The Shaddad Conspiracy

Chapter 30: Revelations

LONDON

"Are you demented?" Ronan repeated his question. "Do you intend to use a nuclear weapon as bait to get our opponents to reveal themselves?" He gestured at the world map on the library wall. "Would you mind telling me where you are going to acquire this device? Will you just pop over to No. 10 and ask the Prime Minister to loan you one? Or perhaps you'll scoot across the Ocean and show up at the doorstep of the White House?"

"You may laugh at the idea, but I'm quite serious, Ronan," Sir William retrieved the port decanter from the sideboard. "And it's not the alcohol talking. We need something that will make our adversaries throw caution to the wind."

"William, all our assessments have confirmed that our opponents have a single primary objective - to ensure that 'profitable' wars continued! Not the bloody elimination of the planet! Why would they want to acquire a nuclear device?"

Sir William poured generous portions of the 1943 Grahams port into both glasses. "Because it is the ultimate prize! It guarantees a stalemate in the Middle East between Iran, the United States and Israel. It ensures a continuation of very profitable conventional wars. Why in God's name do you think that North Korea and Iran keep diverting critical resources to building nuclear weapons? Look at India and Pakistan! Saddam Hussein, in his own irrational way, subscribed to the same theory."

Ronan plunged his white-maned head into his hands. "Your mind is as confusing as the burl in this wood." He pointed to the desktop. "Do you really subscribe to the theory that the United States or NATO will not attack nuclear armed nations?"

"Ronan, it doesn't matter what I think. What matters is what the Iranian leadership believes. Saddam Hussein certainly believed in that theory – that's why he kept up the façade that he was building a nuclear device despite the threat of invasion in 2003. And no nuclear armed nation has ever been attacked, has it?" He squeezed the slumped right shoulder of his childhood friend.

"For the sake of my sanity, I will go along with your ridiculous theory. Where do you propose we get a device to use as bait?"

The barrister grinned as he resumed his seat at the table. "We need to supply what is being sought. Not a complete bomb, just the trigger. Have you ever heard of the September 22, 1979 Vela 6911 "Double-Flash" Detection?"

"William, that incident has been debunked by a Presidential panel!" Ronan objected.

"Has it now? That satellite detected 42 nuclear test explosions in the sixties and seventies. 41 of the 42 explosions were validated independently as nuclear explosions. But the forty-second? We are asked to believe that the satellites don't work only in this single incident?" The barrister used his index finger to punctuate his argument as he gestured to the world map. "Do you really believe that finding, Ronan? That somehow a meteorite created the unique double bang signature of a nuclear device? No other meteorite strike has ever recorded that type of signature. You can't argue against that logic, can you?"

Ronan pointed to the southern tip of Africa. "That incident occurred somewhere between South Africa and Antarctica..."

Sir William interrupted. "And scientists proved that Australian sheep had a higher incidence of iodine through June 1980. That is the signature for exposure to radiation, Ronan. Besides which, the rumor has always been that it was either South Africa or Israel or both of them who were testing a device."

"Let's assume I accept your premise, just how do we get anyone to believe that we possess a nuclear trigger, William?"

"Simple, my dear Watson. We produce a key component and its plans."

An open mouthed Ronan stared at his friend.

"Close your mouth, Ronan. We don't have to do anything. We just have to get them to the bargaining table and this is the fastest way, unless you have a better method."