Nicole gave him a haggard look. “Nir, she’s not the only one who’s exhausted.”

“Suck it up, Buttercup,” he said with another grin, letting his enthusiasm cloud his common sense.

“Ooh, someone’s going to get it!” Yossi cried. The rest of the team added their comments.

Nicole glared at him, held up her index finger, and said, “That is your one.” But when everyone else turned to see Nir’s reaction, she gave him a wink.

“Okay, let’s wrap this up so I can go to my office and commit ritual seppuku. We’ve got the materials. We’ll have the time. Now we just need to find a way into Alicia’s workshop for six hours or so on a weekend.”

Nicole shifted in her seat, then tentatively said, “I was holding off saying anything, because it sounds so bad, and it’s probably nothing, but…”

“Speak up, Nicole,” Lahav said. “You know we try to maintain a judgment-free zone.”

Nir almost laughed. Lahav was on the receiving end of most of the judgment that took place in CARL. Thankfully, most times he was blissfully unaware he was wearing the target.

“When I visited Alicia’s warehouse workshop, she introduced me to her team. They were a great group of guys, very nice, seemed like hard workers—”

“Just say what you’re going to say,” said Nir, recognizing her stall.

“Okay, so I also met one of the complex security guards, and he stood out from the rest of the guys because he was the only one who didn’t seem, you know, Hispanic. His name was Tommy Cohen. I remember it because of Efraim’s last name. And just looking at him… He looked, I don’t know, kind of Jewish.”

Yossi’s eyes were like saucers. “Looked kind of Jewish? Nicole, that is the most anti-Semitic thing I’ve ever heard anyone say in my life.”

“And we thought you were becoming one of us,” Liora said, then broke down with a fake sob and hugged Dafna.

Nicole dropped back in her chair. “Why do I even try with you guys?”

Everyone started laughing, and Nicole soon joined in.

“Tommy Cohen, huh?” Nir said.

The flush from Nicole’s face was starting to fade. “Yeah, I thought it was an unusual combination, especially when I saw the name on his uniform said Tomaso. That’s a name I’m more used to seeing back home in Milan.”

“Interesting. Yossi, do a deep dive on Mr. Cohen’s life. See if he’s got any friends and family here in Israel. Is there any information we can exploit in our Italian Jew’s life?” Then Nir broke into a very poor Marlon Brando impersonation. “Maybe I’ll visit our friend when I’m there and make him a falafel he can’t refuse.”

“I hate that.” Liora shook her head as she rose from the table. “Never say that again.”