The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

our friend in Damascus.' Lowell handed the bucket to a soldier, and to the
engineer-commander he said, 'Move everything out, box it, ship it. I want to
examine everything. Make sure you move everything out.'
'Yes, sir,' the colonel said. 'And the sample?'
***
Four hours later, they were in Dimona, the Israeli nuclear research' facility,
where there was another gamma-ray spectrometer. While technicians ran the test,
Lowell went over the plans again, shaking his head. To Ryan, the drawings looked
like the diagram of a computer chip or something similarly incomprehensible.
'It's big, clunky. Ours are less than a quarter this size . . . but you know how
long it took us to build something of this size and yield?' Lowell looked up.
'Ten years. They did it in a cave in five months. How's that for progress, Dr
Ryan?'
'I didn't know. We always figured a terrorist's device – but what went wrong?'
'Probably something with the tritium. We had two fizzles back in the fifties,
helium contamination. Not too many people know about that. That's my best guess.
The design needs some further looking at – we'll computer-model it – but on
gross examination, it looks like a fairly competent – oh, thank you.' Lowell
took the spectrometry printout from the Israeli technician. He shook his head
and spoke very softly:
'Savannah River, K Reactor, 1968 – it was a very good year.'
'This is the one? You're sure?'
'Yeah, this is the one. The Israelis told me the type of weapon they lost, the
mass of plutonium – except for the scraps, it's all here.' Lowell tapped the
design sheets. 'That's it, that's all of it,' he said.
'Until the next time,' Lowell added.
***
Always a student of the law and its administration, Deputy Assistant Director
Daniel E. Murray observed the proceedings with interest. Rather odd that they
used priests instead of lawyers, of course, but damn if it didn't work. The
trial took just a day. It was scrupulously fair and admirably swift. The
sentence didn't bother Murray, either.
***
They flew to Riyadh aboard Prince Ali's aircraft, leaving the USAF transport at
Beersheba. There would be no indecent haste in the administration of sentence.
There had to be time for prayer and reconciliation, and no one wanted to treat
this any differently from a more pedestrian case. It also gave time for people
to sit and reflect, and in Ryan's case to meet with another surprise. Prince Ali
brought him in to Ryan's accommodations.
'I am Mahmoud Haji Daryaei,' the man said, unnecessarily. Jack knew his face
well enough from the CIA file. He also knew that the last time Daryaei had
spoken with an American, the ruler of Iran had been Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
'What can I do for you?' Ryan asked. Ali handled the translation for both of
them.
'Is it true? What I have been told, I wish to know that it is true.'
'Yes, sir, it is true.'
'Why should I believe you?' The man was approaching seventy years of age, with a