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

by Charles Z David

  They then called in the head of the Italian desk and his boss, the head of Mossad's international relations, and asked for a detailed description of the assets that would be available for finding Professor Modena and the rogue British scientist, Dr. Smalley, in Padova, if indeed they were together. The head of the Italian desk told them that Padova itself had slightly more than 200,000 residents but it served as a center for the surrounding area with a total population of over 1.5 million. Going about it with brute force would be like finding a needle in a haystack. There were about 75 hotels in the area, a manageable number for a door to door search, but he said that for a long term operation involving a workforce of a dozen or so people, it would be more likely that they would rent an apartment or two. Carrying out a search for rentals of this sort would be feasible but he believed that they were more likely to rent a large villa in the area surrounding Padova, with enough grounds to establish a laboratory of the type required for producing U-233. He suggested that they focus on this target area and screen all recent, long term rentals of such villas, and also look for large purchases of food supplies that were delivered to the suspect villas. David alleged that they shouldn't confine themselves to preconceptions and must also look for any newly registered companies in the high-tech part of the area.

  After the larger meeting David and the Deputy Director privately discussed the actions that should be implemented after the laboratory and personnel were located. Eliminating the people involved and the laboratory would not suffice as they needed to discover the intended target of the device as well as the people, or organizations that had initiated the project in the first place. This meant that some of the key personnel had to be captured alive and interrogated. If the Italian government was not privy to the plan this act of kidnapping would have to be done discretely, preferably without crossing international borders and raising an alarm. Alternatively, they could smuggle Modena and Smalley out of Italy by plane or ship and bring them to Israel for an active interrogation. Based on previous experience, exposing this, even after the fact, could cause a major diplomatic furor. So this option too had to be presented to the Prime Minister.

  Chapter 7

  April 15th, Padova

  Ollie returned to Padova to monitor the progress of Astraea project. The last six weeks had been very productive and the accumulated amount of U-233 had reached 12 kg. In addition Dr. Jay had manufactured a model of the device that included the arrangement of the special explosives around a core consisting of metallic natural uranium that had been machined to the dimensions of the real device simulating the real core that would consist of U-233. Modena told Ollie that some of the workforce members were getting restless after so many months of being practically confined to the warehouse and its immediate neighborhood and Ollie responded that in view of the progress they could close down the laboratory for a week, starting on Monday, and let everybody take a short vacation. He then gathered all the employees and told them that he was pleased with the progress made and they all deserved a well-earned break. He then gave each a cash bonus and warned them to keep their mouths shut and not disclose or even discuss the location of the lab and the activity taking place in it. He suggested that they pair up and not go individually so that they could supervise and look after each other and keep out of trouble.

  Ollie had received word from Paul Dooley, hand delivered by courier, that he felt that his phone was tapped and his computer and e-mail were scrutinized. In the note he referred to the meeting with Dr. Jay as the event that may have set off this enhanced surveillance. Dooley also said that he was now staying clear of any activity that may connect him with Dr. Jay, Ollie or with other European nationalist movements, but would continue his usual meetings with the BNSP, as he feared that an abrupt change of his normal routine would also look suspicious. Ollie realized that time was getting short and that the authorities in the UK, and possibly also in other countries, were getting suspicious.

  April 19th, Padova

  The Mossad agents were frustrated after two weeks of looking for long term apartment rentals in Padova and at villas in the surrounding area. They had found nothing that looked like the clandestine laboratory they were seeking, although they did find two farms in which illegal activities, such as growing marijuana and distilling contraband whiskey took place, but refrained from informing the Italian authorities about these. They carried photos of Modena and Jay in their cell phones but did not show them around in order not to raise the suspicion of the locals. One of the agents managed to bribe an employee at city hall and get a list of all the newly registered chemical firms. He started checking them moving from the periphery to the center, but had not yet covered all of them. One of the last on the list was called Astraea and was located in a busy area near the Botanical Gardens. When he arrived there he found a large warehouse with a notice pasted on the front door saying that the place was closed down for a week and would reopen on the following Monday. The place did not look like a clandestine laboratory but like a legitimate business. Nevertheless, he decided to return the following week and take another look.

  In the evening Gabi arrived in Padova and gathered the team for debriefing. The feedback he got was discouraging as there was no positive evidence of the lab or the wanted people. Gabi said he would contact the Deputy Director and ask for further instructions and then decide whether to fold and return home or to continue the search. He told his team to take the evening off and meet again in the morning.

  April 22nd, Vienna

  As instructed by the Mossad director, David briefed the members of the international task force and told them that Mossad had found evidence that Professor Modena may be in Padova. He did not tell them about the Mossad team that had come up empty handed and had been recalled from Padova. The members of the task force were deeply disturbed by the news. They all knew that northern Italy was a stronghold of several separatist political movements and political parties in the Veneto region and although they were not inherently racist they may have formed an alliance with other militant European movements. David suggested that they contact Umberto Scalopini, the head of the Italian Internal Security Agency, who was known for his uncompromising war on corruption and whose life had been threatened several times because of his stand on that issue. Thomas, the British former MI6 employee, said that he was a personal acquaintance of Umberto and that he could be trusted, so David asked him to arrange an unofficial meeting as soon as possible.

  April 24th, Padova

  Professor Modena welcomed his workers back and asked them if they had enjoyed their vacation. He was pleased to see that they had all returned and seemed to be invigorated by their time off the job. He told them that they had almost accomplished the goal of producing 15 kg of U-233 and that he estimated that working three full shifts, without any setbacks, they would have enough material within 5 or 6 weeks.

  In a private conversation Dr. Jay informed Modena that the mock-up model he had constructed was ready for insertion of the real core of fissile material once that was made available. He also said that the practice run with natural uranium increased his confidence in their ability to quickly construct the real fissile core. The only problem was that there was quite a high uncertainty about the U-232 content because each batch had a slightly different concentration. In addition the analytical methods used to determine the true U-232 content were inaccurate and could result in an underestimate by a factor of two. The practical implication was that the yield of the device would be uncertain. Professor Modena assured Jay that he thought that it would never be tested as the plan was to use the device for blackmailing the governments and all they needed was to convince the official representatives that it existed, was the real thing and that they had the intent and determination to use it if their demands were not met.

  Dr. Jay agreed with the professor but said that his sense of professional pride would not accept a failure if for some reason the device was to be used. Jay then looked at the professor and noticed th
at he had lost some weight and his face was quite pallid, but when he asked him if he was feeling well the professor just grunted that he was fine and probably did not get as much time in the sun as he had been used to in Barcelona.

  May 2nd, Artena near Rome

  The meeting between Umberto Scalopini and the two members of the ITF had finally been arranged. Scalopini's busy formal schedule had made it difficult to set an earlier date for a discrete, off the record meeting. So they agreed to meet in his villa near Artena that was about one hour's drive from Rome city center. Colin Thomas made the introductions and David then briefly described the information they had about the missing gamma radiation sources, about Professor Modena's rejected manuscript and his disappearance from Barcelona and finally about Dr. Smalley and his unknown whereabouts. He told Umberto that there was some evidence that Modena was in the Padova area and may have set up a clandestine laboratory for production of fissile U-233. He also told Umberto that expert scientists in the US and in Russia could not rule out the possibility of constructing a nuclear device from U-233 produced by gamma irradiation. David added that the task force had discussed the possibility of going public and requesting help in finding Modena and Smalley but were afraid that such an act would drive them into deeper cover. Finally he asked the Italian what he thought about the whole affair and what his recommendation would be.

  Scalopini said that he was shocked by the story and needed some time to digest it before proposing further action. After some thought, he said that he had formed a counter-corruption elite police unit that had the same training as the most advanced special forces in NATO countries and they were the first line intervention force deployed in the most dangerous situations. He asked their permission to call in the unit's commander, Piero Adriano, and consult with him. David and Thomas were not too happy about bringing in another person and suggested that they make up a cover story about a radiation dispersion device rather than disclosing their suspicion that they were dealing with an improvised nuclear device. However, Umberto insisted that he could vouch for the commander and that he would perform better if he knew exactly what was at stake. In order not to alienate Umberto they agreed so Adriano was asked to come over to Artena as quickly as possible. Adriano told him that he was spending the week-end north of the city and that it would take him two hours to get there. Umberto told him to hurry and suggested to David and Thomas that they go and have dinner while waiting for Adriano to arrive. The three of them drove to a local restaurant and had a fine Italian dinner, but refrained from ordering veal scaloppini in order not to mock Umberto about his unusual last name.

  By the time Piero arrived they were having coffee and he joined them for dessert. They did not want to discuss the matter in the restaurant although they were the last diners there so they returned to Umberto's villa. Piero received the news without any outward reaction but when he started talking the strain in his voice revealed that he too was distressed by the implications of a nuclear device in Padova, especially if an accident were to occur. He said that he would move his unit to the north, discretely enlist all the informers he had in the area giving them a cover story about a "dirty bomb" manufactured by a "mad professor" but would not try to ask the local authorities for help as he did not trust them not to leak the story to the press. He asked for photographs of Modena and Smalley so that his informers would know who to look for. He also requested as much technical detail as possible about the laboratory facilities required and if special large items of equipment were required.

  May 5th, Stockholm

  Andreas was starting to feel uneasy about Ollie's dedication, as he had avoided participating in street brawls and had not attended the meetings of the movement. He suspected that Ollie's fervor was fading and that he was too preoccupied with the work in Padova. Andreas noticed that Ollie even neglected Agda, or so he had been told by her twin sister, Alva, and kept pretty much to himself. He summoned Ollie but was told that he was busy and could not come over until the next day. Andreas was not used to being refused and called upon Agda to find out what Ollie was going through. Agda said that it had been quite a while since she had spent time with Ollie and had no idea about his life in general and love life in particular. This disturbed Andreas even further and when Ollie arrived the next day he told him about his concerns with Ollie's wellbeing.

  Ollie tried to allay his concerns and said that the device was rapidly approaching completion and that he was now planning how to best use it for their objective. He thought that moving it around could be difficult because of its weight, size and the possible leakage of radiation that might be picked up by gamma radiation detectors. Andreas was still worried because those plans should have been made months ago but Ollie said that he had not been certain that the device could be constructed until his last visit to Padova. Furthermore, he said, only after seeing Dr. Jay's mock-up model could the planning reach a practical phase. He also told Andreas that Dr. Jay said that the presence of the U-232 impurity made it necessary to create a thicker radiation shield than he had originally planned and that this added significantly more weight to the device, encumbering its transport. Andreas thought that a truck equipped with a crane could be used without causing suspicion since many of them were seen in the streets of Europe and that the device should be no bigger than the "fat man" nuclear bomb used in Nagasaki that weighed under 5 tons and was 3 m long by 1.5 m diameter (he had checked that in Wikipedia). Ollie informed Andreas that during his last visit to Padova Dr. Jay assured him that the device would weigh much less than "fat man" and be significantly smaller so although it would weigh several hundred kilograms it would be transportable by truck. Ollie, of course, did not tell him that he needed to transport the device by sea as there was no open ground connection between Italy and Jerusalem.

  Chapter 8

  May 15th, near the old border between Syria and Iraq

  ISIS troops brought a bulldozer to eliminate any sign of the old border between Iraq and Syria claiming that the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement between the British and French colonialist nations was null and void and the whole region was now part of the new Islamic Caliphate. The ultimate dream of the Islamists was to unite the entire Muslim world, including Iraq, Syria, Jordan, the Arabian Peninsula, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel, as well as a large part of North Africa, and rule it according to strict Islamic code, and removal of the old border was the first step. Ibn-Tutta himself was present at the ceremonial event and was just getting ready to deliver a fiery speech encouraging his troops to continue on the holy journey, when an unmanned drone fired a well aimed rocket that hit the improvised podium on which he stood, blowing Ibn-Tutta and his bodyguards to smithereens. Ibn-Tutta's last prayer to Allah making a wish that the drone had not been directed by a female returned unanswered, so he would be denied the pleasures in heaven promised to all Shahids who died fighting Allah's holy war. Captain Jean Lewis, sitting in a bunker in Nevada, almost 15,000 kilometers from the border, received an ovation from her colleagues in the control room for her accurate strike. Ibn-Tutta's second in command, Abu Alli, immediately seized the vacant position and asserted himself as the new Supreme Commander of ISIS forces. The irony that this had occurred on the same date that the country of Israel became independent did not escape Abu Alli. After arranging a traditional funeral for what was left of Ibn-Tutta and his entourage he swore to avenge the death of his commander in a way that the world of Kafirs, those people who rejected Islam and its profit Mohammad, would not forget. His problem was that he had no indication about Ollie's progress or even where he was, and had no way of contacting him. His only hope was that Ollie had completed his mission and would resurface soon and be in touch with Sheik Khalil, the head of the extremist faction of the Islamic movement in Umm al-Fahm.

  May 17th, Padova

  Ollie had watched the news the previous evening and saw the video footage filmed by the drone of the disintegration of Ibn-Tutta and his podium. He had to grind his teeth when he watched the celebration
in the control bunker, especially as he understood the significance of the festivity surrounding the female Captain who handled the drone and fired the rocket. His resolve to detonate the device in the heart of Jerusalem and instigate a global war among the Kafirs grew stronger, and he hoped that his next planned trip to Padova would be successful.

  Ollie and Andreas arrived at the laboratory in the evening after being urgently summoned by Professor Modena. The professor informed them that 15 kg of U-233 have been produced and converted into metallic form. He noted that this was due to the extra efforts made by all members of the workforce after their vacation so they were slightly ahead of schedule. Dr. Jay said that the fissile uranium core had been cast and was now cooling, and expected that it could be shaped to the proper dimensions early the next morning and inserted into the center of the device. He said that if no unexpected problems arose the device would be ready by noon and could be transported. Ollie was taken by surprise by this announcement as he had anticipated that it would be at least one more week before the device was ready.

  Dr. Jay explained that the detonation mechanism of the improvised nuclear device was quite similar to the mechanism used on the "fat man" atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The conventional explosives were arranged in a spherical configuration surrounding the spherical core of the fissile material. Several fast detonators that were purchased from the North Korean collaborator and 32 of them were arranged to simultaneously set off the specially shaped explosive charges and compress the fissile core to a critical mass. Dr. Jay further elaborated that for safety reasons these detonators were kept separately in a steel box that was locked with a combination lock. Ollie asked what steps needed to be taken to detonate the device. Jay and Modena looked at him and then at each other, as they had thought that the device would only be used for blackmail purposes and not really detonated. Andreas also thought that Ollie's inquisitiveness was out of place but was also curious about the detonation mechanism. Dr. Jay eventually answered that one needed to insert all the detonators into the slots in the explosives, connect the prearranged wiring to the detonators and then attach the two main wires to the timer that was battery operated. The battery used in this improvised nuclear device was a standard 12 Volt car battery and the timer was a simple mechanical alarm clock from which the minutes dial had been removed with the hour dial serving as a terminal so that whoever set off the device would have up to 12 hours to get away from the explosion, just in case they really needed to use it. Ollie, who had seen many films in which the explosive devices had tamperproof protection and the "good-guy hero" had to make a dramatic decision whether to cut the red wire or the black wire was surprised that their device had no such sophisticated mechanism, but was glad that it could be armed and rendered safe without any special skills or training.