Mata was sitting alone at a small table in the Ross's favorite pub nursing a glass of red wine and looking sad as if she was stood up by an ungentlemanly gentleman. Ross had already consumed two or three tumblers of single malt Scotch while sitting at the bar. He kept glancing at the lonely woman using the large mirror in front of him to do so unobtrusively. He ordered another double Scotch and a glass of the finest Bordeaux red wine the bartender recommended and carried the drinks over to the table where Mata was seated. He asked if he could buy her a glass of Bordeaux and join her. Mata looked up at him, appeared to be appraising him for a long moment as if she was deliberating the issue. She pretended to assess his tailor made suit, leather shoes and silk tie. She then let her glance linger of his absurdly expensive wristwatch, and finally shrugged and motioned for him to sit down across the table.
Ross asked her "What is a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"
Mata almost puked at the cliché that was perhaps the most absurd opening line ever spoken by someone trying to pick up another person. She countered "I guess I am doing what you are doing here — waiting for someone who didn't show up and looking for some consolation prize."
Ross's smile almost split his face in two, but fortunately his ears stopped it from going all around his skull "Well, you came to the right place and your timing is perfect. Let's have another round of drinks and then go out and dine somewhere nice."
Mata appeared to be a bit tipsy after consuming her wine, and looked as if she hesitated "I don't even know your name, what you do and if you are not some kind of pervert or a new embodiment of Jack the Ripper".
Ross was deeply offended "My name is Alan, I am a senior civil servant in the Home Office and I can assure you that I am as straight and honest as the members of my club will confirm".
Mata said "I guess that there is no harm in having dinner together" and excused herself to go to "powder her nose". Ross rose politely as she left the table and called for the bill. When Mata returned he was holding her coat and smiling broadly at her. Mata slipped her hands into the sleeves making sure to brush against him suggestively. She asked "So where are we going for dinner?"
Ross said, his words a bit slurred from the whiskey and anticipation, "This will be a real surprise" and led the way out of the pub. He stood on the sidewalk and signaled to a taxi that had been waiting near the entrance. He opened the door to let Mata in and then got in sitting very close to her and said "Cabbie, take us to The Delaunay at Covent Gardens" and to Mata he said "This is one of the most expensive and best restaurants in London and perhaps in Europe and the World".
Mata snuggled up to and placed her right hand on his knee while with her left hand she opened her handbag and removed a syringe from it. She turned towards him and made as if to hug him with her left hand and quickly injected him in the neck with the contents of the syringe. Ross was out before she could count to three and collapsed on her. The cabbie turned to her and she saw that it was Yuval from the London branch of Mossad. He said in Hebrew "A good job. Now we'll drive to the safe house and meet the rest. Do you want to join us there or should I drop you off somewhere?"
Mata said "I need a shower to wash off all traces of this piece of this lecher. But it can wait until we reach the safe house" and moved as far away from Ross as the space permitted.
The whole group was already waiting at the safe house. As soon as the commandeered taxi stopped in front of the house Eran and Udi opened its door and carried the unconscious Ross into the basement. Ross was slowly coming to and was still groggy as they tied him to the dentist's chair that was placed in the middle of the basement. He opened his eyes and squinted at the two figures who were dressed in black clothes. David and Udi had their faces covered with a black woolen balaclava hats that had two round holes for the eyes. The effect was enhanced by the red circles surrounding the eyeholes.
David said "How are you feeling Mr. Alan Ross, or should I call you Ali Rashid?"
Ross tried to move his hands and found that they were tied to the armrests. He tried to move his head and realized that it was held firmly by a special kind of headrest. He vehemently answered "Do you know who I am? Do you know that the Scotland Yard will turn every stone until they find me? Are you doing this for money? Are you out of your minds messing with me? Do you know who will come after you? Do you…"
David gave a signal and Udi turned on the bright light above the dentist's chair and directed its powerful beam straight to Ross's eyes, blinding him and making him stop his stream of invectives. He then turned on the drill's motor and the sound of a hundred angry wasps filled the basement. David said "This may sound like a bee but it stings like a scorpion, especially in the clumsy hands of my colleague here. He was thrown out of dentistry school just before graduating because he had drilled some cavities to such a size that there was no filling available and the teeth had to be extracted and replaced by implants. The official letter that was sent to him by the dean of the school was very offensive, so I'll put it in layman's terms: he was considered a menace to the patients and a blemish on the proud profession of dentistry. His grandfather and father were famous dentists in his home country but he was the black sheep and an embarrassment to his family. Would you like to allow him to improve his skills by practicing on you?"
Udi proudly said "I have treated some of my patients with anesthesia and they didn't complain until it wore off. Many others simply got out of the chair and ran away. Aha, I see you are tied the chair and your head is held in a static position by this special headrest. So you won't be going anywhere soon." He turned off the drill while they waited for Ross's answer.
Ross groaned "What do you want?" and a wet stain was visible on the crotch of his tailor made pants.
David said "Well Mr. Ross, you have two options. The easy one is to tell us all about the contract that you had made with Segan's firm in Berlin. Tell us who funded the operation, who supplied the information, what was the true objective of the people who financed it. The other option is to first serve as a dentist's practice dummy and then tell us what we want to know. I solemnly promise that a full confession will set you free unharmed. The choice is yours."
Ross, like most of humanity, didn't like dentists — not on a personal basis (he always claimed "some of my best friends are dentists") but as patient. When he was growing up in Iran his father had taken him to a dentist who was not very gentle, had outdated equipment and drill heads that were worn out due to excessive use. Local anesthesia, like Novocain injections, were unavailable, and children were usually anesthetized with ether that knocked them completely out. When young Ali awoke he didn't know what was worse — the headache he suffered from the ether or the pain in his jaw from the treatment. The suave Alan Ross never forgot the painful treatment he received as young Ali Rashid and his worst nightmares revolved around dental treatment. So his decision to avoid being drilled by the clumsy captor was an easy one. He said "I'll cooperate but I need a guarantee that you'll keep your promise".
David said "Your only guarantee is my word. Take it or leave it but you know the alternative so I advise you to accept this." He left the basement and a few moments later returned with a video camera, a tripod and the newspaper that was published on that day. Udi untied Ross and took him to a chair that was placed in front of a white bed sheet that was hung from one of the basement walls. Ross asked for a glass of water and a couple of aspirins and after getting them indicated that he was ready to begin.