by Klaus Marre
Though his English was good, Nasir read the story twice to make sure he understood everything. He tried to make sense of it. Nasir had heard Hassan recount the story of the attack a couple of times and both times he had said that he wanted to blow up the train but had to leave when the power went out down the line. If this report was right, then Hassan had lied to them.
Before Nasir left Andan, he had a conversation with Khalid el-Jeffe. The as-Sirat deputy had sought him out to talk about Hassan since the two of them had spent the most time together. Omar Bashir's top lieutenant told Nasir that he was concerned that everything about Hassan seemed to be too perfect. The two of them had talked about it for an hour. Nasir didn't share el-Jeffe's concerns but he also felt that he was unable to alleviate them.
Now, he was unsure of what to do. He was one of the few people who had the numbers of Omar Bashir's and el-Jeffe's satellite phones but should he risk it for this? In the end, he decided against it, too worried about electronic surveillance. Instead, he called one of the couriers in Islamabad and instructed him to print out the article and take it to Omar Bashir in the morning. After all, it was about 2:00 am in Andan and everybody would be asleep.
Wednesday, 3:57 pm ET
In the past hour, Hassan had not heard anything other than rhythmic breathing from the other men in the room.
It was time to get going. Until this very moment, Hassan had still held out hope that, against all odds, somebody would have seen the Yankees symbol and figured out where he was. Apparently that wasn't going to happen. He was on his own.
Hassan got up, careful not to make any noise. He had contemplated stuffing things under his blanket to make people think he was sleeping but decided against it. Once somebody saw that, they would know he was on the run and trying to deceive them. By simply leaving, there was a chance it would take them longer to figure it out.
He now knew the path to the exit of the cave by heart and walked through the tunnels as quietly as possible. Hassan pushed the secret door open. He used the light coming from the tunnel to put on the jacket and make sure all of his equipment was in place. Hassan chambered a round and placed the gun into his right front pocket. Then he retrieved his food bag and the canteens before pulling the secret door shot and stepping outside.
Hassan figured that the side of town with the road would be more closely guarded, so he had decided to leave the other way and then try to circle around in a wide arc. He had no idea exactly what time it was but figured he would be able to travel under the cover of darkness for several more hours.
Hassan turned east. The sentry on that end of town was dozing and did not see him leave. But, high in the sky, the drones that were now circling Andan picked up the solitary figure that stepped out of the shadows and left town in the direction of Afghanistan. The night vision cameras did not pick up the second figure that briefly peeked out of the storage building before disappearing again.
***
Yezem woke up when he heard Hassan leave the room. The young Saudi figured that the newest as-Sirat addition was probably going to the bathroom and decided to play a little joke on him. Yezem planned to follow Hassan and then, when he got out of the restroom, he would scare the daylights out of him. To his surprise, Hassan didn't stop at the bathroom. Instead, he headed for the exit of the cave, opened the secret door and stepped into the storage room.
In the dim light of the tunnel, Yezem could see Hassan put on a jacket, take out a gun and pull a bag from somewhere before closing the door.
The as-Sirat fighter waited for a minute before he opened it and stepped into the storage building. Hassan was nowhere to be seen. Yezem stuck his head out of the doorway and looked in all directions. He believed that he saw a figure leave town in the direction of Afghanistan.
Yezem waited for a couple more minutes but Hassan was not coming back. The Saudi headed back into the tunnel and went straight to Omar Bashir's quarters. He knocked on the door and, after a few moments, one of the bodyguards opened.
“I think Hassan left,” Yezem said and briefly described what had happened.
“Wait!” The bodyguard disappeared and, after a minute or so, returned with Omar Bashir.
“Yezem, tell me exactly what happened,” the as-Sirat leader demanded.
The young man complied and repeated what he had witnessed.
“You did well,” Omar Bashir said to Yezem and then turned to his bodyguard.
“Get ten men, those who know the area best. Have them split up in two groups and start searching.”
The bodyguard rushed off to carry out the order.
For now, it didn't really matter why Hassan left, although Omar Bashir was both curious and worried. There would be time for intense questioning when he was found. What mattered was that he was a security risk to everybody in Andan. He had to be brought back.
Wednesday, 4:30 pm ET
The pack of ten MH-47E Chinook helicopters looked like a swarm of angry insects as they flew low to the Afghan ground. There were also several Apaches for their protection. It was about 200 miles from Bagram to their destination and they had been airborne for about 45 minutes. Flying near their top speed at this altitude, the Chinooks would reach the target within half an hour.
Each helicopter carried 30 special ops soldiers. They were supported by warplanes that had taken off after them and were now circling the sky at great heights.
The men on board the Chinooks were nervously excited. In this case, it was not just the feeling that preceded any combat action, even though they all anticipated encountering fierce resistance. This mission was different. It was exactly what they had signed up for. On this morning, if the intelligence was correct, they would be able to make a real difference in the fight against terrorism.
***
President Sweeney, DNI McClintock and other members of the national security team were glued to the monitors in the White House situation room that showed video from the drones circling Andan and the helicopters closing in on the Pakistani border. One of the drones was still following the person who had left the town about 15 minutes ago and walked north.
“We have some movement,” the voice of a drone operator said. Another camera showed several men spilling out of the same building that the first person had come out of.
“Looks like ten individuals with weapons,” the voice commented. “They're moving in the same direction as the first one but with greater speed. They just split up in groups of five. We'll keep an eye on them.”
“What do you think is going on there?” Sweeney asked McClintock.
“I have no idea but it seems like an awful lot of people are coming out of that small building.”
“How close are the helicopters to Pakistan?” the president wanted to know.
“They'll reach the border within the next five minutes,” the Secretary of Defense said.
“I guess it's time for my phone call. Let's get President Khan on the line.”
***
When the president of the United States calls, even at 2:45 am, he usually gets who he wants to talk to. In this case, president Salman Khan, a former general, was awoken with the message that Jack Sweeney needed to speak to him urgently and had insisted on holding the line.
“President Sweeney, a pleasure to speak with you,” Pakistan's president said.
“President Khan, I apologize for the early call but I'm contacting you in a matter of great importance and urgency. We believe that we know the location of as-Sirat's headquarter and we are going to attack it. It seems that Omar Bashir is holed up in the town of Andan in the north of your country.”
“Mr. President, we can certainly discuss such an attack but you know that internal politics have prevented me from granting you the authority to strike inside of my country. I am glad you contacted me to ask for permission and I hope we can come to a solution that is mutually agreeable.”
“President Khan, I'm not asking for your permission,” Sweeney said icily. “I'm telling
you that we will attack Andan in a matter of minutes and that our forces will enter Pakistani territory shortly.”
“You waited until the last minute to tell me this?”
“If I had given you any more heads up, I am worried that someone on your staff could have tried to warn as-Sirat.”
“President Sweeney, I object in the strongest terms ...”
“And I object, too. I object that you have not allowed us to take the fight to the terrorists in your country. Today we will. If our intelligence is wrong and we are attacking the wrong place, please feel free to condemn this action in the strongest way possible. Take it to the United Nations or do whatever you want. If our intelligence is right and we find Omar Bashir in Andan, I will back you up in any way you want. If you want to say that Pakistan cooperated in the raid then I will publicly praise you. If you think it would be better to say that we acted alone, then I'll say that we did.
“However, if we find an as-Sirat stronghold in Andan and there is any indication that Pakistan acted in any way to impede this mission, I will consider that a hostile act against the United States. The choice is yours. I have to go and help coordinate a military strike but I trust that we will speak again later today.”
***
“Okay, we have been ordered to go after a new target,” the pilot said over the intercom. “About a dozen people have left Andan within the past 30 minutes. Intel says it seems as though ten armed men are trying to track down an individual who had a 15-minute head start. However, they are closing in fast. I'm gonna drop you in front of the lead guy.”
“Roger that,” Ken Gorsula said.
Wednesday, 4:50 pm ET
The night was perfectly quiet and sound carried a long way. Hassan paused when he thought he heard voices behind him. He remained completely still, trying to figure out if his mind was playing tricks on him. But there it was again, the distinct sound of a human voice.
Hassan knew that he was in trouble. Somebody coming up behind him could only mean one thing: The terrorists knew that he was on the run. Hassan broke out in cold sweat, his heart racing.
How had they figured out that he was gone? Hassan guessed that he had been on the run for less than an hour but they were already right on his tail.
“Get your shit together, Hassan,” he chastised himself. It was inconsequential why he was in this predicament. The only thing that mattered was how he would get out of it.
Hassan weighed his options and realized that they were not very good. He could walk back, dump his provisions and pretend he had just gone for an evening stroll. He could try to find out how many men were after him and try to ambush them. But he only had one handgun, not enough to take on experienced fighters with better weapons.
That left two options. He could try to find a place to hide and let them walk past him. Then he could try to take a different route and continue his escape. Or he could simply try to run and put as much distance as possible between whoever was following him.
One thing was clear. The men following him would know the area very well. They held all the cards. Outrunning them was probably not an option, so Hassan decided to hide somewhere and let them pass.
He scrambled up some rocks to his left and hid on a ledge behind a large boulder. Hassan was reasonably sure that he could not be seen from here but he might be able to figure out how many men were after him.
He heard the voices again, much closer this time. But there was another sound as well, coming from the direction in which he had been headed. Helicopter!
Hassan tried to figure out what that meant. He was sure as-Sirat didn't have any helicopters, so maybe it was Pakistani military. Hassan knew that there were many rumors that elements of the Pakistani forces worked with as-Sirat, but he couldn't imagine that this cooperation would result in a military chopper coming to look for him. Maybe it was a border patrol and would scare off his pursuers.
Hassan didn't dare to dream that it was an American helicopter. Even if it was, he reminded himself that it was possible that he was still regarded as a terrorist by American soldiers. Hassan pushed himself against the boulder when he heard the excited voices of his pursuers. From the snippets of conversation that the wind carried to him, he quickly figured out that the men also did not know what to make of the sound of the helicopter. But they clearly were not happy about it.
***
“Somebody tell me what's happening!”
President Sweeney was pacing up and down the situation room. The grainy images on the screens did not provide his untrained eye with the information he was craving. It was the first time he watched a mission live since the rescue of a captured Marine in Afghanistan early on in his presidency.
“The troops are a few minutes away from Andan,” one of the generals in the room said. “One squadron is already one the ground, checking on the people who left the town. They should make contact shortly. So far, everything is quiet in Andan. They don't know we're coming … or there is nobody there.”
***
“What are we dealing with?”
With his team on the ground, Captain Gorsula wanted as much information as possible on what was happening ahead of them.
“The drone operator says the person they seem to be after is a little more than a quarter of a mile away from you. He stopped moving and is hiding from a group of five armed men coming up behind him. They are getting really close but it doesn't look as though they know where he is. Another group of five men is coming up from the rear.”
“So if they're the bad guys, wouldn't that make the single person a good guy?”
“We don't know, Captain. You'll have to get closer and take a look.”
Gorsula motioned his men to move forward.
***
Hassan was pinned down. Instead of having walked by, as he hoped his pursuers would, the helicopter had stopped them in their tracks and they were now taking position on the same ridge Hassan was on. From the sound of their voices, he guessed that the men were less than 100 feet away from him. Making a run for it now was out of the question. They would see him and he would be an easy target. Staying put was not much better. If they continued walking along the ridge, they wouldn't be able to miss him.
Hassan took out the H&K. He wouldn't go down without a fight. From the sounds he heard, he doubted that there were more than half a dozen men behind him.
***
The special ops soldiers were now less than 300 feet away from the ridge. The drone was still circling the area, keeping them appraised of what was going on ahead of them.
“You're about 100 yards away from the first target. He is clearly hiding from the others, who are taking defensive positions along a ridge to your right. Looks like they are setting up an ambush for you.”
They were close enough to use their night vision goggles for a firsthand view of the situation. Captain Gorsula flipped them on. His eyes had long gotten used to the transition from normal vision to night vision and quickly adjusted to the greenish light. Hidden behind some brush, he looked up ahead. Gorsula saw the ridge on his right and a man cowering behind a boulder. In the greenish light, he could see the figure pulling a gun from his jacket and then turning around and revealing his face.
Gorsula inhaled sharply. Though he was one of the best trained soldiers in the world, there were some situations that one simply could never prepare for. This was one of those moments.
“I have located Hassan al-Zaid,” Gorsula said, speaking into his microphone. “I repeat. Hassan al-Zaid has been located. He is the figure hiding from the others.”
“Are you certain?”
“Positive. Until an hour ago, I thought that man had killed my uncle and I have been throwing darts at his face for a week. It is Hassan al-Zaid.”
“You have to get to him before the others do.”
“Copy that. We're moving in.”
***
In the basement of the White House, everybody was glued to the screens.
/> The special ops teams had been on the ground in Andan for a couple of minutes but so far they had found nothing other than some frightened locals.
The doubts crept back in the mind of President Sweeney.
“Don't worry, sir,” McClintock said as though he had sensed what the commander-in-chief was feeling. “It's the right place. I'm sure Hassan gave us a sign and, after all, we have already seen people with weapons leave the village. Something is going on there.”
“Thanks, Bob.”
The DNI nodded and walked to one of the generals in the room.
“Have them search the building from which all of those men came,” he said. McClintock didn't try to let his own tension show. He was sure that Andan was the right place, but he worried that the terrorists might get away somehow, just like they did after the invasion of Afghanistan. His thoughts also kept returning to Hassan. Once the shooting started, he'd be right in the thick of things. Hopefully he would just keep his head down.
***
Captain Gorsula's squadron was now in cover right at the ledge, ready to attack. But they wanted to make sure that they hadn't misread the situation. The special ops team knew that the five men would not be much trouble for them, especially because they were only lightly armed. They could risk trying to make certain they only took on the right people.
“Hassan al-Zaid, if that is you behind that rock, give us a hand signal.”
Gorsula's voice filled the silence of the night.
The men could clearly see a hand waving at them.
“There are five men close to you. If you want us to take them out, wave your hand again.”
A second gesture was made unnecessary when the as-Sirat fighters began shooting. A couple of seconds after they opened fire, a hail of M84 flash bang grenades fell around the terrorists. The fight was over before it really began.
Half of the squadron secured the area, looking for the second team of as-Sirat fighters, which the drone had lost when trying to get a better view of the ridge, while the other men secured the incapacitated terrorists.