Adam Palmer - The Boudicca Parchments

He well knew the old classic film noir scenario in which the innocent man stumbles on the corpse only to be accused of murder. The natural reaction was to run. But he was an adult and he had to keep his thought processes within the realm of a man’s estate. The feet might be attached to a dead body, but it could equally have been something innocent, like a tramp taking refuge in an abandoned house and oversleeping after a heavy night’s boozing. He had to know, before he did anything rash. So he took a couple of steps towards the chest and what lay partially obscured behind it.

But as he was about to take his third step, something arrested his movement. For in that instant he became aware of an unpleasant smell. Not a rotting or decaying corpse. But still a strong pungent smell.

It was the smell of petrol.

And before he could process the information any further, there was a sound from outside and movement in his peripheral vision as a burning object seemed to fly overhead. It landed near him and there was a loud, deep roar of air, as the house went up in flames. He made a dash for the door, but tripped and as he tried to get up, he started coughing and choking from the smoke and fumes.

He was amazed at how quickly the effect took hold of him. But this wasn’t just a fire: it was a fire started deliberately and aided by an accelerant. Though his mind was sharp enough to understand this, his body — wracked by the smoke-induced choking spasm in his throat — lacked the resilience to do anything about it. He could hardly keep his eyes open and his head was spinning as the blackness descended upon him.

In a windowless room at the Mossad’s headquarters in the coastal town of Herzliya, a beep alerted David (“Dovi”) Shamir to the fact that a message had just arrived. Dovi, in his late thirties, was a man of southern Mediterranean appearance. His mother had been Iraqi and his father of German-Polish extraction. They had met in the army during the Six-Day War, when Dovi’s father had served in the unit that liberated the eastern areas of Jerusalem, including the Old City, from which Jews and Israelis had been excluded for the previous nineteen years.

Formerly a field operative in the Kidon department of the Mossad, Dovi was now a desk officer. Kidon specialized in assassinations, working in small teams. But Dovi’s preference for flexibility led to him being re-assigned to work as a single operative. Successful at first, he was compromised in an anti-terrorist operation in which he successfully executed a terrorist who was planning a major operation in London. The execution itself was implemented flawlessly and the terrorists’ plan to blow up the sunken wreck of a second world war munitions ship was thwarted. But Dovi’s face was captured on the terrorist’s webcam and he was now known to the enemy.

He had considered cosmetic surgery to alter his appearance — as the infamous terrorist Leila Khaled had done after she hijacked a TWA plane — so that she could resume her terrorist activities. In her case it had worked. She subsequently managed to board and initiate a hijacking of an El AL plane. But her efforts were thwarted by the bravery of the pilot — who refused to capitulate — and by El Al Security, who killed her terrorist partner and took Khaled alive, only to see her released by British Prime Minister Edward Heath as a collaborationist goodwill gesture towards the terrorists.

In the end, Shamir decided that cosmetic surgery could not be relied upon, so he retired to the back office. But he secretly missed the cut and thrust of field work.

He clicked on the eMail, keyed in his decryption key and saw the unencrypted eMail seconds later on the screen.

Intercept transcript — 5 August, 2012 — 1:30 IST

Call initiator(s): “Sam Morgan” (self-identified, see below) [no file or details]

Initiator locus: Ashford, Herts, Great Britain

Initiator phone: Cell phone +44 7535 330 560

Call respondent(s): Shalom Tikva (AKA “HaTzadik”) [on file]

Respondent locus: Me’ah She’arim, Jerusalem

Respondent phone: +972 2 681 3660

Reason(s): 1) Respondent on SHaBaK watch list for monitoring.

2) Conversation references subject (“Daniel Klein”) on watch list of Dovi Shamir.

FULL TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS:

SHALOM TIKVA: Hallo.

SAM MORGAN: It’s Morgan [PAUSE] Sam Morgan.

SHALOM TIKVA: I know. Why are you calling me at this time?

SAM MORGAN: We’ve got a problem. I’m at the dig site. One of the digging team found a scroll.

SHALOM TIKVA: Why did you wait till this unearthly hour to call me?

SAM MORGAN: Because he only just found it.

SHALOM TIKVA: What,

now

? What time is it there?

SAM MORGAN: Nearly midnight. He was digging after hours. I think he wasn’t part of the official team. But I know him. He’s a sleazy little man called Martin Costa.

SHALOM TIKVA: And where is he now?

SAM MORGAN: I’ve dealt with him.

SHALOM TIKVA: How?

SAM MORGAN: Permanently.

SHALOM TIKVA: Then why did you call me?

SAM MORGAN: Because he took a picture of it with his mobile phone and sent it to some one else?

SHALOM TIKVA: Do we know who?

[PAUSE]

SAM MORGAN: Yes. A man called Daniel Klein.

SHALOM TIKVA: And who is this Daniel Klein?

SAM MORGAN: He’s a professor or Semitic languages at University College London.

SHALOM TIKVA: And you think he’ll be able to interpret the scroll?

SAM MORGAN: The image was too blurred. He probably won’t be able to read the writing.

SHALOM TIKVA: Then I return to my earlier question. Why did you call?

SAM MORGAN: Because if he can read even

part

of it, then it’ll arouse his curiosity and he might start snooping around.

SHALOM TIKVA: Well then I suggest you deal with this Mr. Klein.

Call ended by SHALOM TIKVA.

Encrypted audio recording attached.

He had no need listen to the recording. It was all clear. The reason that it had been passed up the chain of command to Dovi was because he held a watching brief for Daniel Klein. Klein was not an intelligence man but an academic who had foiled a major terrorist attack against Israel that he had stumbled into while doing research on old Egyptian manuscripts in pre-Biblical Hebrew written in so-called “proto-Sinaitic” script. Initially resentful of this clumsy private citizen, bumbling his way through matters of state security, Shamir had come to admire Klein, when his academic competitiveness and curiosity had culminated in his crossing swords with some deadly enemies of the Jewish people — and winning.

Dovi had grudgingly respected Daniel from then on, but feared that those whose nefarious aims Daniel had thwarted, might come after him for revenge. So he had put Daniel on a watch list for the Urim monitoring station, although he had not gone as far as to tap Klein’s own phone.

But this transcript was three days old.

He understood why. It had taken time to filter up through the inter-service bureaucracy. But what did it mean “deal with” Mr. Klein. This Sam Morgan had said that he had already dealt with Martin Costa “permanently.” Did that mean he was going to do the same with Daniel Klein?

Not if Dovi Shamir had anything to do with it.

He could institute all sorts of processes in motion to protect Daniel Klein, including offering him refuge in Israel. But the first thing to do was call him and warn him.

Dovi reached for the phone and called Daniel’s number. He heard the ringing tone but there was no answer.

Through the haze of his semi-conscious state, Daniel could hear his mobile phone ringing. It was in his pocket. If he could only get it out, he could ask whoever was calling him to get help. But strength eluded him.