"It is an atomic artillery shell that was part of the arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons the Americans kept on German soil during the period of the Cold War. It is less than a meter and a half long and has a diameter of 28 centimeters", he held his hand to demonstrate the size, "but it weighs about 350 kg, so it couldn't be carried around even by four men. On the other hand, with some lifting tools it could easily be placed in the trunk of a car or a small pick-up truck."
Joe, the human chameleon asked, "Have your American colleagues told you if it is still operational? Can it be detonated by whoever has it?"
"Eugene gave me no classified information. I can only assume that it has some safety features implemented, which will prevent accidental triggering. He implied that the fissile material could be retrieved from the casing of the artillery shell and used to manufacture an improvised nuclear device, an IND. According to the internet, and you must take the information with a grain of salt, the yield of the nuke is about 14 kilotons — about the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. In other words, enough to obliterate a small town or a considerable section of a large city."
Everyone fell quiet, considering David's words. Mata was the first to speak, "Did Eugene tell you how easy, or difficult, it is to use the nuclear material in an IND? Does one need special skills or special facilities?"
David answered, "He believes that this can be done in a garage, provided that an expert nuclear scientist supervises the operation. The perpetrators do not need a sophisticated laboratory or extensive chemical processing."
Shimony intervened, demanding some practical answers, "David, what's your plan?"
"I want to send part of the team to Germany to find out whatever they can about the missing artillery shell, Edna will be the leader of that group. They will start in Coburg and try to see what's left of the US army base from which the nuke was stolen. Hopefully, Eugene will provide us with all the information the NNSA has on the missing nuke. I'll go to Bologna with 'The Fish' and work with the Italian authorities, trying to discover whatever we can about Lara's activities, contacts and supporters."
The Mossad chief approved of the plan. "No one else here needs to know about the connection of NEMESIS. I'll prepare a short factual report for the Prime Minister, without any speculations about the perpetrators. Good luck to all of you."
'The Fish' had been to Italy before, but never to Bologna, and more importantly, never to a historic site that had been turned to rubble by a terrorist attack. David showed him photos of the two towers before they were demolished and explained their cultural and historic significance. He was quite shocked by what a relatively small bomb could do to buildings that were constructed several centuries earlier and were famous landmarks. As an Israeli who believed in the importance of tradition, and a person who was familiar with the Biblical story about the tower of Babylon, he couldn't but wonder if that was part of the motivation of the Islamic radicals to destroy this symbol of the technological superiority of Western civilization. Before he could discuss these thoughts with David, he saw an attractive blonde woman approach them, accompanied by two uniformed policemen.
David formally shook hands with the woman and introduced her to 'The Fish' as Julietta Pilati, the head of the Bologna branch of the Italian intelligence services, and the person in charge of the investigation of the terrorist attacks.
Julietta said, "I have met with General Benini and he has authorized me to continue the investigation. He directed me to focus on discovering where Lara had stayed in Bologna and with whom she had contact. I have sent policemen with her photo to all hotels, guesthouses and bed and breakfast locations, including apartments that were on the market for short time rentals. They have just found the owner of an apartment who identified the woman. Let's go and interview him."
She led the way down Via Zamboni. They had to take quite a large detour to get around the huge pile of rubble that had been the due tori and was still being cleared by workers of the city council of Bologna. However, life on the street was as vibrant as it had been before the attacks. Young people were hanging around Piazza Verdi and the cafés and restaurants were doing brisk business, as usual. When they were near the end of the street, Julietta signaled to one of the uniformed policemen to ring the owner of the apartment and tell him to wait for them at the entrance to the apartment building.
She introduced the owner, "Signor Salvatore Marino is the owner of the apartment on the second floor and has identified the woman from the photo we showed him. He speaks excellent English, so you can ask him about the woman." She then turned to the owner, "These are investigators from Israel, who have a special interest in the woman. We greatly appreciate your help."
Signor Marino shook hands with the two Israelis, "The apartment had been rented for several weeks to two women — the one in the photo and her female friend. They said they were here to study the architecture and the culture of Bologna."
David asked, "How did they make the rental arrangements?"
"My apartment is advertised on several websites and the woman used one of them to contact me. At first, she wrote that she wanted to rent the apartment for two weeks, but after seeing it, and of course liking it, she wished to extend her stay in Bologna. So, as I had no other reservations for the next month, I was glad to agree. I even gave them the usual discount for long-term rentals."
"Signor Marino, did they use a credit card to pay you?"
"No, I cannot accept payment by credit card, so I only accept cash or bank account transfers. But, when they arrived I took a photo of their passports with my cellphone, as I always do." He showed them the photos. David asked him to e-mail the photos to his own cellphone. One passport looked like a standard issue from the Principality of Andorra, as the landlocked microstate was officially called. Like most people in the world, none of them had ever seen an Andorran passport, and had no idea if it was genuine or not. 'The Fish' thought that it was probably a fake document and appreciated the sophisticated touch by the terrorists. The other passport was from the Republic of Ireland, and looked genuine, or like a good copy. However, the photos of the two women and their physical descriptions were interesting.
One of the women, had a slight resemblance to the infamous terrorist whom David identified as Lara Wayne, or more correctly as Layla Maysun Mayor. Her hair color was listed as auburn, although in the photo it looked much lighter, more like blonde. Her eye color was listed as brown and looked brown in the photo, although that could be altered by contact lenses. According to the passport she was 35 years old — probably not too far from her real age.
The other woman's name, according to her Irish passport, was Fiona Robertson. 'The Fish' took one look at the photo of the young woman and said, "She looks like an Arab woman, or possibly like someone originally North African, certainly not like a typical Irish woman." Her hair color and eye color were listed as black and appeared so in the photo.
Julietta studied the photos in the passports and said she would check with the passport control officials if they were used to enter Italy. David doubted if these passports would appear on any Italian database but didn't say anything to Julietta. He addressed the owner, "Did you speak with the women?"
"I only saw them twice. When they first arrived, I met them outside the building and led them in. I showed them how to open the door to the building and then gave them a tour of the apartment. They just looked and nodded, without saying much. The second time I saw them was when they called me and asked to extend their visit. I came over and collected the additional rental fees."