Lara smiled, "Le Docteur told us about you. We welcome you with open arms," and she opened her arms and clasped the embarrassed scientist in a warm hug, "I am waiting to learn from you about nuclear weapons."
Rudolf shook hands with the Chechen man, "The Russians are still the evil empire — persecuting innocent people in their country and abroad, spreading their warped policies and exploiting their friends. They deserve whatever's coming to them."
Fatima just smiled at the older man and he smiled at her, liking what he saw. Le Docteur was pleased with the warm reception for the new member of the group. He said, "Let's go to bed. Tomorrow we want an early start, so that we can get to Krne before noon and see the house and explore the neighborhood. We have a noon appointment with the agent of the owners. I don't want him to see all of us, so I suggest that he will meet only with Fiona and Rudolf. Fiona knows the owners' son and Rudolf as a German vacationing in Slovakia will raise no eyebrows."
Rudolf drove the minivan, with Fatima at his side using the navigating system to reach the cottage. Meanwhile, Le Docteur, Lara and Dr. Bakavlev stopped at a large supermarket on the outskirts of Banska Bystrica and while Lara bought food for the group, the two men sat at a café and had coffee. They spoke quietly in English and avoided discussing the project in public. The scientist made a list of the tools he might need for stripping the artillery shell and for disassembling the nuke.
Lara returned with the food products, and proudly showed them the case of beer and the bottles of wine she had purchased and was surprised to see the look of disapproval on the Chechen's face. Le Docteur quickly said, "The alcohol is needed to alleviate the suspicions of the German guy. If we drink alcohol we cannot be Muslim radicals… You can say that you have an allergy to alcohol and avoid the stuff."
The scientist burst out laughing, "You misunderstand. I frowned because I saw no vodka among the beer and wine bottles. Make sure to get some real alcohol — not this pussy stuff."
Le Docteur gave a sigh of relief. "Let's go the hardware store and get the tools. We may have to return for more specific tools after we start working on the item."
The hardware store sold only the very basic tools, but in any case, these were the tools Bakavlev was used to working with. He was glad to see that store had modern digital testing equipment for electronic circuits and not the old-fashioned analogue voltage and current meter that he had used in the Soviet laboratory.
By the time they reached the cottage, the real-estate agent was gone, and Fatima and Rudolf were busy clearing a large space in the two-car garage. They waited for the rest of the group to unload the nuke and place it on the heavy-duty wood table that was positioned in the center of the garage. The tarpaulin was carefully removed, and the elongated cylindrical shaped object was fully revealed.
Fatima was the first to speak, "It is hard to believe that an object of this size," she was referring to the length that was much less than her hands-span, and the diameter that was just a little more than the length of her shoe, "can destroy a small city and kill 100,000 people in an instant."
Le Docteur was cynical, "This is what human ingenuity has achieved after thousands of years of civilization."
The Chechen scientist was even more cynical, "I have seen weapons that are only slightly larger than this that have a hundred times more destructive power."
For the first time, Rudolf realized that they were not playing with matches or hand-grenades, "I cannot believe that we will actually use this and kill a hundred thousand innocent people." He looked at Le Docteur to see whether he was seriously considering it, and when he saw the stone-faced stare, he took a few steps back, "I don't want anything to do with this." He turned to leave the garage.
Le Docteur didn't hesitate, he drew his pistol and shot the young man. Rudolf's head exploded, and blood was splattered where he fell. Fatima's hand flew to her mouth to block her scream, and Lara hurried to hug and comfort her. Bakavlev shrugged, " I have seen many people die around me, so one more will make no difference. From the minute I saw him, I thought that he was an idealist and an arm-chair anarchist, not one of us." He turned to Le Docteur, "Let's dispose of the body while the girls clean up the mess."
Le Docteur turned to Fatima, "I am sorry that it had to end like this, but you knew all along that he posed a risk to our project. He has outlived his usefulness…" He didn't complete the sentence.
Nothing else was said about Rudolf, as the remaining members of the group concentrated on their tasks. The women cleared the mess on the floor of the garage and the men disposed of Rudolf's body by burying it in the forest 50 meters from the cottage.
The scientist closely inspected the artillery shell. Le Docteur looked at him inquiringly, and the Chechen said, "I am not familiar with the design of this particular device but am sure that it is basically like our Soviet weapons. It must have a fissile core, surrounded by conventional explosives, a trigger and a safety mechanism." He saw the look of concern on Le Docteur's face, "There is no fear that it will suddenly go off. I am sure that it cannot be detonated unless it is fired from the gun — a basic safety mechanism that will prevent it going off before it has travelled some distance from the crew that fires the gun." He started to disassemble the outer casing, humming softly to himself. "Look at this," he pointed to the crumbling pieces of what looked like silly-putty, "the conventional explosives are useless — they were damaged by radiation, corrosion and time. This shell was never meant to remain in storage for half a century, and certainly not to be buried in the ground for a long time."
"Do you mean it is useless?" Le Docteur asked with deep concern.
The scientist laughed, "Have you never heard the adage that 'getting weapon usable nuclear materials is 80 % of the way to creating a nuclear device'? I need to disassemble the casing around the core and see if the fissile material looks usable." He started poking and probing, while keeping one eye glued to the radiation monitor that was positioned near the nuke. He said, "If we are in luck, we'll be able to use the core — the Americans call it 'the pit' — and will only need to manufacture a new triggering mechanism with a new set of conventional explosives. If we are not lucky — and it is quite likely — we'll have to purify the fissile material and construct a new pit. This will require time, money, proper facilities and skilled people. I cannot do this on my own."
Le Docteur followed his every move and silently prayed to Allah. The scientist continued to probe the pit for a while, taking measurements and using his magnifying glass to closely inspect the smoothness of the surface and look for any signs of damage. A long moment later, he lifted his head, "It seems as if we are in luck. The core has not suffered any visible damage. I guess we can use it as is."
Le Docteur was still worried, "Are you sure about this?"
"Well, we cannot test it, can we? So, there is always a chance that there is internal damage. In this case, it could affect the performance of the device."
"What do you mean?"
"Anything from a full yield of 14 kilotons to a fizzle — a complete failure of achieving a nuclear chain reaction — is possible."