The ISIS Gambit

VII

“Felix, how soon can you get to the White House?” James Carmichael asked as soon as the Director of Central Intelligence answered his cell phone, sparing the usual pleasantries.

“Now? It’s what, 10:30? Give me about twenty minutes. What’s up?”

“I just got off the phone with Tamir Pardo. We have a meeting at the White House in half an hour.”

“What’s this about? It can’t be good,” Felix replied.

“It’s the Russians. I’ll give you the full briefing, along with everyone else, but I think Tamir’s found the smoking gun. I’ll see you there.”

“Tom, thanks for arranging this on such short notice and at this late hour,” Jim said to Tom Fleming, the president’s chief of staff.

“Sure, what’s this about, anyway?” Fleming asked as the Secretary of State Andrea Johnson and National Security Adviser Pam McDowell walked into the White House Situation room together. “It sounded pretty urgent.”

“It’s urgent,” Carmichael replied, as the President and Vice President walked in.

“Looks like we’re all here, Jim, you’ve got the floor,” President Barre advised.

“Very well, thank you, Mr. President. I just received a phone call from Tamir Pardo, the head of Mossad. It turns out, Russia had a hand in the attacks on Boston and New York. We all know two of the cargo ships were part of the Russian merchant marine and that they left the port of Latakia in Syria. It turns out that the Russian naval commander on scene knew of this operation, in all of its details, and forwarded word up the chain of command, all the way to St. Petersburg, the headquarters of the Russian Navy. He’s got the hard evidence of this and he’s sending it our way. I already have the folks at the NSA looking over all of their data from Echelon to see what else they can find now that we know where and when to look, and more importantly, now we know what we’re looking for. Tamir’s thinking this didn’t stop in St. Petersburg, and I don’t believe it did either. The Navy would never do something like this on their own.”

“Jim, just what are you saying?” Pam McDowell asked.

“I’m saying the Russians not only knew of this attack, to some degree, they actually facilitated it. We don’t have all of the details as yet and I don’t believe they planned this attack. I believe the planning for this was all Iran and Hezbollah. According to Tamir, a colonel with the Iranian Quds force approached the Russian naval commander in Latakia about the operation and asked for their assistance. The planning at this stage had been completed but they needed Russian assistance at the port. In essence, I believe the Russians were willing participants in this entire venture and helped facilitate and coordinate an operation that, at last count, killed more than 16,300 Americans.”

It’s not very often that you can hear a pin drop in the middle of a national security meeting in the White House Situation Room, but this was one occasion. The news of Russia’s involvement, to this extent, completely dumbfounded the entire staff.

“You can prove all of this?” President Barre finally asked Carmichael.

“Yes, sir, we can, and the Israelis have seemingly uncovered the entire operation. I’ll be able to lay out virtually the entire operation for you by tomorrow morning.”

“Eric, what do we have for carriers in the Mediterranean right now?” President Barre asked Defense Secretary Eric Axelsson.

“Sir, the Abraham Lincoln is in the Red Sea on its way home from the Persian Gulf. The George H.W. Bush is currently in the Med right now on its way to relieve the Lincoln.”

“What about NATO? Shouldn’t we get them involved in this?” McDowell asked.

“Mr. President,” Carmichael interrupted, “I’d suggest waiting on discussing this with NATO until Tamir gets back to us with more details. In the meantime, Tamir mentioned that they have a team spinning up for an operation that he thought we might want to be a part of. He also wanted to know where the Jimmy Carter was and if she might be available as well. His team is the same one that took part in the Tehran raid a couple months ago, minus their commander who got his shoulder pretty well shot up.”

“We had a team involved in that as well. Is the same colonel available for this mission as well?” Barre asked.

“He’s still over there, sir,” Carmichael replied. “Mr. President, Tamir indicated he’d like to kick off his operation in a couple days, though they’ll need our support for this.”

“Very good. Eric, I want you Jim, Felix and the Joint Chiefs to coordinate this with your Israeli counterparts. It sounds like we already have at least two of the three main pieces of the puzzle already to go. I want the details of this first thing in the morning. Eric, if Tamir wants to go in a couple days, can we help him out?”

“Absolutely, sir. We’ll be ready.”

“Okay, for the time being, at least, we keep NATO out of this. Andrea, we are beyond merely sending a message to the Russians. I want you talking to the Saudi Ambassador first thing in the morning and then on a plane to Riyadh the day after this goes down. I need you talking to the Saudis, the Emirates, hell everybody on the Gulf coast. Do not tell them of this intel. I plan to drop this little bombshell on a nationwide broadcast for all the world to hear. If the Russians wanted a proxy war, well, we’re going to take it right to them — in spades!”

“Chris, for your morning briefing tomorrow,” Tom Fleming said addressing the White House Press Secretary, “none of this gets out. Let the press know that at present, all we know is that two of the ships were Russian-flagged and you can’t even imagine that the Russian government would play a role in something like this.”

“Understood,” she replied. “What about the pipeline? This would be a nice way to let the country know we haven’t lost sight of our domestic agenda while letting the Russians know that there will be a price to pay.”

“Good point, go ahead with that as well,” Fleming replied.

“So, Mohammed, do we have any news?” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS’s supreme leader, asked General Mohammed Shishani, his chief of operations.

“We do,” Mohammed replied. “Every one of Turkey’s Air Force high command that was at the meeting at Eskisehir Air Base died in the bombing, including Ataturk, President Demirel’s chief of staff.”

“Excellent. And none of our people were present, correct?”

“That is correct, sir. Most of the remaining Air Force leadership is now with us.”

“Outstanding. Remember, we do not take credit for this one. We want everyone thinking that the PKK planned this. The more we can divert the Turks away from us and towards the Kurds, the better off we’ll be — and they just might do some of our work for us by doubling their effort against the Kurds. If all goes according to plan, it won’t matter for long, but in the immediate short term, we don’t want any extra attention.”

“Understood, and to that end, our plans are almost ready. I’ll be able to give you an update on this in the next couple of days. We’re also transporting the four Israeli pilots up here from Palmyra. Early this morning it appears an Israeli recon unit ambushed our team bringing them up here. They took out one of the escort vehicles and killed several of our guards. An additional escort truck and the transport truck got away. The Israeli unit did not pursue. Had it been a rescue team, I’m sure they would have. As it is, we’ll need to be on the lookout for additional Israeli units up here.”

“Agreed, we don’t need any Israeli spies up here snooping around.”

“Precisely. I’ve already increased security here in Raqqa looking for anyone that looks like they don’t belong.”

“Good work, Mohammed. I thought leaving them in Palmyra would be risky. I’m glad you’re moving them up here. Did we get any pictures of the wreckage of their planes?”

“We have, Imam. We actually located one of the dead pilots in pieces of the wreckage. This guy never had a chance to bail out.”

“Excellent. When these men arrive here, I want you to release pictures of the wreckage and live video of the pilot’s arrival to Al Jazeera, and any other media outlet that you can think of. Also, we need to take credit for shooting down these Israeli planes and capturing their pilots. This is a huge propaganda opportunity for us that we can’t pass up. When these men arrive, we need to make a huge spectacle of them, a wild celebration. This is a huge PR coup that literally just landed in our lap — let’s make the most of it.”

“Imam, we are already working on that. They should arrive sometime in the next few hours. The streets will be flooded with people when they arrive.”

“Wonderful. When they arrive, bring them before me and we’ll video tape the whole event. I’ll announce that we’ll be addressing their crimes against the Caliphate next week and their punishment shall be swift. Mohammad, I can’t emphasize enough that we need to make the most of this. I know your schedule is full this week so let’s draw this out just a little.”

“That it is, Imam. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can on the situation in Turkey as well.”

“Very good. I can’t wait for your report.”

“Jim, Stonewall. We need some help,” Jackson said into his satellite phone as soon as Jim Carmichael answered the phone.

“K, what’s up?” came the immediate response.

“I don’t have time for an explanation but we’ve got two wounded, one critical, and we’re on our way to Al Tanf. Can you alert them to let them know we’re on our way there and should be there in a little more than an hour?”

“Sure thing, I’m sure they’ve got a Pedro unit available. Would that help at all?”

“That’d be awesome if you could arrange that. One of these guys needs a medic pronto. You got a pen handy? I’ll give you the coordinates where they can meet us.”

“Just a sec…,” Jim said as he found the scratch pad by his bed.

“We have two, count them one, two, needing immediate medical evac. Arielle and I can drive out if need be.”

“Forget that, if I’m sending a Pedro, all four of you are flying out.”

“Roger that, I’ll call you when we get to Al Tanf.”

“Stonewall, give me a chance to get a few hours’ sleep before you call, okay — we have a little bit to talk about. Okay, go ahead with the coordinates.”

“We’re about ninety-five miles east, northeast of Damascus….”

“Jim’s sending a couple Pedros to pick us up,” Stonewall hollered to Arielle from the back of the 4Runner. “We’ll meet them in half an hour as we round that ridge up in the distance.”

“Wonderful! Can Ave hang on that long?”

“I think so. I think both of them are stabilized for now, though Ave’s hurt pretty bad. He’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Eli, are you seeing this?” The Israeli scout radioed to his counterpart across the street from the mosque. “What’s with all the people here? Their last prayer time was two hours ago.”

“Not sure. Arielle said they’d probably be bringing our guys up here. From when she called, they should be here anytime. My guess? They’ll be putting them on display for everyone to see and let the world know how great the caliphate is.”

“Okay, here comes a Humvee. There’s a truck right behind them. I bet this is our guys. Both vehicles just entered the Mosque compound. How’s your view of the place?” Eli asked.

“I got ‘em. Taking them a little while to get through all of the people. Okay, they’ve stopped and appear to be unloading whatever, or whoever, is in back.”

“That’s our guys. I see ‘em.”

“Sure is. Okay, I’ll let the General know we’ve located our guys.”