David cut him short "Segan, you are a very clever man and were always an excellent field operative. You must realize that things have got out of hand. You are wanted by the Iranians who want to exact their vengeance on you for eliminating their scientists. The Russians want to "help" us but will make sure to extract every tiny piece of information on Mossad that you may not even remember that you know. The Head of Mossad himself is on the verge of bringing you in alive or taking whatever necessary measures to ensure your silence, including the permanent treatment. I don't think that I can be any clearer than that."
Julia intervened "Segan, I know that you were treated as a pariah by all the Israeli officials in Berlin. You were regarded as persona non grata at the embassy and all personnel were instructed to stay away from you. Now is the last opportunity to redeem yourself and clear your name. Take it!"
Segan just said "What do you want me to do?"
David answered "Help us find Ross. We'll go on from there. Tell us all you know about him, starting with a detailed description, or better yet try to reconstruct his face with the help of our new facial construction and recognition software".
Segan laughed "Do you think you are dealing with a rooky? An amateur? I have arranged to take several photos of him during our meetings. These were sent to me from Ruby's cell phone. However, I doubt if this will suffice to find him."
David said "You'd be surprised what a large database we have gained access to since you left Mossad. Why didn't you provide me with the photos during our last meeting?"
Segan shrugged "You didn't ask me."
David audibly groaned and said "What else can you tell us about him? Describe in detail his accent, his vocabulary, his mysterious telephone answering service in London. Divulge everything and anything that will help us to locate him."
Segan replied "I'll write down the London phone number but I doubt that it will still be in service. With regard to his accent — I always had a feeling that it was put on. A few times he slipped and his very British upper-class pronunciation reverted to something with a trace of Middle Eastern accent. I would guess that he was originally from some part of the Middle East, most likely Iran. Undoubtedly he had attended the best schools in the UK and adopted the right accent, but deep down there were traces of the original Alan Ross beneath the smooth veneer."
David said "This isn't much to go on, but I'll try to gain assistance from British intelligence and perhaps also from our friends in the CIA. In view of the contract that he offered you and the operational intelligence he provided he probably still has strong ties in Iran. The hint he gave you about Saudi funding is also helpful. If we combine every piece of information we have on him we stand a good chance of tracking him down."
Segan rose "David, I am still a true patriot and glad to help" and then left the apartment quietly closing the door behind him. David wanted to call him back and ask him to sign a testimony in which everything he said would be documented but Segan was gone. David shrugged and thought that he himself could just print out the conversation and use it even without Segan's real formal signature. In any case, he surmised, whoever wanted to doubt it would say that Segan's signature was a forgery and whoever wanted to believe it would not need the signature.
Julia looked at David "This Segan is a wolf in sheep's clothing if ever I've seen one."
David nodded "He did give us some useful leads. Let's have a nightcap and go to bed. Tomorrow I'll fly to London to see what I can learn there."
The Senior Assistant welcomed General Aslawi and Imam Mourtashef and waited for them to take their seats before stating "The Supreme Leader has approved the plan in principle, but before its implementation we will have to get his final approval. In other words, get everything prepared but do not execute until he says so."
General Aslawi said "Honorable Imam, I want to congratulate you. You will strike terror into the hearts of the infidels. We have to create the impression that we have many more nuclear devices ready to go off in all capitals of the Western World, in Moscow and in Bejing, or else their retribution will destroy our country. Our analysts don't think that any of them really care about the fate of Israel and would not move against us but we need to be perceived as a real nuclear power with a large arsenal of nuclear weapons to make sure none of them act. Has this been taken into consideration?"
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
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.