They have given us an exclusive to release when we leave here which, up until you arrived, was about an hour from now!” she added angrily.
Sam couldn’t help but ask. “Why an hour from now? Why not now? Why not yesterday?”
“Because today, in less than an hour, we will bring the Israelis to their knees,” promised the boss proudly.
While Sam was distracted by the journalist and the boss talking, the two guards worked their way closer, silently closing the gap between themselves and Sam. Sam, of course, knew exactly what they were doing and had hoped they would do exactly that.
He had heard enough and the angles were now perfect. Without a moment’s hesitation or warning, Sam drew the knife across the terrorist leader’s throat almost decapitating him and killing him instantly. The action caught everybody by surprise and as the guards began to compute what had just happened, Sam was already dispatching the knife towards the guard to his right whilst kicking the dead weight of the boss into the guard on his left.
As one guard died with a knife embedded in his chest, the other was coping with the almost headless corpse of his boss as it crashed into him. The head lolled wildly as both the guard and the boss crashed to the floor. Before they even hit the floor, Sam was on them to help ensure the guard’s skull cracked as he powered it into the floor.
The gruesomeness of the scene left the cameraman with little hope of quelling the journalist’s screams, ensuring the rest of the camp would be ready and waiting for them.
“In an hour, they would have let us go!” shouted the cameraman, furious at what had just happened.
“We have to warn Israel,” replied Sam, firmly and simply. He grabbed the guard’s gun and checked the magazine.
“How many terrorists?” demanded Sam as he ran to the window.
“There were eleven,” stammered the cameraman. “I suppose there are seven now…”
One better than he had anticipated. Maybe the day was looking up.
The door crashed open and two guards ran in. Their weapons were drawn but not having heard any shots, they had not known what to expect. Sam didn’t hesitate and shot them both as they entered the room.
“Five left,” corrected the cameraman.
With the first shots fired, no more guards would be running blindly into the room.
“Wait here!” commanded Sam as he opened a back door and disappeared.
Sam had no intention of becoming a sitting duck and instead was going on the offensive.
By the time the five guards were in position to launch an assault on the barracks, it was too late. Sam was behind them. As they charged, he simply picked them off. These were men who strapped bombs to themselves and blew up women and children. Sam had no compunction about shooting them in the back, front, head or balls. The only good terrorist, as far as he was concerned, was a dead one.
As he walked back into the barracks it was a very different scene. The journalist rushed across the room and hugged him like a long lost friend. The cameraman tried his best to join in but Sam was in no mood for celebrating. The clock was ticking. “I need a phone, is there one here?”
“The next building is a small office, there’s one in there,” offered his new best pal.
As they rushed to the next building, the journalist explained what had happened. They had been kidnapped in Tehran after inadvertently hearing one of their contacts discussing the plan to attack Israel. They didn’t know what or how the attack would happen, they just knew it was massive and they knew when. September 1st 8.00 a.m.
After what felt like hours, Sam was eventually patched through to the Head of Shin Bet, Israel’s security service. The phone rang and rang. Sam checked his watch, 9.31 a.m. local time, 8.01 a.m. Israeli time.
Chapter 2
Jerusalem, Israel
September 1st 2007
As the bus drew to a stop, the excitement and trepidation of the small crowd was palpable. Rebecca Cohen’s hand shook as she held on tightly to Joshua. Her body trembled as she fought back the tears. She always knew this day would come. For six years, she had waited for the day that her constant companion, her best friend and confidant would leave her side for the first time. She looked down into the eyes of her son and for the first time, she didn’t see his father looking back. For six years, Joshua had been her savior, her only link to the one man she had ever truly loved. If it were not for Joshua, she would most definitely have given up. His dark eyes glistened with excitement, in just the same way as his father’s had before him. A father whom Joshua would never meet. A father whom he knew about and could be proud of. A man who had died for his country, his people and his beliefs. A man Rebecca had adored and worshipped.
The tears started to flow as the door opened. Rebecca tried desperately hard to hide them. Joshua didn’t like it when Mummy cried. His eyes saddened as he watched the tears run down her cheeks.
“It’s OK Josh, Mummy’s happy. They’re tears of joy,” she lied.
Joshua looked around. It seemed most of the mummies and even a few of the daddies were crying. Even some of his friends were crying. Was there something he didn’t know about? Was there something he should be scared of? No, his mother worshipped him and would never do anything that would upset or harm him. If she wanted him on the bus, it was because it was good for him. He disengaged from his mother’s tightening grip, gave her a final hug, a kiss on the cheek and told her he loved her.
“I love you too, my darling,” replied Rebecca as she watched her son, in his new school uniform, board the bus and run straight to the back to jump onto the backseat. Pressing his face against the window and waving wildly, he shouted ‘I love you!’
As the bus began to pull away, Rebecca’s tears flowed freely. She mouthed ‘I love you too’. The smile on his face exploded into her retina. The initial blast of the explosion took her completely by surprise. The ball of flame engulfed the bus for what seemed like hours before the shockwave hit her. The lasting image of her son waving excitedly as his body was torn to pieces would live with her forever.
Chapter 3
West Jerusalem
The Knesset
Cabinet Room
September 1st 2007
“What in the name of God was that?” shouted the Prime Minister, Chaim Goldman, as the bomb-proof room shook on its foundations.
Most of the cabinet had seen active service at some point in their lives and all instantly knew that the force of the explosion had to be massive or extremely close to have been felt so strongly in one of the most secure rooms in the country. Before anyone could respond, a second and a third shockwave hit the room in quick succession. As the doors to the Cabinet Room flew open, cabinet members drew their weapons and aimed. In the doorway, stood the Sergeant-At-Arms of the Knesset and a group of cabinet bodyguards and senior aides.
Quick to respond and before anyone was shot by accident, the Prime Minister screamed “STOP!!!”
Silence fell and order was restored.
The Prime Minister turned to the Sergeant-At-Arms, the man responsible for Knesset security.
“Avi?”
“A number of large explosions have hit the city. The Knesset is secure, Mr Prime Minister. Lockdown procedures were put in place the moment we heard the first explosion.”
