Chapter 4

Dov Levi, June 4, 2008 I met David Ginsberg and his partner at the Indianapolis airport. I hadn't seen him since the operation in Deir el-Zor, so it was good to catch up.

"Do you have a suspect yet."

David cleared his throat. "We were eating lunch with him when we got called to come pick you up. I don't know why the hell they couldn't have given us more than an hour's notice. Why exactly is Sayeret Matkal interested in this guy anyway?"

"Actually, I'm Mossad now."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks, but it's because I got hit with a nail bomb and they don't think I'm up to Sayeret anymore. anyway, your friend has been trying to mess with Unit 8200."

"That's weird, our suspect doesn't fit the profile of someone who would be interested in Israel."

"Who is it?"

"Some high-school kid whose gotten into the anti-war crowd, probably to piss off Daddy. I doubt he could find Israel on a map."

"That's never been a requirement for hating us."

"True, but this kid seems like the stand around with a sign type more than a real threat. When we first met him he was stark fucking naked."

"The NIS thing?"

"No, but apparently that's going to start up here next year."

"Hopefully we can finish this up before then."

"No such luck, I'm afraid. School's closed for the summer, so whoever it is probably won't have access to the computers until it starts back up again."

"They wouldn't just use a home computer?"

"Not unless they actively want to get caught. This guy's dumb, but he can't be that dumb."

"What if it's one of the teachers?"

"Could be, but our profilers are stuck on the anti-war angle. If the attacks keep coming, we might be able to turn them around, but until then we're not going to get any help. Unless your people help us out."

"My people don't want to step on any American toes. With the way things are going for Mr. Bush right now, we want to be sure we're on his successor's good side. The British might help though."

"Really?"

"The same person tried to hack GCHQ."

"Why did no one tell us this?"

"It was only yesterday. So if this guy doesn't turn out to be a teacher, what are we doing for the rest of the summer?"

"Helping Grant Hardcastle bust the local drug-runners. Sorry we don't have anything more exciting to offer."

"Don't worry, it'll be just like the West Bank again. No chance of winning but they won't let you retreat."

We all shared a laugh and swapped war stories the rest of the way to Ginsberg's safe house.

My cover was as an exchange student, so I went back to the airport the next day to meet my host family. Jeffrey and Susanne Taylor were both professors in The University of Indiana's biology department. They had two kids. Justin was 13 and an amateur computer programmer, although we didn't have any evidence of him being involved in any sort of hacking. Grace was 16 and very good-looking, as I discovered when I met them at the luggage carousel.