“You done good,” said Gelber. “Now you need to give us some time on our side.”
Time? The one thing they did not have was time. Ava cocked her head. Was she mistaken or did she hear equivocation in his voice? “I want to come home,” she said. “We can take it to the chief together.”
“That’s premature,” said Gelber.
“He has Samson,” said Ava.
“We don’t know that.”
“He gave Abbasi the device’s serial number,” said Ava.
“Listen, kiddo,” said Gelber. “You’re worked up. I know how you feel. I was in the field, too, once, a million years ago. I can hear it inyour voice. You think you’ve found something, and now the whole world has to know.”
“The whole world does have to know,” said Ava.
“But you need to stand down and let us do our thing now.”
“Are you listening to me?” Ava shouted.
“You’re not the only one on the line here,” said Gelber.
“What is it, Zvi?” she asked. “More friction?”
“You need to step back,” said Gelber. “We have everything we need at the moment.”
“I haven’t told you what I figured out,” she retorted. “It’s about his brother, Jabr. He was right to be worried. TNT is planning some kind of coup. He’s not going to just stick everyone in a fancy hotel. He’s going to blow them up.”
“Ava . . . that’s enough.”
“That’s not all, Zvi,” she went on, unbothered. “I think we’re helping him.”
“Ava.”
“Ben-Gold. Kach. They’re all in it.”
“Not another word.”
Ava drew a breath. She’d known Zvi Gelber twenty years. Never once had he yelled at her. Her first inclination was to blame herself. She was way out of line. She had no right to bark instructions at the chief of Tzomet, a man with a lifetime of service to the Office and to the country. She wasn’t, she reminded herself, even an active agent. She’d spent the past seven years in Zurich as consul general, a member of the diplomatic corps. She gazed out the window at the snow-covered peaks. From her room, she had a clear view up the hillside to the Institut Alpinuum. A wave of anger surged through her chest, flushing her neck, so strong as to make her shudder. No, dammit, she wasn’t out of line. She’d risked her life to get the engineering plans. Was it naive to believe that a man who possessed a nuclear device would kill to protect it? And what about Gerhard Lutz? He’d stuck his neck out to eavesdrop on aclient. He’d put Israel before self. How would TNT feel about that if he found out?
“Zvi,” she said testily, brimming with vitriol. And then it came to her. She shut her mouth. Gelber was protecting her. He didn’t want her to get into any more trouble than she was already in. But what kind of trouble? From whom? Oh, Ava, a voice inside her remonstrated. You were right. We are helping TNT.Not we, but him. Them.Ben-Gold and Yehudi Rosenfeld and the Kach party. She wasn’t the one at risk. It was Zvi Gelber himself.
Mossad reported to the minister of defense. Word had trickled up the chain that Gelber was looking into TNT. He was the one following up on Ava’s leads. It was Gelber who had looked into TNT’s travels; Gelber who had dug around to see who’d snuck into Ben Gurion Airport and boarded TNT’s jet. It was Gelber who tracked down Dr. Abbasi, and now Gelber who’d received the blueprints of the firing mechanism. Gelber was the immediate threat.
“You’re right,” said Ava, apologetically. “I went too far. I’m sorry. I’ll step back. Take your time, Zvi. Now that I thought things over, I see that the whole thing might be a trap. Some kind of disinformation.”
“Smart thinking,” said Gelber. “Too much, too fast. I don’t like it when things come so easy.”
“What was I thinking?” said Ava.
“Just doing your job,” said Zvi. “Time for a rest. Let those wounds heal.”
“Thanks, Zvi. I appreciate it.”
“Stay tuned,” he said. “We’ll reach out when we’ve got something. If you don’t hear from us, enjoy your convalescence.”
“Zvi?”
“Bye, kiddo.”
