During the night, the death of the ambassador had made the news, which gave me some leverage. I’d explained everything to Wolffe, saying I wanted to take Knuckles and Brett with me to explore it because there was a threat working—and it was going to be against American as well as Israeli interests. He’d asked if it was Iran, and if so, why hadn’t Israel said anything to the U.S. intelligence community, especially since there had been no reporting on a Keta’ib Hezbollah connection to any of the deaths.
At that point, I was treading on dangerous ground with Shoshana’s information. Because they weren’t sure of the provenance of the Keta’ib Hezbollah linkages, a select few power brokers in the Mossad wanted to keep the linkages secret until they were sure—which I could tell was grating on Wolffe’s good nature.
“How am I hearing about this at a wedding rehearsal from a subordinate team leader? They actually gave you a cover without even asking about the help with the Taskforce? What the hell happened to coordination between the intelligence agencies?”
Wolffe was an old-school paramilitary officer from the CIA who had done more clandestine operations than Hollywood could ever produce. And he didn’t like being the last to know. He especially didn’t like the subterfuge the Israeli team had used.
I held up my hands and said, “That coordination is coming, I’m sure. You saw the ‘diplomat’ killed in a mugging in Paris?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“He was Shin Bet, and Keta’ib Hezbollah claimed credit for it, but Israel has kept that under wraps. From what Aaron and Shoshana have told me, the Knesset is split right now, but the forces for attacking Iran are growing. Trust me, they’ll come to the U.S. for help soon. You’ll be hearing all about it. Right now, they’re trying to figure out what to do.”
“So why you? Why are you going with Aaron and Shoshana?”
“There are some power brokers in the Mossad that think this is a false flag. That someone else is driving the killings and they aren’t Keta’ib Hezbollah. They think someone wants a war and has somehow co-opted that militia for the killings. That’s why Aaron and Shoshana were chosen. Off the books, away from Mossad headquarters. They don’t have to report to any politicians. They want us to see what we can find before this leaks, which it eventually will. Once it blows up in the news, the war drums will start beating.”
“That ‘off the books’ thing works both ways. They’ll cut you free in a heartbeat. You get found out, and you’re now not an American spy, but an Israeli one—while being disavowed by both states.”
“Well, Lord knows I’ve been in the ‘if you get caught, you’re on your own’ territory before. That’s not an issue. It’s just Alpha. We’re only going to do surveillance work, and I think it’s worth exploring.”
“It sounds like an Israeli problem.”
“Until it becomes an American one. They continue killing diplomats with an Iranian fingerprint and it will become overwhelming for both of us. I’m talking biblical times overwhelming. If Israel goes to war with Iran, Iran will launch whatever they have to protect their regime—especially if Tehran had nothing to do with it—and Israel will retaliate.”
Left unsaid was that Israel had a nuclear arsenal.
I could see him thinking about it, and drove home the last bit I had. “The note said that the Great Satan would also reap the whirlwind, and now we’ve lost the American ambassador to the Holy See.”
“He died in a car crash.”
“Did he? I mean, did he crash all by himself?”
“Nobody’s claimed credit for killing him.”
“Maybe because he wasn’t supposed to go over a cliff. Maybe he was supposed to be killed on the road and his hit got screwed up.”
“They’d still claim credit.”
“Maybe. I get it’s screwy. That’s why we’re going.”
He thought about it for a few seconds, then looked at Knuckles and Brett saying, “You guys are good with this?”
Brett said, “Hell yeah, sir. We’ve been sitting on our ass for close to a year because of the pandemic. At this point, I’d be okay going if you told me I was going to get arrested upon landing.”
Wolffe turned to me and said, “What about Amena?”
“Veep and Kylie are already at my house. They can stay with her.”
Wolffe sighed and said, “So you’ve got it all figured out. I was wondering why there was a week gap between a wedding rehearsal and the real wedding. Tell me you didn’t set all this up in advance and ambush me.”
I’d laughed and said, “No, sir, not at all. That week thing was Jennifer’s idea to get you guys some vacation time. That’s all. I swear I was as surprised as you when Shoshana broached it.”
He’d said, “You’ll be back for the wedding? One week?”
I grinned. “Yes, sir. Promise.”
“You’ll get no Taskforce help on this. Don’t be calling my office for reach-back hacking support or analytical help. You’re on your own here.”
“I get it. Right up until they start killing Americans, right?”
He nodded and said, “Yeah, that would change the equation. Which is why I’m allowing this buffoonery to go.”
“Understood . . . but I was thinking about the Rock Star bird . . . since it’s leased to Grolier Recovery Services anyway and sitting here in Charleston . . . you know, so I can get home rapidly for the wedding.”
He shook his head, but had agreed, a tacit admission that he thought I could potentially do some good.
Chapter 12
Garrett tossed another newspaper on the desk and said, “What the fuck? Why isn’t anyone talking about Iran? Every report is that each death is some individual event. It’s barely making the front page. The damn killing of the ambassador to the Holy See is already off the news cycle. And unless you’re in Paris, nobody’s talking about the death of the Shin Bet agent. Even in Paris it’s a back-and-forth about getting rid of refugees, not an assassination by Keta’ib Hezbollah.”
Michelangelo said, “I know. Nobody’s talking about the evidence. It’s like it’s been hidden.”
“That’s not going to work for us,” said Garrett. “We need the press on this building up the tension so when we do the final hit in Israel, it’s a tripwire. We need all the hawks to be actively talking about attacking Iran, making their case. All we have right now is the usual blustering because of rocket attacks in Iraq and the smuggling of weapons into Syria.”
Leonardo said, “Surely someone’s talking about it. I mean, in the CIA and Mossad. They have to know and have to be discussing it.”
“They might be, but that’s not going to cut it.”
Raphael said, “It’ll leak. It always does. Sooner or later, someone’s going to leak the connection.”
Garrett glared and said, “There is no connection to the ambassador. He’s categorized as an accidental death.”
Raphael shifted in his seat, saying nothing. Michelangelo said, “That wasn’t our fault. We couldn’t predict he would go full-speed into the wall.”