The Senior Assistant was overjoyed by this detailed plan. He said "Imam Mourtashef, you'll go down in the history of our nation as the savior of our civilization, perhaps even as the Mahdi. Thanks to you our New Caliphate would be established in which we, the Shiite followers of the true Islam, will rule the infidels. The Christian crusaders will be once again conquered, the Jews will either pay homage or be eliminated and the misguided Sunnis will either see the true way on earth or see it on their speedy way to hell. This will be nothing like the New Caliphate the terrible ISIS people want."
The Imam just said "Inshalla, with the will of Allah, we shall succeed. Let us now call General Aslawi and tell him what we have agreed to do and put him in charge of making the necessary arrangements with Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinians. You may wish to update the Supreme Leader and receive his blessing. Let's meet again in three days."
Chapter 15
David informed Shimony on the progress in tracking Segan and the English gentleman. "Haim, with Julia's help I managed to find Segan after he returned to Berlin. He was cooperative and told me about the English gentleman, Alan Ross, and the contract that he had accepted. He kept repeating that what he had done was for the benefit of Israel and that he acted like a true patriot and expected recognition by the government and redemption of his position as a candidate to head Mossad after your term ends".
Shimony interrupted "Doesn't he realize that his actions could get Mossad and the government in trouble. That the days of this type of operation are over and that even during the "cold war" both sides attempted to avoid harming non-combatants. By tacit agreement scientists were kept out of the conflict and were allowed to continue their work".
David replied "He didn't acknowledge that there were consequences to the elimination of the Iranian scientists and that several Israelis were now held as hostages in Evin Prison in Tehran".
Shimony asked "Did he mention Ruby and Sam?"
David continued "He confirmed what we already knew — that Sam and Ruby carried out all the jobs, except the elimination of Mustafa Fahami in London's Chinatown that he did himself. He said that the detailed information needed for the operations was supplied by Ross. I asked him about Ross but he said that the name was obviously not his real name and despite his efforts he hadn't managed to find anything about Ross. I suspect that Ross may have tried to pull a 'double bluff' and actually use his real name that is so common that it is almost impossible to trace. This is like Segan himself did when he sent Sam to Boston with the name of John Smith".
"What about the double murder of his agents?"
"He denied any connection with the murder of Sam and Ruby and provided me with a rock solid alibi. At the time of the murder he was in South America on a cruise to Antarctica and has many witnesses with whom he played bridge during the cruise. He even showed me the receipt for the tickets and several photos of him and his attractive companion on glaciers and with seals. I felt that there was no point in asking him for details of the witnesses but he volunteered some information about his companion. Apparently she is his third wife and still works for him as his secretary."
"Did you meet her?"
"Haim, our conversation was not a social get-together. It was more like an interrogation and I was careful not to turn him against us. I tried to learn more about the role Ruby and Sam played in his organization and he said that they had been his most trusted employees and he considered them as friends. He said that he felt responsible for bringing about their downfall and dismissal from Mossad, but kept repeating that he was a true patriot and whatever he did was for Israel. At some stage I got tired of this imprudent repetition but had to hold myself and continue to listen to his diatribe about his patriotism and the ingratitude of his former country".
"David, did he say he would make a public statement that he was responsible for the elimination of the Iranian scientists and emphasize that he was acting on his own, without approval or knowledge of Israel?"
"He adamantly refused to do that. He said that this type of exposure would ruin his business and put him at a personal risk that was unacceptable to him. I offered him the opportunity to record a video clip with such a statement but he said it was just as bad."
"Did he show any signs of remorse about the fate of Sam and Ruby or the innocent Israelis that were kidnapped?"
"None whatsoever. He only perceived the elimination of the Iranian nuclear scientists as a great service to Israel. He couldn't care less about the consequences. Haim, this means that we have to make a special effort to keep him alive and out of the hands of other intelligence services."
"David, on the contrary, if we hand Segan over to the Russians they will make him confess all and sing like a canary. This may be cruel but Segan deserves to be punished for his irresponsible actions."
"This is very cynical and fraught with problems. The Russians won't stop at probing just these latest actions of Segan and his organization. They will make him spill everything he knows about Mossad's operations in the last two or three decades, ever since he joined Mossad. This could endanger our agents everywhere, could get the present and several past governments into trouble, this could lead to further deterioration of our relationship with many of our allies. No, Haim, I have to disagree with you".
"Then we'll need to guarantee his silence in the old fashioned way…"
David was not surprised by this statement but didn't like it. "Suppose we manage to get this gentleman Ross. Find out who sent him and who he is working for."
Shimony considered this for a long moment and said "OK, David. Go after this Ross or whatever his real name is and get him to spill everything. Who sent him? Where did he get his funding from? How did he get the operational information he provided to Segan and his firm? And we need a public statement from him that will remove the blame from the Israel. Use whatever means you need to track him and persuade him to come clean and confess all. This is now our top priority."
David said "Segan is our only link to Ross. As far as we know he is the only contact we have who has spoken to him, and after Sam and Ruby's death, he is also the only one who has seen him. I doubt if anyone in the wine bar will remember him after all this time."
Shimony said "I think that once you tell Segan about the alternative you'll find him to be very cooperative.
David and Julia were on their way to meet a reluctant Segan. At first he refused to meet David again but after a short description of the alternatives he reluctantly agreed. When he proposed that they meet at the offices of his firm David said he suspected that it was under surveillance by the Russians and the Iranians. This shook Segan and they agreed to meet in the privacy of Julia's apartment.
Segan arrived fashionably late, just as David had anticipated, and grumbled "Well, here I am. I already told you everything about the contract and its execution by Sam and Ruby. I had expected that I would be invited to Mossad headquarters to receive some appreciation for my patriotic activities and instead you have come to Berlin with implied threats. This is no way to treat someone who has done so much for Israel…"