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“Just five minutes, just leave me alone with him for five minutes!” she pleaded. Ultimately she knew that the information he had was far more important than her vengeance but she could try.

Sam was watching Deif as he fought to contain Rebecca. Something was wrong. The man looked serene. In fact, almost happy. He held information that would undoubtedly ruin his plot to destroy Israel and yet he wasn’t in the least annoyed or frustrated.

“Stop!” shouted Sam, shocking Rebecca into doing just that. She stopped pushing and stood still.

Sam walked towards Deif and felt the bullet whistle past him before it tore Deif’s right knee cap clean off. The second he had turned his back on her, she had whipped out her gun and taken the shot. Sam turned towards her as Deif crumpled to the floor, a contented smile revealing her thoughts. She placed the gun in the rear of her shorts and folded her arms. OK, she’d behave.

Sam lifted Deif whose arm and leg were obviously causing some discomfort. He struggled to sit up straight but did as well as he could manage. He was going to die the big man, thought Sam, for which he had to give the guy some credit. He had come across a lot of hard bastards who, when the chips were down, shat themselves and cried like babies. Deif was a man who believed in his cause.

“This can be easy or even more painful than it already has been and trust me, she’s just started. Where are the weapons?” asked Sam reasonably.

Deif just smiled in response. It was not the smile of a man panicking but a man smiling because he knew they’d never get it out of him. That was not an option. Everybody talked, no matter how hard or how much people thought they could tolerate pain, everybody talked and more importantly everybody in the game knew it.

Sam began to worry. Perhaps they did have the wrong guy. Maybe Deif wasn’t behind it all.

He tied Deif to the chair and walked Rebecca out of the room to speak to her privately.

“Are you sure this is the guy?”

“One hundred percent. I watched him plot this thing from the start. It’s definitely him.”

“He’s certain he’s beaten us. That is not a man accepting defeat through there. That’s a guy who knows we won’t beat him.”

Rebecca was no fool and she had picked up the same vibes. She had caught many of Deif’s men and made them all talk. This was very different from any one of those.

“Let me speak to him?” offered Rebecca.

Sam shook his head. “No, it’s too personal for you.”

“I’ll behave,” she said, ignoring Sam. Ultimately, this was her operation and Sam was a bystander. She walked back towards Deif, removing a few unsavory looking implements from a kitchen drawer on the way. The corkscrew seemed to catch Deif’s eye she thought and selected that first.

As she neared Deif, he smiled through the pain. “Rebecca, Rebecca Cohen I presume?”

Rebecca was taken aback at Deif knowing her name.

“I see you are surprised I know your name. Trust me, you are a very famous woman in our organization. To be honest, your beauty has been undersold. Had we known of your true beauty, we may have caught you ourselves. It makes you memorable. However, your talents and abilities I fear from my capture have certainly lived up to their reputation. To die at your hands will be an honorable death.”

“Who said anything about dying?” said Rebecca, lighting a lighter and heating the end of the corkscrew.

“The man responsible for killing your son, the man responsible for you having to watch your precious Joshua be blasted.”

Sam caught Rebecca as she flew at the mention of her son’s name. Despite Sam’s best efforts, her foot swung and caught Deif squarely on the jaw, sending him still tied to the chair across the room, emitting an ear piercing scream as his knee-capless leg crashed into the floor.

“He wants you to kill him, you fool!” screamed Sam as he put Rebecca down and straightened Deif once again.

Rebecca tried to maintain her breathing and heart rate as both were racing. She lit the lighter again and began to heat the corkscrew once more. She looked at Deif and figured which of the two was his biggest weakness, balls or eyes. It always came down to the balls and eyes with the really tough ones. She figured on the eyes. Deif liked to see the outcome of his actions, blindness for him would be his biggest weakness.

As Rebecca placed the tip of the white hot corkscrew next to his eyeball, Deif smiled. “You do not disappoint.” She had found his weakness almost straight away. “You were a worthy adversary,” he said moving his jaw.

Sam dived across the room, knocking Rebecca aside as he went to grab Deif’s mouth but it was too late. Deif had succeeded. He had beaten them.

Rebecca tried to understand what had happened but as Sam got up, the small white bubbles foaming from Deif’s breathless mouth said it all.

“Cyanide! The sneaky bastard had a cyanide pill! Shit!!!” exclaimed Sam.

“But we checked his mouth, it was empty,” said an exasperated Rebecca. Their only lead and probably the only person on the planet who knew where all the weapons were lay dead at their hands.

“False tooth, how fucking cold war is that?!”

Rebecca looked down at the dead Deif who had congratulated her. Cheeky bastard, she thought, kicking him in frustration. She called in the rest of the team. Hopefully they’d find something in the house that would help them. She needed some good news for Ben. This was their last hope.

President Russell welcomed the small group into his office. Henry Preston, Jim Gates and Allan Johnson had maintained a somber mood while waiting in the Oval Office’s anteroom. Finally, they were called and entered the office. As the door closed behind them, Henry and Jim rushed forward to congratulate their man on becoming President. Both looked at Allan, surprised at his lack of enthusiasm for their President. Allan stepped forward and shook the President’s hand. Neither Jim or Henry were aware that he had already met and congratulated their President. Jim and Henry shared a look, there was something they were missing. It had always been a cat fight with Johnson. He always wanted to be the one that pleased Russell, always wanting to be favorite and now they had their man as President, he seemed very relaxed and most comfortable. The eager to please attitude had disappeared.

“Gentlemen, at last I can relax,” announced Russell, kicking his shoes off and sitting on a large sofa in front of a blazing fire.

Preston walked to the drinks cabinet. “A drink, Mr President?”

“Excellent idea. A scotch, please. No, sorry, scratch that, Champagne Henry!”

“Jim? Allan?” asked Henry, raising the bottle.

“Absolutely,” replied Jim enthusiastically.

“Please,” nodded Allan.

Jim and Henry shared a look as Henry poured the champagne and Jim got up to pass them around.

“The President,” announced Henry, raising his glass.

Allan and Jim joined and toasted their man.

“Thank you, I couldn’t have done it without you guys.” Neither Jim or Henry missed the look that Allan got as the President accepted their toast. They were definitely missing something.

“Well gentlemen, down to business. I believe Allan has some news that may make our day even more special!”

“Yes I have, Sir,” he beamed. “I’m pleased to announce that earlier this evening, a certain thorn in the President’s side was removed once and for all!”

Jim and Henry looked at each other. Henry, as ever, took the lead. “Senator Baker?”

“The now dearly departed Senator Baker. So sad ” confirmed the President.

“Fantastic!” said Henry, looking at Allan, who reported to him. The look made it clear this was something that he should have known.

“Oh there was a little collateral damage, I think that’s how you guys term it.” The President reached over and hit a buzzer. “Can you send in Tom, please.”

“Gentlemen, you all know Tom. Thanks Honey,” he added, dismissing the young secretary who had shown Tom in, a young secretary that none of the men could take their eyes off.”

“You can’t call her Honey, Mr President,” said Jim, as the stunning young blonde closed the door behind her.

Russell laughed at the confusion. “I know, but that really is her name, fantastic eh, certainly brightens the place up!”

As the laughter died down, he resumed. “You know Tom, our excellent Deputy Secretary of Defense and a man who shares our goals in life?”

They all nodded, understanding that Tom was one of them, one of the President’s men.

“Well it seems that Tom here is in line for a promotion following the tragic demise of Secretary of Defense James Murphy.”

Henry and Jim quickly computed the link, the Secretary of Defense was the collateral damage. So the rumors of James Murphy’s mysterious disappearance were true, they both thought. There was a lot happening that they knew nothing about.

All congratulated the soon to be announced new Secretary of Defense.

“What are you going to say happened to James Murphy?” asked Henry, beginning to think beyond the moment.

The President looked at Allan. “Allan.”

“A tragic accident, a gas explosion at Senator Baker’s hunting lodge in Montana has robbed America of two wonderful statesmen, something along those lines. We’re still working on it but that’s the gist.”

Henry did not miss the President’s interaction with Allan, they had obviously been working closely on this.

“Only one thing I’d note, it was a ski lodge, not a hunting lodge. Charles Baker was no friend of the hunters so a hunting lodge may sound a little strange,” offered Henry. It was all in the details and it made the point to the President that if he were getting too close to Johnson, detail was not his forte, unlike Henry.

“Why don’t we just go for Senator Baker’s lodge, lest we upset any skiers!” retaliated Johnson, pathetically enough that everybody just moved on.

“Have you had any thoughts about a VP?” asked Henry moving onto more important issues.

“Not yet, there are quite a few roles I want to shuffle around,” replied Russell ominously.

“I would remind you, should anything happen to you just now, we’d have the Speaker of the House inaugurated as President,” warned Henry. The Speaker of the House was a particularly fierce woman who ruled the House of Representatives with an iron fist and to make matters worse, was a Democrat. To say she put the fear of God into people, understated her position. The Speaker of the House was second in line in the presidential line of succession. Without a Vice President, she would be the heir apparent.

Henry could see the President hadn’t considered this and the very subtle look at Johnson suggested he had not reminded the President of this point.

“Of course, but I don’t want to make any knee jerk decisions. I’m sure you guys will keep me safe, at least for a few days,” joked Russell.

Russell was no fool and could see Henry was a little put out. Obviously, Johnson had not kept him in the loop, something which he’d have a private word with Allan about. He didn’t want Henry fully in the loop, the less people who knew about the real reason for the demise of the former President, the better. However, even from that one meeting, it was clear that Russell needed more than Johnson by his side. The hunting lodge would have been a disaster but then, from what he had heard, the lodge was far more hunting than skiing but Henry knew Charles Baker best.

“Gentlemen, can I just add that it’s because of you that I sit here today and let me assure each of you, I will never forget that. You are my team and we will stick together and make this work,” he said standing and walking to each of them and shaking their hands. The meeting was over and, he thought, on a positive note.

Just as he was about to ask Allan for a quick word, Henry asked to speak with him privately.

“Of course, Henry,” he agreed, motioning for Allan to wait in the anteroom. Which Henry noted.

“What’s up Henry?” he asked as they returned to the sofas.

“I’m a bit disappointed being out of the loop on the Baker thing.”

“That’s what I want a word with Allan about, it won’t happen again I noticed you weren’t happy and trust me, none of it was intentional.”

“Thank you, Mr President,” replied Henry genuinely. His next point was dependent on how the President had answered the first.

“I would like to be considered for the VP position, Mr President.”

President Russell was somewhat taken aback at the declaration but considering Henry’s expertise and attention to detail, he was an exceptional candidate.

“Well that sort of came in from left field, obviously I haven’t had time to think about my own role, never mind the VP.” Russell was struggling, he really didn’t know what to say.

“Obviously you need time to think, Mr President.” Henry saved him any further embarrassment. “I just wanted you to know that I’d be honored, were you to offer me the role.” Henry stood up, shook the President’s hand and left.

Allan entered almost immediately. President Russell got up and walked behind his desk. He explained to Allan the importance of keeping Henry in the loop. Allan looked somewhat uninterested.