Ch 12 - Down Memory Lane
Avi Moshe, Director of Mossad's External Operations, European department, was nervous, despite being a trained agent who was not supposed to show feelings; on the contrary he was supposed to control them, to put them in a 'compartment' so that they didn't upset the mission. He wasn't sure if meeting Teresa Mendoza at Ben Gurion Airport qualified as a 'mission'. However, he had told James that time didn't matter and that he didn't need any assistance meeting his former boss; the one for whom he had worked only for a few short months, but for whom he felt deep respect.
Teresa had seen Kelly Anne and Suzie off as their flight to Cape Town had left at noon and had wandered aimlessly around the airport until her evening flight to Tel Aviv had started boarding.
James had called her the previous night and had explained that things had escalated, but they had received unexpected support from former associates. He had been brief and only the information that she needed to fly to Tel Aviv where she would get all the information made her think of his former connections with the Israeli intelligence. She had no idea what to expect but if James wasn't talking details over the phone, and Mossad was involved, she was sure the venture capitalist who had duped Dumas and Chicho had to be a lot more than a simple investor.
Kelly Anne was executing the business separation documents the moment she was back. Pote had not bothered to call her, and Teresa admitted she felt the need to talk to him about anything because their last conversation had not ended well. Tony had not called her either. He had flown to London with the men after their little disagreement over his going. And finally James had been cryptic when he had called and it bugged her. Nothing was wrong, but also nothing felt right!
When it was her turn at the immigration desk and she handed her passport over, the border official asked her to wait and after a minute she was escorted to the back of the hall through a side door. Her heart gave a small blip with anticipation.
They handed her the passport back as a tall man in a suit came out of one of the offices and as he headed towards her, she recognized Avi, who had provided her security detail after James's return to NOLA. He looked older, sported some gray hairs, but had a serious air around him as he extended his hand to her and welcomed her. Teresa couldn't help but smile. This man also had believed she was dead for years and now acted like seeing her was the most natural thing!
Avi led her through the back side where her luggage had been offloaded and was waiting for her. He didn't say much as they mounted in a black SUV, and he cleared the exit for 'Authorized Personnel Only'. Teresa saw armed soldiers several times inside the airport, and when she spotted military vehicles on the street, she couldn't help herself and inquired.
"This is just regular security", Avi said, briefly glancing at her: "Part of life here…we're in constant raised level of alert…an attack of any nature can happen at any time." He sounded calm as if he was telling her that heavy traffic was a daily occurrence in his city. The constant level of raised alert somehow brought Mexico in her mind, and she just closed her eyes for a moment.
The moment passed as Avi got on the highway and finally said: "I suspected James helped fake your death…"
"How?" Teresa got out of her trance.
"I…know what his special military skillset involves…and when I got all the details of your supposed demise…", he stopped himself short and looked at her again. Then continued speaking glancing at the road and back at Teresa. "I'd better tell you myself."
Teresa's forehead wrinkled in a surprised face she couldn't hide: "Tell me what?"
"How I know the details what went down in Belize back then." His voice was mysteriously lower but didn't show signs of anything else.
"Yes!", Teresa realized that none of his men had accompanied her to Belize as she had left James to close up things in NOLA, including her hire of Avi's security company. She couldn't believe James would have kept in contact with anyone after their escape. No, not James, who used to check every door and window twice before they'd go to bed!
"It's not James', Avi was reading her mind and she sighed, almost smiled, and said: "Who then?"
"Samara…Volkova…", Avi's eyes moved back to the road as he added: "I met her when we snatched her in Atlanta…and …ahh…her and I…we stayed in touch…", he was looking for words as Teresa interjected.
"Pote gave her a large sum to get set up somewhere after my 'death' …and we hoped she'd be scared enough to keep away from everything and everyone she met around me!"
"True…she made contact with me in a month…after having tried the disappearing act." His voice sounded lighter as he continued: "She was scared….had been since her uncle poisoned her mother…and I'm happy she called me when she did because she was not well…she had major depression and PTSD issues going on…and I helped her get back on her feet…"
"I see", Teresa mumbled. "Where is she now? Do you keep in touch?"
"She works as an analyst in the foreign intelligence section of Mossad…and as for right now….she's at home with our two sons and guests!" Teresa's head snapped in his direction and as she processed his words, she shook her head and finally smiled: "Well…I'm glad you two ended up together…how did that happen?"
"You and my buddy James…went to NYC to do Finch's bidding…and left her to me to…ahh…comfort her!' he said smiling. She had never seen him smile, and without much thinking she blurted it out.
Avi Moshe laughed, then went on: "When you all came back from NYC, James and Pote had work around town, then James flew to Belize…It was about a week when the coke shipment from Colombia was supposed to come in, right?...You were busy…not leaving the Safe house, going through paperwork…Remember?", he smiled at her, and Teresa smiled back. "Samara…and I…we spent some of this time together…I was heartbroken when she disappeared after your 'death'….but then she came back and that's all that matters!"
"We…were so preoccupied with the plan…with fooling Finch….that I'm not surprised no one noticed…Did you tell James?" Teresa asked.
"Oh yeah!" Avi said. "They met yesterday…She already did some digging into some intel for him…about this Lancaster's company …more precisely with him…in her office…you know how James is…asking non-stop questions about this database and that database!" Teresa could imagine James in Mossad headquarters… being shown new technology and new things, being given access to things!
In another 10 minutes they arrived at a white fence with a guard in a booth. The man nodded at Avi, then opened the gate for them. Light streamed from most windows of the white one story sprawling house and as Teresa got out of the SUV, she saw her son, and another boy his age run after each other and then she heard loud splashes from what appeared to be a huge pool to the side of the house.
She could hear people talking and laughing and before she could comment, Marcel, beer in hand, showed behind the corner. His face was lit by a smile: "There she is! La Jefa! I learned something in Spanish!...How was your flight?"
The evening was just pleasantly warm; the air felt fresh with the flowery smell coming from the garden. The group sat around a table by the pool and ate barbeque that the men competed to attend. Beer and wine flowed, and it did feel relaxing.
Samara hugged Teresa and told her that no explanations were necessary, which Teresa realized felt like a relief. She couldn't really say why she'd feel guilt for having to run and hide, when she had made sure everyone, she had left behind had been well provided for, but somehow the same tightness she had felt when she had seen Marcel, then Chicho at the airport, now had been filling her chest. Samara's warm welcome dissipated the feeling. She looks so much like her mother! Teresa noted and smiled at the memories of her friend Oksana.
She greeted everyone; gave James a peck on the mouth and sat next to him while Samara brought her a glass of chilled white wine. After the fruity liquid caressed her taste buds, she took James's hand under the table and said in response to his look: "I can't begin to thank you for…having talked to Samara about how things went down…back then…". Her voice trembled a little; then James just squeezed her hand gently and said: "I'm always there for you, love! I did the talking and covered all the guilt causing points…you just try the kebab and…let me refill your glass!"
And he got up from his chair to get the bottle from the center of the table. Teresa sighed deeply, feeling centered and in her place. She focused on sipping her wine and paying attention to Avi, who was telling Chicho and Marcel a funny story from the time he and James had worked together for Finch.