Hi-Tech Hijack (27 page)

Alfonso exited the lab hall and went to call Mickey about the server stored at Eddie’s apartment. He left Isabella and Eddie in her office to continue working on copying Eddie’s files to her computer, making what Isabella felt was extremely frustratingly slow progress. Reuben and the guard were in the lab hall.

“There’s nothing else we can do right now. You should go back to the lab,” said Isabella.

“All right.” Eddie left the room and closed the door behind him. His mind was spinning, and his heart was pounding in his chest. He knew he was running out of time quickly and had to act right there and then before Alfonso and Mickey get their hands on the server. Reuben wouldn’t look at him for fear that he might give out the details of his conversation with Alfonso. Eddie went over to the monkeys’ cage and looked at them for a long moment. Once he made sure the guard wasn’t watching him, he swiftly opened the door of one cage and even managed to push the second cage closer to the edge of the stainless steel counter. He then stepped away from the cages. The two monkeys stood on the counter still overwhelmed by the sudden possibility of freedom. Eddie went over to the bathroom door and called at the guard, “I’m in the bathroom.”

The guard looked up at the sound of Eddie’s voice and suddenly noticed the monkeys standing on the counter, one of them sipping water from the leaky faucet in the sink.

“The monkeys, the monkeys!” shouted the guard, causing them to leap from the counter and start running around frantically all over the lab hall, knocking over and smashing test tubes and petri dishes to bits and pieces. The two monkeys that were still contained went into a complete frenzy, shaking the cage and bringing it closer and closer to the counter edge about to crash and fall down to the floor at any minute.

Eddie had time to get into the bathroom and peeked through the door. He saw Reuben and the guard shouting and hopelessly chasing after the monkeys. Isabella came out of her room running and joined the manic chase, leaving the door to her room open. She crossed the hall and opened the main door to call for help. Once she did that one of the monkeys leaped and escaped through the door and out into the hallway, passing the stunned guard who simply stood there dumbfounded.

Eddie took advantage of the chaos and swiftly entered Isabella’s room. He closed the door behind him and locked it from within. He knew this was his last chance to make contact with the outside world and call for help. He lunged at the phone, his heart racing, and dialed 9 for an outside line. There was a dial tone, then he pressed 00972, followed by Ronit’s cell number. The next few seconds felt like an eternity until finally it started ringing. Five rings later, Ronit picked up.

“Ronit, it’s Eddie. I only have a minute.”

“Eddie, listen. You’re in Saudi Arabia in the Saudi-Palestinian scientific incubators’ campus. Is there a Professor Alfonso there? And his wife, a Dr. Isabella?”

“In Saudi Arabia?! I thought we were still in Europe. Yes, Alfonso and Isabella are running the program. Ronit, pay attention, Mickey Rush is going to try and enter my apartment and steal the server that’s in my study. It’s hidden on top the closet under a pile of old clothes. Don’t let him get to it. I’m trying to escape this place; you have to help me.”

“Eddie, this is Nir, Ronit’s brother.” Eddie was surprised to hear another voice on the line. “You know where I work. We’re going to handle this. Isabella and Alfonso are second-generation Nazis whose parents escaped to Argentina.”

“You need to get your hands on Mickey. He’s the one who’s behind all this. He stole all our company equipment and transferred it here, and he’s in contact with the kidnappers.”

“Eddie, we’ll get him. We know exactly where you are, and we’re working on getting you out. Try and contact us again tomorrow.”

“I’ll try, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to. You need to check Mickey’s connection to bank accounts in Vaduz. That’s where he got the kidnappers’ investment money from.”

“Thanks, Eddie. You’ve helped us make some real progress. Don’t do anything rash before we talk again.”

“I have to go, but wait, if we’re in Saudi Arabia, you need to talk to Amit, my friend who got married just before we left. My parents have his contact information. His father-in-law’s company works in Saudi Arabia.”

“Take care, Eddie,” Ronit said, and the conversation was over.

“Do you know who Amit is, and what he has to do with Saudi Arabia?” asked Nir.

“I know he’s Eddie’s best friend from the army. They traveled together, and he stayed in South Africa when Eddie came back to Israel. Then later he married someone from a wealthy family that does construction, and now he works there. They had their second wedding in Israel recently, and he moved his flight up and came here early once he heard of Eddie’s illness. I think he’s meant to go back to South Africa any day now.”

“Track him down through Eddie’s parents, and get me in touch with him. Eddie must have mentioned his name for a good reason.”

Realizing he was in Saudi Arabia and not in Europe caused Eddie a real shock. He tried to stand up, but felt his legs were shaking. He sat there, motionless, for a full minute, grasping the severity of his situation. This wasn’t Spain or some other European country he was in. This was a totally different scenario than what he had hoped for, and now it turned out the absolute worse was true—they had been kidnapped by an enemy state or an extremely powerful and resourceful terrorist organization. He pulled himself together, forced himself to get up, unlocked the door to Isabella’s room, went through the adjoining door leading to the bathroom, flushed, and exited to the lab hall.

Already present in the lab were the two techs, two guards, and Reuben. Alfonso still hadn’t returned and neither had Isabella who had run after the escaped monkey. On the lab floor that was covered in gray wall-to-wall carpets were strewn broken test tubes, and damp stains covered the spots where their contents had spilled to the ground. The closed monkey cage had fallen off the counter and lay on its side on the floor. The two caged monkeys were screaming, but everyone in the room had their eyes on the loose monkey that was standing in the corner of the room staring as if under hypnosis at his five evolutionary relatives who were slowly moving toward him. The two guards were holding blankets that they intended to throw on the monkey.

Eddie decided to blend in with the others and try to help capture the monkey. He managed to stop his legs from shaking, but his heart was still beating. He tried to focus on what was happening in the room and then suddenly noticed an ID tag that had fallen to the floor between him and the others who had their backs turned to him. Eddie moved closer to the tag and saw by the photo that it belonged to the on-call guard, the one who yelled, “The monkeys!” He was probably running after the monkey that escaped down the hall right now. Eddie quickly bent down, picked the tag up, and shoved it in his pocket. He also scooped up a small surgical knife that had fallen from one of the spilled drawers. The guards threw the blankets on the panicked monkey that became entangled in them. Eddie with his typical calmness stepped over to the moving bundle and picked it up.

“Bring the cage here,” he ordered the two guards, and when they apprehensively did so, Eddie carefully placed the frightened monkey opposite the cage door, slowly removed the blanket, and guided him back inside.

“Turn that second cage with the two monkeys back up. Don’t put it back on the counter. Leave it on the floor so that it doesn’t fall over again,” said Eddie, instructing the guards, who did exactly as they were told. Then they all just stood there assessing the damages. The floor was littered with broken glass from the test tubes and petri dishes, and the stains from their contents continued to spread across the carpet. The PCR machine was still in its place, but some of the slides that contained the genetic markers got jumbled up on the counter. Reuben’s computer, which had been on and working when the monkeys got loose, was tossed upside down on the floor. Reuben moved forward and bent down to pick it up. The computer was off, and one of the hinges holding the screen was broken.

Isabella stormed back into the lab, looked at the destruction around her, and blurted out something that sounded like a very long curse in Spanish. Still breathing heavily, she turned to the guards and said, “Take these two back to their rooms.”

Eddie and Reuben immediately complied and allowed the guards to lead them to their rooms. In the midst of everything, the guards forgot to separate the two and neglected to check their pockets, normally part of their end-of-day routine. So for the first time, Eddie and Reuben were led to their rooms simultaneously and got to see just how close together their rooms were. On their way down the hall, they could still hear Alfonso yelling instructions at the guards who were running around the corridors chasing the second monkey.

The chase was over, the monkey was retrieved, and after a while, Alfonso returned to the lab where a desperate Isabella awaited him. Alfonso stood at the door and silently looked around the room at all the damages.

“Do you think one of them opened the cage?”

“I don’t think so. Reuben was already there, and Eddie had just come out of the bathroom. Why did they put the monkeys in the lab anyway? We had the next room ready.”

“You’re right. When I left to call Mickey, I even told the guards to take the cage down from the counter to the floor so that it didn’t turn over, and the guard said the room was already prepared and that they were going to move the cages there.”

“What do we do now? This damage is huge. So many expensive materials have been ruined and worst of all—the genetic markers got mixed up. We’re almost back where we started.” Isabella’s face was full of anger and despair, and her eyes filled with tears of rage.

“We don’t know that for sure,” said Alfonso, trying to calm her down. He placed a loving hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t you bring Reuben back here to help reorganize everything? Don’t let the guards touch anything without his specific instructions. We’ll leave Eddie in his room for the rest of the day. He might take the opportunity to deliberately sabotage the cleaning and organizing of things.”

“Yes, I’ll have them bring Reuben back. But I’m telling you, Alfonso, the time we lost is devastating. I hope we won’t be missing any lab materials; it takes so long to get anything here. And I really hope we haven’t lost any of the genetic markers.” Isabella was despaired. She could not stand situations she had no control over, which was how she felt right now. Alfonso tried to reassure her, but knew how very well justified her feelings of desperation were.

“I reached Mickey. He’s still in Brussels waiting for instructions from the Liechtenstein office, but he spoke with his assistant Tzipi, and she’ll have the server taken from Eddie’s home tonight.”

“But we have the key to his apartment here in his suitcase.”

“So what?” Alfonso gave a malicious smile. “Mickey has some very dodgy friends who can take care of that. He’s already spoken to someone who can get in and out of the apartment without anyone noticing.”

“And what if the password he’s given us is deliberately incorrect?”

“I’ve thought of that, too. Reuben will call home tonight. It’s time we let him talk to his wife. It’s been eight days already, and they were supposed to leave Japan today. We have to let him talk to her, and at the same time, we’ll have him ask her for the password he has stashed in one of his drawers.”

“Ok. Reuben doesn’t worry me. But we have to decide how he’s going to explain to his wife why he isn’t coming back.”

“He’ll tell her the ‘truth’—there’s a certain company that is interested in buying their technology for a very high price, and they are being delayed in Hong Kong for a few days for presentations and meetings.”

“You think she’ll fall for that?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell him to keep it short and warn him not to let his wife ask too many questions. Anyway, I’ll be on the line listening, and that Palestinian guy from security, the one from Jerusalem who speaks Hebrew, will listen in as well. If it gets too close to dangerous territories, we’ll cut him off. International calls break off all the time, right?” Alfonso smiled.

“Right. You’ll have to brief the Palestinian guy well and give him all the background.”

“I already called him in for a briefing in an hour. I’d like you to be there, too.”

On the evening of the eighth night of the kidnaping, the night on which Eddie placed his call, Nir sat up late into the night in his office at the General Security Agency (Shabak) headquarters. He gathered the bits and pieces of information that were beginning to come to him from friends in the Mossad who were in contact with the CIA. Every once in a while, he would call Ronit and fill her in on some detail or another. They had all the available information about the identity of the people holding American passports and working at PSSIC, and confirmed that among them were two college graduates in life sciences and biotechnology, one from Detroit and the other from Chicago. Ronit managed to track Amit down before he left for South Africa and set up a meeting with him and Nir for that same night.

Nir, now fully aware of the dangerous potential in Ebocell-Tech’s accumulated knowledge, decided to make it known to the highest authorities. Following Nir’s appeal, the anti-terror advisor for the prime minister was brought in on things. He called a meeting with the heads of Mossad and the General Security Agency. Nir, who wasn’t usually invited to discussions at such a senior level, was asked by the head of the Security Agency to join in as a specialist who knew all the Israelis involved personally.

The meeting was brief. The advisor summed up what they had so far.

“We can deduce that the Palestinian-Saudi institution called PSSIC is working, among other things, on developing a biological weapon that is based on the Ebola virus. The virus’s weak spot is its inability to survive without a living host, which has stopped the epidemic from spreading beyond Africa. If the knowledge Reuben and Eddie reached in their research can render the virus airborne, then the road is open for the PSSIC scientists to prepare Ebola deposits to be spread from the air or on water. We know there are experts involved in the project with Nazi backgrounds. Unfortunately, PSSIC is an international institute supported by UNESCO, and an Israeli action against it could lead to so much reprimand that Israel could be kicked out of the UN. It is unheard of for a country to attack a UN institute. We have to find a way to get the Americans actively involved.”

They decided on what had to be done in the next following hours and ended the meeting. The prime minister’s advisor for anti-terror contacted his American counterpart in Washington who ruled out the possibility of an Israeli force running a rescue operation in Saudi territory.

“We have special military forces there. We’ve got information about Al-Qaeda cells waiting for the cue to act. We know the scene much better than you do. There’s no way the Saudi administration will let you do anything over there, but they will let us act. But the fact that it’s an international institute is a real problem, and we need to assess it very thoroughly.”

“I agree. The problem is we believe the kidnapped men are in immediate danger, and we want to issue a rescue operation in a few days before it’s too late.”

“We’re going to work fast on this; you have my word. We’re capable of operating in Saudi territory within a few hours without any Saudi interference, not just because we’re concerned about the two Israelis, but because we have an interest in knowing more about this research facility. I consider it a global strategic threat, and I will not allow the Saudis to be the first ones to gain access there. Let me sort out the political issue first. We’re going to have to bring the president in on this. He’s the only one who can make the decision to attack a facility that supposedly works under UN sponsorship.”

“I hope you succeed. We literally have to decide what to do within a few hours.”

“I’m calling on everyone involved right now including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I’ll present everything to the president around noon once the layout of the action is clear. We’ll use the special task forces we have in Saudi Arabia, as well as Sixth Fleet forces in the Mediterranean.”

Late at night, close to midnight, the phone rang at the Nevo residence. Ronit answered the call.

“Hi, Ronit, it’s Reuben. How’s it going?” Reuben sounded calm and detached. The memory of the last fight they had, the night before he left, was wiped completely clean for Ronit, but it suited Reuben very much to remember it and try not to be overly affectionate.

“Reuben!” Ronit cried in surprise, “Are you ok?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked placidly. Ronit couldn’t comprehend his calmness and a long silence fell.

“How’ve you been, Ronit?”

“I’m fine, but what’s happening with you?” she asked.

“I’m assuming Mickey or Tzipi told you we were being held back in Hong Kong for some meetings with investors.”

“No one told us anything. You’re in Hong Kong? Is Eddie there?” Ronit tried to figure out where she was going wrong.

All of a sudden the conversation broke off and seconds later Nir called Ronit. “Ronit, something weird is going on. We traced the call to Saudi Arabia, but it sounds like whatever is happening to Eddie isn’t happening to him. It looks like he doesn’t know Eddie called us. I’m guessing he’ll call right back any minute now. You need to pretend you haven’t spoken with Eddie. Act natural. Let him do the talking so that we can figure out what he wants.”

“This is really weird. It doesn’t sound like he’s in trouble at all.”

“Let’s hang up; he’s probably trying to call back.”

Less than a minute passed before the phone rang again.

“Ronit, it’s Reuben. We got cut off for some reason. Don’t worry, Eddie and I are fine. We’re in Hong Kong, and it’s morning here, and I’m running late for a meeting. Do me a favor: I need the code to our server. It’s in a binder in one of my desk drawers.” Reuben told Ronit exactly where to find the code.

“I’ll go get it, hold on.”

As she went to the study, Ronit called Nir from her cell phone, and this time he picked right up. “Do I give him the code?”

“Yes, give it to him. We already have the server. We got it from Eddie’s apartment two hours after he called you.”

“Are you listening to the conversation?”

“All the time, Ronit. You’re doing good, keep it up,” said Nir, reassuring his sister.

Ronit found the code, picked the phone back up, and gave it to Reuben.

“Thanks. I’ll call you after the meeting.”

“Wait, Reuben, what hotel are you staying at? What’s the number there?” Ronit tried to find out, but Reuben had already hung up.

The next call, moments later, was from Nir. “You did great, sis.”

“Do you know what’s going on there?”

“It looks like the kidnappers had Reuben call you. They must need the code to the server because Eddie wouldn’t give it to them, or maybe to make sure he gave them the right code. They still don’t know it’s not in Eddie’s apartment. We have a squad waiting outside his house to catch the burglars Mickey is probably going to send.”

“But what’s going on with Reuben and Eddie? How can Eddie be calling in secret while Reuben is free to call like that?”

“You know them both better than anyone. Can you think of anything that would explain this?”

“I’m so confused, Nir. Confused and worried. Have you met with Amit?”

“Yes, we had a very interesting conversation, and he’s still here waiting in the next room. It turns out his father-in-law’s company does mining, and some of their experts consulted a big tunneling project in Saudi Arabia by the UN. Amit is trying to get more information now. He’ll wake up whomever he needs to have answers tonight.”

“How will that help exactly?”

“I’m still not entirely sure. I need to think about it some more. Hopefully in the next hour he’ll have more information for us to go on. In the meantime you need to get some sleep. You’ve had one restless, sleepless night already. Maybe by morning, things will be clearer.”

“Wait, Nir, I think there’s something you should know . . .” She hesitated for a few seconds.

“I’m listening.” Nir detected the hesitation in her voice and tensed up.

“Reuben and Eddie haven’t been getting along too well lately. It got even worse when Mickey joined the company. Eddie was against the idea while Reuben was thrilled about it. If they hadn’t run out of money and if Eddie didn’t go into the hospital, he would have never agreed to let Mickey in. Eddie thought he was a dodgy character right from the start.”

“And what did you think? I never asked you.”

“I honestly was with Eddie on this.”

“So could it be that Eddie is in distress while Reuben is cooperating with Mickey?”

“I don’t know, Nir. It’s hard for me to admit, but I think it might be possible.”

“Ok, you’ve given me some food for thought. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow. Now you need to get to bed. It’s been a long day.”

“Do you really think I’ll be able to sleep?”

“Dr. Nevo, take something to calm your nerves and please try to sleep a little. I’m going to need you fresh tomorrow.”

“I’ll do my best. I have to leave for the hospital at seven a.m.”

“Call me before you do. I’m sure we’ll be smarter with more information from the Americans and Amit.”

“Good night, Nir, and thank you.”

“Sleep tight.”

For most of that night, Ronit couldn’t sleep. She was too on edge to go to bed. She stared at the TV for a long while, with Eddie’s image floating between her and the screen and his voice crying for help ringing in her ears. At several times she realized she wasn’t even thinking of Reuben, her husband, and only about Eddie; her guilty conscience made it even more impossible to relax. She was troubled by concerns and trying to understand what happened to Eddie and Reuben all through the night.

Ronit tried to make sense of the discrepancy between what Eddie had told her and what Reuben had said. She thought back to Reuben’s enthusiasm for Mickey and to the frequent disagreements between Eddie and Reuben, a clear indication of how different their personalities were. She realized Mickey and Reuben must be cooperating, and the conclusion frightened her. She could expect anything from Mickey, but did Reuben really sink that low?

When Nir got off the phone with Ronit, he went back to the room where he left Amit who was clearly very excited.

“Are you on to something interesting?” asked Nir right away.

“Absolutely! It turns out my father-in-law’s company, Goldmining, was involved in the PSSIC construction project. Thanks to their expertise in underground mining their experts were chosen to design the stabilization of the ground and the foundations for the entire campus, as well as the energy and communications center. Payment was made by the South African government as part of its contribution to this international project. Also, the company itself donated all the air-conditioning and ventilation equipment. It was manufactured by a subsidiary of Goldmining.”

“That’s great news. What a coincidence,” said Nir.

“Actually, it’s not that much of a coincidence, considering that Goldmining, founded by my wife’s grandfather, is the biggest in its field in South Africa. It started with gold mines, and when those dwindled, they moved to mining of other substances including uranium. From there to tunnel construction, the road is quite short.”

“We’ll need them to give us blueprints and any other information they have on the project.”

“It’s evening there now. I’ve talked to my father-in-law, and like you instructed, I haven’t told him why I’m interested in all this. But I explained it’s a matter of life and death and that it concerns my best friend Eddie. Once he confirmed the company was involved—or rather, still is involved—in what’s going on there, I told him I’d probably want to talk to him again tonight. He’s home waiting for the call.”

“So let’s make it.”

“Jacob Goldman,” Amit’s father-in-law picked up after the third ring.

“Good evening, Mr. Goldman. Sorry to bother you. My name is Nir, and I’m here with Amit. I work for the Israeli government, and we urgently need your help.” Nir quickly told Jacob the important information about PSSIC.

“I’m stunned,” said Jacob. “The South African government presented this project as a humanitarian cause, and I was happy to participate and to show the Jewish people are willing to aid a peace-targeted Palestinian venture.”

“It’s highly likely you’re not the only one who has fallen for this pretense. Don’t feel guilty; the fact that you participated in the project will help us get Reuben and Eddie out, and perhaps even put a stop to other dangerous things that are happening there under the radar. Tell us everything you know of the project.”

“Are you absolutely sure about all this? If this is true, it means someone there conned the South African government and other governments around the world—the UN really. If you’re right, this is infuriating.”

“I can assure you we’ve thoroughly checked it, and the CIA has provided some more information to corroborate our findings. In any case, Amit’s friend is the most powerful proof. As for the UN, it’s not so sure it is on the misguided end of things.”

“What do you mean?”

“As you know, there isn’t a shortage of countries that despise Israel and the United States in the UN. All it takes is for a few high ranking clerks at UNESCO from one of these countries to cooperate with the project in order to get UN sponsorship and cover up its true purposes.”