Assassin's Dawn by Ward Larsen

Author:Ward Larsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

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Owing to its small size, Luxembourg has never warranted a standing consulate from the state of Israel. On that day, it was just as well. What needed to be said was better left outside diplomatic channels.

The Israeli foreign minister requested a one-on-one call with his counterpart in Luxembourg. The secure connection was consummated at two o’clock that afternoon—on the Luxembourg end, in a top-floor office of the tidy beige Mansfeld Building, home to the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Israeli minister made a persuasive case that the woman being detained at police headquarters had nothing to do with the death of Moussa Tayeb. To prove the point, a video was forwarded in which the girl could be seen leaving the room in question. Moments later, Moussa Tayeb appeared briefly, very much alive. Left unaddressed was how Israel had come into possession of security footage from Hotel Le Cristal while the Grand Duchy’s own police were empty-handed.

The Israeli minister confessed that the woman, whose true name was immaterial, was an Israeli national. He also claimed she’d been tangentially involved in a Mossad operation, the target of which was a large-scale terror funding scheme based out of Luxembourg. This served as both an admission of guilt and an accusation; it conceded Israel’s involvement, but also raised the specter that Luxembourg was once again running afoul of E.U. financial laws by facilitating the funding of terrorism.

At the end, the Israeli suggested that a quiet resolution might be in the best interest of both countries. Pending the release of the woman, Israel would share information regarding the illicit financial transactions, allowing Luxembourg to clean things up internally.

The Duchy’s foreign minister diligently took notes. There would be gnashing all around, and he would have to run it by the prime minister, yet he had no doubt what the final decision would be. Having long been under the watchful eye of world banking authorities, Luxembourg had spent years cleaning up its act. The last thing the country needed was a disclosure of new black-money ties to terrorism. Conversely, the government very much wanted to retain its reputation as a haven for the far more lucrative “gray market” transactions. It was a fine line to hew, and the key, as it always had been, was discretion. If that meant today releasing a woman from custody—who was likely innocent—it seemed a small price to pay.

The deal was sealed within the hour.

On the Luxembourg side, orders flowed downhill like a minor avalanche, landing, as such dictates typically did, on the shoulders of one high-ranking policeman.

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