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

by Charles Z David

  Next, Eugene called David Avivi on his cellphone. David saw the caller's "private number" and at first hesitated whether to answer as his own people had "caller identity" (assumed names, but still a name on the screen). He decided to take the call despite the late hour in Frankfurt. He was surprised but glad to hear Eugene's voice. Eugene gave him an update on the recent developments and asked if Mossad had any assets in Germany that could be enlisted to help locate the couple without notifying the local police. He had no idea that David was in Frankfurt so when David said that he personally would coordinate the search he was pleasantly surprised. When Eugene told David that he had also involved the CIA David said that although he had great respect for the CIA he preferred to operate independently in order not to compromise Mossad assets. Eugene said that he fully understood but proposed to give Greg Dower a heads-up about this in order to prevent "friendly fire" incidents between the CIA and Mossad operatives. David consented but had his own reservations about the capabilities of the CIA that tended to do everything with a lot of fanfare that was anathema to a secretive organization like Mossad.

  Despite the late hour in Germany and in Tel-Aviv David called the head of Mossad, Haim Shimony, on his private line, known only to a handful of people from the Prime Minister down. He told Haim that he assumed that the information stored on Nagib's memory stick would be of great importance to Israel's security. He said that Eugene never explicitly mentioned the type of information but he surmised that it was concerned with nuclear weapons, and probably with the most advanced designs in the US arsenal. Haim instructed him to try and get hold of the data and that he shouldn't worry too much about the fate of Nagib and Alia. He added that if taken alive they could become an embarrassment to the US, so as good friends the Mossad should make sure they did not talk after being captured, and cynically said that dead men didn't talk.

  June 24th, morning in Frankfurt

  Sayed descended the staircase from the little studio apartment he shared with his wife just as he had done every day for the last five decades. Although his son, Ammer, who was a wealthy businessman had pleaded with him to close the store and come and stay with him in his large house Sayed had refused to do so, saying that a man lived as long as he had a reason to get up in the morning. Sayed quoted an old proverb that said that a man was like a top (referring to the cone shaped toy with a point upon which it is spun) – as long as it continued spinning it stood upright but as soon as it stopped spinning it would fall down. With some difficulty Sayed lifted the heavy metal shutter and opened the store. As usual, there were a few of the regular customers who were waiting for this moment to buy their daily perishable products.

  Sayed did not notice that some other people were keeping a close watch on his store. An Israeli Mossad team sat in the back of an old van that was parked across the street from the store. They could see through the dark windows without being seen and kept an eye on the street and the storefront. In front of them a black Savana van, belonging to the CIA, also with dark windows, waited by the sidewalk with its hazard lights flashing as if the driver had just stepped out for a moment. Both teams knew of each other's presence but did not communicate directly or even acknowledge each other. Unbeknown to them were a couple of men in typical Arab garb that were also surveying the store while pretending to be engaged in an idle conversation and having a smoke. These were members of a radical Islamic faction that wanted to know what Sayed, the Ahmadiyye do-gooder, was up to. Radical Muslims hated Ahmadi Muslims and regarded them as infidels, even worse than Kafirs, as evident by the Ahmadi mosque that was destroyed in Aceh, Indonesia, by radical Islamists. Further up the street were a couple of German youths. The boy was a skinhead dressed in leather clothes from top to bottom and his girlfriend wore a thin vest that just managed to cover her pert little breasts and displayed an impressive set of tattoos that covered her arms. They too were trying to figure out what was going on in the store, and also keeping an eye on the two radical Muslims. Occasionally a police car drove by but did not stop. It was very disappointing for all these groups that nothing, except the routine business, was going on at the store.

  While all this action, or more precisely lack of action, was taking place near Sayed's store, his son, Ammer, and the house guests, Nagib and Alia, were having a serious discussion. At breakfast, Nagib said that he had reached a decision to confide in Ammer and told him that it was quite a long story so Ammer called his office and said that he won't be in and instructed his secretary to cancel all his appointments for the day. Nagib then gave a brief account of his own history in the United States, beginning with his days as a graduate student at NMSU and ending with his employment as a research scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He added that almost from the very beginning of his studies in the US he had been plotting his revenge against the Israelis for destroying his parents' home and arresting his brother. After his brother's release from prison his passion for retribution abated a little but when his brother was murdered by an American-made rocket fired from an Israeli drone he decided that his reprisal would be of unimaginable enormity and unprecedented magnitude. He added that Alia was in cahoots with him about vengeance against the Israelis due to the humiliation she had personally suffered when she visited her family, but did not want to inflict damage on the US that afforded a better life for her parents.

  Ammer was impressed and asked "What have you got?"

  Nagib responded "Blueprints of the most advanced nuclear weapons in the US arsenal".

  Ammer whistled out loud, his face blanched and he asked "I am curious, how did you get these designs?"

  Nagib told him the whole story about using the opportunity of a lifetime to download the plans.

  Ammer, who was a shrewd businessman was skeptical and asked "Are you sure that these are genuine designs?"

  Nagib was slightly offended and said "These are as genuine as you can get. I vouch for this".

  Ammer remained skeptical and said "In my business there are several stages of developing a product. First you have an idea then you examine its theoretical feasibility and design a prototype. Sometimes the prototype design is never even built, in other cases it is abandoned after initial testing and is produced only after modifications and successful tests. Are you sure that what you have is indeed the final, tested and approved designs?"

  Nagib's face turned red as blood rushed to his face and said "The blueprints were stamped as "Highly classified, sensitive, top secret", of course they must be the real thing".

  Ammer, who saw Nagib's reaction, realized that he was on a very delicate point – after all, Nagib had risked everything he had worked for all his life as well as the prospects of leading a normal family life with Alia for these blueprints. So he decided to drop the discussion on the verification of the true value of the designs. He inquired "have you considered who would be interested and willing to pay for the blueprints?"

  Nagib simply responded "Any country or organization that has nuclear ambitions".

  Ammer then asked "Nagib, what do you think the designs are worth?"

  Nagib replied "I am not interested in money, only in revenge". He then continued "I would be willing to trade these designs for a chance to get back at the Israelis" and added "I have talked about this with Alia and we thought that the Iranians would be very interested in the blueprints as would be the Pakistanis. Perhaps other countries with aspirations of becoming nuclear powers like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt would be interested. We believe that the Islamic State would also be very keen to lay their hands on such a design and would use it to blackmail their enemies in Iraq and Syria and force them to surrender control of their country to ISIS forces under threat of annihilation by nuclear weapons".

  Ammer said that it was quite a long list, and Nagib said that he had only mentioned the Muslim countries but North Korea was also a good candidate for bartering. Ammer said that he needed to think about this astounding information and added that he wanted to make a few discreet phone call
s. He then raised an issue about the safety and security of Nagib and Alia, and by connotation about his own safety. Nagib said that he was sure that the US authorities are searching for him and assumed that it was only a matter of time before they tracked him to Germany. He said that they hadn't had time to prepare their disappearance from the US when the opportunity to get the classified documents presented itself, so he presupposed the authorities could be close. Ammer was worried that his involvement in their escape would be discovered and suggested that they borrow one of his cars, originally registered to his firm, and drive to his country home that was a small cottage on the outskirts of Boppard. When they asked where Boppard was he told them that it was a small town on the bank of the Rhine River, a little south of Koblenz. Ammer told them that he would join them in the evening, and perhaps bring some colleagues who may be interested in the proposition. He added that he did not want to have long discussions on his cellphone. He gave them a cellphone that had a SIM card registered to his firm. Nagib and Alia quickly packed their belongings, got into the car and set their Navigator program. They saw that it should take them about an hour and a half if they took the direct route on the highways passing near Mainz, but they preferred to take a circuitous route through some small villages and enjoy a taste of rural Germany on the way.

  June 24th, evening near Boppard

  Alia and Nagib enjoyed the sites of the tranquil countryside and small picturesque villages they passed through on the drive to Boppard. They particularly liked the last part of their journey in which the road ran close to the Rhine River and in parallel to it. They caught glimpses of old castles that were built on mountain tops, some of which were in ruins but others seemed to be teeming with life. They were impressed by the busy boat traffic along the river where large barges loaded with commercial goods and raw materials made their way up and down the river amidst smaller pleasure boats and some larger cruise ships packed with tourists on the crowded decks. Most of all they enjoyed their freedom. For the first time since they left Los Alamos just over a week earlier they did not worry that someone was following them closely. They stopped for coffee a couple of times, bought some food at a local minimarket and found a quiet spot overlooking the Rhine near Bacharach and ate the sandwiches they made for themselves, washing them down with a bottle of white wine. Nagib said that this was their chance to enjoy alcohol without being frowned upon by fanatic Muslims.

  They reached Ammer's cottage that was situated along one of the small roads that branched westwards from the main highway that followed the western bank of the Rhine. The cottage was quite secluded and afforded them a high degree of privacy. They got there in the late afternoon and decided to take a nap before Ammer's expected arrival in the evening. They settled in the guest bedroom, as directed by Ammer, and showered together to "save hot water" as they joked and then made carefree passionate love. After a short nap they showered again, separately this time, and sat on the veranda with cups of coffee and watched the daylight fade away. For a long while they just enjoyed the silence that was only occasionally disturbed by the sound of a car engine in the distance and by buzzing mosquitoes. The evening was so pleasant that they didn't even turn on the lights and just sat there talking quietly and making plans for their future.

  After sitting like this for close to an hour they heard a motor and saw headlights approaching the cottage so Nagib got up and switched on the lights. The car came to a stop and when the driver got out they saw that it was Ammer. They greeted each other and Alia thanked him for his hospitality, but Ammer seemed to be in a hurry with no time for small talk. He said that he had arranged a meeting with two potential customers who could be interested in their blueprints. When asked where they were he replied that he had dropped them off at a nearby restaurant because he did not want them to see where his cottage was exactly located. He added that they were probably hungry and the meeting in the restaurant would be like killing two birds with one stone. Alia shuddered at that, not because of the cliché but because a mental picture of two dead bodies, their own, came to her mind. Ammer said that they should follow him in their car, but join him a few hundred meters from the restaurant as he thought that it was better if the customers did not get a look at the car they were using.

  They arrived at the restaurant and followed Ammer to the veranda that afforded a view of the Rhine River. There were two men seated at the table nursing cups of coffee. The men rose as Ammer, Alia and Nagib approached and Alia saw that one of them was obviously an Arab or an Iranian while the other had distinct oriental features that she recognized as Korean or Chinese. Nagib noticed that despite the warm June evening the Korean was wearing a jacket while all the others were in casual clothes. Every fine hair on the back of Nagib's neck was raised as he was sure that this guest must be carrying a gun that was scarcely disguised by the jacket. However, Ammer did not seem concerned at all and made the introductions in English. One of the guests was introduced as Mahmoud, and presented as an agent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG) and the other one was said to be an operative of the North Korean State Security intelligence agency and he went by the name of Kim. Ammer said that he had already told his guests about Nagib and Alia and about their merchandise, as he called the blueprints.

  Ammer suggested that they should first eat and then discuss business and said that the restaurant was actually a weinstube (wine cellar) but had a nice assortment of typical German dishes, including some that did not contain pork meat. This last remark was addressed to the Iranian and added that they served pretty good poultry dishes. Within a few minutes a waitress arrived to take their order and they made small talk until their meals were served.

  The serious discussion started after the meal. Kim wanted to know exactly what type of information Nagib had while Mahmoud was more interested in the price. Nagib said to Kim that he could provide a sample to prove the quality of his data and answered Mahmoud by saying that it was not only money he was after so the monetary price was not an issue. Ammer intervened and said that there need not be a single buyer and a deal could be made with both of the parties, and perhaps others who shared the same cause. Both Kim and Mahmoud strongly objected and said that they wanted exclusivity because if the information became common knowledge they would lose their advantage, but said that they could reach an agreement between the two of them as there was no conflict of interest between their countries. Nagib didn't like the drift of the conversation and became very quiet. Ammer once again intervened and said that this was just an introductory meeting and they should meet again after each party consulted with their governments. He used his credit card to pay for the meal and asked Kim and Mahmoud to wait a few minutes while he drove Alia and Nagib back to their car.

  In the car he explained to Nagib that he had brought both of them in order to have them compete with one another while bidding for the classified information that Nagib had and thus get a better deal. Nagib was shocked by the speed that the events were taking place and said so to Ammer, and he also said that they should have discussed this before being put in an awkward situation. He added that he suspected that the Korean had a gun that he did not bother to conceal and that worried him deeply. Ammer said that he need not worry because he only intended to get the negotiations started that evening. By that time they reached the car.

  Nagib and Alia drove back to the cottage and on the way there he told her about his concerns about Ammer and the rapid pace of the developments. Alia said that Ammer was family and therefore could be trusted, but Nagib said that normally that would be true but their situation was certainly not normal and the temptation to cut them out of the deal and take all the money could blind even the most loyal family member. He asked her if she had noticed that Kim was carrying a gun and Alia said that she had not, and that projected a new light on the meeting. Nagib said that he would feel safer if they left the cottage before dawn and contacted Ammer again without disclosing their exact location. Alia agreed and they retired for the night setting th
eir alarm clock to wake them up at 4 am the next day.

  June 24th, evening in Frankfurt

  Watching Sayed and his storefront was an exercise in frustration for the Americans, the Israelis, the Islamists and the German racists who were all stalking the small store. Fortunately, they managed to avoid each other, and more importantly not attract the interest of the local police. The Mossad team reported to David who was not pleased with the lack of progress and instructed the head of the team to plan for what he called "application of persuasive measures" in questioning Sayed just before midnight. He was not aware of the fact that the CIA team had similar plans, as the coordination between the two groups was less than first-rate. However, these plans were preempted by the Islamists fanatics that did not want to question Sayed, did not want to wait until midnight and were only interested in intimidating him because of his moderate beliefs in the will of Allah. Soon after dark, a firebomb was tossed at the storefront but did not ignite so the damage was only a broken window. This brought the local police to investigate the incident and post a patrol near the store in case the perpetrators returned to complete the job. The racists had also planned to bomb the store but settled for throwing their own firebomb at some other store a few blocks further, this time owned by a Pakistani. Their handiwork was a little better than that of the Islamists and the store caught fire but the quick response of the fire brigade prevented loss of life and limited the loss of property.