full forensic analysis of this video. What if we run the video in real time and see if we can spot Mahmoud and Yousef entering the club?”
He estimated it had been fifteen minutes since he’d detained her, and he backed up the video twenty minutes to be safe. He hit Play.
He pulled up a rolling chair from the next desk over and sat down beside Rebel. Their shoulders rubbed together as they both leaned forward, staring intently at the moving images in front of them.
Both of them jolted at the same moment as two men wearing black tracksuits entered the frame. They bumped into each other, and Avi mumbled an apology at the same time Rebel did. Their gazes met, startled, and she looked away immediately, a blush staining her cheeks. Was she shy, or did she find him attractive, or both? Hmm. Interesting.
She stabbed at the video monitor. “Those are my guys.”
“Unfortunately, that’s only the back of their heads,” he commented. “Let me see if there’s another angle.” He advanced the video frame by frame in search of a good facial shot of the men.
Nothing.
He pulled up the second camera in the club, and damned if the men weren’t moving through the space with their heads turned to the side, avoiding being seen clearly on that camera, too.
Rebel leaned back in disgust. “They did that same trick when they were leaving the village. They turned their faces away from the surveillance cameras as if they knew exactly where they were.”
He pushed away from the desk and leaned back in his chair, linking his hands behind his head as he stared at her. “Let’s say you’re correct, and that’s Mahmoud Akhtar. How did he get into the Olympic Village?”
“Obviously, the Iranians gave him credentials.”
“Their entire delegation undergoes thorough background checks by the International Olympic Committee. And my people run our own background checks above and beyond the IOC’s. We would have spotted him.”
She threw him a “duh” look. “Obviously, the Iranians substituted him after the fact in place of someone who passed the background check.”
“Or he could have stolen the credentials. But either way, the next question is why?” he asked reasonably.
“Because the Iranians have something planned to disrupt the games.”
“Like what?” he asked, interested to see how she answered. The Israelis had spent the past four years running possible scenarios of their own and preparing to stop each one.
She shrugged. “He won’t be operating alone. Last time we had contact with him, he was the leader of a six-man cell. The man I saw with him tonight, Yousef Kamali, was one of those men. My guess is Mahmoud has reconstituted his team.”
Avi jumped all over her slip of the tongue. “We? We who? What group are you really a part of?”
She threw him a withering glare. “A group you don’t need to know about.”
He arched a skeptical eyebrow at her. “Did you not hear who I work for?”
She shrugged. “I stand by my statement.”
Huh. So she worked for some superclassified security team the Americans had put together—that included women. His Mossad buddies would find that interesting.
“You never answered my question,” he pressed. “What do you think Mahmoud and this hypothetical team of his are up to?”
“I have no idea. But I know a guy who might be able to make an educated guess.”
“I know several guys who’ve spent the past few years making educated guesses,” he snapped. “Give me more than that.”
“I don’t have more. But I can tell you one thing. If Mahmoud Akhtar is here, he’s up to no good.”
“On that, we are agreed.” He met her gaze grimly, and this time her big blue eyes were brimming over with worry. An urge to rock his chair forward onto all four legs, gather her into his arms and comfort her shocked him into stillness. This woman was the last person he would expect to accept comfort from him. Such a prickly little thing, she was.
“Would you like to come with me to my security team’s meeting?” she said all of a sudden, surprising him mightily.
“Do I have the proper clearance to attend it?” he asked, his voice as dry as the desert.
She rolled her eyes. “I can’t guarantee my boss will let you stay, but you Israelis are an obvious possible target. It makes sense to loop you into at least some of what we know about Mahmoud.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
“In the spirit of Olympic cooperation, I’m offering you an olive branch,” she said with a huff. “Take it and be grateful, already.”
“Fair enough. Thank you.” He quoted quietly, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
“Should I recognize that?” she asked.
“It’s your Bible. Psalms 133.”
She frowned. “I don’t get much time for religion in my work.”
“Hmm. My work is all about religion. Or freedom of religion, at any rate.”
“Right now, a threat to your peoples’ freedom is walking around out there, no doubt planning something dastardly. Although I’d put it at about equal odds between your country and mine as to which one is the primary target,” she replied.
He asked, “When was the last time your people had contact with Akhtar? What were his targets at that time?”
“Last fall. And his target was a schoolteacher. He planned to kidnap her and blackmail her husband into filing a false report on a nuclear facility in Iran. Instead, Mahmoud accidentally kidnapped one of my teammates. She escaped with the help of an undercover man on the team. We got to the teacher’s husband—a nuclear facilities inspector in Tehran—before Mahmoud did, and the husband filed a report showing that Iran was trying to import nuclear triggers from Russia by way of Turkey.”
“I heard about that!” Avi exclaimed. “Wasn’t there some sort of shoot-out in Tehran? Several major arms dealers killed and the deal scuttled? Our...sources...report the Iranians were livid.”
She shrugged looking entirely unrepentant.
“You were involved with all of that?” he asked incredulously.
“You don’t have to sound so surprised.” She was back to being defensive. And her hackles were standing up again. Maybe she was more like a baby badger than a hedgehog.
“C’mon, then,” she said briskly. “Bring your Olympic credentials and your fancy security clearance with you. You’ll need them both to hear what my team has to say.”
