'The Fish' asked, "Have you consulted with our people at the Israel Atomic Energy Commission to find out what can be done with the nuke?"
David answered, "Of course, I had consulted with them. In their opinion, a terrorist group which does not have facilities to handle fissile materials would probably dismantle the artillery shell but not mess with the core of the atomic weapon. They believe that the terrorists would use the core in its original configuration, but would want to redesign, and possibly replace, the high explosives that are needed to trigger the nuclear chain reaction." He added, "Therefore, we should try to trace any purchases of the type of high explosives that can be used for such a device."
Edna Rieger said, "This will be a formidable task, because the quantities needed are small. Furthermore, they could buy a dozen kilograms here, two dozen there and easily accumulate the required amount without attracting too much attention. I understand that there are different combinations that can be used, and that some of these high explosives are commonly used for civilian and military purposes."
David said, "I fully agree that tracing sales of explosives would be difficult. Let's approach this problem from the other end. What are the likely targets of a nuclear terrorist attack by NEMESIS?"
Mata spoke up, "We know that in the past they have attempted to set-off a nuke in London and possibly to fly one to a large city on the Eastern Board of the United States. We also know that other Islamic terrorist groups, namely the Islamic State, had tried to launch a rocket with a nuclear warhead on Tehran to instigate an all-out war with Israel. There have been other attempts by ISIS to smuggle an improvised nuclear device to the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem, or to Tel Aviv and to a shopping mall in California. Fortunately, none of those plots were successful — some, thanks to our efforts and some due to sheer luck. I don't know if they would try again at one of those sites or seek a new one. Psychologically, the impact would be bigger if another target was chosen."
The team thought about these words, and no one spoke for a while. Finally, Joe, who had been characteristically quiet, said, "NEMESIS has vowed to fight against the Crusaders, Colonialists, Communists and enemies of Islam, that included the Jews and capitalists. The operations that Mata just mentioned were against everyone but the communists." He saw that Edna was about to intervene, so he clarified, "The Shiite regime in Iran is also considered by NEMESIS as an enemy of the true Islam, even though they, too, are Muslims."
David said, "Joe, are you implying that the next target will be somewhere that is under a communist regime?"
Joe nodded. David looked around the conference table and saw that some members of the team were skeptical about the analysis, but no one came up with a better idea. "OK, let's assume that the target is in Russia. I would bet that Moscow or St. Petersburg would be selected for maximum impact."
'The Fish' said, "If we rule out aerial transportation, then we are left with two options: ground transport and naval transport. Getting through hundreds of kilometers of a police state like the Russian Republic with a nuke, using ground transportation is practically impossible. My gut instinct tells me that it would much easier to transport the modified nuke in a shipping container to St. Petersburg."
Everyone silently agreed with this analysis. David cautioned, "This is correct if indeed the target is in Russia. However, we must consider that a shipping container can be sent anywhere in the world by ship or anywhere in Europe and even Asia by truck. Let's not limit ourselves to a shipping container or to Russia."
Chapter 10
Wolfgang Scheiner, the captain of the cruise ship Baltic Queen had seen many things in his days as a sea-going sailor. However, when he was told by the Chief Steward that a group of tourists wanted to load a coffin on board his ship he was shocked. He wondered, "A coffin on board a cruise ship? During an eleven-day pleasure cruise?" He asked the Chief Steward to bring these passengers for an interview and was surprised to see a group of four people who didn't seem to fit together.
The speaker of the group, a distinguished looking French-Canadian man in his early forties, presented himself as Professor Jacque Deleau, a historian and researcher of political science. The young woman accompanying him carried an Andorran passport with the name of Lora Martina-Fonti. Captain Scheiner had never seen an Andorran passport before, but the comely woman openly admitted to him she was originally American, but her husband was an Andorran businessman. She didn't bother to explain where her husband was or why she was travelling with the Canadian professor and the captain was discreet enough not to ask any questions which may embarrass his passengers. The other young woman carried an Irish passport which gave her name as Fiona Robertson. She didn't look or sound Irish and didn't add anything about her background. The fourth member of the group was an elderly Russian man, who looked quite haggard. His name, according to his Uzbekistan passport was Bogdan Borisovitch Basov, and according to it he was 59 years old, although in the captain's eyes he must have been closer to 70 than to 60. He said that the coffin contained the remains of his beloved wife, who wanted to be buried in St. Petersburg beside their only daughter who had died of cancer. He presented the proper documentation, issued by the German authorities of the town of Coburg, to support his statement that the deceased was his wife, a Russian woman. The captain couldn't figure what young Fiona Robertson was doing with this old man but refrained from being rude and intrusive.
The captain was satisfied that the foursome had valid and legitimate travel documents and that the coffin had the proper certification. He only asked, "Have you made the arrangements for her burial in St. Petersburg? I don't want to carry this coffin all over the Baltic Sea and back to Kiel."
Bogdan Basov assured him that everything was in order. The captain added, "The coffin will be stored in the hold of the ship and you won't have access to it until it is unloaded at the port of St. Petersburg." When he saw the elderly Russian nod, he signaled to the Chief Steward to show the foursome to their cabins.
Le Docteur and Lara surveyed their cabin which was advertised as a verandah cabin. While Le Docteur stepped out of the cabin and stood on the tiny verandah, Lara went into the bathroom. She thought that the term 'bathroom' was something of an exaggeration — a sink, a toilet and a shower were crammed in the small space, and of course there was no bath-tub. The shower was enclosed by shower curtains and not by doors, and worse yet, the curtains were of the type she truly detested — those that tended to cling to your body when the downpour of the water created a suction effect. She returned to the cabin just as Le Docteur entered the room from the verandah and pointed at the bathroom door, "No sex in the shower on this voyage."
He laughed, "Well, we always can do it on the verandah, if the waves are not too high", and then hugged her. "My Andorran love, let's enjoy the cruise. The music is supposed to be outstanding, the food is plentiful and varied, and the bars are well stocked to cater to every taste — from cheap beer, to expensive cognac and the best French and Italian wines. We can afford it, so forget about the clinging shower curtains."