other-side-of-deception-victor-ostrovsky

ing the Mossad and the country, and I sensed the discomfort he feltaround me. I couldn't explain it, but I could feel it too, so I made noattempt to have him stick around, although there were a million questionsI would have loved to ask him.I made the call at the appointed hour and, after spending almosttwenty minutes on the phone, succeeded in making it clear to the officerin charge of the police station that I thought an entry into theoffice building had been made by some people who shouldn't be there.The man was not especially impressed, but after checking to seewhat was at that address and realizing that the Iranian embassy occupiedthe top three floors of the building, he decided he'd better sendsomeone to check things out. As it turned out, the Yarid team, whichconsisted of six members, four men and two women, was not expectingany trouble. They had registered in two different hotels on theisland to avoid drawing attention to themselves, a couple in each ofthe hotels, pretending to be tourists. Two of the men had taken possessionof an apartment in a building adjacent to where a listening stationwas to be set up. They had already set up all the equipment, ready toreceive the incoming information from the bugs the installers weresupposed to position.One of the couples was to enter the building and put the bugs onthe telephone lines, while the other couple was supposed to stay outsideand watch, so that if there was a problem, they could warn theinstallers. However, they were extremely lax. After all, they weremembers of the great Mossad. What could go wrong?Everything could.The couple outside was not comfortable on the street with noplace to me!t away into, so they decided to enter the building and givetheir friends inside a helping hand. This way they could finish the jobfaster and get on with the fun part of the operation-having a goodtime and charging it to the Mossad.In fact, there was not much they could do, since only one of theinstallers was a so-called expert; only he could do the actual work.Everybody else just stood around making him nervous.He was in the process of separating the wires according to ablueprint they'd brought with them and trying to identify the Iranianembassy's lines when the policeman walked in. The four were huddledaround the open telephone wire box with the tapping devices in theirIIITHE OTHER SIDE OF DECEPTION / 275hands, handing them to the expert as he found the proper wires.The policeman was as surprised at what he'd encountered as theteam was. "What are you doing here?" he asked, first in Greek andthen, when no answer was forthcoming, in English.The four dropped what they were holding in their hands andturned to face the cop. They exchanged glances, not knowing quitewhat to do.Ran ~ofe? the commander of the team, was the first to speak. Athirty-three-year-old veteran of Yarid, he was supposed to have stayedoutside with Amit Litvin, who was dressed in a provocative way todraw attention to herself in case there was a need to detain someone (atrick that might have worked had they done their job right), whileDavid Dabi and Anna Dolgin were inside installing the bugs. "We'relooking for a washroom," said Ran. "You know, a toilet. The girls justcan't hold it, you know."The others nodded their heads, like a group of children caughtwith their hands in the cookie jar, trying to sell a lame story even theydidn't believe.The policeman wasn't buying. He hauled them all into the policestation in downtown Nicosia.The four were brought in front of a judge, who remanded them incustody for eight days on suspicion of wiretapping.It wasn't long before the scandal hit the news wires and all hellbroke loose. The Mossad pulled every string they had on the smallisland to close the story, and fast.There followed several days of intense bargaining and fending offcurious reporters. Eventually, the Cypriot authorities released the four,after they'd entered a guilty plea for unlawfully entering private propertyto commit a felony. They were fined the equivalent of about eighthundred U.S. dollars and were released into the hands of the Israelirepresentative.11 2. Ran Sofe, David Dabi, Anna Dolgin, and Amit Litvin were the names theygave to the police, and under those names they were indicted, fined, andreleased.= l