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Tel Aviv, Israel
Kai sat on the motorcycle and watched through binoculars as a red convertible sports car turned off the street and pulled through the open garage door into the warehouse. That was the last one. Everyone was there, except herself and Jared. Her lips curved as she lowered the binoculars and glanced at her watch. While the red sports car was flamboyantly obvious, she was pleased that Raj David had been one of those summoned to Tel Aviv. He was arrogant and reckless, living his life to the fullest. He was no doubt one of the ones that Jared so strongly disapproved of, but she had always enjoyed him.
The others had all arrived fifteen minutes before Raj, unaware of the figure parked three blocks away, watching. She recognized them all. They had all had occasion to work together at least once, and Kai was feeling a little more comfortable after seeing who Jared had gathered for this ridiculous mission of theirs. If they were going to crash and burn, she couldn’t think of a better crew to do it with. Even Asher, the computer wizard who preferred digital methods over the more practical hands-on approach, was a welcome sight. If there was anyone more skilled with computers and tech, she had yet to meet them. Most of what she’d learned herself, she’d learned from Asher over a year ago.
She tucked the binoculars into her cross-body bag and started the engine, pulling the visor of her helmet down to cover her face. She pulled away from the curb and opened the throttle. The motorcycle surged forward, and she weaved around a slow moving delivery van as she sped towards the warehouse. For better or worse, she was committed as soon as she pulled through the door, and Kai felt a split second of indecision. She could continue past the warehouse and not do the op, saving herself the stress and grief of working with an entire team on an operation that was probably one of the craziest ones she’d attempted.
The thought was gone almost as soon as it surfaced. No. She wanted to see how this played out, and the only way to do that was to be in it. Besides, when would she get the chance again to so completely deceive the great United States Navy SEALs? She’d be an idiot if she turned it down, and Kai had never been accused of being an idiot.
She roared into the warehouse a moment later, the motorcycle engine echoing around the massive, empty building. Pulling next to the red sports car, she cut the engine and removed her helmet, looking around. Her BMW S1000 was the fifth in a line of vehicles parked along the far wall. Getting off the motorcycle, she laid her helmet on the seat and turned to look at the group of people gathered on the other side of the warehouse.
“Ruby! Shalom!”
Kai smiled as Raj waved and moved towards her, his sun-streaked brown hair curling over his forehead. Ruby was how they all knew her. It was her codename, just as all the names she knew them by were also codenames. The only one who knew their real names was Jared.
“Shalom!” she replied. “Is the Audi yours? Don’t say it. I know it is.”
Raj laughed and nodded, grasping her outstretched hand. “It suits me, don’t you think?”
“You think everything suits you,” a woman called from her perch atop an old steel drum, “and none of it ever does.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Raj said as they walked towards the group. “She’s in a bad mood.”
The woman dropped off the drum and strode forward, her black pants fitted to her long legs and her heeled boots clicking on the cement floor.
“I’m not,” she said, holding out her hand to Kai. “It’s good to see you, Ruby.”
“Shalom Rina,” Kai said, shaking her hand. “It’s been over a year. I’m glad to see you well.”
“Yes, I’m still doing damage where I can,” Rina said with a flash of her rare smile.
“Aren’t we all?” a new voice said as a tall man straightened from where he was leaning against a concrete support pillar. “You’re looking as beautiful as always, Ruby. Is that a tan?”
Kai laughed. “Yes. I was relaxing somewhere warm before I got called back here. How are you, Kodak?”
“Still alive, so doing well,” Kodak replied with a grin.
“I’m not sure I would have left somewhere warm and relaxing for this,” Raj said, perching on the edge of a rickety old table. “Do we even know why we’re all here?”
“Does it matter?” The last member of the team finally looked up from his laptop. He was sitting on an overturned crate with his computer balanced on his knees and, as he looked up, his dark hair fell into his eye. “We all know we would have come anyway.”
Kai looked at Asher and moved over to peer at his laptop.
“Working already?” she asked. “Do you know something we don’t?”
“No. Just playing a game.” Asher closed the computer before she could catch sight of his screen and grinned up at her. “You wouldn’t like it. No shooting.”
“No one knows why we’re all here?” Rina asked with a frown. “I don’t remember the last time I worked with a team.”
“Me either,” Kai said, looking around for something to sit on. Spotting another crate a few feet away, she went over to grab it, carrying it over to set it near the steel drum where Rina had taken up her perch once again. “I’ve been flying solo for a while.”
“Lucky you,” Asher said. “This is my usual gig now.”
“That’s because you’re a genius,” Raj said. “What do you expect?”
“Am I the only one trying to figure out why they pulled all the top agents together?” Kodak asked, leaning against his pillar again and crossing his arms. He chewed on a toothpick and looked around at them all. “Look at us. We’re all the best at what we do.”
Rina shrugged. “So it’s something big. Nothing new there.”
“Maybe it’s Cuba,” Asher suggested with a grin. “That would be big enough for us.”
“Already been tried, and failed spectacularly,” a deep voice said from the other side of the warehouse.
They all turned to watch Jared stride out of the shadows towards them, pulling his sunglasses off as he walked. Raj visibly started at his sudden appearance, and Kai felt her lips pull upwards.
“Where did you come from?” Raj demanded.
“There’s a door to the street,” Jared answered calmly, joining them. “Didn’t you sweep the place?”
“I...I just got here,” Raj said lamely. “I assumed...” He motioned to Rina and she made a disgusted sound.
“Oh don’t try to pass it off onto me,” she exclaimed. “Of course I did, but you didn’t even look around.”
“Neither did Ruby!”
“I did my surveillance before I came,” Kai said with shrug. “I know all the exits in this building and where the alley goes out back. I watched all of you arrive. Nice Ducati, by the way, Rina.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m glad you all dragged yourselves back. Thank you for getting here quickly. I know some of you came quite some distance.” Jared tucked his sunglasses into his shirt pocket and looked around. “We’ve got a lot to go over, but before we get started, I’ll be upfront and tell you all now that this is a black op. No safety net, and no way out if things go sideways. If you fall behind, you get left behind, and Mossad denies all knowledge. That being said, if you want to leave, now’s the only chance you’ll get.”
“Doesn’t that describe all our ops?” Kodak asked with a shrug. “Why is this one different?”
“Because it’s not just a target.” Jared walked over to the rickety table where Raj was perched. Raj moved off it quickly, walking over to lean on the other side of the pillar from Kodak. “Before I give you any of the details, you need to decide if you’re staying.”
No one moved.
“I already made the trip here,” Rina said from atop her drum. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Jared nodded, and when no one else offered any remark, he crossed his arms over his chest and settled against the table.
“We found Masha’al Al-Amin,” he told them bluntly.
“You pulled all of us together just for him?” Kodak asked after a moment of silence. “It won’t take five of us to take down Masha’al. Any one of us can do it on our own.”
“As I said before, it’s not just the target.” Jared cleared his throat. “The Americans are sending in a SEAL team to extract him.”
“Then why the hell are we talking about it?” Raj demanded with a scowl. “If the Americans want him, why are we here?”
“The Americans may want him, but they’re not going to get him. We are.”
Kai watched the faces of the others, enjoying the mix of reactions. Rina looked amused, which had been her own reaction the other night, but Asher looked utterly confused. Kodak and Raj were both just staring at Jared as if he’d sprouted another head.
“We’re going to get there before the SEALs?” Asher finally asked. “I don’t understand.”
“Our job is to make the Americans believe Masha’al has been killed, then bring him back to Israel,” Jared said. “As you can imagine, this is going to be very involved. We need to convince the Navy SEALs that their target is dead, and then destroy all traces of anything that will show otherwise. They have to be convinced that he was killed by someone in his own compound. Once they buy the lie, Masha’al will be all ours.”
“And why does Mossad want him?” Rina asked, looking up.
“Because we believe he has information to lead us to the head of a Hamas cell right here in Tel Aviv.”
“That would do it,” Asher muttered.
“So we’re going to get there ahead of the Americans, get into what I presume is a very heavily defended compound, and when the Americans arrive, convince them that Masha’al was executed by his own people. Then we’re going to get a very much alive Masha’al out of the compound right under the US military’s nose. Do I have this right?” Kodak asked incredulously.
Kai couldn’t stop a grin from curving across her face and she glanced at Jared’s expressionless profile.
“Yes.”
There was a moment of absolute silence, then Kodak nodded. “Ok.”
Raj blew out his cheeks on an exhale and shook his head.
“Now we know why we’re all here,” he muttered. “Nothing like keeping it easy.”
Rina chuckled. “I think it’s fantastic,” she said, glancing at Kai. “And so does Ruby. Look.”
They all turned to look at her and she shrugged, still grinning. “I think it’ll be fun.”
“Fun?” Asher stared at her. “Was the sun too much for you? Are you feeling light-headed?”
“Oh come on,” she said. “Tell me you’ve never once wanted to put one over on the Americans.”
“Americans? Yes. Navy SEALs? No,” he retorted. “I’m not suicidal.”
Jared was betrayed into a faint smile. “They’re just soldiers, Asher. Highly trained and deadly, but just soldiers nonetheless. Personally, I’ll put money on any one of you over them any day.”
“What about the satellites?” Raj asked suddenly. “How will we get Masha’al away without being picked up by the satellites?”
“We’ll get there,” Jared assured him. “He’s holed up in a compound outside Tanta, north of Cairo. Latest intel shows that Masha’al’s been moving things off the property over the past week. This suggests that he’s getting ready to move again. The Americans want to get in and take him before he does. To that end, Navy SEALs will extract him in four days, weather permitting.”
“Four days to plan everything and get into position?” Raj shook his head in disbelief. “You really like to make it hard, don’t you?”
“Are you scared, Raj?” Rina asked, looking at him. “Or are you worried that you’re not good enough?”
Raj flicked her a dismissive look. “I’m not worried about anything. I’m just pointing out the impossibility of doing this.”
“It’s not impossible,” Kai said, looking up from a contemplation of her boots. “It’s probably one of the dumbest things we’ve done, but it’s far from impossible. We don’t have to fool the whole US Navy, just one team of special forces. They’ll never even see us.”
“How are we dividing labor?” Rina asked.
“As I’m sure you’ve all realized, I picked each of you because you’re the best in your particular specialty. That’s how you’ll work. You and Ruby will manage surveillance and planning. If there’s a crack in the wall, I want to know where it is. You’ll also be in charge of weapons, Rina. Figure out what we need and what will be best for the job.”
Rina nodded and Jared looked at Raj and Kodak.
“Raj, you’re explosives. We’ll need to level the compound when everyone’s out, so you need to design something big.”
Raj grinned. “No problem.”
“Kodak, you’ll get us everything we need once we hit Egypt. Everyone will give you a list and you’ll have twenty-four hours to procure it.”
Kodak nodded, rubbing his jaw. “I’ve got some suppliers in Cairo. They should be able to handle almost everything we’ll need,” he said slowly. “The sooner I get the lists, the faster I can track down anything they can’t get.”
“Asher, you’ll make sure we’re invisible,” Jared said, turning to him. “I also want eyes and ears everywhere.”
Asher nodded. “Consider it done.”
Jared nodded, then glanced at Kai.
“Ruby will take point on this,” he said unexpectedly. “She’ll be the one to take Masha’al and get him out. Everything goes through her and she makes the final calls and decisions.”
Kai looked up in surprise, shooting him a sharp look. That had never been mentioned at the house in Spain.
“Any questions?”
“I’ve got one,” Asher said. “What are the statistical odds of success?”
Jared’s lips twisted dryly. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Our analysts give us a forty-seven percent chance if the weather is good. If it’s bad, that goes up to fifty-two percent.”
“So pray for a storm. Got it,” Raj muttered.
“The analysts are just bean counters and fools,” Rina announced, hopping down from her drum. “They look at numbers on a screen and calculate odds without taking into account the people involved. They don’t know us. They don’t know what we’re capable of.”
“That’s true,” Asher agreed, cheering up considerably.
Jared smiled faintly.
“Tickets are waiting for you at the hotel. We leave for Cairo at 4am.” He straightened up and dropped his arms to his sides. “Enjoy your evening and get some rest. I’ll see you at the airport.”
