A high-octane thriller from the author of The Perfect Assassin
David Slaton has a good life. He has a new wife and a house in the Virginia suburbs. But he also has a dark past. Slaton is a former kidon, the most lethal Israeli assassin ever created.
After decades of work, a brilliant scientist has taken Iran to the threshold of its dream—a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile. Mossad must eliminate the man, but with a spy lurking high in its ranks there is only one option: bring back Slaton. The kidon has vowed to never kill again, but when his wife is attacked and forced to flee across Europe, events force his hand.
Slaton plots to assassinate one of the most closely guarded men on earth. Success is improbable. Survival unlikely. Only when he learns the labyrinthine truth does Slaton see one high-stakes chance. A chance for an assassin's game….
Release date:
August 26, 2014
Publisher:
Tom Doherty Associates
Print pages:
384
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Anton Bloch walked briskly along King George Street, leaning into a stiff wind that had swept in over the course of the morning. In most of the world, autumn winds brought change. Cold fronts to separate leaves from branches, gunmetal gray skies, and the breaking out of mothballed winter gear. In Tel Aviv, the last Friday of September did little more than stir the dust of yet another heat-stricken summer.
Had Bloch gone for a walk a year ago, it would have been a very different project. He would have been shadowed by two armored limousines and a dozen bodyguards, every street on his route mapped in advance and monitored. Even now, long removed from office, he generally warranted two men. But not today. The unusual request had come this morning, a handwritten note delivered by his successor's aide de camp: 9:15, Meir Garden. Come alone. So, for the first time in recent memory, Anton Bloch was walking by himself on a public street. He found it oddly liberating. Were he more of a pessimist, he might imagine Arab assassins around every corner. But then, no man who has served as director of Mossad can exist as a pessimist.
Bloch rounded a corner and turned left into the main entrance of Meir Garden. He spotted a familiar face—or rather, a familiar silhouette. A massive man with a flattop haircut materialized to greet him. He was wearing a suit and tie, cheap material but nicely pressed, the jacket either two sizes too small or fitted in a way to accentuate his muscular arms and shoulders. Bloch suspected the latter.
"Good morning, sir."
On hearing his voice, Bloch remembered a first name. "Hello, Amos."
Bloch had clearly gotten it right—Amos produced a smile that was at odds with his intimidating appearance. He spoke again through a tightly clenched jaw, "The director is expecting you, sir. Straight ahead, then the first path on your right."
Bloch did as instructed.
He found the incumbent director of Mossad feeding peanuts to an obese squirrel. If the human form could have a generic equivalent, it would be Raymond Nurin. He was average in height and build, hair thinning but not bald, a trace of gray at the edges commensurate with his fifty-something years. His facial features were completely unremarkable, no hooked nose or brilliant eyes or distinguishing marks. The clothing was in line with the man, neither expensive nor cheap, neither bright nor drab. Raymond Nurin was the man you would meet at a cocktail party whose name escaped you ten minutes later. For an insurance salesman or an actor, a certain detriment. For a spy chief? He was the model of somatic perfection.
Nurin had taken over Mossad when Bloch was forced out. They'd had a few meetings in the weeks after the transfer of command, sessions intended to cover ongoing operations and facilitate a smooth transition. Bloch had barely known the man going in, and he'd expected little. Nurin had surprised him with an intellect that belied his unexceptional appearance. Since those initial meetings they'd had no contact whatsoever. Consequently, Bloch had no idea what sort of empire his successor might have built. Even less an idea of what he wanted today.
"Good morning, Anton."
"Raymond."
The two exchanged a polite handshake.
"Thank you for coming," Nurin said. "I know it was short notice, but I can assure you my reasons are sound."
Bloch said nothing. He looked idly around the park and saw no one else. No widows with grocery sacks or spandex-clad mothers pushing strollers on a trot. Bloch hadn't spent much of his career in the field, but enough to recognize a sterile perimeter that reached at least two hundred yards. Even the bodyguards—there had to be an army—were keeping out of sight. Not for the first time, his opinion of Nurin shifted slightly, and in the same direction it always seemed to.
Nurin tossed his bag of peanuts into a trash can and began strolling the pressed gravel path. Bloch kept pace.
"How do you like the job?" Bloch asked.
"I would expect that question from anyone else."
Bloch allowed a rare grin.
Nurin said, "Tell me, did you ever call on your predecessor for advice?"
"Is that why I'm here? Advice?"
"Of course not. That would imply certain inadequacies on my part." It was Nurin's chance to grin, but he passed and said, "Tell me what you've heard about our recent failure in Iran."
"Qom? Only what was in the newspapers."
"Come, Anton."
Bloch paused on the path. Nurin turned to face him.
"All right," Bloch said, "I still have a few friends, and we talk over a Guinness now and again. It was a disaster. We lost four good men, two of whom I knew well. Hamedi was untouched."
"Four of our best, I won't deny it. A terrible loss. It would have been six, but two were forced to abort the mission and return due to an injury."
"What really happened?" Bloch asked.
"Essentially what you've read in the papers, a botched attempt at Hamedi. There was little hard evidence in the aftermath, of course. The men had no identification and we've denied all involvement. Still—"
"The world does not believe it."
"Would you?"
Bloch didn't bother to answer.
"Iran, as you would expect, has been gloating over the entire affair. Much like the attack in Tehran six months ago."
"And that catastrophe was also as reported? Two assassins on motorcycles, both shot dead by security forces before they were within a mile of Hamedi?"
"Yes," Nurin said.
"And so his legend grows." Bloch mused, "One such failure and I think it is bad luck. Twice, however—" the old director's voice faded off.
They began walking again, silence prevailing. A whirl of dust stirred over a nearby playground, sweeping past like a miniature tornado.
"You have a leak," Bloch finally said.
"Clearly."
"It happens—with some regularity, I fear, although usually at lower levels."
"The missions against Hamedi were kept very high, exclusive need to know."
Bloch nodded.
"It is the first such problem under my watch," Nurin said. "I've begun a quiet investigation, but these things take time."
"Yes, and always more than you think. Worse yet, there is no guarantee you will ever find your traitor."
Nurin led them to a bench.
Bloch settled beside him, put an index finger to his temple, and said, "It is too bad you missed him. Yet I find myself wondering—if you did succeed would it really change Iran's timetable? Is one man so important?"
"Hamedi is their Oppenheimer. Since taking control of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, two years ago, he has become our worst nightmare. Prior to his watch, the program had fallen into complete disarray. In order to mask the program from international inspectors, the Iranians divided the program, burying twenty facilities deeper than ever. Missile components and stockpiles of nuclear material were shuffled like a deck of cards. The result was that each working group knew little about what the other was doing, and progress suffered. There was a time when our Stuxnet and Flame viruses brought things to a virtual standstill. Centrifuges were destroyed by the thousands, and their entire network of software controls ruined. It was wonderful. But Hamedi has brought great change. On one hand, he is a raving anti-Semite whose speeches parrot their former president, the lunatic who denies that the Holocaust ever occurred. But Hamedi is also a brilliant engineer and an organizational genius."
"As with Hitler and his oratory prowess," Bloch reflected. "Why does God grant madmen such gifts?"
"Hamedi has publicly stated that Iran's ballistic nuclear capability, should the country be so blessed, will be aimed squarely at Israel."
"When I resigned, the estimate for Iran mating their first weapon to a Shahab-4 ballistic missile was three years. Has this changed?"
"We have only a matter of months. The critical components are being gathered at a new facility outside Qom. The Iranians long ago cleared the hurdle of distilling uranium to weapons-grade purity. That is the only reason they came to the negotiating table, agreeing to slow the program if sanctions were removed."
"How much material do you estimate they have?" Block asked.
"Enough for a half dozen warheads, possibly more. Yet putting this material to use, achieving a scaled-down device that can be mounted atop a ballistic missile—that is a more elusive challenge. Hamedi, unfortunately, has nearly brought success."
"Will there be a demonstration? An underground test?" Bloch asked.
"Of course, just as the North Koreans performed for the benefit of America. To test an efficient, small-scale weapon in the ground is like issuing a birth certificate, an announcement of your new child."
"Our defenses?"
"Upgrades to our Arrow ballistic missile defense system will not be ready soon enough. The engineers can't guarantee it will ever be capable of defending against such a long-range weapon. They talk about percentages and probabilities, not the kind of measurements one wants to hear with regard to the annihilation of Tel Aviv."
Nurin fell quiet, and Bloch eyed him more closely. "Am I to take it that you wish to make another attempt against Hamedi?"
Nurin nodded.
"Surely you realize your problem. These two failed missions have not only caused great embarrassment, but they spoil the chance for further attempts. With a target pinned on his back, Hamedi will be more cautious than ever."
Bloch waited, but Nurin did not speak. The new Mossad director was allowing his predecessor to work things through, perhaps as a test to his own ideas. To see if the same conclusion was reached.
Bloch looked skyward and whispered aloud, fashioning a path as he would have a year earlier, "You need to eliminate a man who is very well guarded. You have a security leak in your organization at a high level, one you cannot cut out in time to make a difference. Given this, I'd say your only option is to use an outsider. A solo operator, I think. Someone reliable and certainly discreet. There are such men for hire in the world…" Bloch hesitated, "or so I've heard."
Nurin remained silent.
"Yet the chance of failure is high. Escape would be difficult, and even if achieved the assassin would have to disappear completely. You would need a man who is—" Bloch stumbled for a moment, and when the answer fell he understood why he was here. He looked at Nurin with a piercing glare.
"There—you see it, Anton. What more perfect assassin than a man who is already dead."
Nurin again went quiet, allowing Bloch to consider every aspect. In the interim, he produced a pack of cigarettes and selected one. He made no offer to Bloch, so Nurin knew he'd recently quit. The director lit up, took a deep pull, and exhaled a steady stream of smoke that was instantly carried away on the breeze.
"No," Bloch said. "It would never work."
"I disagree. He is perfect, Anton. His new life was facilitated by the Americans, but even they do not know his true background. Only three people in the world know what David Slaton once was. Two are seated on this bench. The third, of course, is immaterial. Slaton died one year ago—I can even show you a headstone in a quiet cemetery outside London. He does not exist. Not on paper, not in computers. Many years ago, Mossad made sure that his past was wiped clean. He became our most lethal kidon, an assassin who existed for years as no more than a shadow. Now that shadow itself has disappeared. He is an apparition, I tell you, as pure and absolute as can be."
Bloch did not respond.
"More to the point, he is the most effective, lethal kidon we have ever created."
Those words returned Bloch to an uncomfortable place, a long-buried sense of conflict. The appraisal of Slaton was more accurate than even Nurin could know. Still, Bloch had never decided whether Israel should find pride or shame in having created such a killer. What did it say about his country? What did it do to the man? "He is an assassin second to none, I grant you that. Or at least he was. But there is one overriding flaw in your plan, Director—he would never do it. He has a new life. No patriotic plea, no amount of money will pique his interest, I assure you."
"He is still a Jew. We are his people."
Bloch did not reply.
Nurin hunched forward on the bench and seemed to inspect the brown gravel. He took another long draw, then dropped his cigarette to the earth and crushed it under the heel of his nondescript Oxford.
"Anyway," Bloch said, "what makes you think he would be more successful than the others?"
"Our internal security has been compromised, that much is clear. Slaton would operate outside the organization. He would report only to me, thus isolating the leak. The larger problem, the one that has vexed us all along, is that Hamedi remains in Iran. However, a singular opportunity has arisen."
"He is going abroad?"
Nurin nodded.
"Where?"
"That is something only Slaton and I should know, Anton. I'm sure you understand. It will be public knowledge soon enough. But I can tell you that our chance will come in just over three weeks."
"Three weeks? Not much time to plan a mission."
Nurin gave him a plaintive look.
Bloch met his gaze, then turned away to look across the park. "That is the very same look I used to get from the prime minister. I am a fountain of the negative, am I not?"
"You are—at least that's what everyone on the third floor tells me."
"And what else do they say?"
"They say you will always do what is best for Israel."
Bloch said nothing.
"There is a way to bring Slaton back, Anton."
For twenty minutes Bloch listened. At the end, he wished he had not.
"So it begins in Stockholm?" Bloch asked.
Nurin nodded.
"And Slaton? Where will he be?"
Like a good spy chief, Nurin had that answer as well.
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