Avraham Azrieli - The Jerusalem Assassin

Rabbi Gerster glanced over his shoulder. Itah was halfway down the hallway, approaching fast. “The poor yid. And he’s not even forty.”

“ Oh!” The guard was relieved. “Our guy is an old fart.”

“ He sure is,” the other one said.

Itah’s gurney was rattling on the floor, closing in.

“ I’m sorry,” Rabbi Gerster said, pulling out a piece of paper. “Must be another room. You should have seen our patient. Not only his intestines. Also tumors from here.” He gestured at his neck. “Big chunks. And here too.” He tapped his buttocks. “His whole rectum had to be carved out. Riddled with AIDS. Practically rotting away.”

“ Yuk!” The two guards grimaced.

“ Ah! Here’s his nurse!” Rabbi Gerster half-turned toward Itah. “Where is he?”

“ What’s left of him,” Itah said, “is in recovery.” She patted the icebox. “And all this is going to the incinerator-lumps and lumps, chopped off, and all the blood he has lost, full of AIDS. Highly contagious!” She arrived fast, and at the last minute pretended to trip on something, yelped, and swiveled the gurney around, causing the icebox to tip over. Its contents emptied onto the guards’ desk in a torrent of red blood, cascading fleshy chunks, and slithering intestines. The momentum sent much of the gory mess across their desk, over their books and papers, and onto their chests and into their laps.

*

“ Almost twenty-three billion dollars.” Lemmy took a deep breath. “One big account, inactive for fifty years. That’s why Herr Hoffgeitz and Gunter have been so anxious.”

“ It’s incredible,” Christopher said. “What now?”

“ Sign out of the account and wait for further instructions from me. I’m going to Jerusalem to speak with E.W.” He hung up and turned to watch Tanya. She looked up and down the street, searching for him. Was it a coincidence that she reappeared in his life just as he was gaining access to the fortune left by her Nazi lover in a dormant account for five decades? The account was larger than the annual budget of some countries. Twenty-three billion dollars! Was this just a twist of fate or was she lying to him?

Tanya stood by the arched bridge, observing the traffic of pedestrians and cyclists. Her composure didn’t lend itself to coincidences. There was only one logical explanation for her sudden appearance in Zurich. She wanted Koenig’s blood money. She had admitted to a long feud with Elie, and this was the final round-she had locked Elie up in Jerusalem and headed to Zurich to grab hold of the Nazi fortune! And if she had lied to Lemmy about the reason for coming to Zurich, she must have lied about the rest. The man hiding behind the chess board and the whole story about Shin Bet had been a show, put up for Lemmy’s benefit, to confuse him, trick him into trusting her as they escaped together so that he would hand over Koenig’s account to her.

Lemmy picked up the receiver and dialed. A tram rattled by, its bell tolling to ward off cyclists and pedestrians, hiding her from him. When the tram cars reached the next street corner, he saw Tanya step into the green phone booth and pick up the receiver.

“It’s me,” Lemmy said.

“ You’re late.”

“ I was on the phone with my assistant in Zurich. We managed to penetrate the most secret account at the Hoffgeitz Bank.” Sweat dripped down his forehead, but he had to keep on his fedora, especially with the security camera so close. “It belonged to Klaus von Koenig.”

“After all these years. Klaus was very good at his job, but he was also a romantic.” Her tone was endearing, almost longing. “There must be an incredible amount of money in the account by now, after so many years of appreciation.”

“You’d think.” Lemmy stepped as close to the glass doors as the cord permitted and surveyed the street in both directions. If he was right about Tanya, there would be a whole Mossad team waiting to pounce on him.

“What do you mean?”

“ Life’s full of surprises.” Sure enough, at the top of the arched bridge, a young woman in a knitted cap leaned on her bicycle by the railing, sipping from a coffee mug. Near her stood an older man, who wore sunglasses despite the cloudy day, pretending to watch the ducks in the canal. “I was also expecting a large balance.”

“And?”

“It’s disappointing.” In the opposite direction, where the street leveled out, lined with small shops, Lemmy saw another couple, also pretending to ignore each other, both smoking as they examined window displays. “Seems like my father-in-law made some foolish investments in the seventies, then lost a great deal on Black Monday in eighty-seven.”

“ There must be a lot left though, right?”

“ Less than a thousand dollars,” Lemmy lied, watching Tanya for her reaction. “The account’s practically empty.”

*

The two guards screamed and sprang from their chairs. One of them doubled over and vomited. The other tried to shake off a length of intestine that had hooked on his belt. He moaned as if he’d lost the ability to speak coherently.

“Oh, my God!” Itah shoved the gurney against the wall and pointed at the staircase at the end of the hallway. “Run! Second floor! Biohazard showers!”

The two of them stumbled toward the double doors.

“Strip down and scrub everything!” Itah ran ahead of them and opened both doors. “Quick! Before the virus gets in your system!”

They were cursing as they ran down the stairs. Itah let the doors close. She grinned and motioned at Rabbi Gerster to get into the room while she dealt with the nurses, who were rushing over. “Don’t worry,” he heard her yell, “just a little accident.”

Inside the room, Elie was already out of the bed. He removed the oxygen line from his nose and took off his hospital gown.

Rabbi Gerster emptied the plastic bag on the bed. “Put those on.” He gestured at the long-sleeve dress, a woman’s headscarf, shoes, and sunglasses.

Elie dressed and sat in a wheelchair, panting hard.

Itah distracted the nurses while the rabbi wheeled Elie out of the room and down the hallway. With all the commotion going on, no one paid attention to the little old woman in the wheelchair and the white-bearded man.

Downstairs, a line of taxis waited at the circular driveway outside the hospital’s lobby. By the time Elie was settled in the back seat and the wheelchair was secure in the trunk, Itah showed up.

“Take us to the YMCA,” Rabbi Gerster told the driver. “Near Agron Street.”

As the driver began to ease away from the pavement, a white sedan raced down the access road and came to a screeching halt perpendicular to the pavement, blocking the taxi. Its doors flew open, and four men jumped out.

*

“ It’s impossible!” Tanya’s voice was sharp, angry. “There’s no way! How could he lose everything?”

“Armande likes to spend,” Lemmy speculated. He noticed the man on the bridge speak to the woman while keeping his face toward the canal, his lips barely moving.

“ It wasn’t his money to spend.”

“ With Koenig gone, why shouldn’t he?”

Tanya stood inside the phone booth, her hand pressed against her forehead. “I don’t believe it. Israel needs this money.”

“ I’m sorry if you’re disappointed.”

“ That’s an understatement!” With the constant noise of people and bicycles around her, Tanya must have missed the sarcastic tone of his voice. “Did he move funds to another account? There must be a record!”

Lemmy was tired of lying to her. Tanya’s reaction had already confirmed his suspicions. It was obvious she had come for the money. “Is your team ready to grab me?”

“ What team?”

“ Take me to a safe house? Drug me up for the interrogation?”