by Brad Carlson
And with that, the two sisters sat down and just dazzled Stonewall with a version of Sara Bareilles’ hit song.
“You two really are something else. That was incredible!” Jackson told them both.
“We have a lot of fun together,” Dani replied.
“We always have, but I need to run. Thanks for dinner—it was wonderful.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Dani, he’s a keeper,” Rivka said as the two walked together down the hallway to the front entrance of the building.
“Yeah, I know . . . Oh, Rivka! I’m so excited for you.”
“Well, I’m just as excited for you. I can see the way you two look at each other—it’s pretty obvious. Remember, don’t tell Mom and Dad—and don’t tell Tamir either!”
“I won’t. See ya later!”
“Well, that was a wonderful surprise,” Jackson said as Dani walked back in the apartment.
“It sure was. I’m so happy for them. Now, about us . . . .” Dani added as she grabbed Jackson’s hand and led him out of the kitchen, untying the bottom of her blouse with her free hand.
XVIII
White House Press Room
11:00 AM Local Time
“ . . . As I just mentioned, the Secretaries are on a trip to the Middle East to reinforce the President’s initiatives in the region with respect to Russia’s involvement in the attacks in Boston and New York earlier this week,” White House Press Secretary Chris Thompson reiterated. “They made this unscheduled stop at Incirlik Air Force base and, very shortly after they arrived the gunmen opened fire. They killed three Americans and wounded seven others. The Secretaries, I believe, are already in Riyadh where they will continue their trip.”
“Chris, do we know who did this? Has anyone taken responsibility?” the CBS reporter asked.
“At this point no one has taken responsibility and anything I could say would be mere conjecture at this point. We simply do not know right now.”
“Chris, as a follow up, isn’t the logical answer either Al Qaeda or ISIS?”
“Like I said, it’s way too soon for speculation, especially with Al Qaeda on the run and, as for that bunch of minor leaguers—to use Secretary Johnson’s terminology—we don’t believe that ISIS has the capability for something like this. Plus, this was way too spontaneous for anything organized.”
“Were any Turks hurt at all or was this simply targeted at Americans?” the NBC White House correspondent asked.
“To my knowledge, no Turks were injured in this attack. However, I cannot answer the second part of your question. Since we don’t know who did this, I really cannot address who was all targeted.”
“Do we know the condition of the wounded?” the correspondent followed up.
“Yes, we do. Six of them have already been transported to Landstuhl. To my knowledge, they have all been stabilized, and while I do not know their current condition, I believe they are all expected to fully recover. The base security officer is the seventh wounded American and she’s being treated at Incirlik. ”
“Do we know why the Secretaries stopped over at Incirlik?” the CNN correspondent asked.
“I do not. This was an unscheduled stop. The base commander received approximately a twenty minute notice so I’m not sure why they stopped. I’m assuming Secretary Axelsson may have simply wanted to pay a courtesy call on the base personnel as, immediately after the attack, the secretaries flew on to Riyadh to continue the original purpose of their trip.”
“Chris, shouldn’t they have returned home after this?” another correspondent asked.
“Absolutely not. This is a very important trip and, again, we believe this to be more of a spontaneous terrorist attack rather than anything organized by someone. As horrendous as this attack was, there is no need to cancel the trip.”
King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh
7:20 Local Time
“Madam Secretary, it is so good to finally meet you,” King Khalid al Saud said as Secretary of State Andrea Johnson reached the bottom of the boarding stairs after deplaning from the C-32A.
“It’s good to meet you, too, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. This is Defense Secretary Axelsson, whom I believe you’ve met before?”
“I have. We met when he was on the staff of your Central Command. It is good to see you again, Mr. Secretary. Welcome to Saudi Arabia.”
“Eric, good to see you again,” Crown Prince Faisal ibn Saud said to Axelsson. The very personal familiarity the Crown Prince displayed to Axelsson clearly surprised Johnson.
“You too, Your Royal Highness.”
Turning to Andrea, Axelsson explained the prince’s familiarity. “The Prince and I became good friends when I was at Centcom. Plus, he’s an Eagle driver and I’m a Tomcat pilot so we had a good natured rivalry over who had the better plane, the Air Force or the Navy.”
“I am so glad both of you were able to make the trip,” the king added. “I’m so sorry to hear of what happened in Turkey earlier today. Please express my condolences to the families. That is a terrible tragedy. I cannot imagine how their loved ones must feel.”
“Thank you, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. We will pass on your condolences,” Secretary Johnson replied.
“I’m sure you are aware of the purpose of our visit,” Secretary Axelsson said, turning his attention to the prince.
“I think we are,” the prince replied. “We heard the President’s address and was very surprised at what he had to say concerning Russia’s involvement. However, it would seem that you have already addressed the immediate concern you might have with Russia’s involvement in Syria. If all of the reports we are hearing are accurate, they are done in the region for some time.”
“That brings me to the purpose of our visit, Your Royal Highness,” Secretary Johnson added, addressing the Crown Prince. “As you indicated, we have removed any kind of threat the Russian’s pose to the region. However, we’re not done, at least not in the strategic sense. Our military action is over, as far as it depends on us. However, we really want to put the squeeze on them so we are asking for your help, as well as the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council. We’re asking you, all of you really, to flood the world oil market.”
“I see,” the prince replied. “I was assuming your visit pertained more in terms of the rumored Russian arms sale that I know is making its way around the diplomatic circles these days.”
“We can certainly discuss that as well, Your Royal Highness,” Axelsson interjected. “However, we’re really thinking more strategically in terms of the international oil market.”
“Precisely,” Secretary Johnson added. “You see, Russia’s only real export is oil. And they need the funds from oil exports to not only fund their international adventures, but to simply balance their budget. We figure they need a world market price of roughly sixty-five dollars a barrel just to break even. We’d like you to drive the price of oil to less than forty dollars a barrel. You’ll still make a profit at that price but obviously not near the profit margin at the current price.”
“That is a big request,” the king replied.
“Yes, it is,” Secretary Johnson replied. “And we realize the impact this will have on you. We are prepared to make additional offers, especially regarding the ‘arms’ issue the Crown Prince just raised.”
“You see, Your Royal Highness,” Axelsson interjected, addressing the prince, “I know you’re aware that the F-15 production line is still open as we recently sold Qatar seventy-two of the fighters as part of a $12 billion aid package. We are prepared to make a similar offer to you at a substantial savings over what Qatar paid.”
“That is very interesting,” the prince replied after a short interval. “You would do this?” As an Eagle pilot, he knew perfectly well the significance of having an additional seventy of the F-15SA’s—the most advanced version of the aircraft. Plus, this would give them more of the advanced Eagles than anyone in the world—including the Israelis and the US
Air Force.
“We will have to think about this. We will continue our discussion in the morning. It is getting late and you have had a very long day,” the King replied, clearly closing the evening’s discussion.
XIX
Friday, September 14th
Tel Aviv, Israel
2:00AM Local Time
“Hello?” Jackson groggily answered his phone as he tried to focus on the clock on the nightstand—2:00 AM.
“Stonewall, sorry about calling so early in the morning,” Jim Carmichael said as Jackson answered the phone.
“Yeah, it is a bit early. What’s up?” fully recognizing Carmichael’s voice.
“How soon can you get up to Incirlik?”
“I’ll check with Tamir, but I imagine I could get up there first thing this morning, ah . . . probably eight o’clock or so. Not really sure, what’s up?”
“Secretaries Johnson and Axelsson are on a trip over to Saudi Arabia, and probably a few other places over there. They made a surprise visit to Incirlik—not sure why—and just as they got off the plane three Turkish airman tried to take out the entire party.”
“Good God!”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know if God was looking out for them but both Johnson and Axelsson are fine. Each one lost an aide, though, and the XO of the base died as well. Sounds like they are transporting six others to Landstuhl but I want you up there snooping around—take Dani with you as well. Having a couple snooping around, especially off base, might be better than a lone American. The Air Force, and I’m sure the FBI, will get their own teams over there to investigate, and I’m not asking you to do any of that. I want you out and about to see if you can pick up any chatter among the locals. Someone took out the Turkish Air Force high command on Monday and now this. Word over here is that this ISIS group is a little more of a threat than what Secretary Johnson thinks. She feels this group is nothing more than an upstart Al-Qaeda wanna-be. Her favorite term for them is ‘a bunch of minor leaguers.’ However, Adana boasts one of the largest mosques in the world. If there’s any radicalization going on, that’s a prime spot for it. Our Station Chief in Ankara just told me that the Director General of the Turkish National Police clued him into a possible threat to Incirlik or Izmir just last night—and now this. See if Tamir has any contacts up there and find out what you can. I’d like you up there as soon as you can get there.”
“You got it. We should both be able to make it up there. I’ll talk to Tamir when we get in the office.”
“Sounds good, I’ll tell Colonel Cadonau—he’s the base CO—to expect you. Check in with him as soon as you land. Lieutenant Colonel Gretchen Todd handles base security. Those will be the only two who know what you’re doing up there—and they know Dani’s Israeli, though not her actual capacity.”
“Understood. I’ll be in touch.”
“Orders. Did you hear any of that?” Jackson asked Dani.
“Sounds like we’re headed to Turkey. Didn’t hear everything though—everybody okay?”
“Both secretaries are fine but no, three killed, including the base XO, and several wounded.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. Sounds like something might be brewing up that direction and Jim wants some boots on the ground. We’ll simply need to confirm that this was some lone separatist attack taking advantage of a target of opportunity rather than a full blown conspiracy. Shouldn’t be that difficult, right?”
“What about your nukes up there?” Dani asked. “It’s pretty much common knowledge that you store close to a hundred of the things up there.”
“Not exactly the best kept secret, huh? He didn’t mention them but I’m sure they’re on his mind. I mean someone takes out the Turkish Air Force high command and three days later, there’s an attack on two US Secretaries, at the same base where we keep close to a hundred nukes, and ISIS is growing in strength as we speak. What kind of conspiracy could there possibly be?”
“My thoughts exactly. Let’s try and get some sleep. I think we’re going to need it.”
Raqqa, Syria
7:30 AM Local Time
“Mohammed, yesterday you said you wanted a couple days. After what some of our more excitable followers did yesterday, can we go today?” Baghdadi asked his chief of operations.
“Imam, we have made excellent progress in the past twenty-four hours,” Mohammed Shishani replied. “I had hoped to rest our men before we launched but we are ready to go. I’d like to wait until the late afternoon, early evening hours before we launch but we’re ready to go. Also, I don’t believe yesterday’s unfortunate events at Incirlik will impact us in any way. All three of the men were killed in the attack and nothing had been communicated to anyone up there of our plans. The Americans will obviously investigate but we’re ready to go. We actually might be able to hit them with a fait accompli in that regards.”
“Excellent, I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Imam, ideally, I’d really like to give everyone a twelve hour notice. Let them know that we’ll launch at precisely 8:30 tonight,” Abdul Khouri, Shishani’s chief of staff, replied. “By that time, the sun will have been down for an hour and it will allow us the maximum time for the cover of night. Plus, it will give our troops an extra twelve hours to make their final preparations.”
“That sounds reasonable, Abdul. However, once we give the word, I also need the flexibility to launch the operation immediately, just in case something else comes up.”
“That is understood, sir. Once we give the alert to all of our forces, they are aware that they might need to move on a moment’s notice—they’ll be ready to go.”
“Okay, get the word out. We launch at 8:30 tonight.”
“Consider it done, Imam.”
“Excellent. On another note, the American Secretaries . . . I understand they continued on with their trip. Is that correct?”
“It is. They left almost right away for the gulf coast. I do not know how long they will be there but I would imagine that if things go according to plan, they will have an abbreviated trip. I can’t see them staying there if everything goes as expected to plan. I’m sure the president will recall them.”
“That would be my guess, too. I’m just thinking about the possibilities, Abdul, and opportunities . . . .”
Tel Aviv, Israel
7:30 AM Local Time
“Hey Lion,” Jackson spoke into his phone when he heard his friend answer, “are you still stationed up at Akrotiri?”
“Stonewall, good to hear from you. Yeah, I’m still here. I’ve had a few opportunities to head back home but let’s face it, would you rather be up at Scapa Flow on the North Sea or here on Cyprus in the eastern Med? That’s a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned. However, since you referred to it as ‘up at Akrotiri,’ does that mean your back at KASOTC?” That is the King Abdullah Special Operations Training Center in Amman, Jordan.
“Nah, I’m actually in Tel Aviv right now helping Jim Carmichael out for a bit. Say, think you’d be able to find an excuse to get over to Incirlik sometime today or tomorrow?”
“You’re helping Carmichael out, huh? Is that a temporary thing or are you still with the 5th Group?”
“Nah, it’s temporary, but I like the work, and . . . it’s better than being stateside right now.”
“Incirlik? Yeah, I could probably finagle that. What’s up?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard by now what happened up there yesterday afternoon. Secretaries Johnson and Axelsson made a surprise visit to Incirlik late yesterday afternoon and three Turkish fanatics ambushed them as they got off the plane.”
“Oh, yeah, think everyone’s heard that by now. Glad they made it out okay.”
“Jim wants me up there this morning to snoop around Adana for the next few days. With all your time on Cyprus, thought I’d pick your brain for a bit about what all you might have heard with what’s going on with the Turks, and the Greeks for that matter. If you have a chance to break away for a day or two, I’d be
very interested to hear anything you might have to share that hasn’t gotten to Langley.”
“That’s right, Turkey isn’t a part of Centcom is it? You never got up in this part did you? Yeah, I can break away from here. I’ll probably get up there around the noon hour, would that work?”
“That’d be perfect, see you then.”
“That was a British friend of mine that I got to know when we were both in Afghanistan back in 2001. He’s quite the guy. He likes to go by ‘Coeur de Liŏn’—I call him Lion, for short. It may sound like he’s a bit eccentric but he’s actually quite down to earth. I’ll introduce him to you this afternoon.”
“Coeur de Liŏn, huh? The ‘Lionhearted.’ I like him already. There’s got to be a story behind that name. He must be something,” Dani added with a grin.
“Oh, he is. Remember, my team was one of the first couple teams in Afghanistan immediately after 9/11. Shortly after we arrived, the Brits managed to get an SAS team into Afghanistan as well. Lion was one of their signals’ specialists and he’s morphed into an exceptional intel source over the years. Anyway, this was literally just a month or two after 9/11 and we’re working way up in northern Afghanistan. We helicoptered in and after we secured the LZ, a British SAS unit parachuted in to help us out. Remember at this point, the Taliban are still firmly in control and we’ve got less than 300 men in country all told. The one Afghan general who held everything together up there with the Northern Alliance, Shah Ahmad Massoud, had been assassinated by Al-Qaeda on September ninth—two days prior to the attack on the Twin Towers. The remaining war lords didn’t trust each other at all. When they found out we had multiple A-teams helping out different—and competing—war lords, several of these guys threatened to back out of the fight. My team ran into this up in the Kunduz area, way up in northern Afghanistan. We were tasked with clearing the main highway up there all the way to Mazar-e-Sharif at the western end of this route. We took care of the eastern end of this highway relatively easily. Then, just as we begin the assault on Kunduz, General Dostum—one of the prime Afghan warlords up there—learned we had a couple other teams working with a competing warlord in the Bagram area—and he immediately pulled his support for the assault. Now, mind you, I have my team, including a few of the SAS guys, already engaged with the Taliban in a couple blocking positions along the highway in an attempt to cutoff their retreat. I had Rossi with me at the time as well as Lion when a Taliban force completely outflanked us. Since Lion was the signal’s expert, I had him on the radio acting as our JTAC,” referring to a Joint Terminal Attack Controller who directs close air support. “In between calling in air strikes from A-10s, F-15s, and even a few Bones, he fought like a Viking ‘berserker.’ We were completely surrounded and since he was calling in the air strikes, he was probably the most exposed of the three of us. After Dostum realized we were in the fight of our lives regardless of his assistance, he finally came to our aid. When everything was over, Dostum came up to Lion and told him that he had fought like the Lion of Panjshir himself, Shah Ahmad Massoud, and from that moment on, he took the name Lionhearted. Since his first name is Richard, ‘Coeur de Liŏn’ seemed like a natural. I don’t know how much English history Dostum knows but that tag couldn’t have been more appropriate.”
