The Senior Assistant asked "Do any of the plane's crew know what they are carrying?"
The Imam smiled "When they reach Allah they'll know for sure."
General Koliagin was chain smoking and his ashtray was so full that he used his empty coffee cup for the half-smoked cigarettes and ash. He couldn't rid himself of the feeling that he had all the pieces of the puzzle but didn't know how to arrange them. He called his secretary and she gave him her usual anti-stress treatment cuddling his head between her ample breasts and letting them brush his shoulders. Suddenly he shouted "Aha, it's the plane with the hostages". His secretary smiled and kissed the top of his head and he visibly relaxed.
The activity in the hostages' cell was like a beehive ever since the previous evening when they were told they would be released the next day. They all tried to gather their meager belongings in the plastic bags that Fatso had given them. Each was limited to a single bag so they had to select what to take back to Israel and what to leave behind.
Zorik wanted to leave everything behind him and to do his best to forget the time he and Inbal had spent in the prison cell. He did a quick mental calculation and realized that he had been incarcerated in Evin Prison since September 20th, a little over six weeks. Even if he added the time since his capture on Dal Lake in Srinagar, an event that seemed to be decades earlier, it was less than two months. He was amazed how much happened and how his life and perspective had changed in such a short time. Like all other prisoners he was looking forward to be reunited with his family and friends and to announce his wedding date. He and Inbal had quietly discussed this and decided that they would get married as soon as possible, they even considered asking the Imam to perform the ceremony. They would hold a small party for their closest friends and family and have no media coverage when, they refused to think in terms of "if", they were free.
The other hostages were also in euphoria. Jokes, old and new ones, were exchanged from one end of the cell to the other end. Fatso looked at the captives and thought he would miss bossing them around. He had been told that they would be taken to the airport at 10 am and was waiting for the guards as the time was approaching. A moment later a number of armed guards entered the corridor and Fatso joined them with the hostages as they marched to a waiting bus. They all boarded the bus with two guards in the back of the bus and two at the front. No one bothered to tie the prisoners or chain them to their seats — they were on their way to freedom and were not about to cause any problems. They started singing and clapping their hands and the guards watched them with benign smiles.
A closed van was driving just ahead of the bus. It had a large trunk in its middle section and half a dozen fully armed guards were seated around it. The trunk was tied firmly to special metal rings that were welded to the floor of the van. Dr. Fathi himself was seated next to the driver. Unlike the bus the atmosphere in the van was solemn, although Fathi was the only one who knew that they were literally sitting on a nuclear bomb. The van stopped just short of the private jet and the trunk was loaded onto the plane. Fathi gave an order and everyone got off the plane and left him alone with the trunk. He unlocked it and set the dual triggering mechanism. The transmitter had been carried by an IRG officer on a direct flight from Tehran to Beirut the previous day and was now on location in southern Lebanon. Fathi took a second look at the mechanical triggering device and shook his head in disgust. This mechanism had not been tested due to the short notice he was given by the Imam a mere 36 hours earlier. He had tried to express his reservations about the hasty way the project was unfolding but was told to keep his opinion to himself.
When Fathi finished his preparations he closed the trunk and locked it. He made sure that it was firmly secured in place with the steel cables. He descended the stairway and was met by the pilot. He gave the pilot a thumbs up sign and handed him the fake key. He didn't want to say another word to those people who he knew were condemned to death in a nuclear blast. At least they would suffer, he thought, and then wondered how cynical he had become.
The pilot and co-pilot took their seats and the two cabin stewards prepared for take-off while the hostages boarded the plane and took their seats. They buckled up and tried to relax but the tension and excitement were too great and they clung to the armrests with both hands. Zorik looked around him and saw that the crew was watching them calmly so he loosened up a little. The cockpit door was closed but it looked as if it was not the reinforced type that commercial planes had installed after 9/11. He just speculated what would happen if the hostages decided to overpower their captors and take control of the plane. He knew he could fly it but didn't think this would ever happen.
The twin engines revved up and the plane taxied to its take-off position. The control tower wished flight IRG101, as it was now called, a pleasant and safe journey and within minutes it was airborne and heading west.
Chapter 20
The large air force base was empty, except for a couple of civil aviation planes in which David and a dozen elite unit soldiers arrived in and three military helicopters. There was one other helicopter that was chartered by the Israeli TV channel and carried an airborne camera crew. Another camera crew was waiting on the ground right next to the runway. The base personnel were taken by buses to the nearby resort town of Eilat. They were told that they deserved a day off and the government had funded a day of fun and games on the shores of the Red Sea.
The Iranian plane, flight IRG 101, was directed to land at Ovda air field by the control tower of Ben-Gurion airport. The pilot was informed that an emergency situation had developed and a Jumbo jet was stranded on the runway so the field was closed. The pilot reported this to his controller in Tehran and was told to proceed as directed. He asked for assistance and was given a vector by the Ovda control tower. He was a bit surprised to see that he was escorted by a single F-16 fighter jet. He didn't see that three other F-16's were flying high above him because his radar couldn't see directly upward. He also didn’t know that the lead F-16 pilot had been instructed to shoot his plane down if it deviated from its flight path.
The Iranian jet approached the Ovda air field and given permission to land on runway 02/20. The landing was much rougher than usual and the plane hit the ground with a thud that sent the hearts racing of everyone on board. The trunk in the hold of the plane was jarred by the impact but remained in place thanks to the steel cables that tied it down. Zorik didn't appreciate the pilot's skills but he didn't know that the control tower sent him to land downwind so his ground speed was higher than his airspeed when he actually touched down.