The Marsh Angel by Hagai Dagan (best thriller books to read .TXT) 📕

position. At the end of the day, it’s for their own benefit. And also, we can say that we drew our conclusions and brought in a new broom. It makes a good impression.

Tamir rationalized that based on the information intercepted from the networks, he provided the best intelligence possible. Abuhab said it didn’t even matter: there is always better intelligence to be provided. No one really cares what was or wasn’t intercepted. That’s why we need culprits.

After they finished drafting Tamir’s report, Abuhab shook his hand and bid him farewell. Tamir gathered the courage and asked who they were planning to pin this on.

As insignificant a cog as possible, Abuhab said as he left the room clutching a small black executive briefcase, and disappeared into the corridor.

Three days later, a report summarizing the proceedings and conclusions of the unit’s internal investigation committee landed on Tamir’s desk. The whole report was concocted in vague and general terms, the kind favored by Abuhab. The report concluded that although at no point during the information collection and processing process did any clear negligence or misconduct transpire, stern disciplinary action will nevertheless be taken, in reflection of the unit’s unyielding commitment to excellence, which has distinguished it since its establishment. Subsequently, since the only possible fault could be found in the work of transcriber Yishai Adika in Kidonit base, it has been decided to remove him immediately from his post, register a stern reproval in his personal file, demote him, and transfer him to a non-intelligence post. The reason: the transcriber failed to ascertain the phrase ‘the distance isn’t great’ in a conversation between the seaborne-unit station and the airborne-unit station.

That’s not right, Tamir thought. If he couldn’t make it out, then he couldn’t make it out. If anything, it was Harel’s fault for not having called Sasson in. And more than anyone else, it was my own fault for not realizing it was going to be a joint attack based out of the Iranian tanker, rather than a joint attack launched from two different positions.

He kept on reading. A stern reproval was also registered in the personal file of the team commander of the reception room in Kidonit for having failed to assign better producers to man the stations, despite knowing there was an attacking unfolding.

Zaguri… Tamir thought. The accusation was wildly absurd, of course, and clearly intended for people who have no understanding of how the reception process actually works. If the transcriber Adika failed to make out the clip, then clearly no producer would have succeeded. Tamir wanted to derive some pleasure from Zaguri’s misfortune, but couldn’t; also, he knew that at the end of the day, the reproval meant nothing to Zaguri. He read on:

Furthermore, it has been decided to demote the intelligence analyst who issued the dispatch which read ‘Link-up complete. The cage is in motion,’ for having failed to add an annotation instructing that ‘cage’ could mean watercraft. The intelligence analyst will remain in his post, but a mild reproval will be registered in his personal file.

Jonny… They didn’t touch Harel, but they threw Jonny under the bus. Pricks… Tamir felt he should be pleased to have been exonerated. So, why did he feel guilty? He called Neta.

How’s the lonely knight who fights beautiful amazon-terrorists at dawn? she asked.

I was wondering how fast that story was going to spread, he replied.

Oh, believe you me, it’s spreading fast, she said.

Yeah…

Why wouldn’t it? It’s got everything— sacrifice, romance, mystique… Great story, don’t you think?

I guess you could see it that way. Are you coming to Tel-Aviv anytime soon?

No, it’s gonna be a bit too tight.

Tight? What do you mean?

I’m discharging in a couple of days, and then I have to drive home right away to run some last-minute errands. Two days after that, I’m off to the airport. I doubt I can fit a visit to Tel-Aviv in there. That’s just the way things turned out… It’s my fault, though. I really just wanted to get the hell out of here already.

Where are you flying to?

Brazil. Then Chile, Ecuador, Costa Rica…

For how long?

Six months. Maybe even longer, although I’ve already applied for a scholarship to Stanford. I haven’t heard back yet.

Seriously?

Yeah. I guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer to finish what we started that night. Think you’ll hang in there?

Without you? No way.

You’re cute. But it’s no big deal, right? We’re on the same wavelength here.

Yeah, of course, he confirmed, reflecting on the matter. Yes, he thought, no big deal.

d. Transparent

So, what followed, then? How did the days pass? They simply passed. A new department head arrived, steady and calm, authoritative, and a bit full of himself. He glided silkily down the corridors, and sat with an air of somewhat-ironic regality in his soft chair. His previous specialty was Egypt, but he learned the Lebanese and Palestinian materials with impressive ease and speed. In all his meetings with Tamir and other unit heads, he projected a kind of sophisticated apathy. He seemed to take very little interest in the department’s affairs, and was rarely if ever stirred, Tamir thought to himself. His top priority was running a smooth operation, appeasing the top-brass, and making as little waves as possible.

In his first conversation with Tamir, the new department head told him that he knew all about what he termed ‘your buddies’ high-level attack.’ Clearly, we have no control over what they’re cooking up, he continued, and we need to do everything in our powers to stay on top of things, but next time… We need to try to be more in control and go about our business more quietly, to whatever extent possible. We’re only supposed to monitor the event, staying behind the scenes. Let the experts go out to the field and get shot at. That’s not our job. We need to do what we’re good at, and do it quietly and professionally. That way, we won’t have to bend over backwards later to evade investigation committees. We