Linda now realized that Alma and Anwar wouldn't knowingly give her classified information and she would have to either resort to blackmail and use the video she recorded during her first intimate encounter with Alma or use subterfuge and try to get her to inadvertently reveal the items that interested her most — where Nagib and Alia were being kept and what classified information they had passed on to the Pakistanis.
So she asked Alma "How is your affair with Anwar progressing?"
Alma's answer surprised her "We no longer work together as he had been suddenly transferred from PINSTECH, but we will remain in contact as before because he was still in Islamabad area".
Linda didn't want to appear to be too inquisitive about Anwar's new posting and asked "Will Anwar's new job affect our own relationship?"
Alma said "It should not have any effect because I'll still be spending time with Anwar, as before".
Linda wondered "Have you seen Anwar recently?"
Alma said "We spent some time together last night and he behaved as if the great burden that had troubled him lately had been removed. I think it has something to do with a decision that had been made and with his new job as an advisor".
Linda asked "Whose advisor?"
Alma recognized her indiscretion and said she didn't know. Linda realized that the atmosphere had changed and patted the seat next to her and motioned for Alma to join her. After holding each other and some tender kisses they moved to Linda's bed and made love. Alma felt that their relationship has gone through another stage and the level of intimacy and mutual trust has risen while Linda felt torn between her lover and her job.
Alma didn't sleep over claiming she had to tidy her apartment. Linda was glad because she wanted to report the news about Anwar's new posting, to what she was now sure was as an advisor to General Masood in the intelligence services. She knew that it must be significant and related to Nagib and his information although she was uncertain in what way.
Rahman had presented Nagib's suggestion that Pakistan should announce that some of its plutonium was missing. General Masood asked Anwar what he thought about this idea, and the physicist replied that it had certain merits, even if the statement was not believed by anyone. He added that the Pakistani government should first say that no material was really missing and it was only an error of accounting, and after a couple of days admit that some plutonium was indeed stolen and inside cooperation was suspected. They knew that Pakistan had a bad track record after the way the government handled the case of the AQ Khan network a few years previously, but they agreed that as long as denial was plausible it would do no harm to announce that some plutonium was missing. The timing of this announcement was to coincide with the transfer of the devices to the hands of Nagib.
Two small nukes were manufactured by PINSTECH according to the blueprints supplied by Nagib. Testing them was out of the question because the global networks for monitoring nuclear tests were sure to detect such a test. These systems were operated officially by an organization called CTBTO (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization) but there were other informal monitoring networks operated by different intelligence gathering entities like the American NNSA, the Russians, the Chinese and of course by India that was watching what Pakistan was doing with a hawk's eye. Under Anwar's guidance the core of the devices consisted of plutonium as described in the blueprints but it was of a lower grade because there was no super high grade material in Pakistan. General Masood asked Anwar if Nagib wouldn't discover the switch and Anwar told him the famous anecdote about the first atomic bomb of the Soviet Union.
He said "Stalin appointed Lavrenti Beria, the head of the NKVD (a predecessor of the KGB), to oversee the production of plutonium in the USSR. When the first batch had been produced and purified Beria visited the laboratory and was shown a metallic sphere. He was told that it was plutonium but being ever suspicious he asked how he could verify it. The chief scientist who was head of the project, Igor Kurchatov, told him that plutonium emitted radiation that caused its temperature to rise, and told Beria to touch it and feel the heat. Beria felt the metallic sphere and found that it was indeed hot. He thought for a moment and asked how he could be sure that it wasn't heated in an oven before his visit, but was later convinced that it was genuine plutonium".
The general laughed and said that it was a nice story but wondered if it was relevant so Anwar told him that when they presented Nagib with the device the only test he could perform without an analytical laboratory would be to feel the temperature of the plutonium core and promised that it would be naturally hot regardless of the quality of the plutonium. When he saw that the general was in a good mood he told him another anecdote. "After Beria was convinced that the plutonium was genuine he consulted Stalin and asked him which scientists and engineers should be awarded medals for the success of the project. Stalin's simple answer was to give medals to those he would have executed if the project failed". The general said that as much as he hated communism and Stalin he had to admit that he was a very practical man.
Anwar didn't like to be away from his research and his laboratory but had started to enjoy the proximity to the corridors of power and being in the nerve center where important decisions were made. He called Alma and arranged to see her in the evening telling her that he had to go to Karachi on an important mission the following day. Alma, as usual said she would be delighted because they had barely seen each other during the last week. She then called Linda and said she had to cancel their date because Anwar wanted to see her. Linda asked if there was any special reason and Alma blurted that he told her he had to go to Karachi. Linda said that she understood and they could meet the following evening. She immediately called Blakey and informed him of this development. Blakey realized this could be the best chance to find Nagib and Alia in Pakistan and told all his agents to head to Karachi and wait for him there.