CHAPTER FOUR
‘An Earthly Shade Of Grey’
DEBORAH, SUPPOSING HERSELF as canny as her mother ever was, had gone for the cheapest flight from London and had arrived in Tel Aviv, she believed, relatively unnoticed. Certain, at that point, no one would be watching this particular passport given she’d only just acquired it, in a rather devious manner, a few weeks earlier.
Taking into account the cost to get from Ben Gurion to Tel Aviv, an overnight stay in a seedy hostel in the notorious South district and bus fare to Jerusalem, Deborah knew she was playing the part of backpacking student laying low to the extreme. Albeit at the cost of comfort and, she suspected, a certain amount of physical safety. She didn’t care. She was where she needed to be, knowing she could take care of herself. Knowing she had taken care of herself. Rape wasn’t unheard of in hostels just like the one she chose, all across Latin and Southern America, which is where she had gone to ground these last seven years.
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CHAPTER THREE
‘Footsteps In The Sands Of Time’
SUSAN MADE IT to the airport intact and with time to spare. Jerry had behaved himself only because, as always, the traffic to JFK was backed up and he couldn’t speed along in the white-knuckle manner he preferred. Susan had even let him unload her bags, and accompany her to the check-in, then she’d shooed him away. The last thing she wanted was Jerry’s idea of polite conversation. Susan had had enough on the way over.
“I think you’re mad…totally out of your cranium, Bernstein.” Jerry was patiently worrying his cigar, as he wasn’t allowed to smoke. Not even in his own damn car. Traffic crawled along. Susan had picked a fairly early flight in the hope of less traffic but also in the hope of arriving at Tel Aviv by early afternoon, in the hope of giving herself some breathing room to acclimate.
“Sure I am. But just think of all the great copy you’ll be getting from me.” She tried to deflect him, lighten both their sombre mood.
“You know what I’m on about.” He sighed round his cigar then glanced at her sideways.
“Just come back in one piece, okay?”
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INTER ALIA
‘Trojan Horse’
JEDBURGH LEANED BACK from the console, put his feet up on the edge of the desk, and sighed heavily. He was irritated for all the wrong reasons and couldn’t quite put his finger on why. There were still a number of little niggling doubts that raised questions, which, quite frankly, had no answers—yet.
He stared at the messages still displayed on the screen but didn’t see them, his mind moved elsewhere, shifting a gear. He was onto planning his next move while wondering if he was putting too much faith and expectation into this woman knowing what she was about? He could so easily be wrong.
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