The Boudicca Parchments

Chapter 90

“The El Al desk is over there,” said Daniel, pointing.

“You didn’t really have to accompany me,” Ted replied. “Not if you have to stay here.”

“I didn’t really have to stay here at all. I go back to England now and then fly back in a week. But I could do with a rest after all this excitement. My nephew’s swearing in is in a week’s time and I could use the break to catch my breath. I’m thinking of spending the whole week by the Dead Sea.”

“I’d’ve thought you’d be sick of that place.”

“Oh not Masada. I was thinking more of a hotel in Ein Bokek. Floating in the salty water or doing the mud treatment.”

“Enjoy it,” Ted replied with a smile.

“It’s either that or Eilat. I’ll see what Julia’s doing. She’s also staying on for another week. So I thought we might make a family occasion of it. And my brother-in-law Nat is flying in today. In fact after I’ve seen you safely through, I’ll probably go to arrivals and meet him.”

“When does he land?”

Daniel looked at his watch.

“He’s already landed. But with border control and baggage, I reckon he’ll be airside for the next hour at least.”

“Are you two travelling together,” said a pretty woman from flight security.

This was the pre-check-in security check that they use as the first line of defence against terrorists.

“Oh er no,” said Daniel. “I’m not flying today. My friend here is. I’m just here to see him off safely.”

The pretty girl smiled and went through the routine security questions. They sounded banal and some people wondered why asking these questions would catch a real terrorist who was planning something. But these staff were highly trained and they knew exactly what to look out for. They even asked a few questions about Daniel and he answered himself, explaining his own family residential connections to Israel as well as his academic vocation.

A minute later, Ted was putting his suitcase on the X-ray scanner and three minutes later he was checking in at the desk for pre-booked checkins. They went through to the section where the groundside fast food and shops were located. Daniel, who knew Ben-Gurion Airport’s Terminal 3 quite well, was acting as a guide.

“You can get some fast food over there, but it’s not exactly cordon bleu.”

“Fast food never is.”

“Believe me this is worse than fast-food in England. The steak houses here are great, but when they take out franchises with the Big Three, they get it wrong. There’s better food airside.”

“Okay, well I guess this is goodbye for now, or what is it you say in Hebrew?”

“Lehitra’ot.”

“Lehitra’ot. I’ll see you back in England. We have a paper to work on.”

They shook hands and Ted went off through the second security check, the one that would involve metal detectors and ex-ray inspection of hand baggage.

Daniel was quite looking forward to working with Ted on the paper. In the meantime, he walked back, intending to go upstairs to arrivals where he expected to have to wait an hour for his brother-in-law.

However, as he emerged back into the checkin area, he noticed a man who looked terribly familiar walking into the men’s toilet, carrying a rucksack.

It can’t be!

And yet he had just seen it with his own eyes. If he hadn’t, he would never have believed it, But there was no mistaking what he saw. He strode briskly towards the toilet that the man had entered, but by the time he got there, there was no sign of the man. Then he realized why. The man had gone in to a cubicle. So Daniel waited calmly until the man emerged and then he stepped into his path.

Daniel didn’t know this, but the man whom he was confronting had been calling himself Sam Morgan when he had his dealings with Shalom Tikva and Shomrei Ha’ir. But that wasn’t his real name. And that wasn’t the name by which Daniel addressed him now.

“Hallo Costa.”