other-side-of-deception-victor-ostrovsky

station. I explained to him that I'd written a book about the Israelisecret service, the Mossad, and that the Mossad was going to be veryunhappy about it. He promised to be vigilant; the police wouldrespond to my call as fast as they could should there be a problem.I didn't expect them to stand up to the Mossad, but still, theirknowing who I was and that there might be a problem made me feelbetter. I'd also stopped at RCMP headquarters at 400 Cooper Street inOttawa and spoken to a constable there. He told me that this sort ofthing fell under the jurisdiction of CSIS, the Canadian secret service.They were located in the same building, so I went over to their officesand informed them as well.At nine P.M., there was a knock on the door. I was standing in thesmall kitchen, getting ready to make a cup of coffee. Bella answeredthe door. Oren Riff and Aaron Sherf were standing there. (Oren wasthe personal assistant to the head of Mossad and my former cadetcourse commander. Aaron Sherf was head of the Tsafririm departmentin charge of monitoring and activating the world Jewish Diaspora, andmy former academy commander.) Oren carried a shoulder bag, andAaron was trying his best to put on a smile."We want to talk to you," Aaron said.I picked up the phone and dialed 911, but before they couldanswer, I hung up. Something was preventing me from making such adrastic move yet.Oren leaned his head slightly to one side and said, "We came totalk."The phone rang; it was the police calling back to see what wasgoing on. I told them everything was okay; if there was any problem,I'd call back. They accepted that. I walked over to the door. Icould see that Bella was turning white; I thought she might faint atany moment. By the time I got to the door, she not only hadn'tfainted but was giving our visitors a piece of her mind. No doubtthe hysteria caused by their sudden appearance brought on this displayof anger. She knew very well who they were, and their appearanceon our doorstep made all her fears about the book become areality."Can we come in?" Oren asked."No. I have nothing to talk to you about," I said."Please, let's be civilized," he said.I couldn't help laughing at that. But then I considered my real situation,and it frightened me. Why hadn't I told the police there was aproblem? I feared that while these two were at my door, the team thatwas planning to grab me and take me back to a stinking little hole inlsrael was taking position outside in the shadows. It was hard tobelieve that all they wanted was to talk."If you have anything to say to me, you do it here and now," Isaid. "You're not coming in. And I'd suggest for your own good thatyou be brief and then get the hell out of this area.""We are at war," Aaron said, referring to the situation in the Gulf.Coming from one who was part of the mechanism that had broughtthat situation about, this was almost like someone who has killed hisparents asking for mercy because he's an orphan."What is it that you want?" I was going to play along until I sawa window of opportunity. I wanted to move the problem as far as Icould from my family. When she'd heard Hebrew being spoken, mydaughter Leeorah had come down the stairs, thinking we had guestsfrom Israel. But she ran back up as soon as she heard my angry tone."We want you to stop the book," Aaron said."I can't believe this from you," Oren said, putting in his two cents'worth. Aaron looked at him scornfully, as if to say, Don't anger theprey."It's not only my decision to make," I said, trying to act reasonable."Besides, they've already printed the book and are ready to shipit.""How many copies could there be for Canada?" Aaron said. "Youhave to stop this book.""It's not that simple." I was stalling for time."You know money is no object," Oren said. "We'll cover all theexpenses plus any projected profits-you know that.""I have to talk to some people. I need time."They glanced at each other. "Call me at the consulate in Toronto,"Oren said. "I'll wait for your call there until tomorrow noon.""Okay." I started to close the door. They turned and headed backto their red Chevrolet Cavalier. It had a Quebec license plate. They satin the car for a few moments, and then they took off. I knew I didn'thave much time to make my move. I was expecting the team to comethrough the door at any minute.I could see fear in Bella's eyes. I knew she wasn't afraid for herselfbut for her dumb husband, who once again had gotten himself up theproverbial creek without a paddle. I put as much stuff as I might need, into my attache case and sat for a while, thinking about my next move.After a few minutes of analysis, I came to the conclusion that theywouldn't break in just yet. They'd wait and see if I had any protectionthat would spring into action after the bold visit I'd just received, inwhich case they wouldn't want to get caught in the middle.