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

by Charles Z David

  They decided that the most appropriate day for unleashing their attack on the Jewish infidels in Israel and on the Christian followers of the false Messiah, Jesus, in the United States would be during the month of Ramadan, when Muslims practice sawm fasting from dawn to dusk. Even more significantly, they set the date at the festival of Eid al-Fitr that ends the month of Ramadan and is a cause for celebration during which Muslims wear their finest clothes and decorate their homes. Nagib said that the gift they would give to Islam by carrying out their attacks would be the ultimate sign of devotion, spiritual and physical, that will never be forgotten by fellow believers. As the Muslims adhere to a lunar calendar the exact date of Eid al-Fitr shifts by 11 days every year relative to the solar year of 365 days. This year it coincided with the American celebration of Labor Day, on Monday, September 2nd. For a moment a fleeting thought passed through Alia's mind that perhaps they should wait a few more days until 9/11 but when she expressed this Nagib objected saying that the Americans would be more alert on that date and that it had no religious significance to Muslims, unlike Eid al-Fitr. He added that Labor Day special sales would assure that there will be large crowds of shoppers in shopping centers and malls and that would be a perfect target for Alia's suitcase bomb. They then discussed the exact time for the attack, considering that there was a 10-hour time difference between Israel and California. Nagib suggested that the best time would be at noon time in Los Angeles when shopping will be at its height and Eid al-Fitr festivities in Israel and Palestine will be under way at 10 pm local time. As the target in Israel was Tel-Aviv, a city that never stops, the exact number of casualties was not expected to change much during the day or night.

  They expected that the five weeks until their intended D-Day would allow them ample time to get to their targets and yet the date was close enough to reduce the probability of unveiling the plot. They decided that they would tell Rahman and the Pakistanis about their plans with regard to the date but not the exact time nor the intended targets. They knew that the fewer people who knew their plans the better the chance of evading capture.

  July 28th, Islamabad

  Rahman had overseen the arrangements made by the Pakistani intelligence services and when he arrived at the apartment to escort Nagib and Alia, now Munir and Fatima, to the airport he was not surprised to see that the couple was very quiet and introverted. They appeared to be in a contemplative mood, each with their own thoughts about the future. Nagib, somewhat formally and stiffly, informed Rahman about their decision to carry out strikes at the same time in Israel and the US and to do it on Eid al-Fitr. When Rahman tried to learn more about the exact time and location of the targets Nagib answered that these details were not relevant.

  When they reached the airport Alia boarded a flight to Mexico City and Nagib a flight to Cairo. Rahman assured them the special suitcases will be sent to Los Angeles and Cairo by diplomatic pouch and gave them the contact details of the people in the Pakistani embassies in both cities. They agreed that the passwords used to verify their identities and those of the contacts would be "Do you remember my cousin Junaid?" that would be answered by "She just married Rahman". Rahman smiled and said that this indeed was his intention once the task was successfully completed. Rahman again raised the question of handing over the complete blueprints and Nagib answered that both he and Alia would have a copy that will be delivered at the two embassies in return for the suitcases.

  ***

  At the American embassy in Islamabad the information supplied by Linda effectively meant that their role in the pursuit of Nagib and Alia Jaber had ended as the couple was ready to leave Pakistan. Blakey felt that he had failed miserably in his attempts to apprehend the couple or even get the Pakistanis to arrest them. He started to feel the undercurrents in the Pakistani administration that became evident with the "suicide" of the minister of defense shortly after being briefed by the ambassador about the sensitive information that was in the possession of Nagib. He also understood that his best source in the Pakistani nuclear establishment had dried out when Linda and Alma curtailed their affair. He was not really surprised when he was summoned back to Langley for an indefinite period.

  ***

  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 28th, 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 sw
itch 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 30th, 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 30th, 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.

  Part 5. Getting set for the big event

  Chapter 16

  July 30th, 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 21st 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.