In the evening Anwar had a date with his girlfriend after calling her and telling her that he wanted something special to celebrate a breakthrough. Alma did not know what to expect but his jovial mood was contagious and she sang to herself softly while cooking his favorite dishes. She was surprised when he turned up on her doorstep at the appointed time and took a bottle of wine out of his bag and presented it to her with a big smile. This was quite unusual as they seldom drank alcohol together. Of course, he had no idea that she and Linda regularly consumed a couple of wine bottles whenever they spent an evening with each other. She opened the wine bottle and filled a couple of glasses and asked him what they were celebrating. Once again he smiled and said he wished to make a toast.
She looked at him as he said "Alma, it is time we got married"
Before he could continue she burst out laughing and said "Yes, but who will take us?" when she saw the astonished look on his face, she added "Of course, I agree. I love you."
Anwar suddenly felt relieved because for a moment he thought she was serious, and said "There is something else I wish to celebrate. You must have noticed that I had been distraught recently, and you know that I was away from my laboratory at PINSTECH on a special assignment. Well, now this problem has been solved and I'll return to the laboratory in a couple of days."
Alma suggested that they drink another glass to commemorate that and before long the bottle was empty. She went into the kitchen and brought out another bottle. He was a bit surprised to see that she had wine in the house and when she saw his inquisitive look she said that a girlfriend had given it to her and told her to open it if there was a very special reason, so his marriage proposal was indeed a good reason. Anwar didn't enquire who the friend was and that was just as well because Alma didn't want to tell him about her relationship with Linda.
Once they had consumed dinner and the two bottles of wine they retired to the bedroom to seal the deal in the most pleasurable way. Anwar had noted that their lovemaking had become much more intense and enjoyable during the last few months and attributed it to his own improved technique. This contributed to his ego and he felt elated that he had made her an active partner in their love life, not realizing that Alma guided him every step of the way. Alma was glad to see him in such a good mood and said "I would love for you to share this problem and its solution with me, if you can without breaching any security issues." He said "You know I cannot tell you all about it, but as the problem is solved I can tell you about something that happened today that concerns plutonium. In your work at PINSTECH you have come across this material and you know that the grade of plutonium cannot be determined by alpha spectrometry because the two important isotopes, plutonium-239 and plutonium-240 are practically indistinguishable. Today, I managed to convince another scientist that low-grade plutonium was high-grade material." She asked who the scientist was and he said "Someone who now calls himself Munir Abu Jihad and he will be very famous soon, so remember the name". Both of them fell asleep with a satiated smile on their face.
Blakey and his staff at the American embassy were frustrated because they failed to stop Nagib and Alia. What was even worse from their point of view was the fact that the couple had been no more than a few meters from them in the hotel lobby in Karachi and there was nothing they could do about it because of the heavily armed entourage that accompanied them. Blakey's informers reported that the special jet had landed in Islamabad and that another armed convoy escorted the passengers to an undisclosed location. Blakey felt that the horses were about to leave the stable and that there was no way to bring them back. None of his contacts could provide any useful information except to say that the big project overseen by General Masood, whatever it was, appeared to be coming to an end. Blakey turned to Linda and asked her if she could use her own contact to figure out what was happening and Linda said she would try to arrange a meeting with Alma.
The Iranians and North Koreans were no better off than the Americans. They knew that something big was afoot in Islamabad and deduced that it concerned PINSTECH but none of their agents and collaborators could supply any useful details. The Iranians heard from one of the guards of the side gate that a small convoy headed by an operative of the Pakistani intelligence services entered the site and one jeep drove to a small hangar while the other two remained at the gate. The jeep's windows were shaded and he couldn't see who was inside but noted that there were silhouettes of a man and a woman seated in the back seat. He added that the small hangar was well guarded and that was quite irregular. The Iranian who received this report told the guard to keep an eye on the hangar and report any activity. He also called his North Korean colleague and in an unusual gesture shared the information with him.
The official announcement by the Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) was highly out of character. It said that the Head of PAEC initiated a formal investigation into the disappearance of an undisclosed amount of plutonium from the stores of PINSTECH. This was unusual because these things were generally kept far away from the public eye. The announcement was received by all foreign intelligence agencies as a ruse and not as a credible fact.
Chapter 15
At noon Rahman entered the safe house in which Alia and Nagib were staying and waving a wad of American dollars and two Pakistani passports greeted them by their new names Fatima and Munir Abu Jihad. Nagib looked through the passports and was glad to see that they appeared to be used with several entry and exit stamps in the first five pages. Rahman then asked them if they had decided where they wanted to go, and more importantly what was their chosen destination for the suitcases. Considering that their prime targets were Israel and the USA that was a very complicated issue. First, because holders of Pakistani passports could not enter Israel at all and there was no embassy or even a Pakistani delegation in Israel. Second, going to the United States with Pakistani passports required a visa which they had no chance of obtaining and in addition it would also be very risky for the couple to set foot on American soil. Even if the suitcase could be shipped there with immunity and impunity as a "diplomatic pouch" they wouldn't be able to legally enter either country.
Nagib said that they wanted to detonate the devices simultaneously in Israel and the US and therefore each of them would have to travel alone to their separate destinations. Their plan was for Alia to travel to Mexico and infiltrate into southern California with the multitude of illegal aliens that crossed the porous border every day or night. So they requested that one suitcase should be sent to the consulate general of Pakistan in Los Angeles, either directly or via the embassy in Washington, DC. Alia would identify herself to the representative of the Pakistani intelligence service and he would hand over the suitcase. He would also hire some regular criminals to assist her if that was needed but in no way would directly involve Pakistan in the final act of planting the bomb.