Assassin 2 - Sleeping Dogs (Assassin Series) Page 15

  Jake was deep in thought. “I knew this place rang a bell. Wasn’t there a Nazi POW camp here in World War II?”

  Steve agreed. “Maybe, so, let’s get some heavy duty checking done as soon as we get in touch with our respective offices.” They all agreed.

  CHAPTER 37

  In the Oval Office, President Parker was on the phone with Peter Davies of the FBI. He was deep in shock. “Are you sure about this, Peter?” he asked.

  Davies was also in shock. “I wish I wasn’t, Mr. President, but our team saw it with their own eyes!”

  Parker was still incredulous. “Neo-Nazis, but this is incredible. What are the Israelis doing?”

  Davies explained from his recent conversation with Jake. “Checking on these guys and setting up the biggest security blanket you could imagine, sir!”

  “Well, keep me posted, Peter,” Parker added. “Remember, I gave my word to the Israeli Prime Minister that I would attend the signing of the peace accord and I intend to keep it!”

  Davies was shocked at the risk the President was prepared to take. “But, Mr. President!” he began, as the President cut him short. “No buts, Peter. Find these guys, okay?”

  Davies answered a lot more confidently than he felt. “We’ll sure as hell try, sir,” he looked at the phone as he put it back in its socket. “Easier said than done, Mr. President!”

  CHAPTER 38

  Jake had previously thanked Steve for his sterling efforts before the CIA agent had to return to Vienna to complete his report and take another assignment and as Jake, Sarah and Joseph drove up to the distinguished-looking building, the sign out front read ‘Simon Wiesenthal Center’,

  Inside the building, they were met by Heime, one of the researchers, a friend of Sarah’s.

  There was a sort of ethereal atmosphere inside the Wiesenthal Center, as if in honor of the many agents, Sarah’s grandfather included, who had worked tirelessly to bring the fleeing Nazis to ultimate justice. Heime, tall, thin and pale, was commiserating with Sarah. “We were so sorry to hear about Abraham, Sarah. He was a tenacious investigator and your uncle Ari was an amazing statesman. We are all going to miss them!”

  Sarah smiled her gratitude for his kind remarks. “Thanks, Heime,” she paused. “Did you manage to come up with anything on the photographs?”

  Heime was quite enthused. “Yes, indeed,” he pointed to the photograph of Hitler with the SS Captain and the youth. “The SS Captain was Captain Hans Klausen, convicted and executed at Nuremburg. He was originally involved in Stalag 18 in Wolfsburg and he got involved later in the horrors of the Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration Camp, near Linz in Austria,” he gave a wry smile. “As a matter of fact, it’s a small world!”

  Sarah was curious. “How so?”

  He explained. “Abraham was on the team that finally tracked this monster down!”

  Sarah was surprised “Really?”

  Heime continued. “Yes indeed. His son was a member of the Hitler Youth and we didn’t pursue him further at the time.”

  Sarah was still curious. “And now?”

  He consulted his file. “The son changed his name in later years to Kloss and became a very successful, if not reclusive businessman. Many suspected that he had some Nazi gold stashed somewhere, but we could never prove it.”

  Jake nodded. “And from the looks of it, he stayed a Nazi?”

  Heime agreed. “It would seem so.”

  They prepared to leave and Joseph shook hands with Heime. “Thank you, Heime, I don’t need to remind you that this is a totally confidential inquiry and that our national security is at stake, so you must not discuss this meeting with anyone. Is that clear?”

  Heime nodded. “Of course, good luck.” he shook hands with Jake and Sarah as they left.

  Walking back to the car, Joseph was thinking out loud. “So, what do you suggest we do now, Jake?” he asked.

  Jake thought a moment. “Good question. We obviously can’t go in and accuse Kloss and his thugs, because we still don’t know where the two terrorists are and exactly what they have planned for Jerusalem.” Joseph and Sarah nodded in agreement.

  Jake’s phone rang and he answered it. It was Dave Bostwick on the line. “Hi, Jake,” he began.’ Dave Bostwick. Are you sitting down comfortably?”

  Jake silently mouthed the letters C.I.A to Sarah as he pointed to the phone. “I’m listening?” he replied.

  Bostwick continued. “We just got word from one of our undercover guys in Baghdad. Seems a briefcase nuke recently changed hands in the Iraqi underground and the buyer fitted the description of..?”

  Jake was ahead of him. “The Arab on the video?”

  Bostwick confirmed it. “You got it in one!”

  Jake was in shock, but appreciated the heads up. “Thanks for the info, Dave. So, now we know what and where, but we still don’t know where these two bastards are hiding!”

  Bostwick agreed. “Exactly, so you need to warn your people and we’ll do the same with ours. But if this don’t stay the best kept secret in history, we’ve got mass hysteria on our hands big time!”

  Jake’s mind was racing ahead. “Dave, can you do me a big favor?” he asked.

  “What d’you need?” Bostwick replied.

  “Can you get your orbiting birds to intensify scans both day and night in the area where we last saw this terrorist in the desert, up the road from the power plant? It’s a long shot, but we’re clutching at straws here!”

  “Consider it done.” Bostwick replied.

  Jake was surprised at the cordiality of the Regional Director. “Thanks, Dave.” He clicked the phone closed and turned to the inquisitive Sarah.

  “What?” she asked.

  He sighed. “The Arab’s got a nuke!”

  She stood there in shock. “Oh, my God!” her mind was churning as she slapped her forehead in recognition. “That’s why he was in no hurry to detonate the bomb at the power plant. He was hoping to add to the misery and confusion after the nuke blast by killing all power to the surrounding area, including the city. Make the Israelis look even more helpless. What a monster!”

  Joseph was visibly shaken. “Exactly, so, what do we do, warn the world or try and take care of it before the peace conference. We’re talking massive potential loss of life, including major heads of state, this is one for the Prime Minister!”

  * * *

  In his office in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Mischner was badly shaken, having just received the news from Jake concerning the nuclear device. He wondered how many more high stress catastrophes he would be able to handle before his angina kicked in for the last ride to the hereafter. He shook his head from side to side. “No! No! No! Mr. Harrigan, we will not let terrorists, even if they are Neo-Nazis, spoil our peace efforts or disrupt the sanctity of our religious celebrations!” his mind was racing ahead. “Take all the men you and the Mossad need, but this event must go on. Do you understand?”

  Jake looked at the phone in his hand. “Yes, Prime Minister,” he clicked off the phone and looked at Sarah and Joseph. He gave a deep sigh. “Looks like the show must go on. Take all the men we want, he said!”

  Sarah was in shock. “In that case, we’d best get back to the city,” she looked at Joseph. “How the heck do you button down a city the size of Jerusalem?”

  The slim agent gave a wry smile. “I guess we’re about to find out!”

  * * *

  Back in the Prime Minister’s office, he was already on the video link to Tel Aviv, speaking to his hastily appointed new Defense Minister Eli Levin concerning the military aspects of locking down the security in the city for the entire week of religious festivities, a mind boggling task and one that the new Defense Minister could well have done without. This would probably be the most intensely integrated combined operation that the Israeli military and the Mossad had ever undertaken.

  CHAPTER 39

  It was a cold, crystal clear, moonlit night in the desert, just north of Jerusalem, as Akeem and his men in a convoy
of four pick-up trucks, followed each other in close formation, towards another designated ‘safe house’, prior to the planned assault later that week on the biggest target of them all - The Holy City!

  Maybe it was the unusual closeness of the convoy, or the unusual clarity of the evening, but unknown to the terrorists, they were being watched. Not by people on the ground, but by a US KH12 billion dollar satellite, orbiting in the heavens above as it made it’s revised, repetitive pass over the pre-programmed area of desert below. Dave Bostwick’s instructions had been acted upon swiftly and diligently.

  The satellite, resembled the Hubble Space Telescope except that instead of looking into space, it looked back at Earth. It was like a giant, orbiting digital camera with a huge lens and it relayed its digital images to the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Virginia, where they were then analysed by the powerful computers of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. The satellites have amazing imaging resolution, which means that they can see something five inches or longer from almost 200 miles above the Earth!

  Inside the tracking station in Virginia, Ted, a sleepy technician, was watching an array of screens, when suddenly a bleeping noise got his attention. He checked on the screen in question and clicked on his keyboard to show the coordinates and the image of Akeem’s convoy of lights as it came to a halt in the desert. He made a note of the coordinates and checked on his current monitoring chart, a sudden curious look on his face. “Hmm, that’s one for check-up at daylight!” he whispered as he went back to monitoring his other screens after refreshing his cup of coffee.

  Hours later, a different, wide-awake technician Eric, was reading the report from the previous shift and clicked on his screen. By digital magic, he was able to see the advancing image from the last daytime passing run of the satellite as it approached the exact coordinates that Ted had entered. In close up, getting larger on the screen as he zoomed in, a still image started to emerge of the four vehicles with people standing around outside a building in the desert. Eric was able to zoom in even closer until Akeem and the dark-haired guy could be seen in a still shot, standing by a vehicle talking to other men outside the building.

  He quickly printed the picture before dialing a number. A sleepy voice answered. “This had better be good, Kowalski?”

  Eric had a note of urgency in his voice. “I think you’d better take a look at this, sir, it’s that desert location we were asked to monitor in Israel!”

  The voice on the other end suddenly sounded wide awake. “I’ll be right there!”

  * * *

  Back in Tel Aviv, Jake’s phone rang and he answered. “Harrigan?”

  It was Bostwick on the line. “Jake, its Dave. I think we spotted your buddies. Your requested satellite pass last night triggered something. We just checked in daylight and it looks like them!”

  Jake was delighted. “Great! What are the coordinates, Dave?” he quickly scribbled them down. “Thanks again, we’ll be in touch. Bye.”

  He put the phone down and turned to Sarah and Joseph. “Showtime!”

  Sarah was curious. “You mean...?”

  Jake finished the sentence. “We found them. NGA satellite pass last night picked them up in convoy, they confirmed it this morning in daylight and now we need to move fast, let’s go!” they quickly headed out to the parking lot.

  * * *

  On a deserted, derelict site of dilapidated buildings in the outskirts of Tel Aviv, a group of children were playing ‘hide and go seek’ among the debris. One small boy, Jaime, ran away from his friends to hide in an old battered shipping container. The child who was chasing him finished counting and uncovered his eyes to commence the chase. He was calling out as he was getting closer and closer to the container.

  “Jaime, Jaime, I’m coming.” he squealed playfully and inside the container, from his secret hiding place, Jaime started to look around as his eyes got used to the darkness.

  Suddenly, his face changed to fear when he looked further into the container and saw the blood-covered body of a man, obviously dead! Jaime started to scream as he rushed out of the container, tears of fear in his eyes.

  * * *

  An hour later, in the chopper taking Jake, Sarah and Joseph to the location where the terrorists had been spotted, Joseph received a phone call from the Mossad office in Tel Aviv.

  It was Agent Feinstein. Joseph listened a moment. “What happened?” he asked.

  Feinstein explained. “A group of kids playing in a derelict area, found the tortured body of a man, already dead.”

  Joseph was curious. “Who was he?” he asked.

  Feinstein continued. “That’s why I’m calling, Joseph. One of our guys recognized him. He was a Russian, Sergei Buskovich, involved in their nuclear arsenal before the split.”

  Joseph was thinking. “Tortured, you say?”

  Feinstein confirmed it. “Yes, mean anything?”

  Joseph replied. “Maybe, thanks for the message, we’ll be in touch!” he rang off.

  Jake and Sarah looked at him curiously as Joseph quickly explained. “Group of kids found a Russian nuclear arms guy tortured to death. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Jake nodded. “Exactly! If the Neo-Nazis didn’t have the launch codes before, I’d lay money they have them now! Holy shit!”

  Sarah was thinking out loud. “So, if the city is stitched up tight security-wise, if the Arab doesn’t leave this location here with the bomb, he must have it stashed away inside the city, until he can install the launch codes. Did they say how long the Russian guy had been dead?”

  Joseph nodded negatively. “No, but we can find out and we must not attempt to take these guys out until they lead us to the bomb!”

  “You got that right!” Jake replied.

  CHAPTER 40

  The chopper landed in the foothills and Jake, Sarah and Joseph were met by more Mossad agents, who were already monitoring the new location of Akeem and his terrorists. Agent Maseki, a tough-looking, bearded guy, quickly brought them up to speed as they moved close to the edge of the mountain ridge, looking down into the valley below. Jake spoke to Maseki. “Are they still in there?”

  Maseki replied. “Yes, sir, we think there are at least five others in there with the two men that we recognized.”

  Jake nodded. “Okay, please pass the word to your men that they must not be seen and under no circumstances must they try and apprehend the men inside.”

  Maseki smiled. “Already taken care of, sir.”

  Jake was happy. “Great, is the bomb disposal officer here?”

  Maseki nodded. “Yes, sir, I’ll get him for you.” he signalled to another agent nearby to join them.

  Jake shook hands with the young agent as Maseki introduced him. “Mr. Harrigan, this is Agent Liebowitz.” The young agent also shook hands with Sarah.

  Jake spoke first. “I have a question?”

  Liebowitz smiled. “Yes, sir?”

  Jake continued. “Assuming that these guys now have the launch codes for this briefcase nuclear bomb, how many people does it take to arm it?”

  The young agent thought for a moment. “It takes two, sir. There are twin control panels inside the case and each person presses a button simultaneously and then each has 20 seconds to enter a different 10 digit code, after which each person then turns a similar switch. If the codes are right, a green light will come on to show the bomb is correctly armed. The timer can then be set.”

  Jake nodded that he understood. “Thanks,” he turned to Sarah and Joseph who had been listening with Maseki. “So, assuming that these guys have the codes, but stashed the bomb somewhere in the city limits, once we see them and their men close to the bomb, we have to move fast, really fast!”

  Joseph nodded. “Amen to that, although these guys will still need to get clear before the blast, they’re not martyrs!”

  Jake was in agreement. “If they were really Arabs, I might take issue with you on that, but you are right, at the power plant, th
ese guys had a chopper waiting and they were gone in seconds.”

  Joseph turned to Maseki. “Can you get your agents inside the city to be checking for unusual sightings of private choppers? Again, we mustn’t arouse their suspicions!”

  Maseki nodded. “Will do.” They were interrupted by another agent. “It looks like they may be on the move, gentlemen!”

  Jake rushed over to the vantage point and used the binoculars offered to him to check out the scene below. He watched as Akeem, Gunther and the rest of their men got into two pick-ups and drove off. Jake was speaking as he was observing. “There’s no sign of the briefcase, so maybe we were right, he already has it stashed inside the city.”

  Sarah nodded in agreement. “In that case, we need to stick to them like glue, until we see them go near the bomb!”

  Joseph turned to Maseki and his men. “Sarah’s right, constant surveillance and no move is made until we give the signal. Is that clear?” they all nodded in agreement before they rushed to their assortment of inconspicuous vehicles to pursue the terrorists into the city.

  In the village below, Akeem and his men, unaware they were being watched, pulled out onto the road towards their ultimate target.

  In their Mossad vehicle as they moved out, Joseph was already on the intercom. “Come in Chopper?”

  The Pilot came on immediately. “Yes, sir?”

  Joseph looked up the hillside to see the chopper moving out. “Do you have a visual?”

  The Pilot answered. “Yes, sir, they’re heading towards the city.”

  Jake and Sarah exchanged knowing glances as if to say ‘This is it!’ as Joseph went back on the intercom. “Good, stay well out of sight and report every move, over.”

  The Pilot replied. “Chopper, over and out.” as the convoy of assorted vehicles moved off down the road.

  CHAPTER 41

  On a sparkling, sunny day, up in the Austrian Alps, the Nayra Global offices were still covered in a fine sprinkling of fresh snow in the idyllic surroundings. To the innocent eye, it was a peaceful, pastoral scene, but on close scrutiny of the trees lower down the valley, the sun briefly reflected off the bodywork of the Interpol vehicles, strategically surrounding the place, ready to make their move on the appropriate signal!