The Masada Faktor (10 page)

“Saul?” Despite my surprise, I noticed that he looked better than I had imagined, in fact he was in very good shape, wearing cargo shorts and a t-shirt, actually handsome with salt and pepper hair, clean shaven, and intense blue eyes. “What the hell are you doing here?” I wanted him to know how upset and frightened I was.

“Calm down,” he tried to soothe me, “I was able to get free and thought I’d catch up to you. It’s so nice to finally meet you!” He was laughing and that made me even madder.

He pulled out a silver flask. “Have a swig of Jack Daniels.”

I was flabbergasted. He had told me long ago he was clean and sober. Obviously, I was in for some surprises with this guy. “Okay,” I said, and grabbed the flask taking a healthy pull as I noticed it was engraved with a large
aleph
, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

“My father gave me this flask before he died.” Saul took a long drink.

“What was your father’s name?” I took the flask again.

Almost in a mocking tone, Saul replied, “His name was Hershel.”

The name Hershel was quite familiar to me but could it be the same Hershel in Mother’s mystery? Before I had a chance to process the information properly, Saul planted a close mouthed kiss on my lips.

“Look Saul, if you are a real man, then give me some tongue.” And then we were on the ground and I was on top. I was wearing a summer dress and I reached up and pulled my panties to the side.

I was the aggressor, in charge, and at that point I wanted his cock inside me. I would think about his father later. “Hurry up Saul, before anyone comes in here.” I was breathing a bit heavily at this point.

He unzipped his cargo shorts and what popped out was rigid and of a decent size. He started to talk and I said, “Just shut up.” By that time I was plenty wet and grabbed his prick and guided it in. I started riding him like a bull. The rhythm began and the world was tilting. Then everything went black.

I awoke to see a circle of people gathered around me asking me if I was all right. Saul was gone but my dress was back down where it belonged.

I pondered why Saul had disappeared and then the realization that Saul was the son of Hershel the Kapo hit me. He was part of the Nazi plan. He had pursued me online for those many years for this reason only. He had laid in wait for me. Baiting me. Befriending me.

I planned to get even with him. He had not only betrayed me, he was betraying the entire Jewish world. I swore revenge right then and there. Still, I had fucked him. Did I feel guilty? No. But I would find him and make him pay, one way or another. At least now I had more proof that there was truth to this matter.

I needed to leave Masada. I had a slip of paper in my backpack with the number of a personal tour guide who had advertised himself on Craigslist as an English speaker. I called him to see if he could pick me up. He was available.

His name was Arthur Goldin and he had an American accent. He was there in forty minutes and because the sun was setting and
Shabbat
would soon be upon us, he firmly told me that he would take me to his home in Jerusalem. “My wife Dalia will feed you and you will spend the Sabbath with us. There is plenty of room.”

That is how it works in Israel, complete strangers adopt you out of the blue. You have to simply accept that. I didn’t object, just thanked him for his kindness. I had a good feeling about this man. It felt right. I left my fate, at least for the next few days, in his hands. Yes, I had a feeling that Arthur Goldin would be of help to me.

Feeling refreshed after a beautiful weekend with Arthur and Dalia Goldin I took a direct bus from the Jerusalem Central Station to Tel Aviv’s Alozorov Station and then the #5 bus back to Dizengoff Square. I was eager to return to some privacy where I planned on tacking up the information I had gathered on one wall. I needed to see everything in front of me, especially the map of Masada.

I made a few quick stops, first at the Bug Electronic Shop at Dizengoff Center to buy a new computer and printer, then to the health food store to get some food. Luckily, I had a ‘no foreign transaction fee’ credit card from the United States with a high limit.

I thought, Screw it, I can’t work without the proper tools. I had to download the Masada photos to a computer and seriously pour over them to figure out if there were really any clues.

I also went to a stationary store and got thumbtacks and colored map pins, scotch tape, colored markers, and some other things I might need. I tacked the map of Masada on the wall and then marked the five spots for the clues with red map pins.

The question of why Absalom was giving me any clues at all had me wondering who that person was. I was puzzled by this part of the mystery. If he was part of the conspiracy then why was he attempting to assist me by telling me there were clues? And if he wasn’t, how was he involved?

On index cards I wrote the names of the five locations and started jotting down what had happened at each and what I had noticed. I put up my street maps of Tel Aviv and Haifa.

I was happy to see that Millie wasn’t home. I made a mental note to remember to lock my room when I wasn’t home.

Trying not to succumb to paranoia I told myself, Better to be safe than sorry. It took me some time to set up my new computer and printer and I needed to sleep. I wasn’t sure how deep Millie was caught up in the conspiracy but it seemed to make sense that she had something to do with it.

Sex with Saul had refreshed my memory of some information from his old emails to me in the beginning of our friendship. I would go back into Saul’s emails and reread them and his tweets to me to try to figure out what he was up to. I contemplated why he disappeared at Masada. I didn’t think he was on to me about knowing that his father was Hershel the Kapo.

It took a long time to reread all of Saul’s emails. We had corresponded for at least five years. Good thing I had kept a file on him in my mail server. I saw that his first contact with me was on Twitter. He had kept after me for quite a while before he sent the first email.

I did a search online to find the old tweets from Saul as I had not saved them. It was funny, that his tweets had started out with flirting but stopped when we began to write as pen pals.

In the beginning Saul spoke a lot about Rabbi Meir Kahane and claimed to have been part of the Jewish Defense League before Kahane was assassinated in 1990 by the first Al Qaeda terrorists.

I thought back to our first telephone conversation. Saul had said he was going to become an Israeli. “It’s about fear and doing it anyway. It’s about chance, and taking it. It’s about life, and going for it. Let’s meet in Israel.”

At that time I hadn’t yet considered becoming Israeli since Mother was still alive, but I liked what Saul had said. We continued to speak on the phone about once a month. Sometimes he would not call, and I would call him.

I found what I was looking for. There was one email that went back almost five years. He had written about his father’s experience in Nazi captivity and that he was employed by the commandant of the slave labor factory. He must have slipped in telling me this, and now also slipped in his sobriety. If he was off the wagon and drinking then conceivably he hadn’t been as careful as he should have been.

I printed the email and reread it many times. I had evidence now, the connection between Hershel and Saul. Hershel had to be the Kapo from Mother’s slave labor factory. Hershel was sent out into the same Death March along with Mother. He followed her throughout post-war Germany to see where she would end up. And now Saul was following me into my own death march. Or so he thought.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

A
bsalom was messaging me again, asking about my trip to Masada. I decided not to discuss it with him. I responded by telling him that my mystery was off limits. He didn’t seem troubled at all by that and continued his outrageous flirting and sexting. I was just as bad. But I wanted to see if I could get him to divulge some information.

Absalom: “How did it go at Masada?”

Natasha: “Let’s talk about that later. I can’t keep my hips still.”

Absalom: “I am going to slide my two fingers into your wet pussy.”

Natasha: “Ready. And I am saving silk scarves to tie you up.”

Absalom: “What is the wildest thing you have ever done sexually?”

Natasha: “You tell first.”

Absalom: “I have had threesomes. Going to ask the guy question. Have you ever had a woman?”

Natasha: “Are you drinking?”

Absalom: “No, I never drink. At all.”

Natasha: “Do you know any Arabs from Haifa?”

Absalom: “No, why do you ask?”

Natasha: “I am curious because when I lived there I met some nice Arab guys.”

Absalom: “I hope you didn’t f**k them.”

Natasha: “No, and please don’t say that kind of stuff to me.”

Absalom: “You are a woman that I want to f**k and I don’t want to think about you with Arabs.

Natasha: “You don’t get to tell me who to be with. I should tie you up and punish you.”

Absalom: “Will you kiss me with your juices all over my face?”

Natasha: “Yeah.”

Absalom: “That’s hot and sexy and animalistic.”

Natasha: “That’s me.”

Absalom: “What are you into besides cleaning up my face after you cum in my mouth?”

Natasha: “You have such a way with words. Who are you, why you are keeping your identity secret? Do you know Saul from America?”

Absalom: “When the time is right you will know.”

Natasha: “This is a one-dimensional relationship. If I find that you are part of a conspiracy or scheme, you will be sorry.”