Free JET - Ops Files by Russell Blake

gaze before switching on a small voice recorder and placing it on the side table.
    “Maya Weiss, is that right?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “I’m Lieutenant Wasserman. I’m going to ask you some questions, and I need you to answer them truthfully and completely. Do you understand?”
    “Of course, sir.”
    “Very well. Let’s start with some easy ones. What’s your name and rank?”
    “I’m a Turai – a private.”
    “How old are you?”
    “Nineteen.”
    He studied a folder he’d withdrawn from his briefcase. “I see you’ve had your share of brushes with the law. Spent…two years in juvenile detention and then an orphanage before the IDF?”
    “Yes, sir.” She saw no reason to comment on the charges that had placed her there. He obviously had all the details in his hands.
    “Why don’t you take me through what you were doing off base at a mosque in the West Bank? Start at the beginning. Leave nothing out. I might interrupt you with questions here and there, but it’s strictly to get a better understanding or to clarify some point.”
    “Yes, sir.” Her head felt woozy, but a sudden thought occurred to her. “Why am I cuffed to the bed?”
    The door swung open, and a short, trim, uniformed man with a pencil-thin mustache entered, a look on his face like he’d spent the morning sucking on lemons.
    “Yes, Lieutenant,” he said. “Why don’t you tell the prisoner why she’s cuffed?” he suggested, his tone sharp. “Or did that slip your mind when you came in to question her before she’d had a chance to confer with her legal counsel?”
    Lieutenant Wasserman looked annoyed. He reached out and retrieved his recorder.
    “Avi, always a pleasure.”
    Avi looked at Maya. “Did you say anything?”
    “Just name and rank.”
    Wasserman shrugged. “And age. We beat that out of her, too.”
    Avi scowled and spoke to Maya, ignoring Wasserman. “You’re in custody. You’ve been charged with serious crimes, and this man is an interrogator. He works for the prosecution. Do not say another word to him. To anybody. From now on you speak only to me. I’m your legal counsel. Lieutenant Avi Fleisher.”
    Maya’s eyes narrowed as Wasserman stood and glowered at them both. “You win this round, Avi, but she’s got to talk to us sooner or later. You know that as well as I.”
    “Yes, but I’m a stickler for those boring little details like protecting my client’s rights. Or even alerting her that she has them. I presume you failed to mention to her that she was in custody?”
    “I was just getting to that.”
    “Sure you were. Well, it’s been fun, but you have no legitimate business here. And you can bet I’ll be filing a complaint.”
    “File away. I just stopped in to see how she was doing.”
    “Uh-huh. Is there anything else, Lieutenant?”
    Wasserman collected his briefcase and slipped the file and recorder into it before making his way to the door. He glared at Maya, any semblance of friendliness gone. “I’ll be seeing you both very soon.”
    “Don’t let it hit you on the way out,” Avi said.
    When Wasserman left, Avi took the seat he’d vacated and set his backpack on the floor. He retrieved his own file and opened it, flipped through the three pages, and then closed it.
    “You’re being charged with going AWOL, eight counts related to being at the mosque, and a treason charge. This is as serious as it gets, Maya. I can call you Maya, right?”
    Maya nodded. “That’s crazy. I tried to tell Kevod what I was doing there, but he’s got it in for me. He wouldn’t listen. And then I blacked out.”
    “Well, whether or not it’s crazy is up to the court. My job is to defend you. To do that I need to understand the truth. Not your spin. The whole truth, warts and all. Everything.”
    She nodded again. “It all started with my friend Sarah. She was killed in the attack on the checkpoint three weeks ago. Along with two others.”
    “Go on.”
    She described her plan and how she’d