Free The Great Deception by davidberko Page A

greater the risk
    becomes."
    Alexander took a long drag on his red
mug.
    "We're not leaving without what we came
for." "But based on our landsat images," Alfred quickly rebuttled,
"unless we expunge the
    enemy in the sky, there will be no retreat.
Our exit...cut off."
    The chief of staff now eagerly gave his
input on the matter. "Director Demsky is right. We have to cut our
losses and get outta there before it's too late."
    "Thanks Leonard, I'll take that into
consideration." Alexander looked to his right where the VP sat.
"Edmond?"
    "The window is closing, quickly. I concur
with everything that's been said up until this point."
    The president's lean face hardened.
"Alright, what's the suggested course of action?"
    All eyes returned to the battle management
system for answers.
    Meanwhile Minister of Defense Gene Barker
waited for an order.

    Ahmed Negler who had silently analyzed the
odds calculated there would be a need for an escort of at least
thirty fighters. The Viper teams that had been sent in to retrieve
data and hardware would have to take with them all they could carry
and high-tail-it out of there. The president's national security
advisor calmly shared his thoughts.

    Alexander responded to Negler ’ s opinion. "You mean we should take what we can
get
    and ditch?" "Yes." "Alright."
    After the discussion had conclusively gone
around the table the president punched the button on the
teleconference system to connect with Agent Jennings.

    --

    Tel Aviv, Israel

    A hundred students packed into a room
designed to meet a capacity of seventy-five. In some cases, peers
had to share a desk. The economics class made do with what they
had. And therein lied a built-in lesson for students on
frugality.

    "Based on last night's reading," the less
than enthusiastic teacher droned on in a monotone, "who can tell me
what hedge funds are?"
    No eager hands shot up to answer him.
    "Bonus points to anyone who knows why our
economy really tanked when the U.S.
    market became unstable."

    Why am I here? I could care less
about economics.
    "Markov?" The screechy voice could have
broken glass.
    On the bright side the girls aren't half bad
here.
    T he bespectacled little man with a
head too big for the rest of his body raised his voice again.
"Markov!"
    The girl with the pigtails can't stop
looking at me.
    Azriel told the truth, more or less. The
girl he fancied along with the rest of the class all stared at Mr.
Clueless.

    It wasn't too out of the ordinary for the
teacher to pick on transfer students. Everyone watched the
economics teacher hustle over to Azriel's desk with a quickness and
deliberateness they were unaccustomed to. It produced an awe in the
captive audience that unhinged jaws and made eyes pop.
    The boy still paid no attention to his
surroundings. His dull number two drew figures and shapes on a
sheet of college ruled notebook paper. It was his first day in
class for crying out loud. No way would the teacher expect him to
know anything, much less expect an answer to a subject like hedge
funds. But that's exactly what was transpiring.

    "When I call your name young man, I expect
you to acknowledge me. You didn't even give me the courtesy of
raising that lovely head of yours from your work of art." Azriel
realized a little too late just how tuned out he had been. Yikes. This could be bad. "Would you care to share with the class
what you've been working on this whole time, da Vinci?"
    Azriel's seat mate slipped him a piece of
paper that read, "Tell him what hedge funds are."
    Amazingly enough this little correspondence
went unnoticed by the teacher: an uncharacteristic oversight.

    "A hedge fund is a collective investment
scheme of pooled assets from several investors in the interest of
benefiting from asset diversification and economics of scale,"
Azriel said with authority. He sounded more like a walking-talking
encyclopedia than the kid who appeared like he didn't belong in the
class a moment before.
    The contrast stunned