Jonathan de Shalit: Traitor

He dozed off for a few minutes and awoke with a start. He was struggling to come to terms with the fact that everything in Israel was over for him. He was familiar with Moscow from his business activities, and knew you could live there like a king, provided you had sufficient money. And that he had. But what would he be there? Who would know him, who’d request his counsel, who would seek his company? He tried not to wallow in self-pity and reassured himself that he only needed to get through the coming days, the weeks ahead, and things would begin to fall into place. Brian would look after him. Brian and the huge organization behind him. They knew what he’d done for them. They wouldn’t let him sink. And Martin, perhaps they’d give Martin back to me. Maybe he could see him again. Now they could be friends, now that all those years of that secret war were behind them. He downed the shot of whisky he had poured for himself in one gulp, feeling the burning in his throat and the comforting warmth spreading in his chest. His eyes filled with tears, and he allowed them to wash over his face. He closed his eyes again and fell asleep. He’ll take a walk down Manne Street in the evening once again, just to see if they happened to have left a sign there for him.

TEL AVIV, APRIL 2013

“Listen, Aharon,” Ya’ara said to him after they had sat down in the other room and closed the door. “I think there’s only one way to end this affair. We both clearly know what can’t be allowed to happen. Cobra can’t be allowed to get away. The affair has to remain under wraps. Not only would it cause terrible embarrassment, but it would also undermine the trust between ourselves and our most important allies. If one of the Israeli prime minister’s closest aides can’t be trusted, then we can’t be trusted at all. No one else can be allowed into the loop. We have to remain the only ones in the know. And no investigation team from the Shin Bet either. And we also don’t have much time. I can sense it. So that means there’s only one way out. Cobra has to be thwarted.” She went quiet for a moment. “Forgive me,” she then continued. “I have to say it straight. Cobra has to be killed. There’s no other way.”

Aharon looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.

“How old are you, Ya’ara? Remind me.”

“I’m thirty-three, but that has nothing to do with what we’re talking about. Let Aslan and me end this story right now.”

“Listen to me, Ya’ara,” Aharon said. “We need Cobra alive, not dead. I despise him no less than you do. But we have to clarify a certain matter with him and find out for certain if he’s passed on information regarding this matter to his handlers. It’s critical, a directive I received from the state president himself. So I don’t agree with your proposal. I have reservations about it for other reasons, too, but we’re not going to get into a philosophical debate right now. I am not going to sanction your proposed course of action.”

Ya’ara listened but her face remained expressionless.

“Did you understand what I just said?” Aharon asked.

“I understood very well. But you’re wrong.”

“Listen, Ya’ara. This isn’t a Godfather movie or the Wild West, and we aren’t a gang of outlaws or mobsters. And there’s a hierarchy here, too, even in our unofficial team.”

“Aharon, Cobra is going to get away. I know it. I know how he feels and what he is going to do. This is what I would do. I would act quickly, cut my losses and get the hell out of here. You always taught us to be one step in front of our adversaries. So we must act swiftly. This is what my instincts tell me to do. And all my field training and my field experience. I know the streets, Aharon. And I can imagine how Cobra feels now. He is surrounded, he is under imminent threat and he will try to flee. He is going to slip between our fingers if we don’t act now. Without hesitation. He will disappear, and all you’ve said is going to remain merely theoretical. We need to be very aggressive. We must act quickly and decisively. Perhaps,” she added contemplatively, without masking an element of audacity that was somewhat out of character, “perhaps you and Michael, who adores you, have lost it. Have gone soft.”

Aharon’s face paled in anger. “Who are you to teach me about being tough and decisive? The subject’s closed. You can go now, and for your own good—I’m going to try to forget we ever had this conversation.”

Ya’ara knew she was right. She respected Aharon, but she was sure he was wrong. Whatever information he was hoping to get out of Cobra, he just didn’t have the time. She actually felt the Russian escape plan being put into motion. If she, or one of her fellow operatives, was cornered, in danger of being apprehended, they would execute the emergency protocols immediately, without hesitation. Quick, decisive reaction, this was what professionalism required. And there was no reason to think that the SVR was not as professional as the best of them. Cobra was in imminent danger and they were going to get him out. Unless she was faster than they were. Unless she unleashed her fury without hesitation.

Army Radio was the first to carry the report, which was the third item on the list on the midnight news. “Businessman Alon Regev, a close confidant of the prime minister, was killed this evening in a hit-and-run accident nearby the community of Nitzan, north of Ashkelon. Regev was driving a sports car and appears to have been hit by a truck, which fled the scene. An investigation into the incident is under way, according to a statement from the Israel Police’s Southern District.”

TEL AVIV, APRIL 2013

They had assembled again in the apartment. Everyone but Ya’ara.

Aharon looked at them one by one: Michael, Adi, Amir, and Aslan. “This won’t take very long,” he said.

Amir opened the window and the smell of blossoms drifted into the room along with the noises of the city. Aharon gestured for him to shut the window again.

“I want to thank you for the good work you’ve done,” Aharon said. “For your willingness. Your dedication. We were given a job to do and we came through. And it’s time now for each of us to return to what we were doing before. Life didn’t come to a halt. We simply took a break. Those of you who still need to be reimbursed for expenses can arrange that with Amir. Michael, I want you to be responsible for ensuring that all material related to the operation is destroyed. Including Adi’s computer.” He paused. “If anyone ever happens to question you about the Cobra affair, you obviously don’t know what he or she is talking about. Total denial. If it’s someone official, on behalf of the state, refer him to me. Only to me. Without saying a word.”

“That’s it?” Adi asked. “We’re wrapping things up just like that? Without discussing what happened?” Her eyes filled with tears.

Michael put his hand on her shoulder. “Adi. Not now. We’ll talk about it. You and me.”

“Yeah, sure, we’ll talk.” The tears streamed down her cheeks. “But it can’t end like this. Aharon’s thanking us for the good work but we all know things got out of control at the end. We were supposed to have questioned Cobra, and we failed. He slipped out of our grasp and also managed very conveniently to get himself killed on the way. And I don’t buy that accident story. Where’s Ya’ara? Why isn’t she here? What did she say to you here, Aharon, after our previous meeting?”

“You’re upset, Adi. I get it,” Aharon said. “And yes, it didn’t end exactly as we had planned. I didn’t tell you that, but the state president called me last night, at about one-thirty. He told me that his military secretary informed him of Alon Regev’s death in a car accident. He asked me if I know anything about it. And truthfully I said I didn’t. Adi, we did not plan it this way, but we achieved a great deal, and you played a very big part in that. We exposed a spy who caused us terrible damage, and it’s over now. And sometimes an accident is simply an accident, even if it appears to be an improbable coincidence.”