this places me in command. It's a job I don't want, but that doesn't matter." If they wanted a morale-boosting speech, they could get it elsewhere, he thought. "We will continue as before. The only so, when this operation's done, I want our prisoner executed and I personally will deal with the American."
The most junior member of the group spoke. "I am not questioning you, Yosef, but aggravating the situation with two more deaths won't help our cause. According to our information, Mercer had nothing to do with Ibriham's murder. Killing him will only draw more attention to our presence."
Again nothing showed on Yosef's face, but his voice was deadly. "Killing Mercer has nothing to do with our cause. It's a personal matter. And no one will be aware of it. Eritrea's a big country, full of danger. One more corpse buried in the desert will make no difference."
He looked around the table to see if anyone else would question his decision, but none would meet his gaze. He had to keep the team focused for just a few more weeks, until the election. After that, he no longer cared what happened to them or himself, or God forbid, Israel.
Yosef thought back to the murder of his niece, Ibriham's cousin, so many years ago. She'd been shot by an Israeli soldier who was so shaken by the accident that he'd been unable to return to active service. Ibriham had taken her death particularly hard, and Yosef had feared that he would join a Palestinian splinter group to reap his revenge. But days later, a bomb at a bus stop in Tel Aviv had killed eleven Israelis. Television reports showed cheering crowds of students in Gaza celebrating the martyrdom of the suicide bomber. That evening, Ibriham approached his uncle and asked to join him in the Mossad. Ibriham had been so impressed by the compassion the soldier had shown following the fatal shooting and so sickened by the crowds that the internal conflict that had torn him since childhood had cleared. He had said he was a Jew first and foremost and wanted to be like his uncle, dedicated to the preservation of the Jewish homeland.
From that time, Ibriham's uncertainty gave way to a zeal that forced him to work tirelessly within the ranks of the Mossad. In just a couple of years, he'd topped the list of field operatives. This brought him to the attention of Israel's current defense minister Chaim Levine, who was forming a secret team from within the ranks of Israel's military and intelligence community for a shadowy program of his own. Ibriham quickly accepted Levine's offer to join and eventually lead his cadre in pursuit of the minister's dream. It had been Levine who drew Ibriham in, but now the responsibility fell on Yosef's shoulders. The team watched him quietly.
"I know what you're thinking: the old man has gone mad. You think I might jeopardize the mission with a vendetta against a man who's actually helping us. I assure you, nothing will happen to Mercer until after he discovers the mine and we retrieve what we lost so long ago." Yosef paused to fill a glass with water. "Ibriham's death has been a devastating blow, not only to me personally, but also to you. But it doesn't mean that we're going to stop. In just a few weeks, if we are successful, we'll rejuvenate our nation and will lay the foundation to ensure that never again will Jews feel that we do not have a rightful place on this planet.
"It's true we have our land, bought with blood and defended with yet more. But since the founding of our state, we have lacked a soul. We've existed, lived, and died but never have we truly felt our place. Many thought taking Jerusalem in 1967 would give us that soul--the Western Wall, for generations known as the Wailing Wall because it stood inside Jordan's borders. It was the wall built by King David himself when he erected the Temple. It's a tangible piece of whstone blocks that sits in the shadow of a mosque. I have been to the wall just once, back in '67, as a soldier. I had killed to take those
The most junior member of the group spoke. "I am not questioning you, Yosef, but aggravating the situation with two more deaths won't help our cause. According to our information, Mercer had nothing to do with Ibriham's murder. Killing him will only draw more attention to our presence."
Again nothing showed on Yosef's face, but his voice was deadly. "Killing Mercer has nothing to do with our cause. It's a personal matter. And no one will be aware of it. Eritrea's a big country, full of danger. One more corpse buried in the desert will make no difference."
He looked around the table to see if anyone else would question his decision, but none would meet his gaze. He had to keep the team focused for just a few more weeks, until the election. After that, he no longer cared what happened to them or himself, or God forbid, Israel.
Yosef thought back to the murder of his niece, Ibriham's cousin, so many years ago. She'd been shot by an Israeli soldier who was so shaken by the accident that he'd been unable to return to active service. Ibriham had taken her death particularly hard, and Yosef had feared that he would join a Palestinian splinter group to reap his revenge. But days later, a bomb at a bus stop in Tel Aviv had killed eleven Israelis. Television reports showed cheering crowds of students in Gaza celebrating the martyrdom of the suicide bomber. That evening, Ibriham approached his uncle and asked to join him in the Mossad. Ibriham had been so impressed by the compassion the soldier had shown following the fatal shooting and so sickened by the crowds that the internal conflict that had torn him since childhood had cleared. He had said he was a Jew first and foremost and wanted to be like his uncle, dedicated to the preservation of the Jewish homeland.
From that time, Ibriham's uncertainty gave way to a zeal that forced him to work tirelessly within the ranks of the Mossad. In just a couple of years, he'd topped the list of field operatives. This brought him to the attention of Israel's current defense minister Chaim Levine, who was forming a secret team from within the ranks of Israel's military and intelligence community for a shadowy program of his own. Ibriham quickly accepted Levine's offer to join and eventually lead his cadre in pursuit of the minister's dream. It had been Levine who drew Ibriham in, but now the responsibility fell on Yosef's shoulders. The team watched him quietly.
"I know what you're thinking: the old man has gone mad. You think I might jeopardize the mission with a vendetta against a man who's actually helping us. I assure you, nothing will happen to Mercer until after he discovers the mine and we retrieve what we lost so long ago." Yosef paused to fill a glass with water. "Ibriham's death has been a devastating blow, not only to me personally, but also to you. But it doesn't mean that we're going to stop. In just a few weeks, if we are successful, we'll rejuvenate our nation and will lay the foundation to ensure that never again will Jews feel that we do not have a rightful place on this planet.
"It's true we have our land, bought with blood and defended with yet more. But since the founding of our state, we have lacked a soul. We've existed, lived, and died but never have we truly felt our place. Many thought taking Jerusalem in 1967 would give us that soul--the Western Wall, for generations known as the Wailing Wall because it stood inside Jordan's borders. It was the wall built by King David himself when he erected the Temple. It's a tangible piece of whstone blocks that sits in the shadow of a mosque. I have been to the wall just once, back in '67, as a soldier. I had killed to take those
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