JERUSALEM, FRIDAY, AN HOUR EARLIER

First he heard the double click, the signal that they were speaking on a secure line. As always, the boss got straight to the point.

‘My worry is that things are spiralling out of control.’

‘I understand.’

‘We obviously need that tablet.’

‘Yes.’

‘I mean we need it now. Things are getting crazy. The cure is beginning to look worse than the disease.’

‘I know how it looks.’ He could hear a deep sigh on the other end of the phone.

‘How long do you think we should give this whole thing?’

That was the drawback of a job like this, working for the big decision-maker. Such men always expected action immediately, as if merely uttering that something should happen was enough to make it happen. All political leaders became like this eventually, coming to regard their own words as divine speech acts. I said, Let there be light. Why isn’t there light?

‘Well, now we’ve started, I don’t see how we can stop. You’ve seen the latest. Hizbullah firing rockets at towns and villages in the middle of the night, maximizing risk of casualties. We can’t let ourselves be dictated to by them.’

‘What about Costello? Has she got anything?’

‘We’re following her very closely. I think she’s making progress. And what she knows, we know.’

Another sigh. ‘We need to have this tablet in our possession. We have to know what’s in it before they do. So we can act first. Shape events.’

‘You know it’s always possible that no one will get it. Neither us, nor them.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘I mean Costello could lead us to it. Or she could fail. The tablet could disappear with Shimon Guttman. It would be as if the whole issue never arose.’

The voice on the end of the secure line did not need to hear more. He could put the pieces together.

‘That’s not bad.’

‘Almost a win-win.’

‘If she gets it, we get it. If she doesn’t get it…If she, for some unforeseen reason, cannot advance this mission, then no one gets it. Problem solved.’

‘Could be.’

‘OK. Let’s talk in the morning.’

He heard the familiar second click, then terminated the call and scrolled through his contacts to find the number of the surveillance team, the unit tracking Guttman and Costello. He was connected within a single ring.

‘Do you have the subjects within view? Good. We need to talk about a change in plan.’