Free Disappearance by Niv Kaplan Page B

inside, on the phone, for at least seven minutes before he came back out.  His first thought as he realized she was not in the car was that she had gone to the restrooms in the back of the station.  He waited as Raffi serviced the car and signed the credit slip then went to check the restrooms. Karen was not there.
    With Raffi's help, they searched everywhere - inside and around the station covering all possible routes where it would be reasonable for her to go.  They stopped people and cars passing by and Mikki had even reached a shopping strip two kilometers down the road with no results.  The gas station was located at a major intersection just north of town. It merged the road from Metula and the Lebanese border with the road Mikki and Karen had taken coming down from the Golan Heights. It was normally an extremely busy intersection, but on Saturday evenings it was practically deserted.
    No one saw or heard a thing.
    Then it took Mikki an excruciating several minutes of pleas and threats to finally convince the telephone operator of the dire situation.  She thought it was another prank.  When she finally put them through to the police switchboard who alerted the units, five hours had gone by.
    There was nothing more.   Raffi couldn't add anything of consequence and Gadot surmised they had nothing of consequence to latch on to.  He reported the sequence of events to the skeleton command group that had formed which included Kiryat Shmona's police chief and the Northern border military commander.  Road blocks were ordered up to a fifty mile radius.  Civilian and military vehicles were to be stopped and questioned.    All Arab vehicles were to be searched thoroughly.  Military and police search crews began to scan the area.  Air Force helicopters and anti-terrorist military units were called in.  Television and radio crews began to appear.
    The scene was turning chaotic.
    By 2:00 AM they had the area combed.  Nothing was found. At sunrise search crews were at it again.   Helicopters and military Jeeps traversed the entire Hula Valley and Golan Heights.  Specialists with dogs and detectors inspected every inch of the northern border security fence.   Every military unit positioned at the Northern border was alerted. Volunteers from nearby settlements searched  the  area around the town.
    The search carried on into the following night with every angle being considered.  By the end of the second day they found nothing that could support any assumption.   The girl had vanished leaving no clues.
    -------
    The Volvo was found the following day.
    Captain  Gadot,  getting  ready  to  leave  his  post  at  the field command  for  a  few  hours,  was  called  to  the  phone.  Exhausted and ready for some rest, having just completed a demanding two-and-a-half day investigation, he irritably turned and headed back to the communication hut.
    A short man, five feet eight inches, Gadot was in his late thirties, a bit on the plump side, constantly battling his weight.  His red hair was cut short and his blue eyes were permanently hidden behind large, dark Ray Bans.   Compensating for his height deficiency with a relentless will and perpetual dedication, he was well respected on the force, even feared for his witty tongue and shrewd mind.  He was resourceful and very demanding with no patience for the inept and with a reputation for bringing quick results.
    The disappearance of the young American tourist was proving no ordinary case and Gadot suspected he would not be able to show quick results in support of his reputation.  Two and a half days of intense investigation proved fruitless.  He had nothing but dead ends. 
    Frustrated at his own incompetency, he felt he needed a break.  He also needed a shower.
    The car, he was informed, was found at the airport.  A parking attendant reported it not  being  moved  from  a  restricted parking spot in three days. No keys were found so they