The Gambit

XX

Captain Ebrahim Rouhani and his driver pulled into the small RV Park outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania just ahead of their partner rig. They had been on the road for twenty-eight hours straight; time was of the essence, everyone knew that. Zarin had told them that once they received word from the colonel, they were to leave immediately, whether he had reached the ranch or not. And so, once they received Rafsanjani’s email, they headed out. Outside of Sweetwater, Texas, Rouhani and his traveling companions in a second travel trailer had split from the two other rigs with whom they were now reunited. At Sweetwater, Rouhani and his partners took a southern route to get to Scranton, traveling I-20, to Fort Worth, where they picked up Interstate 30 and took that to Little Rock. From Little Rock, they traveled up to Knoxville, TN, where they picked up Interstate 81 and followed that up most of the rest of the way. Their other two companions took a more northerly route, traveling through Oklahoma and Missouri where, in St. Louis, they picked up I-70 and took that all the way to Columbus, Ohio. From here they took another interstate up to Akron where they picked up I-80 and took this most of the rest of the way. Rouhani, at Zarin’s urging, had decided to break up into pairs for the four travel trailers as he had picked up on several websites that RV-ers like they presumed to be, often travel in pairs. Two rigs traveling together would not raise any suspicion at all, regardless of where the vehicles were licensed. However, four of them all from the same state traveling together might look a little suspicious, possibly not enough to generate any inquiries but certainly enough that a trained observer might notice and keep note of it. In addition, Rouhani had made sure that the RV Park they stopped at would be large enough that four travelers from Texas would not raise any undue suspicion.

While Rouhani had gone to great measures to keep from arousing any undue suspicion, he made an exception for this night. Each of his men knew that this would be their last night and they were comfortable with that fact. They did not spend the night partying as if this was to be their last night but they simply wanted to be with each other as many soldiers do when they realize their time is up. Moreover, they had volunteered for this mission, every one of them. That was one of Colonel Raf-sanjani’s stipulations. He had told them the nature of the mission without going into the operational details. However, when each of them had volunteered — and learned of their exact targets — each one had been thoroughly elated at the prospect of hitting out at the Great Satan with the devastating blow the colonel had in mind. Truly, America would suffer from the blow they had in store!

As for tomorrow, well, they had checked on their gear multiple times over; their weapons were ready, they had plenty of ammunition, and their RHIB’s (Rigged Hull Inflatable Boats) were ready should they be needed. They really didn’t have anything else for gear. In addition, he made sure that each of his trucks had been completely refueled. The news reports of the first parts of their operation had sent fuel prices skyrocketing — even here on the East coast, which is what they expected. Rouhani, though, did not want to wait in line for fuel tomorrow so he made sure that they had all topped off their fuel tanks. No matter where they were headed, and he was looking to make this decision right away, he wanted to be able to get there on one tank of fuel.

As for his final decision, he and Zarin had planned this part of the operation together with a couple options: they could proceed with four small groups heading to Philadelphia, Boston and two going to New York, or depending on scheduling, all four groups could head to either Boston or New York. Now, after checking the schedules, Rouhani thought it looked as if Boston offered their best option. He was pleased to see this as he really wanted to avoid New York City. He had heard nightmares of the traffic there. The recent closure of several lanes across the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey had caused him countless sleepless nights. He knew his team would not be traveling across this bridge and they would be traveling in the early evening anyway. However, he looked at this as one more example of the unpredictable nature of the Americans. Who would close a bridge simply for political paybacks? Yet, the New Jersey Governor’s office had done just that. Tomorrow, of all days, he did not need something like that. However, with the schedules in Boston falling in line, he no longer needed to worry about New York City. With that decision made, he made a quick call to the Hyatt at Logan International Airport to reserve a suite on the top floor of the hotel. He specifically requested a room at the end of the southwest wing which overlooked the inner Boston Harbor. Not surprisingly, a suite was not available but the operator let him know that a two room suite was available on the floor immediately below. Rouhani let the operator know that this would be perfect and made the reservation.

After spending the last twenty-eight hours on the road, he knew his men needed sleep. However, he wanted to brief his men on what tomorrow held for them. Rouhani had picked his spots carefully: they were in a far corner of the Park and the nearest RV to them was well over thirty yards away. He had placed his driver as a guard relatively close to this RV to alert them if anyone ventured into their area.

“Gentlemen, tomorrow is our big day. I’ve looked over all of the schedules for Boston, New York and Philadelphia and from the schedules I’ve looked at, Boston seems to offer us the best opportunity. All of us going to the same location also means that we can support each other should that be needed as well. Boston is the farthest away but it is still less than a five hour drive. We’ll want to arrive around nine thirty in the evening. Arriving half an hour after closing should allow for as many as possible to leave, making for fewer potential witnesses or obstacles to overcome. Those unfortunate few who remain may need to be killed. We cannot afford to leave any witnesses who could raise the alarm — we have come too far to fail at this point.” Rouhani knew this was old news to each of them. They had all reviewed the layout of each target they had selected; the last minute details were the only new items really needing to be discussed.

Jackson and Dani arrived at Biggs just as an F-15 flight crew began warming up one of the Eagles on the flight line.

“You must be Stonewall. I assume you, then, are Dani? Hi, I’m ‘Vapor’, Major Lori Washington.”

“Vapor?” asked Jackson.

“Yeah, I had one mission that was pretty top secret and they waived the minimum fuel requirements for me. By the time I landed…, I had less than one hundred pounds of fuel; hence ‘Vapor’ for my call sign.”

“Well, this could be another repeat of that mission for you, Major.”

“That’s what I understand. My CO tells me this little package I’m delivering is tied to the guys who hit California pretty hard. We should have everything arranged. I’ll be meeting up with a couple tankers out of McConnell refilling with the first one somewhere over the Oklahoma — Arkansas border and then the other over Kentucky. By then, I’ll have enough to get to Andrews. The FAA has rules about supersonic flight but my CO told me not to worry about those,” Vapor added with a sly grin. “I’ll get to Andrews before you get back to Marathon.”

“Great; the laptop and these cell phones need to get to Fort Meade just as fast as possible. Everything is encrypted on these so the sooner they can get working on them, the sooner we can crack who did this and, possibly, find out if they have anything else in store for us.”

“Sir, if that is the case, why don’t I just land at Tipton instead of Andrews, or even BWI, for that matter?”

“Tipton? What’s that?”

“Tipton’s an old Army Airfield that was BRAC-ed back in the late 80’s. It’s a civilian airport now but it’s located literally right across the highway from Fort Meade. By the time I land and hand over this little package, the whiz kids at Fort Meade will have this in five minutes. It’ll be closed this time of night but for the delivery I have, I’m sure you’d be able to have someone open it up for me to land there.”

“You wouldn’t have any trouble getting your Eagle in and out of there?”

“Nah, Tipton’s runway’s three thousand feet long; I only need a third of that.”

“Vapor, just how do you know about Tipton?” Dani asked.

“I’m from the Baltimore area and I have my own private airplane hangared there. I’ve got a WACO YMF 5D Super — it’s a biplane, and is she fun to fly. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to fly my other plane — this Eagle here — into Tipton! Now, sounds like I might get the chance,” she added with a wondrous sense of fun in her eyes.

“Okay, Vapor; I’ll make some phone calls. Go ahead and plan on landing at Tipton. Once you’ve made the delivery, do you want to hop on over to Andrews to refuel and spend the night there or, since you’re from Baltimore, have you already made your own arrangements?”

“No, sir; I’ll go ahead and hop over to Andrews. I’ll spend the night there and then boogey on back here tomorrow. They need the bird here to continue training. Of course, I won’t be getting back here as fast as I left, but I still need to get back here tomorrow.”

“Okay, then, Major. Thanks for stepping up and making this flight. I know it’s not very glamorous but it’s extremely urgent.”

“Don’t mention it, sir.” And with that, Vapor climbed up into the cockpit, dropped her canopy and began her way out to the runway.

As Vapor lit-off her afterburners on the takeoff, Jackson turned to Dani and said “I never tire of hearing the thunder of those engines! Let’s get something to eat; it’s been a long day and I’m starving.”

“What, you’re not going to cook dinner for me?” Dani asked with a huge grin on her face. “That breakfast was awesome!”

“Some other time,” Jackson replied, smiling back at her. “Right now, I’m famished.”

“Yeah, me too. I saw a Buffalo Wild Wings on the way in that looked pretty close. That work for you?”

In addition to breaking one of the F-15’s loose for the flight to Fort Meade, Jim Carmichael had made sure that Jackson had access to a vehicle while he was at Biggs. He didn’t know if he would need it or not but thought it might come in handy.

Taking their seat at a corner booth at the restaurant, Jackson got back to business with Dani. “So, just what is your take on all of this?” he asked her.

“Well, to begin with, we’re up against someone who understands asymmetrical warfare to a very high degree. We know that another attack is imminent. Early this morning they hit more than a dozen of the largest refineries on the west coast. Right on the heels of this, they hit the power network coming off of the Columbia River dams in the Pacific Northwest. So, obviously, they are targeting your energy sector and infrastructure. Every president that has been elected since Nixon has campaigned on developing some type of national energy policy but not a single president has really done anything about it. Now, it would seem, we are up against someone who understands the vulnerabilities of not having one.”

“So, you think the next attack is going to hit the energy sector again?”

“I do,” replied Dani. “It’s the most obvious part of their operation, short of their attack in the Gulf. Think about it: the first two attacks were not designed to kill or injure anyone in particular — they were designed to hit the country; to punish the country. By taking out the refineries, what is that going to do to the price of gas for those in California? California has what, the eighth largest economy in the world? After this morning, that economy doesn’t have a gallon of gas or diesel fuel — an exaggeration, I know, but none of these petroleum companies stockpile fuel — they all refine as much as they need to deliver the next day. As such, no one will be going to work as every car will be sitting in the garage; every semi-tractor/trailer rig will be parked; not a single farmer will be able to work his fields due to a lack of diesel — essentially anything that requires any transportation will come to a screeching halt. Food prices are going to skyrocket as truckers won’t be able to get produce, milk, cattle, etc., to market. Construction will come to a halt as building materials won’t be able to get to construction sites. The list goes on. As to the power grid, the impact won’t be as significant as the refineries but it will be significant in its own right. You can’t take out over twenty-one thousand megawatts of electricity and not have a serious impact. The Pacific Northwest will be impacted by this the most, but other states will be impacted, probably more than most people realize. In short, your economy has just taken a huge hit that will have a direct impact on at least fifty million people and an indirect impact on millions of others. If you can keep your economy in a recession, you’ll have done a remarkable job.”

“You sure know how to paint a rosy picture. So, if this next attack is supposed to be worse than the first two, what do you think they have in store? I mean, they’ve already put the US economy in a major depression with just the first two attacks; why do you think this next one will be another strike at our energy sector? They’ve already hammered us pretty good on that note.”

“Yes they have, but everything’s been on the west coast. I think the next one is going to hit the East coast, and I think they will be going after your nuclear power industry. After all, we just took out theirs.”

“Yeah, but theirs wasn’t for power generation; it was strictly a weapons program.”

“You know that, and I know that, but the rest of the world still has to choose what to believe. By hitting your nuclear power industry, it lends credence to their claim that their nuclear program was for power generation as well. Look, if this attack is going to be worse than the first two, several things become apparent: first, agent Norris seems like a good man but I really don’t think we are looking at either a chemical or biological event for the next attack. To my knowledge, Mossad has no information on the Iranians having either type of weapons program; nuclear, definitely, but not chemical or biological. Secondly, they have already attacked two segments of your energy sector; why not a third. Third, have you looked at a map of where your nuclear power plants are located? There are roughly six of them in the Chicago area, there’s another eight of them concentrated from North Carolina to Georgia but in the Mid-Atlantic to New England states, right long the seaboard from Norfolk to Boston, there’re fourteen plants! If they hit just four of these — and they’d have to hit the right four, mind you — and caused a melt-down at each, you would literally have to evacuate over thirty-five million people! The loss of power from these four reactors would be a very minor issue here, but nothing like the necessity of having to evacuate all of these people. Remember the problems caused by the evacuation of New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina — and you had, what, two or three days warning? That’s child’s play compared to what this would be — and you will have no warning whatsoever!”

“If they were going to do this, just how would they hit these reactors? They are guarded quite well and you heard Jim mention that they have been reinforced to withstand another suicide attack from the air, ala 9-11 all over again.”

“Yes, I know your reactors have been reinforced, and you know that, but do the Iranians? Moreover, just because they have been reinforced to some mathematical formula developed by some engineer, doesn’t mean they can actually withstand the impact of a major jet plane like a 757 or a 767, even a 737 for that matter. Engineers will do their best but there really is no way to actually test out their theories. Trust me, I’ve done a little work with nuclear engineering; I wouldn’t want to even think about someone flying a 757 into a nuclear reactor. I don’t care how well it’s been reinforced; unless it’s built into the side of a mountain, it would be a disaster of unimaginable proportions.”

“Okay, let’s sit back and think about this: what else could it be? I mean, if the intent is to make the country suffer, that kind of rules out a lot of things and if you’re correct the lack of either a chemical or biological weapons program, that doesn’t leave much. However, Saddam Hussein and the Syrians reportedly have manufactured Sarin. Is there a chance they could have gotten some of this when we deposed Saddam? Would Assad of Syria have worked out a trade with the Iranians: Sarin, in exchange for assistance fighting ISIS? Can you imagine what would happen if these guys dumped some Sarin gas into the water supply in LA, Dallas, Chicago, or any other major city? Talk about making a city suffer? Then again, is there a chance the Iranians could have gotten their hands on an old Soviet ‘suit-case’ type of nuclear bomb? Nothing says ‘mass destruction’ like a nuke going off?”

“I’ve thought about these. We, Mossad, don’t have any reports of the Iranians receiving any chemical weapons from either Saddam or Assad. If they had, we should have picked up on this by now.”

“Wait a minute, though,” interrupted Jackson. “The Iranians managed to pull this little stunt off this morning and we all thought we should have been able to pick up on this as well — and we blew it. I think it’s safe to say Mossad didn’t have any intel on this either, right?”

“You’re right, there; we had no knowledge of this coming down either. And, as big as this is, you’d think at least one of our agencies would have picked up on it. However, that being said, I still discount the possibility of the Iranians picking up any chemical or biological agents from either Saddam or Assad. As to the suit-case nukes, that’s more of a Congressional scare tactic than a reality. Your Defense Department actually had engineers over in the old Soviet republics dismantling most of these things. If any got away, your Pentagon would know of this. In all of my research on this, I haven’t heard of a single warhead that went missing. Which brings me back to the possibility of an air attack on your nuclear reactors on the east coast, ala the 9/11 attacks. Only this time, I’d look for them to either avoid a civilian jetliner, or be armed to the teeth to prevent the passengers from trying to overpower the hijackers. However if they do that, they’d lose the element of surprise — not so much with the passengers as with the authorities as in the wake of this morning’s attack, I don’t see anyone in the chain of command taking any chances with these guys: If there is a reported hijacking in the next few days, they won’t hesitate to shoot down an airliner with 150 passengers, they’re going to do it.”

“Okay, so when we get back to Marathon, we need to let Norris know that the Air Force has been put on alert by Carmichael and that we think the most likely scenario for the next attack is to originate at an airport probably east of the Mississippi with the likely target being a nuclear power plant along the eastern seaboard from Virginia to Boston.”

“That’s the way I see it,” replied Dani. “Nothing else adds up.”