“I'll see you for breakfast at eight. Is that too early?”
“No. That's fine.”
“Remember,” I repeated, “no phone calls.”
I stepped over to her, held her arms, and said, “We'll have a lot to talk about when it's all over, so forgive me for being a bit cool. I'm simply focused on my work, and it's not easy when you're around.”
It was the most direct statement I'd ever made to her.
She came closer, rose on her toes, kissed me lightly on my lips, turned around, and left without a word. I went to the lobby, took the file from the hotel safe, and asked the receptionist to let me do some photocopying. “The business center is closed now,” she said. “Why don't you try in the morning?”
“I can't wait; these are medical documents that are needed for an emergency surgery. I must send them out with a courier to the United States.”
That must have convinced her, and she unenthusiastically showed me to a back office. An hour later I was done. I returned the original file to the safe. I still had to satisfy my curiosity with respect to Armajani's Munich address, so I took a cab to the building and surveyed it. Upon my return there was a message waiting from Henderson. No need to wait. I called him back from the lobby.
“I need your report on Moscow,” said Eric. He must have had some advance warning from Hart.
“I think we should talk in person,” I said, “as soon as possible.”
“I'll send Tom around to pick you up. Be ready in thirty minutes.”
Eric was in the safe house when we arrived. “Benny came to Munich last night, and he called ten minutes after we spoke. I told him about this meeting. He'll be here shortly.”
“Good timing.” And, I thought, Benny's presence always instills sanity into a conversation. I proceeded to brief Eric on my Moscow trip, omitting the important details. I wanted Benny to be around to hear those.
A few minutes later Benny arrived.
“Greetings, friend. Looks like we coordinated our return to Munich.”
“Like clockwork.”
We sat down at the table and Eric began. “Benny came with a positive answer from his government. So the Mossad is in.”
“Great,” I said.
“There are certain conditions attached,” said Benny. “This will be a joint operation. We share everything – means and information. As to the operation itself, we condition our participation on silent entry without the use of explosives at the vault.”
“Does that complicate matters?” I queried.
I meant for Eric to answer, but Benny responded. “Not really. I think we solved that problem, largely thanks to you.”
I was flattered. “What did I do to deserve the honor?”
“You remember the woman you caught on film after she left Guttmacher's office?”
“Yes, I remember. So tell me more.”
“I had her followed during her lunch break. While she was having lunch in a restaurant, our guys picked her pocket and took her keys, went outside, made an electronic imprint, and returned the keys to her purse.”
I laughed, “And she didn't catch on?”
“No. My guy is an expert; he could strip you of your underwear while you're wearing your pants.”
“Tell him not to try.” I laughed. “So you have the vault keys now. But will Shimon still need to enter through the roof?”
“No. She had keys to the back door of the bank as well. We checked them already. Our copy works fine. But I don't know if the vault's copy will also work. Obviously we couldn't test it.”
“Talking about matched keys,” I said, “you may want to consider an additional target: Cyrus Armajani, the head of the Iranian's nuclear purchasing mission in Europe.”
“And where do we find him?” asked Eric.
“Right here in Munich.”
“And we call information to find his address?” asked Eric sarcastically. “We've been looking for him for months now.”
“Your search is over. Here's the address. I checked out the building; it's purely residential. It could be his home address in Munich.” I gave Eric the address I copied from DeLouise's file.
“How did you find it?”
“A present from hell or heaven, depending on where you think DeLouise is now. He left some documents behind and the address was among them. But that could be a stale address, so check it out.”
Eric didn't even blink when I gave him the information. “So you suggest we break into Cyrus Armajani's home?”
“Yes. Verify and break in. Since the Iranians don't seem to have an office here, I guess he'd be keeping some hot stuff. I'd plan it for the same night as the break-in at the bank.”
“Why?” asked Eric.
“Because if we do just one break-in and they suspect that the documents connected to him are the target, they'll move them from his place for sure.”
Eric gave me a long look and made some notes.
As usual, he demanded more. “Anything else I should know?”
“I prepared a copy of the complete file. See for yourself,” I said, and pushed the papers in his direction.
Benny sensed what was going on.
“You certainly were on top of things, weren't you?” said Benny. “Now tell us how you got the file.”
“DeLouise left it for Ariel. I found her in Moscow, and it's some of what I got for my trouble.” I looked at Benny and figured he was wondering what else I got.
“Tell me more,” said Benny. “I know this guy,” he said to the others. “He needs to be asked.”
“Ariel said she went to Moscow on her own, after reading the letter her father had left her with details of his scheme. Apparently he felt that his rivals were closing in on him. Your earlier theory about DeLouise's ploy checks out. Ariel gave me the same story. He was definitely planning to double-cross the Iranians. He was going to rip them off and trade the information they gave him for a sweetheart deal with the U.S. government. He hoped that the material he'd turn over to the U.S. would be so good that they'd forgive him and allow him to go back to the States with only a slap on the wrist, rather than prosecuting him on felony charges and sending him up for a long prison term. I think that the documents I found confirm his expectations.”
“So what about Ariel?” asked Benny. “How does she fit into this?”