The ISIS Gambit

XI

“Mohammed, where are we at with everything?” al-Baghdadi asked his chief of operations.

“Imam, we’re looking good. Our attack on Turkey’s air force leadership coincided nicely with the Turkish air campaign in Iraq against the Kurds. From all appearances, the Kurds had good reason to retaliate against them so this attack of ours has worked out perfectly. As you suspected, the Turks have not only increased the pace of their attacks in northern Iraq but they are now targeting the political leadership of the Kurds, something which only benefits us.”

“Excellent, I’m hearing much the same thing from our commander in Mosul, as well. What about the political leadership of Turkey? And, how soon will you be ready to make your move?”

“We have been staging demonstrations and protests in many cities throughout eastern and central Turkey and we’ve gone to great lengths to hide our involvement in these. So far it appears to be working. We staged our most recent demonstration in Adana just last week. This caught everyone by surprise. We had several thousand people marching through the heart of the city. We started and ended at the Grand Mosque and went past all of the major international hotels. We had thousands demonstrating and protesting and completely shut down that part of the city. I don’t think President Demirel picked up on the significance of this but Ataturk, his chief of staff, sure did. Taking him out in the bombing has really hurt his administration. Demirel is no patsy, but Ataturk ran a tight ship and was very astute politically. Fortunately for us, there is no obvious replacement for him so the administration is in a bit of chaos at present and I expect it will remain that way for at least the next week. If we make our move in the next two or three days, we’ll be able to take advantage of some of this turmoil in Turkey. Right now, Demirel is practically holding a daily meeting with his senior advisors — sometimes multiple times a day — something which Ataturk handled before but now Demirel is doing this himself. Our plan is to strike during one of these meetings when the majority of the leadership of the government is present. There’s one meeting with the parliamentary leadership scheduled for the day after tomorrow and then a follow up meeting the next day. The plan is to hit one or the other of these meetings.”

“What about the Army? I know most of the air force leadership is now sympathetic towards us but what of the army? This is critical.”

“Yes, it is. It’s much the same as the air force. Those army units in the south and east are predominantly supportive of us. As you move over towards Ankara, the Aegean and Istanbul, it’s more problematic. The key will be to get the air force to maintain control of the skies and how much of the government we can essentially paralyze before we can make our move.”

“You are confident we can do this?”

“Absolutely, though there is always a risk involved. We just need to manage the risks as best we can.”

“Very well, how much advance notice do you need from me to put this in motion?”

“Probably a few hours at most. President Demirel’s meetings are slated for the afternoon of each day so if you can let me know by eight o’clock the morning, we should be okay.”

“Very good, and what of our guests?”

“Dr. Kayani should arrive tomorrow. He’ll be staying at the Odessa. Our Israeli ‘guests’ are here in the mosque.”

“Very good. Let me know when Dr. Kayani arrives. I want to make sure we have everything he needs. We’ll deal with the Israelis later.”

“I see this place has the same door locks as the place in Tehran,” Jackson said to Arielle as she simply walked in the front door of the safe house.

“Absolutely. Is there anything better for a key than biometrics and behavioral analytics?” Dani replied.

“Hmm, smells like someone waited up for us,” Stonewall commented as the smell of coffee and the remains of the small unit’s chicken Marsala dinner permeated the place.

“Stonewall, good to see you again,” Zivah announced as Jackson entered what amounted to a relatively large conference room. Zivah, Levi and Jonah had been pouring over their laptops looking over the latest intel of their target. “Looks like the time off has done both of you quite well,” she added addressing both Jackson and Arielle.

“Time off? We woke up this morning in Palmyra and then took a couple Pedros to Al Tanf. From there, we flew home via H4 in Jordan. Now, after a swim in the Med, we’re finally here — I’ll be glad for some time off,” Arielle told her friend. “When Tamir asks if you’re ready to get back in the game, he really means it!”

“Were you out looking for our guys?”

“Yeah, and we found them, but we weren’t able to rescue them. We have a couple teams up in Raqqa looking for them so I imagine that as soon as this little operation’s over we’ll be heading up there.”

“I bet we will. Stonewall,” Zivah added turning to address Jackson, “it doesn’t look like a couple broken ribs slowed you down a bit. Arielle must be treating you alright.”

“She’s had her moments,” Jackson added, winking at Arielle.

“I would expect as much. Ya know, as far as I’m concerned, you could pass for any one of the Greek gods and I’d be your devoted worshiper,” she added flirtatiously.

“Zivah!” Arielle interrupted in mock outrage.

“Well, just sayin’,” came the flirtatious reply with a wink at Stonewall.

“How are we situated here?” Jackson added as Yoni Malka and Ayal Segal entered the house. Yoni and Ayal, the team’s explosive expert, had met Arielle and Jackson on the beach after their swim from the sub.

“It might be a little crowded for a couple days, but we’ll manage,” Yoni added. “Your SEALs are supposed to arrive tonight. Most of them will be here but I think one team will be at the other house.”

“Understand congratulations are in order,” Jackson added. “How’s Ben doing?” Yoni recently had been promoted to the team leader as Benjamin Givon, their prior commanding officer, had received a severe shoulder injury in their last mission that ended his career in the field.

“Thanks, not exactly the way I wanted the promotion but I’ll certainly take it. Ben’s doing about as well as can be expected. His shoulder is really messed up and he’s looking at some sort of permanent disability with it.”

“However, with your promotion,” Jackson added, pointedly driving the conversation for all to hear, “doesn’t that leave a vacancy for the XO spot?”

“That’s right,” Yoni continued, feigning an oversight, “so, with Tamir’s blessing, Arielle, it’s my honor to let you know that you’ve been promoted to Sgan Aluf and you’re now the team XO.”

“What?!?” Arielle exclaimed.

“It’s well deserved, Arielle. Ben himself put you in for it.”

“I don’t believe it. I mean, this is a surprise.”

“It’s well deserved,” Ayal continued.

“Congratulations, Colonel,” Jackson added with a wink at her.

“That’d be Lieutenant Colonel… but wait a minute, did you know of this?”

“Well, Tamir might have let it slip a couple weeks ago.”

“You’ve known about this for the last two weeks? And didn’t tell me?!?”

“Well, I told Tamir that Yoni should be the one to tell you, not me. So, yeah, I sat on it.”

“You are something else,” she added with an affectionate kiss in front of the team.

“Okay, let’s hit the rack. You two have to be exhausted. We’ll go over the mission briefing later this morning.”