zip line down. As Nir climbed the narrow nubs that Lahav had designed to pop out after assembly, he remembered reading about how 60-plus Tom Cruise still did all his own stunts.
At least he gets paid millions to slide down these stupid lines. Hopefully, when I’m his age, the only stunt I’ll be doing is dodging the Lego bricks my grandkids leave on the floor when I get up for another beer.
Forty zips down the line later, Nir felt a little more capable and a little less impressed with Tom Cruise. Lahav had examined the well-used pole and declared it to be good as new. They were ready to go.
Dima’s hand went up and they all squatted. Nir clicked his coms twice, alerting Liora. Nir strained to hear anything beyond the normal night sounds of birds, dogs, and the wind rustling through the leaves of the olive trees. After a few moments, Liora said, “Clear from my view.” Dima rose and began trekking forward again.
With all the starts and stops, it took nearly 30 minutes to clear the first one-and-a-half kilometers. But now that they were at the beginning of the incline, they were able to make up time. With Liora watching from above using infrared, it would be difficult for anyone to sneak up on them.
Twenty minutes later, they descended what passed for a peak in that area. Staying among the trees, they bridged the gap between Deir Mimas monastery and its namesake village. They reached a lookout point and dropped to the ground.
“I have one heat signature ahead at our designated meet point,” Liora announced.
Nir clicked his acknowledgment. They slowly moved forward. As they did, a black minivan took shape. In two minutes, they were all in the vehicle with their driver, a short, bald Unit 504 man with a full beard and a fireplug physique.