Trail of Blood

by Uzi Eilam

  “As you wish, sir,” the officer replied, saluting him.

  ***

  Nimer embarked on a series of meetings and activities at the long-range missile base, about thirty miles northeast of Damascus. He loaded up his schedule with up to twenty hours of activity a day. This, he thought, would make it easier for him not to constantly think of his friend and mentor Imad Mughniyeh, killed before his very eyes. A senior member of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus’s security team was sent to be his “shadow.” The Syrians also wrapped Nimer in a belt of human shields. He preferred to deal with professional topics and avoid thinking about the mortal danger he was facing.

  “There is a solution that we have already implemented in the past, guided by Dr. Gerald Bull’s students,” Nimer told his hosts after two days of touring the missile sites and briefings presented by the Syrian engineers. “I had the privilege of working with engineers from the SRC Corporation, founded by Bull, and coming up with a method of extending the Scud-B missiles’ range in a way they called ‘Two Out of Three.’ I have brought all the diagrams that will allow you to manufacture two new missiles by using the third missile’s engine…”

  “Excuse us, Honored Scientist,” a young engineer ventured to ask. “What can be done about the topic of the missiles’ precision? We all know about the limitations of the previous generation of Russian missiles.”

  “We’ve brought kits from Teheran to improve the missiles’ precision. They’ve been tested in the Revolutionary Guard’s aeronautics labs, and work perfectly. I’ve also brought a file of documents that will allow you to easily install these kits, replacing the old systems.”

  A wave of whispers swept through the room, and smiling faces testified to the relief experienced by the Syrian teams.

  “With the information I have brought you, you now have the ability to start converting the old missiles into new ones with nearly double the range, and with navigation systems that are incomparably more accurate. I have to leave for a few days, but I promise to come back to confirm the successful upgrade of the Scud missiles. Best of luck!”

  Chapter 33

  From the moment Nimer landed at the airport in Beirut, a group of senior Hezbollah fighters stayed close by his side, accompanying him on his way to the funeral procession. The head of the team whispered to him that Nasrallah had instructed them to protect him from any attempt to harm him. Immediately after the funeral, the man told him, he was invited to a meeting with Nasrallah. Nimer was glad to hear of it, and was mainly pleased to reunite with several Mughniyeh loyalists among his acquaintances. He felt truly at home here, and knew he must be patient until they allowed him to go to his own home and see his son and his sister again.

  Thousands of people escorted the acclaimed warrior on his last journey. Sobbing women wailed and men from the leadership of Hezbollah shed tears. Nasrallah could be seen escorting his military deputy on his final journey from the giant screen set up at the cemetery. Due to his habitual security concerns, the secretary general delivered words of consolations to Mughniyeh’s family and the members of Hezbollah from the screen. Nasrallah explicitly blamed the United State and Israel for the murder of the shahid Mughniyeh, and swore that the day of revenge would indeed come.

  ***

  “I welcome your safe return, Dr. Nimer Al Khaldi,” Nasrallah addressed him in a gloomy voice, and Nimer wondered at the leader’s ability to speak up and charm his many admirers when he was talking to the camera. “We must thank Allah for protecting your life. Our friend did not have such luck,” he added, and Nimer was not certain he heard much grief in the leader’s voice.

  “Thank you, sir, and praise be to Allah for watching over me. I owe all I’ve learned to Mughniyeh, and I thank him for the opportunity he gave me to persevere in my path of revenge against the Zionist enemy.”

  “Indeed, my friend, Allah was watching over you in Brussels as well, and saved you from those who killed Dr. Thompson. We have yet to settle our account with them, and revenge for Mughniyeh’s murder will also be carried out at the appropriate time,” the leader promised, his voice somewhat steadier now. “I’ve instructed our VIP Security Unit to protect you by any means necessary throughout your stay here. The protection of your family, initiated by the shahid Mughniyeh, will continue. Don’t worry.”

  “Thank you, sir. I’m grateful to you, and you should know that this way, I feel safer in acting to help our friends in Iran, Syria and other allied countries.”

  “Indeed, Dr. Nimer, you’ve received compliments from our friends in Iran, especially from General Soleimani, who is not known for being generous with compliments. Syrian President Hafez Assad has also conveyed a message of gratitude to me over the last few days, to thank you for helping them upgrade the Scud-B missiles. Now there’s a new topic that we need to handle…”

  New? What more can they ask me to do? And when will the leader let me go so that I can meet my dear son and my sister? Nimer wondered, casting his eyes down so as not to reveal his feelings.

  “Yes, Nimer,” the leader continued, with flattering intimacy. “This concerns the threat to our tunnels here on the border with Israel, as well as Hamas’s tunnels in the Gaza Strip.”

  “Threat? What, exactly? I know that, up to this point, that subject has actually been a success story, and the enemy hasn’t managed to seriously damage the tunnels, neither here at the border with Israel nor the infrastructure of tunnels in the Gaza strip…”

  “That’s no longer quite true, Nimer. Inspections carried out by the Revolutionary Guard’s technology personnel, who examined developments on site in depth, have shown that the enemy has developed new, sophisticated methods to locate the tunnels, both as they’re being bored and once they’re completed and silent.”

  “What does the topic of tunnels have to do with me, sir? What could I possibly contribute? I’m really not an expert on that subject…”

  “General Soleimani and his people know what needs to be done, and tomorrow, you’ll fly to Teheran to meet them. You’ve acquired quite a reputation, Nimer, as someone who can delve in depth into technological issues, but is also a leader. I’m sure you’ll succeed at your new mission, which concerns our core interests here in the region. You have my blessing, dear man. And now go home to your family in Shatila, and tomorrow, you’ll leave for Teheran.”

  A moving evening awaited Nimer once the security team drove him to his home in the Shatila refugee camp. His sister Jamila and son Hassan had received notice that he was on his way home and were waiting for him in anticipation. The son was eager to talk to his father about his Introduction to Physics class. Nimer was impressed by his insights, and was happy to hear from his sister about his son’s academic success and his involvement in the community. They even dreamt together of the day in which father and son could roam the corridors of the university in tandem. At the moment, however, he knew that it was only wishful thinking. At a late hour, they retired to their bedrooms, promising to drink a cup of morning coffee together before the drive to the airport. Nimer sprawled out on the bed he had shared with his wife Laila, but could not fall asleep for a long time.

  ***

  When he got to the airport, Nimer was not surprised to find out that Hezbollah’s VIP Security Unit was allowing him to bypass the security checkpoint route. Two bodyguards accompanied him into the Iranian airliner, and Nimer noticed that one of them sat down behind him, while the other had a nearby seat on his side. They were indeed carrying out the leader’s instructions, he thought. Throughout the flight, Nimer tried to recall what he had heard and read about new technologies for detecting tunnels.

  He remembered that the Americans had been developing means of detecting drug-smuggling tunnels on the border with Mexico, but their interest in tunnels had begun earlier, during the Vietnam War. Even back then, the Americans had realized that the tunnels constituted a strategic factor that was apparently helping the Viet Cong
win the war. He remembered talking to Mughniyeh about the achievements brought about by Hezbollah’s tunnels in southern Lebanon, and the tunnels bored by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

  The more I think about it, even before hearing what General Soleimani has to say, the more I feel that I have no idea where the problems lie, Nimer concluded to himself, deciding to wait for the meeting with Soleimani before considering the topic further.

  “Hello, Dr. Nimer!” General Soleimani thundered when the Revolutionary Guard chief commander’s office manager led Nimer into the commander’s opulent room.

  “Thank you, General,” Nimer replied. “I promise to do whatever is required. I understood from Nasrallah that there’s an old-new threat in regard to the tunnels? He promised you’d give me the details.”

  “Nasrallah was telling the truth. Indeed, plenty of information has been collected about the capabilities the enemy has developed to discover and destroy the tunnels both on Lebanon’s southern border and on the border of the Gaza Strip. That’s an ability that might prove very harmful to us, and requires immediate action on our part.” The general paused, signaling to his office manager. A thick file, marked “Top Secret” in red print, was placed on the desk in front of Nimer. “All the information you need is in this file,” Soleimani continued in his characteristic staccato. “And you’ll learn all the rest out in the field, from the experts…”

  “Hold on, sir,” Nimer dared to venture. “I’m following what you’re saying, but I don’t understand what my mission is. What threat exactly do we need to deal with? You know I’m not an expert on excavating tunnels, and I’m not fluent in the techniques for detecting them. Why did you choose me?”

  “The main problem is the one you just mentioned: new techniques developed in Israel, with American technological assistance, to detect the tunnels and successfully destroy them. This might, even in the near future, reduce or even eliminate our strategic ability to threaten the enemy. We’re talking about your—Hezbollah’s—tunnels on the southern border of Lebanon, and the tunnels Hamas’s engineers excavated on the border of the Gaza Strip. As for you…” Soleimani paused, gazing at Nimer at length, “we’ve seen you deal with advanced technologies above and beyond what you studied at the universities of Beirut and Berlin. We’ve seen you lead teams of experts, and we have no doubt that you’re the right person to deal with the subject. You have two days to study the file on the tunnels. That should be enough until you meet the experts.”

  Nimer was disconcerted. The confidence that the tough general was expressing in regard to his qualifications was flattering, but also demanded a commitment on his part. He wasn’t sure that the material gathered in the file would indeed be enough to enable him to assume a leadership position. In these areas, Nimer’s experience had taught him, leading required expertise. He didn’t know whom he was about to lead, or where.

  “We’ve gotten in touch with our friend North Korea, who has promised to place the best engineers specializing in tunnel excavation at our disposal. They’ll send two scientists who are up to date on the technology, as well as on methods for detecting tunnels, to join this operation. We’ve also,” the general continued, “managed to recruit two Viet Cong veterans who led the tunnel-boring effort during the war against the Americans in Vietnam. Despite their advanced age, they’re fluent in all the intricacies of tunnels. We were surprised to realize they still maintain their intense hatred of the Americans, and we had no problems recruiting them to the task.”

  “That sounds good, General Soleimani. The only thing left is for me to hear where this meeting will take place.”

  “Don’t be surprised, Dr. Nimer,” Soleimani chose to employ a bit of humor, “when I tell you it will take place in a tourism and vacation site in Vietnam, of all places. Those ancient fighters from the Viet Cong are no longer up for flying or traveling long distances. We didn’t want to give them up and chose the famous Ha Long Bay as the location for our meeting. The cover story of a tour group and the option of leasing a ship on which the discussions will take place seemed very fitting to us.”

  “And the timeline?”

  “You, meaning yourself and the two Hezbollah fighters who are already in Teheran, will fly to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, in two days, and from there to Ha Long Bay. It’s all being taken care of by our representative in Hanoi. Emeraude Classic Cruises has booked you a ship for two days of cruising and docking at popular tourism sites. There’s an option of extending your stay if necessary. You’ll find everything you need in terms of logistics on board the ships, including a skilled three-person security team taking the place of some of the crew members,” Soleimani added, and Nimer almost felt as if he were leaving on a package tour.

  Chapter 34

  Gideon could not stop thinking about Nimer, his childhood friend who had become a ruthless, threatening enemy. Noam sensed her father’s distress more acutely than the other team members. She invited herself over for coffee in Gideon’s office and decided to encourage him to open up.

  “Good morning, Dad. I hope I’m not bothering you…”

  “You’ve never bothered me, dear, and that will never change. What brings you here this morning? No activity in Dan’s ‘war room’? It’s definitely not the coffee in Nahari’s bureau…”

  “Actually, I wanted to understand what was going on between you and Nimer.”

  “What??...”

  “I mean the effect of your past childhood memories of him on your judgment in regard to him…”

  “Ah… You’re both right and wrong, Noam,” Gideon replied after some hesitation. “Thinking of Nimer does bring me back to my childhood memories, but I’m not ignoring the danger the man poses for everything we hold dear…”

  “I had a long phone conversation with Mom,” Noam shifted to a different topic. “She asked me to protect you from yourself…”

  “Oh… She always worried, even back when you were kids, and was concerned because of my involvement in defense issues. But Palo Alto, California, isn’t currently under any threat…”

  “But that’s not why you split up, Dad. You didn’t talk about it with me or with Amitai. You kept what you were feeling deep inside yourself, and we only heard Mom’s side of it, and she didn’t really understand either…”

  A loud knock on the door echoed through the room and Itzik from the Talpiot team entered, excited to be bearing more news from Beirut and Teheran. Dan and the crew were continuing to intercept new information, he said, and Dan thought it warranted another update and consultation with Nahari.

  “What’s this about?” Gideon tried to understand. He felt relieved for the interruption of the intimate conversation with Noam.

  “It’s a development concerning the Hamas tunnels at the border of the Gaza Strip, as well as Hezbollah’s tunnels on Israel’s northern border. Apparently, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence agency intercepted details regarding our development of new systems to detect and identify tunnels, and rang the alarm.”

  “Okay, my friend, I’ll coordinate a meeting with Nahari, while you go back to the war room and tell Dan to prepare all the pertinent information on new techniques of tunnel detection, as viewed from the perspective of the Revolutionary Guard.”

  “I’ll join Dan’s team and see what the Iranians are cooking up,” Noam said, dropping the topic of the interrupted conversation.

  ***

  “Soleimani, the chief commander of the Revolutionary Guard, is moving around plenty of pieces on his chessboard,” Itzik indulged in a poetic metaphor. “He’s received updates from Nasrallah’s bureau, as well as from Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

  “Hamas is concerned about Israel’s recent successes in detecting the attack tunnels. The tunnels are considered a vital strategic component now that Israel has established the Iron Dome system, which has neutralized the threat of rockets and missiles almost completely.”

  �
��There is also information from Hezbollah expressing concern about their tunnels,” Aaron from the Shin Bet reported. “They are afraid that they won’t be able to recreate the success story of the underground system during the last war that Israel initiated in southern Lebanon. They believe that the system was amazingly effective, allowing uninterrupted shooting of thousands of rockets at the entire area of northern Israel. In addition, there’s a very brief reference to Vietnam that we intercepted this morning. We still don’t know if and how it fits in…”

  “And what’s going on with our friend Nimer? Where has he disappeared to after Mughniyeh was eliminated? Did he emerge unharmed from the assassination? After all, he was with Mughniyeh in Damascus,” Noam queried.

  “Actually, we do have some information about that topic,” Aaron replied. “Nimer left Lebanon and flew off to Teheran. Soleimani is sharing his concern about the tunnels with him, and apparently, Nimer will be asked to join a mission of some kind. We’ve also uncovered the identity he’ll be using: Dr. Heinz Golfgang, a visiting lecturer at the University of Berlin’s Faculty of Aeronautics.”

  All these clever men, including my Dan, are so wrapped up in the details they can’t rise up to see the big picture, Noam thought before venturing to speak up. The keyword “tunnels” is not related solely to those used by Hezbollah and Hamas. North Korea is considered a leader in the field of attack tunnels, and everyone knows the tunnels the Viet Cong excavated in Vietnam were a determining factor in the war, leading to the embarrassing American retreat from Saigon. Noam decided that she had to open their eyes, using the knowledge she had acquired in her Behavioral Psychology studies.