Exodus - Leon Uris [309]
“Of course, darling,” she said.
“Jordana ... Jordana ... I love you.”
“Shalom, David. Go quickly ... please.”
She turned her face to the wall and felt his kiss on her cheek and then she heard the door closing.
“David ... David,” she whispered. “Please come back to me.”
Avidan drove with Major Ben Ami to the flat that Ben Zion, the chief of operations, kept near headquarters. General Ben Zion, a man of thirty-one, was also a Jerusalemite. His aide, Major Alterman, was present when they arrived.
They exchanged greetings and condolences for the death of David’s brother at Nirim.
“Avidan tells us you have something of interest,” Alterman said.
“Yes,” David answered slowly. “Ever since the partition vote, the ‘lament of the exiles’ has been running through my mind, night and day, ‘If I forget thee, a Jerusalem.’ ”
Ben Zion nodded. He shared David’s feeling for Jerusalem. His wife, his children, and his parents were there.
David continued. “We control the road fairly well up to Latrun. Beyond Latrun, in the Bab el Wad, the Palmach had cleared most of the heights.”
“We all know that Latrun is our greatest stumbling block,” Alterman said crisply.
“Hear him out,” Ben Zion snapped.
“I have been thinking ... I know that area around Latrun like my mother’s smile. I have been going over the ground in my mind, inch by inch, for nearly six months. I am absolutely certain Latrun can be bypassed.”
There was a stunned silence for a moment.
“Just what do you mean?” Ben Zion asked.
“If you draw an arc around Latrun from road to road, it is sixteen kilometers.”
“But this sixteen kilometers is merely a line on the map. There is no road. Those hills are wild and impassable.”
“There is a road,” David said.
“David—what on earth are you talking about?” Avidan demanded.
“Over part of the way there is an ancient Roman road. It is two thousand years old and it is completely covered by brush and slide and washout, but it is there. The bed runs through the wadis for about eight kilometers. I know as surely as I stand here that I can follow the wadis for the balance of the distance.”
David walked to the wall map and drew a semicircle around Latrun, linking the roads.
Avidan and Ben Zion stared for several moments. Alterman looked cynical. Avidan, who had already heard some of the plans from Ari Ben Canaan, was critical.
“David,” Avidan said coldly, “say you are able to find this alleged Roman road and suppose you are able to find a goat path through the wadis—what then? You are still a long, long way from relieving the siege of Jerusalem.”
“What I propose,” David said without hesitation, “is that we build another road atop the Roman road and eliminate the need for capturing Latrun by going around it.”
“Come now, David,” Ben Zion said. “According to the route you have drawn on the map we will have to build this road right under the noses of the Arab Legion at Latrun.”
“Exactly,” David said. “We don’t need much more than a trail. Just enough to accommodate the width of a single truck. Joshua made the sun stand still at Latrun. Perhaps we can make the nights stand still. If one task force builds from the Jerusalem end and another from Tel Aviv and we work quietly by night, I know we can complete the bypass in a month. As for the Arab Legion, you know damned well that Glubb won’t bring them out of Latrun to fight. He is keeping them where they are safe from open battle.”
“We aren’t so sure of that,” Alterman said. “He may fight for the road.”
“If Glubb wasn’t afraid of committing the Legion to battle, then why hasn’t he attacked from the Triangle and tried to cut Israel in half?”
It was a question no one could answer. It could only be assumed that David was right. The opinion of the staff was that Glubb was overextended and had no intention of fighting beyond the areas of Jerusalem, the corridor, and Latrun. Besides, the Israelis would welcome the chance to meet the Legion in the field.
Ben Zion and Avidan sat quietly and mulled over David’s proposal.
“What do you want?” Ben Zion said at last.