The Defector

drop of a hat when innocent life is at stake. My God, you’ll even trade dozens of proven murderers in order to retrieve the bodies of your dead soldiers. Your love of life makes you a weak people, Allon. It always has.”
    “So you calculated we would bring pressure to bear on the Americans to return the children?”
    “Not on the Americans,” Ivan said. “On Elena. My former wife is rather like the Jews: devious and weak.”
    “Why the pause between Grigori’s abduction and Chiara’s?”
    “The tsar decreed it. Grigori was a test case of sorts. Our president wanted to see how the British would react to a clear provocation on their soil. When he saw only weakness, he allowed me to push the knife in deeper.”
    “By kidnapping my wife and making a play for your children.”
    “Correct,” said Ivan. “As far as our president was concerned, your wife was a legitimate target. After all, Allon, you and your American friends carried out an illegal operation on Russian soil last summer—an operation that resulted in the deaths of several of my men, not to mention the theft of my family.”
    “And if Elena had refused to return Nikolai and Anna?”
    Ivan smiled. “Then I was certain I would get you.”
    “So now you have me, Ivan. Let the others go.”
    “Mikhail and Grigori?” Ivan shook his head. “They betrayed my trust. And you know what we do with traitors, Allon.”
    “Vyshaya mera . ”
    Ivan raised his chin in a show of mock admiration.
    “Very impressive, Allon. I see you’ve picked up a bit of Russian during your travels in our country.”
    “Let them go, Ivan. Let Chiara go.”
    “Chiara? Oh, no, Allon, that is not possible, either. You see, you took my wife. Now I’m going to take yours. That is justice. Just like it says in your Jewish book. Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, burn for burn, wound for wound.”
    “It’s called Exodus, Ivan.”
    “Yes, I know. Chapter 21, if memory serves. And your laws state very clearly that I am permitted to take your wife since you took mine. Too bad you didn’t have a child. I would take that, too. But the PLO already did that, didn’t they? In Vienna. His name was Daniel, was it not?”
    Gabriel lunged at him. Ivan stepped deftly away and allowed Gabriel to pitch headlong into the snow. The guards let him lie there a moment—a precious moment, thought Gabriel—before lifting him once more to his feet. Ivan brushed the snow from his face.
    “I know things, too, Allon. I know you were there in Vienna that night. I know you watched the car explode. I know you tried to pull your wife and son out of the flames. Do you remember what your son looked like when you finally pulled him from the fire? From what I hear, it wasn’t good.”
    Another futile lunge. Another fall into the snow. Again the guards let him lie there, face burning with cold. And with rage.
    Time . . . Precious time . . .
    They lifted him upright again. This time, Ivan didn’t bother removing the snow.
    “But let us return to the topic of betrayal, Allon. How were you able to discover where I was keeping Grigori and your wife?”
    “Anton Petrov told me.”
    Ivan’s face reddened. “And how did you get to Petrov?”
    “Vladimir Chernov.”
    The eyes narrowed. “And Chernov?”
    “You were betrayed again, Ivan—betrayed by someone you thought was a friend.”
    The blow landed in Gabriel’s abdomen. Unprepared for it, he doubled over, thus leaving himself exposed to Ivan’s knee. It sent him to the snow again, this time at Chiara’s feet. She gazed down at him, her face a mask of terror and grief. Ivan spat and squatted at Gabriel’s side.
    “Don’t pass out on me just yet, Allon, because I have one more question. Would you like to watch your wife die? Or would you prefer to die in front of your wife?”
    “Let her go, Ivan.”
    “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, wife for wife.”
    He looked at his bodyguards.
    “Put this garbage on his feet.”

71
    VLADIMIRSKAYA OBLAST, RUSSIA
    NAVOT WAS the first to spot the helicopter. It was coming from the direction of Moscow, flying dangerously fast a couple hundred feet above the ground. Ninety seconds later, two more just like it flashed overhead.
    “Go back, Oded.”
    “What about our orders?”
    “To hell with our orders. Go back!”

    TIME ...
    Time was slipping away from them. It stole silently through the forest, birch tree to birch tree. Time was now their enemy. Gabriel knew he had to seize hold of it.