Abdul-Majeed shook his head. “I do not know of such marks.”

Waller pointed to them one by one. “They are alphabet letters.”

“That is not English,” said Abdul-Majeed. “My English is good. I don’t know what that is.”

“It is Ukrainian. It is a variation of the Cyrillic alphabet. It stands for the Fifth Chief Directorate. Tasked to provide internal security against the enemies of the Soviet Union. I loved my job. So much that I burned it into my skin.”

Abdul-Majeed’s eyes widened. “You are Ukrainian?”

Waller rolled his shirtsleeve back down and put his jacket back on. “Actually, I always considered myself a Soviet citizen first and foremost. But perhaps that is simply splitting hairs. And since Ukraine was the repository for a good deal of the nuclear arsenal of the former Soviet Union, do you now understand? I still have many contacts there.”

“Why did you not tell us this?” spat out Abdul-Majeed.

Waller pulled up a chair and sat down. “It’s not my responsibility to provide you with my personal history, simply enough HEU-highly enriched uranium-to blow up a large part of a major American city. Do you even know what HEU really is, Abdul-Majeed?”

“It is Allah’s weapon.”

“No, it has nothing to do with Allah,” Waller said derisively. “Uranium is a naturally occurring mineral found all over the world in trace quantities. It took the Germans during Hitler’s reign to realize its peculiar potential through precise fission, namely to destroy people and property in vast quantities. Did you know that one can actually hold highly enriched uranium in his hand and not feel any adverse effects until years later? I have done so myself. Stupid of me, of course, but to hold that much power? The temptation was too great when I was a young and foolish man, though the toxic effects will probably kill me before my time.

“It takes fifty kilos, or nearly a hundred and ten pounds, of the substance to create a nuclear detonation. Whereas one would need nearly one ton, or twenty times that amount, of low-enriched uranium to produce a single nuclear bomb. It takes far less plutonium, about twenty pounds or so, to do the same thing. But unlike HEU, plutonium has to come from the reprocessing of nuclear material from reactors. And no country would allow terrorists to obtain that because, like a fingerprint, the device possesses the chemical signature of that country.”

“You promised enough material for a suitcase nuke,” Abdul-Majeed said.

Waller shook his head in disappointment. “You know, if you’re going to be in the nuclear terrorist business, you should take the time to really understand the science. Suitcase nukes are bullshit, the stuff of Hollywood films and paranoid politicians. It’s more like an SUV nuke. It can be done perhaps in a smaller footprint, but the smaller the device, counterintuitively perhaps, the greater its maintenance costs. And it would take a very strong man to carry around a suitcase weighing hundreds of kilos and the nuclear core would not last long. No, what I promised you was enough highly enriched uranium processed through second-generation gas centrifuge techniques to provide the core of a nuclear explosive device. That is fissile uranium containing in excess of eighty-five percent uranium 235. That means it is weapons-grade. I can also offer you, for a reduced price, weapons-usable grade, which only has twenty percent U-235. The boom will be far less, but you will still get a damn big boom with radiation fallout.”

Waller stood and moved around the room, but his gaze remained on the Muslim.

“I can also offer technical assistance. For instance, wrapping the weapon’s fissile core in a neutron reflector because it will dramatically lessen the critical mass, which is a good thing when you want as much explosive power as possible. It’s a tricky balance. A bit too much U-238 isotope and the chain reaction that gives the substance its ability to mass-fission is rendered unworkable. Then, no boom and no burn.”

For the first time Abdul-Majeed looked impressed. “You know much about this.”

“Yes, I know much about this,” mocked Waller. “I lived in Ukraine when it was one large atomic weapon waiting to be deployed. I have worked in nuclear facilities.” He added ominously, “And I have tortured scientists suspected of selling out their country to the Americans and their allies. It was a most valuable classroom for me on many levels.”

“Then we were wrong about you. We can go through with our deal.”

Waller looked amused. “Oh, you think so? After you tried to kill me?”

“Why not? You did not die. Things are explained. You will make much money.”

“Well, it’s not always about money, is it? And not everything is explained. For instance, I know you didn’t make the decision to kill me, because you aren’t important enough to do so. But I want the names of those who did.”

Abdul-Majeed smiled grimly. “That you will never know.”

“Have you ever been tortured, Abdul-Majeed? Forgive me if I refuse to use the ridiculous term ‘enhanced interrogation.’ I prefer to cut to the chase.”

The Afghan looked bored. “Sleep deprivation, waterboarding, cattle prods, loud music.”

“No, you misunderstood me. I asked if you’d been tortured, not coddled by what passes for torture these days.”

Waller walked over, opened the metal suitcase, and pulled out various instruments. “It is said that the Germans knew how to torture people, and indeed they were good at it. Today, the Israelis have the reputation of being the best interrogators, and they claim to not torture at all, but instead to use psychological means. As for me, I believe the Soviets stood alone when it came to such things. We had the best snipers and also the best interrogators. And I am old-fashioned. I have no patience for the latest technological gadgets. I use tried-and-true methods of extracting what I want based on one fact.”

“What fact?” the Muslim said in a hollow tone.

Waller turned to him. “That people are soft shits. Are you a soft shit, Abdul-Majeed? We will find out tonight, I think.”

36

WHY WOULD I be troubled?” asked Reggie.

She made no move toward Shaw, so he came to her.

“Sorry, guess I was wrong about that. How was dinner?”

“It was fine. He knows his wines very well. Good conversationalist.”

“I’m sure.”

“Is there a problem?”

“I told you one of his guys was spying on you. Then they block off the street like they own it-”

“Evan apologized for that,” she said, interrupting him.

“Oh, it’s Evan?”

“That is his name. In fact he told me his last name too. Unlike you. It’s Waller.”

“Young. Bill Young.” He paused. “Someone searched my room the day we went kayaking.”

Reggie looked genuinely startled by this news and both her respect for and suspicion of Shaw increased. “Was anything taken?”

“Not that I can tell, no.”

“Why would someone do that?”

He shrugged. “Gordes is certainly turning out to be more exciting than I thought it would be.”

They started to walk along. Up ahead, near the village square, a band of teenagers were playing guitars and drums and a small crowd of people had stopped to listen and drop money in their basket.

“He asked about you,” said Reggie.

“About me? Why?”

She smiled. “I think he wanted to know if you were serious competition for him.”

“And what did you tell him?”

“That I hardly knew you. Which is true.”

“You don’t know him either,” he pointed out.

“He seems nice enough. I mean, he’s far too old for me.” She playfully smacked his arm. “He’s even older than you.”

“For some reason I don’t think age differences matter to a guy like that.”

“Well, I think that’s my decision to make, not his. If I tell him to back off, I’m sure he will.”