Lahav spoke up. “The Houthis will. They’re already trying to take down the Saudi government.”

“Exactly,” Nir said, pointing to Lahav. “So picture this. We get the Saudi and the Iranian on the yacht together with Salim and let our lovely paintings take care of the rest. Kill three bad birds with one stone. The world will say, ‘Oh, there goes Israel again, blowing people up.’ MBS will say, ‘How dare you do that to a royal?’ while behind closed doors he’s saying, ‘Nice job. Feel free to use our airspace as your playpen.’ Which we will gladly do, destroying Iran’s entire nuclear program in one fell swoop. Esh! It’s absolutely perfect.”

“You make it sound so easy, achi,” Yaron said. “But one big question remains. How are we going to get all three of these guys on Salim’s boat, all at once, in our short window of time?”

They all sat in abnormal silence as the wheels in Nir’s head finished turning. Then he said, “I have some thoughts about that, but I doubt any of you will like them.”

August 2021: (One Month Later)

AUGUST 2021

(ONE MONTH LATER)

Chapter 52

CHAPTER 52

ONE MONTH LATER

HAMAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, DOHA, QATAR—AUGUST 22, 2021—17:25 / 5:25 P.M. AST

Nir was going to sweat. There was no getting around it. Looking out the window as the plane landed, by the heat shimmers on the runways it was evident that the temperature had reached the full 42 degrees Celsius predicted. London had been half that temperature when he’d left Heathrow that morning.

The Qatar Airways Airbus touched down with a jolt, then began its taxi to the terminal. Nir wished the pilot would take his time. He was not looking forward to what awaited him. It was a good plan. It was a necessary plan. But it still stunk rocks that he was here as the primary player in the plan.

The CARL team hated the idea when he presented it to them. They argued it. They fought it. But eventually, he wore them down. In the end they accepted it not because he as their leader demanded they accept it but because it was the one plan they’d come up with that could work.

The reaction was similar when he took the idea to the ramsad. He’d been the last Kidon leader to present, and the other teams had given some solid options. But they weren’t great ideas. His was a great idea. The ramsad pointed out all the possible flaws. Efraim Cohen went apoplectic, saying that’s just not the way the Mossad operates. Old Ravid Efrat had even called him a “punk cowboy.” But in the end, they’d given in, and the ramsad greenlighted his plan.