On Monday morning Julia and David crept out of bed and were glad to see that the storm front had passed and the sun was shining. David said that was a good omen and called Sam's cell phone number. This time Sam answered in person and they agreed to meet in the apartment on Guntaler Strasse in the evening.
David asked Julia to stay behind and keep an eye on the apartment building in case some uninvited visitors, especially Segan, showed up. Reluctantly she agreed to play a secondary role in this affair.
When the door opened Sam smirked "David, that was a very nice gesture that you and Julia performed in front, or rather underneath, our camera".
David smiled "I must say that I didn't expect something so simple and crude. What burglars believe nowadays that when lights and the radio are turned on it means that the apartment is indeed occupied? The camera in the smoke detector is also not very high-tech, but I give you full marks for being deceptively simple".
Ruby, practical as ever, said "Did you get Shimony's approval for the deal we proposed?" In response David put his hand in his pocket and produced two passports with a blue cover and lettering in Hebrew and English saying these were passports of the State of Israel. He said that they were in the names they had requested of Anna and Kristoff Berliner. He didn't repeat Shimony's comment that Elsa and Hans were more appropriate names.
Sam held out his hand to take the passports but David put them back in his pocket "Just a minute. First you two need to fulfill your part of our deal and answer some questions".
Ruby broke the silence "We'll answer all your questions and tell you as much as we can. However, there are certain things which we cannot say and you must understand that we have some obligations to Segan".
David considered the situation and disregarding Shimony's directive handed over the passports and said "I fully understand your position. Although we need very detailed information from you as soon as you are willing to give it, a comprehensive interrogation session can be delayed until you visit us in Israel. Meanwhile there is only one urgent matter that needs a short answer now: is Segan's organization involved in the fatal mishaps that befell the Iranian nuclear scientists in Europe?"
Ruby looked at Sam and said "The short answer is affirmative. The long answer will be given after our visit to Israel. Surely you know that we are not gullible enough to believe that we'll be allowed to leave Israel after we disclose everything we know about this affair. If you want our full cooperation let us visit our families and friends in Israel and when we are safely back in Berlin come and see us again for an interview in which we'll tell you everything, including some things you would never be able to find out without our help".
David said that he fully understood their reservations and distrust and gave them his direct Mossad phone number and asked them to call him when they arrived to make sure that the agreement was honored by Israeli authorities.
David had returned to Tel-Aviv on the night flight without spending another night in Berlin, much to Julia's disappointment. This time he managed to get almost three hours of uninterrupted sleep on the flight so he was quite fresh and ready for work after they landed at the crack of dawn at Ben-Gurion airport. He wasn't surprised to see that despite the early hour the parking lots at Mossad headquarters were almost full. He saw that Shimony's car was already parked in his allocated parking spot and when he entered the outer office of the Mossad head he was welcomed by Shimony's personal assistant who ushered him into the chief's inner sanctum. Shimony rose from his chair and said "Well, what did our friends tell you?" and motioned for David to help himself at the coffee machine.
David took his time and made himself a cup of espresso using the strongest capsule marked 14. He knew that the chief was impatient and didn't like to be kept waiting, but decided that in this case he wanted another minute to gather his thoughts and correctly phrase what he had learned from Sam and Ruby. He took a sip of the dark liquid from the miniature cup and said "Yes, Segan's firm is deeply involved in the Iranian affair, but I cannot elaborate."
Shimony was unappeased "What do you mean?" and David proceeded to tell him about the deal he had made and explained that he had no details.
Shimony was livid with rage but had his complete trust in David so refrained from saying anything for a full minute. Finally he said "OK, so when will we get the whole story?"
David shrugged saying "We don't have to wait for the details. We can begin to counteract the allegations of Mossad's involvement in the elimination of the Iranian scientists and defuse the hostage situation with Iran by offering them a fair trade for some of the Hezbollah prisoners we are holding. After all, the Iranian regard Hezbollah as their allies, not to say servants, in Lebanon and Syria, so should be glad to liberate some prisoners as a gesture of appreciation".
Their discussion was cut short by Shimony's assistant who knocked on the door and barged in without waiting for an answer. He looked very pale as he approached the chief with a slip of paper in his hand. Shimony took the paper, read the short sentence that said that the bodies of Ruby and Sam were found in their apartment in positions that looked like a murder and suicide. He showed it to David and ordered him to return immediately to Berlin and investigate what had really happened there.
David was a bit disoriented — as far as his current trip was concerned he wasn't sure if he was coming or going from Berlin or to it. It was an afternoon flight so he didn't nap and was so deep in thought that he even welcomed the commotion of the flight crew. He figured that there were at least two organizations that would welcome the murder of Sam and Ruby. First and foremost in his mind were the Iranians that might have discovered that these two ex-Mossad agents were responsible for the deaths of their nuclear scientists and decided to take revenge. David thought that alternatively Segan might be behind the murders if he had suspected the deal between the two agents and Mossad head that was in the making. Such a deal would place him and his firm in a direct collision course with both the Iranians and Mossad. He would have been concerned in case Sam and Ruby had retained some hard evidence about his pact with Alan Ross or could just testify in a secret hearing set up by Shimony and get the PM's blessing to eliminate him.
David wondered how the Iranians and Segan could have discovered these developments and then a terrible thought occurred to him. What if Julia was involved? After all, she knew about their role in Segan's firm and about the deal with Mossad. What if she had been forced to eliminate the couple by a foreign security service that was interested in keeping up the tension between Iran and Israel, or even worse if she acted on her own initiative due to a false sense of patriotism? David decided he'd contact Julia as if this latter suspicion had not existed and see how she reacted as the investigation progressed.