The Temple Mount Code

33

‘We’re fortunate, Katsas Shavit.’

Glancing up from her desk, Sarah waved Isser Melman into her office. ‘Come in, please, and explain our good fortune.’

Melman entered the room and took a seat in front of her desk. He used his walking stick to lever one leg over the other.

‘We have picked up Professor Lourds’s trail once more.’

‘In Vienna?’ Shavit had spent most of yesterday and this morning trying to find agents with assets to track the American down.

‘Actually, he just left there. He’s on a plane bound for Tel Aviv. I’m betting he’ll return to Jerusalem.’

Sarah leaned back in her chair and felt her stomach rolling again. Lourds was a traveling storm, full of all kinds of portents, first here, then there. It was most disconcerting. ‘He found out something in Vienna that has sent him back to Jerusalem.’

‘I believe so.’ Melman rested his hands on top of his walking stick and grimaced. ‘While he was in Vienna, he incurred the wrath of Klaus Von Volker.’

Sarah was tempted to spit when she heard the name, but she didn’t. In her book, evil didn’t come much worse than Von Volker. ‘He’s involved in this?’

‘So it would appear. Von Volker is definitely in the Ayatollah’s camp.’

That was inarguable.

‘As it turns out, Professor Lourds has an interesting history with Von Volker.’

‘I wasn’t aware that Lourds knew Von Volker. That’s something I would have remembered from his file.’

‘Actually, the history wasn’t with Von Volker.’ Melman smiled slightly and shook his head.

In addition to being good at memorizing files, Sarah was good at connecting the dots. ‘Von Volker doesn’t have a daughter, nor a sister. So it’s the wife then?’

Melman nodded. ‘Lourds and Frau Von Volker were classmates at Vienna, as it turns out, and lovers for a couple of years.’

‘How did we miss that?’

‘We weren’t looking for it. We weren’t looking for a connection to Von Volker either.’

‘No, but that would explain the German and Austrian mercenaries that turned up dead where Lev Strauss was killed.’

‘And the two men Agent Abata killed in Namchee Bazaar.’

Sarah made a note in Lourds’s folder to tie him, Von Volker, and Frau Von Volker in together. ‘Perhaps we should make a history of every woman the professor has been romantically involved with.’

Melman tugged at his white beard and smiled. ‘I’m beginning to think that even the vast resources of the Mossad might be taxed to investigate such a thing. Professor Lourds seems to find willing women wherever he goes.’

‘We don’t know why Lourds is coming back to Israel?’

‘No.’ Melman shook his head. ‘Not yet. But he found something in that book in the bus locker that sent him to Vienna. That much is clear. I’m willing to bet that he found something in Vienna that brought him back here.’

Pulling up the crime scene photos of Lev Strauss’s flat, Sarah turned the monitor around so Melman could see. ‘There were a number of articles taken from Strauss’s flat according to Strauss’s neighbor.’

‘Mrs. Hirsch, yes, I know. And I was thinking that if Von Volker were behind Strauss’s kidnapping, those things might have ended up in Vienna.’

‘We have discovered the woman’s origins.’

‘The one found at Strauss’s murder site?’

‘Yes. She was from Austria. From her police record, she had a history of selling sexual favors and attaching herself to wealthy men.’

‘A mistress?’

‘If you want to call it that.’

‘Von Volker’s mistress?’

‘We’re investigating that possibility.’

‘Can you bring up a picture of Frau Von Volker and this mistress side by side on your computer?’

Sarah pulled the images from the files and placed them together on the monitor.

A cold smile thinned Melman’s lips. ‘Those two women favor each other, don’t you think?’

‘Yes.’ Sarah felt frustrated. That was something she should have caught earlier.

‘You weren’t looking for the connection.’ Melman shifted in his chair. ‘You’re not perfect, Sarah, but you’re closer than anyone I’ve ever worked with before. Occasionally, everyone misses things.’

‘Strauss knew Lourds in Vienna. Lourds knew Frau Von Volker in Vienna.’ Sarah pursed her lips. ‘It’s hardly a stretch to believe that Strauss knew Frau Von Volker. She could be the reason Strauss left the safe house.’

Melman scratched his beard. ‘So the knots are falling neater and neater.’

‘Yes.’

‘One thing I do detest, Katsas Shavit, is Lourds’s blatant disregard for our efforts at keeping tabs on him.’

Sarah smiled at the comment. Melman had a very dry sense of humor that was seldom exercised. ‘He’s hardly aware that we’re onto him.’

‘Even so. The man’s habit of popping here and there is very irritating. I hate playing catch-up on a mission as important as this. So I was thinking we might correct our inability to stay apace with him.’

Interested, Sarah watched him. ‘With Miriam Abata?’

Melman smiled broadly. ‘You anticipate me so well, Sarah. Between you and my wife, I have no secrets.’

‘Agent Abata hasn’t fully recovered from her ordeal in Namchee Bazaar.’

‘No, I wouldn’t expect that she would have yet.’ Melman took a breath. ‘But you know as well as I do that these things are better dealt with by throwing an agent back out into the field as soon as possible. If she is broken, the sooner we know, the more lives we save. Including her own.’

‘I know.’ Sarah contemplated the idea. ‘She’s also exactly the type of young woman that Professor Lourds would allow close to him.’

Melman raised his eyebrows. ‘Type? Dear woman, any female that’s breathing and vertical appears to be his type.’

‘The vertical appears to be negotiable. Horizontal would be more appealing, I would think.’

Color flushed Melman’s cheeks, but he laughed.

‘Let me talk to Abata. I’ll get back to you.’ But the more she thought about the idea, the more Sarah liked it. Also, after what Miriam Abata had been through, maybe tough love was the answer.