Read Online Twelve Days by Alex Berenson - Free Book Online Page B

in all apparent sincerity. “In God.”
    In truth, she didn’t. Her depression had wiped out any belief she had in a universal power, much less an afterlife. Any God who allowed the mind to inflict such pain on itself was either nonexistent or impossibly cruel. She preferred the former. But she didn’t think that answer would satisfy Duberman. “God? I guess so. I mean, maybe.”
    “That’s no. If you have to think about it, it’s no.”
    “No—”
    “You don’t have to spare my feelings. Me, I believe. Everything I’ve been given, how could I not? Funny, isn’t it, we’ve never really talked religion before.”
    “There’s a lot we don’t know about each other.”
    “I guess.” He turned away from her, to the window. “Out there, Tel Aviv, the gays, fine. They haven’t been to temple in their whole lives. Then in Bnei Brak, these ultra-Orthodox with ten children, spending their day mumbling over the Torah.” Duberman folded his hands together, rocked back and forth in his chair, imitating a Hasidic man praying. “Can’t stand each other. Can’t even talk to each other. But they’re all Jews. The Nazis, they were right about that. We’re a race. Not a religion. Not a culture. A race. Brothers in blood.”
    Salome thought of Orli, her long blond hair. Of Ethiopians and Chinese converts. But now was not the moment to argue.
    “Germans, Iranians, Russians, two thousand years ago Romans, Egyptians then and now—all of them, they all want to stamp us out.Crush us. Nothing else in common, but they all hate Jews. The pogroms and the camps and the wars. All the way back to the Babylonians. We’ve always survived.”
    “Yes.”
    “You’re sure this is the only way? Treason.”
    “I don’t know any other.”
    “Then all right. If you can find that highly enriched uranium, we’ll do it.”
    She felt as though she were watching them both from fifty thousand feet up. All of Tel Aviv below her, the sea to the west, the skyscrapers along the beach, and she and Duberman floating above, protecting them all without their knowing.
    “What are you thinking?”
    “That I wish we had a film crew here. Or at least a hidden camera. This moment ought to be recorded for posterity.”
    “Not sure that would be a great idea.” He looked down at his desk in a way that let her know they were done, she was dismissed. Amazing that he could make a decision so momentous and then push her aside.
    “You have an incredible ability to compartmentalize.”
    His nostrils flared in a silent laugh. “You want to stay for lunch, talk about your feelings? Go find the stuff.”
    She turned, walked to the door. She knew she shouldn’t say anything to jeopardize her triumph, but she couldn’t help herself.
    “Whatever happened to, your first loss is your best loss?”
    “Corporate crap. Never believed it. If I had, I would have walked away from The Sizzling Saloon. Don’t you know anything about me? I like to gamble.”
    —
    In the next months, she put the pieces together. She found an Iranian exile who could pass as a Revolutionary Guard colonel. And the only man in the world who had a private stash of weapons-grade uranium.She met Duberman in Hong Kong to tell him, get his final go-ahead. She saw that he was thrilled, and half terrified, too. She understood.
    Her luck, or Duberman’s God, or both, were on their side. Their new plan
worked
. Reza played his part as colonel perfectly. They gave the CIA enough evidence to make his story plausible. Only a few months after agreeing to discuss the end of sanctions, the United States and Iran were at the brink of war.
    There was only one problem.
    John Wells.
    Wells tracked Mason to Istanbul. Mason and Salome played back, caught him there. Then Salome messed up. She let Mason convince her to hold Wells prisoner instead of killing him. Wells escaped, killed Mason and four of his men along the way. Salome had barely contained the aftermath. She knew Wells would keep coming. But