Zeke aimed a lowering glare his way. “How did you?”
“I have absolutely no idea.” He spread his hands and shrugged. “One minute I was in the exercise yard, being despised by my guards, the next I was on an American military plane, heading for the States. I have no recollection of how I got on it and can only assume I was given something to knock me out.”
“And the guards just looked the other way?” Zeke asked skeptically.
Levi shrugged. “I was told I was an embarrassment to Israel and they didn’t want what I’d done made public. So, I was being given a chance to live quietly in America but if I spoke out, or tried to contact my family, they would be killed and so would I.”
“Who told you this?” Raoul asked.
Levi shot them a disbelieving look. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Not to us,” Zeke replied.
“Pool,” Levi said succinctly.
“The colonel!” Cantara breathed.
Raoul contained his own anger as he examined Levi’s face for any indication that he was lying. All he could see was an overwhelming desire to finally tell his side of the story. He’d interrogated enough people to know when they were being honest, and he sensed that Levi was playing it straight. How would he have gotten out of a top security Israeli military detention center otherwise? Raoul had often wondered about that. He either worked for very powerful people opposed to peace on the West Bank, or the US Military helped him escape.
Raoul’s money was on the latter.
“That bastard!” Zeke thumped the table with his clenched fist, clearly having reached the same conclusions as Raoul. “I knew there was a reason why I didn’t like the jerk.”
Raoul scowled. “He was on the flight with you?”
“Oh yeah. Was he ever.”
“He did return stateside just after we escaped captivity,” Zeke said thoughtfully. “The timing fits.”
“Pool arranged my new identity and got me job as an accountant in New Jersey, which is where I’ve been ever since.”
“If this is true, why didn’t you get in touch with us before now?” Raoul asked.
“Because I knew you wouldn’t believe me.” He shrugged. “I know how much the two of you cared for Cantara, how devastated you were by her death. Besides, I was scared shitless, for my family more than myself. But when I heard that a woman working for the Americans had been found in a house in Palestine, I recognized you guys from the news footage shot at Andrews and knew it must be Cantara. I also figured you’d be looking for answers.” He straightened his shoulders, looking more like the efficient adjutant they remembered. “I’m through with hiding, and can’t live any longer with my family thinking I’m a traitor. I know it’s asking a lot, but I need you to help me clear my name.”
“We’ll do that,” Cantara said with alacrity. “Of course we will.”
“What I don’t understand,” Zeke said, “is why Pool would do such a thing. He’s an uptight prick but I never would have pegged him as a traitor.”
“We’ve checked out his financials,” Raoul added. “These things are always about money, politics or sex. He lives within his means, has modest savings, and no dirty little secrets that we could unearth. His wife is dead. Died of cancer ten years ago. He doesn’t have a girlfriend and his only relatives are a married daughter and two grandkids.” He shrugged. “There’s nothing there. No reason on this earth why he would turn against his country.”
“Have you looked into his adjutant?” Levi asked quietly.
“No,” Raoul admitted. “You think Romney’s the guy?”
Zeke scowled. “Even if he is, why would Pool clear up after him? I know it would make him look bad to have a traitor for an adjutant, but much as I dislike the man, I wouldn’t have thought he would let that stand in the way of his fucking duty.”
Levi shared an intent look between the three of them. “Perhaps it has something to do with Romney being married to his daughter,” he said calmly.
Utter astonishment greeted this statement. Cantara could tell any doubts Raoul and Zeke had harbored about Levi’s version of events dissipated at that moment. It would be easy enough to check up on Romney’s marital situation, so there was no point in Levi lying about it. She suspected her guys were feeling disadvantaged for not having made the connection themselves, but knew why they hadn’t. They’d been grieving for her, concentrating their anger on finding Levi, and hadn’t done more than a cursory check on Pool. They were usually way more efficient than that, but the strength of their feelings for her had affected their diligence.
“I’ll get the guys digging into his background,” Zeke said, picking up the phone.
“Tell us what you know about Romney,” Raoul invited, sitting down beside Cantara and grasping her hand like a lifeline.
“To use American terminology, he’s a jerk. Make that a lazy jerk. But he’s very clever at hiding his inadequacies.”
“I remember he’s good looking,” Cantara said, earning herself identical scowls from Raoul and Zeke that made her smile. She loved their possessiveness, but sometimes they took it too far.
“Oh yeah,” Levi replied, “and doesn’t he just know it. He turns on the charm when it suits him and fools a lot of people about his true nature, men and women alike. If anyone was having an affair, I’d put good money on it being him.”
“Which would explain why Pool covered his tracks.”
“Right.” Levi nodded. “As a colonel he could arrange for me to be sprung from detention on some pretense or other, and get me onto a military transport plane.”
“Let me put some coffee on,” Cantara said, feeling on information overload and in urgent need of a shot of caffeine.