other-side-of-deception-victor-ostrovsky

e my insurance; if Ephraim turned out to be not what he seemed or ifanyone at any stage tried to stop my family from joining me, I wouldstrip the Mossad of all its field personnel in one day, forcing it to ceaseoperations for a very long time.There was more explosive material packed into that suitcase thanhad ever hit the Mossad in a single blow.My flight was Sunday at noon. Bella and I decided to tell the childrenthe morning of my flight; she would keep them home until sheknew my flight had taken off. There was no point in spreading thenews; many of my ex-comrades were living in the same area as I was,and I wasn't sure who might try to stop me if they could.I got out of the cab at the airport. I licked my lips and tastedBella's perfume, which had rubbed off when I kissed her tiny earlobe.The girls were sad to see me go again, but they didn't notice a differencefrom the other times I'd packed and gone on duty. I took solacein that.I had two suitcases and a carry-on bag with me. I headed for theTower Air counter, at the eastern end of the Ben-Gurion terminal. Theflight was to leave at 14:OO and it was now only 11:30. It was standardprocedure in the Israeli airport to request that passengers arrivetwo to three hours before departure. Most passengers dropped offtheir luggage the night before at the special counter adjacent to theNorth Tel Llviv train station. There was no way, though, that I wasgoing to leave my luggage somewhere overnight with the papers I hadstashed in it, nor \vould I want to give anyone the opportunity to plantsomething in it.The Tower Air ground crew wasn't there yet, and there were nomore than five passengers standing in line waiting to check their luggageand get their boarding cards. In fact, there were two lines, and Iwas the first in one. I sat on the stainless steel table used by the securitypeople to go through the luggage. I usually felt good at this airport.I knew most of the security watch commanders, and most of themknew me. I had brought into the country and taken out scores of people,most of whom could say they were never in Israel. And except forsome photos stored in the Mossad filing system, no one could provethem wrong. The feeling I had that day was very strange. Here I wasin a place where only a few days ago, had I business there, I wouldhave walked around like a peacock in heat, an arrogant snob, with theability to have things done at a snap of my fingers.Today, however, was different. I was already on the run, and eventhough no one was visibly after me, I knew it was a race against time.Ir turned out I was extremely lucky; at the beginning of the month, I'dhad to get a real passport for a job, and had picked it up only a few\veeks before. Since I'm a dual citizen, I'd also requested a new Canadianpassport and had received that about a week later. This totallyfortuitous circumstance would allow me to leave the country at thespeed that I was about to attempt.Feeling some apprehension, I looked across at the other line,where a heavyset blond bearded man was standing at the head of theline. nervously tapping on his pigskin attach6 case.The security watch officer's face was beaming as he walked in mydirection. "Hey there, how are you?"I guess he doesn't know yet, I thought-not that telling the securityat the airport was high on anyone's list. "I'm fine. How are you?""Good, good." He paused. "Are you on business or pleasure?""A little of both, I guess. Why do you ask?""I want to ask you a favor." This was starting to sound bizarre."How can I help?" I was trying hard to keep smiling. I was alsograteful for the short conversation that bridged the abyss of self-doubtand fear. I knew I didn't have to put on a show for him. He knew Icouldn't really refuse him, even if I wasn't thrilled.He leaned closer to me and said in a low voice, "We're breaking ina couple of new security people, a guy and a woman." He winked atme. "She's really something, you'll see." He leaned even closer. "Actually,I understand she's quite friendly, if you know what I mean.""So you want me to seduce her or something?" I felt a deep dislikefor the man and wanted him to get the hell away from me as soon aspossible. On the other hand, I couldn't alter the fact that I had withme a wad of top-secret Mossad documents dealing with several foreignintelligence agencies, a stack of Mossad officer photos, and adetailed list of more than two thousand sayanim in Britain, France,and the United States. What was in my suitcase could get me a life sentencein a dingy prison, and he was leaning on it.He laughed. Apparently, he found what I said amusing, not takingthe offense intended in my tone. "No, no, I can do that. In fact, Iprobably will very soon. What I'd like you to do is exchange yourpassport with that guy over there." He nodded at the big guy headingthe other line. "And then we'll see if the two of them realize what hashappened, or for that matter if they notice anything.""Did you talk to him?""What, you think he'd say no?"