The Dreadful Patriot: A Thrilling Conspiracy Novel (Techno thriller, Mystery & Suspense Book 3)

by Charles Z David

  The Imam smiled and said "Yes, I have reached the same conclusion. If the destruction is contained within the boundaries of Israel then the world will moan and groan a little, perhaps offer asylum to a small number of Zionists, but will not lift a finger to help them. However, our insurance policy is the threat of additional nuclear strikes. So we will create the illusion that we have many more nuclear devices where this one came from."

  The general said "The Senior assistant has described your plan to use the release of the hostages as the means of decapitating the elite and destroying the heartland of the Zionist entity. I suggest that we use a ruse to gain their confidence. After you appear to yield in the negotiations and accept their minimalistic offer, you'll propose as a gesture of goodwill to release one of the hostages. We'll send the IRG's private jet with the hostage and arrange for its safe landing at Tel Aviv airport. I am sure that the Israeli Security Agency will use a fine comb to go over the plane. Thus, when we send the rest of the hostages with our special delivery package they will hopefully be careless and less meticulous."

  The Imam said "I like this twist. The Supreme Leader has ordered me to have another round of negotiations in Moscow and has consented to let us appear as retreating from our tough positions. I have requested General Koliagin to host this round and invite the same Mossad agent. This time I'll pretend to be convinced by his claim that Mossad was not involved in the murders of our scientists, but will play hard to get."

  The Senior Assistant asked "Imam, when can we expect the completion of the nuclear device's construction? This is the most crucial point of setting our schedule?"

  The Imam said "According to Dr. Fathi's estimate he thinks that we will be ready to send the Zionists a special gift for their Hannukah holidays. In case you don't know, this is another one of history's ironies. The Jews celebrate their victory over the hateful Greeks in their rebellion that ended in 160 BC, almost two hundred years after the forefathers of those same Greeks, led by Alexander the Great, conquered and destroyed our grand Persian Empire and deposed of King Darius III. Then we and the Jews had common enemies and now they are the embodiment of the evil enemy. In other words, in less than two months we'll be ready to strike."

  The Senior Assistant and General Aslawi smiled and praised the Imam. They wished him success on his upcoming trip to Moscow.

  Chapter 16

  October 23rd, London

  David was greeted by his old friend Colin Thomas after landing at Heathrow airport at noon. Colin told him that he had returned to his old post as head of the counter-terror department at MI6 after his stint at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. David said that he was well aware of that and they reminisced about their joint project concerning The Dreadful Alchemist but soon got down to the business on hand. David told Colin that Mossad was not responsible for the elimination of the Iranian nuclear scientists, which was met by a skeptical look. He said that Segan, a rogue former Mossad deputy director, and his organization carried out the job under contract. When Colin asked who set up the contract David took out the photos that Segan gave him in Berlin and added all the bits of information that he knew about Alan Ross.

  Colin's skeptical attitude changed when he realized that the repercussions could affect the UK. If indeed the contract was set up by a British national right under the nose of the British intelligence community and the press got wind of that then the Home Office and perhaps the government would be shaken by the scandal. Colin promised David that he would do his utmost to identify this Alan Ross person and suggested that they meet for dinner.

  ***

  In the evening they had a fine roast beef dinner at Colin's exclusive club and over a glass of Port in the club's cozy study Colin stated that he had a real surprise for David. David raised his eyebrows and said "I am waiting…"

  Colin laughed and said "Hold on to your seat. Alan Ross is the name of the former Iranian citizen whose original name was Ali Rashid". David just looked at him, so after a dramatic pause Colin continued "As a matter of fact he is a member of this gentlemen's club – well, its standards have deteriorated over the years – and he should be here any minute. Believe it or not but he is a senior civil servant in the Foreign Office. In fact, he is now head of the Iranian desk and played a part in the negotiations that led to the signing of the nuclear deal. One of his tasks was to eavesdrop on the conversations of the members of the Iranian delegation without revealing that he understood Farsi."

  David was stunned. Finally he managed to say "Do you know if he was acting as a private citizen when he made the contract with Segan or was he on official business for the UK government?"

  Colin just smiled and refrained from answering. David persisted until Colin relented "I am still trying to discover that. I have my doubts whether the exchequer would trust him with millions of Euro but stranger things have happened. In our line of business the improbable happens every day and the incredible at least once a week and unacceptable and unbelievable things happen every month. Once in a blue moon the government does its best to undermine itself. I think that Alan Ross has done all of those in one single contract".

  David wondered if he could get his hand on Alan Ross and take him to a nice and quiet place where he would drag the truth out of him. He asked Colin "I think I need to have a very private talk with him. What do you know about his personal life?"

  Colin looked at David for a long moment before responding "Yes, I am sure that it is a good idea. The Foreign Office has a dubious track record – they always seem to bet on the wrong horse. They failed in preventing the First World War, failed to understand the dangers of Nazism, failed to recognize that the days of the British Empire were over, foolishly participated in the Suez crisis, not to mention the part they played in muddling with affairs of the Middle East countries. The rise of ISIS is undoubtedly one of the outcomes of our intervention in Iraq and our participation in crowning a Shiite ruler after the fall of Saddam's regime. Another signs of the anachronistic approach is the very name The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, or FCO for short that has long lost its past grandeur but has failed to acknowledge that. David, I'll try to provide you with some useful intelligence about Ross. Please contact me tomorrow. Remember this conversation has never taken place".

  Colin expected David to say "What conversation" and looked expectantly at him, so David obliged and then continued "Thanks for the dinner. It is good to see that there are still clever and honest people in your administration. I'll get back to you tomorrow afternoon after I make some preparations for the warm reception tomorrow night."

  ***

  David contacted Shimony on a secure line and gave him the gist of his meeting with Colin Thomas. Shimony gave the "go ahead" signal that he had requested and said that a special Mossad team would be sent to London to assist him. David was told to expect them to arrive at noon the next day and meanwhile he called the London station head and arranged to meet him at one of Mossad's safe houses an hour later. Yehuda Tobias was a veteran Mossad operative who received the posting in London as a kind of retirement gift. He had risen through the ranks of Mossad as an expert on European affairs and had no field experience. Therefore he was really excited to have an opportunity to be involved in some real action – of the type he had seen in movies and only heard rumors about the jobs his own organization had carried out. He was also thrilled to work with David Avivi who was a legend in Mossad thanks to his successful operations.

  David was pleased to see Yehuda's enthusiasm and his unabated cooperation. Yehuda said that he had only a couple of experienced Mossad operatives at his call but told David that he was informed that three more were on their way from Israel. Mossad had a safe house on the edge of a quiet rural village about 30 km from London that had a basement and its closest neighbors were a half a kilometer away. He said that he would send one of his agents to prepare the house and buy food supplies that would provide meals for half a dozen men for three days. David was very pleased with this a
nd said that he needed a good night's sleep in view of what was planned for the next day. Yehuda would have liked to sit and spin yarns with David for another couple of hours but understood that the time was not right.

  October 24th, London

  Just after noon the Mossad group gathered at Yehuda's private apartment. In addition to David and Yehuda were the two agents from the London office, Yuval and Iris who were a married couple in their late twenties with some field experience in Mossad. Eran and Udi were sent from Israel especially for this mission. Both had served in elite units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and had been in several fire fights and skirmishes with the Palestinians. They also had been on special operations deep inside some Syria and Lebanon, but they had no field record of clandestine operations in friendly countries like the UK. The pivotal member of the group was a petite dark skinned exotic woman whose real name was Miriam but nobody called by that name. Everybody in Mossad called her by her nickname Mata that she had earned because of her resemblance to the legendary and somewhat infamous World War I spy Mata Hari and because of the jobs she carried out. They had all known the legend about the ploy David had used to extract information from reluctant Greek racists when he was chasing The Dreadful Alchemist and also from an uncooperative Islamist in Germany described in The Dreadful Renegade. Yehuda asked if they would try that again but David just smiled and said that they would use a different technique. He suggested that all familiarize themselves with the target, Alan Ross, and study the venue where he would be captured and the surroundings of the safe house.

  In the early afternoon David met with Colin and got all the operational intelligence he needed for operation. Apparently Ross was not a hard worker and usually arrived at the office in King Charles Street at 11 am, had tea and a long lunch and left the office at 5 pm to have a couple of drinks at a nearby pub and then went off to dinner at his club. Ross had been married three times and divorced twice, but was now separated from his third wife as he could not afford another expensive divorce. Colin said that Ross's two main problems were his drinking and his roving eye that was always searching for good looking women. When the two were combined, that is after a few drinks, the search became intense, almost compulsive. Colin added that all three wives were blondes who looked like the proverbial English roses with peach skin and blue eyes but most of his extramarital affairs were with exquisite dark women, probably some ingrained heritage from his youth in Iran in the mid-1970s. Upon hearing this David grinned and said that like a good doctor he had prepared the best medication for the patient. Colin left wishing David good luck in the enterprise he didn't wish to know anything about.

  ***

  Mata was sitting alone at a small table in the Ross's favorite pub nursing a glass of red wine and looking sad as if she was stood up by an ungentlemanly gentleman. Ross had already consumed two or three tumblers of single malt Scotch while sitting at the bar. He kept glancing at the lonely woman using the large mirror in front of him to do so unobtrusively. He ordered another double Scotch and a glass of the finest Bordeaux red wine the bartender recommended and carried the drinks over to the table where Mata was seated. He asked if he could buy her a glass of Bordeaux and join her. Mata looked up at him, appeared to be appraising him for a long moment as if she was deliberating the issue. She pretended to assess his tailor made suit, leather shoes and silk tie. She then let her glance linger of his absurdly expensive wristwatch, and finally shrugged and motioned for him to sit down across the table.

  Ross asked her "What is a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"

  Mata almost puked at the cliché that was perhaps the most absurd opening line ever spoken by someone trying to pick up another person. She countered "I guess I am doing what you are doing here – waiting for someone who didn't show up and looking for some consolation prize."

  Ross's smile almost split his face in two, but fortunately his ears stopped it from going all around his skull "Well, you came to the right place and your timing is perfect. Let's have another round of drinks and then go out and dine somewhere nice."

  Mata appeared to be a bit tipsy after consuming her wine, and looked as if she hesitated "I don't even know your name, what you do and if you are not some kind of pervert or a new embodiment of Jack the Ripper".

  Ross was deeply offended "My name is Alan, I am a senior civil servant in the Home Office and I can assure you that I am as straight and honest as the members of my club will confirm".

  Mata said "I guess that there is no harm in having dinner together" and excused herself to go to "powder her nose". Ross rose politely as she left the table and called for the bill. When Mata returned he was holding her coat and smiling broadly at her. Mata slipped her hands into the sleeves making sure to brush against him suggestively. She asked "So where are we going for dinner?"

  Ross said, his words a bit slurred from the whiskey and anticipation, "This will be a real surprise" and led the way out of the pub. He stood on the sidewalk and signaled to a taxi that had been waiting near the entrance. He opened the door to let Mata in and then got in sitting very close to her and said "Cabbie, take us to The Delaunay at Covent Gardens" and to Mata he said "This is one of the most expensive and best restaurants in London and perhaps in Europe and the World".

  Mata snuggled up to and placed her right hand on his knee while with her left hand she opened her handbag and removed a syringe from it. She turned towards him and made as if to hug him with her left hand and quickly injected him in the neck with the contents of the syringe. Ross was out before she could count to three and collapsed on her. The cabbie turned to her and she saw that it was Yuval from the London branch of Mossad. He said in Hebrew "A good job. Now we'll drive to the safe house and meet the rest. Do you want to join us there or should I drop you off somewhere?"

  Mata said "I need a shower to wash off all traces of this piece of this lecher. But it can wait until we reach the safe house" and moved as far away from Ross as the space permitted.

  ***

  The whole group was already waiting at the safe house. As soon as the commandeered taxi stopped in front of the house Eran and Udi opened its door and carried the unconscious Ross into the basement. Ross was slowly coming to and was still groggy as they tied him to the dentist's chair that was placed in the middle of the basement. He opened his eyes and squinted at the two figures who were dressed in black clothes. David and Udi had their faces covered with a black woolen balaclava hats that had two round holes for the eyes. The effect was enhanced by the red circles surrounding the eyeholes.

  David said "How are you feeling Mr. Alan Ross, or should I call you Ali Rashid?"

  Ross tried to move his hands and found that they were tied to the armrests. He tried to move his head and realized that it was held firmly by a special kind of headrest. He vehemently answered "Do you know who I am? Do you know that the Scotland Yard will turn every stone until they find me? Are you doing this for money? Are you out of your minds messing with me? Do you know who will come after you? Do you…"

  David gave a signal and Udi turned on the bright light above the dentist's chair and directed its powerful beam straight to Ross's eyes, blinding him and making him stop his stream of invectives. He then turned on the drill's motor and the sound of a hundred angry wasps filled the basement. David said "This may sound like a bee but it stings like a scorpion, especially in the clumsy hands of my colleague here. He was thrown out of dentistry school just before graduating because he had drilled some cavities to such a size that there was no filling available and the teeth had to be extracted and replaced by implants. The official letter that was sent to him by the dean of the school was very offensive, so I'll put it in layman's terms: he was considered a menace to the patients and a blemish on the proud profession of dentistry. His grandfather and father were famous dentists in his home country but he was the black sheep and an embarrassment to his family. Would you like to allow him to improve his skills by practicing on you?"

  Udi pro
udly said "I have treated some of my patients with anesthesia and they didn't complain until it wore off. Many others simply got out of the chair and ran away. Aha, I see you are tied the chair and your head is held in a static position by this special headrest. So you won't be going anywhere soon." He turned off the drill while they waited for Ross's answer.

  Ross groaned "What do you want?" and a wet stain was visible on the crotch of his tailor made pants.

  David said "Well Mr. Ross, you have two options. The easy one is to tell us all about the contract that you had made with Segan's firm in Berlin. Tell us who funded the operation, who supplied the information, what was the true objective of the people who financed it. The other option is to first serve as a dentist's practice dummy and then tell us what we want to know. I solemnly promise that a full confession will set you free unharmed. The choice is yours."

  Ross, like most of humanity, didn't like dentists – not on a personal basis (he always claimed "some of my best friends are dentists") but as patient. When he was growing up in Iran his father had taken him to a dentist who was not very gentle, had outdated equipment and drill heads that were worn out due to excessive use. Local anesthesia, like Novocain injections, were unavailable, and children were usually anesthetized with ether that knocked them completely out. When young Ali awoke he didn't know what was worse - the headache he suffered from the ether or the pain in his jaw from the treatment. The suave Alan Ross never forgot the painful treatment he received as young Ali Rashid and his worst nightmares revolved around dental treatment. So his decision to avoid being drilled by the clumsy captor was an easy one. He said "I'll cooperate but I need a guarantee that you'll keep your promise".