David left Tel Aviv and headed north to Haifa to meet with one of his former instructors at the Technion who was a well known nuclear physicist. Professor Alex Kaufman was happy to see his star student once again, and although he was not told specifically that David now worked for Mossad, he knew how to put two and two together, and guessed that David's visit involved some matter of national security. David described the problem of the missing gamma sources and asked the professor what possible uses such sources could have with regard to illegal, clandestine activities. Professor Kaufman deliberated for a while and then switched on his computer and started to scan his e-mail messages looking for something. David suddenly heard the professor saying "Aha, that is what I thought" and turned to smile at David. He then told David that two years earlier he had been asked to review a manuscript submitted for publication in Physics Review Letters, a leading journal in physics, and in that paper a weird scientist from Barcelona University claimed that he had managed to produce a fissile material using gamma radiation. Prof. Kaufman said that he did not remember the exact details but that he still had a copy of the manuscript and said that it was rejected unanimously by him and two other reviewers due to an insufficiently detailed description of the experimental conditions. In addition the whole idea was contrary to all accepted physical principles. He then searched through his files, found the manuscript but said that as the peer-review process was "blinded" he did not know the name of the author though he could surmise his affiliation from some of the details in the manuscript. David thanked the professor and felt that he had a lead to an alternative explanation for potential uses of the missing gamma sources. He then returned to Tel Aviv and booked a flight to Barcelona for the next day.
David Avivi arrived in Barcelona in the afternoon, rented a car and headed to the university. He had prearranged to meet Professor Gardino, the head of the physics department at Barcelona University after Professor Kaufman had called his colleague there and asked him to meet his ex-student. David told Prof. Gardino that he was interested in continuing graduate studies in nuclear physics and particularly wanted to spend some time in the thriving city of Barcelona thus combining business and pleasure. Prof. Gardino told him that Prof. Kaufman had described him as his most brilliant student and that there were several scholarships that he could apply for. David said that he would first like to meet the faculty in order to learn about their research activities and find areas of mutual interest. Prof. Gardino agreed that was a good approach and assigned one of the department's post-doctorate fellows, Fillipe, to escort him through the offices and research labs that worked on nuclear physics and related fields. They walked through the corridors and spoke with the senior staff members. David was impressed by the friendliness of the people with whom he talked — apparently his reputation as a brilliant promising scientist preceded him, probably after a warm introductory phone call from the department head. Fillipe and David entered all the offices and labs and David was convinced that none of the people he met could be the person he was looking for. They then reached a laboratory that was closed and locked with several signs cautioning against radiation hazards. David asked Fillipe who worked there and was told that the lab had belonged to a staff member, Professor Modena, but was now locked up because the professor had taken an indefinite leave of absence. David enquired about the research interests of the missing scientist and Fillipe said that no one in the department really knew what he was doing as he behaved like a true recluse. He further informed David that all of the professor's graduate students had left him, except for Ramona Guerro Vidal who shared an office down the hall with two other graduate students. David asked if he could meet Ramona and hear more about Professor Modena's research interests and Fillipe took him to the office and introduced Ramona and David to each other and then said that he had to get back to his work and left them.
Ramona looked at David with suspicion and appeared to be skeptical after hearing his cover story. She was far from forthcoming but agreed to discuss her own research project in brief and said that it involved transmutation induced by radiation. David asked her which elements she was trying to transmute and was answered that at this stage she was only doing a literature survey and had not yet selected her target. David smiled at her and told her that he was in a similar situation — trying to decide on a subject for a thesis and surveying the field before committing himself to an advisor and a research topic. As dinner time was approaching he asked her if she could recommend a restaurant, and on second thought if she would join him as he was alone in the city. Ramona looked at him, liked what she saw, and said that she had no plans for the evening and that she knew a fine restaurant nearby. David said that he just had to thank Professor Gardino on the way out and they left the university together.
Over dinner that consisted of several small plates, with a lot of red wine, at a typical tapas bar, Ramona seemed to thaw a little and their conversation became more personal. David told her that he was a bit older than the typical graduate student as he had served four years as a junior officer in an elite unit of the Israeli Defense Forces and started his studies after his service. Ramona said that she had grown up in a small village near Girona and that her grandparents from both sides were murdered by the Franco regime because they supported the Republic and Catalonian right for independence. However, David's attempts to discuss Prof. Modena and his whereabouts did not succeed. Ramona was becoming more interested in David as a young man and less and less willing to talk shop, particularly about Prof. Modena. Naturally, she did not mention the meeting she and the professor had had with Ollie and certainly refrained from telling David about her own ties with the Catalonian separatist movement. David told Ramona that he had to go to his hotel as he had had a very long day and she said that she hoped they could meet again. At this, David said he had to leave Barcelona the next day but hoped he would be back soon for an extended period and they could then resume their relationship.
Chapter 5
David left Barcelona after partially accomplishing his mission — he now had a prime suspect involved in the disappearance of the gamma radiation sources, and more importantly, some indication that these were to be used in a more dangerous way than in a "dirty bomb". If indeed Professor Modena was the culprit, and was intending to pursue his seemingly groundless theory of producing fissile material by irradiating thorium, then the world was facing a very serious problem. David decided that a discussion with the people at the IAEA in Vienna who had informed the Israelis about their concerns would help clarify the issue and was necessary before he returned to the Mossad Deputy Director with his report and conclusions.
That afternoon, Orna Cohen, the security officer of the Israeli delegation to the IAEA, met David at the Wien-Schwechat airport. She had a lovely round face with bright blue eyes and a full figure that reminded David of the statues of fertility goddesses he had seen in museums of ancient arts. She told him that she had arranged a meeting with Eugene and Vassilly in a small discrete coffee shop after dinner and suggested that they go to his hotel to check him in and then have dinner. David was impressed with her efficiency as well as with her vivacious good looks and liked the way she handled the car through the crowded highway into town. On the way to the hotel he found out that she was recently divorced, with no kids, and was bored with her own lack of social life in Vienna. David thought that she was very young for the responsibility as security officer but was wise enough to refrain from saying so. Orna waited in the hotel lobby while he checked in, took his hand luggage to the room and freshened up. She liked the fact that he did not try to hit on her and invite her to his room while he was getting ready for dinner and the meeting.