“Not great, that’s why I called you. I mean, at first he seemed pretty blasé about it. Said it was a bunch of baloney. I was sure he didn’t really care all that much, but the moment I told him we’d have to consider moving him to a new position … well, he disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” Dad asked.

“Disappeared.”

“What do you mean disappeared?” I asked, wondering how much worse this story could get.

Waxman had no idea where Grandpa was. He said no one knew. The only thing they knew for sure was that the Renault Kangoo had disappeared along with him, and that one of the Thai workers saw the car exiting the settlement at dawn.

“What about the soldier at the gate?”

“On a bathroom break,” Waxman relied.

“I don’t get it. You can’t head a unit without having a soldier go missing on you?” I asked. I wasn’t actually expecting an answer.

“Listen, bro, I know it sounds bad, but everything’s under control, really. We’ve got half the command on their feet right now, everyone’s looking for him,” he said, trying to sound reassuring, talking in that regimental commander’s tone. “He’s not the first soldier to go AWOL. I’m sure they’ll find him in a couple of hours, by threatening Gourevitch or something,” he said and laughed.

We didn’t.

“Really, you’ve got nothing to worry about. The moment the ceremony ends, I’ll be joining the search efforts myself.”

“You’ll be joining after the ceremony?”

“Yup, five minutes after it ends, I’m out of there. After all, he’s my soldier.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I yelled at him. “Your soldier has gone AWOL. How can you even think of going to the ceremony?”

“Listen, man, it’s just going to be a couple of hours,” he said defensively. “Hundreds of soldiers are looking for him as we speak, another one won’t make a difference,” Waxman said, and added in a condescending tone, “It’s the president, bro, I can’t just bail on him.”

“Are you for real? What’s up with you? I—” I said, and before I could finish the sentence, Dad took the phone and hung up.

“I’ve had enough of that moron,” he said.

I nodded in agreement. “I’m taking the next exit, we’re going to find him.”

I’m not even sure I said where I was taking us. We both knew where we should be searching.

“What a mess,” Dad mumbled. He shrank into himself, as if Waxman’s news had hit him belatedly. “God, what a mess.”

“We’ll work it out,” I told him. “We managed to survive Golani, we’ll survive this too.”

Dad cracked the window open, struggling to take in a little air. “I’m not so sure,” he said, “I’m really not so sure anymore.”

24.