They arrived at the restaurant and followed Ammer to the veranda that afforded a view of the Rhine River. There were two men seated at the table nursing cups of coffee. The men rose as Ammer, Alia and Nagib approached and Alia saw that one of them was obviously an Arab or an Iranian while the other had distinct oriental features that she recognized as Korean or Chinese. Nagib saw that despite the warm June evening the Korean was wearing a jacket while all the others were in casual clothes. Every fine hair on the back of Nagib's neck was raised as he was sure that this guest must be carrying a gun that was scarcely disguised by the jacket. However, Ammer did not seem concerned at all and made the introductions in English. One of the guests was introduced as Mahmoud, and presented as an agent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG) and the other one was said to be an operative of the North Korean State Security intelligence agency and he went by the name of Kim. Ammer said that he had already told his guests about Nagib and Alia and about their merchandise, as he called the blueprints.
Ammer suggested that they should first eat and then discuss business and said that the restaurant was actually a weinstube (wine cellar) but had a nice assortment of typical German dishes, including some that did not contain pork meat. This last remark was addressed to the Iranian and added that they served pretty good poultry dishes. Within a few minutes a waitress arrived to take their order and they made small talk until their meals were served.
The serious discussion started after the meal. Kim wanted to know exactly what type of information Nagib had while Mahmoud was more interested in the price. Nagib said to Kim that he could provide a sample to prove the quality of his data and answered Mahmoud by saying that it was not only money he was after so the monetary price was not an issue. Ammer intervened and said that there need not be a single buyer and a deal could be made with both of the parties, and perhaps others who shared the same cause. Both Kim and Mahmoud strongly objected and said that they wanted exclusivity because if the information became common knowledge they would lose their advantage, but said that they could reach an agreement between the two of them as there was no conflict of interest between their countries. Nagib didn't like the drift of the conversation and became very quiet. Ammer once again intervened and said that this was just an introductory meeting and they should meet again after each party consulted with their governments. He used his credit card to pay for the meal and asked Kim and Mahmoud to wait a few minutes while he drove Alia and Nagib back to their car.
In the car he explained to Nagib that he had brought both of them in order to have them compete with one another while bidding for the classified information that Nagib had and thus get a better deal. Nagib was shocked by the speed that the events were taking place and said so to Ammer, and he also said that they should have discussed this before being put in an awkward situation. He added that he suspected that the Korean had a gun that he did not bother to conceal and that worried him deeply. Ammer said that he need not worry because he only intended to get the negotiations started that evening. By that time they reached the car.
Nagib and Alia drove back to the cottage and on the way there he told her about his concerns about Ammer and the rapid pace of the developments. Alia said that Ammer was family and therefore could be trusted, but Nagib said that normally that would be true but their situation was certainly not normal and the temptation to cut them out of the deal and take all the money could blind even the most loyal family member. He asked her if she had noticed that Kim was carrying a gun and Alia said that she had not, and that projected a new light on the meeting. Nagib said that he would feel safer if they left the cottage before dawn and contacted Ammer again without disclosing their exact location. Alia agreed and they retired for the night setting their alarm clock to wake them up at 4 am the next day.
Watching Sayed and his storefront was an exercise in frustration for the Americans, the Israelis, the Islamists and the German racists who were all stalking the small store. Fortunately, they managed to avoid each other, and more importantly not attract the interest of the local police. The Mossad team reported to David who was not pleased with the lack of progress and instructed the head of the team to plan for what he called "application of persuasive measures" in questioning Sayed just before midnight. He was not aware of the fact that the CIA team had similar plans, as the coordination between the two groups was less than first-rate. However, these plans were preempted by the Islamists fanatics that did not want to question Sayed, did not want to wait until midnight and were only interested in intimidating him because of his moderate beliefs in the will of Allah. Soon after dark, a firebomb was tossed at the storefront but did not ignite so the damage was only a broken window. This brought the local police to investigate the incident and post a patrol near the store in case the perpetrators returned to complete the job. The racists had also planned to bomb the store but settled for throwing their own firebomb at some other store a few blocks further, this time owned by a Pakistani. Their handiwork was a little better than that of the Islamists and the store caught fire but the quick response of the fire brigade prevented loss of life and limited the loss of property.
David gathered the Mossad team and told them to focus on Sayed's family. In a short while they found out that he had lost one of his sons in a traffic accident and had a single son left, Ammer. They also discovered that Ammer was a successful businessman who lived in a large house in one of the better suburbs of Frankfurt. Later that evening David sent the team to survey the house and they reported back that there was car in the two car garage. One of the agents touched the car bonnet and found that the engine was warm as if the driver had just returned. The agent also said that the lights in the house were still on and they could see through the partially drawn curtains that a man was sitting on the sofa, smoking a cigar and holding what looked like a late night drink. The description of the man fit their information about Ammer, Sayed's son. No other person was seen from the outside. David remembered the horrendous, yet effective, interrogation method he had deployed in Greece while chasing the Dreadful Alchemist, and called the Mossad team to gather for a briefing. By the time the team arrived at the safe house it was past midnight. David was pleased to see that the force at his disposal was larger and more experienced than the small group of operatives he had in Athens, but on the other hand their target was not a Greek businessman or scientist, but someone who understood Arabic and knew all about the Islamic State and their methods, so he decided to make some adaptations.
The Mossad team used three nondescript cars and one van to carry out the plan. David knew that they would not be able to draw Ammer away from his house and would have to gain entry quietly. Like most houses in that affluent neighborhood Ammer's house was equipped with a modern alarm system that was connected by landline to a security firm, so simply breaking and entering was not an option. Fortunately one of the agents had been trained exactly for such a situation and in less than five minutes found the telephone landline that was the connection to security firm. He knew that simply cutting it would instantly raise an alarm, as this would be the first thing even the most unsophisticated burglar would do. However, the technical division of Mossad had developed a device specifically for this purpose — all he had to do was place a special electromagnetic metallic ring around the wire and charge the circuit with a combination of DC and AC voltages. When this was in place he signaled to David that he was ready.