Ganani was seated in a café with a clear view of the Dizengoff Apartments when her phone buzzed. She glanced at the caller ID and considered letting it go to voicemail, but she thought better of it. “Shalom, Colonel.”
“We have another complication.”
She sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”
“The doctor.”
“What about her?” Ganani had a bad feeling. She took a quick survey of her surroundings to be sure no one was paying her special interest, picked up her coffee, and settled back in her chair. “She is scheduled to arrive at ten hundred hours, any moment now.”
“Except that Judge Taylor has just received a phone call demanding the exchange of the USB drive for her life.”
“How do you know this?”
“You are not my only asset, krolik.”
She hated it when he called her “rabbit.” The endearment made her feel as if she were under the watchful eye of a snake. No doubt his intent. The fact that she allowed it to pass without comment sickened her. He was a sexist Russian pig. One day she would confront him.
Today she turned her attention back to the problem at hand. “What is it you want me to do?”
Why did she think he already knew?
“His partner, Gidon Lotner, just arrived. He is inside with the judge and his daughter.”
“Good.” His satisfaction transmitted through the phone line. “I have spoken with the head of security at the American embassy. According to Special Agent Tom Daugherty, the judge telephoned him the moment he was contacted. Daugherty handed him the party line, ‘that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists.’ But since Dr. Petrenko is an Israeli, she is not the State Department’s concern.”
“She’s ours.” Ganani could see where this was going.
“I don’t care so much about her, but we are in the business of identifying and capturing terrorists.”
Ganani knew he was calling attention to her failure to identify the Palestinian that had gotten away.
“Colonel, we know the Americans have recovered the USB drive. It is my understanding that my presence here is just a precaution.”
“Your mission has changed.”
Ganani knew whatever he was about to ask her to do was outside her normal job parameters. She also knew she would do it.
“I spoke with Agent Daugherty and offered to help. He agreed to help us fake the exchange if we manage the cleanup.”
Ganani’s throat tightened. “Your plan is to let Judge Taylor deliver a USB drive with false intel into the hands of the Palestinians?”
“Yes.”
“Have the Americans figured out what’s on the original drive?”
“Not as far as Daugherty is admitting. Fortunately, he shares our interest in identifying and stopping those who turned his right-hand man. He also knows that, working together, the U.S. and Israel can help bring an end to the violence. The Americans will be looking out for the judge and overseeing the exchange. If they are lucky, the judge and the doctor will escape with their lives.”
“And if they’re unlucky?”
“Then they are unlucky.”
Ganani wondered when the cause became more important than human lives, especially those who were innocent, those caught in a war not of their making. “What is my responsibility?”
“You are to make sure the drive ends up in the Palestinians’ hands. Once they are away, you are to follow them. Secure the information that Cline was to receive. After that, kill them all.”