by James Rosone
Scrolling back through the footage on a separate computer, one of the CIA analysts looked to see if they could catch a glimpse of the man’s face. Fortunately, the man had looked up as several birds flew by, and that had given them enough of an angle to grab a good picture. “Unfortunately, this guy is not in our system, so we are not sure who he is. We just know he’s not one of our targets,” explained the CIA analyst confidently.
The major moved the main screen back to the live image of the reception before Stone could say anything else. He then shifted his curser over to another large screen on the side wall and opened another video file. “While you were grabbing a cigarette, we monitored six individuals who arrived about ten-minutes ago. It appears that at least four of the individuals are bodyguards, but as you can see, we got a clear shot of the person they are protecting.”
As Stone scrutinized the still image the major had just opened, he could not believe his eyes. It was Abu Muhammad al-Shimali. The Iraqi-born citizen of Saudi Arabia was a senior leader within ISIS. He was responsible for the facilitation of moving foreign fighters to and from ISIS-held territory. Abu Muhammad was a key facilitator smuggling fighters into Europe, Britain and the US. The US had a $5 million bounty on his head.
“How certain are we that this is Abu Muhammad?” Stone asked with a bit of excitement in his voice.
Another analyst, Jarred Miller, walked over to the major and Stone. Miller was one of the CIA’s top analysts that was part of Stone’s counter-ISIS task force. “I just got the results back from facial recognition. It’s an 83% match. The guys back at Langley also believe this is him.”
A second later, the secured phone to Langley began to ring. Jarred was closest to it, and he picked it up. Then he handed the phone to Stone. “It’s the Director. He wants to speak to you,” Miller said, a bit surprised.
Stone took the phone from Jarred and lifted it to his ear. The Director told him in no uncertain terms, “Hit the wedding reception now. We want you to take out Walid, and more importantly, Abu Muhammad.”
“Can I amend this mission to send in a capture team?” asked Stone.
“No,” asserted the Director. “We want you to launch this strike immediately. Do not wait; we can’t afford for you to potentially miss Abu Muhammad. He is too high value of a target to let slip by, even if it means there will be collateral damage.”
Because this strike was going to take place in a friendly host country, the Predator had been armed with a special missile, which was made of special polymers so that when it exploded, it would leave no trace of shrapnel or missile fragments. Stone had specifically ordered several of these missiles for his task force to use, in case they needed plausible deniability for a high collateral strike. They would launch the missile and target one of the vehicles near the building. This way, it would look like a car bomb, not a drone strike that killed everyone at the wedding.”
Turning to the Air Force captain flying the drone, Stone gave the order, “Fire!”
The captain activated his missile and locked on to what appeared to be a catering van parked near the courtyard where the reception was being held. The group collectively watched as the missile raced towards it’s intended target.
In less than a minute, the missile hit the van. The screen whited out for a brief second. When the screen resolution returned, they could see that the van was gone, and so was most of the compound. The courtyard where the wedding reception was being held was a mangled mess of torn bodies and small fires.
Stone turned to address the group. “Great work everyone. Not only did we get our target, it appears we got a bonus and hit their foreign fighter minister. I want a visual check of the survivors, if possible. We need to ensure that Walid and Abu Muhammad have both been eliminated. If you even think one of them survived, I want to know immediately.”
After his impromptu speech, he left the room to head back to the smoke shack for another cigarette; this victory called for a celebration.
Acronym Key
AFC America First Corporation
AI Artificial Intelligence
AWAC Airborne Warning and Control
BG Brigadier General
CAG Carrier Air Group Commander
CG Commanding General
CIC Combat Information Center
COB Chief of the Boat
CSG12 Carrier Strike Group 12
CSG13 Carrier Strike Group 13
COMSUBPAC Commander of Submarine Forces, Pacific
EAM Emergency Action Message
EHD Enhanced Humanoid Drone
FSB Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (Russian Federal Security Service; FSK successor since 1995)
GRU Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravleniye (Russian Military Intelligence)
ICS Industrial Control Systems
IIF Individual Identification Frequency
IFV Infantry Fighting Vehicles
IoT Internet of Things (anything that is connected to a network, from cars to printers)
IR Islamic Republic
JDF Japanese Defense Force
LNO Liaison Officer
LT Lieutenant
LTC Lieutenant Colonel
LTG Lieutenant General
LZ Landing Zone
MBT Main Battle Tank
MG Major General
MNF Multi-National Force
NSA National Security Agency
PA Public Announcement
PEOC Presidential Emergency Operations Center
PLA People’s Liberation Army (Chinese Army)
PLAN People’s Liberation Army Navy (Chinese Navy)
PRC People’s Republic of China
QRF Quick Reaction Forces
SACEUR Supreme Allied Commander Europe
SAM Surface to Air Missile
SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (system controlling electric power transfers along the grid)
SFGp Japanese Special Forces Group
SUD Swordfish Underwater Drone
SVR Sluzhba Vneshnei Razvedki (Russian Foreign Intelligence Service; post-Cold War intelligence service)
SWAT Special Weapons and Tactics
TOC Tactical Operations Center
UHF Ultra-High Frequency
VIP Very Important Person
XO Commanding Officer