Within twenty minutes, Avishai pulled his car into a small parking lot behind the Villa Versailles. Anna handed Avishai her access card, and the chain-link gate swung open. Avishai parked in a spot reserved for hotel staff, and Anna led Eitan and Avishai through the hotel’s back door. They walked through a small storage room filled with beat-up mattresses and several damaged and worn pieces of hotel furniture. On the other side of the storage room was the hotel’s small lobby. Anna walked behind the desk and typed a couple of things into the computer, and then handed Avishai a keycard that would open the room registered under the name “Glickman.”
Next she led the two men up a flight of stairs and pointed in the direction of room 170. Avishai instructed Anna to head back to the hotel office. Another clerk was waiting to ask her why she was there, and she made up some excuse about helping some of the guests with their High Holy Day needs. Then she went back into the empty manager’s office and pretended to work on guest requests. The other clerk headed back to her station in the deserted lobby and resumed scrolling through her Instagram page.
One flight above them, Avishai knocked gently on the door of room 170. The lights were off, but faint voices talking could be heard through the door. After waiting several minutes and knocking again with no response, Avishai removed his pistol from the small of his back and slowly slid his key into the slot. Before he could reach for the door handle, he felt the door pull open and he fell forward past the threshold and into the room. Eitan was one step behind him.
“Avishai As Avishai fell forward, Eitan stood behind him in disbelief.
“Eitan, What the hell are you doing here?”
As Avishai regained his balance, both he and the rabbi stood in shock at the scene befor them.
Yehoshua and his friends beat them to the punch. In the corner of the room, two men locked uncomfortably in zip ties were sitting on the floor. Yehoshua spent the next five minutes castigating Avishai and Eitan for their recklessness in trying to handle this situation on their own. He also could not hide his shock that they were able somehow to track down their enemies.
After giving his friend a severe tongue lashing, Yehoshua got around to explaining what was happening.
“Did you think I was going to leave this operation up to the two of you? Yehoshua asked.
He then introduced the two men from Homeland Security that were with him. Avishai didn’t recognize either of them. They weren’t local. He assumed they were pros from DC who handled matters well over his pay grade.
“We’ve been tracking these guys for a couple of days. I am amazed that you found them nearly as quickly as we did.”
“Looks like you go them under control pretty nicely,” Avisahi complimented Yehoshua.
“Well, I am sure my friends here will have a few questions for them back in DC. But from the looks of it, they were exactly the threat we were looking for.”
Yehoshua pointed to the desk in the corner of the room. Eitan walked over and opened the folder on the desk to which Yehsohua had identified. The first page was a map of Miami Beach. But tt was the second page that caused Eitan’s heart to skip a beat. It was a printout of the homepage of Temple Brit Kodesh’s website. Without saying a word, he continued looking through the folder. There was a copy of a Miami Herald article detailing his work in Odessa. And then an 11x16 black-and-white photo of Rabbi Groh. His worst fears were confirmed. He was the target of the Society of Germanic Americans, and they were nearly on his trail. Turning to Avishai, he held up the photo of himself without saying a word.
“Thank God we found them on time. I told you Eitan. I will not let anyone hurt you.”
“You did, Yehoshua, you did. But maybe next time keep them a little bit further away.