"Do you have a photo of this Algerian's passport?"
The captain looked at the Chief Steward, and he quickly found the scanned Algerian passport, printed the front page with the photo and handed it to the German official. "Colonel Stach, this is what we have. You can call the office of the cruise-line to get more information on the man, the method of payment, etc."
Colonel Stach didn't like amateurs telling him how to do his job. Dryly he said, "Captain, thanks for the advice. My people will do whatever they can." He took the printed page and used his own cellphone to scan it. "Is there anything else you can tell us about this Algerian?"
When the captain shook his head, the two German officials exchanged a worried look, thanked the captain and his crew for their help, and rushed back to police headquarters to report to their superiors. The report was short and contained five words, "They have flown the coop."
The BND updated Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv and forwarded the photo of the Algerian man. The photo was run through Mossad's large database and a match was found within minutes. This was no Algerian businessman but the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in Europe. His full name was Kerem Zadeh, but he often used the name Karim Zidane and posed as an Algerian.
David Avivi was still in St. Petersburg when he received the news. He was particularly concerned that the NEMESIS gang had been joined by one of the most dangerous agents of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The close association between the arch-terrorist who had a record of attempts to obtain an atomic bomb with the top operator in Europe of the extremist organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran was more than just worrisome. Iran's military nuclear program had been practically put on hold since the 'nuclear deal' signed in Vienna in 2015, but the regime never gave up its ambition to become a regional power. It continued to develop accurate long-range missiles, supported Shiite forces in Iraq and sent ground forces to help Assad's regime in Syria. It greatly increased its efforts to form a direct route from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea and establish an Iranian naval port there like the Russians had in the port of Tartus. The Russians had successfully blocked this idea but if the Iranian hold on Syria tightened, Assad may have to give in despite the Russian opposition.
David immediately instructed his small unit which included Edna Rieger, Joe the human chameleon and 'The Fish', to leave Kiel and go to Stockholm to try and trace the NEMESIS operators. He added that they should be on special alert in case they came across Iranian agents.
Chapter 16
The situation in St. Petersburg was becoming more and more complex.
Dr. Yuri Bakavlev was keeping a low-profile and staying away from public places as much as possible. He had managed to dispose of the body of his landlady by carrying her naked corpse, wrapped in a rug, to one of the canals which crisscrossed the city and dumped it there. He had no doubt that it would be discovered but hoped that no one would bother to identify just another body of an old woman. He threw the rug into a garbage bin and knew that it would soon be collected by one of the beggars who searched these bins for treasures of this sort. He deliberated whether to continue making the 8 pm phone-calls to Moscow and decided that he should do so to be forewarned in case President Putin returned to the city. He was startled when his call was answered, and he was requested to give his address. He obliged and was told that he would soon be contacted by a man calling himself Karim and that he was to cooperate with him. Yuri didn't like this but mumbled his agreement to meet this man and suggested that the man should come to the apartment after dark.
Karim had landed at Pulkovo airport, passed through passport control without a hitch and took a taxi to one of the five-star hotels, as befitted his cover of a businessman of his stature. He used the 'burn-phone' which Le Docteur had given him to call the the arch-terrorist and was glad to receive the contact information and the instructions to arrive at the apartment after dark. That gave him a few hours to make the arrangements for his devious plan.
Colonel Alexandrova toured the city to keep an eye on the FSB agents and police forces who were still searching for the Chechen terrorist. The return visits of her best agents to all the funeral parlors in the city yielded no results. No one knew of the mysterious coffin. Likewise, the cemeteries had no unmarked coffins lying around and had no information of any that were recently interred. The roadblocks caused a lot of traffic delays in a city that was already too small for the increasing fleet of cars that reflected the improved economic situation in this part of the Russian Federation.
David Avivi and Mata spent hours in the apartment they had rented, watching the comings and goings of the Muslim worshippers at the Great Mosque but saw no trace of the Chechen scientist. David wondered whether he should share the latest information with Colonel Alexandrova about the Iranian operator who joined forces with Le Docteur. He consulted with Mata who said the FSB would not gain anything by knowing of the Iranian involvement and that they may take offence that the information came from Israel.
The Mossad team used the scant bit of information provided by the ship's Chief Steward and visited the Vasa Museum. They found the guide who escorted the group from the Baltic Queen that included the culprits. She said that she remembered the man, whom they recognized as Le Docteur, because of his handsome looks and disinterested attitude. While most tourists were fascinated by the story of the tragic outcome of the Vasa's maiden voyage and the magnificent tale of its restoration and preservation, this man seemed to be sniggering all the time. She added that it looked like he was happy that the ship sank and smiled roguishly when she described how it capsized. This confirmed part of the story, but unfortunately didn't get them any closer to NEMESIS gang.
Edna Rieger ventured that Le Docteur was too wise to remain in the place where he could be traced. "The largest Muslim community in Sweden, if not in Scandinavia, is in Malmo. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where they went after leaving the cruise ship. We can check if train ticket, bus tickets or airline reservations were made by them."
The Fish added, "Perhaps they rented a car or even stole one to get to Malmo." Then another thought occurred to him, "Maybe they were met by a local NEMESIS operator."
Edna answered, "I agree this is plausible. As far as our intelligence goes, not many people here remained loyal to NEMESIS after its failure in London. I'll contact Mossad for details, but I can assure you that there are not many active members or hard-core supporters left here."
Joe said that he would check with the railroads, buses and airlines. The Fish said he'd check with the car rental agencies and whether there were any car thefts in the harbor area of Stockholm that correspond to the time the Baltic Queen was at the port. Edna took upon herself to get an intelligence update about active supporters of NEMESIS in Sweden.
The search yielded no positive results. The only useful bit of information was that the few active Swedish supporters of NEMESIS were concentrated in Malmo. For lack of any better idea, the team traveled to Malmo, hoping to find the tracks of Le Docteur and company. They knew they were seeking two men and two women, but not much beyond that. They knew the names and passport details that the culprits used during the cruise, but a search by Mossad hackers of the hotel reservations in Malmo didn't yield any results. Likewise, there were no records of credit cards, or any other activity on the network, under any of the names and aliases of Le Docteur and company. This did not come as a great surprise, as they knew that they were dealing with professional terrorists. Edna surmised that they were assisted by local supporters.