Ollie had enjoyed the coffee and pastries that El-Alami served and during their little chat learned that El-Alami had received his doctorate in education from the Birzeit University that was located north of Ramallah, but had also studied modern agricultural techniques at the Israeli Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot and spoke fluent Arabic, English and Hebrew. El-Alami tried to understand what was concealed in the container and Ollie told him the cover story about a "dirty bomb" saying that it was only to be used to threaten and terrorize the people in Tel-Aviv and that it was not to be detonated. However, El-Alami who was no fool was not quite convinced that this was the whole story, but he kept his misgivings to himself.
By the time the guide returned, the school day had ended and following Ollie's instructions everyone else left the school's property, expect the guard that opened the gate to let the pick-up truck into the school's backyard. Ollie asked El-Alami to send the guard away for a couple of hours and wait at the gate to make sure no unexpected visitors arrived. He then took the flashlight and went to the container and broke the seal on its door. He opened the double doors carefully not knowing whether the precious cargo was intact and was relieved to see that every item was exactly in the same position it had been when loaded in Italy. The improvised nuclear device looked like a strange type of bomb, which indeed it was, and any intelligent person who took a look at it would realize that instantly. It certainly looked nothing like any known type of agricultural machinery. On the other hand, the metallic box containing the triggering device, detonators and timer looked just like any other metal suitcase, and would not arouse too much suspicion unless it was opened.
With the help of Nasser and the Palestinian guide along with the portable derrick that he had brought, the three of them managed to maneuver the device out of the container and load it on the pick-up truck's platform. They used the tarpaulin to cover the device and tied down its corners to the hooks in the platform. However, Ollie was not pleased with the way it looked with the tarpaulin cover — it reminded him of a giant egg or a not so small bomb. So he searched the school's backyard for some wooden poles that he inserted under the tarpaulin to break the egg-like contours of the odd bundle. It now had an unrecognizable shape — still bizarre but at least not obviously like a bomb. The metal case was carefully placed in the cabin of the pick-up truck. There was no room for the portable crane and Ollie summoned El-Alami and told him to return it to the garage in Tubas from which it was borrowed. By the time they had finished these arrangements the guard had returned to the school's gate and Dr. El-Alami wandered back to the container that was now empty and sealed with the metal band. Ollie ordered him to forget everything that had ensued that afternoon under the penalty of death to his entire family and say no word to anyone no matter what happened. El-Alami's distrust grew stronger but there was nothing he could do.
Ollie and the two escorts drove away and headed towards the Balata refugee camp in Nablus where there were many devoted backers of ISIS. They parked the truck in a closed garage and at Ollie's request two guards were posted outside the garage door with strict instructions not to enter the garage. Ollie and Nasser were offered a hot meal of skewered lamb and rice and given two beds to sleep in. Before turning in for the night Ollie asked his host if they could get him a minivan with dark windows and Israeli license plates. The host asked him if he had any preference for the model or color. When Ollie said his only concern was that it would be able to travel 150 km without breaking down his host smiled and said that there were plenty suitable vans, waiting in Israel to be recruited for the Palestinian cause and one would be ready for him in the garage in the morning.
In the evening, after Ollie had slipped the surveillance of the ISA agents and had not been seen since the previous day, the Mossad Deputy Director, Shimony, called an emergency meeting. The ISA director of operations, known as "the Fish", summarized the day's events. In an untypical apologetic tone he admitted that his agents had made a huge blunder by allowing Ollie to evade their surveillance. Shimony also felt that he had made an error of judgment by not ordering Ollie's arrest when he had been in their grasp, and called the participants' attention to the fact that they now did not have any idea where Ollie or the device were hiding. His greatest fear, he added, was that Ollie had the device in his possession and would be able to detonate it anywhere in Israel. The Israeli authorities had no way of knowing whether the device was already inside Israel or was, as they believed, still in the territory of the Palestinian Authority.
Unprecedented measures were to be implemented all along the border, with special attention given to any vehicle that was capable of carrying an object the size of the device. The forces manning all the border checkpoints were to be doubled and every truck, pick-up truck, bus or minivan that could carry a load of several hundred kilograms was to be thoroughly searched. Trucks carrying agricultural produce were to be particularly inspected as the container was marked as "agricultural machinery". The Chief of the Israel Police who was also present at the meeting assured the participants that the Border Patrol units would be briefed and the number of patrols would be doubled. He expected that by noon the following day all the extra personnel would be in position at all checkpoints.
The head of the IDF intelligence department promised to coordinate with the Air Force and send up special patrols of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, to fly along the border and also cover the sectors in the Palestinian Authority close to the border. Shimony pointed out that they would obviously receive hundreds, if not thousands, of false alarms as there were so many trucks and buses that crossed the border every day. He informed them that though he had considered the possibility of completely closing the border, but this required the Prime Minister's approval and since there was no information on a delivery date this situation could be extended indefinitely with irrevocable implications on the economy and on Israel's position with the world. He emphasized that the top priority of the ISA should now be to use every one of their informers and collaborators to obtain information on the location of the device and Ollie. "The Fish" said that Sheik Khalil would be arrested and interrogated as soon as a court order, signed by a judge, could be obtained. He added that he expected the arrest would be done around 3 am, a time favored by police and intelligence agencies all over the world as the mental capacity and physical resistance of the suspects was at its lowest at this hour.
David sat quietly throughout the whole meeting and thought that a completely different approach was needed. He tried to put himself in Ollie's shoes and considered the options. If Ollie and the device were already in Israel then the only practical mode of operation was to try and deduce the potential targets and to position the extra security measures around them. The targets that came to mind were the major government facilities, mainly in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, with particular attention to the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem and the headquarters of the IDF in the Kirya complex in the heart of Tel-Aviv. Other attractive targets would be at the holy places to Judaism and Christianity in Jerusalem, but he thought that the proximity of the Wailing Wall to the Dome of the Rock mosque would make this less likely. He considered a few other prime targets like the center of Tel-Aviv or perhaps the Haifa harbor, or even Israel's main international airport (Ben-Gurion airport near Tel Aviv) or a large army or air force base, but thought these would be only fallback positions. He then gave some consideration to the logistics of transporting the device into one of those target areas, arming and detonating it while allowing Ollie enough time to get away safely. He knew it was impossible to disrupt life in Jerusalem or Tel-Aviv by searching every vehicle large enough for carrying the device and concluded that it had to be stopped before getting close to the prime target areas. He raised his hand and asked for permission to speak and when that was granted he presented his thoughts and concluded by saying that the key could be Ollie's departure from the tour group when he and Lena wandered around Jerusalem on their own. He asked "The Fish" to summon the ISA agents that had followed him in Jerusalem and once again go over the detailed report they had submitted. Meanwhile the meeting was adjourned and David and "The Fish" had another cup of coffee while waiting for the agents that had followed Ollie in Jerusalem.