Kill Them Wherever You Find Them (34 page)

John passed these preliminaries with flying
colors. The fact that he learned Hebrew quickly and was able to
blend into society so well, and then establish his own successful
tax accounting business, proved that he would be able to easily
blend into most any population that was predominantly
Caucasian.

Laila loved traveling with him to different
assignments in the United Kingdom, the United States, and
Australia. She, always believing he was doing audits for large
corporations, never once thought otherwise. The fact of the matter
was, he really did conduct audits in these countries – he simply
conducted other, more clandestine, business as well.

Recently retired, they were living happily in
Beit Shemesh, a grandchild just one house over with another due in
a few months. Halevi smiled at the memory of Gilad's look of
surprise, followed by that faint light of understanding turn on,
when he was told about what his father did for Israel as he was
being invited to work for Shin Bet.

Gilad told the person conducting the initial
interview that he was surprised the few times his father would get
a phone call late at night, only to leave for the airport
immediately for a tax audit. Asking his mom about the quick
departure, she'd just shrug her shoulders and say, as a joke, that
"there's no accounting for the way other countries ignore time zone
differences." Gilad didn't think that international corporations
would be oblivious to time zones, but he was raised too well to
contradict his mom on such a seemingly unimportant issue.

As his profile prophesied, Gilad proved to be
resourceful and have an instinct that would serve him well.
Recognized by his peers as being efficient, and capable, he
intuitively tapped into how individuals think. He was a walking
encyclopedia of knowledge, a human lie detector, and so personable
and charming that he completely disarmed even the most
paranoid.

Meir believed that if Gilad were to continue
as he was now he'd be sitting in the Director's Office two, maybe
three Directors after Meir's retirement.

Gilad continued his report."Sir, we've
dispatched an agent to the Tech Department in Tel Aviv to digitally
combine all of the photos and video taken by the mobile phones of
the witnesses at the scene to form a cohesive view of images taken
at the scene. We have also started depositions with those first at
the scene, working our way back chronologically to those last to
arrive. Kibbutz security is being very cooperative. Unfortunately,
there were no closed-circuit TV cameras in the area where No'am
kept residence. Finally, at least for now, the woman described by
most of the witnesses was able to elude the CCTV along her exit
path. This appears to have been planned in advance. We believe she
was here to either kidnap No'am, or kill him. Events appear to have
altered her plans. We are dusting the residence of No'am now. It's
doubtful any fingerprints from the perpetrator will be uncovered;
she was a consummate professional."

This was something Halevi liked about Smith,
he always spoke using the "we" pronoun to deflect attention to
himself where his work was so well and admirably executed. Yet if
he made an error in judgment, or a very rare mistake in his work,
he would own up using the "I" pronoun. In a group of "Yes I can"
personalities, this was an unusual trait. It was an attribute that
Halevi wished he could cultivate in others, without diminishing the
very high level of self-confidence required by such a
profession.

"Thank you Agent Smith; that will be all.
Keep this line open and update me if anything significant comes
up."

"Yes sir."

Phase II, Meir knew, had already started. It
may be too late.

Table of Contents

26. Once More to
Prepare

"Organize yourselves, prepare every needful thing . .
."
- Section 109:8 (
Doctrine and Convents
of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Jerusalem, State of
Israel

Dr. Jeff Stauffenberg's family
required a few
days to settle into their home within the compound of the facility
where he did most of his work. Nobody was happy with the unexpected
situation, but they adapted and made the best of it. Lynn,
especially, set out to work to make the small house a home with the
touches she knew would most put her family at ease in this new
environment.

The facility did a great job of keeping the
residents as busy as they desired, with frequent socials geared to
singles, families, and children of specific age categories.

Brian got right to work with online college
courses. Samantha surprised everybody with her desire to go to the
classes in the high school established for the Israeli
students.

Two days after their arrival Moshe asked Jeff
for a meeting in his office.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice Jeff.
I understand your family has taken to their new surroundings?"

"Yes Moshe, they have. Not without some
initial bumps and bruises. They are already adapting better than I
would have expected. Brian and Samantha, in these couple of days
have made friends already and seem to see this as an adventure. How
long their enthusiasm will last before the limitations on their
travel and socializing set in, I don't know."

"Probably not long, knowing the universal
nature of youth. How about Lynn, how is she doing?"

"It's more difficult for her, leaving
parents, siblings, and a large network of friends behind. The fact
that we thought she would be able to be a part of the Mormon
community here, but now that it's not even a possibility, is
weighing heavily on her. She has never lived anywhere where she was
religiously isolated. I think it's going to take some time for her
to adjust, but she is maintaining at least a façade of making the
best of it. She's strong but I'm concerned for her."

"Me too." Moshe responded. "I'll ask Rachael
to visit with her and see how she's holding up from a psychological
perspective. Lynn can also speak with Rachael, you know,
woman-to-woman, in ways we obviously can't. Also, I've asked the
Prime Minister for special permission to allow the leader of the
Mormon community visits with your family on occasion. Though the
ranking Mormon here is somebody highly thought of and respected in
Israeli circles, the PM denied my request. It was worth a try."

"Thanks for trying, Moshe."

Moshe's face seemed to alter expression a
little as he pressed on. "Now to another matter at hand. It's time
you begin your training for the second phase. A comparison of the
archives in the shielded area against the time-altered archives is
very
promising. We haven't found anything to indicate that
deleting Martin McGlothlin's two sons from history has caused any
negative ripple effect in our present space-time. Considering the
fact that we believe the terrorists have advanced their schedule
for the attacks by at least three weeks, we
must
get you
prepared as quickly as possible. Are you ready?"

"You know I am." Jeff responded with his
characteristic "can do" approach.

"Good. Most of your preparation will be a
repetition of your first
landing
. Extensive physical
training, psychological support, and so on. Beyond that you'll be
tutored in basic Farsi and Arabic, as well as the cultures,
histories and important events of Persia and Egypt of the 1930s.
Remember, the Islamic Republic of Iran was first named Persia –
that's your first history lesson!"

"I knew that I'd be going to Egypt and Iran –
excuse me, Persia – for the second phase of the operation. To
better prepare I've been doing as much as I could to study on my
own time. This includes watching videos made in each country and a
great deal of reading. Moshe, there is just
no
way I could
learn either language in the time frame before us, let alone
both."

"I'm glad you've already been doing some
research. As to the languages, there isn't need for fluency. Any
American could get by in both countries in the 1930s with English.
We want you to have an understanding of some basic words as your
operational cover will be that of a pharmaceutical sales agent.
With diseases such as polio affecting so much of the world, the
Americans were pouring money into medical research and production.
Countries without a great deal of financial resources to produce
their own medicines were eager to buy them from the Americans."

"Your cover will be ideal for you to contact
medical leaders and wealthy industrialists in each country. This
will enable you to meet with Ghasem's maternal grandfather. Once
identified positively, you will have to find a way to make sure he
never meets the woman he married. We have two photos of him, as
well as many samples of his handwriting."

"Now for the part that may be particularly
difficult for you. We have no photos of either of Abd's
grandfathers but we do have a few photos of one of his
grandmothers. We can't allow her to marry his grandfather under any
circumstance."

Moshe saw Jeff mentally puzzle his mission,
wheels in his mind spinning as he wondered how he could prevent two
marriages of what would then be still young children.

Jeff exited the building, needing some sun
and air to clear his head. Finding no relief in nature, he walked
to his family house that reminded him of military housing on
American bases in the 1950s. Theirs was a quaint house, but rather
small. Jeff was glad that he and Lynn felt it best for them to stop
at two children.

Entering their home he saw Lynn and gave her
a kiss.

"Well that was the most mechanical kiss you
have ever given me. Even your - don't bother me, I'm watching my
favorite sports team - kiss packs more passion. What's going
on?"

"Nothing."

"Oh no, don't do that!"

"What?"

"You know what!"

Exasperated, Jeff wasn't in the mood to play
mind reader with his wife. "Why don't you tell me."

Lynn gladly did so, "For years you had this
huge secret you kept from me. The only reason I learned about it
was because of the fact that we had to move here, for goodness
knows how long. No more secrets. If something is bothering you, I
have a
right
to know."

"Sweetheart, I love you, you know I do. I
wish I could have been honest with you from the beginning. I really
do. You know as much as you actually do have the right to know now.
Surely you realize that I can't divulge everything, nor am I under
any obligation to run everything by you first."

"Okay, okay. I do understand that." Lynn
grudgingly admitted. "
You
have to realize that all of this
is very tough on me – more than you could possibly understand. So
if something is going on that will impact our family, more than it
already has – I mean, just look around us – then you have to at
least let me know how I can help. Jeff, I understand you can't tell
me everything. Based on what you revealed to me last week I'm
pretty sure I don't
want
to know everything, but you can't
come home like this then expect me to carry on as if everything is
fine. Well, it isn't. I refuse to live in this shoe box, cut off
from family, friends, and community; while sublimating my life and
well-being to heaven knows what, while I also have to watch
whatever this is, do what it's doing to you."

"Lynn, I really don't know what to say. I'm
between a rock and a hard place here. I just can't discuss . . .
maybe I can in a very roundabout way. Is that acceptable to
you?"

"Anything is better than this. As to
acceptable
, I have the right to reserve judgment on that for
now."

"Suppose I were to ask you to do something
totally outside of your nature, could you do it?"

"That depends on what this something is.
Define it."

"Okay, suppose I tell you that you have to
slap Samantha so hard that you knock her down. For no other reason
than it'll help us sometime in the future."

"Before answering with a resolute 'no' tell
me why I should slap her, what did she do wrong?"

"She did nothing wrong."

"Well, that's just absurd. Naturally I would
refuse. I hope you would too, or you're not the man I thought I
married." Lynn responded.

That was a knife through his heart.

"Okay, let's add this to the equation. By
slapping her so hard she runs to her room crying and won't leave it
no matter how much you apologize and plead with her. Had she had a
regular day, she would have gone to a dance, met a boy that we
wouldn't have liked, then eloped to marry him."

"Then rather than slap her, I would simply
have found a reason to not allow her to leave the house."

"Oh, she finds a way. Probably climbing out
the window to go to the dance."

"Bars on the window." Lynn had a ready answer
for everything.

"This is
Samantha
, she'd find a way
and you know that. Or it could be Brian as the example. It doesn't
matter. Whichever child, no matter what you do short of slapping,
finds a way to get out of the house and marry somebody we don't
approve of. Slapping is the
only
way to change the events of
that night so that they never meet this undesirable person,
preventing a disastrous future."

"Wouldn't that ruin my relationship with my
child?"

"No, you can say you were sleep-walking or
something – whatever – but the relationship is mended and she finds
a nice young man and lives happily ever after."

"I'm still not sure I'd slap either of my
children when they had not done anything wrong. But . . . " Lynn
chose her words carefully, "if I knew in advance that going to that
dance would bring about severe consequences that couldn't be
repaired in any other way, and that nothing else would keep them
home, I'd do it."