The Keepers of the Persian Gate (3 page)

“This money is to be used exclusively in achieving the objectives of your mission. Bribing local law enforcement, or even hotel security or army is fine. However, it needs to be justified, and you will be asked to account for it upon your return to the Nimitz,” explained Erin.

Once inside, Nasser and Paddy would locate the target while Alex and Elvis would provide the SEALs with commentary from within.

“When ready, Paddy will cut off the power supply in the ground floor basement, while Nasser will commence placing incendiary devices on the fourth floor. This will block the hotel security’s route to the top floor and ensure that they can’t crash the party. Once the incendiary devices are activated, that will be the SEALs signal to storm the top floor and snatch the target,” said Lieutenant Graham.

The plan was to neutralise the target with a sedative, making him incapable of drawing attention to himself during the escape. It was estimated that it would take five minutes to get to the beach from the hotel with the target in tow. By that stage, members of Special Naval Warfare Development Group would have set up a perimeter around the evacuation point.

“Oh yes, and I almost forgot, International Military Call Signs will apply in Frequent Flyer. Well, gentlemen, now that that’s out of the way, I would like to introduce you to Captain Paddy Trimble. The Captain will provide you with a proper background and profile of our target,” said Lieutenant Graham.

Paddy lifted his laptop off the desk and walked to the lectern, pausing briefly to shake Admiral Humphrey’s hand as he passed him. He connected his laptop to a projector cable and a power point presentation appeared.

“Subject 42

Briefing to the UN Security Council Military Strategy Sub-Committee (The 1540 Committee)

Captain P. Trimble, Special Prosecutor’s Office, International Criminal Court

2 March 2011”

“Hello everyone. As it says here, I’m going to give you the same presentation I gave to a Sub-Committee of the United Nations Security Council, namely the 1540 Committee,” said Paddy. The 1540 Committee was established by the UN to unmask the global key players in the black market proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Part of this committee’s mandate lay in the targeting, arresting and removal of individuals contributing to illegal proliferation networks.

“Our target is Dr Ludwig Von Gunten, or the Mechanic as he has come to be known. He is a Swiss National…” began Paddy.

“Why the Mechanic?” interrupted Lieutenant Graham.

Paddy flicked onto a new slide showing a black and white photograph of the Mechanic during his younger years in Holland.

“He was a metallurgist. Most people specialising in nuclear projects were engineers. As a result he was initially looked down upon by many of his peers, and his first boss at CENCA called him ‘the Mechanic’. It was probably intended as an insult; however, the name stuck,” explained Paddy.

The Mechanic was born in Zurich on 17 January 1939. He received a degree in Physics with Mathematics from Cambridge in 1957. In further studies, at other institutions across Europe, he gained an MSc and Doctorate in Uranium Metallurgy. In 1971, he joined CENCA, outside Amsterdam, working in uranium enrichment.

One evening in February 1972, the Mechanic managed to gain access to CENCA’s archives under the pretext that he was working late and sending letters to family back in Switzerland, where his brother had allegedly taken ill. That evening he fled the Netherlands, but not before managing to steal almost two hundred documents relating to uranium enrichment. At the time, CENCA Group had handed him the drawings of centrifuges for the mathematical solution of the physics problems in the gas centrifuges.

“Uranium enrichment is an impossible process without the technical information to rely upon. These documents would have been extremely dangerous in the wrong hands,” said Paddy.

It took years for Dutch authorities to figure out what he had done with the documents. Meanwhile, the Mechanic had made his way to Pakistan where he had been accepted by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Nobody at the time knew why he had done this; however, it was later revealed that the Mechanic had married a Pakistani bride and had children by her.

“Given the threat posed by a nuclear-armed India during this time, I understand that a young Von Gunten felt it was his god-given responsibility to protect Pakistan. He even converted to Islam. I think his purposes were genuine at this time,” said Paddy.

“Well, he’s a war criminal now,” interjected Alex.

“That’s correct, and after he achieved the bomb for Pakistan, he went out on his own, selling his special knowledge to the highest bidder. In the 1970s and early 1980s, his business grew exponentially. Instead of just selling knowledge he began trading in materials, which led many to consider him the father of the modern nuclear black market,” replied Paddy.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Mechanic had amassed a fortune buying up what many considered to be obsolete technology from former Soviet Bloc states. However, it was his alleged activities within the last ten years which really brought the Mechanic to the attention of Western governments. Since the 2000s, there was evidence to suggest that his customers included North Korea, Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi government, Iran and Syria. However, there was also evidence to suggest that he was selling to extremist Islamic terrorist organisations since 2000, including Al Qaeda and so-called emerging ‘Islamic State’ organisations.

“We understand that his base of operations during this period was somewhere in Central Africa, probably in more than one location. Indeed, the intelligence which led us to believe the Mechanic was still alive came out of Central Africa,” explained Paddy.

Following Paddy’s appointment to lead the investigation into the Mechanic, the SPO agreed to establish a multi-national task force to investigate the possibility that the target was still alive.

“We expected this operation to take a considerable period of time. Starting in October 2010, I went about independently following up on leads, liaising with INTERPOL and Scotland Yard,” said Paddy.

Paddy spent several weeks interviewing weapons inspectors, nuclear scientists and known arms dealers. The object was to draft a report which would provide an indication of the size and scope of the task which faced the SPO in tracking down the Mechanic.

“We needed to gain an understanding of the sorts of circles in which the target would be operating. In my view, the only way to discover this was to move in those circles,” said Paddy. The SPO also needed to gain a better understanding of the supply chains. There were a number of free agents that operated in the field and set up the meetings. Their role, though lucrative, was arguably the riskiest.

“We arranged four meetings in the first instance, in Paris, Bogota, Johannesburg and Macao. In most cases the SPO hired local actors to portray the buyers. For example, for the South Africa meeting, we literally hired a look-alike of Mohammed Omar Osman, the second in command of the Ogaden National Liberation Front in Somalia,” said Paddy. “Our persistence began to pay off, and we were certainly zeroing in on the Mechanic’s last known areas of operations - and those he had been dealing with.”

A few months later, in what could only be described as a ‘fake Sheikh‘ operation, Paddy posed as a member of private security to meet with a known associate of the Mechanic in the Venetian Hotel in Macao, China.

“The meeting took place on the pretext that the ‘Sheikh’ was planning to use WMD to overthrow the Hosni Mubarak regime. The revolution had already commenced by this stage, giving the meeting an air of legitimacy. Our actor posed as a senior general in the Egyptian Army who was seeking a method of killing Mubarak which would implicate Russian involvement. This would mimic the radiation poisoning that killed Alexander Litvinenko in London,” said Paddy.

It was well known that Mubarak was propped up by the West. Given the power struggle which was unfolding, Russia might have been expected to do something bold. Indeed, a Russian backed high-profile coup in the Middle East would have been perfectly believable. Early 2011 also signalled a new round of negotiations of tariffs for the Suez Canal. China was known to be extremely outspoken about the tariffs, particularly given its recent interest in African natural resources. Therefore, there was plenty to implicate China in the coup as well and the location of the meeting seemed to fit the circumstances.

“We rendezvoused with the Mechanic’s representative in the Bellini Lounge, just off the casino floor. The representative left us a note to go to a particular suite in the hotel. When we got to the room, we discovered that the person we were actually meeting was the Mechanic. We were all stunned, but we had to maintain our composure,” recalled Paddy.

The local actor did an excellent job of explaining the situation and what the senior members of the ‘revolution’ were looking for. A price was agreed and money was to be exchanged via an account in Switzerland, following a further meeting.

“This initial meeting was extremely tense. We were heavily outnumbered in terms of security, so an arrest would have been completely out of the question. If China was aware that we were carrying out the operation, we might have requested emergency assistance; however, they did not know. Instead we focussed on arranging the second meeting. We pressed the Mechanic for a time and location but he was having none of it. The location of the meeting would be advised in one week by e-mail message from a specific address provided to us,” explained Paddy.

That e-mail never came. The reason for this was that the Mechanic was in Libya meeting an old customer, namely Colonel Gaddafi. Embryonic pockets of revolt were occurring in remote parts of Libya and intelligence suggested that Gaddafi was seeking to acquire materials to suppress the rebels.

“We believe that he may have been seeking the Mechanic’s services to cause some sort of radioactive rainstorm or something similar to attack the villages from the air,” explained Paddy. The Mechanic had been known to create similar ‘natural disasters’ for other governments. Such action would allow Gaddafi plausible deniability for the mass murder of civilian settlements. This would be particularly useful if Gaddafi himself ever had to face the International Criminal Court.

It was clear that the Mechanic had been warned of the dangers in Libya.

“We suspect that Gaddafi actually instructed the Mechanic to go to Venezuela to continue his work on the project,” said Erin.

Jake intervened. “I’m sorry, if the US is not a signatory to the International Court of…”

“The International Criminal Court,” corrected Marco.

“Yeah, well, whatever. Why is the US helping y’all out in catching this guy? Why don’t we take him?” Jake asked.

The Admiral stepped forward. “Because although the US government would love nothing more than to put him before an American court, it was agreed last night that this arrest should fall on the shoulders of the international community. The US is therefore willing to assist, albeit in a classified capacity.”

Paddy finished by stating, “From intelligence, the Mechanic is known to use a number of body doubles. One of the primary reasons I am here is to ensure that the man on Isla Margarita is in fact the same man I met in Macao.”

“How do you know the man you met wasn’t a double?” asked Elvis.

“I don’t,” replied Paddy abruptly.

The Admiral then took the lectern for a final time. “Gentlemen, you have roughly three hours before you depart. I suggest you all try to get some sleep in your assigned quarters. Please report back to the flight deck at 2230 hours, when we will equip you with your gear and armaments. Dismissed.”

The meeting ended abruptly, Paddy walked out with Marco and asked him how he felt about the operation.

“It’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard. A flying boat, limousines? Something’s bound to go wrong, do you not think?” asked Marco.

“Well, the US can’t afford to be seen to be invading its neighbours, so the onus is on them to keep it confidential,” replied Paddy.

Paddy and Marco were escorted back to their quarters alongside the others. It was clear that the Admiral didn’t want any member of Frequent Flyer socialising with the other crew on board the Nimitz.

The door to his quarters shut behind Paddy. Leaning his back to the door, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Although he was still exhausted from all the travel, he did not think sleep was something he would be physically capable of. The pre-operation nerves were simply too much. Instead, he sat and began a note to his girlfriend Sarah in Norwich, England.

“Dear Sarah, I know I promised you that I was going to be sitting behind a desk from now on, but one last thing has pulled me back into active duty…”

***

Time passed quickly. Before Paddy knew it, an hour had slipped by and a Warrant Officer was at the door, ready to escort Paddy to the flight deck. It was quite a walk; the Nimitz, or ‘Old Salt’ as it was nicknamed, was a huge vessel. It was over a thousand feet long at the waterline and weighed over a hundred thousand tonnes. To put that into perspective, that was nearly twice the weight of the Titanic. Walking up onto the deck, the SEALs stood in a neat line, fully uniformed and ready to go. Their faces were difficult to make out due to the dark jungle camouflage that they had applied. Over the years, Paddy had had to do the same on a number of occasions on active duty. He had observed that some soldiers were better at applying the camouflage than others. However, Special Forces always seemed to have a particular skill for putting it on in a way that blended perfectly with their mission’s location.

Although it was March in the Caribbean Sea, it was cold on deck and there was a strong breeze of about thirty-five knots. The Nimitz was keeping a deliberate distance from the coast of Venezuela. The reason for this was primarily so that the United States would not be vulnerable to any potential Venezuelan accusations that the Nimitz had acted as a staging post for the operation. It would also be of strategic relevance in case she had to make a fast dash for Puerto Rico. Moreover, it would be within the clear range of the protection offered by the US Atlantic Command (LANTCOM).