Supposedly the target had been CID headquarters, brimming with intelligence and weapons and possible hostages, but the operation had been called off, most likely because of the weather. The government station reported that several power facilities had been attacked. Perforce, the Haganah denied any involvement. Though he knew the substation would be under surveillance, Brand wanted to drive out to Ge’ula with a pair of field glasses and see the damage for himself, as if to prove they’d actually done it. The closest he came was taking a fare to the old-age home, glimpsing the tower—intact, as were the wires—as he passed the bare fields of the orphanage. In retrospect, the mission seemed both heroic and foolhardy, but mainly disorganized. Brand was no soldier, yet again and again over the following days, as he tooled around town, telling stories of King Herod and the City of David, he pictured himself and Asher bumping along the stony road beside the barns in the dark, recalling the night not with honest dread but pride and a belated excitement.
