Passport to Death by Yigal Zur

Author:Yigal Zur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Published: 2011-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

We were on the ferry again, on the way back to the city, leaning on the railing. The water lapped against the side of the boat. Long-tail boats crowded with tourists in loud shirts sounded their horns as they made their way along the river, their noisy motors leaving a white wake behind them. The tourists snapped endless pictures and waved to the passengers of every other tourist boat they passed, who waved back in return. The Bangkok they saw, with its imposing sites and colorful markets, was nothing like the Bangkok we were seeing. Once you cross the thin line to the dark side of the city, it’s not so easy to come back. And that’s what Sigal had done. I was trying to figure out why.

“Hey there,” Reut said with a smile. “You’re a million miles away.”

If things were different, it might have been a romantic moment. We were standing next to each other, but we weren’t really close. At least not as close as I would have liked.

“How do you know Reuven?” she asked.

What could I tell her?

The hyacinths floated past on their way downriver. At some point they would attach themselves to the bank and begin to spread out. One would blossom and another would wither as they fed off each other. And then some would detach themselves from the soil and float on the water until they reached their next foothold. That was the way of the world. What could I say about Reuven? We grew up together. For years we were best friends working side by side for the Security Agency. For years we went out on missions together and saw the unspoken fear oozing from the pores of the other. Out in the field, I always knew that if Reuven was around, someone had my back. And he felt the same about me.

But then Yussuf, our most reliable informant in the Jenin refugee camp, was picked up by the Palestinians. They employed the same methods we do, what we like to call “moderate physical persuasion.” They learned a lot from us. Yussuf talked. He didn’t just talk, he spilled his guts, and it brought down a whole network it had taken years to build. Someone had screwed up, and it could only have been me or Reuven. It was simple: if Yussuf was blown, one of us was to blame.

These things happen. People make mistakes. But our fuck-up came at the end of March 2002, a few days before the Battle of Jenin. The timing—how should I put it?—wasn’t a fluke. In any case, Yussuf broke and blew his cover. Maybe he decided he didn’t want to ruin their only chance of getting the upper hand over us. The only thing we knew for sure was that Reuven and I were in charge of the sector, and we were completely in the dark. We had no hint of what was about to happen in Jenin, of what they were setting in motion, of the hundreds of anti-personnel mines and IEDs they were preparing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.