Without Warning by Joel C. Rosenberg

Author:Joel C. Rosenberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Thrillers / Political, FICTION / Thrillers / Military
ISBN: 9781496418913
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2017-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

53

“You were expecting me to come here?” I asked, once again surprised.

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“We were right to do so, weren’t we?”

“Yeah, but if you knew I was coming, why did you just let me sit alone at the Carlton for four days, doing nothing, without even responding, without even telling me you’d gotten my message?”

Shalit shook his head. “You weren’t alone.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Everyone in that executive lounge was Mossad,” he explained. “We were watching you. Testing you. Waiting to see if you’d start drinking again. To see if anyone was following you. See how you’d react to disappointment. And to see if you had a plan after us.”

“And what did you learn?” I asked.

“You booked a flight to Dubai. So you did have a plan. And you hadn’t been drinking. And you had been quite patient, after all. And no one was following you. So here you are.”

“Then you know why I came?” I asked.

“I think so,” Shalit replied. “But I want to hear it from you.”

“Fair enough,” I said, then paused for a bit, watching the waves crash against the rocky Jaffa shoreline. “I want in.”

“In?” he asked. “What exactly does that mean?”

“You’re hunting for Abu Khalif,” I said in a hushed tone, even though at this early hour, and season and temperature, no one but the bodyguards was around. “He murdered your prime minister. You want to make him pay. But you’re getting almost no help from Washington. Or the Europeans. And ISIS is still on the move. They’re still slaughtering innocent people, still on offense, still planning bigger and more deadly attacks. You know they’re coming here, to Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem, to Haifa and Tiberias. You know they don’t just want to kill Americans. They also want to murder Jews—Israelis in particular—and as many as they can. So you need help, and you need it fast. That’s why I’ve come.”

At this, Shalit turned and looked directly at me. “You came to help us?” he said, appearing genuinely perplexed.

“Yes.”

“To help us find and kill Abu Khalif?”

“Exactly.”

“This is why you’ve risked your life, and your brother’s and your sister-in-law’s and your niece’s lives, to crisscross around the world, to come all the way over here, to meet with me, to tell me you want to join the Mossad and help us assassinate Abu Khalif?”

“Why else?”

Shalit sat there for a long while, searching my eyes, trying to read me. It was rare to see him caught off guard. The fifty-seven-year-old spook had built his career on knowing everything about everyone, on knowing all secrets, large and small. This was what had made him one of the most interesting operatives I’d ever met in the Middle East. The fact that we’d been friends for almost two decades had made him an invaluable source. But right now I wasn’t looking for a story. I was looking for a job.

“I am not easily surprised, Mr. McClaire,” he said, emphasizing my new alias. “But I must confess, today I am. I thought you were here for something else—something else entirely.

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