“The computer of the guy in charge of security?”
“Exactly. Like I said, I’m more interested in what he is hiding, so with him it I knew it would be more challenging. Everything was locked with passwords, but nothing too sophisticated. In the end, I managed to decipher the codes and to get into his photo files. His personal pictures were from lots of different places all over the world. He also took pictures with men holding ammunition and firearms, and all sorts of wild parties. There was a photo of him with a stunning woman. They sat on a couch and on the table opposite them were white lines, which I believe were drugs… As I saw it, the data on his computer was much more interesting than the others. Then I went through the rest of his library and found an Excel file. Most of the files were simple to open, and not encrypted, but this one was password protected, so it intrigued me the most.”
“And you cracked the code?”
“It wasn’t really hard. It wasn’t too sophisticated.”
“The regular 12345?” I smiled. That would be the first thing I would try.
“No-o-o. A bit more difficult than that.” Jonathan smiled. “The sophisticated combination of 13579.” He rubbed his eyes. He was clearly tired. “And then the list opened up. The sort of list that got my attention, so I dug into it a bit more.”
“What drew your attention and how did you dig deeper?”
“Abbreviated words such as RPG.” He smiled, eyes shut, and said, “At first I thought the meaning referred to an IBM computer program, but the rest didn’t match anything, except firearms. And then I thought it was about a computer game, but then what would an Excel file have to do with a computer game? In the end I realized that this is the real thing, so I thought that you’d find it interesting, since you were a combat soldier and would surely know.”
Jonathan was right. I was a combat soldier and it did interest me. “Rocket Propelled Grenades against tanks and not only tanks.” As he said it, I could hear the whoosh of the rocket pulling out of the pipe and the rolling thunder it sent echoing across on the plains. I could feel the vehicle sway as the rocket flew above it, blowing up a mere half meter away. I could hear the controlled tension in the voice of the commander when he gave the command to hit the launchers. “It is an abbreviation that also catches my attention,” I noted. I also felt the recognizable shiver that ripples down one’s spine when red alert goes off. “What did you do with the list?”
He said, “What one does with anything of interest that one finds in the network -- I saved it in a secret file in the cloud.”
“Do you remember other abbreviations you saw?”
“I think I saw SR-25…” He hesitated. “Or was it ST…” Jonathan’s voice trailed off.
“Most probably it‘s SR…” I said quietly, “It’s a sniper rifle with a relatively fast fire rate.”
“Did you use it during your army service?’
“I wasn’t a sniper, but as a naval commander fighter, I have had the chance to practice with it a few times. Let’s get back to the abbreviations you saw there.”
“DSR with some sort of number next to it that I can’t remember now,” he added sleepily. “We were up all night.” Once again I glanced over at my nephew. His head lolled against the car door and his eyes were closed. “It’s okay… go to sleep.” I said, mostly to myself, because he didn’t reply.
The DSR 1 was bad news. It was a German sniper rifle considered to be one of – if not the most -- accurate of them all. Its firing range reaches a kilometer and a half, making it fatal, and the sniper who uses it invisible. Its light weight and short barrel, along with a cartridge that fits in the front rather than the middle of the firearm, made it easy for soldiers to carry or run toward a target. This firearm, like the others Jonathan had mentioned on the list, was a modular piece, meaning that its barrel could be adjusted depending on the circumstances. I hadn’t fired it many times, but the few I had, I’d found it to be accurate. Extremely accurate.
I wanted to know what else was on that list and asked myself who this person was collecting all these firearms for expert snipers. Who was he planning to harm without getting caught? I knew that one could easily add a telescopic lens, silencer and night vision to both of the rifles mentioned. The list Jonathan had discovered intrigued me for many reasons, and especially because of the German rifle -- less than a year ago sniper rifles had been stolen from a factory in Germany. Outside of the thief and the factory managers, no one knew exactly how many rifles had been stolen. That theft turned this death list into something viable, which I didn’t like at all.
Any exchange of firearms interests the state of Israel, and particularly the Mossad. Was the fact that I had already said goodbye to the agency, and was considering changing professions, supposed to prevent me from investigating the subject? I knew the answer was unequivocal. Even though, according to HR, I was on vacation, I was still a Mossad agent, and as such, I couldn’t let this lead go, a lead that may turn into something much more complicated than perhaps it seemed.
***
“I want it to be clear that forging documents and lying about your age is a criminal offense, and I need you to promise me here and now that you won’t do it again.”
Jonathan raised his hand in a scouts honor and looked down, but only for a second. Enough for me to understand that he was sorry for what had happened, but sorry mostly because he had been caught in the
