The Shield: a novel (9 page)

“
Would you like to refresh yourself? A drink maybe?”

“
I am quite comfortable.”

“
In that case, General, we can start on our way to Tel-Aviv, to the British embassy.”

“
How long will it take us to get there?” asked Wilson. “I need to tell my people when, approximately, I will be back. I would also like to arrange some way for them to contact me.  After all, a commander should not be out of touch with his forces even if he is absent for a day or two.”

“
General, it will take us about thirty-five minutes to get to Tel-Aviv and about the same time to get back. The dinner at the embassy shouldn’t take longer than a couple of hours. We can have you back here by, say 01:00, 01:30 at the latest, unless you would like to spend the night in Tel-Aviv?”

General Wilson was surprised, but not as stunned as he would have been two days ago. He considered his options. “I prefer to return as soon as possible, but I still need to let my adjutant know when to expect me. I would also like to give my Command a way to contact me.”

“Very well,” said Mosinson. He picked up the receiver of a sophisticated telephone on the table in a corner of the room, gesturing Wilson to sit in one of the nearby chairs. He said something into the handset and after a minute or so handed it to Wilson. “Your Naqoura HQ is listening on their field set. Please let them know that to contact you at any time during your absence, they can just call us on this line. You will be connected directly. Please meet me outside when you are done.”

Wilson took the handset. “Hello,” he said. “Is this Naqoura?”

“Yes, sir.” The answer was as clear as if the speaker was in the room next door.

“
Get Major Alexander on line,” Wilson ordered.

The conversation with his adjutant lasted several minutes. Wilson knew his conversation was probably being monitored, but it was a nice touch to leave him alone while he communicated with his subordinates.

Lieutenant Mosinson waited outside near the car that had brought Wilson to the outpost. He put away his cell phone as Wilson exited the building. The embassy was ready and the two ministers were on their way. He and Wilson needed to move.

“
General, this way please.” They walked behind the low building to where a small helicopter waited.

***

David Rothstein was unhappy. He, along with his wife and two sons, had arrived in Israel two weeks ago, expecting to make the trip back to Boston tomorrow. Now they were stuck here. They had come to Israel for a long overdue visit, which they enjoyed. But they were done visiting and ready to go home. The Dan Tel-Aviv was a very nice hotel, run by the same people as the famous King David hotel in Jerusalem, but now they told him that his credit cards were not acceptable as payment. He had no assets in Israel and the hotel was justified, but what a mess! At least they wouldn’t be thrown out on the street. They could stay in their suite, for a while. The bad news was that the hotel was no longer treating them like welcome guests. The management claimed to be cutting staff, so if they wanted clean sheets, available only once a week, they’d have to make the beds themselves.  The same went for cleaning the rooms. At least they were still being fed a nice buffet breakfast, though the staff was preoccupied and busy, which made service iffy. And the hotel had given them Israeli shekels to pay for other meals and services they needed. It bothered him that they had to accept this handout and regretted not having changed more dollars into shekels when it was still possible.

The government circular that was delivered to their rooms on Sunday evening had also upset David. It again explained the time displacement and gave some information on the time period they had been transported to. It stated that tourists would have the option of returning to their countries of origin, assuming those countries would take them. On the other hand, that option would not be open for the foreseeable future, they were informed. After an agitated reaction from David, his wife Rachel pointed out to him that some of the tourists would not want to return - “Dear, do you think that anyone wants to go back to Nazi-occupied Europe?  And do you really want to go back to pre-World War II
America? We have no house there and no money to buy another one. We could start from scratch, I suppose, but how easy would that be for Jews like us in this time period? That’s assuming the state department is agreeable to admitting us. They didn’t issue our passports. The immigration authorities may just send us back to Europe with the rest of the Jewish refugees.”

David had to agree with his wife, whom he always considered smarter than himself. Being a history major, she also knew more than he did about this time period.

“Now that you mention it,” he mused, trying to lighten the discussion a bit, “I see another reason not to go back even if we could: my hypertension medication will not be invented for another forty years and your cholesterol drug will not be available for another fifty. At least the Israelis have them and, I hope, will not refuse us treatment.”

There was another thing in the leaflet that bothered David. He was not very well versed in the history of WWII but the leaflet pointed out that today was the day Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union.

“You think my parents will survive again?” he asked Rachel. “I wonder what would happen if I meet them when they are young before I was even born.”

“
It’s not only your parents, David. Most of their – your, our - family was killed in the Holocaust. They're still alive now.”

“
I’m worried about the boys,” Rachel continued. “Since we’re stuck here, how long before the Israeli army takes them? They’re almost of age.” The army was the primary reason they never considered moving to Israel, though their sons liked the idea. Every teenager served here and all were in danger.  They had even cut down on their visits in the last couple of years, so the boys wouldn’t be tempted to enlist. And now this happens. Josh was almost nineteen, and Jake was seventeen, close to the age Israelis started their service. She thought for a moment. “On the other hand, I’d prefer them serving in a Jewish army to being drafted by the U.S., assuming we join the fight in December of 1941, after Pearl Harbor.”

“
This whole thing is seriously confusing!” David waved his hands as if trying to push something aside. “I spent more than thirty years of my life working with advanced physics, but now I feel like an idiot.”

***

Hans Paulus was even more upset than David, and his family wasn’t with him at the Dan to calm him down. Hans was a regional manager for Siemens, the German industrial giant.  He had come to Israel in order to visit the new microprocessor and controller plant being started up near Beer Sheba. It was a joint venture with Israel’s Elbit and Intel’s Israeli branch. He had planned on going home to Munich on Wednesday. Now, even if he was allowed, it was not an option: Nazi Germany occupied the Republic he knew. And his family was lost somewhere in time.

“
What do you mean my credit is no good?” he yelled at the reception clerk. “It was good when I made the reservation, and I am not going away just because you say so.” He was furious.

“
Sir,” said the clerk, “we are doing our best, but the only currency we can accept is Israeli. We’re not throwing you out, but we can’t provide full hotel services either.”

Paulus forced himself to calm down enough to think. He did have a source of credit, assuming they would acknowledge him. “Please call Siemens Israel. I
am sure they will solve the payment problem.”

“
Sir, it doesn’t matter.  We’re emptying the hotel within 30 days,” said the clerk. “There is some kind of a government plan to take care of guests after that, but I don’t know any details.”

***

On the way to the British embassy, Wilson asked the Lieutenant questions about everything he saw. Mosinson was willing to respond, within the limits imposed by his commanders.

The General was especially curious about everything to do with the military. He wanted to know about the vehicle that transported him from Naqoura, and he was even more curious about the helicopter. After several minutes of conversation, looking out the windows onto the brightly lit coastal cities of Israel, Wilson asked: “Lieutenant, how big is the population of Israel?”

“We are near the eight million mark, Sir.”

“
I noticed that your border post with Lebanon was very well fortified. Were you at war just before you were transported in time?”

“
We’ve been on a war footing ever since the state was established in 1948.” Mosinson paused to think. “There were several major wars, with all our Arab neighbors attacking us at once. In the interludes we had an almost-peace – with saboteurs active and Arabs attacking our civilians. When the time displacement occurred, we were at peace, and actually the chances of another war with the Arabs seemed to be diminishing.”

Wilson thought for a moment: “I assume that you successfully defended yourselves.”

“Well, we defeated all the attacks and acquired some land in the process. Maybe that is the reason they decided to stop those massive attacks.”

“
Yes, that would explain your military ability. Has Britain been an ally of yours?” Wilson asked.

“
Not really, sir. We had diplomatic relations, as evidenced by the embassy you will visit, but as Jews we can rely on no other power to defend us. We had allies in the sense of rendering us diplomatic support, sharing advanced technology, that sort of thing. In our world, for decades, Britain wasn’t important enough to count. It did, more or less, what the U.S. asked it to do.”

Wilson was taken aback by the last statement: “Young man, what do you mean ‘Britain was not important enough’?”

“Sir, I meant no offense. Israel needed to have cutting edge technology to be able to survive. Our government made a decision many years ago that we have to be as self-sufficient as possible. The result was that by the time we were displaced into the here and now we became leaders in a number of technologies, most of them with military use. There was nothing Britain could contribute. As a matter of fact
,
we were selling advanced equipment to Britain.”

“
What kind of equipment?”

“
Sir, I am not at liberty to disclose that. I can say though that even if I gave you a description it would not be very informative, as even the terminology to describe it doesn’t exist yet in your world.”

The helicopter was landing on the roof of the British embassy as they finished this exchange. Wilson shook the Lieutenant’s hand: “It was a pleasure talking to you, Lieutenant. Will I see you again?”

“Yes, Sir. I will be waiting for you here.”

Thomas Harvey was on the roof, shielding his eyes from the dust blown around by the helicopter: “General Wilson, I
am Sir Thomas Harvey, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Israel. It is a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“
I am pleased to meet you as well, Ambassador.”

They shook hands. Wilson paused for a moment: “You said ‘Her Majesty’?”

“Yes. It is somewhat confusing. The British government I represent is in the future, and Queen Elizabeth is the Head of State. I hope that the King’s government will re-appoint me when the time comes. Please follow me. The rest of the party is waiting for us inside.”

Wilson followed the
Ambassador into the building, down a short flight of stairs and into an elevator. He was somewhat surprised that the interior of the embassy was pleasantly cool and dry – it was a great improvement over the warm and humid evening outside. It also meant air-conditioning, with which Wilson was familiar mostly through stories. Palestine had progressed indeed.

The room they entered was paneled in dark wood and looked like a dining room at a British club, except it was fairly small and had a glass wall facing the sea. Three men were seated at a dining table. They rose to meet General Wilson and introduced themselves as the Foreign Minister, Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff of Israel.

“Ah, General Yaari, what a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

“
It is my pleasure to meet you, sir. It is amazing to be able to shake your hand. Until now I knew you only from reading history books.”

“
Gentlemen,” interrupted the Ambassador, “may I suggest that we have some drinks and dinner. We can continue our discussion at the table. I am assuming that you still want to return to your headquarters tonight?” he asked Wilson.

“
Yes, that would be my preference.”

The group exchanged pleasantries while dinner was served.  When the wait staff had left them, the Foreign Minister got down to business. “General Wilson, I would like to assure you that the Government of Israel intends to assist Britain in its struggle against the Nazis. We see you as natural allies in this time since it is in our mutual interest that the Germans be beaten.”

“I appreciate your declaration of friendship,” Wilson said. “Can I count on your assistance with new and advanced military equipment that will give my forces an edge, or, even better, help us defeat Rommel as rapidly as possible?”

Gad Yaari responded: “General, giving you equipment or technology may not be in your best interests. Your country, as advanced as it may seem in this time period, will have no way to either use the equipment efficiently or maintain it without extensive training. Even a seemingly ordinary piece of equipment, like the vehicle that picked you up at Naqoura, includes technology British scientists will not be able to understand or replicate for many years.”