Inauguration Day

by Claude Salhani

  Omar allowed himself to indulge in a good meal, ordering some of the most expensive items on the menu. After all, this was the sheik’s money; he could easily afford it. After lunch, Omar hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take him to Union Station. He found a public phone and placed a call to a number in

  Athens. “I have arrived safely and all is well. Please give my best regards to my Doctor,” he said before hanging up.

  Later that afternoon, back in his hotel room, Omar placed the map of Washington on the floor, took out the drafting compass, placed the point on the steps of the Capitol building and measured fifteen hundred meters to scale. The map was in miles, and it took him a few minutes to recalculate the difference into kilometers. He inserted the red felt pen in the other end of the compass and drew a circle around the Capitol. There seemed to be plenty of real estate in the designated area to suit his purpose. The next part of the job was going to be the most demanding, from a logistical sense. If he failed to find the right location, his entire plan could fail. But Omar was confident he was going to succeed, as he always had in the past. He wiped his hands on his trousers once more.

  PARIS, FRANCE

  The Iran Air jet landed at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport only seven minutes behind schedule. Once its passengers and crew had disembarked and its regular cargo was taken off board, the plane was moved to a remote part of the Parisian airport where it was to remain for the rest of the night before its return flight to Tehran the following morning. As usual, a lone Iranian security guard remained onboard.

  An hour later, the guard walked off the plane and scanned the surrounding area before returning to the cockpit, where he took a flashlight, pointed it towards a group of parked vehicles near the terminal building, and flashed three short bursts. Moments later, a tan colored catering truck pulled up to the plane and three men in white overalls emerged. The guard led them to the rear of the aircraft, and with his help they removed a metal case containing a single metal tube measuring roughly three feet long and weighing exactly 45.2 pounds. Along with the tube were two smaller wooden cases, each containing five smaller items. Those items weighed roughly four pounds each. Eight of the items in the two cases were painted olive drab and carried yellow labels, while those in the other case were clearly marked in light green and had red labels, the standard NATO coloring for the contents of the case. The three cases were placed inside the catering truck and driven out of the airport to the Iranian embassy, where they were placed inside a secure vault.

  The following morning, Ali Moshtemi, an Iranian diplomat accredited to the United Nations in New York, arrived for consultations with the Iranian ambassador to Paris. It was a normal routine that Moshtemi carried out every other month. Since diplomatic relations with the United States had been severed, Iranian diplomats in New York frequently traveled to France, where the Islamic Republic still maintained a large diplomatic mission, one of its largest in Europe. Moshtemi welcomed the break. In New York, he was banned from traveling more than twenty-five miles from Columbus Circle.

  Unlike the ambassador to Paris, a career diplomat, Moshtemi was a faithful supporter of Ayatollah Kazemi. By mid-afternoon, Moshtemi had completed his talks with the ambassador and other Iranian diplomats. Before leaving the embassy, he stopped by the office of a political attaché and picked up a suitcase containing a tube weighing 45.2 pounds.

  An embassy car drove Moshtemi back to the airport, where he boarded an Air France flight to New York’s Kennedy International Airport. As a high-ranking diplomat accredited to the United Nations, Moshtemi did not have to submit his luggage for inspection to US customs and was able to proceed directly to his apartment on the Upper East Side. He locked the suitcase in a specially built closet and kept the only key with him at all times. In any case, there was always an armed Iranian guard inside his apartment. No one alien to his department was ever allowed inside, and certainly no Americans. Even the cleaning crews were loyal Iranians.

  Over the next two months, Moshtemi flew to Paris three more times, each time returning with several of the smaller colored items brought to Paris aboard the Iran Air plane. As usual, he walked straight through US Customs, protected by his diplomatic passport.

  WASHINGTON, DC

  It took Omar, now using the name of Stavros Papadopoulos, about ten days to find the right location. He ruled out going through real estate agents because they would be too easy to trace. There would be records: forms to fill out, papers to sign. He considered using the classified ads from one of the local newspapers, but rejected them for the same reason. Too many phone calls, also traceable. This made his task all the more difficult, but a lot safer. He spent several hours a day walking around the Capitol building, looking for the right place, for buildings with “For Rent” signs posted outside. He started his search a mere two blocks away from his target and gradually enlarged his perimeter by another street every day. His search was complicated by the sheer number of government buildings that could not be considered for his task. There were also numerous office buildings in the area that housed government offices. He wanted to avoid them too.

  After a week of searching, Omar had identified three buildings that met his requirements. When he reached the intersection of Third Street SW and E Street, he knew he had found what he was looking for. It was the perfect location and there was a sign hanging on the building indicating there was space for rent. The apartment he visited was a spacious rooftop unit, situated exactly 1,326 meters from the steps of the US Capitol building. Omar calculated it gave him a margin of seventy-four meters. For his plan to work, the apartment had to be no more than fourteen hundred meters away from the Capitol steps. This would do perfectly.

  The building was brand new and had eight floors. It was the top floor, the eighth floor apartment, which attracted Omar. The apartment itself was slightly smaller than others in the building, but it had a very large terrace to compensate for lesser living space. The terrace extended about ten yards from the large glass living room windows and ran the entire front of the building, making it about twenty yards wide. The closest building was more than twenty-five yards away, giving him ample privacy. The eighth floor rooftop apartment did not have a view of the Capitol, which was an added advantage. There were a number of taller buildings obscuring his view of the Capitol. If he could not see them, they would certainly not see him. That was good, very good.

  Another added bonus was the proximity of the Metro; Federal Center SW was only 150 meters from the apartment. Omar had not given his escape plan much thought until now, but seeing the Metro gave him an idea. He got a map of the Metro system and studied it, scrutinizing all the destinations and connecting stations. Once he was satisfied he had exhausted all possibilities, he boarded the orange line, which he rode to New Carrollton, in Maryland. It was only nine stations away. From New Carrollton he could ride the train to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. It was an easy escape from Washington and it was a route he could use without having to drive. There had to be alternatives. After the mission, there would be chaos. He would need to be flexible. He had to have several options available.

  The Metro stop also had a fairly large commuter parking lot and he could leave a car there, if needed. In fact, yes, he believed he would leave a car there, just in case. It was always good to have a backup plan. Plan for the unexpected, always plan for the unforeseen, Kifah Kassar used to say. The next day, Omar took a taxi to the airport and rented a car. He drove to the apartment building near the Capitol and from there to New Carrollton and on to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The first time around, he missed the exit. He returned to New Carrollton and drove back to BWI a second time. It took him forty-five minutes. He drove back to the Metro stop and tried it a third time. This time it took him only thirty-five minutes. Just to be sure, he repeated the drive three more times. Now he was certain he knew the right route to take and which exit to use. There would be no room for mistakes later. There could be unexpected delays due
to inclement weather, emergency road work, or just a simple traffic accident. Next, he would need to check airline schedules and make flight reservations.

  The apartment contained two bedrooms, a generous kitchen that came equipped with everything one could need—a living room, a small dining room, and the substantial veranda. The veranda, or terrace, was very important. Omar would have preferred a furnished flat, but this would do nicely. Let the sheik spend a bit more money furnishing the place. He signed a one-year lease and paid a two-month deposit and three months’ rent in advance, and in cash. He told the landlord that he had just arrived in the United States and had not been able to open a bank account yet. Banks in Greece are slow, he said. Not as efficient as those here in America. Between his business and personal matters, there was so much paperwork to fill out. Would the landlord prefer a check on a Greek bank? “No, thank you,” replied the landlord, “cash would do very well, thank you.” Cash was fine, especially since the landlord was returning to his condo in Barbados for the winter. As his occupation, Omar told the landlord he was opening a Washington branch of a Greek maritime company.

  Omar bought a bed and mattress, sheets, blankets, a few kitchen items, and a large screen color television set. All was paid for in cash. Cable was already installed in the building, for which he was thankful. The fewer people that came into the apartment, the better. The hardest part was done. Now, he could sit back for a few weeks and allow the time to pass. But first he had to let Beirut know that all was proceeding according to plan. Once again, he returned to Union Station to call the same Athens number. The phone was answered on the third ring. Omar said he had a message for his Doctor. The Doctor was to be told he was feeling better and would not need medication. The man who answered the telephone in Athens noted the message and told Omar he had two numbers for him.

  The two sets of numbers, each containing ten digits, might have easily passed for innocent telephone numbers with the area code. In fact, they were a simple code devised by Omar. The simpler, the better. If anyone had been listening, which Omar believed was a good possibility, they would certainly be looking for a complicated and hard-to-break code. To get the information he needed, Omar dropped the first and last three numbers of the first set. This gave him the street address. The second set of numbers provided Omar with a post office box number he needed to know, once he had dropped the extra digits. Omar hung up and walked back to the apartment on E Street.

  Zeid was pleased with the call from Athens and immediately informed the Doctor. Early the next morning the Doctor headed back to Damascus, where he met Brigadier General Kamal Kader.

  “I came to tell you that you should schedule the maneuvers for January 18 through January 28,” said the Doctor. “Be prepared to strike at dawn on the twenty-first. You will get confirmation from the international media. Stay tuned to CNN or

  Al Jazeera that evening, General. You will know when to strike. This strike will very likely solve your internal problems. After a coup like that, your party and the popularity of your party and of your president will skyrocket. It could quite possibly bring an end to your civil war. When we next meet, it will be after our victory. May Allah be with us.”

  WASHINGTON, DC

  The polls showed Senator Richard Wells ahead of the incumbent president by a generous 37 percent. Senator Wells was campaigning in New York City and the camera showed him addressing a large crowd of Jewish Defense League members.

  “My administration will stand firmly by our allies in Israel,” shouted the Senator to the applause of the crowd. “We will not let our allies down. This administration will not abandon our friends in this time of great need. My friends, I seek your support in these crucial elections, in these crucial times, and I promise you that I will stand firmly by Israel. I will not force it to sign any hastily negotiated peace settlement that would only endanger its future and give strength to its enemies.”

  Standing along with his team of advisers, Pete Roff smiled. He had no doubt that his “client” would win the White House come November.

  Omar, too, smiled as he watched the live broadcast on his large television screen. “Just wait a while,” thought the Palestinian. “Just you wait. Things will begin to change soon enough.”

  20

  LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

  The director of the CIA convened an emergency meeting to be held at six o’clock in the morning at Langley. Attending the meeting were his top crisis people; those included his deputies, his top security advisors, and two senior analysts. As the matter at hand concerned the security of the president of the United States, and the fact that a foreign terrorist was believed to be involved, the director also asked the head of the US Secret Service and the director of the FBI to attend. With the head of the Secret Service was also the agent directly in charge of the presidential detail—the man who ultimately was responsible for the protection of the president.

  With the date of the presidential inauguration rapidly approaching, the pressure was sure to rise. And of course, the men around the conference table all knew that the added pressure would be on the FBI, seeing as they were responsible for security inside the United States. At the same time, the pressure would mount on the CIA to get more intelligence on what was being concocted overseas. And as neither group progressed, at the end of the day, the pressure would be all that much more on the Secret Service to make sure the president remained alive and the events proceeded as planned.

  The tipoff sent by the CIA operative in Beirut moments before he and his informant were murdered a few months ago had not yielded much to go with. They knew that the attack would take place on Inauguration Day. But how, where, when, and the most important question—who—remained to be answered.

  William Potter, Assistant Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in charge of Counterespionage, looked worried. He, as most of the other men around the table, had not slept more than a few hours a day for several weeks now. He was paler than usual on this cold January morning, Monaghan, the CIA director, noticed as he kicked off the meeting.

  “Gentlemen, thank you for coming here at this early hour. I know you are all early risers, which makes it somewhat easier. There have been new and disturbing developments that came to our attention overnight. What I am about to tell you comes from a number of sources, including NSA intercepts and intel we have been able to compile through HUMINT and ELINT. The matter is much more complex than we initially thought. According to this information, our analysts believe the assassination of the American president could be the prelude to a wider plan by certain groups who intend to profit from the mayhem that would ensue.”

  “What could be bigger than the assassination of the US president?” let out the head of the Secret Service.

  “Indeed,” said Monaghan, “indeed. But here it is. It’s quite possible that the Syrians might be up to something big. It appears that the regime in Damascus is concocting a dual-facet plan that would boost their popularity, extend the life of the current regime, which appears to be dwindling as we speak, while at the same time get their revenge on us for supporting the opposition in their civil war. They hope that with the assassination of the US president there will follow a short time frame when the US will be busy with domestic issues, thus ignoring the world stage. Syria, as you all know, has been in the midst of a devastating civil war that has taxed the military very heavily. However, Assad has not yet committed the top elite military units into the fight. Not just yet, anyway. He has been holding them in reserve for something just as big as this. He has two major units, each brigade size: the Special Forces and the special unit of the very elite Republican Guard have been held back just outside Damascus. Just a few hundred are deployed around the presidential palace.

  “We have been getting reports over the last few days that Assad has ordered those troops into high readiness, one would presume to head into Damascus or some other hotspot of trouble. Maybe Aleppo again. However, the advance units have already started to move an
d everything suggests that the troops are heading away from the capital and towards the Golan Heights.

  “We believe the Syrians will attempt to go for the Heights,” said the director. “Mind you, this is more than just a crazy hunch at this point. NSA has picked up a lot of chatter from those elite units.

  “Our intelligence from Syria indicates that the opposition was not involved in the multiple bombing attacks in Damascus yesterday,” he continued. “We believe that it was in fact the Mukhabarat, their domestic intel group.

  “Additionally, and we don’t quite yet know for sure, but there seems to be a lot of chatter among the South American drug cartels. We picked up a report of one of Mexico’s drug lords going to Beirut at about the same time that Hines was killed. And then we noticed a lot of money was being shuffled around between the Caribbean and the Middle East. We know that there has been for a while close cooperation between some Islamists and the Latin American drug lords, but what is going on here seems to be taking things to a new level.”

  “Do we need to get the DEA in here?” The question came from the FBI.