The Third Cell

by Anthony D'Egidio

  They worked on the implementation plans until two in the morning, staying at the house so they might continue the next day.

  Daniel had waited until late in the night to call Traci. After hanging up the phone, he turned to Jonah and Howard saying, “It must be nice that you two don’t have to explain anything to anybody. Unfortunately for me, Traci questions everything I do and where I’m going. I have to be careful I don’t get caught up in my own lies.”

  “You must face this problem in the near future,” spoke Howard. “How do you propose to accomplish the task once we get started?”

  “By having her visit your soon to be ex-wife when the time comes for us to strike.”

  Howard grinned. He was in the midst of signing the marriage separation agreement. A date hadn’t been officially set but by mid-March, he and Michelle would be legally divorced.

  Daniel was the only one left with the problem of a spouse. One he loved dearly and vowed to take care of. Daniel had a simple plan. They had already bought a large condo in Ocean City, Maryland and he had placed the property in her name under the guise that if his business went bankrupt the creditors couldn’t touch it. He also opened accounts in several banks under Traci’s name only.

  Traci had questioned his investment wisdom. “Why don’t you do something more aggressive, like a stock portfolio or reverse convertibles that pay high interest rates and give a greater return?”

  Of course Daniel couldn’t tell her the truth. “I don’t like to take risks and the government insures these accounts. You never know with stocks or corporate notes, they can always go down in value.”

  “What if I want all of it and leave you?” She had laughed.

  “We never know what the future will bring, do we?”

  Traci had brushed off his response.

  The following day the cell members finalized their strategy and were ready to implement the plan. It would take time with the various properties and businesses that needed to be sold. It was Jonah who had the largest amount of property to dispose of, but his plan already discussed with Ronaldo in Colombia would be finalized immediately.

  Jonah’s major task was to contact the organizations that had previously showed interest, which led to endless meetings and negotiations. He was negotiating the property sale with an industrial conglomerate from Asia. Jonah would keep Cooper Farms and Ceballo Landscaping operating even after they took over the property. The conglomerate knew it would take over two years to get all the final county and state approvals before they could start construction. By having a landscape company and farm still on the property they were able to defer the increase in land taxes when the property was converted from farmland to light industrial. For Jonah this was the best of both worlds. If he could finalize the deal he would have the cash from the sale and still be able use the properties to carry out the mission.

  CHAPTER 29

  THE HUNT FOR OSAMA BIN LADEN

  Jonah’s Residence, April 30, 2011

  It was 4:30 a.m. when Jonah’s telephone rang. Shaking the cobwebs from his head, he lifted the receiver and spoke, “Yes.”

  “It’s Howard. Daniel and I are coming over.”

  Jonah quickly rose, shaved and showered. Can’t be good news if Howard wants to meet so early, he mused. He wandered into the kitchen to make some coffee and looked around. The kitchen and the house is a mess since I let Carmelo retire. The thought had barely left his mind when the speaker at the front gate announced a visitor.

  “It’s Howard. When the hell are you going to give me a clicker to get in? I feel like one of the gardeners coming to work every time I have to buzz for entrance.”

  Jonah ignored Howard’s rant and walked over to the night vision LCD monitors that panned the grounds. After viewing the surrounding area and satisfied it was clear, he pushed the remote button opening the gate. He went to the front door, coffee cup in hand and waited for his two cohorts to arrive.

  Howard was still grumbling as he walked up the steps. “Damn Jonah, don’t you think I’m smart enough to know if I’m being followed?”

  “You can never be too careful and if I gave you a remote to get in and it was stolen, then what? I’ll play it safe. Besides, we’re close to starting the mission and all of this is irrelevant. By the way, bring your maid over here in the next couple of days to clean up this mess. I can’t just hire anyone and I don’t need the aggravation in doing so. You’ve already cleared her and besides she’ll only be here a few hours.”

  “I’ve got more important things to talk about than the upkeep of your house,” replied Howard.

  Jonah had a look of concern on his face as he spoke. “Let’s go in here.” The media room was the nerve center of the home. When he was building it several years earlier, Maria had questioned all the security and safety measures he was putting in.

  Jonah had answered, “We’re isolated from everyone and we’ve no other security than what I am installing for the protection of you and the family.”

  “If you’re so concerned, why don’t you get Howard to send over one of his security guards in the evening?”

  The last thing Jonah had wanted was a security guard on the premises. If they used one of the operatives they ran the possibility of having to call the police if a confrontation with an intruder occurred. He couldn’t risk an investigation into the background of the operative. Using a security guard that wasn’t an operative raised the chance that the guard would view the home as a target for robbery. Jonah didn’t trust anyone.

  “I’d rather control my own destiny than put it in the hands of some stranger.” Jonah had replied.

  Maria just shrugged her shoulders and walked off. “You do what you want to. Besides you never listen to any of my suggestions anyway.”

  Jonah had ignored her biting sarcasm and built the room to his exact specifications. The walls were double insulated with sound proofing material. He had copper screening installed in the walls and ceilings to prevent eavesdropping. The surveillance cameras viewed the land surrounding the house up to a quarter of a mile away. No one was allowed into the room unless occupied by Jonah. Not even Maria or the children. The door was secured with a scanning retina recognition lock. Jonah was so fastidious with the house security that his fear bordered on paranoia.

  “You want some coffee before we get started?” asked Jonah as he closed the door to the media room.

  “I’ve been up all night and couldn’t stomach another, but I’ll take some water,” stated Howard.

  “I’ll take some also,” said Daniel.

  Before walking over to the build-in refrigerator, Jonah took time to review all the monitors. “Doesn’t look like you were followed,” he said as he opened the refrigerator door to retrieve the bottled water, tossing them to the men.

  “What’s happening to keep you up all night and call this meeting?” asked Jonah.

  “Something big is going down in Washington, but no one is talking about it.”

  “Then how do you know this information?” asked Jonah.

  “Because there have been many high level counterintelligence people visiting the White House and meeting in the Situation Room under the tightest of security. We’re talking about Admirals, Generals, CIA, FBI, NSA and Homeland Security. For the past few weeks, every important security agency has been there.”

  “Maybe the United States is going to take a larger role in the Middle East with all the turmoil going on. They could be putting military personnel in some of those countries,” remarked Daniel.

  “Doubt it,” said Jonah as he opened a bottle of water and took a long drink. “The United States can’t afford another land conflict. The people are tired of the decade long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and another conflict would be the nail in the coffin for Obama’s re-election. Don’t see that happening. What do you think Howard?”

  “In all my years being in the security field, the first sign of impending action against a home based terrorist group is a buildup of personnel by the F
BI or counterintelligence agencies. This is especially true in the state or city, where the perceived attack was to be carried out. I haven’t heard of a single security agency doing this. So I believe whatever is going to happen, it’s not going to be in the United States.”

  Jonah let Howard’s statement sink in before speaking. “What’s the most volatile area of the Middle East right now?”

  “Syria and Libya, but they’re on everyone’s radar screen and holding secret meetings doesn’t make sense.”

  “What else do you know about the most sensitive areas in that region?” asked Jonah.

  Howard walked over to the computer and searched for the map he wanted to display on the large eighty-two inch flat screen television. The media room instantly took on the appearance of a war room. Not only did Jonah have maps of key military and law enforcement locations in the United States, but also from around the world and they were updated daily with information provided by Howard. The map of the Middle East showed the problematic countries highlighted in red. Using the computer curser he turned off the highlight on particular areas as he spoke.

  “I’m eliminating the obvious and removing Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories. That leaves us three countries. I’m eliminating Syria because NATO’s military capacity is stretched in Libya and they can’t afford to start a second campaign. The Western countries are threatening an economic boycott, but that’s nothing but hot air because Syria isn’t dependent upon Europe or the United States for their economy. Some even think al-Qaeda is behind the uprising and both Russia and China are siding with al-Assad. Now that leaves us other two hot spots, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. I certainly don’t think it’s the UAE, because they don’t have an al-Qaeda force presence in the country. Besides, they’re a strong ally of the United States and have contracted a secret American-led mercenary army to protect the country.”

  “If it’s so secret, how do you know about it?” Daniel sarcastically quipped.

  Howard ignored him as he continued, “Some in the intelligent community think its Yemen. There is growing unrest in the country and a strong al-Qaeda fighting force located in the Shabwa province. The leader of the organization is Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born radical Muslim cleric. Many of the United States counter terrorist agencies think he’s the second in command after bin Laden. My take, he’s not that important. He masterminded the botched “underwear bomb” aboard a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas 2009 and the attempted bombing of New York’s Times Square in 2010. I’m pretty sure he isn’t held in high esteem by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda after those two fiascos. The United States seems to be obsessed with killing him as much as they are about getting bin Laden. In fact President Obama issued a capture or kill order for him to the CIA in April 2010. I expect him to be taken out in the near future.”

  Howard took a long drink from the bottle of water. He took some of the water and splashed it on his face. “Sorry, I’ve been up over twenty-four hours and a little groggy.”

  Howard put down the bottle and continued. “I think the United States is barking up the wrong tree when it comes to Anwar al-Awlaki. There are people in the counter-terrorism community that think it’s this Egyptian Saif al-Adel. The Pakistanis have intelligence to back that up, but he doesn’t have the same loyalty and finances that bin Laden commands.”

  Howard increased size of the map showing Pakistan before continuing. “My bet is that the person they should be focused on is Allama Muhammad Ali Usmani, who is second in command to bin Laden and last known to be in the province of Balochistan. He readily travels between Pakistan and Afghanistan with immunity. Obviously some commander with a high ranking in the Pakistani military is protecting him. While the United States concentrates on the Taliban presence in northwestern Pakistan, Allama Muhammad makes a fool of them by increasing his forces in the Sarlat Ghar region of southwestern Afghanistan.”

  “So if you don’t think these secret meetings are about pursuing terrorist activity within the United States, what do we have to worry about,” asked Jonah?

  “Probably nothing, but we need to remain diligent and ready to react if I’m wrong.”

  “That’s enough for today. We’ve been up all night. It’s almost seven-thirty and you both can crash upstairs,” said Jonah as he shut down the computers and flat screen televisions.

  Operation Neptune Spear[1]

  May 1, 2011: Jalalabad, Afghanistan: Two teams consisting of twelve Navy SEALs each, waited impatiently while their modified Black Hawk helicopters were being refueled for the final stage of their impending journey. The Black Hawk’s then took off heading almost due east. Their destination, a compound located in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

  Since the 9/11 terrorist attack, United States intelligent agencies had been interrogating al-Qaeda detainees in different locations around the world. They focused their attention on obtaining the names of couriers that Osama bin Laden may have been using to transmit and receive messages. Osama had stopped using electronic devices for communication, due to the ability of the United States to track the signals and launch a missile attack on the location. One name had come up in the interrogations, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. But the trail had gone cold for a few years and other name given up during interrogations proved to be false. Then in 2010 another suspect who was being wiretapped had a conversation with Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. CIA paramilitary operatives operating in Pakistan located al-Kuwaiti in August 2010 and followed him back to bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency established a safe house in Abbottabad from which a team observed the compound over a number of months. The CIA team used informants and other techniques to gather intelligence on the compound.[2]

  After the March 22, 2011 national security meeting, it had been determined that the compound in Abbottabad probably belonged to Osama bin Laden. Members of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group’s Red Squadron from Dam Neck, Virginia began training for the raid, (the objective of which remained unknown to them) after the March 22, national security meeting. Dry runs were held at training facilities on both American coasts, which were made up to resemble the compound.[3]

  The raid was carried out by approximately two dozen helicopter-borne United States Navy SEALs from the Red Squadron[3] of the Joint Special Operations Command United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU). The DEVGRU SEALs operated in two teams[4] and were equipped with M4 carbine military assault rifles with attached silencers[5], night-vision goggles, body armor and handguns.[6]

  The Black Hawks appear to have been never-before-publicly-seen “stealth” versions of the helicopter that fly more quietly while being harder to detect on radar than conventional models[7][8][9]; due to the weight of the extra stealth equipment on the Black Hawks, cargo was “calculated to the ounce, with the weather factored in.”[5]

  The three Chinooks, which were kept on standby on the ground “in a deserted area roughly two-thirds of the way” between Jalalabad and Abbottabad, contained two additional SEAL teams consisting of approximately 24 DEVGRU operators.[5]

  The 160th SOAR helicopters were supported by multiple other aircraft, including fixed-wing fighter jets and drones.[10] According to CNN, “the Air Force also had a full team of combat search-and-rescue helicopters available.”[10]

  The raid was scheduled for a time with little moonlight so the helicopters could enter Pakistan “low to the ground and undetected”.[11] The helicopters used hilly terrain and map-of-the-earth techniques to reach the compound without appearing on radar and alerting the Pakistani military.

  The ground phase of the pre-dawn raid began on May 1, 1:00 a.m. local time (GMT +5)[12][13] (April 30, 2:00 p.m. EST), when the SEALs breached the compound’s walls using explosives.[14][15]

  The SEALs encountered residents in the compound’s guest house, in the main building on the first floor where two adult males lived, and on the second and third floors where bin Laden lived with his family. The second an
d third floors were the last section of the compound to be cleared.[15] There were reportedly “small knots of children…on every level, including the balcony of bin Laden’s room”.[5]

  In addition to Osama bin Laden, three other men and a woman were killed in the operation. The individuals killed were bin Laden’s adult son (likely Khalid[16][17], possibly Hamza[19]), bin Laden’s courier (Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti), a male relative of the courier[20] and the courier’s wife.[21]

  Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti opened fire on the first team of SEALs with an AK-47 from behind the guesthouse door, and a firefight took place between him and the SEALs, in which al-Kuwaiti was killed.[22][23][4] A woman, identified as the courier’s wife, was killed during this exchange. The courier’s male relative was shot and killed, before he could reach a weapon found lying nearby, by the SEALs’ second team on the first floor of the main house. Bin Laden’s young adult son rushed towards the SEALs on the staircase of the main house, and was shot and killed by the second team.[4][17][23] An unnamed U.S. senior defense official said only one of the five people killed was armed.[24]

  The SEALs encountered bin Laden on the second or third floor of the main building.[4][25] Bin Laden was “wearing the local loose-fitting tunic and pants known as a kurta paijama,” where were later found to have five hundred euro and two phone numbers sewn into the fabric.[26][22][18]

  When the commandos reached the top floor, they entered a room and saw Osama bin Laden with an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol in arm’s reach. They shot and killed him, as well as wounding a woman with him.[17]

  With the initial portion of the raid over, U.S. personnel went from room to room, recovering computer hard drives, documents, DVDs, thumb drives, and “electronic equipment” from the compound for later analysis.[27]

  Jonah’s Media Room

  May 1, 2011: The men gathered for their weekly poker game. Tonight was to be relaxing, with no discussions of the mission or anything related to work. In the background a twenty-four hour television news station was on.