They met in the IAEA employees' cafeteria and Eugene described his concerns about the increase in the number of reports of missing gamma sources and they both discussed the implications. Vassilly asked if this could just be a coincidence but Eugene told him that the extent of reports and their geographical distribution made this an unlikely explanation. Vassilly then suggested that perhaps some international conspiracy aiming to detonate several "dirty bombs" simultaneously in different European capital cities was involved. The immediate suspect was a terrorist organization with a global network of supporters and naturally El Qaida was the first one that came to mind. They decided to consult with an expert on global terrorism to try and get to the bottom of this. They both knew that Colin Thomas, a former counter-terror department head at the British MI6, was now a member of the UK delegation to IAEA, and arranged to meet with him on an urgent matter after dinner.
Thomas heard them out with growing interest and looked very worried when they expressed their fear of a coordinated "dirty bomb" attack in several cities. He explained that although the expected number of direct casualties from each of these attacks would be very small, involving mostly people injured from the detonation of the conventional explosives used to disperse the radioactive material, the disruption of normal life that would follow could upset the global economy. In addition, the financial costs of cleaning contaminated areas could be extensive, particularly if the most expensive commercial real estate areas were involved. Another aspect to consider was the panic factor — people who were nowhere near the incident site would overcrowd the hospitals demanding to be examined and this could lead to a collapse of the medical services further enhancing the public's panic.
With these sobering words the three people each went their own ways. Eugene immediately called his contacts at the US Embassy who in turn sent an urgent message to the White House, the State Department and the director of the CIA. Vassilly went directly from the meeting to the FSB Resident who represented the Federal Security Bureau (FSB) of the Russian Federation and Colin Thomas used a secure line to phone the duty officer at Thames House. In addition, Eugene made sure that all the major security services in Europe received warning that a terrorist plot to deploy unconventional radioactive dispersion devices was suspected.
The result of the actions of the European secret services and police forces was exactly what Ollie had hoped for — increasing security in the centers of the major cities, drawing troops and police forces from the countryside and smaller cities. Furthermore, Ollie had advised Andreas to invest most of the funds contributed by the different movements in companies that manufactured radiation detectors. The stock value of these companies jumped fivefold within two weeks, just as they had after the Fukushima accident. The manufacturers of personal radiation detectors, especially those that could be worn on a person's wrist like watches, could not meet the huge demand and opened new production lines in China. Ollie cashed the stock holdings and the coffers of the Astraea joint venture increased accordingly.
Professor Modena flew to Stockholm to report the progress of the project and to describe the small delay in production of the first batch. Ollie and Andreas took advantage of the opportunity that the professor was in Stockholm for a strategy discussion. The three of them debated whether to disclose the existence of their improvised nuclear device after completion of the first one or to wait until they had a second device so they could demonstrate that they meant business by detonating one device and using the other for blackmailing the governments. They could not reach an agreement on this point as the professor wanted an early demonstration to prove to the world his genius while Andreas and Ollie said that they were afraid that they would not be believed until they used one device for a demonstration and in that case a second device had to be held in reserve to make their threats credible and their demands acceptable.
At this early stage of the project there were only a dozen or so people who knew where the laboratory was and what its true purpose was. These included Andreas and Ollie, Professor Modena and his team of seven professionals (three scientists, two engineers and two technicians), the administrator responsible for the purchasing and running of the laboratory and the executive head of the Italian separatist party who was involved in setting up the laboratory. The two local drivers in charge of transporting the gamma sources from Milan to the laboratory knew where it was but not its objective, and then there were the several delegates and the top people in their organizations who knew the alleged purpose of the Astraea project but not the location of the warehouse. Nobody was aware of Ollie's real purpose that had nothing to do with blackmailing European governments to dispose of "undesirable elements".
The small size of the production workforce in the laboratory meant that they could only work two shifts a day with each shift consisting of a scientist, an engineer and a technician. The third scientist and the professor shared the responsibility for overseeing the other employees. Andreas and Ollie asked the professor whether they should not enlist a few more people in order to expedite the production of uranium-233, but he said that finding professionals who were dedicated to the cause would be difficult and could detrimentally affect the strict security measures, while taking in dedicated, unprofessional people, would increase the safety risks.
The direct result of this situation, the three of them realized, was that the production of the fissile material might take a full year.
Chapter 4
El Kahiri lay mortally wounded after his Toyota jeep was attacked by a crowd of angry women on the way from his headquarters to the front lines. Apparently he had received a distress call for help from one of his units that was in charge of controlling the local population in a small village, mainly by using intimidation and random brutality intended to induce fear by exemplary punishment of innocent bystanders.
He travelled with three of his bodyguards in a lone jeep as he did not expect any real resistance from a bunch of women. However, when he reached the small village he saw that perhaps 100 women were encircling his fighters, shouting and pointing at the small blood covered bodies of what looked from a distance like dead dogs. When they got a little closer he saw that the bodies belonged to three babies. His men were holding their weapons pointed at the angry mob but hesitated to fire.
El Kahiri took in the situation and immediately drew his own AK47 and started shooting at the closest group of women, cutting them down. His bodyguards joined him and within seconds there were three dozen dead and injured protesters.
The remaining women stormed the jeep with short daggers and kitchen knives they drew from the folds of their chadors and some of them managed to stab El Kahiri and his bodyguards before being mowed down by the combined firepower of the encircled unit and the bodyguards.