The Dreadful Alchemist: A Thrilling Espionage Novel (Techno thriller, Mystery & Suspense Book 1)

by Charles Z David

  January 10th, Stockholm

  Upon reaching Stockholm late the previous night Agda and Ollie returned to their separate apartments and agreed not to discuss their vacation with anyone – each for their own personal reasons. In the morning Ollie called Andreas and updated him on the arrangements he had made with the Golden Dawn people. Andreas informed him that they were now indeed on a three shift schedule and that production was increased accordingly. Ollie broached the subject of strategy and said that he had been convinced that the longer they waited before sending out the blackmail demands the higher the risk of exposure, so that they should plan to reveal their demands secretly to the relevant governments as soon as they had the first device and not wait until they had two of them. The true reason was, of course, that for the ISIS plan to successfully detonate a nuclear device in Jerusalem only one device was required, and that any delay in carrying this out was undesired and risky. Andreas considered the proposed change in strategy and said that he had to ponder this a little longer.

  January 10th, Vienna

  At the same time that Ollie and Andreas met in Stockholm, Eugene and Vassilly were summoned to meet the IAEA Secretary General, Dr. Javier Augustin Marcos, known in short by his initials JAM. The honorable Argentine who held a doctorate in political science, with emphasis on the first part of the subject, disliked this nickname as he felt that it was disrespectful, but people kept calling him by this nickname behind his back. When Eugene and Vassilly entered his vast office they saw that their section heads were also present. They were not invited to sit down and JAM proceeded to read them the riot act, blaming them for raising a false alarm and causing panic in the IAEA and within the intelligence communities. He mentioned that the number of orphan gamma sources had barely changed since last August and that there was no evidence that terrorists were trying to produce "dirty bombs" for sabotage in European capital cities. He demanded that they cease and desist from all their activities and focus on their designated jobs or else they would be dismissed from the IAEA. Furthermore, pointing at their section heads, he said they would be closely watched and supervised to make sure that his directive was followed verbatim. Eugene felt like a school kid being reprimanded in front of his whole class and friends by the teacher. He stole a sideways glance at Vassilly whose face had turned crimson red. Both were then sent away and left the room with their heads down.

  Eugene's certainty that there was a concerted effort to steal radioactive sources to be used for an act of terror deepened. He decided to continue his investigation of the matter but to do so while keeping a low profile. He was disappointed by the response he received from MI6 and the CIA, and the lack of reaction that Vassilly got from the FSB, and decided to approach the one security organization that he trusted would not participate in a cover up, the Israeli Mossad. However, he did not know any Mossad agents so he asked for a meeting with the security officer of the Israeli delegation to IAEA. It turned out that this officer was actually a young woman who introduced herself as Orna Cohen and heard him out patiently but then bombarded him with astute questions. Apparently she had already heard the story of the mysterious increase in the number of missing radiation sources and read the analysis that it had no real significance but stated that she herself had a gut feeling that there was more to this than met the eye. Eugene asked her to convey the detailed information he gave her to Mossad contacts and this she promised to do.

  January 12th, Tel Aviv and Haifa

  The coded message from Orna in Vienna attracted the attention of the Deputy Director of the Mossad, Haim Shimony, and he convened a meeting with his experts in the technology department to discuss the possible implications of the orphan radiation sources. The group of experts included an interesting mix of older scientists and engineers with a lot of operational experience and several young and bright graduates of Israel's top universities. The Deputy Director presented the statistics of missing gamma sources that he had received from Vienna and then opened the meeting for discussion. Unlike similar institutions in the world, in this type of meeting Mossad employed the same principles used in the Israeli air force when debriefing air crews after an exercise or operational mission. In these sessions everyone could freely express their thoughts and ideas regardless of rank or seniority. Often times, the person chairing the meeting asked the younger and junior participants to speak first so that they would not be influenced by the opinions of their bosses.

  A lively discussion commenced with the general consensus being that the most probable explanation for the missing sources was that someone planned to use them for the construction of "dirty bombs". In view of the fact that this occurred all over Europe the likely culprits were, as usual, the racist, extreme-right movements that planned to terrorize their governments. One of the participants, the descendent of holocaust survivors and a great believer in conspiration theories, suggested that it could be a provocation by the extreme-right trying to place the blame on Muslims as a means of inciting public opinion against foreigners and immigrants. The youngest member of the technical group, David Avivi, a fresh physics graduate of the Haifa Technion, said that the number of missing sources and the broad geographical spread of the incidents was an overkill for just deploying an RDD and that they should not limit themselves to this explanation but should look into other possibilities. Furthermore, he said, the fact that only gamma sources were missing raised his suspicion because for an RDD including both alpha and beta emitters, especially if inhaled, would be more effective since monitoring exposure would be much more difficult, enhancing the panic and terror in the population overloading the public health services.

  David Avivi came from a family of scientists who had worked in two of the renowned Israeli government research institutes. His father, who held a doctorate in chemistry, was a senior research scientist at the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) and was head of the department of analytical chemistry at the institute. David's mother held a Ph. D. degree in physics and specialized in the development of electro-optical devices at the Soreq Nuclear Research Center (SNRC). The family lived in Rehovot, a city in which a large community of top notch scientists and engineers resided in a small tightly linked community. David's childhood was in this community was well suited for a boy with his natural gift for computers, mechanical devices and mathematics. As a child he was fascinated by the Sidney Pollack's movie "Three days on the Condor", starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway. The hero, played by Redford, worked in a clandestine section of the CIA that scanned books, newspapers and magazine articles looking for new weapons, military tactics, political intrigues and unconventional ideas. The whole section, except Redford who was out for his lunch break, was murdered and he had to seek refuge while trying to figure out what happened and who was responsible. David didn't care too much about the plot of the movie but liked the job description of reading exciting thrillers and suspense stories for a living, and hoped that one day he would have such a job in Mossad, Israel's improved version of the CIA. He sought a challenging and adventurous career in his compulsory military service and finished the tough course in the elite unit of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) as commander of a small team and commissioned officer. He specialized in all forms of unarmed combat, intelligence gathering, special weapons and tactics. After his army service he studied physics and graduated top of his class and then applied for a job with Mossad, seeing it as a step to fulfill his dream. Mossad however recognized his talent and after completing another rigorous training course David was assigned to a special technical unit that dealt with threats to Israel's security. There too he excelled and managed to disrupt a couple of schemes that could have caused serious damage in Israel. So, in his late twenties, David had combat experience in the military, technical and scientific skills and some knowledge of the way the intelligence community operated. His physical appearance fit the description for the leading actors in the Hollywood films from the 1950s and 1960s – dark, tall and handsome – so he was sought aft
er by many women who were attracted to his good looks as well as to his intelligence and keen sense of humor. Yet, he felt that the demands of his job did not allow him the luxury of having a family or even engaging in long term relationships, and settled for good sex with quite a few ladies and with no serious commitment.

  The Deputy Director thanked the participants and dismissed them but asked David to stay. He then told David to hand over all his tasks to colleagues from his department and to devote his entire time to pursuing his idea that there may be another rationale for the increase in the number of orphan gamma sources. He asked David for a preliminary report within two weeks and told him that he had a free hand if he needed to travel to Vienna or elsewhere. David said that he would first like to meet some of the Israeli scientists, particularly those with expertise in health physics and nuclear science, and asked the Deputy Director for permission to share the information with them and divulge the problem. Shimony told David that he should use his own judgment for that but warned him that panic may spread if the information reached the media so that he should caution them to be discrete.

  David left Tel Aviv and headed north to Haifa to meet with one of his former instructors at the Technion who was a well known nuclear physicist. Professor Alex Kaufman was happy to see his star student once again, and although he was not told specifically that David now worked for Mossad, he knew how to put two and two together, and guessed that David's visit involved some matter of national security. David described the problem of the missing gamma sources and asked the professor what possible uses such sources could have with regard to illegal, clandestine activities. Professor Kaufman deliberated for a while and then switched on his computer and started to scan his e-mail messages looking for something. David suddenly heard the professor saying "Aha, that is what I thought" and turned to smile at David. He then told David that two years earlier he had been asked to review a manuscript submitted for publication in Physics Review Letters, a leading journal in physics, and in that paper a weird scientist from Barcelona University claimed that he had managed to produce a fissile material using gamma radiation. Prof. Kaufman said that he did not remember the exact details but that he still had a copy of the manuscript and said that it was rejected unanimously by him and two other reviewers due to an insufficiently detailed description of the experimental conditions. In addition the whole idea was contrary to all accepted physical principles. He then searched through his files, found the manuscript but said that as the peer-review process was "blinded" he did not know the name of the author though he could surmise his affiliation from some of the details in the manuscript. David thanked the professor and felt that he had a lead to an alternative explanation for potential uses of the missing gamma sources. He then returned to Tel Aviv and booked a flight to Barcelona for the next day.

  January 13th, Barcelona

  David Avivi arrived in Barcelona in the afternoon, rented a car and headed to the university. He had prearranged to meet Professor Gardino, the head of the physics department at Barcelona University after Professor Kaufman had called his colleague there and asked him to meet his ex-student. David told Prof. Gardino that he was interested in continuing graduate studies in nuclear physics and particularly wanted to spend some time in the thriving city of Barcelona thus combining business and pleasure. Prof. Gardino told him that Prof. Kaufman had described him as his most brilliant student and that there were several scholarships that he could apply for. David said that he would first like to meet the faculty in order to learn about their research activities and find areas of mutual interest. Prof. Gardino agreed that was a good approach and assigned one of the department's post-doctorate fellows, Fillipe, to escort him through the offices and research labs that worked on nuclear physics and related fields. They walked through the corridors and spoke with the senior staff members. David was impressed by the friendliness of the people with whom he talked – apparently his reputation as a brilliant promising scientist preceded him, probably after a warm introductory phone call from the department head. Fillipe and David entered all the offices and labs and David was convinced that none of the people he met could be the person he was looking for. They then reached a laboratory that was closed and locked with several signs cautioning against radiation hazards. David asked Fillipe who worked there and was told that the lab had belonged to a staff member, Professor Modena, but was now locked up because the professor had taken an indefinite leave of absence. David enquired about the research interests of the missing scientist and Fillipe said that no one in the department really knew what he was doing as he behaved like a true recluse. He further informed David that all of the professor's graduate students had left him, except for Ramona Guerro Vidal who shared an office down the hall with two other graduate students. David asked if he could meet Ramona and hear more about Professor Modena's research interests and Fillipe took him to the office and introduced Ramona and David to each other and then said that he had to get back to his work and left them.

  Ramona looked at David with suspicion and appeared to be skeptical after hearing his cover story. She was far from forthcoming but agreed to discuss her own research project in brief and said that it involved transmutation induced by radiation. David asked her which elements she was trying to transmute and was answered that at this stage she was only doing a literature survey and had not yet selected her target. David smiled at her and told her that he was in a similar situation – trying to decide on a subject for a thesis and surveying the field before committing himself to an advisor and a research topic. As dinner time was approaching he asked her if she could recommend a restaurant, and on second thought if she would join him as he was alone in the city. Ramona looked at him, liked what she saw, and said that she had no plans for the evening and that she knew a fine restaurant nearby. David said that he just had to thank Professor Gardino on the way out and they left the university together.

  Over dinner that consisted of several small plates, with a lot of red wine, at a typical tapas bar, Ramona seemed to thaw a little and their conversation became more personal. David told her that he was a bit older than the typical graduate student as he had served four years as a junior officer in an elite unit of the Israeli Defense Forces and started his studies after his service. Ramona said that she had grown up in a small village near Girona and that her grandparents from both sides were murdered by the Franco regime because they supported the Republic and Catalonian right for independence. However, David's attempts to discuss Prof. Modena and his whereabouts did not succeed. Ramona was becoming more interested in David as a young man and less and less willing to talk shop, particularly about Prof. Modena. Naturally, she did not mention the meeting she and the professor had had with Ollie and certainly refrained from telling David about her own ties with the Catalonian separatist movement. David told Ramona that he had to go to his hotel as he had had a very long day and she said that she hoped they could meet again. At this, David said he had to leave Barcelona the next day but hoped he would be back soon for an extended period and they could then resume their relationship.

  Chapter 5

  January 14th, Vienna

  David left Barcelona after partially accomplishing his mission – he now had a prime suspect involved in the disappearance of the gamma radiation sources, and more importantly, some indication that these were to be used in a more dangerous way than in a "dirty bomb". If indeed Professor Modena was the culprit, and was intending to pursue his seemingly groundless theory of producing fissile material by irradiating thorium, then the world was facing a very serious problem. David decided that a discussion with the people at the IAEA in Vienna who had informed the Israelis about their concerns would help clarify the issue and was necessary before he returned to the Mossad Deputy Director with his report and conclusions.

  That afternoon, Orna Cohen, the security officer of the Israeli delegation to the IAEA, met David at the Wien-Schwechat airport. She had a lovely round face with bright blue eyes and a full figu
re that reminded David of the statues of fertility goddesses he had seen in museums of ancient arts. She told him that she had arranged a meeting with Eugene and Vassilly in a small discrete coffee shop after dinner and suggested that they go to his hotel to check him in and then have dinner. David was impressed with her efficiency as well as with her vivacious good looks and liked the way she handled the car through the crowded highway into town. On the way to the hotel he found out that she was recently divorced, with no kids, and was bored with her own lack of social life in Vienna. David thought that she was very young for the responsibility as security officer but was wise enough to refrain from saying so. Orna waited in the hotel lobby while he checked in, took his hand luggage to the room and freshened up. She liked the fact that he did not try to hit on her and invite her to his room while he was getting ready for dinner and the meeting.

  They left the hotel and drove to the restaurant that was located in a central plaza near the meeting venue. Both of them were famished and ordered a large plate of the traditional Wiener Schnitzel, made from veal, of course, with Sachertorte for dessert. They then walked across the plaza to the café and sat down in a small booth in which Eugene and Vassilly were already having a Vienna lager. After an introduction made using first names only, Orna asked for a glass of white wine while David joined the men for beer. Eugene went through the story of how he had come to suspect that the increase in the number of missing gamma sources was not a coincidence and that his report was dismissed by his department head and by the Secretary General himself. He also explained that when he was ordered to stop his investigation he became slightly paranoid and that was why he contacted the Israeli delegation. Vassilly then said that Federal Security Bureau of Russia, too, was not very concerned about this, while he personally agreed with Eugene that there was more than meets the eye. David was impressed by their frankness and by the fact that they were willing to take a personal risk to continue with the investigation, and decided to share with them his own suspicions about Professor Modena and his research objectives, particularly of producing fissile materials through gamma irradiation of thorium. Vassilly and Eugene remained open-mouthed as he finished his story and for a long time did not utter a sound. After recovering from the inferences of the story, Vassilly asked Eugene if he thought that there was a scientific basis for Modena's idea and both of them were deep in thought as they pondered the issue. David told them that he did not expect an answer immediately but asked them to discretely present this as a theoretical question to the nuclear physics experts in their national laboratories, without disclosing their concerns about an actual attempt to carry out the project. They agreed to meet again the following week to discuss the information they obtained and their findings. Orna was to serve as their contact as they did not want to be overheard talking to a Mossad agent in Israel.