Dima “Drago” Aronov – Kidon agent

Omer Azoulai – head of Shayetet 13 team

Lavie Bensoussan – Kidon team leader

Malka Bieler – ramsad’s executive assistant

Efraim Cohen – assistant deputy director of Caesarea

Ravid Efrat – Kidon team leader

Irin Ehrlich – Kidon team leader

Yaron Eisenbach – Kidon agent

Karin Friedman – assistant deputy director of Mossad

Oren Geller – prime minister

Yossi Hirschfield – Mossad analyst

Ira Katz – ramsad (head of Mossad)

Doron Mizrahi – Kidon agent

Avigdor Neeman – former Kidon agent

Asher Porush – deputy director of Mossad

Liora Regev – Mossad analyst

Dafna Ronen – Mossad analyst

Lahav Tabib – Mossad analyst

Nir Tavor – Kidon team leader

Yoram Tzadik – Mossad agent-in-charge of Operation Deep Sleep

Imri Zaid – Kidon agent

SOUTH AFRICAN

Nicole le Roux – Mossad agent

SAUDI

Ali Kamal – member of Saudi royal family

Saad Salim – owner/CEO of ASEnergy

AZERBAIJANI

Elnur Isayev – former assistant deputy head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Intelligence Service

IRANIAN

Lieutenant Asadi – member NAJA

Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh – head of the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (S.P.N.D.) and “Father of the Iranian Bomb”

Dr. Ghasemi – IRGC specialist

Officer Kazemi – member of the Traffic Police of the General Command of the Law Enforcement of the Islamic Republic of Iran (NAJA)

General Arash Mousavi – head of the Intelligence Division of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)

AMERICAN

First Lieutenant Caitlin Bader – USMC helicopter pilot

Lily Cohen – Tommy Cohen’s daughter

Tomaso “Tommy” Cohen – security guard

Alicia Marcos – artist

Captain J.J. Marks – USMC helicopter pilot

BELGIAN

Mila Wooters – executive assistant at Yael Diamonds

GERMAN

Dr. Horst Lindner – nuclear physicist

February 2018

FEBRUARY 2018

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

MOSSAD SAFE HOUSE, ASTARA, AZERBAIJAN—FEBRUARY 1, 2018—06:40 / 6:40 A.M. AST

You look like someone stole your wife, Tavor,” Elnur Isayev said in his stilted English. “Are you not pleased with the progress?”

Only a thin line separates pessimism from realism, which is particularly true for the Jews. Life had made a habit of unexpectedly rising and punching them in the mouth. And that was why, Nir realized, he was preparing for a taste of life’s fist even though Operation Deep Sleep had thus far advanced remarkably well.

Without looking at the former assistant deputy head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Intelligence Service, Nir replied, “She’s not safe yet.” Then catching his slip, “We still have a lot of sheep out there among the wolves.”

“Ah, but it seems you are most concerned over one little lamb.”

Nir turned to see a grin beneath the man’s thick gray mustache. He wanted to poke back at the jab, but Isayev was absolutely right. He was anxious about the safety of each of the 20 players out on this operation’s pitch, but worry about the fate of a particular one kept him pacing the cement floor of this safe house.

And why should Isayev’s detecting his concern for Nicole stop him from what he wanted to do next?