The Shield: a novel (45 page)

***

Jonathan Brown had been born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1950. He graduated Medical School at the University of Michigan in 1976 and did his internship in internal medicine at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in New York, where he also met his future wife, Ruth who was doing an internship in pediatrics. It was love at first sight.

Jonathan was always a Zionist and considered himself an Israeli. He was somewhat disappointed the first time they visited Israel – the Israelis thought he was an
American and not really a part of the “family”.

Ruth was slightly less enthusiastic
than Jonathan. On the other hand she was moderately observant and described Israel as “the only place in the world where I can behave like a normal American – go shopping at a mall and have a snack at a kosher MacDonald’s.”

It was their dre
am for a while to make aliyah. The only delay was finding jobs in Israel. In 1985 they both got offers to join the staff of the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. It took them all of five minutes to decide to go.

By the time of the Event they were both well established, middle-aged doctors, respected at their hospital and
by the medical community.

The telephone was ringing. Jonathan looked at the clock - it was
seven in the morning. His work day started at 10. This call was too early. He picked up the phone.

“
Dr. Brown?”

“
Yes.”

“
My name is Dan Levine. I work for the government and would like to meet with you. I apologize for the early morning call, but I really need to speak to you and didn’t want to miss you.”

“
What do you want to discuss?”

“
I can’t tell you over the phone. We need to meet.”

Jonathan was dubious. He was not sure this caller was legit and was reluctant to risk meeting him. On the other hand, if a meeting in a safe place could be arranged
,
why not. “Where would you like to meet?”

The stranger was ready
. “How about the hospital cafeteria at 2 pm. It shouldn’t be too busy.”

“
I’ll need to check my schedule. If you give me your phone number I’ll call you back directly.”

The man gave Jonathan a number in Tel-Aviv, apologized again for the early call and hung up.

At this moment Ruth came out of the bathroom. She was done with her morning shower and was dressing for her day at a children’s clinic – she started at 8.

“
Jon, who was it? Don’t scowl - it couldn’t have been that bad.”

Jonathan smiled
. “Just a crazy person who wants to meet with me but won’t say why. Calling at seven in the morning. Imagine that.”

“
Did he give you any information?”

“
Yeah. His name is Dan Levine and he works for the government. He wants to meet me at two in the cafeteria. I promised to call him back. What do you think?”

“
Very secretive, was he?” Ruth thought for a moment. “If he really works for the government he will keep bugging you until you agree, so you may as well do it graciously. Just make sure that he is whatever he says he is.”

“
He sounded very polite but persistent. I guess I’ll call him and agree to the meeting. What can happen in the cafeteria? It’s fairly busy and there is a security guard.”

***

Dan Levin extended his hand. He was about six feet tall, the same as Jonathan, but unlike Jonathan’s spare frame Dan had the physique of a wrestler. Jonathan judged him to be in his mid forties, with a face easily forgotten: nondescript brownish hair, brown eyes and a straight nose. If he met Dan in a crowd he wouldn’t give him a second glance – an average man.

“
Jonathan Brown, but you know that already. How can I help you?”

“
Let’s grab a coffee and maybe something to eat and discuss my business at leisure.”

They picked up trays and five minutes later sat at a corner table. The cafeteria was half empty, with enough people to put Jonathan at ease but not enough to intrude on their privacy.

“What part of the government do you work for?” Jonathan inquired.

Dan pulled out his wallet and put an ID card on the table. Jonathan read it carefully. The picture was of Dan, though dressed in a suit and wearing a tie, not the windbreaker he was wearing now. It said that Dan Levine was an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“What would your ministry want with a humble physician?”

Dan smiled
. “Before I describe my business in detail I need a favor from you.” He pulled out a sheet of paper from the inner pocket of his windbreaker. “Take a look at this and tell me what you think the patient is suffering from?”

The paper was printed on both sides. It had descriptions of symptoms, results of an autopsy and the patient’s response to treatment. Jonathan read it twice before responding
. “Well, first, this seems to be a medical history that is quite a number of years old. We stopped using Digitalis, or rather Digoxin, many years ago. Some places still use it for heart failure, but the advanced countries have better medication. It’s way too dangerous since a small mistake in dosage can cause serious side effects. There are test that were either not performed or are missing. Some are standard blood analyses and especially immune system tests – these were not available before the sixties. So it kind of dates this record. The other comment I have is that the patient wasn’t managed very well.

“
As to the diagnosis: the patient obviously suffered from a number of ailments. The history you gave me covers only about 4-5 years. He has heart failure, hypertension and possibly metastatic melanoma – which probably killed him. But the main thing that jumps out at me is that he was severely misdiagnosed as having polio. I think that it’s more likely that it was Guillain-Barré syndrome. The rest of his condition, except for the melanoma, may be the result of incorrect treatment, or rather neglect of that one problem.”

“Are you sure about the polio?”

“Well, the chances, in my opinion, are about 70/30 that it was Guillain-Barré. That’s the best I can do with this piece of paper.”

“
Okay, let’s assume you are right. How should the patient be treated?”

“
That would depend on how long the patient suffered from the syndrome.”

“
Let’s say for about 20 years before the beginning of this report.”

Jonathan fidgeted in his chair
. “This is a long time. I’d have to examine the patient if he were still alive – which he’s not, judging from the autopsy report. There are therapies but their success depends on too many factors to give you a reasonable estimate.”

Dan finished his coffee in a gulp
. “Thank you very much Dr. Brown. I’ll probably contact you again and explain what this is about. I have to admit that your diagnosis was surprising and I have to seek instructions on how to proceed.”

“
And don’t forget a second opinion,” Jonathan smiled, “though it is not likely to help your dead patient.”

***

Dan Levine called his superior as soon as he got to the privacy of his car.

“
How sure was the doctor about this not being polio?” his boss asked.

“
He was pretty sure, 70/30 according to him. He would need to examine the patient to be entirely sure and, most importantly, he would need to run a blood test that doesn’t exist there.

“
By the way, we selected this doctor because besides being an American he is a very good internist. He recommended a second opinion. I agree.”

“
Okay” said the voice on the other side of the line. “Find a specialist and get a second opinion. We’ll decide what to do after we have that.”

***

The next day Dan met with an immune system specialist at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem.

After carefully ex
amining the page the specialist gave Dan the same diagnosis as Jonathan Brown: the patient likely suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome. To be entirely certain and to determine to what extent the condition was treatable the patient would have to be examined and several tests run.

Dan left the Hadassah hospital for his office in Tel-Aviv. At the end of his hour
-long drive he had a plan, but one element was still missing. He reported to his boss and suggested that they prepare some things immediately so that when the missing element became available they wouldn’t lose time.

“
Go ahead,” the boss said. “If Jonathan Brown agrees, we’ll find a suitable candidate. As a matter of fact, I will start some inquiries now. If he doesn’t agree… well, I know you well enough. He will be with us.”

***

After a long meeting with the General Staff, Ephraim Hirshson called his deputy at the Brindisi base: “I need you to prepare plans to defend the base. Make use of the General Staff’s planning division and intelligence. We may be attacked by the Germans in the next couple of weeks or, at best, several months. Take into account an increase of the garrison – probably double what we have now, but the final decision is up to us. Update me daily on your progress.”

“
Sir, I expected you here in a day or two. Is there going to be a delay?”

Hirshson worded his response carefully
. “I am not sure about a delay, but there are a couple of things I need to take care of, including arrangements for additional forces. You’ll probably have a week more of freedom from me.”

From the General Staff he drove to his father’s house. He was scheduled to visit with his wife for a Friday night dinner but
had made a special appointment to talk to Jacob. Ephraim didn’t support Jacob’s desire to enlist but decided to answer questions without trying to influence him.

Jacob was waiting for him in the living room
. “Thank you for coming. I appreciate you taking the time from your busy schedule.”

“
You are welcome, but no need to thank me. You would have done at least as much – We are family. I’ll do my best to help you.”

Jacob was quiet for a moment, collecting his thoughts
. “You know, the experience I went through at the Ninth Fort and the interrogation in the forest changed something in me. After we arrived here, this change was pushed a bit further by the week of education we got to catch up to ‘modern times’. I was never a hateful man, but something changed. It seems to me that eliminating the Nazis is the most important thing I can do now. I mean direct elimination, like killing them, not just hurting them by improving the economy of Israel.”

“
Is that why you want to enlist?”

“
Yes and another reason: I don’t ever want to feel helpless again in the face of our oppressors. I believe that being a soldier in a Jewish army is a good way to achieve this.”

Ephraim said nothing for a long while. Jacob waited patiently.

“I understand how you feel. After all, I enlisted in the professional forces for similar reasons – call it patriotism. And don’t think that my parents were not against my choice of a career. I’m not sorry that I chose to be a soldier and I would do it again, but sometimes it’s hard. You lose your freedom of choice. You have to obey orders. They’ll take you away from home and family for a long time. The army takes care of you but also leaves you very little choice of what you can or can’t do. Even now as a newly baked Brigadier General I have limited choice and have to obey orders.”

Jacob was embarrassed
. “I’m sorry. I noticed that you had slightly different epaulets but I have no idea what the rank signs are. Congratulations on your promotion.”

“
Thank you. You are the first member of the family to know. I only got promoted today.”

Ephraim glanced at his watch
. “I will have to leave in about twenty minutes. My wife expects me for dinner and will kill me if I’m late, so let’s try and make the best of the time we have. We can continue this conversation on Friday – we will be here for Sabbath dinner”.

“
I really have a couple of simple questions. But first, don’t think that I am completely ignorant of what an army is. I may be young but I have some experience and I heard a lot from my late father. I would like to know what to expect if I chose to enlist.”

Ephraim smiled
.
“
It’s been a while since I was in the predicament of being a young recruit. In any case, things changed since then. I did spend some time with the Instruction and Training command. That was about seven years ago, so take my information only as a general picture not an accurate prediction. At the time you enlist they will give you a medical. If you are found healthy and your medical profile is determined to be 97% you will be sent to basic training.”

“
Wait,” Jacob interrupted, “why 97%? As far as I know I am 100% healthy.”

Ephraim scratched his head with an
amused look on his face. “Being a Jewish male you are missing a tiny piece of your original body. This makes your medical profile 97%. If you ever meet a male IDF soldier with a profile of 100%, he will turn out to be an uncircumcised Christian. There are some in the IDF.”