Hand of Fatima

By Myrna Sokoloff

It had been a year since the body of Holly's Navy SEAL husband Jake was flown from Afghanistan to Dover Air Force Base. The American flag draped over the casket and the Honor Guard didn't help ease her pain. It was a classified mission, so she didn't know the details of how he died. Holly was a strategic defense analyst, but in her grief she stopped asking questions.

But it all came crashing in on her again when Alex, a retired special operator, approached her on a clear autumn day and asked for her help. Alex and his friend TJ were wounded in the same raid that killed their friend Jake. They knew the SEALS had been betrayed. These tough wounded warriors were determined to find out the truth.

With help from their friends, they realize the government was lying about the raid. This search puts them all in danger. In uncovering that deadly deception in Helmond Province, they find out about a more sinister plot that will put the country in danger. And this one leads right to the White House.
These brave patriots decide to beat them at their own game, with a game!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Myrna Sokoloff
• Release date: Jun 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311342836

Myrna Sokoloff

I live and write in California. I love the beach and the warm weather. I grew up on the east coast with a lot of snow. I worked in government and politics and know how the game is played. That's why I was able to write this book.

Book preview

HAND OF FATIMA

Published by Myrna Sokoloff at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Myrna Sokoloff

Do not put your trust in princes,

Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

His spirit departs, he returns to his earth;

In that very day his plans perish.

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God

Who made heaven and earth, the sea

and all that is in them

Who keeps truth forever

Psalm 146 3-6

***

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - THIS IS THE BUSINESS WE HAVE CHOSEN...

Chapter 2 - A SWEET YEAR

Chapter 3 - WHAT, ME WORRY?

Chapter 4 -I NEED A DRINK

Chapter 5 - FAMILY

Chapter 6 - THE PAST IS PROLOGUE

Chapter 7 - SECRETS IN THE SECRET AGENCY

Chapter 8 - THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

Chapter 9 - BOURBON

Chapter 10 - EATING OUTDOORS IN LITTLE BOOTHS

Chapter 11 - THE HAND OF FATIMA

Chapter 12 - PERSIANS WITHOUT RUGS

Chapter 13 - GAMERS

Chapter 14 - BATTERY PARK CITY

Chapter 15 - THE DON

Chapter 16 - THE LUCK OF THE IRISH

Chapter 17 - MASS

Chapter 18 - POLITICS IS LIFE

Chapter 19 - VOLUNTEERS

Chapter 20 - BLONDES

Chapter 21 - MASSOUD THE PERSIAN

Chapter 22 - GIRLFRIENDS

Chapter 23 - MORE BOURBON

Chapter 24 - THE GAME’S AFOOT

Chapter 25 - SPYING

Chapter 26 - DINNER WITH FRIENDS

Chapter 27 - LET’S START PACKING

Chapter 28 - DESSERT

Chapter 29 - DETECTING

Chapter 30 - OFF BALANCE

Chapter 31 - SEAN AND THE TECHIE

Chapter 32 - AUNT HOLLY

Chapter 33 - SECOND CHANCES

Chapter 34 - OSCAR WORTHY PERFORMANCE

Chapter 35 - MORE BOURBON

Chapter 36 - ANN PLAYS SPY

Chapter 37 - NO SURVEILLANCE

Chapter 38 - HACKERS

Chapter 39 - FLY ME TO THE MOON

Chapter 40 - SEX AND THE SUPERMODEL

Chapter 41 - DOUBLE CROSS

Chapter 42 - VEGGIE EGGROLLS

Chapter 43 - PERSIAN RUGS

Chapter 44 - WHERE'S TARIQ?

Chapter 45 - SHIT HITS THE FAN

Chapter 46 - YOU'RE A STAR!

Chapter 47 - BAD IDEA

Chapter 48 - NSA GAMES

Chapter 49 - WHITE HOUSE FOLLIES

Chapter 50 - COLLEGE IS NOT LIFE

Chapter 51 - MOTHER KNOWS BEST

Chapter 52 - I CAN’T WATCH

Chapter 53 - PANIC IN THE PARK

Chapter 54 - SAFE HOUSE

Chapter 55 - SHALOM SEAN

Chapter 56 - HOLDING HANDS

Chapter 57 - NO ONE IS SAFE

Chapter 58 - CIA FOLLIES

Chapter 59 - THE PAC

Chapter 60 - MORE BOURBON

Chapter 61 - PERSIAN SEX

Chapter 62 - BORED IN THE SAFE HOUSE BUT SAFE

Chapter 63 - COFFEE HELPS

Chapter 64 - SHABBOT DINNER

Chapter 65 - OUT OF CONTROL

Chapter 66 - CROSSING THE LINE

Chapter 67 - FEELING GUILTY

Chapter 68 - THE SHOMER

Chapter 69 - DORM

Chapter 70 - YONATON

Chapter 71 - FRED'S HACKERS

Chapter 72 PARENTS WORST NIGHTMARE

Chapter 73 - SEAN

Chapter 74 - PRISONER

Chapter 75 - GARY

Chapter 76 - TJ

Chapter 77 - ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN

Chapter 78 - SURPRISE, SURPISE

Chapter 79 - GETTING NO RESPECT

Chapter 80 - PRAYERS

Chapter 81 - IN THE FIELD

Chapter 82 - PACING AT THE PAC

Chapter 83 - THE GUARD AT THE DOOR

Chapter 84 - TRACKING

Chapter 85 - THE JIG IS UP

Chapter 86 - THANK GOD FOR CAMERA PHONES

Chapter 87 - HOME TO MOMMY

Chapter 88 - CUBA IS LOVELY THIS TIME OF YEAR

Chapter 89 - PERSIANS IN MIAMI

Chapter 90 - VIRTUAL TERRORISTS

Chapter 91 - BREAKING NEWS

Chapter 92 - HOME AT LAST

Chapter 93 - THE PRESIDENT’S BRAIN

Chapter 94 - PUSHING TIN IS STRESSFUL

Chapter 95 - ON THE OCEAN BLUE

Chapter 96 - IT COULDN'T GET WORSE COULD IT?

Chapter 97 - I GET NO RESPECT

Chapter 98 - JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE

Chapter 99 - LET’S START PACKING

Chapter 100 - BETRAYAL

Chapter 101 - IT GETS WORSE

Chapter 102 - SAFE HOUSE JOY

Chapter 103 - REVENGE

Chapter 104 - FLOWERS ON THE TABLE

Chapter 105 - FUNNY YOU DON'T LOOK JEWISH

Chapter 106 - LOOKING AT THE STATUE OF LIBERTY NEVER GETS OLD

Chapter 107 - KOREAN COFFEE

Chapter 108 - THE CHAIN

Chapter 109 - WEEKEND AT FRED'S

Chapter 110 – DON’T CRY FOR ME LIBYA

Acknowledgments

***

Chapter 1 - THIS IS THE BUSINESS WE HAVE CHOSEN...

Mali, North Africa

The plastic cuffs cut into Andre Beloit’s wrists as he sat blindfolded in the back of the fast-moving van. He had pain in other parts of his body and thought his 23 years of life were over when they beat him.

But he realized his captors wanted him alive. The only good part of the drive was that the van was air-conditioned. He had lost count of how many days he was held captive in a small, hot room. Suddenly, the van stopped and he heard the doors open.

In the heat and swirling sand, the young, unshaven man was yanked out of the van. He heard men speaking in Arabic. Someone cut the plastic cuffs on Andre's hands and led him to the helicopter that awaited. Someone in the helicopter handed his Arab captor a package which he opened. After he examined its contents, the Arab got in the van and drove away.

As the chopper took off, Andre, a French archaeologist from a rich family, drank a bottle of Evian water, leaned back and silently cried. His father's lawyer and trusted friend put his arm around him.

The Arab drove to his palatial Mediterranean-style villa in the town of Gao. As he entered, he took off his bandana with Arabic script and greeted his children warmly as they raced to cling to him. He went into his bedroom, opened the package and spilled a million American dollars on the king size bed and laughed.

His wife, wearing her Dolce Gabbana summer dress, stood at the door and smiled. She could say her husband really knew how to bring home the bacon except Arabs don't eat pork. She was glad her husband had decided to move to Mali. Life in Gao was great if you were a kidnapper, drug dealer or Islamic jihadi. It was the Mali version of organized crime. It's not personal, it’s just business—except for Islamists.

The French invasion had driven the Islamists into the mountains for a while. But they still needed money and kidnapping was still lucrative.

The Islamists AQIM--Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb—as Murder, Inc in Africa. For them, terrorism is very personal and deadly. Thank Allah her husband wasn't one of them. He was a businessman and went where opportunities led him. And Mali was it...for now. But they may move to Libya soon.

Chapter 2 - A SWEET YEAR

Holly flipped through the pages of the Hebrew Prayer book absentmindedly as she sat in Temple for High Holiday Services. She crossed her legs for the tenth time. Her tweed suit was getting too hot for the warm fall day.

Holly was in her forties but she knew she looked good. She had decided in the second half of her life she would be a blond. Her chin-length cut looked good against her pale skin. She glanced at the congregants but she couldn't help stare at a handsome man across the aisle. He was younger than she was and looked Chinese or maybe Korean. Of course, she knew there were Chinese Jews and a lot of Asian converts to Judaism, but not in her Temple.

She knew she should pay attention to the prayers and stop acting like a teenager staring at a cute guy. Besides, she was no teenager. She had gray in her hair and had lived a long life. But at least she learned one thing today, she wasn't dead yet.

The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, was much more serious than New Year’s Eve. It began a 10-day period of introspection that ends with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Everyone would fast and hope that God would forgive them of their sins for the past year.

She squirmed in her seat. Next to her was Tara, her younger sister, a mother of four children, She was religious and doing all the praying for both of them. She wore more modest clothes to cover her chubby body. Her dark hair was real. She didn't wear a wig like a lot of her more Orthodox friends. And she came with her sister, Holly, to the Reform Temple even though it was not observant enough for her.

Holly forgot the Chinese Jew because she knew what was coming--the Mourners Kaddish. In years past, she would walk out and go to the ladies’ room. It had been over a year since her husband Jake had been killed. But somehow, there was no closure as people say.

The congregation started to recite Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. But it was really not about death. It was a prayer of praise for God. In the depth of our sorrow, we praise God.

Everyone stands in Reform temples to say Kaddish even if you are not in mourning. She was not considered to be in mourning. But she was always in mourning. Tara took her hand and squeezed it. She understood and Holly was grateful for the love of her family. They had all loved Jake and stood with her as long as she needed them.

Holly had been a national security analyst and sometimes couldn't tell the family where she was. They thought she was some kind of secret agent. In reality, she just sat in secure rooms and went over documents and looked at contents of hard drives. Then she joined in meetings with other analysts and rendered an opinion. It was long tedious work about serious stuff.

In the synagogue, the final prayer was sung and everyone was hugging and kissing and saying, Shana Tova Happy New Year. Tara hugged her and whispered in her ear, I'm so glad you're with us on this day, Holly

Holly felt like crying but joked, I know you all just want to keep an eye on me. Holly was much older than her sister, but they had become closer when Tara had children. She loved being an aunt. They both turned and joined the throng walking out of the Temple.

As they walked out the entrance, Tara turned to Holly, I'll get the car you stay here. She walked away quickly as Holly called after her, I'm older but I'm not crippled. Tara waved her off with a laugh. A masculine voice behind her said, You don't look very old to me

Holly turned around startled and came face-to-face with the Chinese Jew from the Temple. He was tall and muscular with jet black hair and eyes. He was even more handsome close up. She felt her face burn red. She hoped he didn't see it.

Thanks for the compliment. Have we met? Holly said, trying to hide her nervousness.

No, sorry we haven't met. I knew Jake

Holly's smile left her face. He immediately saw it.

I didn't mean to intrude. When I realized it was you, I wanted to say hello, that's all. I'm so sorry. I'm Alex Brodsky

Holly composed herself. How did you know Jake?

"I was involved in Jake's last mission. He spoke so much about you that I felt I knew you. When I came back to the States, I wanted to look you up.

Holly looked wary and snapped, So you converted to Judaism, changed your name and joined my Temple!

Alex started to laugh. No, Russian Jewish father, Chinese mother. But I was converted as a baby and had a Bar Mitzvah. Do you want to ask me anything else?

Tara's car pulled up. Holly started to open the car door and turned. Shana Tova, Alex He grinned and waved, Shana Tova.

As the car pulled away, Tara asked, Who was he? Holly glanced back and turned toward Tara. I don't know. He said he knew Jake and gave me the improbable name of Alex Brodsky. It's kind of creepy. Have you ever seen him in the Temple?

No, said Tara, looking frightened. You should call someone to check him out. You still have all those contacts in DC?

Holly sat back and signed. She didn't want to be reminded of Jake this way. It was a holiday and she wanted to enjoy herself with the family. In only a few sentences, that guy brought back the mission, Jake's death and the fact that she couldn't even see his body because it was so disfigured. They had given her back his wedding ring but not the charm he wore around his neck for luck. Clouded by her tears, she stared out the window as the bright orange, red and yellow leaves of the Connecticut autumn that flew by.

Chapter 3 - WHAT, ME WORRY?

In her niece's den, Holly was holding the phone to her ear. Tara's four-year-old really blond little girl, Jessica, was sitting on Holly's lap eating a piece of apple with honey dripping down the side of her mouth. Aunt Holly, can we make a Seder plate? Holly smiled, No, that's for Passover, today is Rosh Hashanah. We eat apples and honey for a sweet new year.

She heard the phone click.Frank? she said. She knew Frank Connell was not Jewish and would be in the office on this day. He was at ARES, a think tank in Washington, and a former Special Operations operative. Age had forced him into a desk job.

What's so important, Holly, that you would call me on your holiday? Are you okay? he said.

I don't know, Frank. I was contacted by this guy today in Temple, of all places. He tried to make it sound casual, but it freaked me out! He said he knew Jake! she said frantically

Frank tried to calm her. Holly, start from the beginning and give me all of the facts.

She related the story of the handsome Chinese Jew and it sounded silly as she told it. But it involved Jake and his work was highly classified. She had to tell someone.

Please, Frank, you have to find out who this guy is. Alex Brodsky, a Chinese Russian Jew who worked in Special Operations and I met him in Temple. And he was cute. Could anyone make this up? What does he want? She was talking very fast and trying not to yell.

Frank sighed.OK, Holly, I've got it. Stay calm and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Call me if you see him again or...

Holly yelled, Or what?

Jessica jumped and climbed off her lap and ran to the kitchen.

I mean if you see anyone you don't know hanging around or stuff like that, you know. I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe he was just trying to pick you up He tried to laugh.

Holly smirked, Yeah well, I would like to believe that since he was cute but I'm older than he is.

You're still a beautiful woman, Holly, Frank said quietly.

Thanks, said Holly as she grinned.

Go back to your holiday dinner and don't worry. I'll take care of this. Happy New Year! Frank said

Happy New Year, Frank Holly said and hung up. She felt better.

Chapter 4 -I NEED A DRINK

Frank sighed as he hung up with Holly. He had been afraid that Jake's mission would come back to haunt them. But almost a year had passed. He had begun to think he was being too paranoid. But Holly's call had made the hair on his neck bristle. He tried to sound calm on the phone but he was not. He needed a drink but he didn't want to drink at work.

He looked around his office at the ARES Group. It looked like a college professor's office. Bookshelves lined the walls. Piles of paper littered his desk. He used the computer but felt more secure if he printed something so he could feel the paper. He read a newspaper on paper. Even Holly only read online and hadn't bought an actual newspaper in years. He was a dying breed--a dinosaur. Even at 50 years old he was still tall and trim but he had to hold in his gut. He had let his hair go gray. He thought he looked distinguished. It was a nice word instead of old.

A few years ago, Frank's arthritis wasn't so bad. He could still be part of a team.—maybe not with the young guys, but he could still shoot straight and place explosives. But those kids sit in front of a laptop and run the whole operation. They could see and hear everything. It was a video game to them until they got shot. He sighed and reached for the phone, pressing the number he dreaded.

It's Frank, We need to meet....... ASAP. We may have been compromised.

He hung up and leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He liked Holly and he hoped she would never know that Jake, the love of her life, did not have to die.

Chapter 5 - FAMILY

Sixteen-year-old Jonathan was seated next to Holly at the dinner table, wolfing down his chicken. She looked amused as she gazed at her tall, skinny college kid with a shock of red hair. He was granted early admission to NYU. His parents let him live in the dorm with the older kids even though they worried about him.

What's the hurry, Jonathan, you have a date? said Holly smiling.

No, I just want to get to the President’s PAC.... he said. Tara jumped up and shook her finger at him.

No you're not young man, it's Rosh Hashanah and you shouldn't be working, especially for someone who doesn't support Israel.

His Dad grinned. Well, Holly, he does like this girl named Ann at the office. I've seen her, real cute.

Jonathan looked embarrassed and exasperated, Technically, the holiday is over. It's after sundown. You know there are a lot of Jewish kids volunteering for the President. He does support Israel, just not its current right-wing government.

Everyone at the table started grumbling and Holly put her hand up. No politics on the holiday. I think your mother is right, Jonathan, you should be home with us--especially with me since I haven't seen you in months.

OK, but just for you, Jonathan blushed and put his head on Holly's shoulder. She kissed him on the forehead and everyone clapped.

Chapter 6 - THE PAST IS PROLOGUE

David Lewis, the President's campaign manager, was a secular Jew. In his mid-forties, he never lost that rumpled look of a campaign manager with a belly. He hadn't been in Temple for years and didn't believe in God. His religion was politics. So he was at his desk on this holy day. He had called his mother, of course, to wish her a Happy New Year. He knew he was a disappointment to her. He had been a model Hebrew school student and impressed everyone when he read the Torah on his Bar Mitzvah.

Frank's phone call had ruined his day. He ran his hand through his thinning hair and leaned back in his chair. Mentioning the Helmand Province mission, that happened over a year ago, would be dangerous to his alter ego, the President. The SEALS were betrayed. He had credible intel that told him it was a former prisoner from Guantanamo Bay. Like regular criminals, terrorists very often revert to their old habits when on the outside. In this case, three SEALS died and seven were wounded.

He sighed as he rose from his chair. He