The unexpectexd exposure

Chapter 11 of the thriller "An Irretrievable Step".

An Irretrievable Step

Chapter 11

'Where does he expect to be sent?' The organization's head asked Dov his direct unit commander.

'He wishes to serve not far from home…' Was the ironic answer that made them all to laugh except Seri who did not like at all that ironic remark.

'At the Gaza Strip maybe…' Dov his direct unit commander added with a broad smile on his face.

'Seri sat tensed among the group of men that discussed his future, while he did not have the slightest idea what his cover story will be, and how he'll have to arrange it. It was not just another test that awaited him, in which he received a false foreign passport with a name and that was one piece in the puzzle of his cover story; which he had to invent in his tests, but now they are supposed to provide with a full and proof cover story.

'We've got enough informers over there and I'm sure you haven't thought of such an absurd option.' The organization head said to Seri, while the latter realized that this sarcastic episode was intended to encourage him, and make him understand at the same time that he's bound to serve in a leading Arab country.

This discussion took place at one of the organization temporary safe houses at the Tel Aviv industrial zone. The subject was the introducing of Seri to the organization's head and his staff. It took a quarter of an hour, and right afterwards Seri returned to his room accompanied by Dan his instructor, to discuss Seri's graduation and near future.

'That's our last day of instruction and your last day in this room. The first phase is over and till the next one will be decided, about what your next task is and where you're bound for, I'll serve as your local operator.'

'How long would it take?' Seri asked him a bit tensed. He wished to know every detail right away. He was sure that they had enough time to plan not just his next phase, but his entire future.

'Well about a month up to six weeks...' Dan told him after a short pause. 'What about your girl friend, are you going to marry her?'

'No and she knows it. I've just joined the organization and I've no idea how things will turn out… I wanted to part with her, and that's what I've told her. We were just at the beginning of our relationship, and it was the right time to part in my opinion; but she wished to delay the decision up to the last moment.' Seri cleared his throat embarrassed. He never told anyone the slightest piece of information about his romantic experiences before. 'I've learned to love her, but I didn't introduce her to my parents and I refused to meet her parents; I don't think of marriage, for I don't want to ruin her life.'

'Well as we know very little on your relationship with her we won't advise you or worse intervene in your private life, but we'll accept any decision that you'll take.'

'Thanks Dan but what are the details that you may explain to me about my future in general terms, am I supposed to appear as an Arab?'

'Yes that's the idea, but you'll be a Christian Arab, a Copt. You do speak Arabic but to become a Muslim, Friday prayers, the mosques, the Quran, one has to know all of it from early childhood.' Dan admitted watching Seri's face and waited for his reactions.

'Okay don't wreck your head; let's have lunch in some respectable restaurant to celebrate your successful graduation, if I may define it as such.' Dan added smiling.'

Rose Dinevitch went to the bathroom in her daughter's apartment to wash her hands that what she told her daughter. Her daughter's changing moods during the last week worried her, she seemed so happy lately up to last week. So she decided to check her daughter's small medicine cupboard in the bathroom; to her utter surprise she revealed there evidence of the existence of a man in her daughter's life. She knew very well that her daughter never shaved her legs or her arm pits, besides there were much more suitable means to do it, she was sure she is not wrong and her daughter was having an affair with a man. She was terribly upset and left the bathroom very perturbed.

'Tamar, you're carrying an affair with someone and you haven't told us a thing. Why is he married?' She asked watching her daughter's face with an accusing stare.

Tami was shocked her secret love was revealed, she told her parents that she is going out with her friends, she never mentioned the existence of a relationship with a male individual, and this morning her mother came to see her rather early, and she did not have time to hide the few things that belonged to Seri. She realized at that moment that her mother's early visit was not a mere coincidence.

'He isn't married he's young about my own age.' She muttered at last in a low and shaky voice.

'What's all that secrecy for? Why didn't you introduce him to us?'

'He didn't want to and he didn't introduce me to his parents…'

'Why, is he an outlaw or what?' Her mother wondered raising her voice angrily.

'He's an army officer and we don't know if we'll keep seeing each other in the near future… He's supposed to serve abroad in about a month time from now…'

'How long have you been living with him, you're living with him as a married couple, right?'

'…About two years now…'

'So why can't he marry you and take you abroad with him? If you love him we'll accept him, no matter who he is.'

Tears were running down Tami's cheeks, and she could not answer her mother several seconds.

Her mother crossed the short distance between the two of them and hugged her.

'It's complicated to explain mom, he's supposed to travel alone and stay abroad several years…'

'What makes you sure that it isn't some kind of a hoax and he's exploiting you?' Her mother interrupted her in a soft voice and as gently as she could.

'No he isn't that kind he pays for our entertainment and whenever we eat outside… He wanted us to part after the first three months that he dated me, when he was ordered to start his training for this job.'

'How long will he serve abroad?'

'He doesn't even know how long and where mom, I guess it might be in a country in Europe or the Americas and then in our region; and it may take a decade or even more, it depends on unknown circumstances, you know.'

'Yes I know,' her mother replied caressing her daughter's hair.

'We're travelling abroad your dad and me next month on Passover for about ten days, we'll take you with us, it won't interrupt your studies will it suit you?'

Tami nodded her head agreeing to her mother's suggestion, and was thankful to her for not mentioning the need to cut off her relationship with her beloved Dudi.

@ Haim Kadman 2017 �" all rights reserved.