The ISIS Gambit

by Brad Carlson

  “Who . . . who are you?” Kayani stammered.

  “Does it matter? What happened to the other eight bombs?” Arielle asked.

  “We took them up to Batman. They’ve been retrofitted and the raid has already taken off. I’m afraid you’re too late,” Kayani replied rather smugly.

  “And, what’s the target?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Well, I’m afraid you won’t be around to see your handiwork,” Arielle replied as she put two rounds into his chest.

  “Okay, let’s get all of these things loaded up. We’ve got a plane to catch,” Stonewall ordered. Falcon already had his men in the trucks with one of them already backed up to the loading dock, as Arielle took a quick look around to check on the status of all of the nukes.

  34,000’ above the Caspian Sea

  6:58 PM Local Time

  “Mahdi flight, execute.” And with that forty-two aircraft, late of the Turkish air force, took a new heading, bearing one-seven-four. Desert Hawk Two-Six picked up the transmission but the flight was now more than 300 miles away.

  XXXVIII

  Highway 6 ‘Airstrip’

  6:58 PM Local Time

  “Chaos, Nightwatch. Odin-One and Odin-Two are on final approach. They’ll be on the ground in a minute or two, coming in from the northeast. The rest of them are stacked up about forty-five seconds apart.”

  “Roger that, Nightwatch. We’ve already secured the nukes. Be advised we have a C-130 over here that is on the flight line warming up.”

  “Understood, will advise Odin-Two. Since you’re practically done, think you could lend a hand to those of us who actually have some work to do?”

  “Kind of figured we’d need to do that. You know, once you get a SEAL out of the water, they don’t really amount to much, do they?” Jackson replied.

  “I’ll pass on your compliments, Chaos,” Nightwatch replied, trying not to laugh over the radio.

  “Okay, here comes Odin-Two, and there’s Odin-Four right behind it. Gotta get to work, Nightwatch.”

  “Roger that, I’ve got Odin-One here now. Odin-Three’s stacked up right behind it, with five and six on the way. Any word from Cougar?”

  “Negative, though the CAS has really amped up. Let me know how things are going.”

  “Roger that,” Nightwatch replied.

  “Falcon, our bird’s on final approach. We need to get these things over there right away,” Jackson hollered to his friend.

  “Chaos, we should be done here in a few minutes with the first truck loads. We’ve only got three trucks and we can only get six bombs in each truck so we’ll have to make a second trip with a couple of the trucks.”

  “Understand, let me know when the first truck is ready to go. Arielle and I will take that one. We still need to figure out what’s going on with that C-130 that’s warming up over there. If they’re planning on moving some of these, they might be expecting us.”

  “Odin-One, Nightwatch, you’ll see some grain silos up ahead of you. There’s a very wide roundabout just before them. We’ll bring all four of you up to that roundabout. You can unload from there, turnaround, and then reload once the mission’s completed. Amazingly, it’s a perfect setup for us.”

  “Roger that, Nightwatch, I see them now. Be there in a few.”

  “Gotcha, Odin-One, welcome to Raqqa.”

  Raqqa Airstrip, Odin-Two

  7:03 PM Local Time

  “You’re heading towards their plane?” Arielle asked Stonewall.

  “Yeah, from the looks of it, they were planning on moving some of them out, so, as long as they were going to fly them out, we might as well use their plane. Plus, this’ll give us a chance to get both of the LAVs out of here instead of leaving them behind—it was a fair trade, I know—two LAVs for the nukes—but if we can get everything out of here, we might as well try.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Arielle replied.

  “Well, looky here. That looks a lot like General Van to me there on the ramp,” Stonewall said as they approached the loading dock. “How many troops do you see?”

  “Looks like we’ve got the load master, Van, and five more. And . . . Odin-Two just touched down. We need to hurry before they start to wonder why another Hercules just landed.”

  “No doubt. We should be able to get this wrapped up by time Odin-Four lands. Okay, you take the two on the right and I’ll take the three on the left. The load master doesn’t look armed . . . ready?” Jackson asked as he pulled up behind the ramp where they could unload the truck.

  “Let’s do this,” Arielle replied as they both exited the truck and charged their targets. The five guards, caught totally unaware, didn’t stand a chance. Within ten seconds all five of the guards lay dead. General Van had taken a round to the lower abdomen and another to the shoulder with blood flowing profusely from his shoulder wound.

  “General Van, it looks as though the tables have been turned this time,” Stonewall commented as Van clearly lay bleeding out.

  “You’ll never get out of here, Colonel,” Van struggled to say.

  “Yeah, well, I’ve heard that before, but we’ll see. I take it as a personal challenge when someone tells me I can’t do something—and I love a challenge. You wouldn’t know where the first batch of the bombs went, would you?”

  “You’ll never catch them,” Van struggled to get out, clearly weakening by the second. “They’ve . . . already . . . .” was all he could say.

  “You’re the load master?” Arielle asked the lone survivor of their attack. “We need to get these loaded right away! We’ve got several more trucks on the way.”

  “Odin-Two, Odin-Four, Chaos here. Taxi all the way to end of the strip here. There’s plenty of room for both of you to turn around and unload.”

  “Roger, that,” came the reply from Odin-Four.

  “We’re also going to need to borrow a pilot for an extra C-130 I’m now designating as Odin-Seven. It seems that General Van was planning on moving another batch of the nukes. The plane’s already warmed up and we’re in the process of loading it right now.”

  “Chaos, Odin-Two. I’d suggest that we fully crew Odin-Seven since it’ll have the nukes. We can then split the other two planes with a reduced crew. I did something like this in Afghanistan a few years back and everything worked out fine. We’ve got two good co-pilots and the C-130s a remarkable plane.”

  “Roger that, Odin-Two. Let’s get’er done,” Chaos replied. “We’re about halfway through the loading process now. I’ll alert Archangel to the change in plans.”

  “Archangel, Chaos. We’ve been able to commandeer the same C-130 that ISIS stole from us at Incirlik when they took the nukes. We’ve secured the weapons and have about half of them already loaded. I’m designating this new aircraft as Odin-Seven and am splitting up the crews of Odin-Two and Odin-Four. Odin-Seven should be airborne in ten minutes.”

  “Roger that, Chaos. Any word on the hostages?” Archangel replied.

  “Nothing as yet. We had a little fire fight with General Van. Before he died, I asked him about the eight missing nukes. He simply said that ‘We’d never catch them.’ Not sure if that means anything to you or not.”

  “Okay, good to know Chaos, we’ll look in to it.”

  “Roger that, I’ll let you know when Odin-Seven is airborne.”

  Highway 6 ‘Airstrip’

  7:04 PM Local Time

  “Nightwatch, Viking. How’re things looking?” Johannes Edberg asked as he introduced himself to his combat controller.

  “We’re looking good,” Nightwatch replied. “Chaos has secured the nukes and probably has half of them loaded by now. From the way it sounds, they were about to move a few more of them out of here. Once they’re done over there, they’ll join us raiding the mosque to free the hostages.”

  “What’s the word from Cougar?”

  “Nothing good. ISIS didn’t take the bait. They’ve actually set up positions by each bridge, keeping Cougar from
crossing.”

  “Okay, how soon before Chaos can join us? Do we know?”

  “It should be pretty soon. He told Archangel they’d be airborne in about ten minutes. Let’s get him on the horn.”

  “Chaos, Viking actual,” Edberg called to Stonewall.

  “Chaos here, go Viking.”

  “Any idea how soon you’ll have those bombs loaded?”

  “We’ve got about two truckloads left. One is just leaving the warehouse and Falcon is loading the other one right now. Figure we should have them completely loaded in a little more than five minutes. The plane’s ready to go so as soon as the cargo is secured, they’ll be out of here. We should be able to hit the mosque in about ten minutes, tops.”

  “Okay, Chaos, how do you want to play this since ISIS hasn’t taken the bait?” Viking asked.

  “This isn’t going to be easy but here’s the way I want to play this out,” Chaos began, looking at a street map of Raqqa. “Viking, take two of your LAVs and establish a blocking position around the Clock-tower Round-about. This looks to be a natural choke point for any ISIS forces coming up from the two bridges if they want to fall back and reinforce their friends at the mosque so it’s going to be a pretty valuable piece of real estate. Once we’re done here, we’ll take our two LAVs, and the trucks we need to transport everyone else and assault the mosque from the south while you hit it from the north. We’ll wait for you to make the initial assault. Then, since we’ll be using their trucks and coming up from the river, we should be able to get a jump on them. With any luck, they’ll think we’re reinforcements. By the time they realize who we are, it’ll be too late.”

  “What about Secretary Johnson and Colonel Marshall?” Viking asked.

  “We’ll get them on the way out. We’ve had eyes on them for the past several hours,” Stonewall replied. “With any luck, they’ll have dropped their guard just a little thinking we don’t know where they’re at since, by that time, we’ll have driven by their location several times.”

  The Odessa Hotel, Raqqa

  7:06 PM Local Time

  “Imam, I think it might be best if we get you over to the mosque,” General Shishani advised Baghdadi. Everyone in the room could hear the constant rumble of the bombs exploding from their positions along the river as well as the constant roar of US aircraft overhead. “I don’t believe the Americans will get past the river but just in case, the mosque is much more secure than you are here, sir.”

  “I think you might be right, General,” Baghdadi replied.

  “Ladies, we are moving back to the mosque,” Shishani said to both Secretary Johnson and Colonel Marshall. “Here are your Burkas.”

  “Keep it for yourself,” Marshall replied.

  “Colonel, if you want to play ‘Lady Godiva’ that is fine with me,” Shishani replied.

  “I’m with her,” Johnson replied.

  “As you wish, Madam Secretary. Ladies, let’s go . . . .”

  “General!” Abdul Khouri yelled out bursting through the door. “The Americans have landed several planes here in the city!”

  “What?!? Where could they land them? We only have the one air strip and General Van has his plane over there right now. Are you sure you’re not mistaking Van’s plane getting ready to take off, Abdul?”

  “General, they’ve landed on Highway 6 just north of here!”

  “How could they do that?” Shishani replied.

  “I don’t know sir, but we have reports of American troops throughout the city!” And, as if on cue, the two LAVs from Viking Three and Viking Five whizzed right past the hotel, their 25 mm cannon firing as they went.

  “Imam, it might be better if we stayed here. The Americans will most certainly target the mosque where all of the hostages are at. I’m sure they know of their location. However, I don’t believe they know we are here right now.”

  “Okay, General, but get as many men here as you can—discretely! I don’t want to tip off anyone who might be watching where we are at.”

  “Understood,” Shishani replied.

  “What of General Van?” Baghdadi asked Khouri.

  “I don’t know, Imam. I haven’t been able to reach him,” he replied.

  “Hmm . . . Is there a problem here, boys?” Marshall brazenly asked.

  “Shut up, woman!” Shishani yelled at her, striking her across the face with a backhand slap. Everyone in the room heard the crack as blood immediately began pouring from her nose as she fell to the floor.

  “Or what?” Marshall defiantly replied, now back on her feet as she wiped the blood away from her face.

  “Colonel, need I remind you that you are expendable?” Shishani explained as he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head back with his face merely inches from hers she could smell his putrid breath. With his free hand, Shishani grabbed his knife, placed the tip of it at the base of her throat and then traced the tip of it down her sternum and ended below her navel where, almost as a point of emphasis, he applied just enough pressure to slice the skin and draw blood. Marshall could not see the knife but could feel the tip of it as Shishani traced it down her skin. The small cut, combined with her own sweat, stung considerably more than she expected. “You are a valuable trophy, but expendable none the less. Do not push me any further or I will personally deliver you, ala your ‘Lady Godiva’, to one of our local barracks where the men would love to entertain you!”

  “General, we need to move on the Americans!” Khouri interrupted.

  “Tell Colonel Said,” Shishani began, still holding Marshall just inches from his face, “that the Americans have landed a force along Highway 6 north of the city and he needs to release a company-sized force to destroy them immediately! Have him send another unit to the airstrip to check on General Van as well. I do not like what I am hearing,” he finished, as he threw Marshall to the floor and sheathed his knife.

  XXXIX

  Raqqa Airstrip

  7:09 PM Local Time

  “Chaos, Major Sarah Carpenter,” the pilot of Odin-Two came up to Stonewall introduce herself. “I’ll be flying out Odin-Seven with my co-pilot. The co-pilot of Odin-Four will take Odin-Two and the flight engineers will stay with both Odin-Two and Odin-Four. It looks as though the plane’s all warmed up and ready to go. How soon before we can take off?”

  “We’re unloading the last truck right now, Major. It shouldn’t be more than a few minutes and you’re clear for take-off,” Jackson replied.

  “Excellent. We’ll climb aboard and get ready to go.”

  “Viking Two-Six, Viking Four-Six,” Stonewall called out to the SEAL petty officers commanding the two SEAL teams that came in with Odin-Two and Odin-Four, respectively. The SEALs had already set up a perimeter around the loading area with their two LAVs and a dozen commandos from each Viking team. “Cougar is fully engaged with ISIS’s forces at the river,” Stonewall began his short briefing with the two petty officers, “so don’t mistake the relative quiet here for how easy the rest of this will be. Odin-Seven will be leaving momentarily with the nukes. We’ll be taking two trucks and the LAVs and hitting the mosque from here,” Jackson said, pointing to the mosque on his Toughbook laptop. “The mosque has a huge courtyard that occupies the northern three fourths of the entire facility. There is a long archway that spans the width of the courtyard and separates the courtyard from the mosque building proper. Baghdadi’s office, along with several other rooms, are in this building at the south end of the complex . . . here.” Stonewall said pointing at the screen. “Much of this building is open-air with doors throughout. On the south side of the building, there’s actually a parking lot of sorts. This is where Baghdadi and his staff enter and exit the facility. The south gate isn’t more than a hundred feet from the building and leads directly to it. Viking Two will take this gate and enter the building here. Viking Four will take the East gate and clear the courtyard from any more ISIS goons. We should catch them in a cross fire as they’re currently engaged with the rest of the Viking force coming
from the north gate. Okay, we have two teams that are setting up a blocking position at the Clock-tower Round-about to keep any reinforcements away from the mosque. However, since we’re coming from the same direction where their reinforcements would be, we should have the drop on them. All of the hostages are going to be in the basement of the mosque. Count on plenty of guards, so there’s going to be a lot of close quarter’s action.”

  “Not a problem, we’re ready for that,” Senior Chief Petty Officer Nick Conti, Viking Two-Six, replied.

  “Okay, once we get the hostages free, I’ll call in the choppers—they’ll be landing in the courtyard—we’ll load everyone up and get out of there. Now, unlike the nukes here, where they only had a reinforced squad, I’d count on at least a company at the mosque. Viking Actual should be starting the attack in just a few minutes but since he’s split his force in half, they’ll be seriously outnumbered—maybe by as much as ten to one. We have three advance teams and they are on site—two are Sayaret Matkal and the other’s Delta—so watch out for them. We move out as soon as Odin-Seven takes off. It looks like just a couple minutes.”

  The Clock Tower Round-about

  7:10 Local Time

  “Hey Monty,” Viking Five-Six radioed to his counterpart of Viking Three ‘Monty’ Montoya, “we’ve got a couple intersections here. There’s one before the round-about and then about a hundred yards south of the round-about there’s another one that looks like a major street ‘T’s’ off and heads east towards the mosque. Let’s keep your team here at the first intersection and then I’ll take my team down to the second one.”

  “Okay, let me know if you need any help down there,” Monty replied as he saw the Viking Five team proceed through the round-about.

  “Hey, Chief, we got company,” the JTAC assigned to Viking Five said to his team leader. He was really a Senior Chief Petty Officer but had kept the ‘Chief’ moniker. “My guess is that we’ve got at least a company headed this way, maybe more.”