While all this action, or more precisely lack of action, was taking place near Sayed's store, his son, Ammer, and the house guests, Nagib and Alia, were having a serious discussion. At breakfast, Nagib said that he had reached a decision to confide in Ammer and told him that it was quite a long story so Ammer called his office and said that he won't be in and instructed his secretary to cancel all his appointments for the day. Nagib then gave a brief account of his own history in the United States, beginning with his days as a graduate student at NMSU and ending with his employment as a research scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He added that almost from the very beginning of his studies in the US he had been plotting his revenge against the Israelis for destroying his parents' home and arresting his brother. After his brother's release from prison his passion for retribution abated a little but when his brother was murdered by an American made rocket fired from an Israeli drone he decided that his reprisal would be of unimaginable enormity and unprecedented magnitude. He added that Alia was in cahoots with him about vengeance against the Israelis due to the humiliation she had personally suffered when she visited her family, but did not want to inflict damage on the US that afforded a better life for her parents.
Ammer was impressed and asked "What have you got?"
Nagib responded "Blueprints of the most advanced nuclear weapons in the US arsenal".
Ammer whistled out loud, his face blanched and he asked "I am curious, how did you get these designs?"
Nagib told him the whole story about using the opportunity of a lifetime to download the plans.
Ammer, who was a shrewd businessman was skeptical and asked "Are you sure that these are genuine designs?"
Nagib was slightly offended and said "These are as genuine as you can get. I vouch for this".
Ammer was still skeptical and said "In my business there are several stages of developing a product. First you have an idea then you examine its theoretical feasibility and design a prototype. Sometimes the prototype design is never even built, in other cases it is abandoned after initial testing and is produced only after modifications and successful tests. Are you sure that what you have is indeed the final, tested and approved designs?"
Nagib's face turned red as blood rushed to his face and said "The blueprints were stamped as "highly classified, sensitive, top secret", of course they must be the real thing".
Ammer, who saw Nagib's reaction, realized that he was on a very delicate point — after all, Nagib had risked everything he had worked for all his life as well as the prospects of leading a normal family life with Alia for these blueprints. So he decided to drop the discussion on the verification of the true value of the designs. He inquired "have you considered who would be interested and willing to pay for the blueprints?"
Nagib simply responded "Any country or organization that has nuclear ambitions".
Ammer then asked "Nagib, what do you think the designs are worth?"
Nagib replied "I am not interested in money, only in revenge". He then continued "I would be willing to trade these designs for a chance to get back at the Israelis" and added "I have talked about this with Alia and we thought that the Iranians would be very interested in the blueprints as would be the Pakistanis. Perhaps other countries with aspirations of becoming nuclear powers like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt would be interested. We believe that the Islamic State would also be very keen to lay their hands on such a design and would use it to blackmail their enemies in Iraq and Syria and force them to surrender control of their country to ISIS forces under threat of annihilation by nuclear weapons".
Ammer said that it was quite a long list, and Nagib said that he had only mentioned the Muslim countries but North Korea was also a good candidate for bartering. Ammer said that he needed to think about this astounding information and added that he wanted to make a few discreet phone calls. He then raised an issue about the safety and security of Nagib and Alia, and by proxy about his own safety. Nagib said that he was sure that the US authorities are searching for him and assumed that it was only a matter of time before they tracked him to Germany. He said that they hadn't had time to prepare their disappearance from the US when the opportunity to get the classified documents presented itself so the authorities could be close. Ammer was worried that his involvement in their escape would be discovered and suggested that they borrow one of his cars, originally registered to his firm, and drive to his country home that was a small cottage on the outskirts of Boppard. When they asked where Boppard was he told them that it was a small town on the bank of the Rhine River, a little south of Koblenz. Ammer told them that he would join them in the evening, and perhaps bring some colleagues who may be interested in the proposition. He added that he did not want to have long discussions on his cellphone. He gave them a cellphone that had a SIM card registered to his firm. Nagib and Alia quickly packed their belongings, got into the car and set their Navigator program. They saw that it should take them about an hour and a half if they took the direct route on the highways passing near Mainz, but they preferred to take a circuitous route through some small villages and enjoy a taste of rural Germany on the way.
Alia and Nagib enjoyed the sites of the tranquil countryside and little villages they passed through on the drive to Boppard. They particularly liked the last part of their journey in which the road ran close to the Rhine River and in parallel to it. They caught glimpses of old castles that were built on mountain tops, some of which were in ruins but others seemed to be teaming with life. They were impressed by the busy boat traffic along the river where large barges loaded with commercial goods and raw materials made their way up and down the river amidst smaller pleasure boats and some larger cruise ships packed with tourists on the crowded decks. Most of all they enjoyed their freedom. For the first time since they left Los Alamos just over a week earlier they did not worry that someone was following them closely. They stopped for coffee a couple of times, bought some food at a local minimarket and found a quiet spot overlooking the Rhine near Bacharach and ate the sandwiches they made for themselves, washing them down with a bottle of white wine. Nagib said that this was their chance to enjoy alcohol without being frowned upon by fanatic Muslims.
They reached Ammer's cottage that was situated along one of the small roads that branched westwards from the main highway that followed the western bank of the Rhine. The cottage was quite secluded and afforded them a high degree of privacy. They got there in the late afternoon and decided to take a nap before Ammer's expected arrival in the evening. They settled in the guest bedroom, as directed by Ammer, and showered together to "save hot water" as they joked and then made carefree passionate love. After a short nap they showered again, separately this time, and sat on the veranda with cups of coffee and watched the daylight fade away. For a long while they just enjoyed the silence that was only occasionally disturbed by the sound of a car engine in the distance and by buzzing mosquitoes. The evening was so pleasant that they didn't even turn on the lights and just sat there talking quietly and making plans for their future.
After sitting like this for close to an hour they heard a motor and saw headlights approaching the cottage so Nagib got up and switched on the lights. The car came to a stop and when the driver got out they saw that it was Ammer. They greeted each other and Alia thanked him for his hospitality, but Ammer seemed to be in a hurry with no time for small talk. He said that he had arranged a meeting with two potential customers who could be interested in their blueprints and had dropped them off at a nearby restaurant as he did not want them to see where his cottage was exactly located. He added that they were probably hungry and the meeting in the restaurant would be like killing two birds with one stone. Alia shuddered at that, not because of the cliché but because a picture of two dead bodies, their own, came to her mind. Ammer said that they should follow him in their car, but join him a few hundred meters from the restaurant as he thought that it was better if the customers did not get a look at the car they were using.