Ring of Lies by Roni Dunevich Page A

but it’s not on. The only security cameras we found are outside. They’re top-of-the-line.”
    Alex nodded.
    â€œThere’s a pile of books beside the bed,” Ancona said. “They all have bookmarks stuck in the first few pages. Your man was troubled.”
    Alex gazed at Ancona. Straightforward and efficient; no crises, no drama.
    Reuven called.
    â€œI just got back from a meeting with the PM. He doesn’t want us to dig into Erlichmann. It could do more harm than good.”
    Too late.
    â€œAnything new on the crisis in Turkey?” Alex asked.
    â€œWith Galia dead and nobody to confess to being responsible for the Iranian’s death, there’s a good chance the whole incident will die down and be forgotten, unless the Istanbul Nibelung suddenly turns up and ruins everything. But that’s not likely to happen. The foreign press is losing interest. Did you find anything in the house?”
    â€œNot yet.”
    Reuven hung up.
    It was after three in the morning in Israel. He brought the phone back to his ear.
    â€œReuven Hetz’s office, shalom,” came a chirpy female voice he knew well.
    â€œIt’s me, Alex. Did the chief just meet with the prime minister?”
    â€œThe prime minister is in secret meetings in Paris. He’s expected back soon.”
    â€œHow long has he been in Paris?”
    â€œSince yesterday.”

MOSSAD HEADQUARTERS, GLILOT | 03:27
    She was born in Cambridge, England. When she was twenty-two she moved to Israel, and joined Mossad. After special field training, she was attached to the elite cadre of assassins known as Kidon. After she was seriously injured, her life as a field agent was over.
    Exodus belonged to Mossad’s Economics Division, where she’d served as director for the past seven months. Tough and fearless, she didn’t pull any punches.
    Her division was responsible for creating fictitious companies and other business entities to support Mossad operations. It was also capable of stripping targets of all their assets within minutes, as well as tracing covert financial activity anywhere in the world.
    Justus Erlichmann would be easy prey for her.
    Alex told her what he knew about him and asked for her help.
    â€œI just got a memo from the head of Mossad telling me not to investigate a man by the name of Justus Erlichmann or to provide you with any information regarding said gentleman,” Exodus informed him.
    â€œHe’s connected to the fuckup in Bolu,” Alex said.
    â€œHow?”
    â€œAnd the murder of Galia.”
    Exodus had grown close to Galia during her time in the field.
    â€œAnd you want me to ignore a direct order from the chief?”There was a trace of irony in her voice. She wasn’t one of Reuven Hetz’s biggest fans.
    â€œAffirmative.”
    â€œAnd why should I do that?”
    â€œJustus ran foreign operatives for us. In the past twenty-four hours they’ve started dying off.”
    â€œHe’s not cooperating?” she asked.
    â€œHe’s no longer among the living.”
    After a long pause, Exodus said, “What do we want to know about him?”
    â€œEverything.”

GRUNEWALD, BERLIN | 03:42
    Nelli Erlichmann’s study seemed frozen in time. There wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere. On the wall were the diplomas of the noted professor of endocrinology at the Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum, written in ornate Gothic script. An old laptop sat closed on the desk.
    Alex felt as if he’d entered a shrine. The same deathly silence lay over Naomi’s empty clinic. Time didn’t move inside those four walls.
    â€œYou have to know how to grieve,” Naomi once said when they were going to pay their respects to a family in mourning. He’d buried her quickly. At least, he thought he had.
    Jane was in the cellar, keeping her distance, still under suspicion. His life seemed hopeless and meaningless, and his breath was tight as if all