light-hearted banter which invariably dominated their exchanges. Once, when she identified a woman’s voice answering, Mary Jo had hung up, startled and embarrassed. The realization that she had become an intruder into her former lover’s life prevented Mary Jo from calling again.
When Eric sent cards on her birthdays and at Christmas, she reciprocated, but after a time, even these communications slowed, trickling to an occasional, hurriedly-scribbled note, until finally ceasing altogether as both moved on with their lives. Then, without understanding why, Mary Jo had taken up smoking.
Her chief-of-staff watched Mary Jo with increasing concern, as her performance at work failed to achieve the same high standards she had produced in the past. He took Mary Jo aside and warned her to pull herself together or risk losing her position and the respect of others in the industry. The ultimatum was sufficient to galvanize Mary Jo back into action, heeding the chief ’s sound advice. The quality of her work improved, and she threw herself back into her profession with renewed vigor. The change was significant, even startling. Her confidence returned once she managed to put her personal problems into perspective, and behind her. Soon, Mary Jo was back in the air, covering North American events with even greater energy and dedication than before.
Alone, while resting in her apartment at the end of a long tiring day, Mary Jo often questioned her independent nature and the sacrifices she had made. Fortunately, these rare journeys into the murky world of self-pity quickly passed. She came to terms with what had happened, accepting that the final choice not to proceed to Rio, had really been hers. Jaundiced, but not hardened by the experience, Mary Jo promised to be more careful in her future relationships.
Throughout the following two years, she spent most of her life on flights jetting to destinations even her chief-of-staff had difficulty spelling. Bosnia, Chechnya, and many of the former Soviet satellites whose names were a linguistic nightmare, were all reported in depth, her skillful coverage recognized as amongst the finest journalistic efforts in that year.
Her knowledge of peoples and cultures grew, but only partially satisfying her insatiable appetite for more. Mary Jo’s coverage of the brutal Central African slaughters earned her a Pulitzer nomination, although she was greatly disappointed not to be awarded the prize.
Occasionally there were moments of doubt when she wondered how life might have been, had she followed Eric to South America, but these moments of lapse and self-indulgence were easily dismissed when Mary Jo reminded herself of the fulfilling experiences she continued to enjoy, due to the choices she had made. The satisfaction of knowing that she still had control over her own life, brittle as it sometimes seemed, spurred her forward. Her confidence returned, and she ceased smoking, determined not to fall into that trap again.
The following Spring, her life suddenly took a new and promising turn.
She was offered a senior photojournalist’s position in Hong Kong. Mary Jo had not hesitated, thrilled with the chance to be based in the Far East on permanent assignment, the opening providing her with the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream. Her self-esteem completely restored, Mary Jo became impatient to get under way.
* * * *
‘We’re here, lady,’ the cabby announced, bringing Mary Jo back from her reverie, immediately amused that she had been daydreaming. She waited until the driver unloaded her baggage, then followed the lines of other passengers into the main terminal, and onto the shuttle. An hour later, Mary Jo took a final glimpse of the World Trade Center towers and boarded her flight for Hong Kong, her mind filled with anticipation and excitement, the memories of her relationship with Eric Fieldmann now comfortably washed from her mind.
* * * *
Israel - Tel Aviv
Mossad
Major General Shabtai Saguy sat contemplating the recommendations before him, confident that the Prime Minister would now support the initiatives proposed. The General Staff had approved the covert action, convinced that they had no choice but to proceed. Israel’s ultimate survival depended on neutralizing the growing threat of an Islamic bomb.
The responsibility for ensuring secrecy over Israel’s complicity in this deadly game weighed heavily, and the Mossad Director sighed, accepting that any disclosure would not only be harmful to the Middle East Accord, but could also wreck Israeli-American relations. He considered the ramifications of discovery, believing that the imminent nuclear threat to his people greatly outweighed these risks. The possibility that Israel could be destroyed in a Moslem nuclear holocaust only strengthened his resolve; the general had mobilized Mossad’s powerful resources in anticipation of a favorable response from the Prime Minister’s office.
He was reminded of earlier operations conducted under his predecessor’s leadership, and the secrecy which surrounded Mossad and its clandestine activities. The Director frowned, unhappy with recent revelations which he believed undermined the organization’s operational capabilities.
Traditionally a state secret, the identity of the Mossad director was not widely known until the government had announced his appointment. He was gravely concerned by the gradual deterioration in the level of secrecy surrounding the Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks, more commonly known as Mossad.
When Director Saguy was appointed, he had inherited a sophisticated intelligence machine second to none, with a staff in excess of fifteen hundred specifically trained and highly skilled men and women. Upon reading Ben Gurion’s words at the time he had first established the organization back in 1951, Shabtai Saguy wondered if Israel’s elder statesman had ever envisaged a Mossad, such as his creation had now become.
The director reflected on how the original concept had evolved over the years into a highly sophisticated tactical arm, dedicated to Israel’s defence.
Details of earlier successes attracted unnecessary attention, although the agency’s funding benefited from such celebrated operations as the kidnapping of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann from Argentina in 1960.
Saguy was reminded of Israel’s current dilemma as Mordechai Vanunu’s name crossed his thoughts, and how his organization had kidnapped this man and brought him back for trial, charged with revealing details of Israel’s nuclear weapons’ program to the London tabloids.
And then there were the successful assassination operations which removed a number of Arabs connected to the Black September group, and executed Arafat’s deputy, Abu Jihad, who at that time was considered to be the section chief responsible for all PLO military and terrorist operations against Israel. But it was the Brussels murder of Gerald Bull, the Canadian scientist who had developed the infamous ‘Super Gun’ for Iraq, that had focused media attention on the existence of the Mossad assassination teams, resulting in more accountability. Although there had been substantial changes to the organization’s structure, Saguy knew that Mossad would always be surrounded by controversy.
The new and more streamlined Mossad with its eight departments would continue to provide his country with intelligence resources of the highest caliber, although Saguy admitted that the institute had not always been successful in its endeavors. He recalled his government’s embarrassment when Mossad mistakenly assassinated a Swedish national. Then, there was the failed attempt to eliminate Khalid Meshaal by injecting the Palestinian Hamas leader with poison. But it was Mossad’s failure to provide adequate protection to Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin against Yigal Amir’s deadly attack that had resulted in leadership changes which, in turn, had paved the way for Saguy’s ascent to his current position and the unenviable task with which he was now faced.
Israel’s enemies had continued to arm, the threat of a nuclear war becoming
