by Van Torrey
“I am impressed with the plan, Man-soo. What happens after we get the warhead to Seattle?” Yang-ji asked.
“That is the easy part, my friend,” Park explained in an over-simplified manner. The details don’t matter, Park thought. These men are already on borrowed time. “We take the van to an isolated spot as near as possible to the center of Seattle where it is unlikely to be noticed, such as a shopping center where there are many vehicles, park it, have the technician arm the warhead and set the detonator timer for the length of time it will take us to escape to a safe distance, and we will make our getaway via taxi and rent-a-car. In a couple of days we will cross into Mexico and make our way to Cuba from there. Once in Cuba, we will take a freighter back to North Korea where we will receive a hero’s welcome. Does that sound like a workable plan to you, Yang-ji?”
“Yes, of course, Man-soo. There is only one impediment to its implementation...that is connecting with our lost technician,” he said coolly.
“Yes that is a delay we have to live with, but once resolved, I believe we will sail right through without interruption. Besides we all have excellent South Korean passports and Visas to visit Canada and the U.S.A. Even if we are stopped we are simply day trippers making a holiday visit to Seattle.”
The other men looked at Park with astonishment as the plan unfolded before them, and for the first time began to understand the simplicity of the plan to detonate a nuclear device within the sovereign territory of the United States of America. What they did not understand was the makeup of the crew after the van left the warehouse and began the journey to Seattle.
*
At the direction of Clayton Wheatley, FBI agents had placed a GPS device on Ibrahim al-Faisal’s personal vehicle. With reliable data coming from the movements of his vehicle, Wheatley and his crew were confident they could track al-Faisal’s movements during the lead up to the anticipated move by his group to snatch Gamma at the Vancouver airport. Then, as Chance Lyon had previously cautioned his team, the unexpected happened.
Jason Danforth, a rookie FBI Special Agent, had been assigned the duty of tracking al-Faisal with the GPS. On Wednesday afternoon he had detected steady movement of al-Faisal’s car for three hours, and as he made his way toward Seattle the trail simply stopped and there was no movement for thirty minutes. Danforth grew suspicious and called his boss at the FBI Operations Center who was overseeing the operation. “Craig, this is Jason. Al-Faisal has stopped moving and we place him near Olympia, Washington. I’m worried that he may have ditched the car and may be moving toward Vancouver in some other mode of transportation. This could be big trouble for the surveillance part of the op,” he concluded.
“Well, he can’t fly commercial because we put him on the no-fly list several days ago,” Craig Murphy answered. “I could alert Canadian customs and immigration, but that would tip them off that we are looking for this guy and we want to keep this dark,” he continued. “We’re supposed to be tailing him as well, so let me call those guys to see what they have. Stay on your surveillance, and I’ll call you back.”
Murphy immediately called the cell phone of the agents tracking al-Faisal and was told they were in the parking lot of a mosque near Olympia where al-Faisal had parked and entered the building nearly 45 minutes ago. Agent Murphy’s cell phone rang and he answered on the first ring. “Craig, this is Mike Pickett at NSA. We have an intercept from al-Faisal’s cell phone that indicates he is halfway between Olympia and Seattle...thought you would want to know that.”
Shit, thought Agent Craig Murphy, the guy left his car at the mosque and is in another car headed for Seattle. Once he gets in that heavy traffic up there, we’re going to lose him, he thought.
Murphy was well versed in the technology available to the FBI for tracking a specific cell phone and played a long shot. The National Reconnaissance Office had an Argus surveillance drone in place at McChord Air Force Base near Seattle because of the strategic interests the United States had in the area. Many of the Boeing commercial airplane facilities were located around Seattle, and there was a large nuclear submarine base at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor approximately twenty-five miles northwest of Seattle. This sophisticated Argus drone, capable of accurately observing objects as small as six inches high while flying stealthily at an elevation of seventeen-thousand feet, was available to do routine surveillance flights and special missions as outlined by the NRO under the direction of the Director of National Intelligence.
Craig Murphy placed a call to the administrative assistant to FBI Director Clayton Wheatley and got an immediate connection. “Rose, this is Agent Craig Murphy, working surveillance on Operation Hard Candy. I have an urgent request for a drone mission. Can you connect me to the Director?”
In a moment, Murphy heard a click on the encrypted line and heard a voice say, “This is Director Wheatley. How can I help you, Murphy?”
“Sir, about Hard Candy. We were tracking al-Faisal, and he switched cars while at a mosque in Olympia. Our NSA liaison says they have an intercept of his cell phone north of there. If I can get authorization for an Argus mission out of McChord, NSA can place a call to his cell phone and we can triangulate off of three cell towers so that Argus can pick up his vehicle with its imagery. That way we can re-establish direct surveillance and get a vehicle description with the Argus’ camera. If he is going to Vancouver, we can follow him with the drone after he passes through Canadian customs and the team up there can track him to wherever the others are. Can you get us an Argus mission?”
After several more questions, Wheatley answered, “NRO works for Ray Rollins, the DNI. Let me get to him right now and ask for the mission authorization. I’ll call you right back.”
Two minutes later Craig Murphy’s encrypted sat phone rang. “Murphy, this is Director Wheatley. You have your drone mission. An Argus is taking off from McChord Field right now. I am patching the NRO Operations Center, your NSA liaison, and you together as we speak. You coordinate the mission at your end and let NRO and NSA know what you need, and they’ll find this car right away. Let me know what happens. Good hunting!” said Wheatley brusquely, as he signed off.
Ten seconds later the three men were connected to plan the Argus tracking mission. As soon as the NRO and NSA technicians had identified themselves, Craig Murphy outlined the mission, to identify and track the vehicle in which Ibrahim al-Faisal was traveling. In five minutes the NRO tech notified the others that the Argus was well on its way to the surveillance altitude of seventeen-thousand feet over Interstate Five, south of Seattle.
NSA made a phone call to al-Faisal’s cell phone. After several rings, al-Faisal gave a tentative response of, “Yes, who is this?”
The NSA’s powerful computers made an immediate triangulation off three disparate cell towers getting the signal from al-Faisal’s cell phone and targeted his location to an accuracy of ten feet. The grid coordinates were electronically transmitted to the Argus drone’s computer-controlled, one-point-six billion pixel surveillance camera by the NRO technician. The car containing al-Faisal, or at least his cell phone, was immediately pinpointed by the Argus drone just as if it were following right behind. Until told to cease surveillance of this vehicle, the Argus would continue to track it for days, night or day, rain or shine. If al-Faisal parked and left the car the Argus’ computer and sophisticated imagery would immediately photographically profile al-Faisal and add him to its database of images of various known and suspected terrorists. Using the ultra-secret NRO software known as tag-and-track, any person in the database could be identified with ninety-nine-point-eight percent accuracy while milling about in a crowd of hundreds of people. Al-Faisal didn’t know it, but he was running and could not hide.
*
Chance Lyon and Max Jenkins had been spending hours outlining and refining the plan for Saturday. In true Navy SEAL Team fashion the main points of the mission had been laid out in a simple but realistic scenario that every member of the Hard Candy Operations Team could implement even in
their sleep. On Thursday evening Chance assembled the group for one final briefing. He went to the white dry-erase board and began to write and explain:
OPERATION HARD CANDY
The Mission
(Prioritized)
1. Position Gamma at YVR so Korean Nuclear Team (KNT) can contact him and assimilate him. Block rivals from preventing their escape. KNT must believe Gamma is a willing participant.
A. Operators: Lyon, Jenkins, Joon
2. Prevent, with extreme prejudice, suspected Islamist group from spoiling the KNT-Gamma reunion!
A. Operators: Olyphant, Peggy.
2.1 Subdue suspected Islamist leader, transport to a U.S. Port of Entry, remand to U.S. law enforcement/intel operators.
END
Chance continued verbally to the group, “We are getting hourly updates of the location of Ibrahim al-Faisal, who we assume is the leader of the Islamist terrorist group seeking to kidnap Gamma. We also have many photographic images of him which you have all seen and memorized. We have a complete description of his vehicle, and both he and the vehicle are being tracked twenty-four-seven by a NRO drone. We must assume Saturday al-Faisal will make his move to the airport, since that’s the information he has from the phantom text message he has received. We must also assume he will go to the airport to either actively manage or, at least, observe his people making the snatch.”
“From the cell phone intercepts we have, we know his group here in Vancouver consists of four male members. He will probably at least plan the op, and perhaps even participate. But our plan is to see that he never joins them if and where he parks his vehicle. It is unlikely they would only have one vehicle if there are five conspirators and one kidnapped victim. Once he gets to the airport there will undoubtedly be more cell phone chatter between him and the others. Once he parks and Blackie gets a go from me, which will be based on intercept data from NSA through the FBI, Blackie and Peggy will subdue him, knock him out, and proceed to the safe house where he will be prepped for shipment to a U.S. Port of Entry.”
“Prepped for shipping to a U.S. Port of Entry?” remarked Peggy, “That sounds like shipping some commercial goods.”
“Well it is...kind of,” answered Max Jenkins with a sardonic smile. “Let me explain.”
“If and when Blackie gets the okay to put the zap on al-Faisal, Peggy will drug him with a sedative that will knock him out. The FBI has arranged to bring a van from a funeral home in Seattle with the appropriate paperwork to pick up the body of one Ibrahim al-Faisal who has supposedly died in an accident here in Vancouver. CIA has phonied up all the appropriate documents pertaining to his death. The driver will present these to any Canadian authorities who may want to validate the trip on the way out, which is doubtful. So, there you have it. The driver of the van crosses into the U.S.A. with al-Faisal asleep in a coffin and turns him over to our FBI people in Seattle. No muss, no fuss, no funeral.”
At first there was nothing but looks of disbelief from the others, but the creative simplicity of the plan soon became obvious to the group, shattering Peggy’s initial skepticism with smiles of subtle acceptance.
“Only a devious mind like a CIA operator could come up with something that weird,” said Blackie Olyphant, as he shook his head slowly in utter disbelief.
“Yeah, some wonderful irony here,” Peggy continued. “A guy who is intent on planning the deaths of so many others, rises from the dead himself to face justice.”
CHAPTER 35
ROSEBUD
“I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle, a missing piece.”
Orson Wells, Citizen Kane (Screenplay)
*
There was no question that for all the parties involved, Gamma was the final piece of the puzzle. Without him General Fhang would have no revenge on America; President Rachel Hunter would have no reason to justify an all-out attack on General Fhang; and Chance Lyon would be denied another victory against America’s enemies. Yes, General Kim in his iteration as Gamma was the final piece of the puzzle.
Saturday morning, each person participating in the anticipated events at the Vancouver airport later that day, was alone with his or her private thoughts, whether it was the Americans involved in sending Gamma to encounter the Korean conspirators, the Korean nuclear team hoping to begin the final phase of their tedious mission, or the Islamist terrorists seeking to kidnap the Korean nuclear technician.
Lyon approached Miss Joon early Saturday morning and told her about her secondary role in the operation. “If this thing goes to shit and you see Gamma’s life threatened, you are authorized to kill any person who is a direct threat to him. Don’t hesitate to take a head-shot. I will cover you. Don’t worry about Max or me, we can handle ourselves. Gamma’s life is to be protected at all costs.”
Joon-ni looked directly back at Chance, nodding in acknowledgment and replied with a smile, “Chance, when I grow up, I want to be just like you!” Ignoring the levity of the moment, Lyon replied, “Then I pity your future husband.”
*
On this Saturday morning al-Faisal took his coffee on the back porch of the small house Khalil’s men occupied in a seedy section of Vancouver. He considered what was past and how today would be different. Islamic Wind has no proper supervision. Khalil is timid and inept. The botched kidnapping at the airport proves that. It brought too much unwanted attention to the group, and the technician escaped. Today we will be successful, he thought. If Allah wills it we will succeed.
For two days after driving to Vancouver and connecting with Khalil and his men, al-Faisal intensively planned and rehearsed the actions they expected to take at the airport Saturday. With no picture available for the Korean, they would be handicapped, and all they could do was mingle with the mass of humanity near the KAL baggage carousels and watch for a meeting of a single Korean person with some fellow Koreans. It would be usual for people to meet at a baggage carousel, so the Koreans should be easy to spot, al-Faisal thought. In order to assure success, I will be there to supervise my men.
Al-Faisal planned to use two vehicles for the snatch. In the car, circling the passenger arrival gates would be a driver and one other man. Inside the terminal would two men working the carousels. When the Korean technician was spotted - al-Faisal himself would take this responsibility - he would confront the technician, hold a gun concealed under his jacket on him and escort him to the curb to be picked up by the car. The other two men would provide a shield from any Koreans meaning to reunite with the technician and then escape in the second vehicle. Al-Faisal knew the plan presented many risks, but it was all they could do given the resources available. Risks...many risks, and not foolproof. We will have to rely on the will of Allah to make this a success, he thought, as he drew on the first of many cigarettes today.
*
General Kim rose early but stayed in his bedroom and meditated as he often did before assuming the tasks of the day ahead of him. Today he reflected on changes that had occurred his life over the past three years and the challenges that lay ahead of him on this auspicious day.
He thought back on his early childhood of deprivation and the hardships he had experienced as a child of poor farmers in North Korea. Determined to rise above this, Kim entered the military and quickly showed promise as a dedicated soldier. He rose in the ranks, became an officer, gained steady promotion, and skillfully began to navigate the complex political bureaucracy of the inner workings of the North Korean military hierarchy. A combination of his knowledge of nuclear weapons technology gained by being at the forefront of the DPRK’s nascent nuclear program, and his superiors’ unanimous assessment of his passionate loyalty to the North Korean regime, brought him a gradual promotion to the rank of colonel and a posting to Pakistan, a country with an budding arsenal of nuclear weapons but badly in need of the uranium raw material that was so plentiful in North Korea. Colonel Kim and his small cadre of nuclear weapons specialists quickly blended themselves into the Pakistani military and soon began to take
over the day-to-day maintenance tasks associated with keeping the Pakistani nukes serviceable and ready to respond to any threats from India, their historic enemy and nuclear armed neighbor to the south.
Kim’s participation in an Iranian plot to transfer nuclear weapons technology from Pakistan to Iran many months ago had brought him to the attention of the American CIA. He was skillfully caught in a trap masterminded by the Director of National Intelligence, who was then Rachel Hunter, now the President of the United States. Kim Dong-sun, seeing that his realistic options were few, had wisely selected maintaining his position with the Korean military while serving a secondary role as a well-paid spy for the CIA. Kim gradually earned the trust of his handlers and began to provide valuable information about the North Korean military, as well as Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programs to the CIA.
When Colonel Kim was recalled by General Fhang and assigned as his new Chief of Staff with a promotion to General, this became a fortuitous intelligence windfall for the United States almost overnight. The intelligence establishment of the United States suddenly went from having virtually no reliable intelligence about the goings on in the DPRK to having a mole inside at the highest levels of this little known but potentially dangerous country bordering on South Korea and Japan, two of America’s staunchest allies in Asia.