Hi-Tech Hijack

by Dov Nardimon

  “Good night,” he said as the door closed and another night of loneliness and fear descended upon him.

  Chapter 56

  While Isabella was trying to work her charm on Eddie, an El Al airplane made its way from Johannesburg to Tel Aviv carrying a parcel of diplomatic post containing the blueprints of the PSSIC compound. At dawn the plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport, and within less than an hour, the documents were delivered to the offices of the anti-terror headquarters in Tel Aviv. Nir, Amit, and intelligence men were there waiting for it along with a team of experts in civilian engineering who were called in for reserve duty the night before to help analyze the information.

  The documents included the blueprints of the foundations and the skeleton of the entire compound, as well as detailed drawings of the rooms of that part of the campus that they knew was manned. They also received the specifications for the air-conditioning and ventilation equipment, which was crucially vital to the entire underground layout. Another parcel included the specifications of the electricity and communications enclosures, also located in the energy center building—the same building that housed all the ventilation and air-conditioning facilities.

  The part of the campus they knew was manned included five two-story buildings, one of which was the energy center and four more buildings that were used for labs, offices, and administration purposes. The underground part covered the space equal to that of the five above-ground buildings and had only one floor. There was a tunnel leading out from its north end. The tunnel was six and a half feet high, four feet wide, and sixteen hundred feet long and lead to a second underground area of about the same space as the southern one. Above this area was a small, one-story-high building with an elevator shaft leading down to two underground floors. The team noticed an interesting detail: the elevator shaft was sixty-five feet deep all the way down to the bottom of the lowest floor, and the distance between the ground level and the upper underground floor was forty feet, whereas in the southern manned compound the depth of the underground structure was only sixteen feet. The tunnel was designed in a slope from the manned southern compound to the northern one.

  “This was designed to prevent the discovery of any activities going on in the northern part by satellites that have thermal sensors and can detect heat that people and machines put out, even under ground to a certain depth,” explained the expert on aerial footage and satellites, a military intelligence man who took part in analyzing the material.

  “It’s very likely that this area is manned and that secret activities are going on there, such that they have a specific interest in keeping quiet. It looks like the whole known southern half was built to mask what is being done in the northern part of the compound. It’s safe to assume that is where Eddie and Reuben are held,” said the prime minister’s anti-terror advisor, summing up the initial conclusions.

  During a day of non-stop discussions, all sorts of various ideas about the possible courses of action were brought up and discarded. In the afternoon the Americans also joined in the discussions by teleconference from Washington. It was the middle of the night when finally the picture started to become clear regarding the possible actions that could be taken. The participants were guided by the principal that entering the underground facility to release the kidnapped men would certainly put their lives at risk. So they had to get the mice out of their holes, kidnappers and kidnapped alike. Then when they appeared above ground, that would be the right time to try and free them, trying to avoid using firearms. The extraction would include capturing Isabella and Alfonso, or at least one of them. They also had to find a way to destroy the underground labs. They couldn’t have any of the knowledge related to Ebola remain accessible. All that would have to be done while trying to avoid harming the southern part, where the known, up-front labs were situated.

  “We must make an effort not to get in trouble with the UN.” This statement was said numerous times, running like a recurring theme throughout all the discussed courses of actions.

  Amit took part in most of the discussions, and on two occasions, he was asked to call his father-in-law and get some clarifications regarding some specific technical details.

  “Amit, your last name is Hoffman, a German name, and you already have a South African passport?” asked the head of Mossad to confirm what he already knew was true, and Amit nodded his assent.

  “I’m assuming when you came to Israel you had your Israeli passport stamped, not your South African one?”

  “Of course.”

  “I’m afraid we’re going to have to ask you to enter the lion’s den.”

  “I thought you would.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “I can fly over there as an employee of Goldmining for a routine inspection. I have my company employee identification card and my South African passport, which will ensure I won’t attract any suspicion.”

  “The question is whether it’s time for a routine inspection. We can’t have even the local company staff suspicious of anything,” said Nir, voicing his concern.

  “As always the truth is the best lie, although in this case it’s not the whole truth,” chuckled the head of Mossad. “You’re new to the company, but your recent marriage to the owner’s daughter means you have a high standing at the company. Let’s assume your father-in-law is sending you to every site around the world where Goldmining operates so that you can get to know them up close and personal. It just so happens that your first stop is Saudi Arabia.”

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll have to talk to my father-in-law. I hope he isn’t too scared for my life and lets me do it. I am his daughter’s husband now,” said Amit, smiling.

  “In any case we wouldn’t want you to take part in the military action. Your part of things will be limited to the exposed area alone. The physical danger should therefore be much smaller providing that we construct your story right and you choose your actions wisely when over there. Talk to Jacob first thing in the morning. If you need to, bring me in on the conversation as well,” said the head of Mossad.

  “Hopefully I’ll be able to convince him this is necessary. What would you need me to do there?”

  “I want you to take the night and go over the material in as much detail as you can, specifically studying all the communication lines and command panels of the vent and air-conditioning. Your job will be to mess around,” said the head of Mossad, smiling. He quickly went on. “You will create an accident that will cause the command panels to stop working for long enough to get the mice out of their holes.”

  Amit was given a room with four specialist consultants: two in communications and computers and two in air-conditioning. Together they went to the bottom of the wiring blueprints and the command enclosures.

  The military part of the operation was meant to be done by the American forces placed in Saudi Arabia.

  Early in the Washingtonian morning, the US secretary of homeland security and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff met with the president and presented all the accumulated information about the very tangible danger PSSIC represented. After long deliberation, the president authorized the participation of American forces in the extraction but demanded that every possible effort would be made to isolate the action to the northern part of the compound and avoid any casualties.

  The American decision was that the extraction would be performed by the Navy Seals, and the logistical backup both on the ground and in the air would be provided by American forces positioned in Saudi Arabia. During the night an Israeli air force helicopter flew the head of the special operations department in the IDF General Staff to one of the American aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean to handle all the necessary coordination between the Sixth Fleet, the American army, and the Israeli factors involved in the operation. In his backpack, Amit had a complete copy of the Goldmining blueprints for the Navy Seals commander.

  The next day at noon, Amit took off to Rome. He left his Israeli passport in Israel and
was taken by a security agent through the passport control at Ben Gurion Airport, ensuring his South African passport didn’t get an Israeli stamp on it. In a summary briefing he was called to, Amit was given various operational directions, and the times were set for when he would contact headquarters and finalize his activities with the extraction forces. He was given a secured cell phone with a European number, and the number he would have to dial was also European. The call would then be transferred to the headquarters in Tel Aviv.

  “If you’re arrested at any point remember you’ve entered the country as a South African citizen, and you’re entitled to ask for their embassy there. The American embassy would be in touch with them and take care of the rest, should the need arise,” said a Mossad agent, finalizing the last details with him.

  After a three-hour layover in Rome, Amit proceeded to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, where he arrived late at night. George, the head of Goldmining’s upkeep staff, had received directions from Johannesburg that same morning and greeted Amit at the airport with a welcome fitting the boss’s son-in-law. He drove him to Al-Yamamah, the city closest to the PSSIC campus, where the company had apartments for its employees. Amit had a room booked at an expensive hotel in the city, and he bid George good night and asked him to pick him up the next morning.

  Another tense night and day went by as Ronit waited for a call from Eddie. She was asked not to go to work and stay at home for as long as it took. They estimated Eddie would try to call again, and it was important that Ronit be available for the few seconds he would have to talk. She was given instructions to inform Eddie of the upcoming operation and of the alert that would present itself in the form of a shutdown of the electricity and air systems.

  The saving ring came at an early afternoon hour.

  “Ronit, did you get hold of the server?” asked Eddie without wasting any time.

  “The Shabak has the server. Mickey and Tzipi have been arrested. Eddie, there’s going to be a rescue operation. You need to be ready for a power outage. The electricity and ventilation will shut down, and they’ll have to bring you up to where the rescuers will be waiting.”

  “When?”

  “Don’t know yet. Could be anywhere between a day to three days. Be ready and fill Reuben in.”

  “Copy that. Have to go.”

  He hung up. Ronit hoped Eddie wasn’t caught talking on the phone. She desperately wanted to reassure him and tell him about Amit who already got to Saudi Arabia the previous night, but she didn’t have the chance to do that.

  Eddie didn’t get caught. He pulled the same trick he did last time. This time it was even easier to pull. Isabella was quite at ease after her talk with Eddie the night before. She made an appearance at the lab for only a few moments in the morning, and then disappeared. It seemed she and Alfonso weren’t even at the compound since the two techs were taking their time, coming and going as they pleased. It looked like they were awaiting some instructions from someone outside the compound. In the morning Eddie assumed the respite had something to do with the missing server. After hearing from Ronit about Mickey’s and Tzipi’s arrests, he understood just how big of a crisis this situation was from the kidnappers’ point of view.

  When he returned to the lab hall through the bathroom all excited, the first thing he wanted to do was tell Reuben about what was going to happen. He couldn’t, since one of the techs was there. And then after mulling it over for a while, he came to the conclusion that he better not tell Reuben anything. To bring him in on things would mean to tell him of the two conversations he already had with Israel. Eddie reminded himself it was unclear which side of the fence Reuben was on right now, and decided not to tell him about the upcoming operation until it all started.

  Amit started his day bright and early and spent it with George and his team at the southern PSSIC compound, studying in detail what he had memorized according to the blueprints twenty-four hours before. The team was impressed by his quick perception and desire to know every bit of the system.

  As the end of the work day neared, George suggested they return to the city for dinner at a fine restaurant, but Amit surprised him.

  “I’d like to stay here with the on-call tech for the night shift to get a feel of how things operate here at night.”

  “There’s hardly anything that goes on here at night. Ever since we started work here, there have only been a few times when we had to do anything at all at night.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, Amit answered, “Ok then, I have another idea. Tonight we return to the city and the on-call tech stays here. Tomorrow night after I’ve had another day to learn the system, I’ll take on the night shift myself, and you three can have an evening out together for a change.”

  “That doesn’t exactly correspond with our orders.”

  “I know, but exceptions can always be made. You guys go for dinner for a few hours, and one of you will be back before midnight, so I’ll only be here by myself for a few hours. You said it yourself—there’s not much that goes on here at night.”

  The three men looked at each other, waiting for George’s approval.

  “It’s a deal. You know what, this is a great idea. We never get to go out, all three of us. Thank you for that.” He shook Amit’s hand.

  After dinner with George and the off-duty tech, Amit wished them good-night and departed to place a call to headquarters. He reported his activities so far and coordinated his actions for the following day, including what he was going to do during his night shift.

  Chapter 57

  As day ten of the kidnapping was nearing its end, a Falcon business jet was getting ready for takeoff at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. The large airliners usually takeoff west from Ben Gurion, but this relatively light aircraft had the privilege of heading directly east, making a sharp rise above the slopes of Judean Mountains east of the airport.

  It continued in an almost straight line east, crossing Jordan and into Saudi Arabia. The tail of the plane was painted in the American stripes and stars, and it had a symbol that indicated it belonged to the Sixth Fleet. Called Navy One, the plane was the airborne command center of the commander of the Sixth Fleet in the Middle East. It was fully equipped with the most advanced technological communications devices, as well as every necessary piece of office equipment—fax machine, internet-capable computers, and scanners. On board was the head of the CIA in the Middle East, Paul Mathews. With him were six Navy Seals, their troop commander Major Jack, and the force commander, Lieutenant Colonel Rossini.

  The tenth passenger was Nir who had been brought on as the Israeli representative of the extraction team, carrying just his American passport. The prime minister’s anti-terror advisor convinced the Americans to bring him on. Nir used all his gravity to fervently explain how important it was that he personally knew Reuben and Eddie in case something went wrong and negotiations with the kidnappers needed to take place.

  “But your emotional involvement in this, given that Reuben is your brother-in-law, could lead to you making an error in the critical minutes of the extraction,” said the prime minister’s advisor.

  “Normally, if the operation were done by our forces, I’d say you’re probably right. But in this case, the whole action is American, and there’s no danger of them giving in to any sort of emotional pressure from me. However, the fact that I know the kidnapped men could come in handy should there be negotiations with the kidnappers,” said Nir. The Mossad representative protested against the fact that such an international issue should be given into the hands of a Shabak man. Ultimately, the advisor was convinced that Nir’s close relation with Reuben and Eddie could do more good than harm and decided in Nir’s favor.

  “Good luck, Nir,” said the advisor, thus making it clear the argument in this matter was over.

  “Thank you.”

  The flight took about two and a half hours, during which the fax machine and printer continuously spewed out essential information. Shortly before landing in
Riyadh, the printer produced a summary of the details that came up in Amit’s conversation with the Mossad headquarters in Israel the night before.

  The team of soldiers on board memorized the most recent aerial footage taken earlier that evening by one of the espionage satellites positioned above the Middle East and compared them to photos taken the night before to make sure there hadn’t been any changes that might indicate some sort of irregular activities at the compound.

  They carefully examined the photo that zoomed in on the northern part of the compound. There was a fence surrounding the entire parameter creating a square that was about two miles on each side. In the center of the area was a circle fenced in with two more lines of fences, three hundred feet apart. There was an unpaved road leading from the gate to a small one-story building. When zooming in on the building, they could see a path that went around it and ended all of a sudden in one of its walls.

  That building and fences did not appear in the blueprints they had been given by Jacob Goldman. They were clearly a later addition, and it was back at a meeting in Tel Aviv that the team concluded this was an entrance into the closed compound. The end of the underground tunnel, sketches of which were provided by Jacob, as well as its length and direction, were a perfect match with the location of the small building.

  “Let me remind you,” Rossini reiterated, repeating what had already been stated, “as we’ve said before—the wide path that ends in that wall is the road used for cars. We can see there isn’t any marked parking, and we’re working on the assumption that there is a very large elevator shaft to take the cars underground. However, should we be surprised at the last minute and it turns out this isn’t the exit, we’ll have to move over quickly to the revealed compound. We’ll be switching from a quiet, surgical operation to a loud and public one with the help of our ground forces in Saudi Arabia. We ordered some more drone footage that should come in any minute now. The drone was instructed to take pictures in a diagonal angle so that we’ll have a clear image of the vertical walls and can easily identify the opening.”