“OK, Miriam. But at least wait until your back-up arrives and you know more about David’s condition. And as soon as you know anything, please let me know. I’ll be standing by at this end with all the help you need”.
“Yes, I know, Levi. I’ll wait till I know something, and I promise I won’t go off half cocked. Thanks for your help — and understanding.”
After her conversation with Levi, she walked back into the surgical waiting lounge and a nurse asked if she would like to go into the doctor’s lounge to lie down. Doing so, she realized how emotionally drained she was and slept through the surgery and the rest of the night.
About dawn, a doctor tapped her on the arm and awakened her to say David was going to be okay but he would be laid up for quite a while. She could now go in and see him.
When Miriam first saw a pale David lying on the bed, asleep, with all the tubes and intravenous needles, she broke down. A nurse sitting near the bed got up so Miriam could sit. She pulled back the sheet to check him and Miriam could see just enough of the bandages that were wrapped around him. The doctor entered and told her he needed rest. Out in the hall he told her that two chest shots had gone clear through David’s torso. One had passed above his heart, miraculously not hitting any vital organ. The other had split a rib, punctured his stomach, damaging surrounding tissues, but they were able to set the rib and repair his stomach. His left femur had been broken by the third bullet, and they had repaired that with pins and a small metal plate. All he needed now was rest and time. They thought he would heal and be good as new, since he was in such good physical shape, but possibly with a slight limp. After the doctor left, Miriam went back in the room and slumped in the chair watching David sleep.
The next day, when Hans stepped inside the hospital room where Tam lay in his body cast, Kat got out of her chair and immediately told him there had been no silver box in Tam’s personal effects.
“That’s impossible. You’re sure?”
“I went through it all twice — there’s no silver box, I tell you.”
“Can you find out who handled his things when he was brought into the hospital?”
“Okay, I’ll ask around, but for some reason his personal effects have been put in the hospital safe, and that’s unusual. Come back tomorrow, I’ll see what I can find out, and don’t forget that reward you promised me. Now get out of here. My head nurse is already asking why I am looking through Mr. Tam’s things and who I let into his room. I have to be very careful”
Angrily, Hans almost shouted, “Are you sure? You better not try to double-cross me.”
“Hey, I’m frustrated myself. I’m doing the best I can. I want that reward you promised, believe me, so I can get out of this crummy job. Do you think I want to spend the rest of my life cleaning up bedpans? Trust me; I’ll get you what you want.”
He left, angry and frustrated, but now knowing he would have to kill her and whomever she turned up that knew anything about his silver box. Trust, he thought — I never trust anyone except myself! As he walked down the hospital corridor he thought, I know Tam had it in the car when I ran him off the road. It must have been with his personal effects when they transferred him from that hospital in Geneva to this one. It must be in this hospital somewhere. I just hope to hell that Kat Yun can come up with something. As he walked down the hall, he unknowingly walked right past David’s room, and into the elevator, without knowing how close he was. Outside the hospital, he forced himself to remain calm until he could return to talk with Kat again.
The next day, all Miriam could do was talk quietly to a sleeping David who was hooked to all the machines the hospital could provide. He seemed to be held captive by apparatus untouched by who he was. She kept repeatedly to her comatose partner that she was there for him over and over hoping he could hear her. But there was no response at all. When she came to see him the third day, his eyes were opened, but he still seemed dazed, and only spoke a few words to her. She squeezed his hand and gently kissed him on his forehead. She told him she had decided they had to get out of Mossad. They could get married and raise a family, be happy; most of all, be safe.
“Did you go after that fucker, Miriam?” was his immediate answer.
“David, he was gone before I even knew you were shot.”
“Have you tracked him down yet?” David persisted.
“I’ve been here with you. We’ll get him when you’ve healed.”
“That may be too late. Go get him now, Miriam. Levi will get a replacement for me while I’m laid up.”
“He already has, David.”
“David, please….forget Hans and Mossad. We’re both going to be killed before we can raise a family…please.”
“Miriam, you’re just upset.”
“Yes David, I am upset. Promise me…please….”
He closed his eyes to avoid her pleas. “Miriam, I’m a little tired now…I need to rest.”
She had never seen him like this before. He did not deserve to be in a hospital bed. She felt so helpless, frustrated, and angry. Miriam began to cry.
David gently patted her hand, but kept his eyes closed.
The same scene repeated the next day, but David still would not acquiesce to her pleas to leave the Mossad.
“You have something for me Max,” Servette said, looking up from behind the pile of papers strewn on his desk.
“I hope so. I just had a call from Bruno Beinschmidt.”
“Our so-called friend in the Munich Police department?”
“The very one! Anyway, he just told me that David and Miriam were in a club in Munich and David thought he spotted Hans. David went after him and whoever it was, shot him. David is in pretty bad shape in a hospital right now.”
“That’s terrible! What do we do now? Does Levi know?”
“I’m not sure, but I would think that Miriam has been in touch with him”
“Well I might have something important for both you and Levi. One of my contacts, a policeman, was assigned to that big auction at Christie’s a couple of days ago, and he thinks maybe our killer has something to do with a huge emerald that was part of the auction.”
“What made him think that, Max?”
“Because there were two final bidders for the emerald, an Asian man, named Mr. Tam, and a rather over-dressed and garishly made up female, whose name he didn’t get. The Asian man won the emerald and both parties left the auction house, but my informant said it was obvious the lady was not a happy camper. Some later that same informant was called to a serious accident, where the Asian man’s car seemed to have been forced off the Cliff Road and he was seriously injured. A witness to the accident identified the car that ran Mr. Tam off the road as the same one the overdressed woman was driving when she left the auction house. He thinks that woman may have been a man in disguise.”
“Interesting, very interesting. If that is true, and it was Hans in disguise, I wonder why Hans wants that emerald. Maybe that’s where all that robbery money was for — to bid on the emerald.”
“Thanks Max. Good work! Will you continue to follow up on this, and see if Josef can find out anything from the streets? Levi might know some more about that emerald, also. I’ll check with him.”
“We’re on it, Piet.”
Hans returned to the hospital on schedule. Kat Yun said she was still checking on things. She learned that groups of patients’ personal effects were accidentally left in the hospital accounting office on the night Tam entered the hospital. There were more questions to ask, but she could not come on too strong with her queries. He would just have to wait. Seething, Hans left, again walking past David’s room.