Protect And Defend

31

Director Kennedy’s plane landed just before sunrise. Ridley and General Tom Gifford, the base commander, met her. She was then escorted by Gifford to the officers’ quarters, where she was given a room. After a hot shower and a change of clothes she grabbed some breakfast and went over to the CIA’s station located within a sector of the base that was highly secure. It consisted of four trailers that formed a square with an open courtyard in the middle. The courtyard was filled with satellite dishes and arrayed antennas. Double layers of sandbags were stacked along the walls of the trailers, as well as the roofs, where the bags sat atop reinforced plywood planks. Random mortar attacks on the base were not uncommon. One trailer was devoted entirely to the sensitive communication equipment. Another was split into four offices and a reception area; a third trailer doubled as a lounge and conference room, and the fourth trailer served as a bunkhouse and storage area. On the far side of the compound four empty cargo containers had been strung together to form a makeshift jail and interrogation facility. The entire area was ringed with a heavy-gauge fence and razor wire.

Stilwell escorted Rapp through the security checkpoint and they found Kennedy in the communications shack. She was receiving a briefing from the deputy director of the CIA’s Global Ops Center back in Langley. While Rapp waited for her to finish the videoconference, he took the opportunity to sit down with the head of Kennedy’s security detail and go over the plan. Rapp had known Tom McDonald for five years. He had the perfect mentality for his job. He was steady, alert, and typically unflappable. The first thing Rapp noticed was that McDonald seemed unusually edgy this morning. Rapp soon found out why.

McDonald had flown in with Kennedy just a few hours earlier, but he’d sent an advance team out the day before. Six men accompanied three armored Suburbans in the belly of a C-17 Starlifter. They unloaded the equipment and decided to take two of the Suburbans off base and do a dry run to the meeting place and back to the airport. The men got momentarily lost in a bad part of town and came under fire. Both vehicles made it back to the base, but one of them was pretty shot up. McDonald had taken a look at the vehicle right before Rapp arrived. They counted over forty hits from small arms and rifle fire. The armor had performed as advertised, but the vehicle was out of commission. McDonald didn’t even want to tell Kennedy about the incident and Rapp agreed.

McDonald wanted to arrange transportation through General Gifford and one of his Stryker brigades, but one of the negotiating points for the Iranians involved military units. If they saw any American military personnel at the site of the meeting they would walk away. Down one vehicle and limited in his options, McDonald was now going to have to borrow an unarmored SUV from the private security contractor who was going to augment his protective detail.

Rapp was tempted to scrap the entire plan, and put her in the backseat of one of Stilwell’s beat-up sedans, but it wasn’t his call. In an effort to reassure McDonald he explained that he and Stilwell would be directly across the street during the entire meeting. He went over the arsenal that Stilwell had assembled and told him if anything went wrong they would be able to bring a significant amount of firepower to the fight.

“All you have to do, Mac, is get her to the meeting and back to the base. I checked out the entire neighborhood with Stilwell last night. He’s got the thing wired. He’s had lookouts posted since seven this morning. Four of them. Two blocks away in every direction. He knows the owner of the café, and he’s got a half dozen Kurds on standby. These guys know the neighborhood. Who belongs there and who doesn’t. If anything doesn’t seem right they’ll let us know.”

“What do you think of the route?” McDonald asked as he pointed at a map with a red line showing the roads they would take.

Rapp studied the options. On the bright side, they were only five miles from the airport. The only worry was the directness of the route. “I think you made the right call. You could take her north and across one of the bridges but it would double if not triple the length of time you’ll have her on the road, and you still have to get her back to this main road, which, Stilwell told me, is like the Indy five hundred with bombs.”

“I know. I was already briefed by the base commander. He put sniper teams out last night and has a bomb unit on standby.”

Rapp looked at the map again. “I think you’ve got the right idea here. Limit her exposure. Get her from point A to point B as quick as you can.”

“All right.” McDonald studied the map. “This isn’t like Washington.”

“No,” Rapp said, “it sure as hell isn’t.”

The door to the communications trailer opened, and Kennedy entered the room. “Mitchell,” she said as she walked toward Rapp.

“Good morning, boss.” Rapp checked out her outfit. She was wearing a pair of black hiking boots, a pair of jeans, and a formfitting black jacket called a manteau. A black hijab was draped around her neck and shoulders. Kennedy had spent a significant amount of her youth in the Middle East. Rapp was happy to see she still remembered how to blend in.

Kennedy offered her cheek to Rapp. He leaned in and kissed her.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Fine.”

“You look tired.” She studied him with a frown.

Rapp pointed at her and looked at McDonald. “She’s like my big sister. Does she ever tell you that you look like crap?”

McDonald smiled. “Nope.”

“I didn’t say crap. I said tired.”

“You meant to say crap…you’re just too polite.”

“Well…you look really tired. You have dark circles under your eyes and you…” Kennedy leaned in and sniffed the air. “You’ve been smoking,” she said disapprovingly.

“Yes, I’ve been smoking. That’s what people do over here. Everyone smokes. That’s how you fit in. Otherwise you look like a politically correct American and then they either shoot you or kidnap you, which is a hell of a lot more hazardous to your health than a few smokes.”

“Good point,” Kennedy conceded.

“What’s gone on since last night?”

“The resolutions that were brought on behalf of the Iranians have been tabled, but they are holding firm that they are suspending our right to innocent passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”

“Yeah…let’s see them try to enforce that one.”

“My fear is that they will.”

“You can’t be serious. It would be the most lopsided naval engagement in history.”

“That’s my point. They might try to provoke something and make themselves look like the victims. They’re desperate, Mitch. This operation that you started is having a real effect. The Brits informed us that two banks and several gas stations were firebombed in Tehran last night. They say anti-Amatullah graffiti is suddenly popping up around the city.”

“Good. Maybe they’ll storm the Presidential Palace.”

“If only we could be so lucky.”

Stilwell entered the room and said, “Good morning, Director.”

“Morning, Stan.”

“I just got a call from Rob. He says Ashani has landed and is on his way. It’s time to go.”

Rapp looked at McDonald and said, “Give me a five minute head start and then don’t stop for anything.”

“I won’t.”

He turned to Kennedy and with a reassuring smile said, “Good luck. I’ll be close by in case anything goes wrong.”