Protect and defend by Vince Flynn Page B

is up to the task.”
    Ashani did not want to be pulled any further into this mess. “I am not as convinced as you that they will not attack by air. A single B-2 bomber could enter our airspace and we would never see it. They fly at fifty thousand feet and can carry a payload in excess of forty thousand pounds. I have no doubt that the Americans have designed a new weapon that is capable of penetrating each and every floor of this facility.”
    “They would need a nuke.” Mukhtar shook his head. “And they would never do that. Besides, the Americans aren’t my concern. Their hands are tied with the mess they’ve created in Iraq. Their European allies would have no patience for such an attack. It is the Jews that worry me, and the Americans aren’t about to give them one of their B-2s.”
    “Then how will the Jews stop us?”
    “The obvious answer is that they will continue to harass. They will kill more scientists if they have to, but that will only slow us down. Eventually, they will try to destroy this place. The only question is how.”
    Ashani did not particularly care for Mukhtar. The man had a violent streak that made him hard to like in a civilized environment, but he was not someone to be dismissed lightly. He had succeeded where nations had failed. The suicide and rocket attacks that he launched at Israel year after year were the reason behind the Jews’ decision to finally give up some land. It was not the United Nations and their threats of sanctions. It was not Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and the other Arab neighbors threatening war. That had been tried one too many times, and the Jews had proven themselves extremely difficult to evict from the tiny scab of land. He was a fighter who had the uncanny ability to predict the actions of his adversaries.
    Ashani was about to speak when Farahani interrupted them with the news that the scientist in question was already having lunch in the café. The doors opened to the large elevator and Ashani gestured for Mukhtar to enter first. The head of Hezbollah hesitated, made an unconscious grimace, and then stepped into the steel box. Ashani observed the man’s behavior with a new interest. He followed him into the elevator and walked to the far wall where Mukhtar had positioned himself like a cornered animal. It occurred to Ashani that the head of Hezbollah did not like confined spaces. As the door shut, he watched Mukhtar close his eyes and mumble something to himself. Ashani filed the information away.
    The elevator lurched and began moving very slowly. Ashani looked at the numbers above the door and in a faraway voice said, “Damien Chaussepied.”
    “Who?” Mukhtar asked in a terse tone.
    “Damien Chaussepied. Have you ever heard of him?”
    “No.”
    “He was a French contractor working at the Osirak reactor in Iraq back in nineteen eighty-one.”
    “And why are you bringing him up?”
    “He turned out to be an Israeli spy. He placed homing beacons throughout the facility, so the Israeli pilots knew exactly where to drop their bombs.”
    “And the Israelis killed him,” Farahani scoffed. “That his how they treat the people they recruit.”
    Ashani ignored the head of security and focused on Mukhtar. “He was supposedly killed in the air strike.”
    “Supposedly?”
    “That is what the Iraqis and the French claim. I have never believed it.”
    “Why?”
    “Over the years there has been certain information that points to the French DGSE working with Mossad on this operation.”
    Farahani scoffed. “That sounds like typical Zionist propaganda.”
    Mukhtar ignored the head of security and asked, “You said he died in the raid.”
    “That is what they claim.”
    “Did they find his body?”
    “They found parts of a body. There was a lot of damage done to the facility.”
    “So you think the French worked both sides of the deal.”
    Ashani nodded. “They were paid millions to help build it, and then they helped the Israelis destroy it.”
    “That is