“No, our aboard time was short. Have you obtained the ship’s manifest?”
“Electronic records indicate she was carrying agricultural equipment bound for Alexandria, Egypt.”
“Any chemicals or fertilizers as part of that?” Pitt asked.
“None that were listed. But I can’t say we put full faith in the manifest, given that the ship originated from Sevastopol. Why do you ask?”
“We suspect a chemical leak may have killed the crew.”
“We’ve just come from a visit to Memorial Sisli Hospital, where the engineer was admitted,” Ralin said. “The pathologist said tests on the deceased crewmen indicated that death was caused by a concentrated exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas. He suspects a natural gas leak.”
“We detected the odor when we boarded the vessel,” Giordino said, “but we didn’t identify its origin. Natural gas seems a likely source, but the Crimean Star is a bulk freighter, not a liquefied natural gas carrier.”
“Yes, that is correct,” Ana said. “Our primary concern relates to another fact—the assistant engineer who survived.”
“How’s the young man holding up?” Pitt asked.
“Quite well. His exposure to the hydrogen sulfide was limited, presumably because he was working in the engine room. He is expected to make a full recovery. But the doctors discovered a second condition that is more disconcerting. It seems the engineer tested positive for trace levels of radioactivity.”
“Radioactivity?” Giordino asked. “Perhaps he worked on a nuclear-powered ship before crewing aboard the Crimean Star.”
“We explored that possibility, and a few others, but he has no history of working around radioactive materials or near nuclear power facilities.”
“You think it was something on the ship?” Pitt asked.
“That is our fear,” Ralin said. “We have information that the Crimean Star may have been used to smuggle radioactive materials for sale on the black market.”
Ana turned to Pitt. “Petar and I are part of a task force assigned to prevent the trafficking of weapons and nuclear materials in the Black Sea region.”
“There’s still unaccounted nuclear materials out there?” Giordino asked.
“Regrettably so,” Ana said. “The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought about a free-for-all in nuclear material smuggling for many years. Stronger controls today have reduced that considerably, but there is still an alarming black market demand—much of it related to materials that were stolen years ago. You may be surprised to learn there are still over a dozen arrests each year in the Black Sea region related to nuclear smuggling. The spread of nuclear materials remains a very dangerous risk, especially with the rise of extremism in the Middle East.”
“I suspect war-torn Ukraine hasn’t helped matters any,” Pitt said.
“You are correct. That’s what has us concerned about the Crimean Star. Europol has been searching for a container of highly enriched uranium that disappeared from the Sevastopol Institute of Nuclear Energy during the Russian invasion of Crimea. Intelligence believes it is being transported to Syria, and we suspect the Crimean Star was the carrier.”
Pitt nodded. “Which explains the assistant engineer’s radiation exposure.”
“Remote as it may be, it is a possibility we must explore. If the uranium was stored in the engine room or near his cabin, it might account for his trace readings.”
“What’s the significance of this uranium being highly enriched?” Giordino asked.
“HEU, as it is called, is uranium that has undergone isotope separation to increase its content of U-235. It is the form of uranium used in the most powerful nuclear devices, be it power plants or missiles and bombs.”
“So the question,” Pitt said, “is whether the Crimean Star was intentionally sunk for someone to acquire the HEU?”
“We’ve obviously strolled down a path of multiple assumptions,” Ralin said, “but the circumstantial evidence is compelling.”
“I think you’ve got plenty of reasons to be concerned.”
“Mr. Pitt,” Ana said, “can you tell us the purpose of your visit to the region?”
“NUMA was invited by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture to participate in the search for a late-Ottoman-era shipwreck that sank off the Bulgarian coast in the eighteenth century.”
Ana glanced at Ralin, then turned to Pitt. “Would you consider delaying the start of your project for a day or so to lend us some assistance?”
“What did you have in mind?”