"Who do you trust?" "How do you know?" "Stop looking for him." "Let the police do it." "By how they appear?" "Or what they say?" "What they do?" "The seeds of our educational investment programme are finally beginning to flourish, whilst our dear friend Shlomo Zahary is about to roll out phase one of our telecommunications network which will link it all together." "We all have secrets." "1.5 million dollars, channelled through Ephra Stein's education charity." "To secure the release of an Israeli soldier." "But mostly we tell lies." "We cannot be compromised." "Don't be so naive." "We hide our secrets from each other..." " Is Kasim mine?" " No." "It's hers." "It's Nessa's." "From ourselves." "So, when you think about it like that..." "God may forgive you for what you've done." "But Israel won't." "If you kill the child, they kill me." "But if you have it, they're going to let you go home." "...it's a wonder we trust anyone at all." "Where will I have it?" "Here." "Your mother died in childbirth." "You won't." "I promise." "What if I don't?" "It's not...it's..." "It's what it means." "You know, I go home and I tell the world and every single decision I ever make will be judged against it." "Do I hate them?" "Do I love them?" "Do I want revenge?" "Am I secretly in their thrall?" "Every single thing I do, that's what people will wonder." "I can give birth to a child." "That's not me." "That's just biology." "What would I say or do, or think?" "What I want this company to achieve that's me." "So, I can..." "I can have this baby and I might live." "But whatever happens, I'm gonna lose my life." "Give it to me." "Give it to me." "I owe it to you." "And...when we leave let it always have been mine." "Give it to me." "Modeh ani lefanecha." "Don't be afraid." "I'm safe." "I can't do this." "If it's the price for a nation." "What the fuck's going on here?" "Sorry, Shlomo, but with Nessa away travelling..." "Nessa?" "What's she got to do with it?" "You're the one makes the decisions round here." "Maybe you could get someone else to pick it up." "Someone else?" "I have over half a million drums of backbone cabling sitting in my factories." "There's no-one else to pick it up." "There's no-one else wants to do this." "I'm about to dig up half of the fucking West Bank here." "What the fuck's the...." "Well, then, take it!" "Take it all!" "Just take it." "What is it, boy?" "What is it you're not telling me?" "It's over, Shlomo." "Fuck you, "this is over"." "We've only just begun." " Hey, come here, come here, come here." "Give old Shlabala a hug." "Come here." "Ah!" "Lay the cabling." " Why?" " Just do it." "Will it get her back?" "Will it get her back?" "Lay the cable." "And when they're down, there's something else we want you to do." "Move." "What are you doing out here?" "We're laying the cabling." "It's what Nessa would want." " Where is she, Ephra?" " It's all good." "Modeh ani lefanecha melech chai vekayam shehechezarta bi nishmati b'chemla, raba emunatecha." "OK, another one's coming." "It's OK." " Now push." "Push." " Push, Nessa, push!" " Push!" " Come here!" "Come here!" "Oh, baby!" "Oh, yeah." " Let's see you." "Let's see you." " Let's see you." "There you are." " He sneezed." "It's so slow, isn't it?" "What is?" "Time." "I think I can help speed it up." "There's someone I can ask owes me a further favour." " Who?" " But if it works, if it gets your sister out, there are things you have to do." "Anything." "You'll have to step down as head of the company." "You think I care about that?" "I'd get rid of the lot." " Everything." " No, I don't want you to do that." "Then you'll have to get rid of any - all - evidence of what's happened." "In here." "And in here." "And then you have to put Nessa in your place." "Unaware and uncompromised." "Can you do that?" "Easily." "Oh, and there's one last thing." "You have to tell me why the Israelis have allowed you to carry on laying that cable." "You said you'd do anything to get your sister out." "So, if I do, that's what you'll tell me." "We applaud your altruism, Daniel." "Given recent events, we expected you to shut the Stein Group down." " It's a private company." " Which needs your cooperation." "In every negotiation, there's always give as well as take." "Well, you're certainly giving the PLO an awful lot with these cables." " Not us." " Ah, course." "The Stein Group." "Though I do wonder just how long that's going to continue." "It's not up to us to decide." "Have you seen Ephra Stein recently?" "If it carries on, pretty soon that company is going to collapse, and I cannot think that's what you want." "Whatever it is you want it for." "However, there is an alternative." "With all these bombs Hamas keep throwing into your country," "I suspect your forces are about to re-enter Gaza." "If they can't settle it for themselves, we'll do it for them." "That's an unfortunate reality." "But it does offer one tiny, little silver lining." "Nessa Stein." "Are you trying to play us, Julia?" "Daniel." "As her brother's dramatic weight-loss programme has clearly taught me, when it comes to the Middle East, you never, ever try to play the Israelis." " Atika?" " Nessa Stein?" " Yes." "Out!" "Harness. 20 seconds." "You also." " Harness. 15 seconds." " What's that?" " Baby." " What baby?" " Mine!" "Ten seconds!" " Give him to me." "Give me the baby!" "Go!" "Go now!" "Who told you?" "Ephra, who told you?" "What, that his father's a Palestinian terrorist and his mother's you?" "Atika?" "Why did she tell you?" "I'm a little loose with my...affections." " How?" "Well, what do you expect me to say to that?" "But in your own house or...?" "The easy bit's because I'm a bastard, but the more difficult bit I got from my therapist." " You're seeing a therapist?" " Yeah." "Why?" "Why are you seeing a therapist?" "I don't know, Nessa." "Maybe it's cos I'm fucking my housekeeper." " And what did he say?" " She." "Well, I've gone way beyond guilt, but...actually, where I've ended up," "I don't think you're gonna like that either." "It, um it makes me feel better." " Cheating on your wife?" " Having a secret." "One that I can call my own." " What if Atika tells Rachel?" " No, she won't." "She can't." "Secrets are weird." "People think you share them." "But you don't." "They have two sides." "Either you own them or they own you." "And this secret, it owns her." " Why?" " Because she has so much more to lose." "Think about it." "So, the truth of it is, whatever I ask her to do, she has to do it, because that's the way our secret works." "So, what about yours?" "Nessa." "Kasim's kidnappers." "Have they made contact with you?" "What do they want?" "I don't know." "Why not?" "I keep thinking about something something they said." "What do they know?" "That they know everything." "Well, what's everything?" "How did you think you were gonna keep that one?" "Ephra, how are we going to keep any of this, if I didn't?" "Oh, boy, we're in trouble." "So, when they tell you what they want, what are you gonna do?" "You're going to do exactly what they say, that's what." " Not until I know." " No, no, we know already." "And believe me, speaking as someone who really knows about this shit, you don't have the choice, not any more." " We don't know that." " Yes, we do." "Because that's the side you're on, Nessa." "You don't own this secret." "It owns you." " It's empty." " I know." "Now go to look around the water." "My father bought this for my mother so she'd have somewhere to escape to." "I think Rachel feels the same." "And you?" "It's not for me to choose." "Where would you go if you could?" "I don't know." "It doesn't exist, not yet." "So, now you're the wandering Arab who'll do anything she has to, just to survive?" "You feel betrayed." "Are you surprised?" "No." "You know everything about me." " I couldn't tell you." " Yes, you could." "It wasn't mine to say." "Was it Ephra and his fucking secrets?" "He's so full of shit." "I didn't think you'd ever have to know." "Well, just don't say you didn't have a choice." "I didn't, Nessa." "You did." "You could have chosen me." "I couldn't." "What happened between us, no-one else can ever understand." " That's what we have." " And that's what you're feeling." "I wouldn't have survived without you!" " We did it together." "But you don't love the rock that saves you from the sea." " I do." " No." "Don't tell me how I am." "Don't." " No." " I know how I am." "I know." "I've known from the first moment I saw you at that fucking checkpoint." "I know how I am." "Then I'm telling you how you must be." " For Kasim." " You love him?" "For your son." " You're right." "I am a wandering Arab." "It's what the world has made me." "I'm sorry." "Judah, are you gonna help me out here?" "As I remember, if I were you, I'd consider moving your knight from C3 to D5." "The child of one of your most celebrated patriots gets kidnapped in Gaza seven years ago." "For 11 months, stalemate." "Then in goes your Unit 13, and, bang, she and her translator are out in a trice." "Now, I would have thought that was cause for huge national celebration, but you're telling me that until I just told you, you'd never even heard of it?" "No, I'm not saying that." "I'm saying, even now, after you told me I still haven't heard of it." "Then I think you should listen." "You know, apparently, there are as many possibilities in chess as there are atoms in the universe." "But I think they must have excluded the Middle East." " Is your secret safe?" " Yes, it is." "Someone will come to you." "Jalal El-Amin." "To what do I owe this honour?" "Your third-phase cabling contract into the West Bank." "We're now in a position to bid for this." "A very good position." "I'll look into it." "Where is Mr Bloom?" "I don't know." "He is no longer in your employ?" "No." "Is he connectable?" "I don't believe he is, no." "This is a shame." "I..." "I have something else to show you." "Three months ago, Mr Bloom, he is receiving a call from a strange number." " Whose?" " Wait, please." "This is a story with an order." "After this call, Mr Bloom, he is going somewhere." "Here." "Ten minutes later, we are seeing... this." "Monica Chatwin." "So, two coffees, one savoury, and 19 minutes later, she is leaving." "Bye-bye, pecan pie." "Four minutes after, he is the same." "But this time, you see what he is carrying?" "This is the report Mr Bloom gave to you saying Shlomo Zahary has links with Hezbollah." "Because of this, you did not give him your contract." "And this is the one Zahary gave to you to be proving his innocence." "We are being carefully analysing both." "Very good, each, excepting one tiny error on this one." "There is a date on this financial transfer here, which is being impossible." "This date is a Lebanese banking holiday." "This day, the banks shutting." "This transfer was not happening." "This report is being a liar." "This report is being truthfulness." "Mr Bloom, I think, is making the big mistake." "And do you think that's what it is or...do you think he's complicit in some way?" "This is for him to say and for you to feel." "But Shlomo's innocent." "This I can be saying." "I could have given him the contract." "This you can be saying also." "You were right." "Does that mean I get the contract?" "It means you get my apology." "But not the contract." "You know how much my company's worth?" "Three billion dollars." "I provide billing, directory services, credit checks for 53 of the world's leading telephone companies." "In America, in the UK, Europe, Hotzenplotz." "I suck it all from all over the world." "They all come to me." "And how much is... your contract worth?" "About 75 million." "Gross." "So, you might as well pay me in loose change." "But do you know why I wanna do it?" "Because I love you." "And I love what you're trying to do." "It's that simple." "Don't make it any harder." " Grandpa!" " Grandpa!" "The monster is coming back!" " You want to help me?" " I do." "So, what is this?" "And this?" "And this?" "That's what you call help?" "Why did Nathaniel listen to you?" "Because it's true." "I do want to help." "You shouldn't be working with Shlomo Zahary." "Why?" "Because he will compromise you." "He doesn't have a Hezbollah connection." " No, he doesn't." " You lied." " Yes, I did." " Why?" "Because what he's actually done is far, far worse." "You have to think very carefully now about what I'm about to tell you, because if you decide to tell everyone else what I'm about to say, there won't be a phase three, there won't be anything." "Cos if the world finds out what Shlomo Zahary has done you'll be ruined." "I need to speak to Aron Yavin." "Aron Yavin." "Hold, please, for Nessa Stein." "You're losing weight." "It's the worry." "I thought I was the one supposed to be sniffing round Nessa Stein." "You are." "So, how come she's got in front of the trail?" "Like the gorgeous Americans, she believes that Nessa Stein deserves our unconditional support." "She's worried that what you are doing may undermine that." "So, you're running two dogs after the same ball." "Exactly." "What does she want Nessa Stein to achieve?" "What the noble Baroness has always said she wanted - equality of opportunity between Palestine and Israel." "And Chatwin thinks laying a few cables is going to do that?" "I agree." "There must be something more to it than that." "Such as?" "I don't know, Hugh." "The ball is still out there." "I'm just waiting to see which one of you brings it back." "The young pup..." "Or the old dog." "Try not to piss it all up against the wall." "Thank you for flying in so promptly and thank you for your discretion." "What's so important, it can't be said on the phone?" "These are permissions for you to enter every telephone exchange on the Israeli/West Bank border, although I suggest you focus on the main exchange." "Why those?" "We own the cables." "Shlomo Zahary owns the buildings." "Then forgive me, but why not just ask him?" "We don't want to raise suspicions." "For routine maintenance?" "What I want you to do is not routine." "Samir Altif." "The Stein Foundation is paying my wages." "That's why I came here, to get away from this sort of bullshit." "And how do you think Nessa Stein is going to react when she finds out that even here, even here, we are covered in it?" "Oh, I wish he would have spoken to me first." "Or you." "He went straight in on the press." "He didn't give us a chance." "So, is he right?" "There does appear to have been a mistake." "From what I'm hearing, that's all it is." "If we take a step back, it's just two kids and an administrative error." "That's all it is." "It's not so unusual." "Except one's an Israeli and the other's an Arab." "Exactly." "That's what lit it up." "It doesn't mean it's really the cause." " So, are there other examples?" " I don't know." "Not yet." "But we've got to recognise that thousands of these exams are taken every year." "There are bound to be a few...discrepancies, you know." "It's a mathematical certainty." "He does appear to have jumped the gun." " Why would he do that?" " He's been struggling with his job." "His graduates' grades have been consistently low." "So, you think he's looking for an excuse?" "Yes, it's possible." "Although he could also be telling the truth, and that's why his department's struggling." "Yes, but...but we don't know." "OK, for the moment, we make no public comment." "None, Ephra." "Clear?" "Why do you feel you even have to say that?" "OK." "Frances, I want you to go over there and talk to him." "Find out why he went straight to the press." "Yes, find out why he didn't come to us." "What I discovered, it seems that the, er..." "Kidma Academy, funded by the Stein Foundation, is running a discriminatory selection process against Israeli Arabs and in favour..." " ...of Israeli military veterans." "And where's your evidence?" "Education is a meritocracy by function." "As soon as you use it as a tool for social engineering on race grounds, you're simply creating an apartheid system." "Thank you." "How nice of you to let me in the front door." "Is that some sort of vampire thing?" "Ah, the dark arts." "Did you strike a deal with the Israelis?" " Which one?" " The secret one." "No, we don't carry secrets." "We can't afford them." "Maybe not now, but seven years ago." "What was the price on your sister, to get her out of Gaza?" "Nothing, because she wasn't there." "I know how important it is to get a story straight." "But to save you having to wash down your front door twice, why don't you just tell me whether this "positive prejudice" for military veterans is what it cost you to get her out?" "A, that never happened, and, B, if it had, do you really think that knocking around a few exam marks is all they'd ask for?" " So, what did they ask for?" " They didn't." "I'm just saying if they did, it wouldn't be for that." "You see, I think it's all connected - your sister's kidnapping, the child's kidnapping, your academy." "I even think Samir Meshal's "suicide" is in there somewhere." "You should set the Times crossword." "I hear there's a vacancy coming up." "You know what "clue" is in Ancient Greek?" "It's thread." "Is that educational enough for you?" "No, wait, I'll get a pen." "One thread to pull it all together." "And all I have to do is find it." "Does that include an overnight stay on the Orient Express, Mr Poirot?" "Wow, you're confident." "So, how it must have hurt to have your sister steal your job." "Or was it simply because you weren't up to it in the first place?" "I'll use the door." "But, just to let you know, I can climb the walls." "OK." " So?" " You were right." "We have a problem." "They never come alone." "Thank you." "What now?" "So, you want to know about switchers and nodes and shit like that or do you just want me to keep it simple?" "OK, so, ten years ago, we start with phase one, laying future-proofed fibre-optic telecommunication cabling throughout the West Bank." "It took three years to complete." "Now, any telecommunication in the region, it doesn't matter where it starts from, even if it's a cellphone, everything eventually enters our fibre-optic system." "Now, the critical point of our interest here is that, except into Egypt, all traffic on that system has to cross over from the Palestinian territories into Israel." "Now this is because, historically, the main cable, the Neptune Optical cable, carries all the international traffic underneath the Mediterranean from Israel to Italy, and then into the international grid." "Everything." "It's 95% of the traffic going to Western Europe and to the United States, excluding satellite." "Then, eight years ago, when the Israeli government opened up competition, your company, Z Com, bought up a 30% stake in the Israeli exchange network, including the Last Point main exchange that carries the Palestinian system onto the Neptune cable." "And to think I didn't even graduate from high school." "And it's at this point... that we found this." " What's that?" " You don't know?" "I want to change a plug, I call an electrician." "It's a form of sniffer." "Well, now I know." "What the fuck's a sniffer?" "It's a wiretap, Mr Zahary, a big one." "Capable of listening to international calls that emanate from the West Bank." "Oh, balls." "But we always knew the Israelis might try to do that." "So we've had our cables regularly swept." "Well, so did we." " So, how come no-one looked there?" " I don't know." " Who put it there?" " Not me." "It's seven years old." "And you've been there for eight years." " So?" " Mossad?" "I don't know." " Shin Bet?" " I don't know." "You wanna go through the whole fucking list?" "Because I still won't know." "Do you do this for my father?" "Once in the Irgun..." "I'm not a military man, Nessa." "But you could always smell a deal, couldn't you?" "You always knew how to do that." "I don't know anything." "This is the Middle East, Shlomo." "You've got to know it all." "But I didn't know this!" "It's on your fucking..." "it's on your fucking site!" " But I didn't put it there!" " You asked me to trust you!" "And you should!" "You should!" " Not this time." " For Christ's sakes, Nessa, come on." "Hello?" " Bye-bye." "Open this fucking gate!" "Nessa Stein's leaving her house." "Alone."