The Dreadful Patriot: A Thrilling Conspiracy Novel (Techno thriller, Mystery & Suspense Book 3) Read online

  Mustafa had another 30 minutes until the scheduled meeting with the scientist. He was gently rubbing his neck and trying to massage his left shoulder when a smiling Chinese man motioned to him to sit down on a wooden chair with wheels that was set on the sidewalk. A nearby store displayed a large sign that advertized a massage parlor and the sign promoted a special ten-minute massage for 5 pounds instead of the regular 20 pounds. Mustafa asked him if he could do a neck and shoulders massage and the Chinaman nodded and in broken English said "inside or outside" indicating the chair and the store. Mustafa said "outside" and pointed to the chair hoping to continue to enjoy the sunny day while being treated. The Chinaman smiled and signaled for him to sit down. An attractive young Chinese girl came out of the store and asked Mustafa if he wanted to remove his jacket and he answered that he would remain with it. She nodded to the Chinaman and he started by gently massaging Mustafa's neck and twisting his ears, before moving down to his shoulders. Mustafa wondered why the masseur had twisted his ears and was surprised by the pleasant sensation this caused. The masseur said something in Chinese to the girl who told Mustafa in English to relax and not tense his muscles and stop resisting the soothing motions of the masseur.

  Mustafa was not aware that all this time a tall man waited in back room of the massage parlor and watched. The masseur held Mustafa's head in both his hands and tilted his head repetitively first to his right shoulder and then to the left shoulder until he felt that Mustafa let his neck muscles relax. He then motioned to the man who was still watching and the man stepped out of the store and silently exchanged places with the Chinese masseur. Mustafa was feeling the tension leaving his stiff neck and smiled. He tried to turn his head and look at the masseur but a pair of strong hands twisted Mustafa's head to the right and back to the left a few times not enabling Mustafa to get a look at him. Meanwhile the girl stepped into the middle of the sidewalk and started to do some acrobatics that were worthy of any "rubber girl" in a circus. That caught the attention of the people strolling down the street who stopped to appreciate the flexibility of the attractive girl. The fake "masseur" looked around to make sure that nobody was paying attention to him. In a sudden movement he yanked Mustafa's head and twisted it almost 180 degrees until he heard a sickening click when the neck vertebrae broke like twigs. Mustafa's head tilted forward but before anyone noticed the "masseur" wheeled the chair into the store and shut the door.

  The ex-Iranian scientist from Aldermaston was surprised that Mustafa didn't show up for the appointment. He was terribly worried that he would be held accountable and his family in Iran would be persecuted, so he pulled out his cell phone and called the Iranian embassy. He explained the problem and was transferred to the head of security at the embassy who was a senior officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG). He was told to come immediately to a new meeting point near Piccadilly Circus and stay away from the embassy. The whole conversation was recorded by British intelligence and a team of agents was dispatched to the new meeting place. They managed to take a few photos of the meeting and the physicist was identified and arrested while the Iranian who had diplomatic immunity was declared persona non grata and told to leave the UK within 24 hours. No one seemed to know what had happened to Mustafa and his disappearance was attributed to an operation of the British secret service. The Iranians didn't care if it was MI5 or MI6 and held the British responsible.

  ***

  One Year earlier, Late November, Stockholm, Sweden

  Dr. Jaafar Taghi was attending a conference that was organized by SIPRI – the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. He tried to keep a low profile as the Iranian Islamic Republic of Iran was not famous for its peaceful operations but rather notorious for its support of terror organizations in the Middle East and elsewhere. Jaafar was nowadays actually an intelligence officer who had rightfully earned his doctorate from Isfahan University but was enlisted to provide scientific support to the Iranian clandestine weapons program. His job was to attend scientific conferences that dealt with disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation matters and glean information that could help the program. A tall good looking dark woman whose nametag said that she was a member of a French anti-nuclear organization smiled at him and appeared to take a special interest in him. Jaafar was flattered by her attention and stealing a glance at her pert breasts and name tag saw that was Genevieve. He had been trained to avoid "honey traps" but felt that he had acquired enough experience to recognize such a trap and was sure that the young woman had a genuine interest in him. She made certain that he stood next to her during the coffee break and commented that as a French woman she detested the Swedish food and suggested that they share dinner later. Jaafar asked her what kind of restaurant she had in mind and when she said that she loved seafood he was overjoyed as that was his favorite type of food.

  After the boring scientific session ended they headed toward a famous seafood restaurant in the center of Stockholm. Genevieve asked him if he drank alcohol and when he said that he occasionally enjoyed a glass of wine she ordered a bottle of good French white wine and said that it would go well with the oysters they had both ordered. Jaafar thought about the properties that were attributed to oysters and wondered if there was any truth in the rumors and was looking forward to a chance to test this with Genevieve after dinner. As if she read his mind she smiled and said that these were only rumors with no foundation in fact. He excused himself and went off to the restroom to relieve his full bladder. When he returned a few moments later a large plate of oysters was placed in front of him and another one was served to Genevieve. They ate the oysters while looking into each other's eyes and he saw great excitement and promise in Genevieve's eyes. Suddenly Jaafar felt the room was spinning around him and his eyes became unfocused. Foam came out of his mouth as a series of strong convulsions twisted his body. The last thing he heard was Genevieve asking him what was wrong.

  The medics that were summoned to the restaurant confirmed his death. Later laboratory tests showed that some strange, unidentified substance was found in the oysters that remained untouched on his plate. Genevieve was nowhere to be found. When other members of the French delegation were questioned no one knew who the tall good looking dark woman was.

  ***

  One Year earlier, November, Chamonix, France

  Hassan Sadeq had been looking forward to his long awaited ski vacation in the beloved French Rhone-Alps. Two decades earlier, as a young agent of the IRG he had been posted in Grenoble and was in charge of keeping an eye on the Iranian scientists who were attending graduate courses at MaNuEn - Materials science for Nuclear Energy - and at the Master EMINE - European Master in Nuclear Energy. His job was to make sure that none of them chose to stay in Europe as that would be considered as defection, or even treason, by the Iranian Islamic Republic of Iran. Hassan was told to use any approach he found the most effective to achieve this goal. In some cases he appealed to their patriotic sense, in others he reminded them that they had a moralistic debt to the country that paid for their education, others were promised good jobs and highly respectable positions on their return to Iran. In some cases, where nothing else appeared to work he threatened them that their families would be harmed. In the most extreme case, when a student who liked the French women, wine and weather (the three W's), refused to return to Iran he simply cut his throat, trying to stage a foiled robbery. After that he had to leave France in a hurry just one step ahead of the police that suspected that the Iranian student's murder was not a simple robbery that was thwarted.

  Hassan was in Chamonix, under an assumed name and a new identity. He was looking forward to taking the lift up to the panoramic view point at Aiguille de Midi from which the majestic peak of the Mont Blanc could be seen on a clear day. He had been staying in a small three-star hotel near the center of the village waiting for the skies to clear and for the cable car to resume operations that had been suspended due to the weather conditions. Meanwhile he enjoyed the food and wine and t
hought that he could now better understand the student who refused to return to Iran.

  At long last the weather cleared and he purchased a one-way ticket up to the panoramic view veranda. He planned to return back down to the village on his skis. He was confident in his ability to negotiate the steep decline although he knew that he was a bit out of practice as he didn't have many opportunities to go skiing in Iran. He was now a very senior member of the IRG given the responsibility of taking care of the physical security of Iran's nuclear facilities in Natanz, Isfahan and Arak. He surmised that there were other secret facilities that were not under supervision by the IAEA but these were not part of his mandate.

  The cable car was very crowded, especially as several passengers had carried their skiing equipment, and everyone was wearing bulky warm clothes. Hassan didn't pay special attention to the young couple that appeared to be totally engrossed with each other. With their free hands they were holding on to their professional looking ski equipment. All passengers exited at the view point terrace and took a few minutes to get acclimatized to the depletion of oxygen at 3842 meters above sea level. Nobody was in a rush to start the descent and the people simply stood on the veranda enjoying the view and taking photographs. After some 30 minutes Hassan felt that he was ready for the downhill skiing exercise and walked slowly to the exit that led to the slopes. He saw that the couple of lovebirds were just ahead of him and were already moving slowly on the downhill track. Within a few minutes he caught up with them. As he pulled up level with them and tried to pass them the young man extended his hand and slapped the back of Hassan's head with a short lead filled pipe. Hassan lost his balance and veered off the path straight down a 300 meter deep abyss. The young couple continued on their way down the mountain and reached the village an hour later. Both were sure that no pathologist in the world would find evidence of the head injury in a post-mortem operation, even if any part of the head will remain recognizable after the fall.

  One Year earlier, November, Isfahan, Iran

  The small Hyundai travelled along the broad Chahar Bagh E Bala Avenue that was one of the main thoroughfares of the beautiful city of Isfahan. The driver was the Senior Engineer at the nuclear facility that converted uranium bearing ores into feed material for the nearby enrichment plant and his two passengers were his junior colleagues. Traffic was quite heavy as they approached Ayineh Khaneh Boulevard which was quite normal during the morning rush-hour. The queue of cars waiting to turn left at the T-junction was long and traffic was almost at a standstill. Small mopeds and large motorcycles passed the waiting cars on the left and on the right, ignoring all traffic rules and regulations that in any case were merely regarded as recommendations for good behavior. The noise from the exhaust pipe of the truck ahead of them and of the motorcycles overtaking the Hyundai was loud so none of the occupants were aware of the metallic sound made when a powerful pipe-bomb was attached with a strong magnet to the car's roof. Seconds later the sound of a loud explosion reverberated and echoed from the surrounding building. Car parts and pieces of human organs flew up in the air and the ball of fire ignited the vehicles in front of and behind the Hyundai. Fatal wounds were received not only by the driver and passengers of the Hyundai but also by a young couple with their baby son that were crossing the avenue just behind the car. Over a dozen people were injured. An alert policeman that was stationed at the road junction noticed a motorbike speeding away from the explosion but all he could see that it was driven by a large young man wearing a black leather jacket and a helmet with its visor down and a similarly attired smaller passenger, probably a woman, was clinging onto the driver's hips.

  Chapter 2

  Ten months earlier, Tehran, Iran

  The small gathering was attended by the Senior Assistant of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, by General Aslawi who was the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and by the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). Imam Mourtashef was also present in his special capacity as the liaison between the clandestine laboratory in Basement S of Evin Prison and the Supreme Leader. The general presented the findings of the committee that investigated the untimely deaths of the senior scientists and intelligence officers that were all intensely involved in Iran's nuclear weapons program. The investigation had taken a long time because the deaths in Vienna, Barcelona, Taormina, London, Stockholm and Chamonix were apparently unrelated. But the general who lived and breathed conspiracies knew better and searched for the guiding hand that directed these events. The mysterious explosion in the heart of Isfahan was especially challenging as similar incidents had occurred before and in those cases the culprits were assumed to be Iranian opposition groups in cohorts with Mossad or some other foreign intelligence agency. The Imam was particularly concerned about the deaths of the scientists that were involved with the secret laboratory that he oversaw as part of his responsibilities to the Supreme Leader.

  The immediate suspects were the three intelligence agencies that were the avowed enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, namely the American CIA, the British MI6 and the Israeli Mossad. After a careful examination of the modus operandi and the clean and successful execution of the operations the CIA was removed from the suspects list, as its track record was full of bungled operations and contrary to such a meticulous performance. However, MI6 and Mossad still remained on the list, until a Russian mole deep inside the administration of the British Secret Intelligence Service assured his handlers that MI6 was not involved. General Koliagin of the Russian FSB passed this piece of information to Iran as a goodwill gesture. So the four participants in the small meeting agreed that it was time to open a secret war against the Mossad in particular and on the Israeli government and its citizens in general. Imam Mourtashef mentioned that two of the murdered scientists were also leading members of the elite group that operated in laboratory in Basement S, and wondered aloud if this was a mere coincidence or deliberate targeting of prominent scientists in the most secret nuclear project in Iran.

  The Senior Assistant of the Supreme Leader said that after these acts all the scientists involved in the nuclear program ran scared and several had started seeking jobs elsewhere, in Iran and even abroad. The high profile murders had humiliated Iran, and in this part of the world losing face was anathema. Governments fell if the people, or even a small aggressive faction in the military, felt that their national pride and honor were derided. The Senior Assistant declared that the Supreme Leader held the four of them responsible to restore national honor. He instructed General Aslawi to embark on a path that would involve kidnapping Israelis and holding them hostage until the Israeli government complied with Iran's demands.

  The prime demand was that Israel would publicly admit that its Mossad agents were behind these murders and put them on trial at the International Court of Justice in Den Hague. In addition Israel would be forced to dismantle its two nuclear research centers in Dimona and in Soreq and allow IAEA inspector free access to every site in Israel. They were well aware of the fact that this latter demand would never be accepted by Israel but wanted to use this to draw attention to Israel's nuclear activity and particularly that it had not joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Imam Mourtashef who was by far the most sophisticated, cunning and intelligent participant of this meeting was already plotting a devious scheme of using the hostages for a very special purpose but did not wish to share his thoughts with his companions at this stage.

  Ten months earlier, Tel-Aviv

  The Chief of Mossad, Haim Shimony, called for an emergency meeting of his senior staff and representatives from the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) and the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC). He asked David Avivi, who was now in charge of the Iranian desk in Mossad, to bring the participants up to date on the recent events that concerned the untimely deaths of senior Iranian scientists and intelligence operatives connected to the Iranian nuclear establishment. David reviewed the cases and said that it looked as if someone was eliminating the
scientists and was trying to frame Mossad. He reminded the people at the meeting that two Mossad agents were captured in Amman, Jordan when they squirted a poisonous liquid into the ear of a Palestinian Hamas leader. This ended badly as the agents were apprehended and as a result Israel was forced to deliver an antidote and release several Hamas prisoners. He also mentioned that Mossad had been suspected of pushing enemies of the state under approaching trains, down steep cliffs and treacherous ski slopes although such acts were more the stuff of movies than real intelligence agencies (where intelligence was not a suitable term). Even the use of poisoned food was blamed on Mossad agents in previous cases without any substantial evidence. David added that he too had once had a massage in London's Chinatown and was a bit concerned that the masseur would wring his neck like a chicken, but said that as far as he knew Mossad had never resorted to this trick previously.