Diamond Rain: Adventure Science Fiction Mossad Thriller (The Spy Stories and Tales of Intrigue Series Book 2) (13 page)

“Yes, yes, of course,” he
replied, smiling in an odd way.

At that moment, an
apparition of Sue Ann’s grandmother appeared in her mind.  Thomas watched the
scenario unfold.  Although he could have blocked Chou’s manipulation he wanted
to measure the process, to see how it worked.  He passed control of Sue Ann’s
emotions back to her, while keeping a close eye on her reactions to protect her
if necessary.

The grandmother's ghost,
placed into her mind by Chou, spoke softly and encouraged Sue Ann to trust the
General.  Sue Ann felt invaded and was unable to control her reactions.  She
collapsed a little onto the back of her chair and felt as though she were
looking through a fish eye lens at the world.   An insistent voice addressed
her.  Slowly she realized it was the general talking to her.

“Well, do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Trust me.”

“I don’t know.”

“What did your
grandmother say?”

“How did you know about
my grandmother?”

“Just answer the
question.”

“She told me to trust
you.”

“Do you trust her
judgement?”

“Yes.”

“Then?”

“Yes, I trust you.”

“Good.”

Sue Ann noticed the
light on the video camera behind the general as she awoke from his control.

“Did you film that
exchange between us?”

“You might call it a
security deposit.  This part of the interview is now over.  Good day, Miss Sue
Ann,” said the general as he stood up an ushered her out of his electronic
sanctum.

Thomas returned Sue
Ann’s emotions to normal.  Before the interview ended, He tried a forceful
probe against Chou which would have killed an ordinary man. Chou blinked but
did not return the attack.  Thomas succeeded in his probing but discovered that
the general had constructed a new firewall in his suit making any attempted assassination
futile.
 Damn, why didn’t I anticipate that change?  My technology’s better
but they’re still one step ahead of me.

At the door, where the
electronic haze started, Sue Ann’s driver awaited.  General Chou waved and the
driver escorted Sue Ann back to another elevator.  Sue Ann wasn’t sure exactly
what she had given up, but she knew her life had changed forever. 
Damn,
thought Thomas,
Chou’s not coming. I’ll never get to finish that mind map. 
Thomas
returned even more control to her and assumed the role of spectator.

As she boarded the
luxury elevator, Sue Ann noticed that her driver was wearing a very shiny,
supple suit made of unusual material.  Her hand reached out and touched the
cuff of his jacket.  A surprised, but happy smile crossed his face.

“Your suit is
beautifully cut.  What is it?” she asked.

“I am happy to see the
curious journalist back.  You have exceptional taste.  It’s a Brioni,” replied
the driver.

“What’s your name?”

“I never thought you’d
ask,” he said, as he spun a perfect pirouette to end facing her.

“General Lau, at your
service,” said the transformed driver.

Just as the elevator
door opened, Sue Ann took a deep breath, trying to recover from the multitude
of unusual things happening.
I don’t know what’s real anymore.
 A lush
room decorated in gold and red rococo trims confronted her.  An unfamiliar
cameraman stood about 20 feet away.  He nodded to her when she looked in his
direction.  Placed about fifty feet to her left was a salon which was a perfect
copy of a room at Chateau Versailles.  The theatre of the absurd continued when
the door opened to admit a Chinese Louis ‘
Quatorze’
in the person of
General Chou.

General Lau encouraged
her and she felt him touch her mind with an admonition.  Using telepathy, he
communicated: “It may be wise to humor him.”

Thomas took note of the
telepathic communication and smiled to himself when he realized that this was
the opportunity he needed.  He would have the chance to complete his mind map
of General Chou and with any luck General Lau too.  Their arrogance concerning
the superiority of their nano technology had worked against them, preventing
them from imagining his subterfuge.

A plasma screen
replaced a painting, displayed live coverage of Sue Ann and Thomas’ montage, a
work completed with Thomas’ instructions at Al Jazeera while he and Sue Ann
conducted this out of the ordinary interview.

“Your ingenuity
continues to impress me,” said the Chinese Louis the 14
^th
.

“You didn’t give us
much to work with, but Thomas is a genius with technology,” replied Sue Ann.

A flash mock up of the
morning interview with the captured captain, cleverly spoken in Arabic and
subtitled in English, showed the world about the power of a nanofog.  All Sue
Ann could think of in the surroundings was an interview from the 70's she had
seen at Columbia Journalism of President Mitterrand, then President of France,
and Muammar al-Gadaffi, during which the Colonel, a Libyan revolutionary,
played with children’s Dinky toy cars throughout the interview.

Trying to get some grounding,
Sue Ann turned to the photographer and made a hand gesture to be sure he was
filming.  He nodded his assent. General Chou spoke: “You circumvented our
technology to make a video without our permission.  It may be a simple montage,
but you went against my intent.”

Sue Ann found herself
bowing, something she hated doing, without her knowing how it happened.

“Sir,” interjected
General Lau from a respectful distance, “Ms. Sue Ann and I have already
addressed this problem.  She assured me it won’t happen again.”  Sue Ann
remained bowed and Louis the 14
^th
stood up. While in motion his
appearance adopted an olive green uniform complete with four stars on his
epaulets.

“The world will see
unprecedented changes,” said the general.

“What changes, Sir?”
asked a suitably humbled Sue Ann.

“They are coming.  A
new power rises.  They will get what is rightfully theirs.”

“They?  Are you their
commander, General?”

“All will be clear
soon,” he said, waving his hand in the air to signal the end of the interview.

General Lau escorted
Sue Ann to her waiting car.  There, a new driver held the door open for her. 
Guards, strangely passive men, lounged everywhere.  A gray cloud hung near the
ceiling.  Thomas, invisible inside his suit and sitting beside Sue Ann, gently
touched her mind.  A confused woman accepted his intervention.  He talked
soothingly to her as he addressed the mental implant General Chou had placed in
her mind. 
I’m not sure I should undo the mental implant, which I placed
myself, it might be necessary to use her again,
thought Thomas, realizing
but accepting that he was sliding down a slippery slope.

Chapter
Five

Armageddon Valley Nuked

Ekaterina awoke at 2 am to a phone call from
the Prime Minister of Israel.  She stared at the phone and listened.  After a
moment she recognized the voice, which belonged to the PM’s secretary.

“Two young men are
waiting outside your residence in an official car.  They will bring you to see
the Prime Minister straight away.”

“The subject of the
briefing?” she said to a dial tone, as she got up and ran to the shower with
her phone in her hand.  The message was a high priority simultaneous delivery
recording and the terminating code word, ‘Blue 33’, signified something serious. 
Really serious.  Ekaterina knew this was a decision on nuclear deployment.

Twenty-one people,
twenty of them already in the underground bunker under number 9 Smolenskin
Street in Rehavia, Jerusalem, received the same automated message.  Ekaterina halted
as she dressed, it would be wise to choose something appropriate.  She turned
to her walk-in closet and reached for a sombre dark blue suit, then she grabbed
a blood red ruby pendant on her way by her dressing table.  She dressed quickly
and ran to the door of her Jerusalem-stone home on Radak Street.  In the mirror
by the front door she caught sight of the ruby resting in her cleavage.  She
smiled, she looked and felt good as she approached the Military Police
vehicle.  Its blue lights flashed on the yellow stone between long patches of
lush greenery on the normally quiet streets.  The journey was a mere ninety
seconds.

The elevator shot
downwards, lifting Ekaterina’s stomach.  When the doors opened, an IDF soldier
wearing full dress uniform took her elbow.  He hurried her to a desk in front
of specially hardened metal doors.  One of the soldiers at the desk proffered a
plastic box with her name on it.  She dropped all of her electronics into the
box, even her watch.  Another soldier directed her attention to a new hand
scanner under the retinal scanner to the right of the door.  His hand covered a
complementary hand scanner on the left side of the doors.  Hydraulic mechanisms
whirred as they sucked the thick metal alloy door into the ceiling.

In front of Ekaterina
sat twenty-one people, including the Prime Minister.  A place remained at the
large table squeezed into a small room.  As she walked around the table to her
customary seat, a young man smiled and pulled her chair out.  Ekaterina sat
down.  All the while the hubbub of discussions filled the room, some heated,
some considered and earnest.  On a large plasma screen a high resonance
satellite image of Armageddon Valley zoomed to ground level.  Thousands upon
thousands of apparently unarmed Chinese men were formed up into groups of twenty. 
The scene looked like an artillery drill from a previous century as the men
formed up into squares and stood awaiting their orders.  Orders to advance.

“They’re moving,” said
Ekaterina under her breath.   The Prime Minister stood and banged an empty
glass on the top of the table to gain attention.

“Silence, please” he
said.  “About two hours ago our friends on the plains of Armageddon started
forming up into the military formations you see on the screen.  I have just
gotten off the phone with the Chinese Premier.  He insists the men left China
of their own volition without any premeditation by the Chinese government or
military.  He says they are tourists.  We, of course, know better.”

The PM paused and took
in the eyes of every person in the room. Some of them close friends, all of
them valued advisors.   He fixed Ekaterina with his gaze.

“Ekaterina, where is
our nano weapon?”

“In Doha, Qatar, Sir.”

“Am I to understand
that you sent our most secret weapon on a wild goose chase while this horde of
marauding humanity awaits with bated breath at our gates?”

“Hardly a wild goose
chase, Sir.  More precisely, our weapon is at this moment in a Gulfstream
aircraft
en route
to Israel after having successfully infiltrated the
highest offices of General Chou.  At this moment, our computers are sifting the
mental patterns of the mind of the General.”

“That is better than I
expected.  How long before we have results?  For that matter, when will the
agent return?”

“The weapon will return
within the hour; first results of the analysis are already coming in.”

The Prime Minister
nodded.  He turned to a man on his right.

“Get me the President
of the United States.”

The man said something
into a microphone and sat back.  A voice from an overhead speaker system told
the PM to activate the red button to his left on the panel in front of him.  He
complied and the weary but familiar face of the President of the United States
filled a second plasma screen.  She was sitting with a group of advisors in a
room much like the one which held the Israelis.

“Hello Madam President.”

“Hello Adam - Mister
Prime Minister.  Have you reached a decision?”

“Yes, and I’m not happy
with it, but I – we – see no other option.  After careful consideration Israel
will launch three tactical nuclear devices into the mass of bodies forming up
to move further into our territory at this very moment.  They represent too
much of a threat.”

“You are certain?”

“Madam President.  You
are looking at the same satellite images that I am.  Can you deny the aggressive
nature of the moves? And can you deny that this is hardly a mass of humanity –
these are mindless automatons, agents of the Chinese State?”

The American President
slowly nodded.

“No, Daniel. I can’t
deny it.  But I cannot concur with the action you are proposing.  If you go
ahead, may God forgive you.”

“God would probably not
forgive us if we failed to act.”

The picture snapped off
and was replaced by a picture of a Gulfstream jet in flight being escorted by
two Israeli fighters.  The PM spoke again.

“Ladies, gentlemen, I
think it only fair to give you one final chance to reconsider.  It is not too
late to step back from this extreme option.  Please register your votes using
the touch screen in front of each of you.”

Three members of the
special cabinet advisory committee abstained. The rest voted in favor of a
nuclear attack.   The Prime Minister pulled a keyboard towards himself and he
entered a code.  After looking around the table once more he pressed the
confirmation key.

Within seconds the weapons
were launched from specially designated artillery vehicles overlooking
Armageddon.  For the first time since 1945, the world looked on aghast as the
blast of nuclear weapons even though used in self-defense, soiled the air. 
Twenty-three people watched the results of their handiwork as it flattened
sections of the men walking across Armageddon Valley.  After three small
mushroom clouds rose and dust and debris settled, the satellites focused again
on the ground.  The explosions left circular scars, vaporizing thousands of the
Chinese advancing into Israel and many more outside the targeted areas.

The people in the room surveyed the
destruction.  Some were nodding, some shaking their heads.  A couple of them
had tears in their eyes.  Then, to the astonishment of the political leaders
watching the retaliation, most of the ‘walkers’ got
up and started walking again.  Even some of the men within the fallout zones
stood up again and started walking.

All of the phone lines,
represented by different colors on the panel in front of the Prime Minister,
flashed at once.  He winced.  The lights represented calls from heads of state
requesting the PM’s ear at this crucial moment in the security and peace of the
world.  Daniel Cohen Junior put his hands to his tired face and wept.  His
staff fielded the calls and in seconds only one light stubbornly remained
flashing on the panel.  The intercom interrupted the silence of the room.

“Prime Minister, the
Secretary General of the United Nations wishes to talk to you and will not be
put off.”

“Put him through,
please.”

A graying patrician
figure appeared in the plasma screen.  His expression was grave.

“Mister Prime Minister,
knowing you as I do, I can only imagine your anguish at this moment.  Though I
deliver harsh tidings, my heart goes out to you as a friend.”  He paused. “Now,
I am holding in front of me a document signed by every member of the United
Nations, including your friend and ally the United States.  In no uncertain
terms the document demands that Israel cease and desist from military
aggression against the men entering her territory, or risk becoming a pariah
state.  Furthermore, the representatives of the Israeli peace delegation must
present themselves in two days in the UN building in New York where a world
peace initiative will begin.  We need to address the dramatic changes
precipitated by the arrival of Chinese men, protected by a new kind of nano
technology, at the borders of dozens of countries.”

Daniel Cohen Junior
nodded his head and accepted the ultimatum of the UN Secretary.

“We will comply,” he
said over the raised voices of the most vociferous defenders of Israeli
independence in the bunker.  He raised his hands to his closest advisors.  “I
will resign if you counter me.”

Each person in the room
looked at each of the others.  The Prime Minister continued.

“We can thank God that
we are alive after the decision we have just made here, and that the censure of
the world is not too severe.  We have not succeeded in our intentions.  Now we
must sue for peace.”

The door to the fortified
shelter opened and all but Ekaterina filed out of the underground stronghold. 
The PM had nodded to her as she stood up, signalling to her to remain in the
underground chamber with him.  She approached the PM, then took a seat to his
left.  She waited for him to address her.  She did not have to wait for long.

“It seems your nano
weapon and our agent may be our last defense. What can you report to me?”

“Sir, I have to inform
you that our agent Kefira is in the custody of the Chinese-”

“You told me she was on
the way to Israel as we spoke.”

“No Sir, I said the
weapon was on the way to Israel.  I was careful not to say that our agent was
coming with it.  Or more precisely, which agent.”

“I am too tired for
word games, Ekaterina.  My father, as the former PM, had the utmost faith in
you but my patience is not as great as his.  Please come to the point.”

“There was an incident
at the overlook near Armageddon Valley.  Chinese agents using their own nano
technology overwhelmed our agent, my daughter, and kidnapped her.  Fortunately,
Kefira had the presence of mind to pass the nanosuit to someone she trusted. 
That person is working closely with us and operating the suit in her stead.”

“This agent also works
for Mossad in your special division?”

“Yes, he has agreed to,
but-”

“Agreed to?  What are
you implying here, Ekaterina?”

“He is not a regular
agent, Sir.  He is not Israeli, or even Jewish.”

“Our most secret weapon
is in the hands of a ‘
goy
’?”

“Yes, Sir.  But you can
rest assured that he is cooperating in every possible way with our secret task
force.”

“I see.  I wish I had
your faith in this man.  Why didn’t you take the weapon away from him,
Ekaterina?”

“It is difficult to
explain, Sir, but let us say that when we became fully aware of the facts he
had already become too proficient at using the device.  He made his suit
independent of our power supply by manipulating it at the molecular level. 
Instead of trying to coerce him we encouraged him to work with us.”

The PM shook his head.

“And we can trust him,
you are sure?”

“I know my daughter. 
She would not have handed the suit over without some programming that even this
man will not be aware of.  He may think he is acting on his own volition, but
Kefira’s implant will make him a reliable servant to our cause.”

“Good enough, I
suppose.  I imagine it will have to be.”  He sighed.  “Ekaterina, I’m counting
on you to keep me informed of all developments on a twice daily basis.  Use my
private number to prevent bureaucracy from getting in the way.”

Ekaterina rose and left
the PM alone with his thoughts.  She made her way to Haifa military airport
directly after leaving the bunker and was waiting on the tarmac when Thomas
arrived with an unconscious Sue Ann Lee.

Thomas came down the
stairs of the Gulfstream jet he had stolen at Hamad International Airport with
the help of his suit.  He held Sue Ann; she lay over his extended arms like a
ragdoll.  Ekaterina and Yatsick each got out of separate vehicles.  Yatsick
approached him and took the young woman from his arms.

“We are confused by the
format of the data you sent us.”

“I couldn’t risk
sending readable data but I wanted to make sure it preceded me.  I’ll remove
the encryption when we get there.  Take care of Sue Ann.  She needs fluids and
rest.  I’ve erased most of what happened to her in Qatar but the experience has
left her exhausted.  She’ll only have foggy recollections.  She thinks she had
a car accident on the way to the airport,” Thomas explained.  His concern for
his colleague was obvious.