The Gamma Option by Jon Land Read Free Book Online Page B

could torture the boy’s location out of you now.”
    “That would be useless because I don’t know it. Steps were taken to guard against just what you are threatening.”
    “Fine. Now explain why me? What makes me so important to you?”
    Fett shrugged. “It was not my idea. I warned them against angering you. I told them what you were capable of. She overruled me.”
    “She?”
    “You’ve heard of Evira no doubt.”
    “Have I ever. She’s an Arab agent operating within Israel, certainly the most wanted terrorist in the entire country.”
    “Not a terrorist, McCracken! Not even a militant!”
    “Call her whatever you want. She chose me?”
    “She insisted on you. There have been leaks, deep ones, within our organization. Evira fears her own identity has been compromised. An outsider seemed the only hope, and you were the only choice she presented.”
    Blaine eased off. “So you’re saying Israel has this weapon and I’m supposed to prevent it from being used.”
    Fett nodded. “In return for the life of your son, yes. But it becomes even more complicated. The government of Israel is not to blame here, but a cell operating within the country. With the government’s blessing or not, it is difficult to tell. The Israelis are masters of misdirection. But the weapon exists and the cell intends to use it; there’s no misreading that.”
    “Can you tell me more about this cell?”
    Fett shook his head. “I only know what I’ve been allowed to. The rest of what you need to hear will come from one closer to Evira.”
    “Another messenger, Fett?”
    “Only this time the journey will be yours, McCracken. To Tel Aviv. I have your ticket with me.”

Part Two
Critical Mass
    Jaffa: Thursday, May 4; two P.M .

Chapter 6
    MCCRACKEN’S THOUGTHS SWIRLED as the 747 dipped into its descent for Ben-Gurion Airport. Fett had handed him a ticket on an El Al jet that left for Israel just after dawn. When he at last closed the door behind the Arab, Blaine had never felt more helpless or alone. Ever since learning of Matthew’s kidnapping, he’d been filled with a cold dread, exactly the kind of feeling that Lauren had wished to spare him by never mentioning his son’s existence. To say nothing of sparing the boy the terrors that had now befallen him.
    He wondered how it was possible to develop such strong feelings of love and devotion for Matthew after knowing him for barely two days. The feelings were foreign to Blaine, terrifying in their implications. He forced himself to focus on the task at hand. All he had was a cryptic instruction from Fett on where to meet Evira’s contact:
    Go to the Jaffa Flea Market. Present yourself in the gift shop featuring leather handbags over its door on the market’s last corner .
    Once there, McCracken would be filled in on further details that Fett himself wasn’t privy to. With the leaks to consider, Evira was taking no chances. Similarly, Blaine was forbidden to contact anyone else for help. Under those circumstances, useless were his allies in intelligence and the vast cache of favors owed him by friendly forces within Israel, forces he was now ironically pitted against. He knew these men well. If they caught him working for the other side, they would kill him without hesitation.
    He’d spent five hard months in Israel in 1973, but they’d been worthwhile ones. It was his first action after being pulled out of Nam, and it reassured him that his skills were still required now that the Phoenix Project was history. One well kept secret about the Yom Kippur War was that Israel knew it was coming, just as she had in ’68. But this time Nixon and the Americans absolutely forbade her to make the first move on threats of a total cut-off. Let the Arabs fire the first shots and Nixon promised to back Israel with everything he had.
    “Everything” turned out to be five hundred Special Forces troops fresh from the Phoenix Project under the command of Blaine McCracken. They were spirited