Kill Them Wherever You Find Them (53 page)

Somewhere in the Negev Desert,
State of Israel

A Red Code
was
transmitted to all key
personnel associated with
The Project
who were currently in
the State of Israel.

Dr. Rachael Siwel was giving a lecture at the
University near her house in Tel Aviv when she received the alert.
In all of her time working with
The Project
, such an
emergency alert requiring her to report immediately to her facility
had never before been issued.

Returning to her assigned facility, Rachael
thought back to the first time she used the security-modified
shayroot as a means for transportation. The shayroot, essentially a
large, stretch, taxicab which could have normally accommodated
eight to ten adults, had been modified for the security and comfort
of two to three people, including the driver.

That first trip in the shayroot was very
exciting considering the prospect that they were about to change an
untenable present by literally going back to change events of the
past. This trip, however; was different.

Considering all that they had been through,
the fact that this was an emergency recall of personnel, was
significant in and of itself. Rachael could not help but wonder the
nature of the emergency, but being pragmatic she wasn't one to
dwell on the unknown.

At length she arrived at her destination. She
went through the mindless routine of changing clothing into
regulation issue
Project
attire, surrendering all of her
personal items to be locked in secure storage for the duration,
then walking down the hall which would scan her body for any
foreign objects.

Rachael finally found herself seated in the
conference room.

The only other person to have yet arrived was
somebody from a different facility. Rachael recognized his face,
but could not quite place his name, or his function within
The
Project
.

Looking at him, briefly, a second time, she
remembered that he was the lead person for the team working on the
quantum teleportation aspect of
The Project
.

"Hello Rachael. It's good to see you again
after such a long time. Do you have any idea why we are here?"

Rachael wasn't sure whether she should be
gratified, or annoyed, by the fact that he knew her name, when she
could not remember his.

"It's a mystery to me as well. But the fact
that you are here in this facility tells me that it must be
something of significance to the entire
Project
, rather than
isolated to any one facility."

"I agree with you . . ."

A small cluster of people entered the
conference room, interrupting what he was saying, to Rachael's
relief.

"Good morning."

"Good morning to you. It looks as though
Rachael and I were not the only two people to be called in so
suddenly."

"You've got that right, Dan. From the number
of shayroots and military vehicles pulling into the drop-off area,
I expect that this conference room will be full, standing room
only."

'Dan.' Rachael wondered how she could have
forgotten his name, glad that it came up in this conversation.
Before they adjourned, Rachael would use his name in conversation
with him so that she didn't appear to be antisocial.

True to the stated observation, the
conference room was filled to standing room only capacity.

Rachael noticed Udi Ra'am at the same time
General Ashkelon made his entrance.

This came as no surprise, given the fact that
people from different facilities received the coded message to come
to this facility. Either something went terribly wrong with one of
the
landings
as newly trained people went back in time, or
there was some kind of security breach. She assumed the latter
given the presence of the head of security, Udi Ra'am.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice."
General Ashkelon began, "I realize this is an imposition."

For just about everybody in the room this
was, in fact, an imposition. Professionalism, coupled with
curiosity, prevented anybody from nodding their heads in
agreement.

"To those who knew him by virtue of your work
with
The Project
, this will be difficult news. To those who
worked with him in this very facility, even more so. So I'll not
belabor the issue."

"While on vacation in Brazil, Dr. Levin was
kidnapped by an unknown hostile group, and his wife and three
security agents were killed."

Every face in the room, except for General
Ashkelon and Udi Ra'am, displayed emotions ranging from mild shock
to grief resulting from a personal loss; the latter applied
exclusively to those who worked personally with Dr. Levin.

Allowing a few moments for the news to sink
in, the General continued, "At this point, we have no idea who is
behind the attack, or even if it's relative to
The Project
.
Given the planning and execution of the operation required to
kidnap Dr. Levin, we believe with near 100% certainty that it must
be related to his work with
The Project
. We are moving
forward based on this assessment. We have little to go on other
than about a fifteen minute window, during which time we know the
operation was carried out."

"I requested this conference with the heads
of each facility, as well as all department heads within each
facility, to not only advise you of the situation, but also to lay
out our operational plan by consulting with you."

"Agent Ra'am will address you first regarding
security. I will follow him."

"Thank you sir. As the General said, at this
point we have nothing to indicate who was behind the abduction.
But, it was carried out with exactness, by professionals who left
no incriminating evidence behind other than bullets in the scope of
the three victims and the powerful sleep aid mixed with the ground
coffee beans used by the two agents."

"Because of the planning, manpower,
precision, and money required to carry out such an operation, we
believe this must be an attack on
The Project
itself. This
means each and every person here, as well as all other personnel
employed by
The Project
, is in potential danger. The degree
of higher exposure than usual requires heightened security
procedures. In the next several days we will be working to
consolidate all facilities into one. The duties and functions of
each facility will continue to operate as separate, but for the
sake of security all will be operating within this compound."

"We don't feel it necessary to bring your
families onto the compound as we did before, and hopefully this
won't change. We do, however; feel it important to change a couple
of your personal security protocols, and those of your staff.
Transportation and public safety are our two priorities. All
employees of
The Project
will be receiving individualized
memos regarding the changes to be made in these areas. Our second
priority will be identifying within
The Project
who
knowingly, or perhaps unwittingly, provided classified information
that led to his capture."

"Agent Ra'am, how certain are you that this
was an inside operation?"

"There are enough unknown variables that we
are not certain somebody within
The Project
was involved.
That said, the previous timeline when Avi and No'am were feeding
information to Mona, has been completely erased. So we have no
reason to believe that Iran is involved. The fact that previous
conspirators can't be culpable in this situation, it remains,
nonetheless, a very high probability that information had to be
leaked from within
The Project
."

"As far as the world at large was concerned,
Moshe had not been involved with the scientific community for
several years. Thus, unless knowledge about him being the founder
of
The Project
has been given to a hostile entity, it would
be highly unlikely anybody would have the slightest interest in
him. Unless somebody within one of the facilities provided that
information, for reasons yet unknown."

"Nearly a day has passed since his abduction,
yet there have been no blackmail or ransom demands. This leads us
to the likely deduction that whoever took him did not do so for
monetary value, or political reasons for that matter, but rather
the high likelihood that they want to start their own
Project
. The more time that passes without any demands for
his safe return, the more likely it is that he was abducted for his
knowledge, and nothing more. The only reason that his knowledge
would be of value to his abductors, would be if they are trying to
develop their own version of
The Project
."

"Are there any questions before I return the
floor to Dr. Ashkelon?"

"Yes. How do we know that our families are
not in imminent danger?"

"We are not blind to the possibility that
your families could very well be in danger, imminent or not. We
believe given the facts surrounding the abduction and a very high
possibility that it was done to acquire knowledge to build a
version of
The Project
, it's unlikely that anybody's family
member is a target. Every employee actually may be a target, most
especially you gathered within this room, heads of departments and
facilities. The higher up your responsibilities, the higher up your
knowledge, thus your value to those who would want to duplicate our
work."

Scanning the eyes and gestures of those in
the room he saw that his response was accepted, for now. When it
became apparent that no further questions for Udi were forthcoming,
the general arose from his seat.

"It has been decided that we do not have the
time or luxury of conventional methods to discover who abducted
Moshe. We are going to call on the full resources of
The
Project
in an attempt to discover not only who abducted Levin,
but also why."

"I believe we have progressed to the point
where we can send several people back in recent time. Am I
correct?"

As all eyes turned to her direction, Dr.
Tamara Barkat, the Director of the Negev facility of
The
Project
and de facto head of the entire
Project
responded, "Until we have ironed out all wrinkles, we have limited
the maximum number of people to three. I believe that number can
comfortably be increased to five, but I would like to run some test
first for confirmation before committing to the number of
people."

"I don't understand why we can't have it go
beyond three people. Is it a question of the energy requirements,
or something else?"

"The technology is stable, and we've even
been able to reduce energy requirements since the first
landing
. There have been problems, psychological and
emotional, the further back in time we send people. So far, Jeff
Stauffenberg is the sole exception, for reasons we do not, as yet,
understand. Where this would be a
landing
targeting very
recent history, neither the emotional nor psychological factor is
an issue here. What is at issue, in theory at least, is that the
number and degree of undesirable modifications in the timeline
increases exponentially with the number of people who are sent
back. Given that the people would be sent back only days, perhaps
weeks, before now reduces that risk. It does not, nonetheless,
eliminate it. The risk, however small, remains real and
relevant."

"Just to be clear, then, from a technological
perspective it is possible?"

"Yes. It is."

"In view of what we are facing, I'm
authorizing a team of five. I want one of those five to be
Stauffenberg, given his experience and proven fidelity. Udi, I want
you to personally conduct another background check on the other
four tonight. For that matter, Stauffenberg too; we can't afford to
take any chances. I understand Jeff is in the country now,
correct?"

"Yes, he is sir." Udi replied. "He is
visiting the Temple Mount at this very moment."

"Bring him in, now. Dr. Barkat, assign four
others to the landing team. Give Udi their names so he can double
check them tonight. Once the team is assembled and cleared by Udi,
they are to be briefed regarding their mission. I think it best to
send them back approximately one month before the abduction."

~ ~ ~

"What are your findings?"

"Based on the biometric readings of everybody
in the room, as well as our observations, nobody appeared to be
hiding anything. Other than those who already knew about Levin's
kidnapping, everybody in the conference room appeared to be
genuinely surprised at the news."

"How long will it take to compile all of the
readings and video footage from the cameras?"

"There are camera microphones embedded in the
roof tiling, and another set waist level when seated, completed by
an additional set foot level. We will work on the audio-visual
feeds throughout the night, in combination with all of the
biometric readings from the sensors placed throughout the room. The
initial data will be on the desks of the directors of both ISA and
the Mossad, as well as Udi Ra'am and the chief of military
intelligence."

"A team of body language experts is reviewing
the raw video now. Their report will also be concluded by
morning."

The room with all of the audiovisual
surveillance equipment was two floors under the conference
room.

The director of the ISA internal Israeli
intelligence agency had requested that the conference room be set
up to monitor the bio signs of every participant to include: heat
signatures around the face with infrared scanners, carbon dioxide
levels of each participant in the room, heartbeat and perspiration
levels registered from sensors embedded in the arm rests of each
chair, retinal scans to measure dilation which were gathered from
the video surveillance that scanned each person, and more.