“Your two sons in the next room. Will they call your wife’s new husband Dad? I mean, she is fairly young and still quite attractive. I can’t imagine her not remarrying after you’re gone. Your children, too, are young. After a few years, those boys will forget your voice, then your face. Soon you will be just a distant memory, a smile on an old photograph.”

The scientist was shaking now. “I-I told you, I’m just a consultant. I don’t—”

“Stop lying to me.”

Nir’s voice was tinged with violence now. Lindner needed to know what he was up against. “Your work is assisting Iran in achieving a nuclear weapon. When they get one, they will use it on us—on my family. An old saying from the Babylonian Talmud says, ‘If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.’ But this is your lucky day. I am rising up only to tell you that if you do not leave your service to the Iranian regime, I will come back. And then I will kill you, and quite possibly I will kill your family as well.”

“No!” When Nir shushed the doctor, he repeated in a loud whisper, “No. I will never go back to Iran. I promise. Just don’t hurt me or my family. I’ll never go back.”

“Do you believe me when I say that if you are lying to me, I will find you and I will kill you?”

The man vehemently nodded. “I do! You found me here, so you can find me anywhere, right?”

“Exactly. No wonder you’re a doctor. You’re very smart.” Nir stood and looked down at the man who was doing his best to control his emotions. “Do not disappoint me, Dr. Lindner. I will kill anyone who threatens my family or my country, and I will do it without remorse.”

As he was about to exit through the bedroom doorway, Nir turned and said, “Oh, and be sure to take your family to visit the Jardin boutanique d’Èze. I hear their collection of succulents is quite amazing.”

The doctor broke down, and Nir could still hear his sobs as he followed Imri out the condo’s rear door and onto the stony beach. They put up their hoods and made their way to the van. The only words that passed between them was when Imri chuckled and said, “Their collection of succulents is quite amazing?”

“I felt bad about the wife. Thought she might like it.”

Yaron was already at the van, and Dima ambled up 30 seconds later.