Chapter 1
Early 2000
Tel-Aviv, Israel
"Yes, Father, I can assure you that the mission went smoothly. Yes, I have spoken to Ari. He is at the safe house. Yes, yes. Shalom."
Another mission gone successfully. This time, the target was an Armenian arms dealer; he had held a number of Israelis hostage in his attempts to ferret money from our government to assuage his need for weapons. Needless to say, his passion backfired on him, as we caught him and used his own stockpile to take him down. Just another day, another crime avenged.
I headed for my apartment window, looking down at the busy streets below. It really was not very smart of me to be living so close to all this action, not when I was targeted myself for my job. But I knew how to take care of myself. And if all else failed, I could turn to Ari or, as a last resort, my father.
Ari may have been 10 years older than I, and only my half-brother, but he cared for me more than our father seemed to; Ari had had a rough relationship with our father, and the only reason they spoke was because of our involvement in Mossad, of which our father was Deputy Director. He was all business and it seemed to be expected of us to join up with Mossad once we were old enough. I did not join Mossad because of my father, however; I joined because I wanted to protect my home country, my Israel.
I had not learned my trade simply as a means of protecting Israel's citizens, but as a means of self-protection and self-preservation . . . and to protect my sister. Tali was born 5 years after I, and as such, I felt an instinctive need to shelter her from the corrupt ways of the world. It is silly to believe I would be able to entirely keep her away from the evil invading the country, when it is in fact all around us, every day of our lives, but at least I could attempt to keep her safe from harm.
The townspeople milled around in the plaza floors beneath my gaze, oblivious to the acts of terror planned for the upcoming days. That is my job, preventing those attacks, being proactive in the removal of such threats from the community. I can only hope what I have done already is enough to keep those innocent bystanders just that – innocent.
I returned to my bedroom, shedding my clothes and climbing into bed. I constantly worry for those people in the streets, whether my work has been successful or whether I have failed. If anything terrorist-related happened to any of those people, it was my responsibility. It was my job to protect them, and what good would I be if I could not even do that?
Pushing the destructive thoughts from my head, I allowed myself to fall into a restless slumber.
My phone buzzing relentlessly next to my head woke me a few hours later. I let my eyes drift open and grabbed for it; it was not uncommon to receive orders in the middle of the night.
However, while the voice on the other end of the line was a familiar one, he was not summoning me to work. His voice held a tone of concern, unusual for him, even while speaking with me.
"Ari, what is it? You sound distraught."
His breath hitched; a surefire sign something was amiss. The next words from his mouth were said so bluntly that they seemed like a joke, but a horribly cruel one at that.
"Zivaleh . . . Tali's dead."
