Hartman pointed at a low chair opposite his large mahogany desk and Eugene sat down. Hartman stared at the scientist for a long moment that made him feel uncomfortable, as if trying to assess the man. "Dr. Powers, thank you for coming on such short notice. I have been informed that you have divulged classified information to a foreign agent, without being authorized to do so." He watched Eugene squirm in his chair, and added, "The US government and this administration," it wasn't clear if he was referring to the NNSA or the present administration of the United States, "cannot afford to be embarrassed by an incident that occurred thirty or forty years ago. You have grossly overstepped your authority by telling an Israeli Mossad agent about the missing nuclear artillery shell. Before taking disciplinary action, I would like to know your reason for doing this."
Eugene didn't know how to react. On the one hand, he knew that Hartman could send him to a long-term prison sentence for treason, but on the other hand he wondered why he wanted a one-on-one meeting. He probably had a deal of some kind on his mind. "Sir, I have known David Avivi for many years and we have worked together on several cases to prevent the spread of improvised nuclear devices and their use in terrorist attacks against the United States and its Western allies. I thought that Mossad, with its network of agents in Europe and particularly in Germany, could pick up the cold trail and track the missing nuke. Once it is found and recovered, the US and the West will be safer. Sir, can you imagine a scenario in which the nuke is used by terrorists to blow up London or Paris and the US is blamed for neglecting to keep track of its nuclear weapons?" As an afterthought he added, "What if it is still in Germany and detonated in Berlin?" This, he believed, was sure to get the attention of the man, whose affection to Germany, and all things German, was no secret.
"Dr. Powers," he spat the man's academic credential as if it was a dirty word, "Why didn't you let our own intelligence agencies do the work?"
"Sir, they have known about the missing nuke since the early 1990s and haven't come up with any evidence about its whereabouts. I thought that a fresh investigation by a capable agency would be effective. This missing nuke will remain hanging over our head as a potential threat to our national security until we can recover it."
"Dr. Powers, I'll give you a month to prove that you acted wisely, albeit completely out of place. If your Mossad friends come up with the nuke, the whole thing will be forgotten and wiped off your record. If they cannot do it, then you can expect a long term in prison without seeing or speaking to a human soul. Complete isolation."
Hartman took a stack of papers from his desk and ignored Powers. Eugene rose slowly from his chair, wondering if he should thank his boss for the opportunity to redeem himself, and then walked out of the office without saying a word.
He returned to his own office and placed a call to David in Tel Aviv. He said, "The shit has hit the fan. I am on my way to Israel. Will send you travel information."
Dr. Eugene Powers was driven straight from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv to Mossad headquarters, where he was greeted by David Avivi. The two men headed to the conference room that was used for meetings with foreign visitors — not that there were many who were allowed into the building. Haim Shimony, Chief of Mossad, stepped in to shake hands with Eugene and welcome him, but then excused himself saying that he had some urgent business to attend to. The members of David's elite team were already seated around the large table, and when Eugene entered they all rose from their seats and greeted him like an old friend. Strangely, Eugene felt more at home with this group of Israelis than with his colleagues at the NNSA headquarters. David opened the meeting, "Eugene, as always it is a pleasure to meet you. We have done our best to track down the nuke you told us was missing and that had been lost for decades." He then described in detail what they had discovered in Bologna and Coburg, and added, "I am sad to report that the information we have gathered is of great concern. We believe that it may have fallen into the hands of NEMESIS and the arch-terrorist we know as Le Docteur is involved. Admittedly, this is highly speculative, but it is our working hypothesis. In view of his past operations, we fear that he intends to refurbish the nuke — probably remove the fissile core from the artillery shell — and use it. Again, based on his previous attempts to instigate a global confrontation between the West and its enemies, we suspect that his intention is not just to detonate it in some major city, but to do so in a way that will have catastrophic implications."
Eugene was astounded. After recovering he said, "David, it is as if you have shared my worst nightmares — an American nuke that is used against a friendly nation."
David interrupted, "Eugene, don't limit yourself to friendly nations. They could use it in China or Russia and the blame would fall on the US. The nuclear forensic evidence would leave no doubt that American fissile materials were used. At best, the current US administration will be held responsible for negligence, but it is more likely, considering the conspiracy theories and 'fake news' that your President will be held accountable, and then all hell may break lose."
Eugene hadn't considered this aspect. "I don't know what to say. If the US will admit that one of its nukes is missing, and hadn't been recovered after forty years, it will look incompetent and stupid." He saw the expressions on the faces of the Israeli agents, "I know, I know that you think this is nothing new. But, the present administration doesn't believe in global warming despite the convincing evidence, so do you really expect them to admit negligence or stupidity that cannot even be blamed on the previous administration? I hate to think what would happen to whoever is the first to recognize in public that we have done nothing to find the missing nuke, or that it had taken twenty years to discover one of our nukes has disappeared." After a pause, he concluded, "Our only option is to find it and disarm it."
David said, "Eugene, as much as we would like you to join us in this wild goose chase, I think that you could be more effective by returning to Washington and getting as much inside information as possible."
Eugene laughed bitterly, "I guess that I am already at risk of standing trial for treason, so leaking more classified information to you won't change my fate if we fail to apprehend the terrorists and retrieve the nuke."
The owner of the cottage had received a request for a long-term rental from a high-tech company from Bratislava which was looking for a quiet place to send its employees for working vacations. The head of the human resources department had read that productivity and creativity flourished when a group of employees were sequestered together, in an unfamiliar setting, for a couple of weeks. The theory was that after they got to know each other better, in an isolated place, they would start bonding socially and be more supportive of each other. If proper guidance was provided, they would perform better as a team solving problems that were presented to them by the representative of the management.