Zak said, “I’ll bet we made it intentionally dirty, just to scare the crap out of the Arabs.”
“Perhaps. The Arabs themselves did not have the technology to detect this sort of thing. But the Russians did, and of course they were aligned with our Arab enemies.”
“Who else would have known what we were doing?” General Gabriel inquired.
“The Americans of course, maybe Great Britain or France. But there is one other salient point to be made. These nuclear residues provide a unique signature for any given batch. Essentially this means that any U-232 we’ve ever processed can be traced to us.” The Special Assistant to the Minister of Energy let that one sink in.
“Even after it … blows up?” Steiner asked.
“Fission would not deny identification.”
The group went silent and Jacobs stepped in. “Thank you, Mr. Mordechai.”
Mordechai smiled and loped casually back to his chair, the weight of matters seeming to have no effect. The rest of the room churned in widely angled thought.
“So, ladies and gentlemen,” the Prime Minister said, “these two particular weapons were part of this legacy. They could theoretically be linked to us. Of course, if they were used in South Africa, we could tell this whole story about how they got there. Our enemies would call it a lie and accuse us of selling weapons of mass destruction. Most of the world would probably believe our version, but we’d be admitting violation of every nuclear non-proliferation agreement ever known. For these reasons, I decided the prudent thing would be to take the weapons back, to safeguard them until things have stabilized in the region.”
Steiner added, “And we’ll have a big bargaining chip with whoever comes out on top.”
Jacobs fixed a seething glare on the Labor clod. “I gave my word to General Van Ruut that the weapons would be returned with no strings attached. This is simply a security issue, for both our countries.”
Steiner sat back, humbled for the moment, and the Prime Minister addressed the others. “Now that you all understand the background of this matter … Anton?”
Bloch stood next to a video screen that was built into the wall. “Five days ago a cargo ship named Polaris Venture left Cape Town with the weapons. The crew was South African Navy, and one of my people was on board to help with security. After three days at sea, somewhere off the coast of western Africa, Polaris Venture disappeared.”
A map came into view on the screen. Mostly blue, it depicted the Atlantic Ocean and the northwest coast of Africa. A red course line came up from the bottom of the map, paralleling the coast well offshore. Halfway to the Straits of Gibraltar, it changed from a solid to a dashed line, and a large red box was drawn around the transition point.
“We were supposed to get hourly position updates by a secure satellite link.” Bloch pointed to the red box, “Somewhere in this area we lost contact.”
“You’re saying this ship has sunk?” Steiner asked in amazement.
“Or was hijacked?” General Gabriel suggested.
“Hijacked?” Steiner was incredulous. “Good God! By who? Our en-emies?”
Zak said, “Calm down, Ariel. Let’s get the facts first.” He looked at the map. “What are we doing to locate this ship?”
“Our EC-130 took off an hour ago. Polaris Venture was equipped with two locator beacons, and if she’s gone down, the EC-130 will be able to pinpoint them.”
General Gabriel prodded, “What about the crew?”
Bloch said, “Search and rescue in the middle of the Atlantic isn’t something our country is really equipped for. We could ask for help, of course. The French and British are fairly close, but if we do that—”
Steiner pounced, “If we ask for help this whole fiasco will blow up in our face!”
General Van Ruut spoke up, “Mr. Prime Minister, there are sixteen men out there. We must consider them first and foremost.”
Jacobs said, “General, I understand your position. I have been a field commander myself, and I promise that we will take all reasonable steps to find these men.”
The “all reasonable steps” clause signaled a shifting tide.
Van Ruut pleaded, “Those men could still be out there! We have to act now!”
“Mr. Prime Minister, with all due respect to General Van Ruut,” Steiner said in a manner that held none, “this is now a security issue for our government. We all appreciate his help, but I think the General should no longer be present at this Cabinet meeting.”
Jacobs sighed. Even the Prime Minister had to choose his battles, and this was not one of them. “Mr. Steiner is correct, General Van Ruut. I’ll have to ask you to leave. You have my word that we will try to find your men. One of ours is out there too.”
Van Ruut glared at Steiner, and his reply was clipped, “I understand.” Dignified in defeat, the South African stood straight and did a sharp about-face toward the door.
As soon as he was gone, Jacobs made the phone call to security. There was no point in trying to be discreet. “General Van Ruut is on level three. Please escort him to the executive lounge. Give him every courtesy, but do not let him leave the complex.”
The Prime Minister frowned and scribbled down a note to give Van Ruut the use of his personal suite. He then refocused on the task at hand. “Your thoughts?”
Sonja Franks, the ever diplomatic Foreign Minister said, “How long must we detain him?”
“At least until we find out what’s happened,” said Jacobs. “But let’s not forget, he’s on our side. Who knows what might have happened if we hadn’t taken those weapons out of South Africa.”
Zak said, “I agree. We owe him, and he seems a decent man. But it brings something else to mind. I don’t think the loss of this ship is a random maritime accident. I don’t know if it was hijacked or sunk, but security was obviously breached. Aside from Van Ruut and half the people in this room, who knew about the mission?”
Bloch said, “There were sixteen men on the ship. Another two dozen South African soldiers were involved in the transportation and loading.”
“But how many knew the nature of the cargo?” Zak wondered aloud.
“This mission was a scramble from the start, and I can’t speak for security on the South African end. According to General Van Ruut, only Polaris Venture’s captain and our two men were fully briefed, but any of the others might have figured it out.”
“Two?” General Gabriel inquired. “I thought we had just one on board, Anton.”
“I sent two to Cape Town. One oversaw the loading process and actually went along when she sailed. The second man was only there to install the communications gear and some scuttling charges.”
“Some what?” a voice asked.
Bloch finally put forward a scrap of good news. “Explosives, big charges placed below the waterline. They could be set off intentionally, to sink Polaris Venture fast. It was meant as a precaution against hijacking.”
“What would have triggered these explosives?” Zak asked.
“Who, actually,” Bloch said. “My man on board had the ability to set them off.”
Steiner asked, “What if hijackers got to him first?”
“Nothing’s impossible, but boarding a large ship that’s under way on the open ocean — it’s no easy thing. Even harder to do it and not be heard or seen by lookouts or radar. I know because we’ve tried.”
Jacobs said, “So someone might have tried to take Polaris Venture, but then our man sank her intentionally.”