“Sorry to hear that.”
“Enjoy your youth, Amit.” Levy continued to rub and then chuckled. “Listen to me. After seeing your girlfriend, you are the one to teach me about enjoying your youth. Her name is Enya Govenin, yes?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That is quite a coincidence. It must be God’s plan.” Like most humans, Levy’s faith had strengthened as he aged. He would not have given this a second thought a couple of decades earlier, but was now mindful of giving up his Sabbath to come visit Margolis. But it was the only day that he could hide a stop like this from his official calendar.
Margolis looked confused. “What is a coincidence?”
“You and Enya Govenin meeting and becoming a couple.”
“I… I don’t understand. What are you saying?”
Director Levy stopped rubbing his knee. “You don’t know who she is? You don’t know about her grandfather?”
“I’m not sure what you mean. I know her grandfather came here from Russia in the early eighties. He was a famous Soviet dissident.”
“And a famous physicist. Like Sakharov.”
“Yes. I knew that.”
“That is all you know?”
“Yes. What else is there?”
Levy smiled and exhaled. “A lot, Amit. A lot.” Levy began to rub his right knee now. “I worked closely with your father, you know.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How much do you know about his story?”
“My mother told me he was a hero. People like you and the prime minister tell me the same, but I don’t know much detail.”
“Well let me fill in some of the detail for you.” Levy paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. “Your father asked the Americans to help arrange the emigration of a Russian family in exchange for a couple of Soviet spies who had been caught. This was routine back in those days. It was the Cold War. But for men like me and your father, it was all too often very hot indeed.
“The family belonged to a Russian who had immigrated to Israel a little earlier. That man had information that could endanger a coup plot that was underway in the Soviet Union and he was killed for that. He was killed, Amit, right here in Tel Aviv.
“That man’s death led to your father going into the Soviet Union to find out why he had been killed. What he found out and unmasked was a coup plot by some of the most powerful generals in the Soviet Army, the men who controlled all of the first line fighting power of the Red Army based in East Germany and the rest of Eastern Europe. These men were intent on invading Western Europe. World war three, Amit. That is what we are talking about. Your father foiled that plot. He paid for it with his life. In my opinion, your father saved the world from world war three.”
This was more detail than Amit had ever heard before. His mother did not know the full story, only telling him that his father had died fighting evil men inside the Soviet Union. But as Amit soaked in this new information, his mind stuck on a more immediate detail. “I still do not understand the coincidence with Enya. You mean because she is Russian?”
“No, Amit.” Levy paused briefly. “The man that was killed in Tel Aviv, the immigrant, he was a dissident.” Levy suppressed a smile, wondering if the famously analytical mind of Margolis would put the pieces together. “He was a physicist.” Levy watched as Margolis’ mouth started to unconsciously fall open, his eyes widening. “His name was Alexander Govenin. He was…”
“Enya’s grandfather.” Margolis finished the sentence.
“Yes. Her parents came here because of the work of your father. Her grandfather’s death directly led to your father’s death. By my book, this is divine.”
Amit just sat and thought for a moment, not quite ready to accept an explanation of divine intervention. His mind began to think about Enya. “You said that Alexander Govenin was killed here by the KGB?”
“I did not say the KGB, but, yes, he was killed here by a Russian team, a very good one. Whether they were KGB or army, I don’t know to this day.”
“Was my father responsible for his security?”
Levy paused. He had not expected this question and had never really thought of this issue. He was unsure how to respond. “I am not sure.” His response was a lie. “This was an elite team that got to Govenin. No one expected it.”
“You are telling me that my father was responsible.”
“I don’t know for sure. But I am sure your father felt responsible.”
Margolis wondered how Enya might react to the knowledge. He shook his head, telling himself that he could not think through all the permutations at this moment with the director of Mossad sitting next to him. “You came here to tell me this?”
“No, Amit. I came to pay my respects to you and the job you are doing at Olympus.”
Amit stiffened imperceptibly. He possessed knowledge that Ami Levy did not and he had been ordered by his supreme commander, the prime minister, to not enlighten Levy. Margolis waited for what was coming.
The director, for all his ability to read others, did not recognize that Margolis was already a couple of steps ahead of him. “But you know that you are still Mossad. You are still part of this brotherhood we have.” Levy looked Margolis in the eye, the compassion of only moments ago now gone and replaced with steely resolve. “And I am still the head of Mossad.”
“Yes, sir. I understand and respect that. I respect you.”
“Thank you. But you have to admit Amit that you are doing things that I need to be aware of. It is not good that I am in the dark. You are using Mossad resources and even recruiting people that we need for important operations.”
“Sir, you know what I am working on and you know that I am working directly under the command of the prime minister. I think it best that you and he discuss these issues. I am merely a servant of the state.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Amit.” Levy’s voice was raised, his notorious temper emerging for the first time this morning. “I do not want you to jeopardize any of the Olympus activities and planning. You know that I support this effort. I just want to know about certain activities so that we are not bumping into each other. Do you think it is smart if you are out doing something in the Middle East and someone else in Mossad comes across this activity? If we don’t know what is going on, then all of the sudden I am spending resources chasing your operations. We could wind up blowing each other’s operations accidently. This is why we coordinate.”
Margolis had to admit to himself that what Levy was saying made some sense. He could not know all of the resources that Mossad had in the region. “Go on.”
“For instance, a Russian oligarch shows up in Dubai and starts buying an airline. Now, do you think that is not going to come to the attention of Mossad? Then I have to send a man to the Emirates and investigate. Imagine my surprise when he returns with a photograph of a gray-haired Amit Margolis driving around the countryside in the back of a Mercedes. How do you think I should react to this revelation? I need every resource I have to be used efficiently. I can’t have assets chasing you around the Middle East.” Levy stopped to catch his breath. “So tell me what is going on.”
“I think you know it all at this point.”
“No. All I know is that you are posing as a Russian named Gennady Masrov and you purchased an airline. The point is why?”
“Obviously this is related to the Olympus planning.” Amit hesitated.
“You are about to make me lose my patience. This is not a good outcome.”
Amit thought through the situation as best he could given the burning fuse in front of him. He needed to mollify Ami Levy or the ramifications would be very negative to Project Block G. “I will fill you in on the key pieces of the plan. But I need to know that you will keep this to yourself. Every additional person who knows about what we are doing puts our plans at greater risk.”