Chapter 32
Institut Alpinuum für Sport, Physiotherapie, und Zellleistung
St. Moritz
Ava arrived late for her appointment.
It was ten past eleven, according to her new “preowned” Rolex. A men’s 18-karat President. White dial with Roman numeral appliqué. Diamond bezel. In St. Moritz you were what you wore. She was dolled up in Bogner’s latest. Après-ski pants, sports sweater, belt—all black, all tighter than anything she’d worn since high school. Her hair was pulled back into a French chignon. She drew the line at makeup. A little mascara, a little lipstick, and that was it. The getup went against every tenet of her training.Never disguise yourself. Be yourself, but more.A covert operative’s cardinal rule.
But rules were for another day. And as for cardinals ... well, Ava was Jewish. In the end, she’d decided on another dictum.
When in Rome . . .
A nurse led her to a padded chair with armrests. She offered her a glass of orange juice, and Ava made a joke about preferring champagne. If she sounded as awkward to others’ ears as she did to her own, she was in big trouble. She only half listened as the nurse outlined the procedure for her stem cell infusion. She kept one eye on the handsome younger man seated a few chairs to her right. Dr. Lutz, it seemed, had managed for them to be the only two patients that morning. What a coincidence.
TNT was a few minutes ahead of her. He sat comfortably with tubes running into both arms, earbuds in, reading a pink newspaper. TheFinancial Times. How endearingly old school. For someone constantly on the move, he looked remarkably well rested.
Zvi Gelber had moved his tuchus, indeed. He did not disappoint.
“He’s singlehandedly doing more for global warming than a Chinese coal-fired plant,” Gelber told her the day before, during her train ride from Zinal. “The Office tracks him 24/7. In the last three months, TNT and his private jet have touched down in Damascus and Tehran four times. Paris five times. We’re talking round trip from Doha, Qatar. Los Angeles, New York, Zurich, and some place called Samedan, wherever that is.”
Samedan was the airstrip Ava could see with her own eyes, whose lone runway either began or ended a stone’s throw from the St. Moritzersee. There was no sign of TNT’s jet, but that was probably because he kept it in a hangar.
“But what concerns me more,” continued Gelber, “are the trips to Jerusalem. Four times in the past sixty days.”
“What’s he doing visiting Jerusalem so often?” asked Ava. “Converting?”
“That’s the thing, my dear. He never actually set foot in Jerusalem. Not in the city, anyway. He stayed at the airport. David Ben-Gurion International. Immigration has no record of his naturalization. I checked. TNT never left the plane.”
“Refueling?”
“Refueling doesn’t take three hours. Besides, fuel costs in Israel are five times higher than in Qatar. He flies a Gulfstream G700. The plane has a range of seven thousand nautical miles. He didn’t land there to refuel.”
“He landed to speak with someone,” said Ava.
“Agreed,” said Gelber. “Someone who couldn’t risk being seen in public with a Qatari royal.”
“Someone who couldn’t risk talking to him on the phone either,” said Ava. “Government.”
“Ah, Ava, always one step ahead.”
But, of course, it was Zvi Gelber who was one step ahead. “You checked?” Ava asked.
“Some toes even I can’t step on,” said Gelber.
“Zvi, be serious. What happened?”
“Your boy has friends in high places,” said Gelber. “Eyes, ears, who knows what else.”
“In the Office?” she asked, meaning inside Mossad.
“Just a little friction,” said Gelber. “Queries not answered quickly enough or at all. Funny glances. People suddenly interested in what I have going. You know, ‘friction.’ Remember, sweetheart, we’re not the only ones with spies in every capital.”
“And Abbasi?”
“Nothing off the bat. Common name. About five thousand of them in Tehran alone. Don’t worry, I haven’t given up. Let’s just say I’m being a little more careful about my inquiries than usual. What’s the old saying? ‘Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not watching you.’”
“Be careful,” said Ava.
