man was he. “Are you up to this, Lev” he asked. “I want to see it through, sir” Potok said. “Then sit down, please. Everyone” They sat down across the bare table from him. A pair of fighter-interceptors roared across the field, and when the sound faded McGarvey thought he could hear his own heart. “Do you know who I am, Mr. McGarvey”
“Isser Shamir. Director of the Mossad” McGarvey replied. It was highly classified information in Israel. Shamir inclined his head. “Just so. It would seem that the range of your knowledge is quite good. Good enough, I believe, for you to understand that I’m not given to idle boasting, false accusations, or rumors”
“I’ve heard that, sir” McGarvey said. He was beginning to get an uncomfortable feeling that he had not been brought here merely to be thanked. There was something else going on.
“Israel would like to offer you her gratitude. Twice now you have saved my country from something very terrible, each time at the extreme risk of your own life”
“There is no debt of gratitude, Mr. Shamir”
“Oh, but there is, Mr. McGarvey. And Israel pays her debts. Always “
Shamir glanced over at Potok, and then back again … He seemed to be debating with himself, as if he were carrying an impossibly heavy burden that made any kind of a decision nearly out of the question. “My government knows what is stored at En Gedi, Mr. Director. And so do the Russians”
“Yes. it will forever change the politics of this region. The age of our innocence-as bloody as it has been-is gone. That cannot be altered”
“That’s a matter for the politicians, not for me”
“But you are not finished, I believe” Shamir said, watching him carefully. “Am I correct in assuming that you will make an attempt in the very near future on the life of Valentin Baranov” McGarvey held his surprise in check. “I can’t say”
“This operation has the backing of your Agency and, I would suspect, even your president” McGarvey said nothing. “Such an operation would take planning. The need-to-know list will be quite small, nevertheless there are others who know what your orders are. The specifics of your orders. “Even if that were the case, you know that I could not discuss it with you”
“There will have been some agonizing over this decision, I think — “
McGarvey got to his feet. “I’m sorry, Sir, but I would like to leave now”
“As I said, Mr. McGarvey, Israel owes you a debt of gratitude. I would like to repay it now by saving your life “
“Please, Kirk” Potok said. “Sit down and merely listen to what we have to tell you. I promise you will not be asked to reveal anything sensitive to your government.
You have my word “
“And mine” Shamir said.
“What do you want with me” McGarvey asked, his voic(tight in his throat. “What more do you want”
“En Gedi was penetrated, Kirk” Potok said. McGarvey turned to him. “By the Russians, yes we knoa this. They needed the proof and they got it”
“We thought he was one of us. He went by the name oi Benjamin Rothstein.
His real name was Vladimir lvanovict Tsarev. KGB. He worked directly for Baranov. “How did you find this out”
“It’s not important. Listen to me, Kirk. En Gedi was penetrated twice.
Once by a man named Simon Asher. He died in the … vault, trying to sabotage one of the Potok cut it off, and he glanced at Shamir. “Go on”
the old man said softly. “Asher was trying to sabotage one of our nuclear weapons. We think he may have been trying to set it off. We’re not sure about that part”
“He worked for the Russians too” McGarvey asked. It was typical of a Baranov operation. The man covered all of his bases. He never relied on a single line of action. Always there were many paths down which his people were directed. “He had one connection with the Russians. With the same man who was Tsarev’s control officer here in Israel. We didn’t find that out until later. By then we had found out something else … something even more disturbing”
“Go on” McGarvey prompted. “Kirk, we are very sure of our facts. I can’t tell you how we came to know what we do, but it has to do with thousands of telephone intercepts, a records search that has taken Us Six weeks, and a complete search of … your own background. We checked your record, all the way from the day you joined the Agency until you were asked to resign after the incident in Santiago” McGarvey’s chest was suddenly tight. It felt as if all the air were being squeezed out of his lungs, “Is this how you repay your debts” he asked sharply. “By spying on your friends”
Shamir waved it off. “Our existence was and is at stake, Mr. McGarvey.
And so now is yours, if you go up against Baranov without forewarning”
“What are you talking about”
“Simon Asher worked for someone within the Central Intelligence Agency”
Potok said. McGarvey turned on him. “We would not have sent someone here with the intent of destroying your nuclear weapons and killing a lot of people in the process. Whatever we have done, it’s not been that”
“I agree” Shamir said. “This man whom Asher worked for, also works for Baranov. He was another aspect of the plan to neutralize our ability to defend ourselves”
“How do you know”
“I can’t say” Shamir said. “But it is true” He took a folded sheet of paper out of his breast pocket and handed it across the table. McGarvey didn’t immediately reach for it. “Who is it”
“We don’t know for sure” Shamir said. “You just said
“We have it narrowed to five names. Five men who could have caused what has happened over the past ten or more years. There are no other possibilities”
Still McGarvey made no move to take the piece of paper. “You will not be allowed to take this list with you when you leave this room, Mr. McGarvey. And we will deny ever having had this conference with you. You must understand this” Slowly McGarvey reached out and took the paper from Shamir’s outstretched hand. He glanced at Potok, whose eyes were shining, and Liebowitz, who had looked away. He opened the paper. Five names had been typed in the middle of the page. All the air left the room.
McGarvey Lost himself in the crowds of Heli Inikon Airport. He had come in on what was treated as a diplomatic flight, and his passport and single bag had not been checked. Instead of going directly out to the cab ranks, he had doubled back into the main international terminal, where he hung around for nearly a half-hour, watching over his shoulder.
Paranoia comes to every field officer sooner or later. But what happens when there’s a reason for it? Then it’s time, he’d been taught, to trust no one: friends, wives, lovers none of them were free of suspicion. It was a few minutes after three in the afternoon when he finally decided that he had come away clean, and he went down to the Hertz counter to rent a car. He had waited until the flight from London had touched down and its passengers had been released from customs so that the crowds were particularly heavy. His was just another face in the crowd. You shall be known by your tradecraft. That bit of wisdom had been drummed into his head at the CIA’s training facility outside of Williamsburg, called The Farm. When in doubt, change it, do the unexpected. There were a lot of people around the car rental counter, some of them families, others businessmen anxious to get a car and be on their way. McGarvey allowed himself to be jostled in line until he got himself behind a man of the same general build and height, carrying an overnight bag over his shoulder, while shoving two heavy suitcases forward with his foot. The man’s passport jutted out of a side compartment of the overnight bag.
Five minutes later, when they finally got up to one of the busy clerks and the man reached into his overnight bag for his identification, it was gone … “Oh, bloody hell” he swore, his accent British. He unzipped his bag and frantically searched inside. “Sir” the young woman behind the counter asked with concern. “What’s the matter, old man” McGarvey asked. The Brit looked up. “My passport, money, identification … everything. It’s gone”
“Maybe it’s in one of your suitcases”
“No, I just had it coming through customs. I must have dropped the bloody thing” He was extremely agitated. “I thought I saw an information booth upstairs on the main floor” McGarvey said helpfully.
“Maybe someone’s turned it in”
“Right, mate” the Brit said, and he stepped out of line, snatched up his suitcases, and rushed off. “Good luck”
