Kill Them Wherever You Find Them (52 page)

"We would be unwise to try and solve all of
our problems in the present by going into the past to manipulate
people and events to suit our needs. I think, also, we would be
unwise to shelf a weapon that we know works so well, as long as we
are exceptionally judicious in its use. The floor is now open for
discussion."

Lt. General Dan Ashkelon, head of Israel's
military General Staff, was the first to speak. "Sir, as you point
out, our country is facing several concerns on every front. I think
it would be good to first gain a consensus as to which poses the
greatest threat, then proceed with options for addressing the
problems in descending order of priority. Before we do that I would
be interested in learning of the progress being made within
The
Project
itself."

Dr. Tamara Barkat, Director of the Negev
facility of
The Project,
interjected; "Based on information
gathered from the other facilities,
The Project
is going
forward at full speed. Great strides have been made at sending up
to three people back into time without additional energy
requirements. Dr. Jeff Stauffenberg's family is now residing in
Israel with dual citizenship status nearly granted. From every
report it appears they have all adjusted well, the children nearly
fluent in Hebrew now. Their main difficulty, though, is not being
able to mix with the Mormon community in Israel. I think this is
something that needs to be addressed and soon; the Latter-day Saint
tradition is so central to their everyday life that not being able
to associate openly with other Mormons will be a problem."

"Dr. Jeff Stauffenberg has accepted the
position of Team Leader for all time insertions. He is the most
familiar with time travel and, so far, the only person to never
show any significant psychological strain from his
landings
in the past."

"Others who have been selected for
landing
are handling it well when said landing is in the
recent past, such as a month or two ago, up to five years in the
past. But for some reason the people we send back seem to have
difficulties adjusting when the time frame is significantly before
the year they were born. We are working on learning why this is the
case, as well as why it is that Jeff seems to be immune to this
even when he
landed
more than a century in the past. We are
looking into possibilities of genetic or other physiological
markers that differentiate Jeff from the others. At this point, we
have nothing but conjecture, though I'm leaning toward a genetic
factor at this point."

As she spoke Isser abruptly excused himself,
leaving the conference room.

Dr. Barkat continued, "To avoid, as much as
possible, contaminating the timeline, those who are sent back in
space-time are only allowed to stand and look around, not speak to
anybody. We
land
them in a time and location where it is
impossible that anybody would know them. It has been interesting to
note that when they are
landed
, even if in a crowd, nobody
seems to notice it. It's as if they were always there to those
around them. As mentioned earlier, the psychological effects of
landings, when they happen in the recent past, are very minute, if
at all. Yet the further back in time they are sent, say forty or
fifty years ago, the psychological effects are more pronounced,
though not dangerously so. There is no evidence of psychosis. More
than a century back, however; the negative psychological effects
are considerably more pronounced. Tests reveal an alteration in
brain chemistry that we don't yet understand. Stauffenberg's brain
chemistry remains unaffected."

"Again, we are looking into why this would be
different for him. That there would be some associated mental
stress has been expected, the alterations in brain chemistry came
as a surprise. I have tried to contact Dr. Levin in Brazil,
including leaving him a couple of messages on his voice mail, to
learn what his initial observations were of Stauffenberg when he
returned both times. Dr. Siwel has been monitoring Jeff from the
first day he started working with
The Project
. She has not
reported anything unusual. I've not yet had a response from Dr.
Levin."

The head of Mossad quietly slipped back into
the conference room as Tamara concluded her comments.

"If I may interject," Shiloah spoke as he
took his seat; "I have just learned of a developing situation with
Dr. Levin. Of the agents assigned to the Levins while they were on
vacation in Brazil, three are dead along with his wife, Rivka.
Moshe is missing."

Isser broke the news in a subdued voice, not
typical of the way he spoke, even during those moments that seemed
to stretch one's soul to its limits. "The surviving agents in
Brazil are gathering intel, analyzing physical evidence left at the
scene in the suite. I regret that, at this time, I don't have any
more information. I'm expecting additional details shortly."

The implications of this revelation were
far-reaching. Dr. Moshe Levin was Dr. Tamara Barkat's predecessor
in the human phase of
The Project
. As such he had
unparalleled access to details of the other two facilities that,
all three combined, formed the totality of
The Project
.

Other than General Ashkelon and the Prime
Minister, Levin knew more about
The Project
than any living
person. His expertise and experience just might paint enough of a
picture to allow an enemy nation to develop their own
Project
, or at the very minimum sabotage the one in
operation in the State of Israel.

The unspoken question on the minds of
everybody in the meeting was, now that they had dealt with the two
terrorists in the past who learned about
The Project
through
one of the agents in their group, how could anybody possibly know
about
The Project
now? With the alterations of the past, the
terror group and their undercover agent, Mona, now never existed
and
The Project
was never compromised. Furthermore, how
could anybody possibly be aware of Moshe Levin and his critical
role and leadership position within
The Project
?

"Do you know when the abduction happened?"
The Prime Minister's brows furrowed as he asked the question that,
based on the words, focused only on Moshe but by its line of
inquiry factored in the dead, as well.

"At this stage we have no precise time frame,
but based on the bodies in the room it happened around 23:00 hours
local time. There was no sign of a struggle. The results of a full
toxicology panel on the two dead agents show the presence of a very
high dosage of Temazepam in their blood, enough to knock them out
cold within minutes from time of ingestion. Their stomach contents
reveal foods previously eaten to have already been well into the
digestive process, so we know their food hadn't been drugged. Both
also had coffee in their stomachs. We believe this to have been the
delivery method. All items in the suite have been bagged for
identification and tests. The ground coffee beans are being tested
now."

"Mrs. Levin, was she drugged too?"

"Her toxicology panel came back negative. She
was executed, two bullets to the head. I'm afraid now you have
every detail that I have. By the end of the day I expect to have a
clearer picture of the events leading up to the abduction and, I
trust, information on where Dr. Levin is being held, and by
whom."

The faces of all in the room betrayed worry.
All but Udi Ra'am, the new head of security for
The Project
,
had known Moshe professionally, a few having formed varying degrees
of a friendship with the man.

Promoted to replace him as the director of
the Negev facility after his retirement, the news seemed to affect
Dr. Tamara Barkat more than the others. She had worked under Dr.
Levin in the facility almost since the inception of
The
Project
. Though she never formed a closeness with him as had
others in the facility, she nonetheless liked the man and felt a
great respect for him and his accomplishments. She realized,
naturally, that with his abduction she was probably on the short
list of people to be kidnapped as well. Not only did she know
everything Levin had known concerning
The Project
, she knew
a great deal more in view of the advancements they had made since
his retirement.

"In light of this new development, one I wish
I had known about before we started this meeting, The not-so-subtle
censure wasn't lost on the Director of the Mossad, "The national
threat has just assumed a new dimension, deadlier than any posed by
our confrontation nations and known terror groups." As expected
nobody disagreed or, if they did, they kept their counsel to
themselves.

"Until we have some actionable intelligence
on the whereabouts of Dr. Levin, I suggest we maintain our focus on
the list of concerns on our printed agenda and meet again tomorrow.
At that time we can discuss our approach to Dr. Levin and his
abductors."

For the duration, the weekly meeting
continued as scheduled, each item on the agenda reviewed with
solutions offered and, in most cases, shelved for a future vetting.
The military, both intelligence agencies, facility directors with
The Project
, security, commerce and industry, and other
leadership coordinated their assignments, finally concluding the
meeting after sunset. The next day intelligence, military, security
and
Project
leadership would meet again to consider options,
if any, of retrieving Moshe Levin hopefully unharmed, and
discovering who was behind his abduction and why. The
why
was pretty much a forgone conclusion, but they had to be absolutely
certain. There was no possible way any organization outside of the
Israeli government and
Project
leadership could be aware of
The Project
. Yet here they were, faced with the abduction of
the man whose research and life's work almost single-handedly
opened the door to changing past events that resulted in a
modification of the present. Having earned the nickname "The Time
Master," his abduction was nothing short of a national disaster on
multiple levels.

For members of the Mossad, from Isser Shiloah
on down, and for Udi Ra'am and his security team working in the
facilities to keep them safe from dangers within and without, the
setting of the sun held no respite.

~ ~ ~

"What have you learned?"

"It has been confirmed, Director Shiloah,
that the coffee beans were laced with the Temazepam powder. Enough
to bring down an elephant. The manager of the resort, fearing for
his life and nearly soiling his pants when threatened, is being
very cooperative. Other than identifying the man who approached and
bribed him, he has little to offer beyond a vague description of
the two maids who would have cleaned the suite in which the Levins
were staying. The operatives in the van a few blocks away were
unaware that anything happened until they realized that Mrs. Levin
had stopped snoring and there was no sound, at all, coming from the
two agents in the main room. They tried to contact the agents when
they realized that something was amiss, but by then it was too
late.

Entering the room not ten minutes later they
discovered the bodies of the dead agents and Mrs. Levin. The agent
posted outside the entry door was also dead, dragged inside the
suite post-mortem based on the blood trail. After an initial
inspection to clear the area and confirm no hostiles remained, they
contacted the day agents and then you, Director Shiloah."

"Thank you, I'll speak with you later."

"Agent Ra'am, I have heard from the lead
investigative agent in Brazil. It has been confirmed that Moshe was
abducted by a professional team, his wife and the two agents in the
room and one posted outside the suite all assassinated."

"Director, is there any information as to who
conducted the kidnapping?"

"At this stage I have no further information.
We are reviewing satellite imagery now to determine if we can find
anything else, but at this point it doesn't look very
promising."

"I would like to meet with you and your team
as soon as possible. How soon can you be here?"

"We are already in the building, on our way
to your office right now. We should be there in five minutes."

This sophisticated of an operation, it was
neither just a simple robbery nor a for ransom kidnapping. Somehow,
somebody knew about
The Project
and, until recently, Moshe
Levin's position within it. How could they possibly know, and who
was behind it? Was there a mole hiding in the shadows, planning the
next step? A friend for many long years, Isser, more than anything,
worried about Moshe.

Until he was able to determine who was behind
the assassination of his agents and Mrs. Levin, as well as the
kidnapping of Moshe, Isser was determined to keep knowledge of what
happened in Brazil confined to a small circle.

Operation Time Master was now set in motion,
effectively the highest priorities for both the Mossad and the Shin
Bet. Included in this operation was the need to discover who had
knowledge about Dr. Levin's work, as well as how much they knew
about
The Project
, conceived and brought to fruition by Dr.
Levin.

What was their endgame? Did the kidnappers
represent a rogue group, a nation, or some kind of consortium? Was
their plan to put an end to
The Project
within Israel, or
were they trying to develop one of their own?

Table of Contents

3. Red Code

“Learn from the past, set
vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment
of time over which you have any control: now”
- Denis
Waitley