David turned to the FSB colonel and explained the situation. She nodded, "I hope your man knows what he's talking about. I'll instruct the police to stop all black hearses and question the drivers and detain anyone from that funeral parlor. After all, there aren't too many hearses on the streets of our city. Would you like to wait here or join your man?"
David considered the question, "I think we should pick him up and be ready to question the driver of the hearse once he is stopped. Could you assign one of your cars for us?"
Colonel Alexandrova looked at the Mossad team, "If this whole thing turns out to be wild-goose chase, you'll be in deep trouble. You could be charged for wasting the time and money of the security service, for conducting an illegal operation without permission, as well as trying to cause mass panic by spreading false rumors about nuclear threats. If this happens, you'll be fortunate if you are deported from the Russian Federation and warned never to show your face here again." After a short pause, she said, "Do you know that this building is the tallest building in St. Petersburg?" When the Israeli agents made a show of being surprised, she smiled mischievously, "Because from the basement of this building you can see Siberia…" The Mossad team had heard this one before, related to the KGB headquarters on Lubyanka Square in Moscow. They didn't find the colonel's comment to be very funny.
Two black unmarked cars, the infamous 'black ravens' as the Soviet citizens called the black Volga or Chaika cars favored by the old KGB, waited outside the Bolshoy Dom. The Israeli agents tried to pile into one of them, but two FSB goons separated the women. Mata and Edna Rieger were ushered into the lead car with one of the FSB men, while David and 'The Fish' were directed into the other car with two FSB men. The two cars recklessly pulled away from the curb, forcing passing drivers to make a dead-stop, and with flashing headlights made their way to the alley where Joe was waiting. Colonel Alexandrova followed in an official police car with its siren blasting and red and blue lights flashing.
Joe saw the small convoy rapidly approaching his position, and for a short minute panicked and considered trying to run away, but before he could react the first car pulled up by his side. Mata made room for him, and he joined her and Edna on the back seat of the unmarked car. He explained what he had seen and in which direction the hearse had headed, and Edna gave the driver instructions in Russian. They headed south, in the general direction Joe had last seen the hearse.
Chapter 12
The driver of the hearse, Ali Yashar, was unaware that he had been under surveillance by a Mossad agent. The switching of the hearse was unplanned and purely accidental — the original hearse, the one he used to transport the coffin from the cruise ship port, was due for scheduled maintenance. He loaded the coffin onto the new hearse and drove it, as prearranged, to the side gate of Tikhvin Cemetery, where the Chechen scientist was waiting. That gate was normally shut, as the tourists who wanted to see the cemetery had to buy tickets at the kiosk near the main gate, and hand them over to the old caretaker who was seated near the gate. Ali parked the hearse at the side gate of the cemetery, and two burly men placed the heavy coffin on a trolley and wheeled it to the freshly dug grave-site. It was lowered unceremoniously into the shallow grave and covered with soil. The Chechen man tipped the grave-diggers, who were members of a local street-gang and not employees of the cemetery. They thanked him and disappeared down the road, searching for the closest bar. Bakavlev pulled Ali aside for a private conversation. He said, "Ali, as I told you yesterday, take your family as far away from St. Petersburg as quickly as possible."
The driver said, "They have already packed everything they can carry, but I don't have a car."
Dr. Yuri Bakavlev pointed to the hearse, "What's wrong with this? Nobody would stop a hearse…" He saw that Ali hesitated, so added, "Ali, I can assure you that the owner of the funeral parlor will not come after you. He'll have bigger problems to deal with."
Ali nodded, "I'll take it to my apartment and leave. What will you do?"
"It's best that you don't know. You'll hear about it soon enough. Don't waste any more time. Go, and don't stop for anything."
Ali got back into the hearse and drove off in a hurry. The Chechen scientist headed to the Metro station and took a train back to the small hotel in which he had passed the night and had an open booking.
St. Petersburg police were out in force. They were under strict orders to stop all hearses at any cost and search them. If the hearse belonged to the suspected funeral parlor they were to apprehend the driver for questioning.
Ali turned on his radio, inserted an underground cassette and listened intently to a fiery sermon delivered by the ultra-extremist Sheikh Abdirahman advocating rising against the neo-communist regime. He was completely absorbed in the sermon and in a hurry to pick up his family and leave the city, per Dr. Bakavlev's instructions. He was speeding — something very rarely seen with a black funeral hearse — and didn't notice the improvised roadblock the city police had set up. As he tried to pass without stopping, the FSB officer who supervised the city police, drew out his pistol and fired a warning shot. Ali was totally focused on the Sheikh's agitation and continued driving, as he didn't hear the warning shot. The officer levelled his pistol and fired three rapid shots at the speeding hearse. One of the shots hit Ali's head, that exploded like a huge ripe tomato. The hearse skidded out of control and rammed into the crowd of pedestrians waiting to cross the street. Two women were killed instantly, and several more people suffered light wounds.
The incident was reported on the police radio, and the Mossad agents heard about it. Their unmarked FSB cars rushed to the scene of the accident and Joe confirmed that it was the hearse he had spotted leaving the funeral parlor. There was no coffin on board and the driver was dead. Colonel Alexandrova arrived a moment later and was told what had happened. She said, "David, it looks as if we are at a dead-end. Pun intended. We'll question the owner of the funeral parlor, but I doubt that he will be able to enlighten us. I have a feeling the driver was operating independently."
David said, "Can we find out the coffin's destination?"
The colonel answered, "We'll do our best. There are not that many cemeteries around here."
Colonel Alexandrova sent FSB agents, accompanied by the city police, to all nearby cemeteries to question the employees about a recently delivered coffin. One of the unmarked cars arrived at Tikhvin Cemetery. The FSB agent in charge approached the ticket office and the caretaker at the main gate. The caretaker stated that no coffin was delivered to the cemetery as it had had been inactive for years. The FSB man persisted but the old man repeated that no coffin had been delivered through the gate on his watch. The agent was still unconvinced and decided to bring the old man to Bolshoy Dom for a thorough interrogation. He returned to the ticket kiosk and told the woman that the cemetery was closed by police orders. She was glad to have half the day off and shut the kiosk's window, much to the disappointment of the tourists who wanted to see the tombs of Russia's great poets, writers and composers. She exchanged a worried glance with the old caretaker who was unceremoniously led to the waiting black Chaika. The old man was trembling — he had known many people who were taken into Bolshoy Dom never to be heard from again. He didn't think that this has changed so much even though Stalin died more than six decades earlier, or since the city was once again named St. Petersburg after almost a century of being called Leningrad.