The Dreadful Renegade: A Thrilling Espionage Novel (Techno thriller, Mystery & Suspense) (24 page)

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The Iranian intelligence service was alerted by their man at PINSTECH that the two suitcases were removed from the small hangar and taken to the airport. The IRG agent, Mahmoud, tried to trace their destination and succeeded in discovering that one was sent to Cairo and the other one to Los Angeles. He presumed that Cairo was probably a convenient transitional place for moving it further and he guessed that it would be smuggled to Israel. He had consulted with his chief at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and was told that the main interest of Iran was in the blueprints of the advanced designs. No one worried about the fate of Nagib and Alia and as far as the Islamic Republic of Iran was concerned they could become martyrs, national heroes of Sunni infidels. So Mahmoud was now facing a bigger problem – getting a copy of the schematics. When he tried to understand the rationale of this directive, his boss who was not usually inclined to explaining his orders, simply said that within the provisions of the recent agreement between Iran and the P5+1 (US, Russia, UK, France, China and Germany) Iran was prohibited from carrying out nuclear weapon research and therefore acquiring designs of approved advanced weapons represented a real windfall. If Iran ever decided to clandestinely produce, or somehow obtain, fissile material it could take the next step to constructing powerful weapons in a very short time without the need to perform tests or experiments.

Mahmoud asked his boss how he was supposed to get hold of the schematics and was told in no uncertain terms that it was now his problem and he was to take whatever measures he found fit. He would receive any assistance he requested but he was to be held responsible and accountable. He understood that by accountability his dear life was on the line while success would be attributed to his boss. He realized that neither Cairo nor Los Angeles were teeming with supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran so that snatching Nagib, Alia or the blueprints wouldn't be easy.

July 28
th
, Washington, DC

David arrived at Newark airport on a nonstop flight from Tel-Aviv and after rushing through immigration and customs boarded the short flight to Reagan National airport in Washington, DC. Eugene was waiting for him at the Arrivals exit and whisked him into a waiting limousine that was driven by an employee of the NNSA. They entered the office building in which Eugene was stationed and got down to business immediately.

Eugene said "Nagib and Alia had been issued Pakistani passports in the names of Munir and Fatima Abu Jihad and were scheduled to leave Pakistan separately. We managed to find out that Nagib was to fly to Cairo and Alia to Mexico City".

David raised an eyebrow when he heard these destinations and asked Eugene "What do you think the purpose of flying to Cairo and Mexico City could be?"

Eugene said "I am pretty sure that Cairo is just for transition into Israel and Mexico City would probably be a stopover on the way in to the United States". 

David concurred and asked "Is the US intending to do anything about this? Is it possible to get the Mexican government to arrest Alia on some trumped up charges?"

Eugene said "In view of the current relations between the two countries I doubt whether this is feasible".

David asked "Could you get some third party to issue a "contract" on Alia in Mexico?"

Eugene said "Sadly, the days of "termination with extreme prejudice" are long gone and the present administration is reluctant to get involved in the elimination of a US citizen in a foreign country without a court order and a directive signed by the President".

David suggested "Maybe Mossad can be enlisted for the task"

Eugene shuddered at the thought and said "This is out of the question".

David then asked "Does the US have any idea what Nagib and Alia are up to?"

Eugene gave him all the details that were related by Alma to Linda and onwards to the CIA and NNSA. He told David about the switch to low-grade plutonium and David wondered aloud if that would affect the performance of the device, assuming there were such devices. He said that he had to ask a frank and indiscrete question, and Eugene said that he would provide an answer if he could. 

So David asked "Are there blueprints of portable, small nukes among the copied designs?"

Eugene wriggled visibly before answering "Hey, I never admitted that the stolen, sensitive material included weapon designs. But let's say that hypothetically there could be such things among the classified files that were downloaded".

Eugene and David were both physicists with advanced degrees and training in nuclear physics so David asked "Hypothetically of course, could such devices be transported in a suitcase?"

Eugene said "You must be familiar with the "football" configuration. Let's say, again hypothetically, that we have improved it by cutting down the size and weight of the plutonium core, and have achieved this by using super-grade material."

David thought about this and asked "Do you think that low-grade plutonium would work?"

Eugene said "Without knowing exactly what the device consists of it would be impossible to predict this".

David asked "What do you think of the statement issued by the Head of PAEC about missing plutonium".

Eugene smiled bitterly and said "We believe this is just the Pakistani's version for "plausible deniability" in case the plutonium is traced back to them."

David thanked him and said that he had to catch a flight back to Tel-Aviv and promised to stay in touch.    

July 30
th
, Tel-Aviv

In Tel-Aviv the news forwarded by Eugene and delivered verbally by David was analyzed carefully and received with a mixture of some consternation and some hope. Mossad's ability to operate in Pakistan was somewhere between severely limited to non-existent while in Cairo, and certainly in Los Angeles there were ample opportunities. The meeting was held in Haim Shimony's office, and the Mossad chief asked David what he thought about the situation that was now developing. David said that in view of the information supplied by the Israeli Security Agency, the ISA was quite sure that Nagib would try to avenge the death of his terrorist brother, Yassir, and the demolition of his parents' house, by detonating a nuclear device somewhere in Israel. The fact that the device was sent to Cairo indicated that it would have to be smuggled across the border into Israel. David suggested that Mossad deploy all its assets in Egypt to keep an eye on the Pakistani embassy there with instructions to spot Nagib and eliminate him if capturing him is not possible. In parallel, patrols along the border between Egypt and Israel should be doubled, with special attention given to locating cross-border tunnels that are dug by smugglers of drugs and humans.

"The Fish", the ISA senior representative at the meeting, said that close surveillance will be placed on all known family members of Nagib Jaber, in case he tried to contact them. He added that as there were no indications that Nagib was a member of any Palestinian terror organization so that finding him would be difficult unless he was stopped before crossing into Israel. David recalled that Eugene told him about the polygraph examination that Nagib was subjected to in Los Alamos, and said that Nagib denied during the interrogation that he belonged to any organization or movement. This could have changed, of course, but it was possible that so far he had worked independently of any Palestinian organization. "The Fish"" said that the smugglers in Sinai did not concern themselves about the motivation of the people they smuggled across the border as long as they paid cash, but commented that Nagib would have to seek help once he reached Israel or else he would be stuck in the middle of the Negev desert after crossing the border from Egypt. He added that ISA will have to increase its level of operations in order to locate Nagib and stop him before reaching the heart of Israel.

July 30
th
, Los Angeles

The Department of Homeland Security issued a special notice to all border crossings between Mexico and the United States with a description of Alia Jaber, a. k. a. Fatima Abu Jihad bearer of a Pakistani passport. Eugene, who had personally briefed the chief of field operations of the DHS, expressed his opinion that Alia would not use an official border crossing to get into the US but would probably contact one of the drug cartels, like Tijuana, La Familia Michoacana or Sinaloa, and pay the fees like any other illegal worker. There were literally hundreds of tunnels that ran across the border as well as areas that were not sealed properly by electronic fences. Once in the United States Alia would have no problem to be absorbed in the crowd as just another young American woman – after all, she was born and lived almost all her life in the United States. Therefore, Eugene concluded, the only place that they could surely expect her to go was the Pakistani Consulate in Los Angeles. It was located at 10700 Santa Monica Blvd and the DHS promised to post human surveillance as well as cameras to check anyone who entered the Suite #211 during office hours. Eugene asked if the DHS could monitor the phone calls that reached the Consulate but was answered by an indignant shrug and a statement that the Consulate had diplomatic immunity and this was strictly forbidden. Eugene thought that the very reason for founding the DHS was to prevent repetition of terrorist acts like 9/11 and here was a much larger threat to the homeland and its security and the DHS was helpless. He said nothing and decided to go to the FBI and seek their help in tapping the Pakistani Consulate phone lines.

July 30
th
, Cairo, Egypt

The Embassy of Pakistan in Cairo is located at in Ad Doqi district, close to the Nile River, and is the only official representative of Pakistan in Egypt. Employees of the embassy suffered a high incidence rate of headaches and disproportional amounts of mosquito bites due to the proximity to sewage treatment plants, so they sought every excuse to get away from the embassy building. The Cultural attaché, Sadiq Ul-Haq, who was in fact the senior representative of the Pakistani intelligence services, was surprised to receive a 29" suitcase with instructions to store it in a locked metal cabinet and not to open it under any circumstances. The fact that the suitcase arrived as part of the "diplomatic pouch" was nothing out of the ordinary – many foreign office staff members used the diplomatic pouch to transport personal and restricted items into, and out of, Egypt, but the instructions, signed by General Masood himself, were quite irregular. However, Ul-Haq knew better than to disobey such an explicit directive and did as he was told. In another note that was sent separately he was instructed that a man carrying a Pakistani passport with the name Munir Abu Jihad would come to claim the suitcase and that he was to provide him with any assistance he requested. The note also outlined a verification procedure that Ul-Haq thought was more appropriate for a 1950s Hollywood B-movie from the cold war era or a cheap thriller than for 21
st
Century espionage games.

Munir Abu Jihad, as Nagib now called himself, arrived in Cairo and was in no rush to claim the suitcase. He checked into a small hotel and presented his Pakistani passport. The proprietor had not seen many tourists from Pakistan and was glad to see that Nagib spoke Arabic with an accent he did not recognize and assumed it to be Pakistani, while in fact it was a Palestinian accent with some American influences. Nagib paid cash so no further questions were asked. Nagib was aware of the restlessness that permeated the Egyptian capital due to the ongoing tension between the Muslim Brotherhood and the regime that was largely controlled by the army. This did not bother him too much as he tried to stay away from demonstrations and street riots.

He had to first make arrangements to get himself and his precious luggage into Israel.  He had several options but each had risks involved. The most obvious and straightforward would be to contact smugglers in Sinai that specialized in crossing the Israeli border with drugs, munitions or people and joining one of the groups. The main problem was that they may simply murder him, steal his luggage and bury him in the middle of nowhere never to be heard from again. Another option was to travel by public transportation to one of the ports in Sinai, take a ferryboat to Aqaba in Jordan and cross into Israel either in an assumed identity through one of the controlled border crossings or clandestinely with smugglers or terrorists.  This option offered a safe trip for the first part of the journey but the second part was almost as risky as the first option. A third option was to try and penetrate into Israel's long shoreline by a fishing boat or by a small rubber inflatable fast boat. He knew that the maritime borders were closely watched by electronic measures as well as by naval patrols and in view of the size and weight of the suitcase he would have to reach the shore without swimming. The easiest and quickest entrance route depended on his ability to obtain a foreign false identity, board a flight into Ben-Gurion airport and hope to get onto the plane and through Israeli passport control without being apprehended. He also considered an option that would minimize his personal risk but had a high probability of failure. The idea was to send the suitcase separately, either in a shipping container with other legal merchandize or as unaccompanied luggage that was erroneously not sent to Tel Aviv, and then try to enter Israel, legally or illegally, without being encumbered with the suitcase.

He knew that he would at best receive limited assistance from the Pakistani official delegation and was quite sure that Pakistan was not very popular in Egypt, despite its possession of the only atom bomb that Sunni Islam had. So, he had to make up his mind which of the options he considered would best serve his objective and then make the necessary arrangements. For example, if he wanted to get into Israel through the Sinai Peninsula he would have to contact the Bedouins that controlled the smuggling operations, and then find a guide who would lead him to the area controlled by the Palestinian Authority where he could hide for a while until the time set for the act. Getting in touch with Palestinian activists in Jordan seemed to be simpler and he seriously considered taking a sightseeing trip as a tourist to establish the necessary contacts, and then return to Cairo to fetch the suitcase. After some further deliberation he ruled out the naval option as unrealistic without considerable support of an experience commando unit. He also assessed his chances of getting into Israel with his suitcase as an innocent passenger on board a flight from Europe and thought that with airport security in the city of departure and especially in Tel-Aviv his chances of getting away with this were extremely slim. Finally, he decided that sending the suitcase as unaccompanied luggage or in a shipping container was not an attractive option because he wasn't sure that the slight amount of radiation emitted from the suitcase would not be detected.

The bottom line was that he believed that the Jordanian option, with the help of Palestinians to cross from Jordan into the Palestinian Authority and from there into Israel presented the best alternative. So he decided to stay away from the Pakistani embassy until he returned from his exploration trip to Jordan. Unbeknown to him this turned out also to be the safest route to avoid capture. He checked the bus schedule and saw that there were three daily trips by bus from Cairo to Nuweiba port via Taba. The bus trip was long, about 13 hours, but it was much cheaper and safer than the flights to Sharm El-Sheik. Taba was a crossing point into Israel but Nagib knew he stood no chance of passing Israeli security, with or even without his suitcase, and anyway as holder of a Pakistani passport he wouldn't allowed into Israel. For a fleeting moment he considered getting some innocent tourist to act as a courier and transport his suitcase from Taba into the Israeli resort town of Eilat but was afraid that it would be lost, or even worse, confiscated. So he booked himself on the morning bus to Nuweiba and decided to look for a ferry to Aqaba once he arrived there.

July 31
st
, Nuweiba port, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

Nagib was exhausted after the long bus ride from Cairo. He had expected a rough ride but was favorably surprised by the comfortable, air conditioned bus that was packed with European tourists who wanted to spend a vacation on the wonderful beaches of the Red Sea. However, there were many roadblocks set up by the Egyptian army and for a large part of the trip the bus was accompanied by a military escort to assure that it was not attacked by Bedouin supporters of the Islamic State that terrorized the Egyptians in Sinai. Fortunately there were no unpleasant incidents and when the bus arrived at Nuweiba all he wanted was to find a place to lie down and rest. During the long ride a couple of German girls took an interest in him and tried to involve him in their conversation and vacation plans. They told him that they had just arrived in Egypt and were headed straight to the beaches of the Red Sea that were famous as free-for-all tourist resorts. Nagib who had always been faithful to Alia was invited to accompany them to their hostel and was slightly tempted but thought better of it and declined. Instead he headed straight to the small Nuweiba port to check the schedule of the ferry to Aqaba on the north-east shore of the Red Sea that was the only sea port Jordan had. He found an appealing catamaran ride that offered
reasonable prices including all marine fees, departure tax from Egypt and even a soft drink and croissant on board. He
saw that tickets needed to be booked at least 24 hours in advance so made a reservation for departure in the morning of August 2
nd
and went to look for a hostel for two nights.

He entered the first hostel he saw and checked in. He left his room to find a restaurant and have dinner and ran into the two German girls from the bus. They greeted him with smiles and asked him if he knew where they could eat and when he said that he, too, was looking for a restaurant they invited him to join them. They walked along the beachfront until they came across a quiet place that had a large veranda facing the Red Sea. The evening breeze was very pleasant and after the heat of the day abated it was a welcome relief. They ordered an assortment of salads and freshly caught fish as the main course. The girls wanted to order some beer but the proprietor said that there was no alcohol, but he offered them strong, bitter coffee and a nargilah. They were not familiar with the word so Nagib explained to them that it was
a water pipe used for smoking flavored tobacco, and said that it was also a kind of social recreation when the tobacco contained other substances. They said they wanted to try it and asked him to teach them how to use it. Nagib called the proprietor and with a wink asked him to add some of his special flavored tobacco. The German girls who were no strangers to Marijuana understood what was involved and invited Nagib to take a seat between them and they both put their arms around him. They passed the water pipe from one girl to the other and each time Nagib took a deep breath and inhaled the flavored smoke, so after a while they were all a bit intoxicated. They paid the proprietor and went for a walk along the shore hand in hand. They found a secluded spot and the girls invited Nagib to sit on the sand beside them. Nagib could no longer resist the allure of the two girls when they suggested that they all go for a swim. Bathing suits were not needed, of course, so he simply joined them. They entered the water gingerly and were surprised by the warmth of the water. The full moon highlighted the white bodies of the girls against the dark background of the water and when they laughingly encircled Nagib their blonde hair and white arms were like snakes beside his darker skin. The two girls took turns kissing Nagib and each other and he felt as if he had reached heaven. At present, he had his hands full with the two girls who were obviously not virgins and he could only imagine what it would be like with the 72 virgins promised to Shahids who sacrificed themselves for the grandeur of Allah and Islam. They returned to the beach and for a short moment they couldn't find the spot where they had left their clothes. The girls giggled when they saw the look of consternation on Nagib's face and then one of them spotted the clothes and they chuckled at the transformation of his facial expression from dismay to relief. As Nagib started to get dressed the two girls said that they had a surprise for him and asked him if he would like to be the meat patty in the hamburger they were just getting ready to prepare. Once again they laughed when they saw the look of confusion on his face and one of them said that he need not worry they would be the buns and both just hugged him. Nagib thought that this may be his last chance to make love in this life and succumbed to their gentle endearments and ministrations. They returned to the hostel as good friends and arranged to spend the next day together.

Nagib felt some remorse for being unfaithful to his beloved Alia, but then thought that they would never see each other again and mumbled that a man has to do what a man has to do. The three of them spent the next day relaxing in the sun, but as the evening came the two girls apologized to him and said that they were invited to a small party by a couple of English youths that had promised to bring an ample supply of booze. Nagib felt some relief considering that his age was almost the same as their combined age, and in any case was preoccupied with worries about the near future and the trip to Jordan.
       

August 3
rd
, Cairo, Egypt

The frustration of the CIA agents that had been posted close to the Pakistani embassy grew from day to day. There was no sign of Nagib or of Munir or whatever he called himself and sitting for hours in a café, a public bench or a parked car took its toll. The mosquitoes were particularly vicious, and unlike most members of the species that were active only after sunset, the brand that rightfully earned the name "Nile Tigers" due to their miniature dark stripes, were bloodthirsty 24/7. They were very small and agile and presented an unbearable nuisance. An outside observer may have been amused to see two grown men waving their hands and occasionally even striking their own face in a futile attempt to wipe out the little torturers.

The Mossad agents that were aware of the American CIA agents and kept their distance fared no better. They complained bitterly about the assignment but obeyed their orders and kept an eye on the Pakistani embassy. Mossad knew that the "cultural attaché" was in fact the mission head of the Pakistani intelligence services in Egypt and watched him but didn't discern anything irregular in his behavior. There was no point in following him around the clock, something that would require a lot of effort with little potential gain.

August 3
rd
, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Alia's 18 hours flight from Islamabad to Mexico City was long but uneventful, except her excitement when she discovered that the shortest route was over the northern pole. She used her Pakistani passport to enter Mexico, spent a couple of nights in Mexico City and then made her way by public transportation to the border city of Ciudad Juarez. She preferred the anonymity of the 26 hours bus ride over the one and half hour flight, assuming correctly that whoever tried to trace her movements would find it practically impossible to follow her trail.