Strike on iran, p.15
Strike on Iran, page 15
“We have a serious problem here. The integrity of the research facility was damaged when that Paveway hit. There’s a leak of material. We’re not sure yet what it is.”
Nolan went cold. He could face any number of enemies, and if he lived or died, that was up to his skill, as well as the fickle moods of the Gods of war. Even his own problems with blackouts, he was determined he’d find a solution and beat them. But the invisible enemy, the plague that stole up unheard and unseen, how could anyone fight it? He shifted, feeling for the first time in a long time, a nervous tremor creep up his spine.
“Has it affected any of our people?”
A pause.
Did Talley sound as nervous as I feel? Probably.
“I’m not certain. Some of the scientists survived, and we’re trying to get some sense out of them. Don’t come any nearer, we’ll let you know if we have a clean bill of health.”
Talley didn’t say when they have a clean bill of health.
Oh, shit.
“Boss, we can’t hang around too long. That garrison went charging out to Mashhad. As soon as they’ve worked out there’s no danger, they’ll be back.”
“I hear you, Chief. I’m about to talk to the Pentagon on a secure channel and see what we can work out. In the meantime, we’re hoping these scientists can come up with some ideas. We need to know what we’re up against, either way.”
“Copy that. We’ll stay this side of the village. Let us know when we can start to move out.”
“Yes. Bravo One out.”
He hadn’t mentioned the problem with Mitra. Talley didn’t need that kind of baggage right now. And besides, if she’d been taken, she’d be locked up in Mashhad, guarded by a battalion of troops, regular and Pasdaran. And they'd be calling for reinforcements every hour that went by. He had to put Mitra to the back of his mind. But it was hard, very hard.
He whirled as someone tapped him on he shoulder. Abdul was supporting Mullah Kareem.
“Tell me, Chief Nolan. What has happened here? Is there a problem?”
Nolan debated whether to say anything to the old man or not. But it was his life, and he was entitled to know. He explained about the leak from the laboratory.
“It could be a repeat of the poison gas experiments,” Kareem said solemnly.
Nolan shook his head. “It’s not poison gas. We’re certain of that. They’ve been experimenting with this dirty bomb, a combination of a bio weapon and radioactive material.”
“Is that not as dangerous?”
“It’s, er, different. But we captured the scientists, and they’re working on it now. Hopefully, they’ll have a way to contain it, maybe an antidote.”
“And if they can’t contain it?”
“I’m sorry, Kareem. I don’t have any answers for you. Excuse me.”
He’d heard Talley’s voice in the earpiece.
“Go ahead, Bravo One.”
“Chief, the Iranians in the lab think they have a way to contain the problem. The leak was low level radiation, and they’re certain that none of the biological material escaped.”
“So we don’t die of some nasty virus, we just glow green in the dark?”
Talley chuckled. “It could be. Zeke has booby-trapped the lab. We don’t want anyone trying to retrieve any of the substances they have in there. We’ve already destroyed every document and computer we can find, and we’ve split the hard drives between ourselves to take back. So that’s about it. We’ll rejoin you in the square, ready to march out. Make sure you’re ready to leave.”
“Copy that, we’ll be waiting.”
He watched Abdul tending to Kareem’s wounds. The old Mullah was in pain, a lot of pain. Nolan saw him wince every time he tried to move, and he walked over to take closer look.
“How’s he looking, Abdul?”
The Israeli look up at him, his face somber. Mullah Kareem chuckled.
“You can tell him, young man. I’m quite well aware of the extent of my injuries.”
Abdul inclined his head. “Very well. He’s been beat up pretty bad inside. He needs a hospital, an ER room, to assess the internal damage.”
“Can you walk, Sir?”
Kareem shook his head. “I’m afraid something’s broken. It may be necessary to leave me here. I can arrange for my daughter to come for me.”
“If she’s not been taken.”
The man’s eyes closed as he contemplated that possibility. “I will wait here for her. If she is a prisoner, I will soon know.”
“You can’t wait here, Kareem. This place will be obliterated. There’s a cruise missile strike planned after we pull out. Besides, you have to come with us. If you stay in Iran, they’ll kill you.”
“I will not leave without her.”
“You have to, Kareem.”
He shook his head. “I will not, and that is final. I will make my way back to Mashhad and find out the truth.”
Nolan looked at Abdul, who shook his head in exasperation. “Can’t you get through to him? Our side is firing off cruise missiles to destroy this place, and the Iranians will have reinforcements moving back to the village. He has to come with us.”
“I don’t think it’ll make any difference. The Mullah had made up his mind.”
Nolan was still trying to think of an argument that would persuade him to leave when Talley returned with the rest of the Seals coming up behind him. He counted them off and realized one man was missing.
“Where’s Meir, Boss?”
“I don’t know, Chief. He came with us to the lab, and then he disappeared. After the Paveway destroyed the barracks, the whole place was dust and smoke, and when it had settled, he’d gone.”
“Maybe he got caught up in the blast.”
“Maybe. What’s the situation here?”
“We’re ready to move, except for one stubborn, wounded old man who refuses to leave.”
Talley looked at Kareem and smiled. “What’s his problem? We can carry him.”
“His daughter, in Mashhad. He won’t leave until he knows she’s safe.”
He looked at Kareem. “You know that’s impossible, Sir. Come with us, and we’ll do everything possible to find out what happened to her. We have other assets inside the country. We’ll track her down.”
“And if she’s been kidnapped or taken prisoner? What then?”
Talley shrugged. “In that case, we’ll have to negotiate through the State Department. But we can’t do anything here, it’s as Chief Nolan explained. You stay here and you die.”
“I would prefer to die. I will not leave without her.”
The Lieutenant sighed. “We can’t force you to come with us. But you can’t stay in the village either. At least allow us to get you out to a place of safety.”
The Mullah inclined his head. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”
* * *
Nolan looked around the square again. The men were inside. He’d sent them into the stone built headquarters building to search for documents, and to keep them out of sight. Apart from him and Talley, there was only Abdul tending to the wounded Mullah. He felt uneasy, as if he’d missed something. Some facet of this operation just didn’t fit, but he couldn’t work out what it was. The sooner they got out of Goldiz, and out of Iran, the better. Except it wasn’t that simple. There was David Meir, missing. He didn’t like the Israeli. He found him a pompous ass, which was strange. The Israelis he’d know were generally eager to tangle with the enemy. Then there was the Mullah and his daughter. What the hell could they do about them? It didn’t seem right, somehow, hitching up the wagons and riding off into the sunset, leaving people behind. It wasn’t part of the Seal training. And yet, Meir was probably dead, caught up in the Paveway blast. Mitra, well, she was either dead or captured, either way they couldn’t reach her. And Kareem? They could always carry him out. But they were running out of time. He looked at Talley.
“We’re leaving it very late. The Iranians will be here before long, and this time they’ll be here in strength. We need to get out fast.”
“I know that, Chief. There’re a couple of problems. First thing, David Meir. Where the hell did he get to?” He looked at Abdul. “He’s one of your people, do you know where he is?”
As he spoke, Nolan looked around the dusty square. Apart from a litter of bodies and discarded equipment, it was empty. No sign of Meir.
“He’s probably dead. You said he disappeared after the bomb hit, so it’s almost certain he’s gone.”
Talley nodded. He opened his mouth, about to speak, when a man walked around the corner. They whipped up their gun barrels ready to fire. Then they lowered them. It was David Meir, his uniform covered with a thick layer of dust. He came up to them with a smile.
“I’m really sorry, I got lost. After that bomb destroyed the building, I got knocked on the head by a piece of flying debris. When I came to, I was lying on the floor inside a building. The blast must have blown me through the open window. But I’m okay, and I got here as quickly as I could.”
“Thank God you made it,” Talley said. “Abdul, will you check him out? He must have been hit hard when that bomb chucked him around.”
The Arab nodded. “Let me look at your head, David, you may have been concussed.”
But Meir pushed him away. “I’m alright, it was nothing.”
“You ought to let him take a look,” Talley said. “Concussion can be serious if it’s not treated.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Come inside the building,” Abdul said. “I can look at your head better in there, out of this blinding sun. Mullah Kareem, come with us. David, would you take one of his arms and help me get him inside.”
They went inside the Pasdaran headquarters building. Talley and Nolan were alone in the square.
“I don’t know that I trust those guys one hundred percent, Chief?”
“The Israelis?”
“Yeah, Meir and Hussein, those Mossad guys can be tricky. And maybe some of ‘em are worse than that.”
“You mean working for the Syrians? Meir’s full of shit, but I don’t know that he’s a traitor. That’s my opinion, but then again I could be wrong. Abdul seems okay, though.”
Talley grinned. “I’m not keen on Meir, but you’re right, that doesn’t make him a traitor. And Abdul, he doesn’t act like any Muslim fanatic I’ve ever come across. But neither does that make him on our side.”
“True. I guess it’s time we faced it, someone’s been passing information across to the enemy. We’ve had more than our share of problems since we got here. We walked straight into a trap inside that old film studio. They were waiting for us.”
Talley shook his head. “I wish I could work it out, but yeah, they seem to be on jump ahead of us all the time. I don’t know, the Israelis, they’re not known for being friendly to Iran.”
“Everyone has a price.”
Talley looked thoughtful. “That could include Kareem.”
“No. He put everything on the line to help us. It’s not him.”
“And it’s not one of ours, those of us who are left. So who is it?”
Something was nudging Nolan’s brain. Again, it was like a part of the puzzle, a part that didn’t fit. It should fit, but he just didn’t know how. They looked around as Abdul emerged from the building.
“I have attended to David’s wounds. It was nothing serious.”
And then the puzzle started to slide into place. In the direction of a slot that was a perfect fit. He looked at Talley.
“Boss, I’m calling Zeke outside. We need to talk about leaving that satcom somewhere secure, where it can’t be found and switched off.”
The Lieutenant nodded and keyed his mic. “Zeke, would you come on out here. I need a word.”
Two seconds later, the commo wizard replied. “On my way, Boss.”
Nolan stared at Abdul. “Tell us about Meir’s wounds.”
The Arab shrugged. “They were nothing serious. Not as bad as I would expect for a man who’d been thrown through a window in a bomb blast.”
He nodded. “Thanks, Abdul.”
“No problem. I have to go look around. I need to see if there are any drugs for Kareem, something to ease the pain.”
“We have morphine if you need it.”
“No, I need him conscious. I have an idea of what to look for. I’ll see if I can get lucky. I won’t be long.”
“Right. You’re sure about Meir. Those wounds were superficial.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Nolan nodded. “I’ll pass the word about the drugs to the men, they may…”
He stopped. In the distance, a small, fast moving vehicle appeared suddenly heading out on the other side of the village. Nolan focused in on his scope. It was a dune buggy of some kind, like the Deltas used. Or even the beach bums in Southern Cal. The driver was clever. He hugged the low lying ground and kept out of long distance rifle shot, quickly disappearing amongst the mass of sand dunes outside the village. They heard the vehicle circling to the west. Vince rushed out of the building, but Nolan shook his head as he lowered his rifle.
“He’s long gone, Vince. Must have been one of the scientists we missed, or maybe even one of the garrison.”
“You didn’t get a good look at him.”
“I’m not sure.”
But whoever it was, he’d looked a lot like David Meir.
“He’ll be headed for Mashhad.”
“Yeah, I guess he will. But he’ll be too late.”
Chapter Eight
“This is Bravo One, we’re ready to pull out now. “
“Copy that, Bravo One.”
“Are you ready with those Tomahawks?”
“That’s an affirmative, but there’s been a change of plan. The White House declined to use sub-launched cruise missiles, in case someone got the wrong idea. We don’t want them thinking we’re about to start a war. They’ve routed a B52H by way of Guam, and she’s currently loitering over Afghanistan. The aircraft is loaded with cruise missiles, and the crew has the coordinates of Goldiz programmed into their GPS systems ready to launch. I’ll patch you through now to the skipper, and you can tell him when you’ve cleared the area. Stand by.”
“Copy that.”
They waited for two minutes, and then a new voice spoke to them.
“Bravo One, this is Major Wilkes, PIC Air Force B52H Grizzly Bear. We’re just over the border and maintaining a level flight path. We’re ready to launch on your say so.”
“Good to know, Major. This is Lieutenant Talley. We’re almost ready to get out of Dodge. What’s your recommended safe distance?”
“Depends what we’re shooting at, Lieutenant. They tell me you have a mix of bugs and plutonium down there, so first off, you need to head upwind. Anything else would be a waste of time. You’re looking at five miles minimum. The blast could carry residues even upwind that far. We’re loaded for bear, twenty AGM-86s, and both the external pylons and the internal rotary launchers are locked and loaded. They told us to make sure of this Goldiz place, so we’re firing a salvo of ten cruise missiles, and each one of those babies is loaded with two thousand pounds of high explosive. I don’t need to tell you that when they hit, it’s gonna be like the bombing of Hanoi all over again. You need to get out of there, Lieutenant, and find somewhere outside the blast zone to hunker down.”
“Copy that, Major. What’s the time to target?”
“The birds fly at speeds in excess of five hundred miles per hour. It depends on where we are in our orbiting circle when we launch, but we could be as close as a hundred miles away. I guess that’s makes it twelve minutes. And not a minute more. You really do need to clear the area. We have a fleet of helos just over the border. They’ll fly over to pick you up when you’re close.”
“Yeah, copy that. One helo should do it. We’ve taken casualties.”
There was a short silence. “I’m sorry to hear that, Bravo One.”
“Shit happens, Grizzly Bear.”
“Amen to that. Call us when you’re ready to go.”
“Yeah, we’ll authorize the launch pretty soon. We’ll be leaving the satcom here to guide the missiles in. That means we’ll be out of contact when we head out. Your birds are locked onto the signal?”
“Five by five, Lieutenant.”
“Copy that.” Talley looked at his wristwatch. Then at Nolan and Zeke, who both nodded. He hit the transit switch. “You’re clear to launch in one hour. This is Bravo One signing off.”
“Good luck down there. In sixty minutes, it’ll be raining missiles, so make sure you’re elsewhere.”
Talley looked at Nolan and Zeke. “You know what to do, Zeke? I don’t want any mistakes. This mission has had enough hang-ups.”
The commo wizard grinned. “Relax, Boss. As soon as I knew what you wanted, I checked it all out. The satcom will be rock solid safe.”
He nodded. “You’d better get moving. We’ll be ready to roll out in fifteen minutes, and we need to make it fast. We won’t have any way of contacting the B52, so if anything goes wrong, we’ll be toast.”
Nolan nodded at Zeke. “Let’s go, we’ll be back in ten.”
They left the square and headed towards the laboratory. The narrow lanes running between the houses were unpaved, just beaten earth. Several times, Nolan could swear he heard footsteps behind him, but each time he turned, there was no one. Finally, they reached the laboratory. The door swung open, it was empty.
“Where’re the guys that worked in here, the scientists?”
“Talley put them in the local lock-up, so they wouldn’t cause any trouble.”
“They’ll be killed when the cruise missiles come in,” Zeke pointed out.
“That may be. You worried about that, Zeke?”
He nodded. “It don’t seem right, to leave them like rats in a trap.”
“Maybe. Where is your family, Zeke?”
“My family? Outside the city, in the ‘burbs of San Diego. Why?”
“Those scientists were busy making a dirty bomb, radioactive and biological materials, to explode in places like the suburbs of San Diego. What do you wan to do? Let ‘em go, or what? We can’t take prisoners back. You know that. It’ll be difficult to get back across the border, as it is. What’s your call, Zeke?”
