The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

Commander, is that this is the explosive portion of an atomic bomb. An Israeli
atomic bomb.'
'Impossible!' the Commander whispered.
'Touch it,' Ghosn suggested.
The Commander bent down and touched a finger to it. 'It's warm, why?'
'From the decay of alpha particles. A form of radiation that is not harmful –
here it is not, in any case. That is plutonium, the explosive element of an
atomic bomb. It can be nothing else.'
'You're sure?'
'Positive, absolutely positive. It can only be what I say it is.' Ghosn walked
over to the bombcase. 'These – ' he held up some tiny electronic parts ' – they
look like glass spiders, no? They are called kryton switches, they perform their
function with total precision, and that kind of precision is necessary for only
one application found inside a bombcase. These explosive blocks, the intact
ones, note that some are hexagons, some are pentagons? That is necessary to make
a perfect explosive sphere. A shaped charge, like that for an RPG, but the focus
is inward. These explosive blocks are designed to crush that sphere to the size
of a walnut.'
'But it's metal! What you say is not possible.'
'Commander, I do not know as much as I should of these matters, but I do know a
little. When the explosives go off, they compress that metal sphere as though it
were made of rubber. It is possible – you know what an RPG does to the metal on
a tank, no? There is enough explosive here for a hundred RPG projectiles. They
will crush the metal as I say. When it is compressed, the proximity of the atoms
begins a nuclear chain-reaction. Think, Commander:
'The bomb fell into the old man's garden on the first day of the October War.
The Israelis were frightened by the force of the Syrian attack, and they were
immensely surprised by the effectiveness of the Russian rockets. The aircraft
was shot down, and the bomb was lost. The exact circumstances don't matter. What
matters, Ismael, is that we have the parts of a nuclear bomb.' Ghosn pulled out
another cigarette and lit it.
'Can you . . .'
'Possibly,' the engineer said. Qati's face was suddenly cleared of the pain he'd
known for over a month.
'Truly Allah is beneficent.'
'Truly He is. Commander, we need to think about this, very carefully, very
thoroughly. And security . . .'
Qati nodded. 'Oh, yes. You did well to bring me here alone. For this matter we
can trust no one . . . no one at all . . .' Qati let his voice trail off, then
turned to his man. 'What do you need to do?'
'My first need is for information – books, Commander. And do you know where I
must go to get them?'
'Russia?'
Ghosn shook his head. 'Israel, Commander. Where else?'
***
Representative Alan Trent met with Ryan in a House hearing room. It was the one
used for closed-door hearings, and was swept daily for bugs.