Ruby approached Levin's cluttered desk to place another glass of water in front of him. As she straightened up she noticed a framed photograph in which a much younger Josh Levin was standing next to a slim blonde woman. She looked at it closely for another moment and suddenly realized that the woman in the photo was the very same woman that had given them the quilt earlier that afternoon. She motioned for Sam to get up and they both thanked Levin for his help and wished him well as they left the office.
On the way back to the Metro station she told Sam what she had seen in the photo. Sam said that the story about the exotic stealth material was unbelievable and that he thought that Dr. Josh Levin was a bit too far gone. Ruby said that she thought that he was rational and lucid and although what he said was on the verge of science-fiction she had seen stranger things come true. Sam said that there was no point in arguing and that they should check the thumb drive and if the information was valid they should leave the US promptly.
They hurried back to their hotel, inserted the thumb drive into Ruby's laptop and saw that there were several directories and files with names like "Principles of defeating radar systems", "Microwave reflection", "Ultra-thin broadband devices", "Schematic of the fuselage of advanced jet-fighters", "Testing radar silhouette of ship hulls with AFSS", etc. They looked at each other and Ruby told Sam to start packing. Within five minutes they were ready to leave their hotel room and head to the airport. It was already late at night and there were no pedestrians and very few cars on Mass Avenue. They tried to flag a passing taxi but none stopped, so they decided to walk to up Mass Avenue to Porter Square hoping to find a taxi there or take the Metro to a busier part of town where taxis would be available. Fortunately, just before reaching Porter Square they saw a taxi going in the opposite direction. Sam jumped into the road and managed to get the driver to turn around. The trip to the airport was very quick as the roads were wide open with very little traffic.
The driver dropped them off at the international terminal and they checked the departures electronic notice board for the first flight to Europe or Canada — anywhere that would get them out of the United States in a hurry. They found an Air France flight to Paris that was scheduled to depart within an hour and rushed to purchase tickets. The economy class was fully booked but they managed to get two seats in business class. Sam used his John Smith credit card to pay for the tickets. The Air France representative raised his eyebrow at the name and carefully checked the passports, made sure that the credit card was valid and sold them two tickets at a cut-throat rate.
They rushed through airport security and passport control, reached the gate and boarded the flight. Once the aircraft doors closed and the plane left the gate and taxied to the take-off position Sam and Ruby relaxed. Soon after they were airborne they were offered drinks by the male cabin attendant that served the business class and both asked for neat whiskey. The snotty French attendant said "Wheeskee is coming up" and they had to restrain themselves from laughing. They had their drinks and told the cabin attendant not to disturb them for food and wake them up before landing. He seemed offended as if he had cooked them a gourmet meal himself, but left them alone after muttering something about uncivilized passengers under his nose.
Ruby and Sam had to wait for a few hours before getting a flight from Paris back to Israel but the time passed quickly on a couple of very comfortable recliner chairs. They landed in Tel-Aviv less than 24 hours after getting the thumb-drive from Josh Levin and took a taxi straight to Mossad headquarters. On the way they heard something on the radio about a new crisis between the US and Israel but they couldn't figure out what exactly was happening. Sam switched on his Israeli cell phone and saw the headline news about — Israel was caught spying on the US and stealing classified technology. The taxi driver started swearing quietly at the stupid Mossad heads that never seemed to learn anything. Sam looked at Ruby and told the taxi driver that he had changed his mind and asked him to take them to his apartment that was in the center of Tel-Aviv.
After they left the taxi and entered Sam's third floor apartment he called Segan's office. Segan's secretary, Yardena, answered the phone and when she heard Sam's voice she said that Segan was at a meeting and couldn't take any calls. Sam tried to inquire when he would be available and Yardena who really liked Sam whispered that he was summoned to an urgent meeting by internal security affairs. Sam thanked her and said that he would be coming in with Ruby but Yardena cut him short and said that he should wait for Segan's call before coming in. Sam replied that he would be available at his apartment and Yardena promised to pass the information to Segan.
Two hours later there was a knock on the apartment door. Sam looked through the peephole and saw a very nervous Segan waiting impatiently for the door to open. Sam unlocked the door and Segan rushed in, closed the door behind him and locked it. He spoke in a hushed tone "The shit has hit the fan. The Americans have arrested Josh Levin and within a few hours he confessed that he had passed classified information to Israeli agents. You were lucky to get out of the United States or else you would have also been arrested. Apparently Dr. Levin's office had been bugged by the FBI and everything that took place there was recorded. When the eavesdroppers heard about your meeting with Dr. Levin they alerted the police, but as there were no visual images, only audio, they didn't know your identities. Josh held out long enough for you two to be on your way from Paris to Tel-Aviv so you were not caught red-handed."
Sam and Ruby just looked at him, not believing their luck in getting away. "So what do we do now?"
Segan thought for a moment and said "Destroy the thumb drive, format your laptop and never admit to any wrongdoing. If you are interrogated by internal security affairs, as you surely will be, deny everything. Just say that you were on vacation in Boston. I warned you that if caught you would be on your own so this little meeting has never taken place." As he headed toward the door he added "Well, this is the end of the career of three good patriots — yours and mine. We would be lucky to avoid a prison sentence. Fortunately, we know too much about Mossad operations so they would never hand us over to the Americans. Also, I hope that the Americans would like to downplay this whole affair and have it disappear quietly. Let's pray that this affair is treated as if it had never happened."
As soon as he left, Sam said "Perhaps we should go to Shimony and confess everything. After all we acted on direct orders from the Deputy Director and what we did was certainly for the good of Israel." Ruby was skeptical if that would change their predicament but agreed.
The meeting with Shimony was not a simple matter. First, he refused outright to see them but after some reconsideration felt that after their long and loyal service to Mossad they deserved to be heard. He summoned the legal advisor of Mossad to hear their account and brief him on the legal implications. After hearing their story he asked them to leave the office and wait outside while he discussed the matter with the councilor. The legal advisor said that they would have to be protected from the wrath of the Americans but there was no way they could continue to work for any government office in Israel. Shimony called Sam and Ruby back and told them to turn in their employee IDs and never set foot again in Mossad headquarters. They would receive severance payments but would never again work for the Israeli government. Just as they were about to leave the office, the councilor asked them about the thumb drive with the information. Reluctantly Sam pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over saying that this was the original and no copies existed.