The Man from Paris, who after looking to his left and seeing Baghdadi bleeding out on the dirt floor, said, “I’ll answer anything you want me to.”
Leibowitz maintained his false grin. “I know you will,” he answered.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Underground Containment Facility
Forty-Five Miles from Tel Aviv
Believing that Pierre Labron had been mined for all he was worth, which included the names of his associates—that of the Bangladeshi and one other known only as the ‘Man from Munich’—his lifeless body had been left alongside Saheem Baghdadi with a bullet wound to his temple.
After extracting what Leibowitz believed was significant information from the Man from Paris, he had the suitcase placed within a lead chamber inside of Leibowitz’s truck, then secured it for transport.
Approximately forty-five miles outside of Tel Aviv was a Mossad bunker and a subterranean facility that operated as a satellite station to the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center. After the unit had been carefully removed and scoped, the determination was that the device had a one-ton yield that had been modified with Israeli parts. This also confirmed the data that Abesh Faruk had somehow attained Israeli parts to revise and improve the old Soviet versions.
Further intel that had been gleaned from channels over time also suggested that Faruk had developed a small arsenal of nuclear suitcases and had labeled them accordingly as the Unholy Trinity: Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. It was conjecture by foreign principals that no such arsenal existed, considering that there had been no definitive proof outside of intercepted transmissions that led to nowhere.
This, however, validated that Abesh Faruk, an arms dealer who fell to a Kidon assassin due to his willingness to sell his wares to terrorist factions, truly had a cache of WMDs. It was now obvious that the weapons were in the hands of terrorists who were now in motion, which was not only cause for concern within the Mossad community, but a concern amongst intel agencies across the planet.
According to Labron, or the Man from Paris, he had seen three suitcases inside a lead-lined tomb that was known as the Goliath Chamber. Apparently, it had housed the Unholy Trinity somewhere beneath Faruk’s estate, then was later moved to a ramshackle home on the outskirts of Paris by a man known as the Bangladeshi, months after Faruk’s assassination.
On each suitcase was a symbol that represented each member of the Unholy Trinity, Labron had confirmed to them and something they already knew. On the first aluminum suitcase was the character that was represented by an oval shape with curved outcroppings that depicted horns that classified Satan, which was slated for Washington, D.C. On the second suitcase, which was now in Mossad possession, possessed three sixes to indicate the Antichrist, which had been planned for Tel Aviv. And on the last suitcase that exhibited the image of an angel-like figure with demonic wings and a halo, was the mark of The False Prophet that had been scheduled for Vatican City.
Labron, however, knew nothing as to the course the operatives were taking to get the units to their detonation points.
While the suitcase was being dissected and the parts removed deep within this subterranean level, Efrayim Leibowitz and his principal agents started to contact intel agencies across the world—Germany, France, the United States, Italy and many others were brought into a concerted loop of intelligence sharing.
But it was Leibowitz who contacted the co-directors of Vatican Intelligence to inform them of one thing: Death was coming to the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Vatican Intelligence
The Vatican, Vatican City
Soon after the Antichrist was broken down in Israel, Efrayim Leibowitz contacted Vatican Intelligence to provide updated information regarding the dark treasure that was known as the Antichrist. It appears that the Metsada was able to attain a mobile package that contained a one-kiloton yield. It was also a Frankensteinian amalgamation of old and new parts with the nuclear sphere believed to be part of an old Russian suitcase package from the Cold War era.
While standing on an elevated tier of the Vatican’s Intel Comm Center, Fathers Auciello and Essex listened and nodded, the two men taking everything that Efrayim Leibowitz had to say with absorption.
“And Mr. Labron?” asked Father Auciello.
Onscreen, Efrayim Leibowitz appeared transparent since the monitor was constructed entirely of Plexiglas. “Pierre Labron, who we now know is the Man from Paris, is no longer a part of the equation.”
“And the Antichrist?” asked Father Essex.
“Under the jurisdiction of the Israeli state where it belongs.”
“So, one down and two to go,” Father Auciello stated rhetorically, “with one of those suitcases believed to be heading towards the Vatican.”
“We have not been able to confirm this, however,” Leibowitz answered. “But we do believe that two units exist and are on the move. Once we were able to confirm the Paris location of the Bangladeshi’s residence, we dispatched a unit. What they discovered was a lead-lined, sarcophagus-type crate that was made of stone with bas-relief carvings of demons, something Labron said was the vault that contained the Unholy Trinity. The inside was empty. But it was clear that it had at one time contained three items by the way the space was created to lock in three suitcases.”
“We haven’t been able to intercept anything regarding the two existing suitcases,” said Father Essex.
Onscreen, Leibowitz nodded. “Yeah, well, like I said, we believe that the units are on the move, one to the United States and the other to Vatican City. But we have yet to discover a track to follow. However, Labron did say that the Bangladeshi was heading to one location, while a second man called the ‘Man from Munich’ was making his way to another.”
“Did you find out who the Man from Munich is?”
“No. Nor do we know where the Bangladeshi is.”
“Did they say when the weapons were to go off?”
Another onscreen nod from Leibowitz.
