They ate while Arik Einstein sang on the radio, “How did you leave me, friend?”
“Here,” Agent Cohen handed him a bunch of napkins.
“Thanks.” Gideon wiped his lips and chin. “This is yummy!”
“Tastes like home, ah?”
“ It does.”
“ My wife made it. She’s from Yemen-they make the best humus. I told her it’s for a friend who’s been out of Israel for too long.”
“ It’s delicious. Give her my compliments.”
“ I will.” The Shin Bet officer put the last piece of pita bread in his mouth. He pushed the glass of orange juice across the table. “I squeezed it myself. Drink before the vitamins evaporate.”
Gideon sipped the cold juice. “Good.”
“Thought you’d appreciate it.” Agent Cohen sat back and patted his belly. “I hear you want to join Mossad?”
“Who told you?”
“ Mossad is a bunch of snobs. You’re lucky they turned you down-you’d be away all the time, snooping around Europe, paying informants for worthless info.” Cohen bunched up the food wrappings on the table. “Shin Bet is a different story. You could have fun right here in Tel Aviv.”
“ How do you know of my interest in Mossad? Have you eavesdropped on Tanya Galinski?”
“We do whatever it takes to keep VIPs safe.”
“ Including the arrest of agents of other secret services?”
“ SOD is a one-man show, and the curtain just came down on its last performance. However, we could use your skills and experience.”
“I’m flattered.”
“ So?”
“ Why don’t you tell me what’s going on? Put everything on the table. I won’t tell anyone, okay?”
“I’m not worried about that.” Agent Cohen leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “Here’s what we know: Your former boss, Elie Weiss, has active assets in the extreme right wing, some kind of an agent-provocateur operation that has attracted a group of followers. They see themselves as Torah warriors under the acronym ILOT. We’ve had our eye on this SOD operation for a while.”
“ How?”
Cohen shrugged. “A few of them used to serve in our VIP Protection Unit. We’ve kept an eye on them. In fact, the ringleader still works for us-incognito, of course.”
“ How convenient.”
“ At first we liked this ILOT business. The roots of SOD, back in the sixties, were in planting moles in ultra- Orthodox communities, such as Neturay Karta, to watch for signs of brewing militancy against the secular Israeli society. In fact, we copied the methods Weiss had developed for the Shin Bet’s own Jewish Department. But he wasn’t supposed to continue operating in this area. We figured that he was so obsessed with the risk of Jewish civil war that he was keeping his eye on it, basically doing our job for us and paying for it from his secret stash.”
“ So what spooked you?”
“ A couple of weeks ago, Elie Weiss met with Prime Minister Rabin.”
“ You guys eavesdrop on the prime minister also?”
“ We’re his bodyguards. We have video and sound surveillance on him at all times. Our operational assumption is that every meeting could turn into an assassination attempt. Anyone is a potential attacker. Anyone! ”
“ Including his wife?”
“ Especially his wife.”
They laughed, the tension released temporarily.
“ Is Rabin aware of your exemplary diligence?”
“ He’s a big picture kind of a guy. He doesn’t tell us how to protect him, and we don’t tell him how to run the country.” Agent Cohen smirked. “Anyway, Elie made a proposal to the prime minister.”
“ Tit for tat?”
“ An exchange of favors. Big favors. We felt it was inappropriate and took steps to investigate. Do you know what I’m talking about?”
“No idea. I’ve been in Paris, chasing Arab terrorists.”
“You don’t know anything about Elie’s grand plans? His political schemes?”
“No idea.” It was the truth, but Gideon could tell that his interrogator didn’t believe him. “You don’t really know Elie Weiss, do you?”
“Only the myths,” Agent Cohen said. “And our surveillance in the past few weeks.”
That was shocking news. Had Shin Bet watched them in Paris? “Do you realize how dangerous he is?”
“Weiss? He is a pathetic old man. An archeological joke.”
“A joke?” Gideon picked a crumb from the table and held it up as if there was something interesting about it. “Even now, as sick as he is, Elie Weiss could kill you before you had enough time to wipe the smirk off your face.”
“Not anymore.” Reaching under his jacket, Agent Cohen pulled out Elie’s blade in its leather sheath.
“Without the blade he would only make your death more painful. You’re better off giving it back to him.”
The expression on Agent Cohen’s face went from smug to wary. But the tone of his voice remained businesslike. “Have you trained with any of the local SOD agents? Have you met any of them?”
“I only knew Bathsheba. And I’d like to attend her funeral, by the way.”
“Sorry. She was buried last night in Jerusalem.” He raised a hand to stop Gideon’s protests. “She received a soldier’s burial. Family members attended, a representative from the defense ministry gave a moving eulogy, and six Shin Bet agents lowered the coffin. A very respectable ceremony, I assure you.”
Gideon got up and went to the window. “A tragic ending to a tragic life.”
“Elie mentioned to Rabin something about money. He claimed to have unlimited funds. Do you know anything about it?”
“Elie is a good liar.”
“True,” Agent Cohen said. “Have you been to Zurich with him?”
“Why Zurich?”
“He’s got some business there, we’re not sure what. Do you know?”
It was a trick question, Gideon realized. They must have followed him when he had made the call to the Hoffgeitz Bank. “I think he maintains an account there. It’s standard procedure. Switzerland is a good place to keep money. Didn’t Rabin’s wife once maintain an illegal account there?”
“That was in New York.”
“ Oh.”
“ Which bank did Elie use?”
Now he was sure Agent Cohen knew the answer. So he told him. “The Hoffgeitz Bank. I’ve never been there, but Elie mentioned the name.”
“Interesting. We’ll follow up on it.”
“ In Switzerland? Aren’t you limited to domestic investigations?”
“ What do you want us to do? Refer it to Mossad?” Cohen laughed as if the idea was ridiculous.
“ That’s exactly what the law requires, doesn’t it?”
“ The law doesn’t exactly permit the activities SOD has recently engaged in-shooting people on French roads, making people swallow explosives in seedy hotels, and so on. You could be prosecuted as a murderer, you know?”
“ I know an unsubtle threat when it hits me in the face.”
“ That’s right. And if you insist on an answer, it’s simple. The VIP Protection Unit is tasked with pursuing any and all potential threats to the prime minister’s safety. We may conduct our investigational operations anywhere.”
“ Including overseas?”
“ Including outer space, if needed.” Agent Cohen gathered the napkins and empty plastic cups into the bag and walked to the door. “Which is the reason my offer still stands. If you cooperate fully with our investigation, we’ll
