Recap: Zevi and Jordie are told to go to the pool area, and a contact will meet them. They notice a tour group and Jordie sees Ahli Amar is in the group. He hands Zevi his cell phone and he jumps into the pool. Zevi takes off not knowing what will happen to Jordie, and he’s terrified.
I found a room far down a twisting hallway. I stepped inside and slid into the nearest closet.
I was still shaking. I tried taking deep breaths. Now what? I glanced at Jordie’s phone. It was vibrating. I answered it in a whisper. “Tell us where you are,” a voice said.
I had no idea what room I was in. The palace was a labyrinth. I was going to go to see if there were any markings or papers on the desk that will identify where I was, but I suddenly heard footsteps so I quickly slunk back into the closet.
“He’s coming here in an hour,” I heard someone say.
I peeked through a crack in the closet and saw one of the palace guards speaking to another guard.
“Where is the pen? We need the official pen for this stack of documents.”
“I’ll go get it.”
As soon as the other guard left the room, the first guard said in a low voice, “Stav, choref, aviv.”
I opened the closet door slightly.
“Quickly, he’ll be back soon. Go to the Green Drawing Room. There will be someone there who will escort you out and take you to your friend.”
I wanted to ask who, and did he mean Jordie, and where was Jordie? I thought back to that awful splash into the pool and how Alkah jumped in after him. She must have thought he had the valuable papers she wanted.
He pointed me in the right direction, and I hurried out of the room. I was just in time, as I heard the other guard returning with the royal pen and grumbling about people being careless.
Somehow, I found the Green Drawing Room and there was a crowded tour there, so I melted into the crowd. Then, I realized maybe the person who was going to escort me wouldn’t see me. I sauntered over to an old painting and pretended to study it.
Someone came over and whispered the Hebrew seasons code in my ear. “Come, I’ll show you where the rest room is,” he said. I followed him out the door and down the Grand Entryway. Soon we were out of the palace. He had a car parked a few blocks away.
I wanted to ask him a million questions. I was so worried about Jordie, but he made it clear I shouldn’t say anything. I guessed you never knew who was listening.
When we were inside the car, he turned to me and said, “I’m taking you to the police headquarters.”
“Why? Where’s Jordie? Shouldn’t we go to the FBI?” I whispered.
“MI6. In England that’s the agency working against international terrorists. They’re working with the FBI. I have to help your friend. He’s stuck at the police station, and you will be able to help explain to the police, as well.”
I noticed that he didn’t have a British accent. “Are you from England?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
I didn’t like the idea of going to a police station, especially in a foreign country; but Jordie needed my help. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to help him, but I asked Hashem to help me.
It took a while just to drive to the police station because of all the traffic. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach when we pulled up. The man parked and motioned for me to follow him.
When we were inside, he spoke to someone at the front desk, and that officer brought us to a back room. I couldn’t believe it. There was Jordie sitting there.
He smiled at me. “You’re okay?”
“We need you to verify what Jordan Hamil said,” the officer said. “We have the woman in custody who jumped in after him, but we need verification about all this.”
The man who drove me spoke up. “I’m Donaldson, FBI. We’re working with MI6. You have a dangerous criminal under arrest right now. Alkah Ahmed is wanted in four countries for terrorism. She’s in charge of a terror cell and this boy,” he pointed at me. “He has the plans.”
“Is that true?” the officer asked me.
I nodded and pulled the brown envelope out from under my shirt.
“You were supposed to come to Zev’s aunt’s house,” Jordie said.
Mr. Donaldson nodded. “Things don’t always go as planned.”
“That’s for sure,” I thought. Who ever imagined I would be in England in a police station handing over a highly secret document to the FBI and the MI6.
“You boys are very brave young men,” Mr. Donaldson said. “Thank you. You’ve saved countless lives now with what you did. I’m going to drive you to the airport now. You have tickets to Israel and there are some people there who are anxious to see you.”
I wondered what he meant, but Jordie knew. “Our parents?”
Mr. Donaldson nodded. The Israeli Intelligence wants to speak to you two about what happened, but it looks like we’ve nabbed the leader so it’s just a matter of time before that cell is through.”
“Baruch Hashem!” I said.
On the way to the airport, I asked Jordie, “Why did you jump in? Is it because you figured she would jump in after you?”
“I wasn’t thinking of that, honestly. I just wanted to create a decoy, so you could escape with the papers.”
“Wow, that was brave!”
“It was crazy that she jumped in after me. I mean, looking back, I realize that was a super bonus, because she got caught.”
“You did it!” I said.
Jordie smiled. “I think it’s more correct to say Hashem helped me.”
…
I was so exhausted that I must have slept the whole time on the plane. Before I knew it, we landed in Israel. Everyone on the plane clapped. I joined in and so did Jordie. “Baruch Hashem, we’re here,” I said.
“Yeah, let’s go. There’s someone waiting for us by Customs.”
Again, someone whispered the code and whisked us into a cab and drove us toward Yerushalayim.
I stared out the window in awe. I couldn’t believe I was in Eretz Yisrael. He pulled up to an old building.
“Go inside to the second floor. Use stairs. You’ll be greeted there.”
We followed his instructions and there, at the top of the stairs, were my parents and two people who, I assumed, were Jordie’s parents. Baruch Hashem! I felt a lump rise in my throat.
I blinked back tears. My parents were here and they were okay. Jordie ran into his parents’ arms.Bottom of Form
We all went into a small office and a man came out. “I want to personally shake the hands of these two brave young men,” he said. “Todah rabbah! Good work.”
“That’s Kobi,” Abba said. “He’s head of this branch of the Israeli Intelligence.”
We had a lot of catching up to do. Abba explained that we would be staying in a hotel nearby until the terrorist hive was thoroughly cleaned out. “Thanks to you two boys, that shouldn’t take long. You’ve saved so many lives.”
“Baruch Hashem!” I said.
Abba explained now that Jordie’s parents were part of a secret branch of Israeli Intelligence and that was why he had told me not to ask him about his family or where he was from. The information was top secret. They never stayed long in one place.
“They were assigned to track the terrorist gang whom you unfortunately met up with. That American branch was led by Akilah Amar. They somehow got on your trail. They wanted those documents that Jordie had.”
I told my parents about the trip to England and seeing the secret swimming pool in Buckingham Palace. We called my brother Rafi and filled him in on what happened.
…
We stayed in Israel for two weeks and then we were told that the terrorists were caught and in prison, and we were now free to go back to our normal lives.
I wasn’t sure if life would go back totally to normal. I’d always remember this unusual experience.
“I still can’t believe all the things that happened,” I said to Abba, when we were back home and getting ready for Shabbos. Rafi was there and he wanted to hear all the details.
“You were really hiding in a tree?” Rafi asked.
“Yeah, and in a closet in Buckingham Palace in England, too.”
“You were like a spy,” Rafi said.
“Well, I’m done with that,” I said. “I just want to be a regular person with normal problems.”
Abba smiled and ruffled my hair.
“Yes, baruch Hashem for normal problems.
Rafi came upstairs with me, and we worked on my train set together. It was like old normal times. Then Ima called us down to help set the table for Shabbos.
At the seudah, we went around the table sharing hashgachah stories, and boy did I have a lot of them.
Abba said, “You grow from everything that Hashem sends your way. You just have to look for Hashem in your life and He’ll pull you through.”
Abba said that Jordie and his family were heading back to their home in Boston, but they already made a plan to come to us for Shabbos in a few weeks.
Now, when I sat in my room, I actually missed Jordie.
…
On Motza’ei Shabbos, Jordie called and told me that he’s planning to go to yeshivah this year and start learning in a mechinah program. He asked me to call him Yaakov since that was his Hebrew name.
I wished him good luck and we said we would keep in touch with each other.
Rafi came into the room and asked if I could show him Nana’s book. I said sure. We sat together and I showed him where I’d left off reading it.
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of an historical fiction novel, Flight of the Doves (Menucha Publishing, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha Publishers, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha Publishing, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha Publishers, 2020), Denver Dreams (a novel, Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha Publishers, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021-2022), and Alaskan Gold ( 2023-2024).
