The Imam was not a fool, so he skeptically said "Are you trying to get us to start a witch hunt? Looking for a mole? So far I have not seen any irrefutable proof that Segan, Sam and Ruby were not still active Mossad agents working under a guise in Berlin."
David said "Once we find Segan, hopefully alive, we'll be able to extract a confession from him, and then go after the gentleman who gave him the contract. We doubt that this gentleman was acting on his own and believe that he was a messenger. The real challenge is to find who sent him and why."
General Koliagin commented "David, I have to agree with the Imam, that you have to offer proof. So far you have presented nothing but words, quite convincing I admit, but without real evidence…" his voice trailed off.
David said "General, you are correct. I think that the very fact that this meeting is taking place is a sign of good faith on our part. If the FSB is willing to cooperate I'll provide you with the details on Segan, but you must assure me that once you spot him you will let Mossad take him in."
The general laughed "Do you think we don't know who Segan is? We have kept track of him, and his firm, but he managed to keep the details of this last contract from us. We'll gladly help finding him but I cannot promise that we won't keep him for a while before handing him over to you. After all, Iran is our ally and we need to make sure that you don't concoct some false statements that you will attribute to Segan. We have a lot of practice in making people confess and own up to their actions." He paused for a moment and added "Sometimes even if they had nothing to confess" and laughed.
The Imam rose from the table "Before departing I must say that I have not been convinced that Mossad was not responsible for the dreadful murders of our blameless scientists."
David quickly said "What about the Israeli hostages you are holding in Evin Prison?" and the Imam innocently said "What hostages?" and walked out of the room.
General Koliagin looked at David and in an apologetic tone said "Well, this didn't go so well…"
David just shrugged and said "Nevertheless general, I appreciate your help. I believe that some progress was made here. The Imam will at least consider what I said and will be more open to further suggestions for negotiation. We do need to try and release our citizens who are held as hostages and we know where the Iranian regime has its soft spots. A little pressure where it really hurts them, and they will start singing a different tune."
After Imam Mourtashef's return to Tehran he immediately set up a meeting with the Senior Assistant and General Aslawi to give them a firsthand account of the conference in Moscow. "General Koliagin had arranged the meeting with a representative of Mossad, David Avivi, who was responsible for thwarting at least two attempts by our Muslim brothers to inflict serious damage on the Zionist entity. He tried to convince me that the crimes perpetrated against our scientists were not the doing of Mossad. He claimed, without providing any substantiation that renegade former Mossad agents were behind these deeds. He claimed that a private firm in Berlin carried out these murders under a contract with a mysterious English gentleman who was an emissary of some unmentioned group. Furthermore, he hinted that we probably have a mole within our establishment — either the nuclear agency or the intelligence services". Both clerics looked at General Aslawi who waved his hand in a gesture of dismissal. The Imam continued "Even General Koliagin was not persuaded by these lame excuses and demanded some evidence for the whole story. Avivi said that he had asked for the meeting to prevent a conflict between our country and his, but I believe that he was just seeking immunity from justifiable actions we have taken against Israeli citizens." The Imam had not yet shared his own grand plan of attacking Israel even with his two esteemed colleagues. In fact, there was no one, in Iran or elsewhere, that knew what was going on in his devious mind. He continued "As I was leaving the conference room Avivi suddenly raised the issue of the hostages we are holding in Evin. I did not confirm his suspicions that we had them here but then he added that they were ready to negotiate. I didn't respond and left the room."
The Senior Assistant appeared to be staring into space "I wonder if he was telling the truth. Perhaps Mossad was not involved and the whole operation was a kind of provocation to force us to do something that would be interpreted as an infringement of the nuclear deal. That would give the West, led by the newly elected American President, an excuse to impose new sanctions of us".
General Aslawi also considered the Imam's report from a different angle "What if there really is a traitor among us. If any foreign intelligence agency finds out about the laboratory in Basement S then they will for sure renew the sanctions, or even be provoked into a military attack against us."
The Imam said "I have some sad news from Dr. Fathi. He told me that the loss of our esteemed colleague, Dr. Ali Abdul Abadi, who was murdered in Vienna was a serious setback to our program. Apparently Dr. Abadi was head of the small section that worked on solid state physics. His replacement is very talented but lacks the experience and brilliance of Dr. Aabdi, so we have been seeking more outside help in this area. The problem is that being too inquisitive could raise suspicion that we have not desisted from our weapons program. I don't need to explain what implications could follow."
The Imam felt that he could no longer keep his grand plan from them. He asked the Senior Assistant if there were any audio or video recording devices in the room. The Senior Assistant stretched his hand and opened a drawer at the bottom of his desk and flicked a switch that turned off the video camera that was concealed in the frame of the large photograph of the Supreme Leader that hung on the wall behind him right next to a similarly sized photo of Imam Khomeini. None of the participants was surprised, after all they knew that everything said in this office reached the ears of the Supreme Leader.
Imam Mourtashef started presenting his grand plan "Honorable colleagues, ever since I was put in charge the liaison between the Supreme Leader and Dr. Fathi's laboratory I have been trying to devise a way that will put to good use the products of the laboratory. I was thinking of a way to transport a nuclear device into the heart of the Zionist entity. I knew that an overt attack would result in retaliation that could tear the fabric of our Islamic society and destroy our beautiful country. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that we could successfully deliver such a device and penetrate the advanced defensive systems that the enemy has developed against aircraft, short range missiles and even against our latest ballistic long-range missiles. None of our allies are willing, and probably unable, to supply us with offensive weapons that would do the job." He looked at his two colleagues who seemed to be fascinated by his words, and continued "So I thought that we could use the hostages we are holding to deliver the device. Ironically, both hostages and the device are in the same Evin Prison complex within less than 100 meters of one another."