two barriers, speeding up just as a policeman noticed him and blew his whistle. People heard it and turned. Others were startled by the engine noise and moved aside.
He was halfway down when the pounding of horseshoes made him glance back. Two policemen mounted on huffing beasts bore down on him. With one hand, Lemmy pulled off the helmet and tossed it over his shoulder. It hit one of the horses on the snout, causing it to neigh, swerve, and bump the other horse. Lemmy returned his gaze to the front while the noise behind went from huffing and trotting to cursing and shouting.
The blue-and-white skullcap was near the end of the blocked-off street, close to the plaza and the mass of people at the peace rally. Lemmy maneuvered around a group of elderly ladies bearing flags of the Workers Union and circled back, stopping in front of a young man who resembled Haim Adiel. He bumped into the bike, but as Lemmy reached to grab his arm, he stepped back. His face was covered by a film of sweat, which the mild winter night did not merit.
Yoni Adiel turned and ran.
Lemmy rode after him.
He turned into a path that led to the entrance of an apartment building, where the Bonneville leaped over the front step and roared into Yoni, pinning him to the wall. Lemmy leaned forward over the handlebar and punched him hard in the right kidney.
The two policemen showed up, batons at the ready.
“ Sorry about the horses,” Lemmy said as he lowered Yoni to the floor. “This guy is armed and dangerous. Call for reinforcement!”
*
“ They got Spinoza!” Agent Cohen broke into a run down Ibn Gevirol Street, shoving people aside, and turned right into a dense, pedestrian-only street. Gideon followed him close behind. A few policemen were running from the opposite direction.
A narrow path led to an apartment building.
Inside the small lobby, Agent Cohen pushed between the policemen.
Gideon saw a motorcycle. Behind it, a dark-skinned youth was being held facedown by Spinoza, who smiled and said, “There you are. The beauty and the beast.”
Gideon drew his gun, cocked it, leveled it at the Swiss, and pressed the trigger. But the man again acted with swiftness that belied nature as he dodged out of the line of fire and somehow kicked up the motorcycle. The bullet must have hit the gas tank, which burst out in flames and sent everyone running outside.
Agent Cohen yelled, “Don’t let him get away!”
“Not going anywhere,” Spinoza said in perfect Hebrew, appearing next to them, his skinny captive dragged along by the neck. “Your patsy here has switched his blanks for hollow-point bullets. He would have killed Rabin.”
Gideon was already raising his gun, but noticed Agent Cohen’s expression turn into fear as he turned and yelled at the policemen, “Get all the civilians out of here!”
They started pushing back the spectators.
“ Hey!” Gideon pointed to the dark youth Spinoza was holding. “Who’s this guy? What bullets?”
“ It’s his accomplice!” Agent Cohen pointed. “Shoot them both, idiot! Now!”
“He’s framing you,” Spinoza said. “Shin Bet wants to pin everything on SOD in case the assassination scheme goes badly.”
“What scheme?” Gideon turned to the Shin Bet agent. “Didn’t you shut it down?”
Agent Cohen drew his own gun with his left hand and aimed it at Gideon. “Shoot, or I’ll shoot you!”
With a casual flip of the hand, Spinoza knocked the gun from Agent Cohen’s hand. “Shin Bet kept Elie’s operation going,” he said. “But Rabin won’t wear a vest, so they loaded Yoni’s gun with blanks.” He shook the young man, causing his skullcap to fall off. “Right?”
The assassin reached behind his back. “I’m just getting my wallet.” He pulled it and showed them a laminated card. “I have a license to carry a gun everywhere, including into secured zones.”
Spinoza patted him down and found a package stuffed under Yoni’s shirt. “You always carry it like this?” The gun was wrapped in a parchment, but the wax seal was broken in half. He handed it to Gideon. “They had a fake rabbi load it with blanks, recite a blessing, and seal the parchment. But this kid outsmarted them, switched the bullets back to deadly hollow points. Did you recite another prayer over it?”
“Of course,” Yoni Adiel said.
Gideon turned to Agent Cohen. “Is it true?”
“Don’t worry about it.” The Shin Bet agent pointed at Spinoza. “This is the real assassin!”
Drawing a large pistol, Spinoza held it up with two fingers. “This is the only weapon I have-took it from Freckles earlier. It’s an FN Browning, nine millimeters long. No silencer. If I try to shoot Rabin with this, it will make more noise than a Howitzer. I’ll be lynched.”
“But you were in Paris!” Gideon tried to think straight. “You killed Abu Yusef’s boy, caused us to lose Bashir, provoked the synagogue attack-”
“Elie sent me on that job. You know how he operates. Belt and suspenders. I also shadowed you when you were chasing Al-Mazir-those BMW bikes were fast!”
“The blue Porsche?”
Spinoza nodded.
Agent Cohen beckoned a group of men in civilian clothes who appeared out of nowhere. They circled the group in a tight ring.
Gideon lowered his gun. “Who are you?”
“My name is Jerusalem Gerster,” Spinoza said. “Lemmy, for short. I’m the rabbi’s son. Been working undercover for Elie Weiss in Zurich for years.”
“Take him,” Gideon said to the men, pointing at Yoni Adiel. “Only him!”
“Wait a minute,” Agent Cohen protested, “I’m giving the orders here!”
“Not anymore.” Gideon raised his gun and slapped Agent Cohen with the barrel right on the mouth, causing him to fall backwards, blood splattering from his mouth.
Yoni Adiel turned, connecting his wrists behind his back for the handcuffs. He smiled at Gideon-a cold, arrogant smile. As they took him away, he yelled, “Redundancy!”
*
Elie watched as the TV camera followed Prime Minister Rabin. He shook hands with the long-haired singer, who also won a kiss from Mrs. Rabin. Going down the wide stairs to the sterile area, the camera caught Foreign Minister Shimon Peres linger by Rabin’s car on the opposite side.
A reporter asked the prime minister whether he intended to accept opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s invitation to discuss the rising level of political violence. Rabin’s smile disappeared. “It would be stupid, naive, for me to meet with him. Why should I? I’m tired of the hypocrisy of the Likud. They speak against violence, but support it. One day Netanyahu leads a rally while his supporters are calling for my death, another day he wants to meet with me. It’s the epitome of hypocrisy!”
The camera backed away as the silver-haired mayor came over to introduce one of the organizers. The prime minister’s wife, Leah Rabin, effusively thanked them for the most successful political rally in the country’s history.
Meanwhile Rabin paused and extended his hand to the cameraman. “And thank you as well,” the prime minister said. The picture jittered with their handshake.
*
Lemmy almost felt sorry for Elie’s young agent. Gideon’s face reflected utter confusion as he began to realize how Agent Cohen had used him to further a devious agenda that could have led to an unintended real assassination of the prime minister. “Can you believe their stupidity,” Gideon said, “trusting the prime minister’s life to blanks and parchment?”
“ It could have worked,” Lemmy said.
“ He wanted me to shoot you,” Gideon said, “one SOD agent killing the other, or better yet, we shoot each other simultaneously, providing a perfect cover story in case something went wrong with their scheme-which it would have! That’s why Yoni said-”
“ Redundancy?” Lemmy considered it for a moment. “No. I don’t think he was talking about us.”
