secluded and extremely secure with only two points of entry. The main gate and a set of stairs that led up from a private beach to the main house some 50 meters up the cliff. His men had used a boat and gone as near as they dare without being spotted. An eight-foot gate protected the entry point at the beach. The whole perimeter was surrounded by a security wall topped with razor wire. Its owner was a wealthy Arab, not on any watch lists, well, until then, of course. His name was Yousif Fayyad.
“Jesus, all sounds a bit extreme.”
“Actually it’s fairly standard down here. Most of these villas sit empty for eleven months of the year. Burglars used to have a field day but not anymore.”
“So what’s the plan?” asked Sam.
“Simple, we’re going to walk right up to the front door and invite ourselves in.”
Sixty minutes later and after securing some handguns from the team on site, Rebecca and Sam, wearing shorts and t-shirts, did exactly that.
Rebecca rang the bell next to the gate and waited for an answer. It never came. She knew Deif was still there. She rang again and again, making it clear she wasn’t leaving.
“What?” came the gruff voice in very poor French.
Rebecca had spotted the camera and knew she was being watched. “Yousif, it’s me, I thought I saw you were there,” she answered in perfect Palestinian Arabic.
“Yousif is not here, I am a friend,” he continued to speak in French.
“A friend of Yousif, is a friend of mine! I am Noor, buzz me in. Yousif always lets us use his pool,” she switched to French with an Arabic accent.
“I’m sorry, I’m busy,” replied Deif, again keeping to French.
“That’s OK, we’ll be quiet, I promise.”
“Look, I’m very sorry but I’m very busy.”
“Well I’m just going to stay here until you let us in.”
Sam was embarrassed at her persistence and that was despite knowing why they were there.
Deif gave in and hit the buzzer. He didn’t want to attract attention and if she kept up her theatrics that was exactly what she was going to do. He didn’t want to kill one of Yousif’s friends; particularly one so cute but he had no choice. He had warned them but their persistence was their downfall. He could not be exposed. He’d deal with those two idiots and move to one of his alternative safe houses. Italy was just as nice this time of year, he thought. He walked towards the door and held it open slightly. The silenced pistol was hidden by the door. As soon as they got inside, he’d kill them.
She really was very beautiful he thought. Yousif was going to be very pissed off. He had always liked the ladies and could imagine this one was one of his favorites. Both laughed and joked as they neared the house. Deif actually felt quite guilty as he began to open the door to Yousif’s friends who were just looking to laze by a beautiful pool.
If he had to tell you what happened next, he’d swear he had no idea. One moment he was opening the door and preparing to shoot the two as they walked in and the next, he was lying on the floor, his arm most obviously broken as the pain and angle of his elbow joint proclaimed.
It had been quite simple. As they neared the door, Rebecca had begun to remove her t-shirt, catching Deif’s attention. Sam launched himself at the door and smashed through it and Deif like a tornado. Deif crashed to the floor and landed on his arm in a most unnatural position, instantly blacking out as the pain overwhelmed his nervous system.
He woke up to find his arm hanging limply and the pain searing through him. The very beautiful woman was staring at him with nothing short of absolute rage and it seemed was being restrained with some difficulty by the man. Deif was in trouble, a great deal of trouble.
Chapter 55
Port of Haifa, Israel
Saul kicked off his boots and sat back in his chair. He had refused to work late. He needed to be home that evening. His daughter was coming over with their granddaughter and they had not seen nor heard from them since the blackout. All communications had now been out of action for a week. His wife normally spoke to his daughter twice a day. To say she was looking forward to the visit would have been an understatement and something Saul had been assured by his wife, in a tone that left no room for maneuver, he did not want to miss.
Saul had heard snippets from other dock workers that the blackout was not just in the Haifa area, contrary to what the police and army had informed them. Rumor was spreading that it was in fact the whole of Israel that had no communications. His daughter worked for the Intelligence Department and he was very keen to know what her take was on the situation. If anything untoward was really going on, she would know. Only that day, Saul had talked to one of the truck drivers, something the army were keen to avoid but when you’ve got to go to the bathroom, you’ve got to go! He had told Saul that Tel-Aviv was also blacked out, no phones, TV, radio, nothing. He said it was like living in the 1800s. So it was confirmed, Haifa was not on its own. If Tel-Aviv was out, the rumors about the whole country were probably true. Saul began to piece everything together. The massive increase in work at the docks, the total lack of communications across the country, the lack of food. They weren’t heading for war, he thought, they were already at war! He prayed for his sons and wondered if they were even alive.
He watched and waited for the door to open but nothing. His daughter and granddaughter never arrived. They couldn’t call to check where they were. They couldn’t contact the hospitals or police to find out if she was OK. They just sat there and at midnight, turned out the light and went to bed. Neither slept. His wife cried into her pillow while Saul grieved for his perhaps already dead sons.
At 2 a.m., both were startled by a knock at the door. Saul feared the worst. His worst nightmare had come true. He rushed to the door pulling on his dressing gown and undid the dead bolt. A key turned on the other side and his daughter stood in front of him.
“Jesus, Dad, you don’t need a bloody deadlock. What’s the point of me having a key if you deadbolt the door?”
Saul reached out to hug his daughter but was unceremoniously shoved out of the way by his wife who, on hearing her daughter’s voice careered towards her, arms outstretched. After almost squeezing the life out of her, she set about preparing her a plate of food for her “too skinny” daughter who wasn’t looking after herself properly.
Satisfied that her daughter was not dying from anorexia and getting all of the news on her grand-daughter, she eventually let Saul find out the news on what was happening to the country.
“I’m afraid I know very little,” she said, trying to answer her father’s tirade of questions which all came down to two — what was happening and was there any news on her brothers? “Every day we go through a list of action plans, it’s like some massive project. We each have very specific duties and none of us know what the others are doing but the workload is massive. I didn’t get finished until gone midnight tonight and I’m due back at 6.00 a.m. It really is crazy.”
“And your brothers?” prompted Saul.
“They’re fine,” she answered nonchalantly. She was more interested in unloading her issues. “My department’s moving in the next day or so. We don’t know where to yet, maybe one of those new fancy buildings in Jerusalem.”
“What? The whole department?”
“Yep, in fact we’re the last ones left. All five floors below us are now empty.”
“It seems everyone is moving!” blurted Saul’s wife.
Both looked at her. “What do you mean?” asked Saul.
“The supermarket. Every day I go. It’s the only way to get food. Anyway, every day, the line is shorter and shorter. When I ask where so and so is, I just get a ‘oh they moved away’ but nobody ever knows where!”
Saul looked at his daughter in search of an answer but she simply shrugged her shoulders adding. “I’m stuck inside an office all day long. People are in their beds when I go to work and when I get home.”
