Kill Them Wherever You Find Them (46 page)

The lawyer spoke throughout their meeting
first in English, then in Arabic - sometimes performing translation
services between Karim and Jeff. By the end of the meeting Karim
understood exactly how their partnership was to function, having
everything in writing and legally documented for everybody's
sake.

The lawyer was also retained to review the
land purchase documents and assure that all papers were filed
properly.

~ ~ ~

"Congratulations, gentlemen! You are
officially farmers!" The land agent handed them their Bill of Sale,
showing the land owned by Mr. Jeff Ronayne as owner, with Karim and
Khalid al-Ibrahimi as legal residents of the plot which was defined
by legal specifications provided by a land surveyor. The previous
days their lawyer, having reviewed all documents, approved the
final payment from the bank, recording everything dutifully.

That night, Jeff and the two families
celebrated, including the children at Jeff's suggestion and to the
children's delight.

Insisting that he needed his partners at
full-speed if this venture was to be successful, he furnished
Karim's house with an ice box, warm and cold weather clothing for
the family, and new cast iron cookware along with a few other items
requisite of a modern kitchen.

All worked together to help Khalid and his
family pack their belongings, then everybody made the long trip to
the farm in two pickup trucks, changing one tire and stopping every
thirty minutes or so for at least one of the children to answer the
call of nature.

Arriving at the farm the families -
especially the women - were delighted to find that Jeff, through
the land agent, hired a few locals to clean the living areas in
advance. The barn and shed they could later clean themselves.

In Khalid's house, a welcome gift of a
beautifully hand-crafted oak wood "Iceland" ice box, matching that
of Karim's house, was in a corner of the kitchen along with a new
family dining table. Jeff hoped ice was delivered in this rural
part of the country. Even if not, during the winter there would be
plenty of blocks of ice to carve out of a river inlet that came
partway into the property borders.

Before bidding farewell to the families, who
seemed to have smiles perpetually glued on their faces, Jeff met
with Khalid, Karim, and their wives - unknown to them - a final
time.

He had the lawyer in Cairo draw up a Last
Will and Testament, leaving the farm and all items associated with
it to Karim and Khalid, to be split evenly between their families
should they decide to sell at some future date.

Knowing this would be impossible for him to
explain correctly in English, the why and how of his Last Will
regarding the farm, the lawyer typed an explanation in Arabic for
them to read.

"My friends, Karim and Khalid: This Last Will
and Testament is to assure you that should Allah, the Passionate
and Merciful, call me to Paradise, I want the farm to fall into
your possession. My wife - who has always lived in a big city and
enjoys her life there - would not be able to run a farm, nor would
she wish to move to a country where she would be unable to speak
the language. Were she widowed I wouldn't want to burden her with
this responsibility. My job has paid me handsomely over the years.
She will be comfortable the rest of her life."

"If you do not receive any communication from
me within three consecutive years, you are instructed to go to a
lawyer to have me declared deceased. If, after appropriate measures
have been taken to contact me by the lawyer - at the contact
information provided - have failed, and I am acknowledged as
deceased according to Egyptian law, then full ownership of the farm
falls into your hands, each having half ownership." From his own
family history, Jeff recalled that a great-grandfather after whom
he was named, Jeff Ronayne, died in Colorado in July of 1935. He
had been using that name during this mission; not that he needed to
change his name for a covert operation before he was even born. He
changed it more as a matter of habit and tradition.

The two couples were solemn at the thought,
Dina weeping openly.

"Do not cry. I will be well." Khalid's oldest
son spoke English fairly well, taking over translation services
from Hala.

The next morning both families and Jeff ate a
satisfying breakfast made from eggs and dried bread brought from
Khalid's house. There were still plenty of chickens roaming the
farm, as well as several heads of cattle that fed off the plentiful
weeds in the fields. Younger children ran after the chickens, the
latter proving just fast enough to always escape their reach, while
the cows looked on in lazy curiosity before returning to the
verdant weeds.

No taxi cabs around for at least two hundred
miles, Jeff returned to Cairo in Khalid's pickup truck, which was
the more reliable of the two, from the journey the previous day.
Jeff said he wanted to stay but he had to get back to Cairo and
move on to his next destination.

He did make a request before leaving, asking
them to avoid going on trips to a big city with their daughters. As
if giving fatherly advice to these good parents, he suggested that
it would be best for them to marry locals who could carry on the
farming and stay near their parents. As a father himself, he told
them, he knew the dangers and temptations facing young women in big
cities.

In his time, this would have been an absurd
comment, but in what was the here-and-now both fathers nodded clear
agreement. Besides, he was now their boss, they would comply as was
best in their power to do so.

Both brothers hugged Jeff, kissing him on
both cheeks as was the custom. They were sad to see their friend
leave but hopeful that he'd return with his wife in a couple of
years, as part of their planned vacation. He could see that they
were genuinely fond of him and hated to see him go, yet equally
eager to get back to the farm and get to work on their new life
with their families.

Some time later Khalid would discover a small
roll of money in the glove compartment of his truck, tied with
string and a note attached simply saying, "To my friends as we
start our new venture and partnership, Jeff." Joyfully he shared
the news with his brother; the money was enough to buy seed for the
next season's crops.

Table of Contents

36. Time Again

"If patience is worth anything, it must endure
to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of
the blackest storm."
- Mahatma Gandhi

Somewhere in the Negev Desert,
State of Israel

Where Jeff's return from
the first landing
was met with pure, exuberant joy, this time he was surprised to see
a semblance of joy mixed with hesitation and tears. No rushing for
hugs and congratulatory remarks, no champagne bottles, with his
glass of chocolate milk ready for celebration.

Seeing the crowded conditions of the topside
civilians in the bunker side-by-side with scientists who worked in
this wing, combined with eyes red and puffy from extended hours of
crying and exhaustion, Jeff recognized he must have failed in his
mission. All was lost.

One of the scientists, surprised by his
sudden return, nearly ran to him. "Dr. Stauffenberg, you're back!
Are you okay?"

"Yes, fine. Is Dr. Levin available?"

"Transmissions! We're receiving transmissions
from the outside! All channels and bandwidths are again active!" A
tech at her desk practically knocked her chair over as she jumped
up, shocked by the renewed sights and sounds of monitors, pulling
off her earphones to make the announcement.

Cheers were heard from different rooms in the
wing of the building as word spread.

Stunned by the announcement, the scientist
responded, "No sir. He had a heart attack. He's recovering; he'll
be fine. He's in the infirmary. He may be up to a visitor now."

"How about Dr. Siwel?"

"Last I saw she was in the clinic with
Director Levin. She stays with him while his wife eats and
rests."

"My family, do you know my family? Do you
know where they are now? Are they here, in the bunker with
everybody else?"

The scientist had a confused look, one that
Jeff didn't understand. "They are dead sir. Well, maybe not. I just
don't know. Please excuse me, I need to contact the remaining
leadership, let them know you returned."

Without a word Jeff left the massive room,
having to push his way through masses of people who appeared
elated, grief-stricken, shocked, traumatized, hopeful. A greater
mix of emotions would never again be found in a single group of
people during his lifetime. This mix of emotion added further still
to Jeff's own confusion and fear, bordering terror.

At last reaching the elevator, after
carefully stepping over groups of people seated everywhere,
navigating others also trying to plot a route through the congested
corridors, it was reminiscent of blood platelets bunching together
and then bursting through densely plaque-lined blood vessels,
signaling an eventual aneurysm.

The elevator opened, packed with people. Jeff
did an about-face and hurried, as much as the crowds moving toward
the elevator allowed, for the stairs.

Before reaching the infirmary, the welcome
news that he had returned, and that the planet had been restored to
pre-attack conditions, was broadcast throughout the building.

Entering the infirmary, Rivka rushed passed
him, running to the bed of her husband to hug him with a strength
that nearly squeezed out what life remained in him.

Rachael was the first to see Jeff. They
laughed and hugged, she kissed him on a cheek, they hugged once
more.

"Where is my family?"

"If things are as they appear to be, Jeff,
they are in Colorado - for them none of this happened. Though the
last couple of years will still have transpired, and there will be
changes, all should be much as it was before."

"I don't understand, Rachael. What happened
here? Furthermore, why would my family be home in Colorado as if
nothing happened, when other families are here, in the bunker?"

They stepped out into the corridor, now
almost completely evacuated, to give Rivka and Moshe time to
themselves while everybody attempted to absorb their new realities
- both those from their memories of the events from within the
temporal shielding, as well as the reality of the world around
them, where there never were neither biological nor nuclear
holocausts.

"As you recall, when you were stepping back
through time, the biological agents had been unleashed in the
United States. We were under the incorrect assumption that with the
revised timetable of the terrorists, they'd hit our country first,
on the night that opened the High Holidays."

"When there was no movement from the known
sleeper agents here, we figured that we still had two more days to
go - that we could quietly, along with other governments, round
them up over the next two days, averting the worst of the crisis.
We knew, from the onset, that we couldn't contain a full outbreak;
having been unable to identify all of the sleepers."

"We were confident that if we made a
coordinated, global arrest of the known sleepers, we would have
more around seventy percent as the best that could be achieved. We
didn't want to move too early for fear that their arrest would
force the remaining terrorists to postpone their plan and send more
sleepers into the target countries."

"In addition," Rachael continued, "we felt
that rather than allow the remaining thirty percent of the unknown
sleepers to execute their attacks - still killing scores of people
and devastating global economies as well as sparking any number of
wars -
the Project
remained our best option. An option, for
any number of reasons, we chose to not share with partner nations.
If successful, as is now evident, there never were any terrorists,
there never was this threat hanging over the planet."

"Hold on. My family, why would they be back
in Colorado?"

"Jeff, the bio agents were released sooner
than expected. We had no idea, isolated where we are, that they
would reach us as quickly as they did. There must have been a wind
that carried them from - I don't know where or how. All I know is
that by the time civilians topside started dying, it all happened
so quickly we were caught unprepared. Many made it to the security
of the bunker, actually most. Once we were able to get sufficiently
organized, a list was drawn up of those who made it down here.
Neither your family, nor mine, were on that list."

"So what, you're telling me our families . .
. died?"

"Yes, it was devastating to all of us,
especially those whose immediate families died. They had to close
and seal the shelter doors when they did; if they didn't there
would have been no survivors. Very possibly there would have been
no functional facility for you to return to were radioactive waste
allowed to enter."

Rivka cleared her throat. Startled, neither
Jeff nor Rachael aware of her presence, she quietly said, "Jeff,
Moshe would like to see you. Please be brief, he's very weak."

"Moshe, yedid, how are you doing?"

"I've been better. I've been guaranteed that
I'll make a full recovery. At my age, that's probably not saying
very much. Jeff, I know you will want to see your family. For now
you have to settle with calling them on the phone. We need to
debrief you before you can return to Colorado."

"I understand, Moshe. I'll stay as long as
needed. I'll call Lynn as soon as we've spoken. From her
perspective, I haven't called home for several days now, she'll be
worried." Jeff spoke with concern in his voice for his wife.

"Yes, she will. Though, as far as she's
concerned, you're in Europe conducting business as usual.
The
Project
, their trip here to Israel never happened." Moshe spoke
in a fatherly tone.