The Gambit

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Jackson, Dani, Givon and the rest of the team were busy in their “ready” room trying to glean as much information as they could regarding the raid that they all knew was currently underway. Jackson had done some rough calculations and about the time he expected the pilots to be on their return leg he asked Dani if she could get him back in to see General Pardo.

“Stonewall, do you really think he has time for you with all that is going on? I mean, I know you have connections back in Washington but don’t you think he is a little busy right now?” Dani asked.

“Oh, I think he’ll make time for me,” Jackson replied. A few minutes later, Dani received word from General Pardo to bring Stonewall into see him. Dani could not believe it; she knew Jackson had connections but in the midst of the biggest raid in her lifetime, that Tamir would take time for Stonewall completely amazed her.

“General, how are things going?” Jackson asked.

“We hit every target we intended but, as you know, it’s too soon to tell just how badly we hurt them. Every one of our pilots made it out as well — and that somewhat surprised me. I had high hopes but never really believed we’d come out of this without losing a single plane or pilot.”

“That is very good news, sir,” Jackson agreed.

“I understand the Iranians are causing quite a stir in the gulf as well. It sounds as though your Navy is quite busy.”

“That does not surprise me; and, thanks for the heads up on this. We really appreciate the warning.”

“Not a problem; we appreciate all of the support you have given us. So, tell me Stonewall, just how long will you be with us?”

“I just spoke with Jim. It sounds like they’d like me to stay over here for a while, especially since things have really heated up over here. Jim would like me to hang around and keep my ear to the ground so to speak.”

“That sounds like a good idea; we’d love to have you.”

“Obviously, I’d really like to speak some more with Dr. Bagheri. We knew he had the most up to date information on their nuclear program but I’d be curious to know if he had any information on their retaliatory measures. We all know that the Iranians have boasted about their plans to shut down the Strait of Hormuz. However, I’d really be curious if they didn’t have something else in mind. Shutting down the strait is an obvious response, almost too obvious.”

“I agree. We’ve been trying to see if either Hezbollah or Hamas has any plans to retaliate against us, or any intel we can glean from them, but so far, we haven’t had any luck. We were hoping that Dr. Bagheri could shed some light on this topic as well. We shall both see what we can find out. We’ve let him rest up from the last couple of days but we’ll be talking with him this afternoon. I presume, you’d like to be a part of it?”

“Absolutely. I would think that being the number two man in their national security council, he’d be privy to some intel regarding any retaliatory plans they had.”

The Israelis had kept Dr. Bagheri at their Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv. The Spartan nature of the quarters didn’t really anticipate someone the stature of Bagheri but these were only temporary, though he didn’t fully realize that; events had kind of taken on a life of their own. That afternoon, General Pardo, Stonewall, Benjamin Givon and Dani began a rather soft interrogation of Dr. Bagheri.

“Dr. Bagheri,” General Pardo began, “we obviously know you had up to date information on Iran’s nuclear program, and we appreciate the sacrifices you’ve made to help us with this threat. Our main interest right now, though, is what you might know or have over heard, regarding any retaliatory measures Said Jalili might have planned. We know your government threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, but we’re thinking there might be something else planned as well. Do you have any ideas as to what, if anything, that might be planned?”

“General Pardo, I don’t know of any specifics but I know that Said had something planned. He has been working on a very secret operation with General Qassim Suleimani. Colonel Ashkan Rafsanjani, a rising star under General Suleimani, is a part of our Supreme National Security Council and the three of them have been working on something, very, very secret. Mr. Jackson, Colonel Rafsanjani is not unlike your Colonel Oliver North under your President Reagan’s National Security Council — if you remember what happened back then. Colonel Rafsanjani is a very capable young officer, and very ambitious.”

“Yeah, I remember Colonel North,” replied Jackson. Bagheri was referring to the arms for hostages deal that Colonel Oliver North headed up outside of his office within the National Security Council.

“As do we,” replied Pardo. “Do you have any idea as to what these three had planned?”

“I really don’t. As I said, this was a very secret operation, kept strictly on a need to know basis. I simply didn’t need to know. However, that being said, I know Rafsanjani was working on something. I overheard them mention something about sneaking in somewhere through some very secret tunnels, though I do not know where. My guess would be they are planning on getting something in through some tunnels from either Gaza or Lebanon into Israel. I do not know just what they have planned but, as I said, Rafsanjani is a very capable officer. I would keep track of him, if you can, and once located, do not let him out of your sight.”

“You don’t know of any travel plans Colonel Rafsanjani might have? Or any aliases he might use?” asked Pardo.

“I really don’t. I don’t know the colonel that well and we never met together socially.”

“Okay; that is a huge help, though. Both of our governments will see if we can’t locate him and then keep him under a microscope. We have already discovered several new tunnels from Gaza into Israel in our last little adventure in Gaza. We’ll start with our Hamas contacts and see if we can learn anything from them. We suspect that Hezbollah has tunnels up north as well so we’ll crack down up there as well. Is there anything else you can think of at the moment?” asked General Pardo.

“Nothing comes to mind. I didn’t hear where the tunnels were, or where they led to, or what the plan was so I don’t know what more I can add. I will say this, though. Do not underestimate either Said Jalili or Colonel Raf-sanjani. They are both extremely capable. Jalili has been the architect of Hezbollah’s, which is to say, Iran’s, guerrilla war in Lebanon and he fully understands the concept of ‘asymmetrical warfare’ as I’m sure you can attest, General. Colonel Rafsanjani has been a very apt student of Jalili’s, having served in Lebanon on multiple occasions over the years. Jalili’s greatest strength, and perhaps his greatest weakness, is that he is very sure of himself. Oh, and on a completely different topic, just what do you have planned for me? I haven’t led an extravagant lifestyle but I would like a few more conveniences. I realize I’m not at liberty to walk around freely, and I accept that, but a few more creature comforts would be appreciated.”

“Yes, I realize that. We have a safe house for you but events of late have taken on a life of their own, so to speak. We’ll get you moved out in a day or two. And, there will be more amenities for you; don’t worry about that.” With that, Dr. Bagheri left with one of Ben’s team members.

“Ben, I want you and your team down in Re’im and operational in the morning. Stonewall, are you interested in joining them once again? This trip might be a little on the boring side of things compared to your last trip — that is if Ben keeps you out of Gaza — but it might be beneficial.”

“Of course, I’d love to join them. However, I need to contact Jim as soon as possible and let him know what we’ve learned, and let him know where I'm headed.”

“Naturally; Ben can give you a secure phone.”

“Thank you, sir, I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it; you’re practically one of the team now.”

“Jim, we’ve been talking with Dr. Bagheri and trying to find out if he has any information regarding any retaliatory plans the Iranians might have planned for us. He really didn’t know anything other than some tunnels he believes the Iranians had ordered either Hamas or Hezbollah to dig from either Gaza or Lebanon into Israel. As you know, the recent Israeli action in Gaza turned up several of these.”

“Yeah, we heard about those. They made headlines all over the world, and we all know Hamas had them built but do we know for certain Iran was behind these tunnels? And if so, what do the Iranians have planned?”

“That’s the million dollar question; no one knows. Bagheri didn’t have any ideas. Mossad doesn’t have any information either. I’m headed down to Re’im with the same team I was on before to see if we can’t get any more intel on what the Iranians might be up to. I’ll keep you posted as we learn of anything.”

“Isn’t Re’im down by the Gaza Strip?”

“That’s the place; I’ll keep my head down.”

“You do that; talk to you when you get back to Tel Aviv, if not sooner. In the meantime, I’ll get with our friends in the Puzzle Palace and see if they can’t look back at some of the data they may have picked up with Epsylon and see if they haven’t picked up on something out of Tehran. It’s possible they’ve picked up something and didn’t have a complete picture as to what they were looking at. Viewed with this information, we might be able to put something together. I’ll let you know what, if anything, we find out.”