other-side-of-deception-victor-ostrovsky

"They want to talk to you." He nodded in the direction of theoffices."Is the chief there?" r\s a case officer on his way out, I had theright to speak one-on-one to the head of the Mossad. If that wasdenied, I would activate my second privilege and ask for a hearingwith the prime minister."No, the boss isn't there. David Arbel is.""I have the right to speak to Rom." I used the code name for thehead of the Mossad."Why don't you listen to what Arbel and Gideon Naftaly have tosay?""Naftaly? What the hell is Naftaly up to?" Naftaly was head ofthe psychiatric department and someone I didn't respect. In the cadetcourse, one cadet who was a psychologist had made manipulating himinto a sport."Look, Victor, don't ask me all these questions. Get in there andask them."I nodded and started for the hall, stopping by the coffee table totake a cup and use some napkins to partially dry my hair, which wasstill damp from the rain. Dinur was walking by me. I felt like a manon his way to the gallows.Gideon popped his head out of the office. "Victor, we're waitingfor you. Can you please come in here now?""Go ahead," said Dinur, pushing me toward the office. "Go,man."I nodded and entered the room. "You called?""Yes," said Arbel in his heavy, self-important voice. "We want totalk to you about the termination of your contract with the Mossad.""When will I hsve my talk with the boss?""You won't," he said in a casual tone, as though he were tellinghis secretary to get him someone on the phone. "This will be yourfinal talk."I felt a sudden burst of anger. I could see that they wanted to getthis over with as fast as possible. I had ceased to be one of them, andthey didn't want me around anymore. They had cheated me out of mycountry and my belief in a cause. I was clutching at straws. "What areyou talking about? You're not the boss, and this clown shouldn't behere anyway.""Watch your mouth, Victor," Arbel said."Nor could you ever be.""That's enough." Arbel's eyes were shooting sparks. I could seethat he felt the control slipping between his fingers. "I wanted to talkto you before you left. If you don't want to answer, that will be okayxvith me. In fact, I would be grateful if you didn't. Now listen to me,and never forget what I say to you."I leaned back in my chair. I found his manner offensive, but thepower was his. "Once on the outside, you'll forget everything youhave learned, done, heard, or otherwise understood is taking placehere.""I thought I'd get a chanie to tell the boss what I think is wrong,"1 returned. "I know that what I say might not amount to much, but atleast he could make a face like he's listening, the way he does whenBrains here talks to him."Naftaly shook his head but didn't say a word.Xrbel went on. "Well, as you can see, that isn't going to happen.Why don't you just spit out whatever it is you want to say? I'll pass iton to him.""How about talking to the prime minister, if the boss won't talk tome?""You'll talk to me and that's it." He was losing his patience."In my employment contract, it says that upon involuntary terminationof the contract, I will have a meeting with the head of the\lossad and/or the prime minister. It says the meeting will take placebefore final termination of employment." I moved closer to him, subconsciouslydefying his unlimited power.He smirked at me. "I don't give a shit about your contract. Whoare you going to complain to?" His voice was low. "Can't you see? Wemade that promise, and we can break it. We can do with you anythingwe want. I could put you in jail now and throw away the key. Youknow it's happened to others. You're like a mosquito on my head.You're starting to become a nuisance, and I'm about ready to crush!-ou. So listen, Victor, get moving while you still have time.""So does that mean no?" I knew I was pushing it."Are you hard of hearing? 1 said you're not talking to anyone.You're out of the loop, you're out of the game, and if you don't watchit, you'll be out of this world.""What are you telling me?" I was almost whispering. "You'll killme if I don't play it your way? If that's what you said, it's a first. Imight have flunked an exercise, and, if you want to believe the stories,even screwed up an operation. But you know as well as I do that I'mone of the best field people you have, and I'm still a patriot, whetheryou like it or not, and it's starting to look like you might not be one.You might be responsible for the security of our country, but nobodyhas yet made you king." I got up and headed for the door.