The Illuminati (35 page)

“But what if someone else also has the weapon?” Defense Minister Levi Klein shouted from his position in the back. He had come into the room unnoticed. “Or what if we force the Chinese to back down with it and others decide we have too great an advantage and develop their own? And what if the bomb does start a chain reaction that splits the earth at its core?”

“You are out of order,” Amitt shouted at the defense minister. “This meeting is open only to members of the Knesset.”

“I invited Levi to attend,” Estine said as he stood facing the group. “He has the best understanding of the military ramifications we are facing. I ask that he be allowed to continue.”

“No!” Amitt exclaimed loudly. “It is not allowed.”

The other members began their ritualistic rapping on the table, signaling their disapproval of Amitt's actions. Overridden, he sat back down as Levi Klein approached the podium.

“Respected elders,” he began, “as you know, I have dedicated my life to the service of my country. I have fought its wars with vigor because they were righteous wars. But what we are planning now is unholy and—”

“God decides what is holy!” Amitt interrupted. He knew Klein could scuttle his well-laid plans if the Knesset listened to him. He had his instructions from the Society and they were clear. Israel would bring the world to the brink of war, then negotiate a settlement, with Amitt leading the way. When the one-world system was secure, Moshi Amitt would have one of the top positions.

In order for the independent nations of the world to accept a one-world government, the Society knew it would be necessary to threaten their very existence. However, since the threat of nuclear war had been virtually eliminated by an arms treaty between the U.S. and Russia, people had begun to sleep soundly, believing peace was secure. The cobalt bomb would create an imbalance and global panic once again, just as the hydrogen bomb had in the twentieth century. It would require a leader of enormous persuasion and power to knit the world together.

“Yes, God decides what is holy,” Klein agreed, “but you want to interpret God's will for all of us. I wonder if the billion or so people you propose to kill feel the same way.”

“If you don't have the stomach to defend Israel, then perhaps it is time you retired!” Amitt challenged. “We have the right to use whatever weapons are at our disposal.”

“Who gave us that right?” Klein asked grimly.

Amitt shouted back, “God gave us that right. This nation is His, and the Jews are His people.”

“Then let God defend us,” Klein pleaded, as he looked around at the other members. “But don't unleash this demon from hell on innocent people—not for the sake of oil.”

Now on the defensive, Amitt began to sense his grip over the group slipping. “You don't seem to understand. It is not about oil. It is about the right to lead the world. Once we have annihilated the infidels, the world will know Israel is God's divine instrument.” Then slowly a single member of the Knesset began to clap, then another, and still others, until the majority of the Zealots were signaling their agreement with Amitt. Amitt bowed his head and raised his arms toward heaven.

Klein sat down next to Jacob Estine. He felt a hundred years old. They were defeated and he knew it. How could anyone argue with the mentality of “God told me to do it”? He had seen people beaten and stoned because they drove their cars on the Sabbath or washed their clothes and left them on the line after sundown Friday. Now he had a better understanding of the fervor of those who crucified Christ twenty centuries earlier. Anyone who opposed their legalisms would be dealt with as an infidel. For the right to rule the world these men would be willing to destroy it.
God save us from men who would be god themselves
, he thought.

“Allen, I just received a communique from Andrea in Jerusalem that Moshi Amitt is addressing his nation about the crisis with Japan and China. It should be coming through on the satellite momentarily.”

“Why Amitt?” Allen White, the senior news editor at WNN, asked. “Why not Estine, the prime minister?”

“I don't know. Andrea said that Amitt is the de facto leader of the Knesset. Maybe they have assumed responsibility.”

“Switch on the viewer,”White instructed his engineer. “Interrupt the news transmission and patch in Andrea. We'll carry this live. Who knows, maybe the Jews are going to back down.”
But don't count on it
, he said to himself. The last time he was in Israel, it was a nightmare.
The religious zealots in Israel are as bad as the Ayatollah was in Iran in his day
.
The Ayatollah said Allah told him to do it, and the Jews say Jehovah tells them to do it
.

“The patch is in, chief. Andrea's standing by.”

“Okay, feed her into the system.”

“This is Andrea Bernstein in Jerusalem. Rabbi Moshi Amitt, leader of the Israeli Knesset, is addressing the Jewish people regarding the crisis with China and Japan.” The cameramen first focused on Andrea Bernstein's strikingly beautiful face, and then the producer did a fadeout to the camera covering the Israeli parliament hall.

The face of Moshi Amitt appeared on the screen. Behind him was the full Israeli parliament. An interpreter was translating from Hebrew to English for the WNN American audience.

“Again, I repeat. Israel does not want conflict,”Amitt announced, as he waved his arms dramatically. “We want peace. But we will not be intimidated by anyone. It is our right to use the resources God has provided, including the oil reserves now stored in our country. We will negotiate with any country for the sale of this resource, but we will not be blackmailed.

“The Republic of China has amassed an army on our border with the admitted intention of invading our land—‘to strip it clean,' to quote President Chunghwa have both the determination and ability to defend ourselves against any enemy, even against an army of a million infidels.

“By order of the Knesset, the Israeli military is equipping our SX-14 missiles with weapons so powerful each can obliterate an area of one hundred square miles. We have no desire to use these weapons. But unless China removes its troops from any territories adjacent to Israel, we will have no alternative.

“Any movement of these forces into Israeli territory will constitute an act of war and will be dealt with accordingly.”

Even while Amitt was still speaking, Allen White was dialing his longtime friend, Colonel Bob Robbins, at the Pentagon in Washington.

“Colonel Robbins here,” the Air Force missile and ordnance expert said as he leaned forward over his desk and picked up the phone.

“Bob, this is Allen. Have you been watching the news?”

“Nope. I've been busy pushing paper to justify my position,” Robbins replied sarcastically, as he moved the pile of requisitions for supplies further to one side. He knew they wouldn't be filled anyway, not with the government running on short rations.

“Bob, the head of the Israeli Knesset, Moshi Amitt, is addressing his parliament right now about the Chinese troops stationed in Afghanistan.”

“Yes, I wouldn't want to be in Israel when a million screaming Chinese come running across the border. They'll take the Jews like Sitting Bull took Custer.”

“Listen, Bob, Amitt says Israel has a bomb that will wipe out a hundred square miles, and that they're willing to use it on the Chinese. Do you know anything about it?”

“My God!” Robbins shouted as he jumped to his feet and began to pace the length of the phone cord. “It's the cobalt bomb.”

“What exactly is the cobalt bomb?”White asked as he flicked on the tape recorder. He was struggling to keep his voice under control. He didn't want to spook his contact.

“This is strictly off the record, right, Allen?”

“Absolutely,” White lied as he motioned to the engineer to test the incoming signal. He wasn't about to lose this interview, even if it cost him a valuable contact and friend.

“The cobalt bomb idea was developed back when Dr. Howard Tolls headed the U.S. nuclear bomb project. You'll remember that Tolls helped to develop the hydrogen bomb and later lobbied against deploying it because of its destructive power.”

“Yes, I remember. He was eventually removed from the project because of his political views, wasn't he?”

Before he answered, he eased back into his chair. “Officially, yes.”

Robbins thought back to the time he had heard Tolls argue against the deployment of hydrogen bomb technology. “The president was for deploying any weapons at his disposal. Having led the Allied armies in World War II, he believed the H-bomb would force the Russians to back down. Tolls argued that the use of hydrogen bombs would pollute the world to an uninhabitable state.

“When the cobalt bomb was first proposed, Tolls spoke out against it. He argued that cobalt was the fabric of our subatomic structure and could cause a fusion reaction that would destroy the earth itself.”

“Wasn't that the same argument used by the Manhattan team before the first atomic bomb test?”White asked.

“Yes. But remember, they had few real facts to go on at that time. Later, when some of the same scientists argued against the hydrogen bomb, it was Tolls who provided the calculations showing a sustained atmospheric reaction was theoretically possible but highly improbable. His calculations were proven correct. Tolls also calculated that a cobalt bomb would have a fifty-fifty chance of starting a spontaneous reaction in the atmosphere.”

“Meaning?” White asked as he glanced toward his sound engineer, who gave him the thumbs-up sign. The interview was being broadcast as a time-delay, with shots of the first atomic explosions superimposed on the screen.

“A cobalt bomb with a yield of one gigaton—a billion tons,” Robbins explained, “might conceivably set the world on fire and snuff out the very atmosphere we breathe. In which case, you win the war, but lose the world—so to speak.”

“Could the Israelis have a cobalt bomb?”White asked. Suddenly he realized that he had uncovered the real “ticking bomb” that every journalist dreams about.

“It's very likely they have the technology,” Robbins answered as a frown formed on his face. “After all, the Jews have dominated the inner circle of nuclear technology for a long time. But I can't believe that any rational human beings would use the cobalt bomb on another nation. It's probably the dirtiest bomb ever devised.”

“By ‘dirty,' you mean radioactive fallout?” White asked as he gave thumbs-up to his newscaster, who was readying a statement condemning Israel's actions.

“Yes,” Robbins replied again. “A single cobalt bomb could make an area the size of Georgia uninhabitable for thousands of years. That is, if it didn't kill us all.”

“Okay, thanks, buddy,”White said as he signaled the engineer to shut down the recorder.

Robbins knew he had said too much. He asked in an almost pleading tone, “Please don't use any exact quotes. That whole project is still classified top-secret.”

“You got it, pal,”White soothed.
I hate to stiff a friend; but such is the life of a newsman
, he thought.
Besides, it's too late to do anything about it now
.

Within ten minutes, agents from the FBI and the National Security Agency were escorting Colonel Robert Robbins out of his Pentagon office.