The Assassins

by Oliver North

  CJR Warehouse

  ________________________________________

  867 Avenida Maiquetia, Caracas, Venezuela

  Thursday, 08 November 2007

  1930 Hours Local

  “NMCC on the secure sat-phone for you, sir," said the Army captain manning the communications suite. Newman got up from the table where he, Lt. Col. Dan Hart, Sgt. Maj. Amos Skillings, Master Chief Manuel Suazo, and SFC Roberto Nievos, as well as Eduardo Roca, had been poring over a detailed layout of the Simon Bolivar International Airport.

  Newman pressed the rubber-covered button on the side of the handset, paused while the encryption software engaged, and then said, “This is Peter Newman. Go ahead."

  “Pete, this is George Grisham. Bill Goode is here and has some very recent intel. Rather than have me relay, let me put Bill on."

  “Roger that, sir," said Newman.

  There was a brief pause, then Newman heard the familiar voice of the older man he had first met more than a dozen years before in the midst of a dangerous mission in the Middle East: “Pete, let me get right to the point because I'm sure you're very busy," said Goode. “We just got an NSA intercept of a conversation between a fellow named Assad Bashayan in Cuba and a man named Manucher Rashimani in Caracas. They were talking ‘in the clear’ in Farsi about a flight that's taking place tonight from Jose Marti in Havana and Simon Bolivar in Caracas. They made reference to a VIP on the flight that they referred to as Ardon Najm—that's Arabic for ‘Bronze Star.’”

  “I copy that," said Newman, taking notes on the laptop.

  “Is there any way that you can have someone observe who gets off that airplane?" asked Goode. “I am convinced that this ‘Bronze Star’ person is very important to the attack we're expecting here in the States."

  “Well, sir, after almost a week of trying, thanks to your friend Eduardo Roca, we finally have a ‘local’ inside the military side of the airbase," Newman answered. “He's a nephew of Eduardo's and he's in the Venezuelan Air Force Security Police. He was reassigned to the detachment guarding the military side of Simon Bolivar yesterday and started duty there today. We also have our OP, but that's pretty far away from the hangar where everything seems to be taking place."

  “I know there's a significant element of risk involved, but if you can get word to Eduardo's relative, the aircraft carrying this ‘Bronze Star’ person has filed a flight plan to land at Simon Bolivar tonight at 2200 your time. The pilot is named Is'haaq Al Kabil, and the aircraft is a Boeing 737 with Argentine registry, LV-TRK. It's painted to look like an International Air Express freighter."

  “I'll get right on this," said Newman. “We don't have much time. Do you have any idea who this ‘Bronze Star’ guy really is?"

  There was a long pause, then Goode responded, “It's just my hunch. Not very many people here agree, but I think it's Dimitri Komulakov—and I believe he has been running the nuclear weapons part of this whole thing for the Iranians all along."

  VETERANS'

  DAY

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  ___________________________________________________

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Venezuelan Air Force Hangar 3

  ________________________________________

  Simon Bolivar International Airport

  Caracas, Venezuela

  Friday, 09 November 2007

  0030 Hours Local

  Don't tell me that it cannot be done!” Komulakov snarled at Zhdanov. The Russian nuclear weapons expert recoiled in terror, fearing he was about to be struck. Furious, the ex-KGB general continued, “You must make the rest of these warheads ready, or none of us will be paid! ”

  “Sir, please hear me out on this, ” said Maj. Gregor Argozvek, intervening between Komulakov and the shaken scientist. When the enraged general paused in his tirade, Argozvek looked around the room to make sure that the door to his adjoining office in the hangar was closed. When he was sure that only Komulakov, Zhdanov, and Major Sakharovsky could hear what he was about to say, he continued: “The Iranians are not aware that two of the six remaining warheads have not yet been repaired—nor do they need to know. ”

  “What do you mean, ‘the Iranians are not aware’? ” demanded Komulakov. “Hasn't this Manucher Rashimani been watching everything that has been going on here? ”

  “It is true that he has been here a great deal, General, ” replied Argozvek, “but he does not know enough about the warheads to know whether one will detonate and another will not. The warhead we put on the containership headed for Galveston was one of those that Dr. Zhdanov had not yet repaired. Rashimani was with us that whole time, and he said nothing. ”

  “But when I arrived here two hours ago from Cuba, ” interjected Komulakov, in a calmer voice, “the first thing Rashimani said to me was that we must have all of the remaining weapons ready to go by midnight tomorrow night. ”

  “Yes, sir, ” said Argozvek, nodding his head, “that is because Rashimani's only job is to make sure that the pilots of the planes and the crews of the ships carrying the warheads know where they are to go when they leave here early on the morning of the eleventh—and that they know how to detonate the weapons. I provided all of this information to Colonel Dubzhuko several days ago. ”

  “Well, since Dubzhuko is dead, tell me what you told him, ” said Komulakov.

  Argozvek nodded and continued, “There is not much else. We have eight aircraft and six warheads here. Doctor Zhdanov has replaced the tritium triggers in five of the six weapons. Those five with the new components will certainly detonate. The other one probably will not. We have neither the parts nor the time to refurbish it, but none of the Iranians or the jihadis know this. They think all the weapons will work. ”

  Komulakov looked at the slovenly scientist and said, “Is that correct, Zhdanov? ”

  The weapons expert meekly nodded and said, “Yes. ”

  “Has Rashimani told you his plan? ” asked Komulakov, turning back to the GRU major.

  “Here is what he has told me, ” answered Argozvek, consulting notes that he removed from his pocket. “By 2100 tomorrow night he expects warheads to be installed in six of the aircraft: the two Airbuses, both 737s, a Gulfstream, and the Hawker. All eight of the aircraft are to be fully fueled and out on the apron by 2200. Each aircraft will be crewed by two of what he calls their ‘martyrs’: a pilot and a copilot. At his command, they will depart individually for their target cities in the United States with instructions to arrive over their target cities at 0700. ”

  “This is not what we originally planned many months ago in Tehran, ” said Komulakov, awed by the audacity of the plot. “We were going to pre-position the planes in Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean islands and attack from many different directions. Did Rashimani say how he expects these ‘martyrs’ to penetrate the American air defenses? ”

  “No, ” replied Argozvek, putting away his notes, “but I did hear him tell several of the pilots yesterday, ‘If Colombian infidels can fly planeloads of drugs into America, then Islamic warriors should be able to deliver Allah's cleansing fire the same way.’”

  National Military Command Center

  ________________________________________

  The Pentagon, Arlington, VA

  Friday 09 November 2007

  0700 Hours Local

  “Pete, we're sending you the latest imagery from the most recent satellite pass. The folks at NRO agree that those eight commercial aircraft outside hangar 3 on the military side of Simon Bolivar Airfield are very likely all repainted, stolen Saudi planes. We've looked at the options here and believe that if at all possible, they need to be taken out down there before they ever get off the ground, ” said Gen. George Grisham over the speaker hooked into the secure voice circuit. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of Defense Dan Powers, and the CIA's Bill Goode were sitting at a conference table in the NMCC, deep beneath the Pentagon's A-Ring. In Caracas, Brig. Gen. Peter Newman
, Lt. Col. Dan Hart, Sgt. Maj. Amos Skillings, and the team leaders for Newman's little task force were jammed into the office of the CJR Warehouse. Grisham continued, “We're pretty sure that we have all bases covered on the threat from any remaining Saudi ships. Last night at 1800, the USS Virginia sank a pirated Saudi vessel headed out of Maracaibo, and then about three hours later the Dallas dropped one trying to make it into La Guaira from Aruba. ”

  “Well, sir, ” said Newman, “if that means I can pull my five-man OP back from over-watch at the port, it'll give me a few more ‘bullet throwers’ if we have to shoot our way into that hangar at Simon Bolivar. ”

  “Go ahead and pull 'em back, then, ” said Grisham. “What else do you need that we can send your way? ”

  Newman realized that if his task force were going to have to blast their way into the military side of the airport, destroy eight aircraft, and perhaps seize an unknown number of nuclear weapons, this was likely his last chance to get additional assets. He looked down at his notes and said, “I know it's a long shot, but can we get any fixed-wing close-air support? ”

  “Are you talking about an air strike on Caracas? ” the SecDef asked. “You saw the Presidential Guidance on this, Pete. He doesn't want to start a war with Venezuela—he just wants to keep those pirated Saudi airplanes from getting to American cities. Everybody here knows that the easiest thing to do would be to bomb the beans out of that hangar and those Saudi airplanes. Unfortunately, we can't do that without also hitting Valdez's Air Force—and if there really are nuclear warheads in that hangar or aboard those Saudi aircraft, we'll spread radioactive waste all over the place—and catch unmitigated grief from the rest of the world for decades. ”

  Newman shrugged and plunged on. “Sir, I'm not suggesting a ‘Rolling Thunder’ air raid on Caracas, but if my guys can't find a way to just sneak into the military side of the airport and take out those planes, I'm going to need more support than I've got. Our recon team and the ‘local’ we've got inside confirm the presence of eleven Russian, twenty-five Middle Eastern, and as many as fifty Venezuelan MAMs in and around that hangar and those airplanes. All I have is fifty-three ‘shooters,’ Mr. Secretary. We're going to try to slip in there tomorrow night and do this as quietly as possible, and slip back out again. Our egress plan is to have the SEALs from the Dallas and the Virginia extract us off the beach. But if there's a gunfight, I'll need some help or we're going to have a lot of dead soldiers, sailors, and Marines. ”

  In the NMCC, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs looked at each other. Finally Grisham spoke. “You're right, Pete. At the very least, you're going to need something 'on call.’ We'll kick this around with the chiefs here in ‘the tank’ later this morning and get you some kind of fire support. ”

  CJR Warehouse

  ________________________________________

  867 Avenida Maiquetia, Caracas, Venezuela

  Friday, 09 November 2007

  1600 Hours Local

  “I think we've got it, sir, ” said Lt. Col. Dan Hart as he, Sergeant First Class Robert Nievos, and Eduardo Roca walked into the warehouse office/command post.

  Both Brigadier General Newman and Sgt. Maj. Amos Skillings looked up from the satellite imagery that they had been poring over. Newman said, “Got what, Dan? ”

  “I think Eduardo and SFC Nievos have found a way for us to get as many as forty of our men into the airport without any problem. I don't know why we didn't think of it before. ”

  “I'm willing to look at any good ideas right now, ” Newman responded. “Amos and I have been working on the back end of this problem: how to get fifty-three U.S. military personnel, two CIA females, and six American civilian tech-reps from the airport four miles down the road to the beach, link up with thirty-two Navy SEALs, paddle out to two U.S. submarines, and get clear of this place before Valdez and his band of merry minions catch us. What's your idea? ”

  “Starting tomorrow morning—so it's not too obvious—we send forty of our ‘operators’ to the domestic terminal at the airport with their bags packed—just like any other departing passengers, ” said Hart. “They buy tickets for flights that depart from Concourse B—those are the commuter airlines. They go through security, then downstairs like they're going to board the little bus that takes them over to the B Concourse—only the shuttle bus they take drops them off at the old Avianca Airlines hangar, here… ” Hart said, pointing to the satellite imagery on the table. “By 1700 or so, we'll have forty men inside the airport security perimeter—granted, on the civilian side of the field—but they'll be almost directly across the runway from hangar 3. ”

  “Who's driving the bus that takes our guys from the main terminal to the Avianca hangar instead of Concourse B? ” asked Newman.

  Hart smiled and said, “Who else? The Roca family has the contract for the airport shuttle buses—including the one that shuttles between the terminal and the concourses. They aren't allowed over on the military side of the field. That's why we didn't think of it before. ”

  “How do our guys get their weapons? ” asked Skillings. “They sure can't take 'em through security—and forty unarmed guys, no matter how tough they are, won't be much help taking down the aircraft on the other side of the field tomorrow night. ”

  “Right, Sergeant Major, ” Nievos replied. “Eduardo, tell 'em about the Avianca hangar. ”

  Roca shrugged his seersucker shoulders and said, “Well, I just rented the Avianca hangar this afternoon to use for maintaining my shuttle buses. It has been empty for about six months—ever since Valdez stepped up his support for the FARC terrorists and the government in Bogota responded by cutting their flights. First thing tomorrow morning, my sons must move much equipment in large, heavy boxes into the hangar. If you pack the weapons in plywood boxes tonight, they will be there waiting as your men filter into the Avianca hangar during the day tomorrow. ”

  “I'm impressed so far, ” said Newman. “But tomorrow night, how do these forty men get across to the military side of the field if your shuttle buses can't cross over to that side. ”

  Hart, smiling, said, “Remember Eduardo's nephew—the one in the Venezuelan Air Force Security Police? ”

  “Yeah, ” said Newman.

  “Well, his new job at the air base is driving those blue Air Force buses—the ones that are permitted to go anywhere on the field, ” replied Hart. “Tomorrow night, at the designated time, he takes one of the blue buses, drives around to the Avianca hangar, picks up our forty guys, and brings them right to the front door of hangar 3! ”

  Newman shook his head, marveling at the simplicity of the plan. He turned to Skillings and said, “That blue bus solves another problem for us: how to get all of our guys from the airport to the beach to link up with the SEALs from the Dallas and Virginia. The blue bus, plus the Suburbans, should give us enough mobility to do it all in one move. ”

  “Yes, sir, ” said the sergeant major. “About the only thing we haven't licked is how to keep local military reinforcements from getting to hangar 3 from their barracks to the south of the flight line once the shooting starts. ”

  Hart agreed. “That is a problem. You only have thirteen men—and two women, I guess—for a security element, command and control, and a base of fire along the back gate behind the hangar. We need to find some way to keep reinforcements from getting to hangar 3 for ten or fifteen minutes while we take out the Saudi planes, find any nukes that are lying around, police up our brass, and skedaddle for the subs. ”

  Newman's head snapped back. “The subs...that's it! ”

  “What's it, sir? ” said Skillings.

  “The subs—that's where we're going to get our fire support, ” said Newman. “Sergeant Major, draft a message for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and tell him we need four Tomahawk TLAM-Cs ‘on call’ for tomorrow night. Give him the ten-digit GPS coordinates for the Venezuelan Air Force barracks building and the electrical distribution transformers at the far end of
the airport. ”

  Home of Samir Habib

  ________________________________________

  Anah, Iraq

  Saturday, 10 November 2007

  0515 Hours Local

  “You are up early this morning, ” said Samir Habib to his father. Both men were wearing traditional Arab robes to lessen the predawn chill along the northern Euphrates. The songbirds in the palms and olive trees were chirping and trilling.

  “Yes, my son, ” said Eli Yusef Habib. Then the old man added, “I had a dream...and could not go back to sleep. So I arose to pray and read the Scriptures. ”

  Samir knew that when his father had a dream it was not the trivial nocturnal occurrence that most people experience. His father's dreams often had “significance. ” Eli Yusef was a devout man and had lived a long life of faith. And sometimes his dreams were an extension of that “life of faith” experience. “Can you tell me about your dream? ” Samir asked his father.

  “It was very strange, ” Eli Yusef began. “It was about our friend Peter Newman and his friend—the black man. ”

  “Sergeant Skillings? ” Samir prompted.

  “Yes, Amos Skillings. ”

  “What were they doing? ”

  The old man sat in his carved wooden chair and placed his hands in his lap atop his open Bible. “Peter and Amos were together, and they were battling a great enemy—an evil one that they had fought before. This evil one is intent on starting a great fire that will consume the innocent and the guilty alike. It was a great and terrible battle, with many soldiers on both sides. ” Eli Yusef paused, as if to give his son time to visualize the dream.

  “Go on, Father, ” Samir urged.

  “Peter and Sergeant Skillings have swords, and Sergeant Amos Skillings is able to fly over the heads of the enemy and attack them with his sword, while they try to kill him. He is always able to elude their weapons, ” said the elder Habib.