The ISIS Gambit

XXXIV

“Carmichael.” Jim said into his phone.

“Jim, we’ve got confirmation that ISIS has started to move the nukes,” Admiral Jack ‘Archangel’ Fisher advised. “I just spoke with Chaos. He advises that they’ve found twenty-six of the bombs. About half a dozen of them are in some state of disassembly. From the way Chaos put it, they’re working on the pre-flight arming controls — which really only has one conclusion. Their contact witnessed two trucks leave with a Humvee escort. Destination unknown, but headed north.”

“That settles it then. We need to go tonight. If they’ve figured out how to arm these things — and they’ve started moving them — we need to go tonight.”

“Agreed, I’ll let everyone know over here.”

“General, what’s the news out of Turkey this morning?” Baghdadi asked Shishani.

“Imam, things are going well. We hold everything in eastern Turkey and are making inroads on both Konya and Merzifon air bases. I expect we’ll have overrun both of these, possibly by this evening.”

“Excellent. Abdul, what are your plans for the Israeli pilots?” Baghdadi asked Shishani’s chief of staff.

“We’ll be holding a public trial for each of them followed by their immolation shortly thereafter. However, I’m still not exactly sure when we’ll conduct the trials. I want to wait and see how the Mahdi operation unfolds before we begin those. Once that has played itself out, we’ll get the trials started. That might be more towards the end of the week, or even into next week, depending on how things go.”

“I have to agree with Abdul, Imam,” General Shishani added. “We’ll know more from Kayani this afternoon. If everything goes as expected, we should be able to launch the operation anytime once he’s completed the work on the F-16s. If we hold the trials at the same time as the nuclear attacks, we gain nothing.”

“You’re really going to do this?” Secretary Johnson interrupted.

“Madam Secretary, nice to… see you,” General Van exclaimed, noting a look of utter contempt on the Secretary’s face. “Of course we are. Why would we go to all of this trouble if we didn’t intend to use them.”

“You’ll never get away with this,” Johnson replied.

“Madam Secretary, who is going to stop us?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about that, General,” Baghdadi added, turning to General Van, his new air chief. “I know we originally thought to initiate Mahdi Monday morning. However, Dr. Kayani indicated he thought he’d be done with the first planes this afternoon. Is there any reason we couldn’t launch right after he’s done?”

“No, there really isn’t,” General Van replied. The former Incirlik commander continued, “the pilots are ready and the targets have been chosen. All we’re really waiting on is Dr. Kayani.”

“Very good. Ahmet, I want you to leave for Batman right away. I want you to launch Mahdi as soon as Dr. Kayani has completed his work on the first of the fighters up there. He’s indicated that he believes he’ll be done by early to mid-afternoon so he should be just about done by the time you arrive.”

“Excellent, I shall leave at once.”

“Imam, there is one other thing regarding the nuclear bombs.”

“What is that, Abdul?” General Shishani asked.

“It seems that two of the guards in the warehouse have gone missing. We can’t find them anywhere.”

“What? How are we missing two guards? We had the place surrounded with guards on the outside and three more inside.”

“Yes, we did, sir. Nothing is missing concerning the bombs, including the ones that were partially disassembled, but two of the guards are gone. There’s no sign as to what might have happened to them, either. We’ve thoroughly questioned the one remaining guard inside and he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary until it was time to change the guards about an hour ago.”

“Keep looking for them, Abdul. We need to find them.”

“Sir, we haven’t stopped looking for them since we discovered this. We’ll find them.”

“Like Mohammed said, Abdul, keep looking until you find them,” Baghdadi added. “Also, we need to alert Doctor Kayani. I want him down here as soon as possible. If he can find someone to fly him here, so much the better.”

“I shall let him know,” Shishani replied. “I would think we could get him here mid-afternoon.”

“Very good. Let me know when he arrives, Mohammed. Also, Abdul, I want you to release another video today. I want to show the world our two guests here ‘inspecting’ our nuclear arsenal, to lend credence to the validity of everything.”

“Excellent idea, Imam, I’ll set it up for just after lunch. That’ll give me some time to get everything compiled and still get it out in time so most of America can see this first thing in the morning.”

“Wonderful, Abdul, see to it. Don’t you think so, Madam Secretary?”

“You have no idea,” Johnson replied.

“Andrea, did you hear that?” Colonel Marshall whispered to Secretary Johnson after Abdul and Shishani had left.

“What, the video? You realize we’re going to be put on display once again, don’t you?”

“That’s a given. No, the two missing guards.”

“What about them? Not sure I’m following you. I’m sure these two guys aren’t the first to leave their post after they’ve found out just how harsh everything is here.”

“Right, but they’re only going to put their most trustworthy guards with those bombs. I’m pretty sure something else is going on. I’d be willing to bet that the bodies of those guards will show up somewhere.”

“You really think so?” Andrea asked.

“I do, and both Baghdadi and Shishani do as well. I can see the fear in their eyes. I think it’s just dawning on them that they bit off more than they can chew.”

“General Van, how was the drive up?” Doctor Kayani as ISIS’s air force chief.

“Hot. One of the nice things about September is that cooler temperatures are right around the corner. I am tired of this hot muggy weather. How are things coming with the conversion of these fighters?”

“Very good, General, I should be done with all eight of them very soon. I only have two left so I should be done around three o’clock, or so.”

“Excellent. We have moved up our timetable. We will be launching the Mahdi flight later this afternoon or early evening. As long as you’ve completed the conversion, there is no sense in waiting until morning.”

“No, there isn’t. I’d let your pilots know that they should be able to launch any time after, oh, let’s call it four-thirty. By the time I’m done and all of the aircraft are fully fueled and loaded up, it might even be five o’clock.”

“That is very good news. As soon as you have completed the last of the conversions, the Imam would like you to leave for Raqqa immediately. I’ve checked around here and we have a plane available. Baghdadi would like you to fly back right away.”

“Yes, that will work. I have nothing to bring back with me that will not fit in the plane. At that rate, we should be able to make it back there well before dark — and well before the attack is launched. Why the urgency?”

“It seems two of the guards we had in the warehouse have disappeared. Baghdadi wants you to look around and make sure nothing else is missing.”

“How do two guards just disappear?”

“That is an excellent question, Doctor.”

“Abdul, are you sure you’ll still have time to get this out for a morning release in the United States?” Shishani asked his chief of staff.

“Absolutely, it’s only six in the morning on the east coast, and it’s a Sunday. Once we’re done here — and that shouldn’t take too long — it won’t take very long to get this to Al Jazeera and other outlets. A nine AM release on the US east coast is quite manageable.”

“Excellent,” Baghdadi replied.

“Ladies, here are your burkas,” Shishani said as he handed one to each.

“I’m fine with my sandals,” Marshall replied.

“I’m with her,” Secretary Johnson agreed.

“Very well, if you wish to play Lady Godiva, I have no problem with that.”

“What do we have here?” Falcon said to Stonewall and Arielle as he noticed a small motorcade approach the weapons depot.

“Looks like we might have a regular VIP here,” Jackson added.

“Stonewall, I’m going to kill that bastard!” Arielle said with a start as she saw the two women emerge from the Humvee and head to the warehouse.

“Hold on,” Stonewall quietly ordered as he gently put his arm out and lowered her rifle. “We’ll get them — and him — now’s just not the time. We’re not ready yet. This has to be another PR stunt. Falcon, let your team know to be ready to move out when they leave. I don’t see them staying here for long,” Jackson ordered.

“Madam Secretary, I’m not sure that you’ve ever had the opportunity to see one of these up close and personal,” General Shishani said to Secretary Johnson as he gave the secretary a tour of the depot. Most of the bombs remained on their respective bomb carts with two bombs per cart, stacked vertically not unlike the way wine barrels are stacked. “It’s amazing something so incredibly powerful is relatively small. It is quite long but it’s less than half a meter in diameter.”

“No, I have not, and I’ve never really cared to, Mr. Shishani,” Johnson replied.

“I’ll overlook that, Madam Secretary. Abdul, let’s get some pictures of the Secretary and Colonel Marshall sitting on the front of a couple of these weapons with the Imam in between them.”

“Of course. Ladies, if you’ll oblige?”

“Like hell,” Marshall replied. “I’m not going to help you make a propaganda video.”

“Colonel, need I remind you that we have several of your colleagues as well. If you do not do as you’re told, I’ll bring some of them over and begin their executions right here. I’ll begin with Secretary Axelsson. Your choice.”

“You bastard!”

“Colonel, they have enough footage of us as it is,” Secretary Johnson said to Marshall. “This won’t make a damn bit of difference. Let’s go ahead and get this over with,” she continued as both women began to climb atop separate carts.

“I feel like I’m posing for the nose art on a World War II bomber,” Marshall lamented, as Abdul Khouri and one of his minions took seemingly non-stop videos of the naked women sitting atop the nuclear bombs.

“Very good, now that wasn’t so difficult, was it?” Shishani replied. “Abdul, did you get everything you need?”

“I did, General. It shouldn’t take very long at all to compile this and upload it to Al-Jazeera.”

“Excellent. Ladies, you cannot imagine the impact this will have for us.”

“Oh, I think I can,” Marshall replied. “I think you’re the ones who don’t fully understand the impact this will have.”

“Okay, here they come. Falcon, are your boys ready?” Stonewall asked.

“All set, we’ve got this, Colonel,” Falcon replied.

“Falcon, you cannot lose them,” Arielle said with a fire in her eyes Falcon had never seen before.

“Arielle, we’ve done this before. We know what we’re doing. Now that we have them, I can assure you, we will not lose them.”