Chapter Thirty-Five Leaving No Traces

Aboard the Renewal, the radio shack records the encrypted message and notifies the captain he’s needed; high priority messages must be signed for. Captain Katz makes his way down from the control room and enters the radio room.

Reading the message, he smiles. They did it again, he thinks, then advises the radioman to send out an encrypted confirmation and log the message.

Leaving the radio room he heads back to the control room. Entering, he advises his XO and the navigator to set course for the coordinates in the message he hands them. “I want us there at 0130, to pick up the team at 0200,” he tells them. “XO, have Greenberg and Michaelson meet you and me in the wardroom at 1500. I want to go over the pickup with them personally.”

Chapter Thirty-Four Second Site

Laying on their bellies looking through their field glasses, Silberberg says, “Holy shit, Natan, how do they expect us to get close enough to find out about their Kilos? Everything looks tighter than a drum around the place.”

“You’re right,” Schwartz whispers. “Let’s not worry about it yet. Let’s just get ourselves dug in. Tomorrow we can worry about how we pull this off.”

“Bampur was a Boy Scout exercise compared to this.”

Third Review:

An intelligent, interesting, and sobering story. This intricate, well-researched plot serves as an important cautionary tale.

The reader is reminded of Clancy and Ludlum.

This is a novel that should be read and discussed.

Phil C.

Chapter Thirty-Three Fourth Week in August

Two hours later, Atwan walks through the door. His penetrating stare is enough to make people cringe. He takes the chair directly at the head of the table. Hussein and Dakham are sitting to either side of him. “Welcome back, gentlemen,” says Atwan, his expression unreadable. “How was your little – vacation?”

“For the most part, it was truly boring, if you must know,” says Hussein.

Atwan is not amused. “All right. I want to hear about every single thing you did and every single person you dealt with. Do not leave out any details. What may seem unimportant to the two of you may be very important to me.” Atwan turns on a recorder.

For the next five hours, Hussein and Dakham give Atwan an exhaustive – and exhausting – description of everything they did, saw and heard on their trip. They tell him where they ate each meal and what they ordered. They tell him about people who rode elevators with them. They try to remember every fellow passenger on a two-hour trip on the Volga. They tell him about the lousy cab driver. Both get up at one time or another, to pace the room. Atwan sits quietly, the embodiment of patience, through the entire debriefing.

Finally both men run out of details. Looking across the table at each other, Dakham asks Hussein, “Is that all?” Hussein searches the farthest reaches of his excellent memory before finally nodding.

“Good,” says Atwan, getting to his feet. “Wait here. I must speak with someone about some of the things you have just told me before we continue.”

Hussein and Dakham’s eyes lock on each other. Continue?

Chapter Thirty-Two End of the Second Week

“Well, suh, my reg’lar report’s just more of that same ol’, same ol’, like Allison’s. Except,” and he draws the word out for full dramatic effect, “our people have been monitorin’ that covert team of Israelis. Report is, they spent three or four days at the Bampur site, but now they’re on the move, reversin’ themselves, headin’ back towards their orig’nal deployment position.”

“Sounds like they’re gittin’ out of Dodge,” says the president. Walker’s southern accent can be contagious. “You’ve gotta wonder what the hell they found out there. When you see they’ve been evacuated, I want to be notified. Then Allison and I are going to have a little four-way chat with their prime minister and the Mossad.”

Chapter Thirty-One Working a Deal

“We have found a supply of spent rods that are still located in a reactor that’s not functioning. To get them out would take many skilled people and would certainly draw attention – too much attention.” He looks genuinely frustrated.

“However, we have located some projectiles that are, shall we say, unaccounted for,” he quickly goes on. “They should be able to serve whatever purpose you need the rods for.”

Dakham shakes his head. “We are not looking to ship projectiles. We are interested in purchasing those gear box housings to move nuclear materials we had hoped you’d been able to find. The projectiles would be useless to our client.”

Dimitri looks at them both, then says evenly, “You’d have to reprocess the rods. The materials inside the projectiles should be usable without remanufacturing.”

Hussein replies, “We can only advise our client of your dilemma. We will also tell them of your suggestion. However, I’d suggest that if you can find a way of removing the materials in question, we might have a better chance of reaching an agreement.”

Dimitri lowers his eyelids to half mast, then says, “Have you found someone else who says he can supply what you want in Russia?”

Chapter Thirty Radioactive Readings

At Mossad headquarters, Bergman receives the information almost instantaneously. He downloads everything, and has the encryptions deciphered. His eyes go wide as he reads what’s before him. He quickly sends the data on emissions and radiation to the special science group monitoring this project.

Beads of sweat form on his forehead as the reality of what’s going on in Iran, what they have feared all along, sinks in.

By 0730 the following day, Bergman has a report from the science group on the two days of data provided to them by his desert rats. It is not good.

The conversations the team has been able to record are mostly just typical gripe sessions between soldiers stuck in a lousy location. But some of the content suggests that these soldiers are aware of what they’re being exposed to, leading the specialists to believe that the nuclear situation in this location is both highly suspect and critical.

They also believe that the levels of emissions and radioactivity suggest that this facility is not enriching uranium, but rather reprocessing plutonium. This conclusion is every bit as dangerous as if they were enriching uranium. Reprocessed plutonium can also be used in nuclear warheads.

Second Review

Joe,

You covered every angle and left no loose ends. It's totally amazing that a first time author could write such a powerful thriller demonstrating a grasp of human nature, politics, espionage, and amazing military knowledge.

You totally blew me away. It's better than I ever expected. I could not put the book down for the last 150 pages. I sat totally absorbed by the suspense and was surprised by my own emotions as the story evolved. You did a phenomenal job and now you need to start writing the script for the screen. It will make Tom Clancy take notice that he met his match.

Put me down as your number 1 fan and please get back to work ASAP with a sequel.

Rhoda

Chapter Twenty-Nine Second Week in August

After three days of staying under cover through daylight hours, and traveling during darkness, Schwartz and Silberberg arrive at their designated point around 0100 hours on the fourth night. No Iranians have appeared along the way to give them any trouble.

“Let’s take a break here, Mark,” Schwartz suggests, “and recon the area to find the most advantageous spot for us to set up. We need to keep within a range that’ll allow us to obtain emissions readings and be able to record conversations.”

“I’d like to suggest that when we leave here,” Silberberg counters, “we take a dip in that body of water back where we filled our canteens. I don’t know about you, but I feel filthy.”

Schwartz is an easy sell. “Agreed. It’ll be a long time before we see our next shower.”

Viewing through night vision binoculars, they agree on a spot that will put them within the range they need, a natural rise in the desert that offers them some height, allowing them to observe what they believe is the front entrance of the facility.

Halfway up the rise, they dig out an area just large enough for them to maneuver around each other. During daylight, they’ll record any readings they can obtain and attempt to record voice conversations as well. During the night, they’ll move in closer to the facility to obtain more information.

Schwartz consults his watch. “It is almost 0415, Mark. Let’s set up the camo cover and you catch some shut eye.” Silberberg is entirely willing to sign on to this plan.

Another Reader's Comment

This book is fantastic! It is so relevant to today’s current events. I hope what

you are writing doesn’t really happen. I haven’t been able to let it sit for long

periods and am almost to the end. Bob C.

Chapter Twenty-Eight Executive Power

President Egan calls his personal secretary on the intercom. “Janet, please come into the Oval Office. We have work to do and I need you now.”

“Yes, sir,” comes the quick reply.

Janet picks up her steno pad and the president’s schedule log, walks over to the door of the and knocks. On hearing the president’s okay, the Secret Service man standing in front of the door opens it for her. Janet takes her usual seat in front of the president’s large desk.

“Before we start scheduling a meeting I’m planning, I’d like your opinion on something, Janet. Your security clearance allows me to ask you this. I’m looking for an opinion of an American citizen, not a politician.”

Janet thinks about it for a moment, then nods. “I can do that. What are you asking, sir?”

“Picture this, if you would: a foreign government attacks the United States without warning and takes out top levels of our government. Our Constitution allows for a succession process that replaces those in authority. In fact, the process for successions goes eighteen levels deep, though if anyone on that list were not native-born, he or she would not be able to take office as president. Working through it would be long, tedious and difficult, particularly in the chaos of a such a situation. My question is: would you expect the remnants of the government to follow the Constitutional guidelines to a T? Or would you – just as a citizen, remember – be willing to consider having the nation’s military commanders take charge of retaliation, to protect our country and our citizens?”

“Phew, sir,” Janet says, clearly overwhelmed. “Let me digest this a moment.” She pauses, half of her brain addressing the question, the other half wanting to cry out, What are you telling me? Are we in imminent danger of attack?

Other Readers' comments!

"I haven’t been into a novel this much since I read, Angels and Demons. The detail

and character depth keeps my interest going." Dr. Ed R.

"Anyway, I continue to be amazed that anyone has the imagination to fill in the

details to make a book such as yours become such an intense living thing when you

are reading it." J.S.

Chapter Twenty-Seven Second Guessing

“This unit is full of rust-preventative grease. It looks like it’s never been run,” Dakham says, acknowledging the obvious. Ivan opens several more for their inspection. They all look to be in similar condition.

“Dimitri, we are shopping for used equipment,” Hussein grumbles. “Our budgets do not allow us to buy new. If we did, we could not afford all that we need to obtain.”

“Look, when you’re looking for specific equipment, you may not always have the option of finding used parts,” Dimitri counters. “But do not worry. I can offer it to you at not much more than used pricing.”

After an hour of looking around, Hussein walks back to where Dimitri has been sitting all this time. “Dimitri,” he says, “give us a package price on the four reducers we opened and the four switchgear boxes you have on the third skid. And we have one more request.”

“I’ll have the pricing for you tomorrow. If we come to terms, you will have to pay in US dollars only. What’s your other request?”

Hussein hesitates, then plunges into the real reason they are here. “The customer who needs this equipment is now requesting that we also look for some spent fuel rods.”

“And where would I get spent fuel rods?” asks Dimitri.

“We don’t know. We are only asking if you can. If not, we’ll have to continue shopping for that part of the package,” Dakham answers for Hussein. It is clear that these two are working as a team.

“You do know, I assume,” Dimitri answers cautiously, “that if I could possibly supply them, the price would be…very expensive.”

Chapter Twenty-Six NSA Tracking Capabilities

“Mr. Pres’dent, most of that report’s pretty similar to what we discussed yesterday,” Walker begins. “However, one of our satellite analysts has been watchin’ two human forms for four days now. They travel only durin’ the night.”

John knows enough not to paint the whole picture all at once. The president falls for the bait. “And what’s so special about that?” asks Egan.

“If we weren’t lookin’ for somethin’ covert, possibly from Israel, I’d probably say nothin’. But here we have a team of two, movin’ only under the cover of darkness. They seem to have arrived someplace and it looks like they’ve taken up residence. The place is called Bampur.” He draws the second syllable out like he’s imitating a cat.

“Bampur? What the hell do the Israeli’s know about that we don’t? Allison, does the CIA have any idea?”

“No, sir.”

“John, what does NSA know about this place?”

“Sir, I have to plead ignorance, same as Allison. It just looks like a speck of a farmin’ village with a little bit of water. We don’t have a clue what’s goin’ on there.”

“Well, I suggest we do a little spying of our own with our satellites and eavesdropping skills and see if we can’t find out what the Israelis seem so anxious to learn.”