Chapter Forty Seventy-Two Hours Later

McDonald and Walker sit down across from the president and the Mossad director. Egan gets the discussion rolling. “Ariel, I suppose that the prime minister filled you in why I called him and what feedback he was able to give me. It wasn’t much, to tell you the truth.”

“Yes, sir, he did. At the time you called him, he was not aware of the nature of our insertion. We were still interpreting the materials our team brought back from inside of Iran.”

What a bunch of bullshit, Egan thinks. This operation had to be sanctioned by the prime minister. Mossad doesn’t have that kind of authority. “All right, Ariel, you’ve been sent here by the prime minister. Can you share with us why Israel took such a risk, sending a covert team into Iran?”

“Mr. President, you know the current president of Iran has been spitting out venom for a long time regarding the destruction of Israel. We received information that Bampur was another of a growing list of facilities capable of producing materials that could be used in nuclear weapons. We have also received information that they were in the midst of purchasing two more Kilo submarines from Russia.”

President Egan replies, “We know of a number of facilities producing weapons grade materials. They already have four Kilos. What makes Bampur different, and what makes two more subs big news for you?”

“Their Shahab-3 – outfitted with a nuclear warhead, capable of being fired from a submarine, represents very big news to us. In fact, it may be something America should be concerned about as well. It turns out, however, that Bampur is not enriching uranium. It is reprocessing plutonium.” Wattenberg stuns the Americans into silence. All three stare at each other in alarm. Damn, thinks Egan, this is new. No, this we weren’t aware of.