Chapter 25
February mornings were unbearably cold in the Negev Desert. Eyal and Yaakov had been flown to the secret weapons test range during the middle of the night, and with them were the top ranks of the Israel Defense Forces. They were about to see the first demonstration of the new biodrone technology that had long been in development and which Eyal and Yaakov had strived to keep secret. They had only a few hours to carry out the test, because Russian and American spy satellites would soon overfly the area and the test had to remain secret.
As the sun started to rise, the flat, rocky plain started to change colors, turning to purple, and then yellow. Soon, all the landscape would reverberate in white. In the distance, through the thin and clean air, it was still possible to see the buildings of Dimona, where Israel’s first nuclear bomb had been developed. People realized that the targets were of different nature. Instead of old tanks and transport vehicles, there were a few sheeps, goats, and even a couple of horses closed in a somewhat neglected iron corral.
Then, the loudspeaker asked the attendees to take their places on the stands, as the test was about to begin. Yaakov evaluated the distance to the targets - certainly more than a few hundred yards but perhaps less than half a mile. Anyway, too close to test high explosives. The loudspeaker declared that the test had begun, and asked the audience to look out towards the Western horizon. After a few seconds, they could spot a drone. It flew over the animals at a height of about one thousand feet, then it let a small circular device go, that exploded about fifty yards above ground. To use the word explosion was actually an exaggeration, thought Eyal, especially for people who had witnessed real wars.
The noise was more like the uncorking of a giant bottle of champagne. Then nothing happened for a few minutes. Yaakov was about to tell Eyal that the test had maybe failed, and they had wasted a good night’s sleep, when the goats and sheeps started to fall to the ground one by one. In less than a minute, only the two horses were left standing in the corral.
The speaker declared that the test had succeeded. A few jeeps were waiting next to the stands, for transportation to the corral.
When they got there, Eyal and Yaakov examined the animals. The goats and sheep were undoubtedly dead, without any wound on their bodies so they have had to be killed chemically. Yet the toxin had to be extremely volatile considering only five minutes had passed since the attack, and they were walking in the area under no danger. The one question left was; why had the horses survived?
People were exchanging glances and unfinished sentences, when Tamir Pardo, the head of the Mossad, appeared and introduced a young lieutenant who would give all the explanations. His name was Avi Eitan. He stepped into the corral and spoke,
“Today you have all witnessed the first live test of our new biodrone. After many attempts, we have managed to insert a microchip, stored with a small but lethal amount of toxin, into the nervous system of a fly. The chip sees everything what the fly sees and can override its brain function to drive the fly in any desired direction. The chip is activated via remote radio control, and in this case it received images of the targets to attack - sheep and goats but not horses. In this experiment, the microchips were activated before they left the drone, and as they started flying around they detected the animals. As soon as the scanners identified the image that it was programmed to attack, it overrode the fly’s brain and forcefully crashed it on the skin of the selected animals.
The impact released the toxin, a special variant of the nerve gas, Sarin, that penetrated the skin and eventually killed the animals. If you observe carefully, on the surface of the carcass you will see the remains of the flies. But unless you have a very powerful microscope, you will not be able to detect the microchip, if anything of it is left at all.”
“Very impressive, Lieutenant Eitan, and well explained. I can imagine a lot of applications for this but how many can we build? And what is the cost?”
The question came from Gadi Eizenkot, the ‘Rav aluf’, or head of the chiefs of staff in Israel.
Tamir Pardo was the only one who could answer. This was a Mossad project, after all.
“I will start from the costs and the answer is: very low. Every microchip costs a few hundred dollars, then with the toxin we have to add another few hundred dollars, but we never exceed one thousand dollars per fly. The production process is still to be perfected, though.
The circuitry has to be wired to the fly while it is still a larva in the development phase, and the production yield here is still about ten percent. Which means, out of one thousand larvae, we can create roughly one hundred armed flies. Fortunately, failed larvae do not develop at all, so we can recover the chips and try again. Larvae are obviously not an issue to obtain. Flies tend to be short-lived, on the other hand. They last a few months at best. A few years back we leveraged some...how can I define it - external industrial advice to treat them in a way that our armed flies could survive for as long as one year. As of now, we can produce about one hundred flies a month, for a total cost of less than one million dollars. Of course, in case of national emergency, production can be quickly ramped up. In the test, today, we used fifty of them which makes an average of five flies per target struck.”
Yaakov and Eyal exchanged a glimpse of complacency. That old bastard was counting only the marginal cost of production, when in reality billions had been invested in the program for the last few years. However, the same could be said of the nuclear program. Gadi knew that as well, but he decided it was not worth spoiling Tamir’s moment of glory.
Yaakov and Eyal then got back into the jeeps that would take them to the airstrip, when suddenly, Tamir got into the car with them. He immediately closed the door behind him, and ordered the driver to leave without waiting for other passengers.
“Let’s take advantage of this short ride to have a meeting about the life potion sorcerers,” he said, looking at Eyal. “I can see Yaakov in my office anytime, since he reports to me, but I also need your input as representative of the counterespionage.”
Eyal wondered why the head of the Mossad would discuss this with him. After all, Tamir had all the authority to decide what to do outside of Israel.
“Let me cut it short,” Tamir continued. “We have reliable information that the diffusion of this drug is accelerating, with new variants popping up. It also seems like the original group is losing control. We got word from a sayan who is inflitrated in their organization. I discussed the matter with the prime minister, and our assessment is that we need to get the group under our control. We need to be in a strong position when this starts spreading beyond the wealthy circles.”
“By getting the group under your control, do you mean that you want to take them to Israel? Against their will, most likely?” asked Eyal.
“You guessed it. Listn, we are aware of the risks. The fact is, this story is spinning out of control anyway. The only difference will be if we have a chance to sway the turn of events in our favor, or not.”
Eyal looked at Yaakov, who did not comment. It was clear that the decision had been made. He looked back again at Tamir and said,
“Then why do you need my input, Sir?”
“Because you are the only one in our security community who had a chance to talk to one of the creators of the drug in the past. What was your impression? How would they react?”
“Based on a five minute conversation and the analysis of the video footage, the one I met, named George McKilroy, looked like a very reasonable person you could negotiate with. I do not know how the others - especially the founder, Louis - might react.What happens if they do not cooperate?”
“We have not decided yet. For sure, they would not be on our friends list. But you do not have to kill all who are not friends with you - at least, not immediately. What would you do in my place?” Tamir was genuinely interested in Eyal’s response.
“I know it is difficult, but I would try to set up a dialogue rather than to impose control. After so many years of
investigation, we still do not have a clear idea of their goals. We just keep acting based off our own ideas about them.” Eyal commented, but he knew he could not change the decision.
The three men stayed silent for the rest of the trip, until they were dropped off at the airstrip, where Tamir boarded a helicopter. Eyal and Yaakov would follow on another plane with the rest of the audience. As the helicopter took off, Eyal asked Yaakov,
“When is the confrontation going to take place? Are we talking days, or weeks? Who are you targeting?”
“The first two members of the commando are already on site for one week for the final preparations. In two weeks, they will be joined by the other two. We are targeting Louis and Dora, his wife.”
“Shit, Yaakov, do you realize that if anything goes wrong, we risk having Telomerax go public in a few days? It takes years to have Plan Lot ready, and you are going in a direction where we might need it in a few months!”
“I know, and I share your concern but the boss is the boss and Tamir wanted to get this operation started at all cost. Do not ask me anything else. I need to catch up on my sleep now.”