“Not anymore.”
Chapter 19
At dusk the next day, Rani stopped by again and gave David a full examination, murmuring to himself as he did so. Eventually he pulled off his stethoscope and placed it into his bag before turning to Jet.
“What’s the prognosis?” she asked.
“He’s healing remarkably quickly. I’d say it’s about time to get his lazy ass out of bed and walking.”
“I’m right here, you know. I can hear both of you. I’m three feet away,” David commented.
“Is there anything he needs to be careful about?”
“He’ll have to take it easy. No running, no lifting anything heavy. But he should be able to handle moderate activity. Everything looks good — no doubt because of the skill of his physician,” Rani said with a grin. “I’ll need to pull the stitches in the next few days, but as long as it’s nothing strenuous he should be up for it.”
“Hello. Am I invisible? Can you hear me out there?” David waved his arms over his head.
Rani turned to him. “Well, my friend, you made it. Try to avoid getting shot in the stomach any more. It’s really cramped my social schedule this week.”
David got serious. “Thanks for everything, Rani. I wouldn’t have survived if you hadn’t taken me in and done this. I know that. I owe you bigger than I can ever say.”
Rani smiled. “Nothing says thank you like pizza. Double cheese, extra sauce. Just as a hint. There’s a good place around the corner from my office. In case you’re wondering, I usually take lunch around one. Tomorrow, maybe a little earlier…”
“Speaking of which, can I eat solid food?” David asked.
“Sure, but stick to fruits and vegetables for another day or so just to give the healing a little more time. I wouldn’t recommend a big filet or a bag of nuts quite yet,” Rani said.
He turned to Jet.
“When will we see you again?” she asked.
“In a couple of days, to pull the stitches. Other than that, there’s no reason for me to intrude on your vacation together.” Rani gave them a knowing look — Jet felt herself blushing.
After Rani had said his goodbyes, she locked the door behind him and moved to the sofa in the living room. David walked into the kitchen, poured a glass of milk, and then joined her.
“So where do you want to go tonight? Dancing?” he asked.
“I was thinking of maybe a nice slow half-hour walk around the neighborhood to get you back on your sea legs.”
“Not as exciting as hitting the discos, but I’ve learned never to argue with a woman.”
“Who has your gun.” She picked it up and peered down the sights at the window. “I think the first order of business tomorrow should be to get ourselves something with more stopping power than this. Don’t get me wrong, I like Glocks, but it’s only one pistol between two people, and I don’t like to share.”
David thought about it.
“I know a guy in Jerusalem. He’s not Mossad. A freelancer. I’ve used him to procure weapons when I needed a deniable source. He specializes in Russian and Israeli military stuff. I’ll give him a call. He has no idea who I am, although I’m sure he suspects I’m not running a candy store. I’ll see what he can get us.”
“That would be a start. And I’ve been thinking about our options. I have an idea. Several ideas, actually. But they’re going to be very risky, and will require luck and money,” Jet said.
David nodded. “I’ve got a few thoughts myself. As to the money, I have just shy of a half million euros in a blind account I use for operational budgets. I can transfer that to another bank, and it will disappear — not that anyone would ever be able to trace it in the first place. That’s the whole point of an off-the-books team. Invisibility.”
“Can you do it online?”
“Absolutely.”
She gestured to the laptop on the dining room table.
“All right. Give me a few minutes, and then I’ll get dressed, and we can go for an evening constitutional.”
Jet went to the bathroom, and on her way back heard laughter from the bedroom.
“What’s so funny?” she asked as she approached from down the hall.
“We should add shopping to our list of things to do tomorrow. Or maybe this evening, if we can find a store around here. I’m afraid Rani’s not quite the same size as me.” David was holding up a shirt that was twice as big as he was.
“That’s the fashion these days. Just wear your baseball hat sideways.”
“At least the blood washed out of my pants. Mostly.” He slipped the shirt on and swiveled, modeling his ensemble.
“I’m not sure I want to be seen with you,” she said, eyeing him skeptically.
“I completely understand why.”
“Do you have any cash? The sooner we can get you some adult clothing, the better. That’s just embarrassing…”
“About a grand. We’ll need to access the bank tomorrow to get money for any weapons we buy.”
“What have you got for ID?”
“We’ll stop by my safety deposit box — I keep a kit there. It uses a hand scanner for access. I have three passports and about thirty grand in dollars. Some credit cards. The usual.”
She nodded. “Is it too late to call your arms dealer tonight? Or does he keep business hours?”
“Let’s go get a burner cell phone. I’d rather not make that call from the house. You have a car? I had to ditch mine after the attack.”
“I rented one for a week. I have it for three more days.”
“Let’s go get it and find me a clothing store, then get a phone. Walking around between stops should be adequate exercise for my first big outing.”
Jet left the house first, scanning the street for anything amiss. It was quiet. She walked to the corner, and soon David joined her. She led him to the car and noticed he winced when he got in.
“You sure you’re up for this?”
“Just a twinge. I’ll be fine. It’s still going to hurt now and then. That’s expected.” He grimaced and gingerly probed his abdomen. “I wouldn’t recommend it as a way to lose weight.”
Within an hour, they had acquired several shirts, a pair of jeans and a cell phone. When they were back in the car, he closed his eyes to focus on the arms dealer’s contact info, then called a number from memory.
“Moshe — it’s Ari. Long time,” David said, using the alias Moshe knew him by. He paused for a few seconds, listening to the response. “Yeah, yeah. So listen, I need some stuff. Are you around tomorrow?” Another pause. “Where? The shop?”
He hung up after another ten seconds.
“Eleven o’clock tomorrow. In Jerusalem,” he informed her.
“Sounds like a date. Now, how courageous are you feeling? You want to hear my idea, or wait till tomorrow. You may not sleep very well once you know what I’m thinking.”
His eyes narrowed. “Is it that bad?”
“Worse.”
“I can always take a sleeping pill.”
“You’ll probably need to take two.”
The drive into Jerusalem the next morning was difficult, the highway clogged with commuters heading into the capital for another day at work. It took longer than they had hoped, but once they were within the city limits, the stream of cars thinned out.
The bank had been open since eight-thirty, and David disappeared inside. Jet watched the pedestrians
