Chapter Twenty-three
February 16
ECS Headquarters
Vienna, Austria
Reaching Flavio turned out to be a more difficult task than Justin had anticipated. His boss usually answered his satellite phone, which was for absolute emergencies only. But this time, Justin’s calls were diverted to the voicemail. The automated voice prompted him to leave a message.
He sighed and glanced at Carrie sitting across his desk. “Well, what do you think?”
“As you said, this isn’t really an emergency. The plan’s still on, but now we have one less man.”
“And they have one more.” Justin nodded. “Yes, I don’t think Flavio would abort the mission just because Ali Mansour is unavailable.”
“It’s too late to put forward another driver.”
“It is. We’d have to create the cover, then run things by Eli, Nasser, the prince . . . Not enough time.”
“Let’s talk to Eli and see if we can add a man or two to the backup team.”
“Good idea. He shouldn’t have an issue with that.”
Justin dialed Eli’s number, and he answered right away. “Justin, I hope you have some good news.” Eli’s voice rang with a clear tone of anticipation.
“Sorry, Eli. Not this time.”
“What happened?”
“Ali Mansour is wounded and can’t make it.”
Eli cursed out loud. “The prince doesn’t like changes, especially at the last moment. He has grown very suspicious.”
“Sorry, Eli. It’s beyond my control.”
“Yes, yes, I’m not blaming you, but this is not good. You can still make it, right?”
“Of course, nothing else changes at our end.”
Eli cursed again. “But we’re one man short, and the mission is in danger.”
“You’re not thinking about pulling the plug, are you?”
“No, not yet, anyway. But it’s an option I have to take under consideration.”
Justin shrugged. “Didn’t you think until recently that two people were enough?”
“I did, but that was before we made plans. As I said, Prince Al Khater is very distrustful on a good day. He may smell a rat and cancel the shipment.”
“We can’t control what he does.”
“No, but we can nudge him to go where we’d like him to go. In any case, I’ll take some time to think about this. We’re monitoring the prince’s communications, so we’ll know if there’s a delay or cancellation.”
“You’re listening to his calls?” Justin asked in a voice that expressed no surprise.
“Eh, well . . . not exactly. But we’re aware of the circumstances surrounding this shipment.”
“All right. We’re not leaving for Cyprus until late evening, so let us know how the situation develops.”
“Will do. Take care now.”
“Yes, you too.”
When Justin had placed the phone back on his desk, Carrie said, “That was interesting: Mossad’s monitoring Prince Al Khater’s coms.”
“Indeed. Eli seemed to backpedal when I pressed him. What do you think he meant?”
“With Mossad . . . it can mean anything. They could be eavesdropping on the prince’s aides. Or the drivers’ team leader. Or they could have a direct line to the prince’s phone.”
“Knowing Mossad’s cyber-hacking capabilities, I’m willing to bet it’s the latter.”
Mossad, along with Shin Bet, Israel’s Security Agency, and the Israel Defense Forces, were at the forefront of cyberspace security and defense technologies. They had some of the best minds in the world who worked around the clock to gather intelligence from all over the world. The infamous 8200 Branch of the C4I directorate of the IDF was suspected to have been behind a series of extremely sophisticated attacks targeting nuclear facilities in Iran. Those attacks had set back Iran’s nuclear weapons plans by at least five years.
Carrie nodded. “Yes, I agree. At least we’re covered on that front.”
Justin leaned forward. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Mossad may not be giving us everything. Did I tell you what Flavio said about Eli?”
“No, you didn’t.”
“He said to be very careful and not think of Eli and Moshe as allies.”
“That’s harsh.”
“But true. He went on to say Mossad has a secret agenda in this op, as they always do. We just don’t know what it is yet.”
“And what do you think?”
“Flavio is perhaps exaggerating, to make his point. The truth, though, remains that we can’t really trust Mossad.”
“Well, then it’s good we have one another and Vale to watch each other’s backs.”
Justin nodded. “True. I’m not sure what this Mossad ‘agenda’ is. Maybe they’re after the prince for a different reason than we are.”
“It could be.”
“I’m going to review some files as I wait for Flavio or Eli to call. You want to go for a run before suppertime?”
“Sure, I slept in, so I didn’t get my workout today. Maybe Karolin can join us?”
“I asked her already, but she’s extremely busy. She’ll work through her supper and late into the night. Plus, one of her knees is giving her trouble.”
“Is it serious?”
“No, I don’t think so. She hasn’t seen a doctor, but it’s a minor inflammation. Karolin just doesn’t want to put more stress on her knee.”
“Smart girl.” Carrie stood up. “I’ll see you around four thirty or so. Unless, of course, something happens.”
“Let’s hope not. I’ve had it with changes and with sitting still. My hands are itching for some action.”