“Zoe did what civilized people do when they freak out: she drank tea. She had walked from her little bungalow to Coffee & Tea. It was always filled with the well-educated, the complicated, the people who read books with captivating titles. A perfect place to ignore and be ignored. She found the anonymity delicious.” ReadingSolitudeTeaSpyAnonymityCyberBenzehabeUnassimilatedBen Zehabe Author:Michael Benzehabe
“Dean Rolfe squirmed, coughed, and looked everywhere except in Frank’s eyes. To do what was fraught with legal ramifications. These were the words he had carefully avoided, the hidden croutons in his carefully prepared word salad. “To give you the reach to keep tabs on certain people, no matter where they go. You know . . . a surveillance system.” ChinaSpySurveillanceCyber SecurityBenzehabeUnassimilatedWord Salad Author:Michael Benzehabe
“Li, a willowy manboy with a shock of black hair atop a mouthful of bad teeth was the brother-in-law he had introduced to industrial espionage several years back. Rong often regretted that.” RegretChinaSpyEspionageCyber SecurityBenzehabeUnassimilatedBen Zehabe Author:Michael Benzehabe
“All the way, Zoe kept her chin up and pretended she wasn’t mortified, but his sour expression stayed with her. She wasn’t good at making American friends. She changed her language, conduct, and clothing, but it didn’t seem to matter. Whether she wore modest Middle-Eastern clothing or cute Western fashions, everyone knew she didn’t belong.” AmericaShameSpyLonerPretendOutsiderZoeImmigrantBenzehabeUnassimilatedWestern FashionMortified Author:Michael Benzehabe
“Civil order mattered. Zoe didn’t know why Farah continued to wear the headscarf, but most Middle-Eastern women wore modest clothing to anchor themselves to a moral order, in an upside-down world. Zoe wore the chador as a protective shell, to erase herself, to avoid thinking, to envelop herself in the complete custody of her adopted Muslim sisters. In their care she would come out healed, able to process the bigotry that caused the murder of her Jewish parents. Then, when she was whole again, she would reclaim her place in the world. Though others couldn’t see it, behind the nameless, shapeless, Middle-Eastern garb, she was healing. The chador cocooned and nurtured her. Dour exteriors meant blossoming interiors . . . to Zoe. Judaism centered her, but Islam shielded her. Both served their purpose . . . for now.” IslamMiddle EastJudaismSpyExteriorBenzehabeInteriorUnassimilatedMossadCyber WarChador Author:Michael Benzehabe
“Pleading for forgiveness was always on the tip of her tongue. She had tried doing a good thing, but because of one thoughtless act, his two beautiful daughters were brutally raped, and running to the other side of the world hadn’t helped. Because of her, two innocent ADP employees were dead. She was older but not a shekel wiser, still opening the wrong doors.” MistakesSistersSpyRapeRegretsCyberZoeBenzehabeUnassimilatedWrong DoorsShekel Author:Michael Benzehabe