by Ross Sidor
By now, Culler possessed additional satellite intelligence, including FORTE data from the Department of Energy (DOE) and electronic and signals intelligence intercepts from NSA.
Over the past twelve hours, Culler had coordinated with DOE and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the agency that designs, builds, and operates the satellites utilized by American intelligence agencies, to re-task the FORTE platform over Gorno-Badakhshan Province. There are only two FORTE satellites, and they are nearly always in use over high priority targets in China, India, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia. Diverting FORTE on short notice is a Big Deal, and Culler had called in a few favors and now owed a couple, too. Fortunately, this particular satellite had already been in the region, scheduled to make a sweep over India’s Boron enrichment plant, where CIA had gotten reports of increased production activity. Instead, the satellite passed over Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Province.
Fast Onboard Recording of Transient Event is a $35 million Department of Energy-operated satellite launched into low Earth orbit in 1997. Its suite of optical sensors and RF instruments detects radioactive emissions and heat signatures associated with nuclear weapons development and testing, capable of seeing through dense cloud coverage and penetrating up to fifteen feet underground. FORTE had been the first asset to detect and analyze the Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons tests in the 1990s.
HEU is difficult to detect. The Department of Homeland Security and DOE spent billions of dollars on detection gear and sensors that failed to reliably detect large quantities of HEU at American ports and airports. But FORTE’s scans detected significant levels of alpha emissions radiating from the TCIDC plant. The small diameter of the emissions’ source core, and the fact that it was located directly within the plant, all but eliminated the possibility of a natural, previously unknown natural uranium deposit. It had all the readings consistent with emissions that were the result of man-made processes.
NSA’s Magnum SigInt satellites likewise picked up an increase in signals and communications traffic from the Gorno-Badakhshan site to locations in Minsk, including a GlobeEx office, and Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province. Meanwhile, CIA’s continued UAV coverage of the TCIDC facility revealed another nugget.
“Aleksander Litvin arrived at the facility four hours ago,” Culler said. “The Counter Proliferation Center reported, and Ukrainian intelligence confirmed, that he left Minsk for Dushanbe overnight on a private jet, shortly after the incident at Dushanbe International. From there, he flew directly to the factory aboard a GlobeEx Transport Ka-226 helicopter. He’s not the only VIP. The Predators spotted Mullah Arzad’s arrival a short while later, along with someone we’ve since identified as Ali Masood Jafari, one of the missing Pakistani nuclear scientists and one-time apprentice to AQ Khan.”
Avery exchanged looks with Poacher. They both thought the same thing. If Litvin and Arzad were here, would Cramer make an appearance, too? Culler caught the exchange but didn’t answer the unstated question.
“So what happens next?” Poacher asked.
“I’ve received authorization from D/CIA to launch a three phase operation, codenamed CRIMSON RETRIEVAL,” Culler said. If the director of CIA authorized the op, then that meant the president’s national security adviser had given him the green light to do so, at least tentatively.“First, Sideshow will conduct eyes-on-the-ground reconnaissance of the target to pave the way for the JSOC retrieval mission of the nuclear material. Then F-16s will level this place flat to eliminate the weapons development infrastructure. Rules of engagement are clear: anyone who stands in the way of your securing the HEU is considered a threat and is to be neutralized.”
It sounded simple and straight forward enough, but Avery knew from experience that these things rarely went as smoothly as anticipated by the mission planners and coordinators in their distant office suites and ops centers. From Avery’s perspective, he saw a small unit infiltrating hostile territory, with limited back-up, and going up against a larger, highly trained enemy force, with a number of variables that could go wrong at every phase of the operation.
Next, Culler addressed Poacher directly, something that wasn’t lost on Avery. “Your team will provide vital firsthand intelligence of the target and ascertain enemy force strength and disposition, and locations of the uranium and the HUMINT asset being detained here.”
Culler now regarded Aleksa Denisova as an asset of sorts, although she would ardently argue against the label. But whatever she was, Avery felt responsible for her—she was there, in danger, because of him, and she had provided valuable intelligence that brought them to this point. The Ranger mentality of leaving no one behind was deeply ingrained into his psyche, just as the Sideshow team shared the same mindset. Bringing Aleksa out was just as critical to them as retrieving and accounting for all of the HEU canisters.
Culler had told Avery he’d help Aleksa get settled in the West and establish a new identity for her, since it wouldn’t be safe for her to return to Russia after this. That made him feel better, but he doubted Aleksa would take Culler up on that. She was too stubborn and principled, and would never accept help from the CIA. She also wouldn’t run and hide because of a gangster’s threats.
“Colonel Arkin commands the render-safe special mission unit based here at Bagram,” Culler said. “His operations staff is preparing for a takedown of this facility. This operation will be conducted by a small number of JSOC personnel supported by Night Stalker helicopter crews.”
Specially trained by the DOE’s Nuclear Emergency Search Team scientists, the JSOC WMD render-safe units are composed of SEALs, Delta Force operators, and Night Stalkers, and supported by Rangers and paratroopers. They’re tasked with securing nuclear facilities and weapons, and neutralizing terrorist WMDs. On the American East Coast, these units rehearsed takedown scenarios on elaborate mock-ups of Pakistani, North Korean, and former Soviet nuclear sites. For the past decade, a render-safe team was stationed in Afghanistan, ready to seize the Pakistani nuclear arsenal in the event of a jihadist takeover in that country.
During his initial briefing with Arkin, Culler omitted many details. The JSOC officer knew only that this was a routine counterproliferation op against a Taliban WMD facility in a remote region of Tajikistan. Arkin may have suspected a connection with the recent news of the CIA officers killed in Tajikistan, but he kept any speculation to himself.
Culler began discussing with Poacher bringing in other CIA paramilitary units already stationed in Afghanistan.
“Sideshow can do it,” Poacher asserted, dismissing the suggestion, wanting to keep the operation small. He and Reaper had taken part in JSOC render safe training exercises and had experience with this type of op. “We won’t need detection or retrieval gear. We already know the HEU is on-site, and we know what to look for. As long as they haven’t broken the seals on those cylinders yet and started making bombs, which doesn’t appear to be the case, according to the FORTE data, we can operate without fear of contamination.”
“Just the four of you?” asked Culler, incredulously.
“I’m going, too,” Avery said.
“Oh, like hell you are, not in your condition.” Culler nearly jumped out of his chair. “I read the medical report. A concussion. Two cracked ribs. A hairline fractured vertebrae. A bruised kidney that will have you pissing blood for the next week. You’re in no shape to do anything. Frankly, you shouldn’t even be sitting in on this meeting.”
“My legs are working just fine, and I can still shoot.” Avery turned to Poacher. “You know I’m good for it.”
Poacher wasn’t so sure about that, but he didn’t want to argue. Plus, truth was, he could use Avery’s skill set. The target’s external security may have been soft, but they had no way of knowing what kind of opposition they’d face inside the factory. Litvin’s people were well-trained, and the Taliban were fanatical, dedicated fighters.
“It’s alright. I can vouch for him, Matt. I can use an extra body, and I’m c
omfortable taking him along. And I’m going to make it clear: I’m the one running Sideshow’s portion of the op. I’ll keep him in line.”
Avery started to open his mouth, but then thought better of responding.
Culler begrudgingly agreed, leaving Avery to wonder why he’d acquiesced so easily.
After further discussion, mostly coordination between the CIA unit and Arkin, they ended the briefing.
After Arkin left, Culler held the others back.
“There’s something else I need to tell you, another component to your mission that no one outside of this room will ever be made aware of.” He paused to make sure he held everyone’s full attention. “Cramer arrived at the processing plant with Litvin this morning.”
No one said a word, but Avery understood now why Culler hadn’t put up more of a fight about his joining the team.
“JSOC cannot find Cramer alive at this facility,” Culler said. The special operations community was a small one, and at least a few members of the render safe team, most of them veterans of Afghanistan, would likely recognize Cramer if they saw him. Even those who didn’t would probably recognize him from recent news reports and intelligence briefings. Of course the JSOC men could be counted on to keep a secret, but D/NCS didn’t want word of Cramer’s treason spreading. “It’s one thing if his body is recovered from the facility. He’s already supposed to be dead, after all, killed by allies of the Taliban. But the bottom line is Cramer needs to be eliminated before Arkin’s team goes in. That’s why your team is going in first.”
There was heavy silence as Avery and the Sideshow team processed this. They’d never been ordered to kill one of their own before. Personally, Avery didn’t have a problem with it, not after what he’d seen at Ayni and in Minsk. But he knew Poacher and the others wouldn’t be ready to kill a fellow American and brother warrior.
“If you don’t feel you’re able to do this, then better to tell me now,” Culler said after no one responded. “Hell, I’m not sure I could do it. I don’t even like having to give the order, but it needs to be done. This man is an enemy of the United States of America, plain and simple.”
“We’ll handle it,” Avery assured him and letting the Sideshow crew know that, if it came down to it, he’d be willing to pull the trigger.
“Rules of engagement concerning the other principals?” asked Poacher.
“I’m unconcerned with what happens to Litvin or Arzad,” Culler said. “Arzad’s name is still on the president’s kill list, and Litvin is certainly no friend to the United States. If he gets away from this unscathed, he’ll run back to Russia and continue arming terrorists.”
“It’s actually a nice opportunity to take out Litvin,” Mockingbird said. “The Russians aren’t going to make a big protest at the UN about a terrorist WMD factory that has their fingerprints all over it, and they can’t defend Litvin if he’s found there. They’ll keep quiet about everything and pray that we do, too.”
“That’s what the president is counting on,” Culler said.
They spent the next couple hours poring over the satellite and Predator pictures of the plant and formulating a comprehensive plan of attack.
“When do we go in?” Avery asked.
“Tonight,” Culler said.
“What’s our method of insertion?” Poacher asked.
TWENTY-FIVE
Gorno-Badakhshan
The Mi-8 Hip, painted in desert tan, was one of dozens of former Soviet aircraft that the Special Activities Division’s Air Branch retained for operations in places like Afghanistan, Libya, and Somalia, where this type of helicopter was still widely used, making it a familiar sight for locals. When the US conducted offensive military operations against another country, the first thing it did was destroy that country’s air defense systems, forcing the enemy to rely on visual contact. Therefore the Mi-8 allowed American operatives to travel freely and slip past the enemy. CIA also used the aircraft to deliver case officers to remote, isolated villages to reach agents in otherwise dangerous, inaccessible areas, or for covert insertions, like the one presently delivering Avery and Sideshow from Bagram Air Base into Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Province.
Although looking well past its prime and barely fit for flight, the helicopter had upgraded avionics and radar packages, including forward looking infrared (FLIR) sensors for night flying and an electronic warfare suite for jamming enemy radar. SAD Air Branch had also installed new titanium blades.
The Mi-8 entered Tajikistan at 20:35, with a second, identical Hip not far behind. After EAGLE CLAW, the disastrous 1979 operation to rescue the American embassy hostages in Iran, special operations forces always deployed with backup aircraft and their own specially trained pilots and flight crews.
Tajikistan lacked the sophisticated, modern air defense radar that had been in place around Syria’s al-Kibar facility. The Tajiks’ systems were early Soviet-era, largely inoperable and centered primarily on Dushanbe, but the SAD Air Branch pilots nonetheless flew low to the ground, nap-of-the-earth, following the contours of the low mountains and deep valleys, giving their passenger a gut-churning ride, while avoiding the major villages and roads. With near zero visibility, the pilots relied almost entirely on their instruments and FLIR to prevent hitting a mountainside or canyon wall.
The first helicopter carried Avery and the Sideshow unit, who rode out the jarring flight in silence. The second Mi-8 was a more heavily armed gunship variant, equipped with six rocket launch rails, and carrying a platoon of sheep-dipped Delta operators from B Squadron’s Echo Troop. If necessary, the gunship would provide air support, and the Delta soldiers were there for backup, so that if things went south, the CIA insertion element would not be cut off and abandoned in the middle of Tajikistan. If all went according to plan, the Delta platoon would remain on stand-by for the duration of CRIMSON RETRIEVAL and not be required.
Before departing, Avery and Poacher’s team attended a final briefing with the JSOC team, allowing the spec ops troops to get a good look at their faces and uniforms, to avoid misidentification and a blue-on-blue, in case a firefight broke out at the TCIDC plant.
Well past the Afghan border, the land inside Gorno-Badakhshan became vast and open, and the beat-up looking Mi-8s provided adequate cover for the insertion. A couple of goat-herding peasants watched the helicopters pass by overhead, but did not think anything unusual of it, taking the aircraft to be Tajik army troops on maneuvers. Even if they were alarmed, these peasants were no supporters of President Rahmon and would not report the sighting to the GKNB, not they would even have the means to do so, if they so desired.
Lieutenant Colonel Arkin’s render-safe unit had been pre-deployed from Bagram to a forward operating base in northwestern Afghanistan, with a dozen MH-60 Black Hawk, MH-6 Little Bird, and AH-64 Apache helicopters. The Apaches carried a full assortment of Hellfire and Hydra 70 rockets, enough firepower to toast a small ground army. From their forward operating base, the JSOC render-safe troops were just a thirty-five minute flight to the TCIDC factory, which was located approximately eighty-five miles past the border. Additionally, the air force had F-16s in the sky, ready to offer further support if needed, as well as waiting to receive the command to level the processing plant.
No one was concerned about the Tajik air force, such as it was, which consisted of a scant eight hundred troops, fifteen helicopters, and two transport planes, but if the Tajiks somehow caught wind of the violation of their airspace, Russian Air Force MiG-29s would be put into the air from their base at Gissar or from neighboring Kazakhstan, and that was a worry to the American pilots and aircrews.
21:48. Avery and Sideshow deployed from the Mi-8 about eight kilometers from the target site. They didn’t want to go in closer than that, so as to avoid being potentially spotted or heard by any guards on the pre-heater tower. Besides, eight klicks was an easy enough hike for them.
As Avery’s team covered the rest of the way on foot, the helicopters settled down at their waypoint, eig
ht kilometers away from the target. This was a grass plain, concealed on the south side by low mountains, twenty-five miles from the nearest village, and three miles from the nearest road. Here, the CIA flight crews, all former army aviation or air force veterans with combat experience, shut down their engines and threw camouflaged netting over their aircraft, while the Delta troops established a defensive perimeter and stayed on the lookout. Then the pilots stayed fixated to their comms, waiting to hear word from the insertion element or the command center at Bagram, where Matt Culler anxiously monitored the unfolding operation, listening for updates and radio transmissions.
A full moon and stars filled the night sky, casting a glow over the land below, and making night optics unnecessary for the CIA insertion element. They walked in a loose diamond-shaped patrol formation, with Avery and Poacher in the front, Reaper and Flounder on the flanks, and Mockingbird bringing up the rear, with about eight feet between each man.
Avery carried his M4 in front of him, with five spare magazines. While three of the Sideshow operators opted for suppressed HK 416 5.56mm assault rifles, Heckler & Koch’s upgraded version of the M16/M4, Reaper instead carried a Heckler & Koch MSG-90 7.62mm sniper rifle. Each man also carried a holstered Mk .23 SOCOM pistol. Any killing was likely to be done close quarters, but since they were going in alone, against superior numbers, and were twenty minutes away from their Delta backup, they wanted to be prepared and so they packed heavier firepower. In addition to which, Flounder carried an explosives kit, and Mockingbird and Poacher both had AG-C 40mm grenade launchers attached under their rifle barrels.
They walked in silence, with Avery or Poacher occasionally using hand signals to communicate to the men behind them. They maintained a steady pace, making better timing than anticipated; slowing down only when it became necessary to traverse the steep hills that sporadically rose up from the ground.
