The picture on the monitors shook violently but briefly. In that short burst, 15 rounds struck Fakhrizadeh. The car veered to the left and rolled to a stop. The doctor’s wife burst out of the passenger door screaming, untouched physically by the gunfire. Nir felt a pang of sympathy for her, but then he remembered she likely knew exactly what her husband was doing in the nuclear program.

Lahav zoomed in with the operational record camera. The view confirmed that Fakhrizadeh was indeed very, very dead.

“Kill confirmed,” Nir said. “Blow it.”

Lahav pressed a computer key, and the monitors went blank.

Liora’s voice sounded a moment later. “Destruction incomplete. I repeat, destruction incomplete.”

Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

15:30 / 3:30 P.M. IRST

All the elation of a mission fulfilled was sucked from the van. The explosives in the truck bed were supposed to completely destroy the vehicle and the weapon. As Liora narrated the view from the satellite, it sounded like neither was accomplished.

“Term Lead, what happened?” It was the ramsad.

“We’re determining that now.” Nir turned to Doron with his eyebrows raised.

“I can only tell you it should have worked.” The agent’s face was red with anger and, Nir was certain, embarrassment as well. “I’ve been blowing bombs for over a decade. There’s no reason that amount of explosives should not have done the job.”

Yaron nodded in agreement. “I checked it out too. It was more than enough. Either something was faulty with the materials or it was tampered with.”

“When would it have been tampered with?” Nir asked. “We’ve had eyes on it since we arrived in Tehran.”

“It would have to be before we got here,” Doron said.

That idea seemed far-fetched to Nir. He looked down for a moment to collect his thoughts. “Sir, we have no explanation. The explosives were checked by more than one operative and confirmed to have been sufficient. We suspect possible outside interference.”

There was silence on the coms for a full minute. Finally, Liora came on. “The ramsad said he will discuss it with you when you return and to get your team back in one piece in the meantime.”

That sounds like it will be a fun discussion. Maybe I can stay here in Iran. Homestead a little plot of land outside of Isfahan.

Dima started the van’s engine.

“At least we killed the guy,” Lahav said quietly, a bit of wonder in his voice. “I mean, we really, really killed that guy.”

Nir looked around and saw the discouragement on his men’s faces. Maybe this was the moment he needed to be a leader. “You know, Lahav, for once I agree with you. We really, really killed that guy. The Unholy Father met his just demise. Good work, guys. You did an extremely professional job.”