“So what’s inside the package?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“It’s a Rembrandt portrait worth forty-five million dollars.”

“Really? Is there anything else I should know?”

“It has a bullet hole, and it’s covered in blood.”

She blew a stream of smoke dismissively toward the ceiling. “What’s wrong, Maurice? You don’t seem yourself today.”

“I’m just a bit distracted.”

“Problems with your business?”

“You might say that.”

“My business is hurting, too. Everyone on the street is in trouble. I never thought I would say this, but the world was a much better place when the Americans were still rich.”

“Yes,” Durand said absently.

Angélique frowned. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m fine,” Durand assured her.

“Are you ever going to tell me what’s really in the package?”

“Trust me, Angélique. It’s nothing.”

CHAPTER 39

39

TIBERIAS, ISRAEL

To describe the influence of Ari Shamron on the defense and security of the State of Israel was tantamount to explaining the role played by water in the formation and maintenance of life on earth. In many respects, Ari Shamron was the State of Israel. After fighting in the war that led to Israel’s reconstitution, he had spent the subsequent sixty years protecting the country from a host of enemies bent on its destruction. His star had burned brightest in times of crisis. He had penetrated the courts of kings, stolen the secrets of tyrants, and killed countless foes, sometimes with his own hands, sometimes with the hands of men such as Gabriel. Yet for all of Shamron’s clandestine achievements, a single act had made him an icon. On a rainy night in May 1960, Shamron had leapt from the back of a car in Argentina and seized Adolf Eichmann, managing director of the Holocaust and immediate superior of SS-Hauptsturmführer Kurt Voss. In a way, all roads had been leading to Shamron from the moment Gabriel had entered Lena Herzfeld’s sitting room. But then all roads usually did.

Shamron’s role in the affairs of state had been drastically reduced in recent years, as had the size of his domain. He was now master of little more than his honey-colored villa overlooking the Sea of Galilee, yet even there he served mainly as a minister without portfolio to Gilah, his long-suffering wife. Shamron was now the worst thing a once-powerful man could be—unwanted and unneeded. He was regarded as a pest and a nuisance, someone to be tolerated but largely ignored. In short, he was underfoot.