The Gambit

XXV

By four o’clock that afternoon, Norris’ team had cracked several of the files. He now had the complete attack plans for the California and Pacific Northwest portions of their attack. He knew where the attacks had originated, the particular ranches in both Oregon and Nevada, as well as how many had been involved in each of the attacks. Norris realized right away he had a big intelligence coup with this information — and he knew he needed to get this up the chain right away. Though he had Rafsanjani’s plans right he front of him, he still couldn’t believe the complexity of this — the Air Force would need to put up six more drones and the Army would need two entire battalions of either Rangers or the Eighty-second Airborne division to hit the six remaining sights in both states. He knew the Army keep a unit on alert around the clock, but he suspected this might surpass what they kept on alert. After all, with six locations to hit — at the same time — they’d need an infantry Company for each location — if the Riverside, OR ranch served as an example — which meant probably at least two C-17’s per location for an even dozen of the massive transport planes. Would this many be available for immediate duty? Probably he thought, though possibly not all from the same base, which would delay any possible assault. Fortunately, he knew, this was not his problem.

More importantly, though, his IT staff was now finding references to the JFK airport in New York — something which really got his attention. At this, he began to wonder if Dani’s idea of an airborne attack on some of the nation’s nuclear power plants might just be their objective. However, he knew he needed more than just references to JFK — he needed solid intel on what these guys had planned, and he didn’t have that as yet. He knew that alerts had already gone out to the FAA, the Air Force and the NRC. However, if he could get more specific information out to these agencies, he just might actually be able to prevent the last portion of this attack.

Finally, about six that evening, one of his staff members gained access to one of Major Zarin’s files in which there was a detailed plan with all twelve of Zarin’s men hitting the JFK airport from the water. The attack called for three RHIBs to land after dark at the perimeter of JFK from Bergen Basin. Once they made their landing they would proceed to a nearby cargo terminal and hangar and take over at least four planes. As Dani had predicted, all of these men were trained pilots. Zarin appeared to have scouted out the airport quite well: the cargo terminal was located at the immediate end of one of the runways; a couple hangars were immediately adjacent to the cargo terminal. Once they had the plane, or planes, they could take off in very short order. Nothing in this plan, at least nothing they had as yet discovered, alluded to any targets once they had the planes airborne. However, Norris now had the specifics he needed. His first call was to the New York Port Authority. His second call was to Homeland Security.

“Good to see you, Arielle,” Ben greeted Dani as she got off the plane. “That uniform looks pretty good on you.”

“Arielle, I thought you might have hit it off with Stonewall here, but I really didn’t think you’d be wearing his uniform already,” Tamir added in, chuckling to himself.

“Thanks, guys, you’re all heart!” Dani replied. “We left our bags clear back at Fort Bliss, so yeah, Rossi picked up a new uniform for me. Ben, just what did you tell him?!? It’s been a while since I’ve been that embarrassed. I swear, I’m going to get even with you!”

“Yeah, he called up yesterday when they got word of their deployment. I just tried to fill in a few blanks for him,” Ben added.

“Ah huh,” Dani said. “Just remember, I’ll get you for this.”

“Tamir, good to see you once again,” Jackson interrupted.

“It is good to see you as well, my friend. I see Arielle has met a few of your friends here.”

“That she did. Turns out a couple of these guys were on my last A team; we’ve got a good team here. Any word on the mission for us just yet?”

“Nothing yet, though, I understand you and your friends here need to get to Tehran rather quickly.”

“Yeah, the sooner the better. We’d really like to be there by this afternoon if possible.”

“We shall do what we can to get you there. Ben and his team have been waiting for you. Your plane is all fueled and ready to go. We’ll simply need to transfer what gear you have into our plane; you can be wheels-up in ten minutes. We’ll have you in Baku in less than two hours. From there, you should be able to make the border crossing around seven this morning putting you in Tehran right around the noon hour if all goes well.”

“Perfect. Will we be staying at the same safe house?”

“Yes, you will. There will be plenty of room there for all of you. If I remember correctly, Dani gave you a brief tour of the place. All of the gear and equipment you could possibly want should be there. My team has orders to assist you and your men with anything they might need from weapons to communications.”

“Thanks, Tamir; I really appreciate that. I’m not exactly sure of what our orders will be but we’re prepared for anything.”

“Quite right. I do believe that is why they are sending you and your team. Good luck; and I hope to see you back here in a few days.”

And with that, Jackson boarded the plane as Ben shut the door behind him. Jackson was pleased to see that they were back in a six fifty. Once again, introductions were made amongst the combined teams. Even with nineteen passengers, the plane seemed quite spacious. With the introductions completed, Ben began a brief summary of how the infiltration would work.

“We’ll be landing in Baku around 0230. Once we land, my team will convoy to the border in five vehicles — it’s about a three hour drive. Captain Sanchez, you and your team will be conducting a HAHO jump and drifting over the boarder for about fifteen to twenty kilometers. Once we land in Baku, your team can begin the pre-breathing and prep-work for the jump. You’ll be jumping from about twenty-five thousand to twenty-eight thousand feet. The jump master on-board will give you the landing zone coordinates; we’ve used the place several times before. One of my guys will be there by 0500 to mark the drop zone for you in case we’re delayed. His code name is Levi. Jackson’s code name, if he hasn’t told you by now, is ‘Chaos’—go figure, right? You won’t need much in the way of extra gear for the jump; feel free to take a weapon or two, pistol, carbine, or so; we’ll have all the gear you’ll need once we get to Tehran. Our highway to Tehran runs right along the coast of the Caspian Sea and a mountain range. There is roughly a two mile wide stretch between the sea and the mountains. About fifteen kilometers or so down the highway, there is a fairly large grove of trees on this plain that will shield you as you land behind them.”

“Sounds like a pretty straightforward jump,” replied Sanchez.

“Yeah, this will probably be the easiest combat jump you’ll ever have. Like I said, we’ve done this before. The way your navy is keeping them busy in the gulf, we shouldn’t have any problems at all up here.”

“Director,” Norris said into his phone, “we have some potentially conflicting information. We’ve been able to crack part of Major Zarin’s laptop. We know how they conducted the first two attacks, and from where. We’ve also uncovered a detailed plan on a proposed attack on the JFK airport in New York City. I’ve already called the New York Port Authority to put them on alert and gave them the specifics of what was on Zarin’s laptop. Sir, if this is indeed their plan, we need to be prepared for another 9/11 type attack. We don’t have a timeline but I’m sure this could happen at any time.”

“Tom,” Director Stevens replied, “do we know if this is definitely what they have in mind? I mean, the Israelis seemed to have solid intel on what would be happening?”

“No, sir, we don’t. What we know for sure is that we have a detailed plan of theirs that spells out precisely how they would attack JFK. We do not have a timeline, or anything else. For that matter, there are still several files that we have yet to crack so this could be just one option that they have proposed. However, while we have yet to crack all of the files here, nothing that we have found lends credence to, or contradicts, the intel we received from Mossad.”

“Okay, Tom; keep digging. I don’t think we’ll find a direct link to exactly what this last group is going to do, especially if their commander has any freedom to pursue options that have been proposed by Zarin and Colonel Rafsanjani. We’re simply going to need to be prepared for just about anything. We’ll have alerts out to every law enforcement agency in the country raising the alert level to our highest level.”

“Dr. Bagheri,” Tamir Pardo addressed his surprised visitor. “I trust your accommodations meet with your approval? I apologize for not getting back to you sooner but we’ve had a few items that needed my attention of late.”

“I can only imagine,” replied Dr. Bagheri. “From what I hear, my countrymen have been rather busy in the United States. I wish I could have been more useful to both of your countries.”

“That’s what brings me here, as well as my guest. Dr. Bagheri, this is Ambassador Bill Richards from the United States. I don’t know the intentions of the US Government, and I don’t believe Ambassador Richards here does either, but most of the assets are in place should the United States decide to try and remove the current Iranian government. What assets that are not currently in place soon will be. My question to you is, if the Americans decide to take out the government of the Islamic Republic, would you be willing to return and establish a new government. No one knows that you are here. We could smuggle you back into the country just as we got you out. We would assist you in letting it out that you were not home when we destroyed your home and you went into hiding immediately after your home was destroyed. Again, I do not know what the Americans have in mind but should the opportunity arise to do something like this, would you be interested?”

“That is a lot to think about General Pardo. I was just getting used to my new home here in exile. I would of course, love to return to my home, but if word ever got out of the role that I played in all of this, I would be convicted by any court in my country with an immediate execution.”

“Dr. Bagheri,” Ambassador Richards began, “we would see to it that you would have all of the resources you would need to establish a new government. We would work to normalize relations with our two countries just as soon as possible. I know our country is not all that popular with your countryman but we would be more than willing to work with or through several other governments like the Pakistanis, the Uzbeks, or even the Indians. In short, we could funnel a lot of support your way very quickly if you would be so inclined.”

“You make it sound so simple, Mr. Ambassador. Surely, some of the leadership of the Republican Guards would remain. They will certainly play a role in whatever government survives this onslaught.”

“Dr. Bagheri, we are doing everything we can to take out as much of the Republican Guards leadership as we can. We are trying to eliminate as much of the radical element of the existing government as we can. No matter what remains for a government in Tehran, we want this element completely removed from the scene. You taking over, would really help us.”

“Well, if we can completely guarantee that my involvement with all of this will not get out, I would love to return to my country.”

“Thank you for that, Dr. Bagheri,” Ambassador Richards replied. “But as I indicated, right now we are just exploring our options. Absolutely nothing has been decided as yet.”