Chapter 28
When Samuel sat down, opened his laptop and read the latest of Mossad’s coded message, he couldn’t stop staring at it. He was well versed in decoding these emails but this one was not only unexpected, but also startling in itself. It read:
Son,
Your uncle’s gone and your aunt needs some looking after. The family is waiting for your arrival. Dad.
Uncle’s gone meant Sadir was out of the picture, maybe dead. Your aunt needs looking after meant Samuel was to go to Vancouver to look after Talya. The family is waiting for your arrival meant that there was a warrant out for his arrest. Samuel got up and began pacing the length of his room. He was glad he hadn’t rented the flat overlooking the Yarra yet. This message meant he needed to go back to Vancouver. That’s what he couldn’t understand. Why would they want him to go to Talya? It didn’t make sense. He wasn’t surprised that Sadir had been removed. He was a fat blabbermouth anyway, Samuel told himself. The warrant for his arrest was no surprise either, but to ask him to return to Vancouver was the one part of the message he couldn’t accept as a wise move.
He sat down again and wrote a reply.
Dad, I will be on English Bay soon. What does aunt need? Your son.
The answer was only five words’ long.
Come back to the fold.
Samuel shook his head. What would they want from her? He was at a loss for an answer. Talya was never going to accept to return to Israel, let alone become a Mossad informant or agent. That was ludicrous. To ask him to get her back to the fold was unthinkable. Yet, now was not the time to ask for an explanation. The Aussies and the Canadians were probably on his tail right now. He had to move and the quicker the better.
He packed his bags, got down to the lobby and checked out. His first stop was at a motel near the Melbourne airport. The flight was not leaving for a few hours. He had time to change his appearance again. Once ready, he drove his car in the long-term parking lot and left it there. He got on the shuttle to the Japan Airlines’ departure level and bought a ticket to New Zealand. He used his Canadian identity—passport, driver’s license, and another credit card—to book his flight and pay for it.
When he passed through the security gates, he was dressed in jeans, blouson jacket over an open-neck shirt and his baldhead together with his clean-shaven face made him unrecognizable to anyone who had met him in the past months. He passed through customs, and went to sit in the first-class lounge.
All the while, he kept thinking about the strange message. He could not find an answer to the question as to what Mossad wanted with Talya. The only plausible reason was if Talya were to accept to join his ranks—which was highly improbable—she wouldn’t be able to testify at his trial if he were ever arrested. He shook his head. “Unbelievable” was the word that came back to mind repeatedly.