Once he got back to his room, he took a long shower. He dressed and went out of the hotel to find a public phone box and called Le Docteur's special number. He said that the Chechen scientist was dead before he could get to him and said that he would leave the city in a day or two. Le Docteur was upset. "Do you have any idea where the object is?" refraining from using a more descriptive term for the nuke.
Karim played dumb, "I have no idea. Did he say anything to your Moscow contact?"
"Not a thing, not even a hint. What do you intend to do, now?"
Karim had a very clear plan but had no desire to share it with the arch-terrorist. "I'll ask around if anyone knows where Yuri had been." He added, "I am not optimistic. Did you get information on the main target's schedule?"
"My contact says that he is not due to visit until the threats are removed."
Karim said he had to go and hung up. As he entered the hotel, he slipped the concierge a 50 Euro note and asked him to send a 'top model' up to his room. Within 30 minutes there was a soft tap on the door, and when Karim opened it he was pleased to see a tall, thin blonde, wearing a fur-coat, who could well have been a top fashion model. In this case, when she opened her heavy fur-coat, she appeared to be modelling lingerie. A moment later, she was wearing nothing but a smile. Karim smiled back and soon forgot about the events of the last few hours.
Chapter 17
Karim woke up with a smile, that was wiped right off his face when he discovered that the gorgeous blonde model emptied the cash from his wallet. He didn't know if she considered the extra cash as a bonus for her services or that it was her habit to do this. The smile returned to his face when he thought about the post-mating habits of black-widow spiders or the female praying mantis. At least, he had his head still attached to his body and the woman didn't touch his credit cards. He went down to the hotel's dining room and had a hearty breakfast.
Then he returned to his room to check the internet about Iran's diplomatic offices in the Russian Federation. As the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Europe, who worked mainly as an undercover agent, he wasn't familiar with the official activities of Iranian diplomats in the Russian Federation. He discovered that Iran had two consulates, in Kazan and in Astrakhan, in addition to the embassy in Moscow. The embassy was much closer to St. Petersburg — just over 600 km, compared to 1500 km to Kazan and 2100 km to Astrakhan. He knew, of course, that there were several unofficial, or undercover, Iranian agents in Russia, but they belonged to a different section of the IRG. Finally, he made a single phone call to a local number — one of the IRG operatives, Hassan Murtaza, who posed as a travel agent. He identified himself with the codeword and asked the agent for an urgent meeting.
They met at a café and greeted each other like old friends, although this was the first time they had met. Karim asked the IRG man to summon all possible help from Moscow. He explained that time was critical because the Russian authorities and Mossad were intensively trying to locate the coffin. Hassan said that it would take time to bring the people from Moscow, and worse yet, may attract the attention of the FSB, in case they were under surveillance. He proposed to carry out the search with the handful of reliable operatives who resided in St. Petersburg. Karim saw the logic of that and agreed. Hassan excused himself, said he had to make some phone-calls and suggested that they meet at the side entrance of Tikhvin Cemetery at noon.
When Karim arrived at the side entrance, he saw Hassan with another man and two women. Although the four of them had lived in St. Petersburg for several years, none of them had bothered to visit the cemetery — some radical Muslims didn't like to visit churches or cemeteries that they regarded as places of idolatry. They were all dressed as tourists, so they could blend in with the hordes of tourists who wanted to see the monuments erected at the cemetery for Russia's greatest cultural and musical luminaries. They didn’t know that the side entrance served only employees of the cemetery and was closed to tourists, so the small group was forced to walk around to the main gate and purchase tickets at the kiosk. They were given a map of the cemetery on which the tombs and monuments of the more famous cultural luminaries were marked.
They made their way slowly through the main part of the cemetery and appeared to be consulting the map every few minutes. Despite themselves, they appreciated the way Russians paid their respect to the people who formed the country's cultural heritage. Some of the monuments were themselves works of art, that in their own way rivaled the achievements of the men and women they commemorated.
Karim noticed that there was a group of people who were obviously FSB agents, walking through the cemetery, focusing on the empty spaces between the monuments, without taking any interest in the works of art. He knew that were looking for the same thing that his own small group was, but they had to cover the entire cemetery and did not focus on the area near the side gate. Hassan pulled out a camera and appeared to be taking photos of their group next to some of the monuments. The Iranian group meandered their way towards the side gate, stopping every now and then for a photo next to the tombs of some of the better-known deceased. Karim kept an eye on the FSB agents who were roaming aimlessly through the cemetery and were obviously not sure what they were looking for. When he saw that they had moved on from the vicinity of the side gate, he directed his own small group to the area.
They scanned the ground methodically without finding anything that looked like freshly dug soil. They were getting tired of their futile search and Karim suggested that they take a short break. One of the Iranian women made her way to the shade under a large tree when she tripped on a loose tree branch and fell. Trying to get up, she used her hands to support herself and noticed that her fingers sunk a little into the soil. She quietly called Hassan and Karim and showed them that the soil was not as solidly packed as it was in other places. The two men helped her stand up. Karim bent down as if to retrieve some item the woman dropped when she fell, but in fact used his special wrist-watch to take a reading of the radiation level. He then took a few steps to the right and took another reading and then repeated the procedure a few steps to the left. There was no doubt that the radiation level at the spot where the woman fell was higher than in the surrounding areas.
Karim asked Hassan to take a few photos of the group but to make sure that the spot was clearly seen. He then headed away from the spot of higher radiation and the group followed him to the exit. He looked around and saw that no one else was close, said, "Thank you all for your help and thank Allah for showing us the exact spot. Now, that we have solved the easy part of our problem — finding the correct spot — we need to address the difficult part — how to unobtrusively remove the coffin. We have two options: to do it at night, hoping there are no guards and police patrols, or do it in broad daylight as if we have nothing to hide. Hassan, you are more familiar with the area. What do you recommend?"
"Russia is still by and large a police-state. Even in normal times, there are always people around at night who would gladly gain favor with the police by reporting anything unusual. This is particularly true when the city is on a high-alert and police forces form roadblocks everywhere. I think that trying to do it clandestinely at night is suicidal."