90 MINUTES LATER
CARL, MOSSAD HEADQUARTERS, TEL AVIV, ISRAEL—19:45 / 7:45 P.M. IDT
The eight screens mounted high on the walls were all a murky green. Below each one was an identifier: K1, K2, K3, K4, S5, S6, S7, S8. The K stood for Kidon, and the team members included, in order, Yaron, Doron, Dima, and Imri. The S represented Shayetet 13, the batwings, the Israeli equivalent of the U.S. Navy SEALs. When it came to the water, they were the toughest of the tough, and Nicole was very glad they were part of the rescue team.
Below the eight smaller screens was a large, wide monitor. It showed a color view of Saad Salim’s yacht from a drone hovering high above. All looked calm and peaceful, a large circle of light in the blackness of the Arabian Sea. Nicole counted six guards patrolling the well-lit upper deck. The helicopter was still on the pad.
“Twenty meters,” said Liora.
“Shut down the alarm system,” Cohen said.
“Root.” Nicole had wormed her way into the yacht’s computer system earlier in the evening. For as vast as the ship was, its internals were fairly simple to navigate. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, and a red light on her screen turned green.
“Garage alarm is off,” she reported.
“Open the garage door.”
“Root,” Nicole said, acknowledging Cohen’s second order.
A little more tapping, and she watched an animation of a door sliding up. She halted its progress after 2 meters. No use making more noise than she already had.
“Five meters out,” Liora said.
Suddenly, the screens on the wall filled with greenish-black images from the night vision body cams on each operative as they stepped up into the boat’s garage. On K1 and K2, Nicole watched as Yaron and Doron moved to the tenders and the other watercraft and began disabling them. K4, S5, and S7 shifted around a lot as they removed their scuba gear. Then they swung out the door. The cameras now showed close-ups of the side of the yacht as they suctioned their way up its hull.
Team member S8 remained in the ocean with the underwater scooters. The monitors of K3, Dima, and S6 had Nicole’s greatest attention, though. They were the ones with the tracker that would lead them to Nir. But they couldn’t go anywhere yet. They needed to give K4, S5, and S7 time to arrive on the upper deck. Imri, K4, was headed for the helipad. The last thing they wanted was for Ali Kamal to escape aboard the helicopter before he had a chance to enjoy the fireworks. The two Shayetet commandos would scuttle the lifeboats. Once the three operatives cleared the railing to begin this work, Dima would go.
“Nicole, you’re ready for shutdown?” Cohen asked.
“Ready.” If there was any problem—gunfire erupted, someone was caught, another boat arrived—she was prepared to shut down the power throughout the entire boat. Lahav had also created a device that would scramble all cell service for a 1,000-meter radius. The tiny apparatus had been released by the rescue team on their trip in, and now it was deployed 30 meters from the yacht awaiting activation. Its only drawback was that it would sever communication with the team. In addition, he’d created a false automatic identification system signal, so to those monitoring the AIS, it would look like the boat was still there and doing just fine.
On the drone monitor, Imri and the Shayetet commandos came into view as they drew closer and closer to the top. A triple click sounded on the coms, and a light showed it was from Dima.
“He’s got a strong signal,” said Yossi.
Cohen answered, “Yes he does.”
“K4, you have a dirty approaching your position,” Liora told him.
Imri and the commandos paused. The guard looked out over the water, then moved to port.
Liora looked at Cohen, who nodded. “K4, S5, S7, proceed.”
Less than a minute later, they were on the upper deck.
“Go, K3!” Cohen yelled.
The picture on Dima’s monitor started moving rapidly. It looked very much like a First Person Shooter game with a Galil as the primary weapon. It passed through the garage and out into the hallway. Nicole could remember seeing all this when she’d visited Salim’s boat with Alicia. It was surreal viewing it this way now, as the lair of the enemy.
Doors passed on either side. Then Dima came to a “T.” To the left, Nicole remembered, was the elevator. Dima turned right. At the end of the hall was a door. A double click sounded, and she saw Dima’s hand motioning toward it.
Her leg bounced nervously, and her hands were sweaty. What would they find inside? Was Nir really there? How bad was he? Was he even still alive?
Dima’s hand reached for the knob, and he eased the door open. It was dark inside. K3 and S6 stepped in and scanned the surroundings. Two more clicks sounded, and Dima began moving rapidly forward. Suddenly, his monitor was filled with Nir’s green, glowing body.
“Shut it down!” cried Cohen. “Shut it down!”
Nicole pulled her eyes away from the K3 monitor and saw a gunfight taking place on the upper deck. I don’t even know if he’s alive or dead! Dima, quick, please tell me how he is.
But she couldn’t wait for his report. Her fingers were flying across the keyboard. On her monitor, every system turned from yellow to black. The yacht was dead in the water.
Then the monitors went black.
Lahav called, “Scrambler is deployed. We have three hours until the battery dies and everyone’s phone is back online.”
Nicole stared at the blank monitors.
Please, Lord, bring him back to me. Protect them all, and bring Nir back.
CAFALA BAHR, ARABIAN SEA, OFF MUMBAI, INDIA–22:25 / 10:25 P.M. IST
“I will never allow that moron on my boat again. I’m sorry for introducing you to him to begin with,” Saad said to Mousavi as they lounged in the salon.
“I have no doubt that Israel has all sorts of plans to try to stop our nuclear aspirations, but I’m also becoming sure of one more thing.” The general pointed to the floor. “That agent down there knows nothing about any of them. No one can endure what he has suffered without telling everything he knows.”
“I agree with you.” I was such a fool letting Ali bring him aboard. This can only end badly. “Will you take the Jew with you?”
“Why would I? What could I possibly do with him? ‘Supreme Leader, here is a Mossad agent who was in Doha to meet with the Saudis. Should we try him as a spy?’ He would throw me out of his office. And General Qaani! I can’t imagine what he would do. He would probably demote me to Iraq to train all the illiterate, donkey-riding militias. No, I don’t want him. I say we give the doctor one more shot at him, then we dump him in the ocean.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Saad put his tumbler against his forehead, and the ice tinkled inside. “Ali is giving me such a headache. I just want him gone for good.”
The general leaned toward him and pointed with the hand that held his own glass. “I will tell you this. If he gives us any more trouble, I will personally put an end to him. Maybe I’ll make a friend of the Saudi crown prince in the process.”
The men laughed.
“Please, just promise me that if you feel you need to end him, do not do it on my boat. I don’t want to have to—”
The room went dark.
“What is going on?” asked the general.
“Give it just a moment for the backup generators to come on,” Saad said as his eyes adapted to the glow of the night sky coming in through the windows.
But nothing happened. And it was eerily silent. Normally, by now some motor would be humming or air would be blowing. But there was absolutely nothing.
“How long does this usually take?” the general asked.
“Not this long.” Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Saad turned on its flashlight. As he did, he noticed at the top of the screen it said No Service.
He rose and walked to the bar. “Check your phone to see if you have service.”
“I don’t. That’s strange. I haven’t had any trouble before.”
In a cabinet to the right of the bar, Saad pulled out two battery-powered lanterns. He pulled them open, and light flooded the room. As he passed one to Mousavi, a realization hit him. Power, backup generator, and cell service all out at once. One is unfortunate, two is bad luck, but three is…
“The Israelis.”