Saving Sophie: A Novel (46 page)

“That supports my opinion that the compound cannot be breached without considerable resistance,” Kayla said. “Such an engagement would take time and allow al-Zahani to destroy the building.”

“It wouldn’t take that much time,” said the IDF chief of staff confidently.

“How much time would it take for al-Zahani to trigger the bomb, not only destroying the laboratory but anyone near it, including our soldiers? Can you give me assurances, Moshe?” Eliezer said.

Moshe shook his head. “Of course not.”

Eliezer turned to Kayla. “This man, he would destroy all of his employees as well and put his own home at risk?”

“I know from personal experience that al-Zahani is ruthless and cares nothing for human life that gets in the way of his agenda,” Kayla said. “Collateral damage will not deter his mission.”

“But he will open the gates for you and Mr. Sommers and let you walk into his house?”

“Correct. And we will distract the doctor long enough for you to gain access to the outbuilding.”

Eliezer turned to his IDF chief. “And you can respond quickly with your soldiers?”

He nodded. “Certainly. But seconds are critical. Once in the home, Kayla may need to take affirmative measures to stop al-Zahani from triggering the explosives.”

“Understood,” Kayla said. “But I’m not so sure he’ll be anxious to set off the bomb. He’s an arrogant man. He probably thinks he’s got a foolproof plan for taking the money and disposing of us. He’ll be transfixed on the briefcase. Undoubtedly, he has no intention of turning over the child. And he won’t be eager to destroy his building. He wants to continue with his operations later this summer.”

“Al-Zahani’s aware there are three of you?” Eliezer said.

“Liam set up the conditions for the exchange through Abu Hammad. Al-Zahani was informed that Jack was confined to a wheelchair and would be accompanied by a nurse. So he knows there will be three.”

“What about this young lady?” Eliezer pointed to Marcy.

“She stays here.”

“No, no. Let me go with Jack. I can go as his wife. I can push the wheelchair. You’ll need someone to help with Sophie. She’ll be frightened. She knows me.”

“Out of the question,” Kayla said. “We told him there would be three. You’ll just get in the way. We made a deal, remember?”

“Do not let her go,” Jack said, his breathing labored. “She stays here.”

“Jack!”

“I’m sorry, Marcy, but Kayla’s right. You wait for me. If anything happens to me, you must take Sophie to Deborah.”

“Really, Marcy, it’s better that you stay here in Tel Aviv,” Kayla said. “The IDF will make sure Sophie gets to you.”

“What do you mean, the IDF?” Jack said. “What about you?” He looked hard at Kayla, who shrugged. “You don’t think you’re going to make it back, do you?”

“Well, I certainly intend to, but I’m aware of the risks involved. I’ve got a job to do.”

“You mean you’ve got a score to settle,” Liam said.

“We need to move on here,” Eliezer interjected. “I see no reason why Marcy cannot go to Kiryat Arba, where you’ll stay tonight. It’s apparent to me that she’s a comforting presence for Jack.” Eliezer smiled. “He needs care, and she can care for him until the mission begins. And she can assist in bringing the child home.”

“I disagree, sir,” Kayla said. “She should stay here. She’s a civilian. The mission will be dangerous, even in Kiryat Arba.”

“Excuse me,” Liam said, raising his hand. “Civilian, right here.”

“Quite right,” Eliezer said. “I see three civilians at this table, all willing volunteers on this mission.”

“Speaking of my own personal agenda,” Liam said, with a quick nod to Kayla, “I booked a return flight to Chicago and I intend to be on it.” Turning to Eliezer, he said, “I’d like to know what support we’ll have, sir, and how you’ve scripted this op.”

“You’ll have full IDF support, of course.” Eliezer gestured to the uniformed woman at the end of the table. “Colonel Yonit Gershon will be on the ground and running this operation. Yonit, if you please.”

Yonit stood and walked to the screen. Her uniform—olive slacks and a short-sleeve shirt—was fitted snugly to her taut frame. Her dark hair was pulled back and tied. She reminded Liam of a panther: quick, powerful, perceptive, dangerous.

“We will have troops here, here, and here, just outside the view of the security cameras.” Yonit pointed to the aerial photo. “We’ll have transports around the corner, here and here. The four guards outside the walls will be taken down simultaneously the moment you’ve entered the home. Quickly thereafter, we’ll secure the entire compound.

“They’ll expect you to arrive in a vehicle, and since Jack is in a wheelchair, we have prepared and modified a handicap van, the type that is routinely available from rental agencies. In fact, it’s waiting for you downstairs. You’ll drive it to Kiryat Arba.”

She changed the picture to a gray Chrysler van. “This is your vehicle. There’s a wheelchair lift, as shown here.” She advanced the slide to depict the van with the side door open. “We’re making some assumptions here. We expect the guards to search the van, and each of you, before the gates are opened. When they’re confident you have no weapons, they’ll open the gate and allow you to proceed into the compound and up to the house.”

“No weapons?” Liam said. “We’re going in with no weapons? Even al-Zahani wouldn’t think we’re that dumb. I have a gun.”

“We know, but you can’t bring a gun. This has been arranged as a peaceful exchange. There’s no way they’re going to let you in with a gun. We’ve planted weapons in the van, and I’ll get to that in a few minutes,” Yonit continued. “The IDF will have substantial assets on the ground to back you up, but you’ll be on your own once you’re inside the home.”

“Do we think al-Zahani will have guards inside?” Kayla said.

“Maybe.”

“Extra guards? I don’t think so,” Liam answered. “He’ll have that big guy we saw with Sophie, but al-Zahani’s going to think he’s safe within his house. We’ll go inside to make the exchange. I figure he takes the money, then maneuvers us outside, where he plans to have his guards shoot us. He’s not going to want to have a gunfight in his house, especially with the child present. What’s the collective judgment here?”

“We can’t discount another guard or two inside, but we agree, he probably won’t want a gunfight in his house,” Moshe answered.

“And once we walk out the door, the Light Brigade will be waiting in the yard to protect us, right?” Liam said.

“That’s the plan.”

“Too many things can go wrong with that plan. I want a gun. I want Kayla to have a gun.”

“I told you, we have planted weapons in the van,” Yonit said.

Liam shook his head. “They’re going to search the van. I’m a PI, they’ll expect me to have a gun. Who would go to a gunfight without a gun?”

“He’s right, Yonit,” Eliezer said. “He should go with his gun. They would expect that. They’ll take it from him outside, and then maybe they won’t look so carefully in the van. Even better.”

“You guys are nuts. I’m not going in without a gun.”

Yonit shook her head and spoke forcefully. “They won’t let you in the house with your gun. But if you pay attention, we’ll tell you where you can find a hidden gun.”

“If I pay attention?”

“Your Irish charm is fading,” Kayla said.

“Charm? He has charm?” Yonit said. “When you get to the house and once they finish searching you outside the gates, and they take your gun, we expect you will get back into the van and drive through the gates. That is the plan. There will be weapons in the van, which they will not have found. You can extract them and hide them in the pockets of your jacket.”

“Why won’t they find the weapons?”

“Because they are in a hidden chamber in the back of the center console that will not open for them.”

“What if they search the vehicle and then instruct us to walk through the gates?” Liam said. “What if they insist on driving the van into the compound themselves? What if one of their guards gets into the van with us? What if they search us again after we get in the gates? In all those scenarios, how do we get weapons?”

“We don’t think they’ll search you twice, there would be no reason to do that.”

“Why would they let us drive into the yard by ourselves?”

“Why not? There are only three seats in the van. Driver, passenger, wheelchair. Three chairs—three tushes. No room for anybody else. They won’t want you to leave the van in the street. They’ll direct you into the compound.”

“Yonit, you’re logical. Your plan is logical,” Liam said. “But the terrorists may not be logical. What if one of them gets into the driver’s seat? Now what?”

“Still okay,” Eliezer said. “We’ve considered the possibility that the guards will take possession of the van and drive it into the yard and tell you and Kayla to walk. But Jack is locked into the wheelchair seat and somebody has to operate the power lift. This, they cannot do.”

“Why not? They don’t have disabled people in Hebron?”

“Did someone once accuse this man of having Irish charm?” Eliezer said.

“We’ve made the chairlift impossible to operate unless you know the sequence of the buttons,” Yonit said. “There’s a code. There are two controls in the van. The one in front of Jack’s wheelchair is not functional. It will not work. He will ask for assistance. The guards will try to operate the master controls on the door panel, but they won’t be able to move the chair without knowing the code. They’ll still need you or Kayla to enter the code and operate the lift to get Jack out of the van. There’s a chamber hidden into the back of the center console. Once the code is activated, the clasp on the back of the console will release and the weapons can be accessed.”

“And they won’t see us?”

“The position of your bodies should block their vision. Each of you will wear a jacket. There will be two small handguns hidden in the console.” Yonit spread her hands and shrugged. “We have confidence that you can do it.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Liam said. “We get into the yard and Kayla and I get out of the van. The guards search the van, but the console’s not open, so they don’t see the guns. We hear Jack say that his controls are not working. He needs someone to push the buttons on the door. The guards go over to operate the controls on the door, but they don’t know the code, so the chair doesn’t move. So I offer to operate the lift. I put in the code, the chairlift is lowering, the back of the console opens, I take the guns, slip them in my jacket pockets, and no one can see me do it. Right?”

“Exactly.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s the plan?”

Eliezer shrugged. “Why not? It’s perfect.”

“Has anyone practiced this maneuver?”

“Not yet.”

“Oh, Jesus.”

“The van is downstairs. We can all go practice. I have high confidence in the plan.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Liam repeated.

“Obviously, if you have hesitation, you need not participate. Your involvement, while highly valuable, is not compulsory, as is ours,” Eliezer said. “We are prepared for the alternative, which is launching the raid tonight.”

“No, please don’t,” Jack said. “Someone has to protect Sophie. I need to get inside.”

“
We
need to get inside,” Kayla said, “with as little commotion as possible. We know that al-Zahani’s laboratory continues to assemble IEDs, explosives, chemicals, whatever, at the rate of forty bags per day. The recorded conversation disclosed al-Zahani’s intent to repeat the attack at some future date. So, he’s stockpiling. If you storm the compound, he blows the building, we learn nothing of the plan, and we have no grounds to arrest al-Zahani. Then he’s free to organize the next attack.”

Eliezer and Yonit nodded.

“Although we know he’s mined the building, he’s not going to be eager to throw the switch,” Kayla continued. “He’s arrogant and ambitious, a fatal combination. If he doesn’t have time or the inclination to detonate the building, we can seize the remaining devices, interrogate the workers, and learn what we need to know about the pending operation in Jerusalem. For that, we need to get inside, and Jack is our only ticket.”

“I understand,” Liam said. “I’m just pointing out the risks when everything doesn’t go according to plan. Then what?”

“Improvisation, I’m afraid,” Eliezer said. “You’ll be mic’d and we’ll be listening. When or if something goes wrong, you’ll alert us and the IDF will move in. You may have to scramble to access the weapons and do your best.”

Eliezer eyed each of the attendees at the table. “Are we all on board with this?” Each nodded approval. Eliezer stood. “Yonit will show you the van. You’ll want to practice.” He smiled.

As the group filed out, Eliezer stopped Liam. “I understand it was your idea to tell al-Zahani that the briefcase is armed to explode. Very clever. You know he would have certainly shot you all the moment you showed up.” Eliezer nodded and slapped Liam on the back. “Clever indeed.”

“We did it in Antrim in 1996. Same plot, different movie. So, where’s the briefcase and the money?”

“Yonit has them. A little under four million euros in five-hundred-euro notes. Eight and a half kilos. The case is metal, rotary combination, and otherwise quite ordinary.”

“You get that all into a metal case? Four million euros?”

“Approximately thirty inches of bills, stacked top to bottom. They fit quite nicely. All counterfeit, of course.”

“Counterfeit? That’s hardly the IDF stamp of confidence, is it? If he succeeds in opening the briefcase, getting his hands on the money and killing us all, well, at least we’ve managed to give him bogus money.”

Eliezer shrugged and gave Liam a weak smile.

Outside, a standard handicap van sat in the parking area, a metal platform extending from the open door and resting on the pavement. “We’ve opted for a mechanized platform rather than just a ramp, for obvious reasons,” said Yonit. “This is top-of-the-line. The wheelchair locks onto the movable platform. Two sets of controls, one in front of the wheelchair and one just inside the door behind the passenger seat, operate the motor. As you can see, there are three buttons on each control box. The top button, labeled
RETRACT
, engages the motor to raise the platform from street level. The middle button is a pause or stop button. The bottom button, labeled
EXIT
, slides the platform from its passenger position sideways to the doorway and then down to the street. The mechanisms are simple to operate, unless you have reprogrammed them, as we have done.