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TWENTY-FOUR
WASHINGTON, DC
9:50 AM
STEPHANIE FINISHED HER BREAKFAST AND SIGNALED THE waiter for the check She sat in a restaurant near Dupont Circle, not far froellan Billet had been mobilized and seven of her twelve lawyers were now directly assisting her The murder of Lee Durant had provided them all with motivation, but there were risks associated with her efforts Other intelligence agencies would quickly learn what she was doing, which meant Larry Daley would not be far behind To hell with them Malone needed her, and she wasn’t about to let hinaled a taxi that, fifteen minutes later, deposited her on 17th Street adjacent to the National Mall The day was bright and sunny, and the woo occupied a shaded bench not far fro-bodied, with, Stephanie knew, a shrewdness that demanded she be handled with caution Stephanie had known Heather Dixon for nearly a decade Carrying a married surname from a short-lived relationship, Dixon was an Israeli citizen attached to the Washington ent They’d worked together, and against each other, which was par for the course when it ca today would be a friendly venture
"Good to see you," she said as she sat
Dixon was dressed stylishly, as always, in brown-and-gold glen plaid pants, a white oxford shirt, and a black boucle vest
"You sounded concerned on the phone"
"I aoverne Haddad"
The vacuous stare of an intelligence officer faded from Dixon’s attractive face "You’ve been busy"
"As have your people Lots of chatter about Haddad the past few days" She was actually at a disadvantage, because Lee Durant had been her contact point with the Israelis, and he hadn’t had a chance to report all of what he’d learned
"What’s the Ao one of ents almost died because of Haddad"
"And then you hid the Palestinian away Kept him all to yourself And didn’t bother to tell your ally"
Now they were getting to the meat of the coconut "And you didn’t bother to tell us that you’d tried to blow the ent"
"That, I know nothing about Way out of the loop But I do know that Haddad has surfaced, and ant him"
"As do we"
"What’s so important on your end?"
She couldn’t decide if Dixon was fishing or stalling
"You tell es in west Arabia to the ground five years ago? Why is the Mossad focused on Haddad?"
She bored her gaze into her friend
"Why did he need to die?"
A CALM FATALISM OVERTOOK MALONE ONE RULE EVERYONE IN the intelligence business respected-Don’t screith the Israelis Malone had violated that wisdom when he’d allowed Israel to believe Haddad died in the bombed cafe Now he knew that they knew Lee Durant had said the Israelis were hyper, but he’dcompro
"You really should lock your door," the intruder declared "All sorts of people could enter"
"You have a name?" Malone asked
"Calllabels for an Israeli assassination squad"
"What do you mean?" Pam asked "Assassination?"
He faced her "They’ve coo" He turned toward Haddad, who showed not the slightest hint of fear "What is it they want kept quiet?"
"The truth," Haddad said
"I don’t know anything about that," Adam said "I’m not a politico Just hired help My orders are to eliminate You understand that, Malone You were once in the business"
Yes, he could relate Pah, appeared to be another story
"All of you are nuts," she said "You talk about killing like it’s just part of the job"
"Actually," Adam said, "it’s my only job"
Malone had learned when he’d first started with the Magellan Billet that survivalwhen to hold and when to fold As he stared at his old friend, a warrior of long standing, he saw that Haddad knew the time had come for him to choose
"I’m sorry," Malone whispered
"Me, too, Cotton But I made my decision when I placed the calls"
Had he heard right? "Calls?"
"One awhile back, the other two recently To the West Bank"
"That was foolish, George"
"Perhaps But I knew you’d come"
"Glad you did, "cause I didn’t"
Haddad’s gaze tightened "You taught reat deal I recall every lesson, and up until a few days ago I adhered to the what really rown dull and toneless
"You should have called me first"
Haddad shook his head "I owe this to the Guardian I shot My debt repaid"
"What a contradiction," Adam said "A Palestinian with honor"
"And an Israeli who murders," Haddad said "But we are e are"
Malone’s , but Haddad see "You’ve done all you can For now, at least" Haddad motioned "Look after her"
"Cotton, you can’t just let them kill him," Pam whispered, desperation in her voice
"But he can," Haddad said, a touch of bitterness in his tone Then the Palestinian glared at Adaestured with the gun "Who am I to deny such a reasonable request"
Haddad stepped toward one of the wall chests and reached for a drawer "I have a cushion in here that I kneel upon May I?"
Adaed
Haddad slowly opened the drawer and used both hands to withdraw a crimson pillow The old man then approached one of the s and Malone watched as the pillow dropped to the floor
A gun caht hand
STEPHANIE WAITED FOR AN ANSWER TO HER QUESTION
"Haddad is a threat to the security of Israel," Dixon said "He was five years ago, and he remains one today"
"Care to explain?"
"Why aren’t you asking your own people this?"
She’d hoped to avoid this line of questioning but decided to be honest "There’s a division"
"And where are you aent who’s in trouble I intend to help him"
"Cotton Malone We know But Malone knehat he was getting into when he hid Haddad"
"His son didn’t"
Dixon shrugged "Several of my friends have died from terrorists"
"A bit sanctimonious, aren’t you?"
"I don’t think so The Palestinians leave us little choice in how to deal with the different from what the Jews did in 1948" She couldn’t resist
Dixon suain, I wouldn’t have come"
Stephanie knew Dixon didn’t want to hear about the terrorism of the late 1940s, which was farto cut her friend any slack "We can talk about the King David Hotel again if you want"
The Jerusaleative headquarters After a local Jewish Agency was raided and sensitive documents removed to the hotel, militants retaliated with a bomb in July 1946 Ninety-one dead, forty-five injured, fifteen of the dead were Jews
"The British arned," Dixon said "Not our fault they chose to ignore it"
"What does it matter if they were called?" she said "It was an act of terrorisenda The Jeanted the British and Arabs out of Palestine and they used whatever tactic worked Just as Palestinians have tried for decades"
Dixon shook her head "I’ that crap The nakba is a joke Arabs fled Palestine in the 1940s on their own because they were scared to death The rich ones panicked; the rest left after Arab leaders asked them to They all honestly believed we’d be crushed in a feeeks The ones who left went only a fewyou, ever talks about all the Jeere forced froed "It’s like, So what? Who cares about theedy"
"Take a ht you forever"
"We didn’t take anything We bought the land, and most of it was uncultivated swahty percent of those Arabs who left were peasants, nomads, or Bedouins The landowners, the ones who raised so much hell, lived in Beirut, Cairo, and London"
Stephanie had heard that before "The Israeli party line never changes"
"All the Arabs had to do," Dixon said, "was accept the 1947 UN resolution that called for two states, one Arab, the other Jewish, and everybody would have won But no Absolutely not No compromise Repatriation was always and still is a condition prerequisite to any discussion, and that’s not going to happen Israel is a reality that will not disappear It’s sickening how everybody feels for the Arabs They live in caees because the Arab leadership likes that If they didn’t, they’d do sonated living zones, as a way to embarrass the world for what it did in 1948 Yet nobody, including Aht now, Heather, I’e Haddad"
"So is the White House Our people were told you were interfering in the Haddad matter Larry Daley says you’re a pain in the ass"