Dawn of Tears - 29. Moves on the Chessboard

Note to Readers: Some times the less said, the better.

What was most surprising of the events that happened while my plane changed course for Israel was the radio message from the UIC central command granting us flight clearance to continue across their airspace to Israel. It had come in while I was in videoconference with Dad, and had been a lot more polite than anyone had expected regarding something to do with their arch-enemy, Israel.

While the dark-haired Botha moved around in my cabin, packing several bags with things I'd need while staying at the embassy in Israel, I sat at my desk reviewing the file Khulari had given me. Cyrus had photocopied it so that Martha and Paul could read over the information as they prepared for the unexpected tasks we had coming up for us.

After looking over the same information for the fifth time, I put the file away and instead took out my notes on my conversations with Khulari over the past week. He'd given many insights that would help my Master's thesis, and I wanted to make sure I had organized them correctly. I had been surprised at his willingness to allow me to use him as a source, and some of the things he'd said would probably raise quite a few eyebrows in the Yale faculty room. When the pilot announced we were thirty minutes out from our final approach, I noticed that Botha had finished packing the clothes and other equipment into my bags and laid out a suit for me to wear, complete with the black arm band for mourning. With a sigh, I put my thesis notes away, took out my file and moved into the conference room where the table was already full, only my seat was vacant.

Paul and Martha took the seats immediately next to mine. Nadine Grass, Mike Darby, Darren Knight, Sammy Richardson, James Hollings, Jimmy Muldoon, Michael Rogers, Barry Davies, Roger Killmer, George Hegel, and Reggie Roerich filled the other seats and they all had grim expressions on their face. If I'd expected them to react with anything other than wariness over our new mission, I'd have been very disappointed. Their response to anything that put me in danger was never a positive one, and the loss of Halpern and Jones on the way to our negotiations had them all on edge still. The entire time in Bahrain, they'd been edgy, and this only made that edginess increase.

"We have most of our gear packed and ready to go." Paul said as I sat down. "Each team member has full comm. gear and weapons on hand and in their baggage. We'll be in desert fatigues the entire time of the stay. The Israelis will have vehicles for our use upon arrival. I've looked over the files you got and there's four areas we need to check first. I want to send two three-man teams to check them out. Two are refugee camps and the others are settlement areas the Israelis established for Palestinians after they took the extra territory during the last war."

"We have the cover story set up for Minister Sharone's security staff as well." Nadine said with a smile and handed me a small black box with two buttons and two lights, one red and the other green. "It's nothing more than a simple electric circuit we took from a remote control. Cyrus is really good at wiring so he rigged it up. Each button turns on a light. Jennifer will touch each guard as they come on shift, and press the button after she's made sure they aren't being controlled and are not bonded. She'll have Mike Darby, Jeremy Young, and Kelly Losier with her at all times, if the Minister agrees to your idea."

"I've been in contact with the Minister's office." Martha said when Nadine was done. She looked tired already, and as my Chief of Staff she had been working non-stop as hard as anyone on the security detail. "We'll be landing about an hour before dark. He'd like to meet with you over dinner, and there'll be cameras as you arrive at his home. After dinner, he'll talk with you privately in his home office. It will be just the two of you there. When you're done there, we head back to the Embassy. They've cleared out space for most of us, but a few of us will have to stay at a nearby hotel. The news crews have all been on the phone with their offices and they'll be staying at nearby hotels. I've told them that we'll be busy while we're there and I think their offices are going to be sending them out on stories. No interviews are planned, but I did promise them that if we did any, they'd get first crack. Right now, they're planning on staying until we leave. The only other transport back is a US freighter that is unloading food stuffs in Haifa. It won't be back to the states for over two weeks."

"Sounds like we have things under control." I stated, leaning back in my chair slightly.

"When we get a sniff of either of these kids, we can get Alan and go after them." Paul said firmly. "We're all safe since we're bonded, but we'll bring him just in case they have surprises we don't know about yet."

"No, you'll get both Alan and I." I said in response and he shook his head.

"Dylan, it's too dangerous." Paul's voice was firm and I noticed everyone at the table nodding in agreement. "This isn't like Utah or Idaho. We have other gifted with us, and we'll use them. There's no need to put you in any direct danger."

"Paul, this is not something I'm going to argue about with you." I shot back. "I'm not going to argue it with any of you at all. When we get a trace on these two, we're all going to go after them, including Alan and I. He doesn't have the military training I do, and I'm in far better shape than he is. This is my responsibility, and if there's two of them wherever we find them, I want two of us there as well."

"We'll take Jennifer then." Paul stated and I shook my head again.

"We can put her with Sharone's detail without raising too much suspicion." I told him in the firmest voice I could. "I can't do what she can without raising too many eyebrows."

"You being involved in a firefight will only raise more eyebrows." Martha argued. "We are saying you're here to represent the United States during the burial of the old Prime Minister and the installment of the new PM. You running through the countryside with guns blazing will cause way too many questions."

"I'm going, and that's final." I growled and met stony gazes. None of them liked this, but I wasn't going to be moved from my position. I knew I was breaking my promise to listen to Paul on security issues, but it had to be done. "What if they've come up with some new use of our abilities? Alan's good, but I'm better and we all know that. If they come up with some way of overcoming all of you and I'm not there to stop whatever it is they do, they'll get away and that will be worse than any questions we get from my being directly involved in the hunt for those responsible."

"We'll work on the cover story to fit your direct involvement in believably." Martha said with a sour grunt. She didn't like it, but as she relented, so did most of the others. "Jimmy and Neil will be working communications with Cyrus. We're taking the portable gear with us to the embassy, and Botha will remain here as a backup if things go wrong at the embassy."

"We'll be taking light arms with us." Paul added. "I'll add a set for you as well. Alan's been trained with pistols so we're including one for him in the baggage gear. Full communications and body armor is available for everyone on the teams. With the Israeli backup we should be fine once we've found them, but I still don't want to take any unnecessary risks."

"Just as long as we work fast on this." I told them. "We can't let Rahlil and Sofia slip out. We're likely to find Khulari's runaway leaders with them. They die as well. If we find anyone who knows of their abilities, they are not to live. Anyone you find that you suspect of having knowledge we need to locate our targets gets taken to Alan so he can control them to get the truth. No survivors, gentlemen."

"The body count could get very high." Hollings stated and I nodded.

"Minimize collateral damage whenever we can, but if they know of our abilities, they don't survive." I reiterated and was met with nods around the table. Discussion focused on the details of what would happen, when, and where. Rules of engagement were established for the teams that would be going out (led by the men in the room), and for exactly what support we'd be requesting from Israel.

By the time we were finished discussing plans and ideas, the plane had landed and taxied to a hangar that had been set aside for our use. The pilots and three female crewmembers would be staying with the plane in case there was a need for an emergency bug-out . Once we were in the hangar, a ladder was attached to the plane and the US Ambassador to Israel, Thomas Goldman entered (after shaking hands with Paul of course). It was the first time I had met the graying, lanky statesman and he seemed to be slightly rushed as we prepared to leave the plane.

There was a full convoy of vehicles waiting to take us to the embassy, and it took a few minutes for my people to shake hands with everyone from the drivers and embassy marines that were a part of the convoy, as well as to unload all of our baggage and equipment. The Ambassador stayed in the conference room with Martha and I, discussing the funeral arrangements that were still being firmed up, and the process by which the Israeli Knesset (parliamentary body) would be picking a new Prime Minister. The given assumption would be that Sharone would be elected by the Knesset to that position since his party still held a narrow majority without having to form a coalition government.

(Israel uses a parliamentary government where the 'executive' of government is chosen from within their elected members, unlike in the US where the President ran separate from the legislative body. Israel also uses a proportional representation system where more political parties are able to get seats in the Knesset based on the percentage of votes they receive instead of who gets the most votes. This usually gives no clear majority of a single party so they have to form 'coalitions' with other parties to get a majority of votes to get someone elected as Prime Minister.)

The last Prime Minister had ordered an election two months after they had beaten back the approaching Islamic armies and taken swaths of lands to their East, South, and North that had been traded back and forth between Israel and its neighbors since the 1963 War. With those lands in hand, the resounding defeat of their attackers, and firm control of the country, the Prime Minister's party had won a clear majority of seats in the Knesset for the first time in decades, and ensured that no coalition had been necessary for his election. That majority still held, and as the second-in-command of the majority party, Sharone's succession was all but guaranteed so long as he stayed alive.

Israeli Security Forces though were in some disarray. The Prime Minister's entire detail was placed under arrest immediately after one of their number killed their charge, and they were now being interrogated. Civilian leaders didn't trust the military and police forces; military leaders were upset about two apparent defections in a few weeks and suicidal attacks by supposedly trusted personnel. The ambassador was obviously very curious about my planned private meeting tonight with Minister Sharone, and was fishing for information, and I finally told him that he'd be informed after I had discussed matters with Sharone (although he'd only get the cover story).

Israel had been extremely short on fuel since the crisis began, and were it not for the shipments from the US, they would have had almost none at all. That was why I was not surprised at the lack of other vehicle traffic on the streets as the convoy finally made its way through the capitol to the US Embassy. As we moved onto the Embassy compound, the heightened alert of the Marines on duty attested to the fact that things were still tense around town, even if they had calmed down some.

Several years before the crisis, Embassy security had been relegated to non-military services as a cost cutting move, but after the Crisis, the Marines had resumed their time-honored duty of defending these American outposts. It was obvious that they didn't like letting the armed members of my detail into their secure compound, but they really had no choice in the matter (of course, my detail didn't like having armed marines who could be subverted by the two gifted we knew were out there either). The Marine captain on duty immediately protested when Paul started detailing the new security protocols he required. Paul waited until the marine officer had built a good head of steam in their argument before producing a memo directed to that officer from the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Secretary of State, and the President directing that all security requirements of my detail commander were to be complied with in full.

I didn't get to see much after that because I was whisked inside by the ambassador and Martha to the rooms that had been assigned to me. Jimmy and Neil were both carrying my bags and immediately started to get things set up for me. Two cots were set out in the largish room, obviously for them, and the ambassador paled slightly when one of the bags opened revealing an assortment of weapons. Martha and I led him out of the room, and convinced him to show us around the embassy, explaining the different operations and introducing me to everyone in sight. Of course I was scanning each person I was introduced to as I shook their hands, and was relieved when I scented no evidence of any of the staff having been tampered with. Brian and Rogers were following us, and would have acted immediately if I so much as coughed.

By the time we were done, it was time to get ready for the trip to dinner at Minister Sharone's residence. A quick shower (with cool water since it was as warm here as it had been in Bahrain and even the embassy didn't have full air conditioning) followed by an equally quick change into another suit was all I had time for before we had to leave. Paul appeared in the room, making sure I had both the knife and a pistol on me before we left. He was as nervous as I'd ever seen and was double-checking everything. If he kept up this way I would end up worrying about him dropping dead of a heat attack before we left.

The ambassador accompanied us to the dinner, and I got my first look at the man who would be the next leader of Israel, and who my dad trusted so completely. He was lean, balding much like his father had, and was in his mid to late-forties. The dinner was decent, and most of the people present were introduced as members of the Israeli government or military forces. It lasted almost two hours, and most of the conversation seemed to focus on learning details of the treaty I had signed.

It was obvious they were nervous about being left out to dry by the American government. I was so busy explaining and reassuring them that they were in no danger of being abandoned that I barely ate much of what was put in front of me. Dinner felt far longer than the almost two hours it had taken. As most of the people left the table for coffee in another room, and our ambassador escorted Martha after them, I followed the Minister into another room, obviously his study, and the man shut the door. As I took the seat he pointed to, and he poured coffee from a tray that had been set up before we had entered I noticed he was studying me carefully.

"I remember the first time I met your adopted father." Avram Sharone said from behind his desk. He was staring at me hard. "It was about five years ago and he was leading a group of Christian pilgrims on a tour of the holy sites in Jerusalem. I had become familiar with Senator Crawley over several years when he made trips to our nation as a member of your Congress's Foreign Affairs committees. I was impressed by his military knowledge, and his dedication to his faith. It is rare to see such things combined in Americans. Either, we see military people who have studied our victories on the battlefield or we meet religious leaders who view our land as the root of their faith. I invited him to my home, and we spoke of the future, and I realized that one day he'd move into a position of leadership within your country. I did not expect to see him in the position he now holds, but for my people I cannot be more thankful for the mysterious ways of God."

"As I said at dinner, Israel should not fear that we will abandon them." I said and he nodded.

"When I spoke to your father earlier, he said that you would have much to tell me." Avram Sharone's voice was firm, but filled with curiosity. "I will tell you some things first. Over the years I have known Senator Crawley and your father, they often spoke of the future. When I became Defense Minister, I also learned many things and over the last year, our intelligence has heard many rumors moving through your country. We have spoken and I've learned which of these were true, and which were not, and I have agreed to keep silent on what I've learned. I know you are a part of these plans and I have had our intelligence services tear apart your history for anything they could find. They found many things of course, much of it complimentary, but there are many questions as well, and a few odd coincidences I have found. Would you care to hear them before you tell me your news?"

"I…uh…sure." I said lamely, wondering just how good the legendary Mossad really was.

"You were born Dylan Thomas, fifteen years ago, to a young school teacher fast-tracked by his school district for becoming a principal." Avran Sharone continued after my stammered response to his question. He wore a small smile. "I was quite fascinated that your file was quite extensive, including your medical information from birth onwards. Most of the information was from the Food and Drug Administration records, and integrated into the records of the American Central Intelligence Agency when you turned ten, and after you scored not just in the top 5 percentile of your nation's intelligence tests, but scored in the very top percentile. I assume from your expression of surprise that you did not know the American spy agency keeps tabs on all children with your intelligence level. They think of children like you as a national asset. We also have made it a point to keep track of such records on children like you. America and Israel have often enjoyed a…rocky relationship and we found that the more we know of our friends over there, the better off we are."

"I seem to remember hearing that Israel spied more on America than they did their enemies." I said in a weak voice and he chuckled.

"Not quite true, but we did expend a vast amount of resources in your country from time to time." He was chuckling softly now. "Every penny paid off the other year when we destroyed our enemy's army with weapons we procured from America. Now, there was another, more special reason why you were watched for so long by your Central Intelligence Agency as well. You weren't the only child watched so closely, something I am sure you would not be surprised to learn. We were able to get our hands on one hundred and forty-eight files of children like you who scored so high on the standardized tests in your year, and the year behind you. We found a common thread between the all. Do you know what this thread was?"

"They were all conceived by use of an experimental fertility drug." I stated in a very low voice, my eyes wide. One hundred and forty-eight was a number we had never achieved in our attempts to track down the participants of the failed program, and he actually had their names and histories, probably up until nuclear attack on Washington! My palms were sweaty now as he nodded at me with that damn infuriating, knowing smile of his!

"Yes, quite an interesting program." He said with his smile turning into a frown. "We found the company's files on their program interesting reading, and our intelligence staff wasn't surprised when they destroyed their own records about two months before your crisis. They were paid vast sums of money by the government for developing a fertility drug that would also breed children of more potential than the average child. The one scientist of ours laughed at the files when we showed them to him. He said what they were trying to do was quite impossible and would only result in deformed children."

"He was mostly right." I said weakly. "Most of the children were deformed."

"That is correct." Avram agreed soberly. "About eighty percent of the children in the study were born with deformities, stillborn, or aborted when the deformities began to mount. It was a disgrace for your FDA. The drug should never have been allowed into such wide studies, and your Pentagon quickly destroyed their records of funding the study lest word lead of their involvement. Still, some children were born, and they all showed remarkable intelligence. Not all in the same fields. Some were obviously suited for the sciences or mathematics, while others like you suited for other forms of intelligence in reading people, social patterns, and similar type of studies. The CIA was looking forward to you entering high school, and had even offered your parents, through other agencies of course, large sums of money to accelerate your education. They thought you'd make a superb analyst for them one day."

"No wonder mom and dad would get so upset every time someone came around wanting me to attend some school they had." I said with a small smile. They'd always looked after me first, even though the money must have been very tempting. They were good parents, every bit as good as the Jacobs had been to me for the last few years.

"Many of the kids whose files we have were in the major cities of your nation when the Crisis began." Sharone continued. "Those not already in military hands were placed under military control by orders from your White House. James Jacobs, your new father likely received similar orders, but by the time they were issued you were already at his HQ, and becoming part of his family. When the nuclear weapons fell, many of the other children like you and your new brother, Henry, were lost in the blasts that destroyed so many others. Still, almost half survived, and a good portion of those are now in a special school your government has set up. Now, here you are, and I believe you are about to tell me that the recent troubles in my country have something to do with some of the children in these files who are not at your school."

"These files, we haven't been able to find anything as comprehensive as what you are describing." I said immediately. "We've looked, but we couldn't find anything."

"I am not surprised about that." He told me with that small smile I was coming to dislike really quickly. "The attack on your country destroyed those few files remaining, and they were never put onto computer systems. I will have the records we have copied for you as a gesture of goodwill for the help you are about to provide."

"They will be appreciated." I said after taking a deep breath. "Intelligence and birth defects weren't the only side-effects of this drug they developed."

"I am beginning to understand that." He replied to my statement. "What are the other side effects and how are they being used against my government?"

"The children born from this study were affected mostly by an increased usage of their brain." I began with the scientific explanation that had been developed from the last year of studies at the school. "On average, we use five to ten percent more of our brain than other people. There is also a strange low-level electro-magnetic field. It's so low-key that it can't really be detected except through touch. Normally even when someone puts leads on us to check vitals like at an emergency room, it's undetectable except maybe as a slight level of feedback in the system. However, once we understand that it is there, we can increase the strength and…do things with that field."

"What things?" Sharone asked sharply, leaning forward on his desk with his eyes boring into me.

"Using this field, and by touching someone we can affect the minds of others." I answered and his expression told me to go on. "It has to be touch, and almost always skin to skin contact. Some thin clothing won't stop it, but most clothing acts like an insulator. The briefest of touches, the lightest of contacts can do little more than deepen or lessen a person's thoughts without being noticed. More deep contact can be achieved to issue commands or orders that the person wouldn't normally do. The problem with that is that the field we push from ourselves into the subjects fades pretty quickly from contact and the level needed for commands not in-line with the person's natural thoughts recedes even quicker. We can detect the 'residue' from that contact with another and if we've felt that residue before we can even tell who it is from."

"So you could walk up to a guard on a compound, touch him and tell him to let you in?" Avram asked me and I nodded.

"You could even make him forget he saw you if you took the time and manipulated the field right." I answered. "It takes time and really only works on memories of single, or limited encounters. A person resists forgetting days or weeks at a time. Also, if the person feels strongly against what he's being told to do, the control will only work while you're in actual physical contact or for a few minutes. There's also different strengths among us, and we can overcome controls set by each other if we're stronger or the time since initial contact has been long enough."

"Then how did they get Major Goldline and the guard who shot the Prime Minister?" Avram asked me in a harsh tone. "Both men were extremely loyal, and I doubt that if what you're saying is accurate they would have done those things."

"There is a more powerful use of this ability that I haven't spoken of yet." I answered and shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "It is more invasive, and more permanent than the other forms. We're not even sure how it works fully because while we've been able to study the lighter forms with MRI chambers, we haven't been able to observe this deeper control. It's permanent, and we've been reluctant to do it any more than necessary and it hasn't been necessary for a while."

"How does this 'deeper' control work?" Avram Sharone pressed and I shifted in my chair again.

"We still haven't figured out all of the 'why's' and 'how's' yet, but basically it works through excitement of the body's nerves and pleasure centers." I answered and his eyes widened slightly. "The field of the controller can act as an enhancer for sexual arousal in both the subject and the controller, and it creates a sort of bond between the two. When the subject reaches their point of orgasm, something changes in their mind that allows the controller the ultimate level of control. Some part of the controller's field enters the subject and totally changes how the subject views the world. It binds the subject to the controller and the desires and well-being of the controller becomes paramount to the subject. They will do anything for their controller, no matter how strong their loyalties to others might be. A father will kill his own children without a second thought. The longer the connection lasts, the stronger it grows and there is less reliance on touch for certain things. It's almost as if a meta-physical connection forms between the 'master' field and the 'slave' fields in the subjects."

"So if one of you establishes this connection in even the most loyal bodyguard, they will kill whoever you command." Sharone said softly, leaning back in his chair and nodding thoughtfully. "I assume this even overrides a person's sense of self-preservation?"

"It can be used to make someone kill themselves without a second thought." I told him and he frowned.

"How do you undo this?" He asked me and I shook my head.

"Death is the only way." I told him. "The controller's field establishes itself fully in the subject. It does fade slightly with time, and must be renewed by contact with the controller on a regular basis. The more tightly someone is bonded, which is what we call this, the longer they can go without contact. Also, if they spend a lot of time in contact with their controller, the bonded subject can operate longer out of contact, but they eventually need to 'recharge'. If there's a lot of daily contact, simple touches can fill that need, but there's a need for more extended contact on a regular basis even then. It doesn't have to be sexual in nature, but well…a night in the same bed every couple of months does seem to satisfy that need even without sex. There's also a side-effect in that the bonded subject can sense the fields of other controllers, not only when they make physical contact with another controller, but through contact with someone who is either bonded or recently controlled. The longer someone has been bonded the more sensitive they are to the fields in someone who has been bonded or recently controlled. A controller cannot overcome the bonding field inside a subject, either through regular controls or the bonding process. Once a person is bonded to the controller, they are protected permanently."

"What happens when the 'controller' is killed?" Avram asked quietly.

"The controller's bonded die." I answered with a shudder. "The originating field in the controller is needed to keep the subject fields alive and when it's gone, they all go. It doesn't work in reverse though. Bonded subjects can die without taking their controller with them, although the controller will feel their deaths if he is close by."

"Your two men the other week were bonded." Avram said thoughtfully. "I remember in the report they were shaking the hands of the Major and driver when the alert was sounded. They detected this 'field' inside the Major and sounded the alert. You felt them die?"

"Yes." My answer was simple and flat and he nodded slightly.

"All of your detail is bonded to you?" He asked me and I nodded. "What's the limit on how many people one of you can bond?"

"We've never found out." I told him. "The upper limit would depend on how you can manage daily contact with most of your bonded and make sure that they receive the 'recharge' they need on a regular basis. Thirty or forty is tough enough as it is."

"I'd like to see you try to keep that many when you're my age." He said with a short laugh, and I understood he was referring to the sexual part of this. He laughed harder at my disapproving frown. "Calm down, son, I'm not that much of a prude, nor am I as dirty minded as you think. I heard the part about it not having to be sex to 'recharge' your people. Now, tell me about the 'controllers' who are messing with my men."

"They are Rahlil and Sofia al-Falid." I said as I pulled out a picture from my inside coat pocket and handed it to him. "They were born twins…"

"The only pair of twins from your study group." Avram finished, pulling out a file of his own. "They are also the only Arab nationals who were part of the study and disappeared soon after their birth back to their native Saudi Arabia. We thought they might have something to do with this, call it gut intuition. From what you've told me, these bonded men of yours are the best suited to hunt them down. Even I can see that. Tell me what you've got planned and we'll see about eliminating them."

The discussion that followed was a surprise for me. I gave him Paul's list of requests and he not only didn't try to shorten it, but he added a few things as well. We discussed refugee camps, and settlement areas that would be searched, and he surprised me again by asking if I wanted to bond a few of his troops to aid in the searches. I turned that offer down immediately. Naturally, he had already matched up Jennifer and Alan with his list and asked about their roles in all this.

He was quite pleased at the plan we had for Jennifer and a few of my bonded circle to check out his own security detail on a daily basis and even offered some suggestions on how to increase the number of people checked on a daily basis. Then we got into a more detailed discussion on how clothing could be used to limit the ability of someone to control his people even momentarily, and I realized that many of his people were going to be unhappy with new requirements that would soon be issued, and the planned restriction to base for many key people. I also realized that whenever Israeli politicians shook hands in public from now on, they'd be wearing some type of glove. He also developed a plan to have me and my staff meet each and ever member of the Knesset in the next few days.

It was midnight local time (which was two hours earlier from where I'd spent the last week) before I left his study and exhaustedly climbed into the black car for my trip back to the embassy. The ambassador and everyone but my security detail had left earlier, and I was so tired that I had to tell Paul it'd wait until morning for me to share everything that had gone on with him.

I crawled out of an exhausted sleep early the next morning at 0600 local time, with less than five hours of sleep. Both Jimmy and Neil had crawled from the cots put in my room for them into my bed when I'd arrived, but they were already up by the time I rose, getting things set out for my day. Neil left to tell the others that I had woken and by the time I was done showering, Martha and Paul had arrived with the schedule of operations for the day.

"We've received word from the Minister's staff that four of their elite units have been assigned to each of our search teams." Paul told me as I was getting dressed. "Our teams are meeting with them now to discuss search patterns in the areas we've already chosen and they'll be acting as backup."

"Minister Sharone has already informed us that they are ready for Jennifer and her team to begin their checks." Martha added. "They've spread the cover story of a new drug that can be used to make people do what they want and their troops are actually lining up to be tested. We've made a second box for Alan to use testing the troops that will be our backup for the search teams. There's also a full schedule for you to meet most of the Israeli government officials in the next few days. He's also scheduled an interview for you with the family of the deceased Prime Minister and your arrival there will be filmed by the media. You'll have lunch with them and be expected to say a few words when you leave. Then, we have more 'meet and greets' with government officials and a formal dinner for you as well. The body of the Prime Minister will lie in state starting tomorrow and he's scheduled for you to visit at the same time as him. The French and English ambassadors will be there at the same time. Then you've got more meetings with their government people. The funeral is in three days and you'll be a front-row guest at that. It's another four days after that before they hold their vote for the new PM position. There'll be a swearing in ceremony for the next day and you'll be a VIP guest at that as well. After that, we can stretch it a few days for our stay if we need to, but we start getting on thin ice then."

"This gives us more time than I was expecting." Paul broke in as soon as she was done and before I could say anything. "We've got a few extra days so the teams will take a little more time to be more thorough. The story we're going to use is that you wanted to see how the people in these camps were really being treated and sent your people to look into things. The Israeli forces will be back out of sight, hopefully letting us work more freely. Teams will be armed, but will keep them slung, and they'll also be carrying voice recorders for show as part of their 'mission'. There's no way for us to enter the area unnoticed, but this will hopefully keep things from getting rough or looking like we're searching for something to most of the people there. We've got a whole slew of questions from the State Department that they'd really like to gather information on, so there's actually some truth to the cover."

"Good." I said, and then noticing the anxious looks on their faces, I realized I hadn't really told them all that had happened the night before in my conversation with Avram Sharone. So while Jimmy brought me in some breakfast, I told them the details of what had been discussed and they both asked some good questions that I answered as well as I could. It wasn't long before I was in a car and heading towards the government buildings where I'd meet my first group of Israeli lawmakers.

The meetings with the Israeli lawmakers were something I'd just thought of as 'cover' for being here, and as time filler while I waited for the search teams to find our targets. I was proven wrong though from the very start. I had a lot to learn about Israel and these men were intent on teaching me as much as they could in the time allotted. I spent about a half-hour with each group, but the discussions flowed almost as if I was with the same group of people each time.

Several years before the Crisis, a noted political theorist had remarked that the entire Israeli government had a 'siege mentality' and their political spectrum ranged from those that thought appeasement was best to keep them from being obliterated and those that thought the nuclear annihilation of their enemies was the only way to preserve their country. Before the Crisis, there had been a balance between the two, but now the debate seemed to rage over how many nuclear weapons it would require to make them safe and the best way to go about procuring more of the devices.

"You Americans forget the lessons of the past far to easily." Benjamin Jacobs (no relation to my family) said to me in the session right before lunch. Four of the men I was talking to were rabbis as well as legislators, and Jacobs was the most cynical of them. "I still remember the day I first say my grandfather's tattoos and asked him what they were. You Americans mark your bodies now like it was nothing, but I remember those tattoos and how that madman sought to exterminate us. We cannot and will not allow that to happen again!"

"We haven't forgotten the lessons of the past." I countered in a calm voice. He ran a hand through his dark hair, and like many of the men I'd met was much leaner than the generation older than him. "This treaty with the UIC is based on economic principles, not military. They won't have the funds to rebuild their armies for years under this treaty. The French and Russians, their two main suppliers won't even have surplus equipment to sell for years anyway."

"That will not stop the bombings!" Avi Ballhorn said firmly, his slightly gray hair was immaculately composed and waved slightly as he shook his head while speaking in an invigorated manner. "This intifadah of theirs has forced us to give them ground time and again, and each time they send their suicide bombers into our streets. They may not buy tanks and bombs, but they will buy explosives and sneak them into the Palestinian camps and sections. We stop many of them, but more get through. I still say we should wipe them all out!"

"Wouldn't that make you the same as the man who tattooed and tried to exterminate your grandfathers?" I asked a bit harshly and was surprised when Ben Jacobs chuckled. The other three started chuckling after a moment.

"There is the problem with that solution." Avi Ballhorn said with a smile. "Still, you must remember that we are a people who faced extinction. Our history is full of our enslavement, our persecution, and our deaths at the hands of others. We are surrounded by people who would love to see our people drawn and quartered and dance with our carcasses through the streets. We do not have the luxury of oceans separating us from those who would kill us if they could."

"You do not stand alone, though." I pointed out and he frowned slightly. "It was the US that helped push the United Nations to support the founding of your nation in the 1940's. It was America that gave you the arms to hold your own each time you were invaded, and in the last few years, when every drop of fuel was most precious, we sent our planes and our pilots to fight and die at your side, in defense of your country against nuclear attack. That is not going to change. As much as you might feel like it at times, we do stand beside you when the time comes."

"You forget the years of America telling us to give up land for the Palestinians." Ben Jacobs pointed out and I had to agree somewhat. "You told us we would be better off giving the Palestinians land, and they used that to attack us."

"And you used the agreements to force your settlers in to areas before the deadlines, further undermining the agreements." I retorted quickly and held my hand up when he was about to respond. "That is irrelevant to the present. We told the UIC that the land you hold now is the spoils of war you earned when they attacked you. There will be no more land grabs. The people there have the option of living under Israeli law or moving."

"When word of that reaches the camps, there will be riots." Avi Ballhorn said with a grim smile. "I hope you've told this to Minister Sharone."

"I have." I told him and his smile grew bigger.

I had several more discussions that day, and the next day, that were similar, and several bits of discussions made good additions for my thesis project. Israel wasn't an obvious example of a government run by the tenets of a religious faith, but the number of non-Jewish government leaders was marginal even before the crisis, and now the Knesset featured two non-Jewish members, both of Christian denominations. Laws once passed to make life in Israel more comfortable for non-Jewish citizens were being steadily repealed and the small country shaped more and more in accordance with the precepts of their faith. Still, the day wore on and I was anxious for news on what the search teams had found.

"What do you mean nothing?" I asked later that evening as Paul and Martha were meeting with me in my room at the embassy.

"Look, we're searching huge areas and through thousands of people that don't necessarily want to give us any information." Paul shot back testily. "We nearly caused a riot at one point. Everyone's testy and the fact that the Israelis have shut down all the exits to most of the compounds isn't making anything better. Those that actually do have jobs are worried about losing them because they can't go to work."

"What are they so worried about?" Martha's voice was acidic. "It's not like any of the Israelis would take the jobs the people in those camps hold. It's sick. They give the worst jobs to the Palestinians. Once the garbage starts piling up and their maid doesn't show up for a few days, the Israelis will open the camps back up."

"They're more worried about another camp being opened first and another Palestinian getting their job." Paul clarified, shaking his head slowly.

"It's weird, when you look at the whole picture here." I admitted with my own headshaking. "Both sides have legitimate grievances…but they both…"

"They both do things to earn each other's grievances." Martha said with a soft sigh and a knowing nod of her head. "Don't think you can come in here and solve all their problems, Dylan. You're smart, but these people have been going after each other since before recorded history. When a feud's that old, solving it isn't a matter for diplomacy."

"It's a matter for genocide." Paul said with a grunt and I actually laughed.

"No genocide today, or tomorrow, at least." I chided him while I was still laughing, and I relaxed a little. After that it was just more talk about the plans for the upcoming days ahead of us, and some refinement of the search patterns.

The next day was much the same as the day before, nothing was found of the two kids we were searching for, or the leaders who had fled the UIC. The funeral for the slain Prime Minister came and went, as did the vote in the Knesset for Avram Sharone to be the new Prime Minister. A full week passed by and still we had nothing except one small riot caused when one of the teams thought about questioning some clerics at a local mosque.

That was our lucky break.

"We've got them." Paul said the morning after the small riot, bursting into the room and finding me in what would normally have been an embarrassing position with Neil and Jimmy.

"Got to go." I said in a rush, pulling out of Neil who let out a muttered curse while Jimmy started snickering. It only took me a minute to get dressed in a pair of slacks and a shirt while Paul laughed at Neil who was trying to both cover up and pout, accomplishing neither successfully. At least it put me in a much more positive mood. We'd come up with the idea of me staying in the area to do 'research' for my thesis paper for a few extra days, but that was very weak. Now, we wouldn't have to worry about that cover story. Paul led me deeper into the embassy, and into the office of the man whose real job here was the CIA attaché. He was grinning very widely and handed me a document as soon as I entered. Tom Martinson was a vain man and he checked his pepper-gray hair in a mirror before sitting down. I looked the paper over for a moment and felt a surge of excitement.

"So Khulari told the clerics to turn them over?" I asked with a pleased grin.

"Yep, he did." Martinson said with a grin of his own. "It was on the A3 encryption system so you can't act until the clerics make contact. Once you get these freaks off the market we can get things back to normal. But I don't want them clued in on the fact we broke their A3 codes. Not even the Israelis know about that. Just get them and get out of here before this place blows up worse than it already has."

"Thanks, Martinson." I said slowly, staring at him for a moment. "We won't ruin your code breaking. I'll go down to the mosque unarmed and 'apologize' to the clerics. Give them a chance to help me out."

"You do that." Martinson said in what was clearly a dismissal. While he'd been friendly the first few days I'd noticed that he was decidedly unfriendly the last few days. I'd even gone so far as to have him checked each day but there was no trace of anyone's controls on him that Martha could detect. Paul and I headed back to my room, where Jimmy and Neil were now dressed and cleaning things up. Martha was there as well, and once the door was shut behind us, it was time to talk. However, Paul had a topic in mind that wasn't directly dealing with our hunt for the two Arabic gifted.

"Dylan, he called them freaks." Paul said softly, referring to Martinson's comments of a few minutes ago.

"I know." I said just as softly while Martha, Jimmy, and Neil looked at us in some confusion.

"We didn't release that information to him or anyone here in the embassy." Paul stated in that same tone.

"I know." I said again, pinching the bridge of my nose in unconscious imitation of dad. I could feel a slight headache forming. There's also the matter of why they haven't shared the breaking of the UIC encryption with the Israeli government. That's a violation of the direct orders from the President on full cooperation.

"I think we know the cause of his behavior around me the last few days, and I'm pretty sure that means the CIA knows about us. From the files Minister Sharone had already provided, the CIA had long been aware, and even a participant in the medical studies that had lead to the conception of those of us with these special abilities. The program had failed because of the high mutation and death rate of the conceived children, but efforts had been made to track all the children successfully born. Most of the files had been destroyed a few years ago, and the mystery of who and why they had been destroyed might very well be answered by this little development. The only way Martinson could know about these 'freaks' was if he knew about the program that had produced us, and if he knew, so did others in the CIA. The loyalty of that organization to the American government, and to my father, the President was now in question."

That was a question for another day, though.

"Dylan!" Brian's voice was anxious as he opened the door to the room in a hurry. He was panting as if he'd just run from the room where our communications was centered in the embassy. "Zombie code from Jennifer's team."

"SHIT!" Paul nearly shouted as he grabbed Brian's shoulders and pushed him out the door. I was right behind them, Martha right behind me, when I felt it, the sudden flash and pain rumbling through my head. It wasn't as hard and intense as it had been that day at the airport, but I could feel it as Thomas Thoreau was hit by an explosive blast and fragments of metal ripped through his body. I stumbled just a bit and Martha caught me instinctively. I could see Thomas as he was the last time I'd seen him, walking off with Jennifer and Carrolls for the Israeli government building where they'd screen incoming guards for being controlled or bonded by those we were hunting. Yesterday had been his 21st birthday and we'd thrown him a small party that day and he'd laughed at the surprise, brown eyes warm with happiness at the soft kiss I'd planted on his cheek. Now, I could feel that last moment of breath, and I dreaded the hatred that would come as the bond snapped and he was no longer controlled by me in that moment right before death.

It never came though, as the bond snapped inside of me faintly. However, it was different than the last time two of my bonded had died. He'd lived for a moment after whatever it was had sent shrapnel into him, and in the moment that death took him, I felt the bond snap and tasted just for a moment his true feelings about me, and it wasn't hate. I could feel amusement, and fondness, and even a form of brotherly love as life slipped from him miles away. I knew I was shuddering slightly as Martha held me. I was crying softly into her shoulder as Paul came running back towards us.

"It…Thoreau just died." I said softly and Martha shook her head sadly.

"C'mon, Dylan, we need to get to communications." Paul said softly and I lifted my head up, wiping the tears from my cheeks before stepping out of Martha's embrace with a gentle smile.

"You were right, Paul." I said softly and he smiled for a moment before his grim expression returned. He knew what I was referring to, without a need for explanations.

"I told you so, smart ass." Paul said fondly, tousling my short hair with a small grin. "Now, it's time to get down there and get some revenge. That's three of us they've killed and I want payback!"

"Let's go." I said firmly, nodding my head. I could feel a slight gap in me where the bond connecting Thoreau to me had been. There was some grief too, because I'd really liked him, and he'd been one of my circle for a long time. The time for grief wasn't now though, that would come when we were back on the plane, safely away from here.

For now though, we rushed down to the communications room to see what we could find out.