Dale Brown
Countdown to Midnight
Dedication
This novel is dedicated to my fellow storytellers, all of whom amaze and inspire me with their imagination and skill. The art of turning a geopolitical “what-if” into a believable and exciting story is a driving force for me. Let’s press on and see what more we can create. The possibilities are endless.
Epigraph
The lofty pine is oftenest shaken by the winds; High towers fall with a heavier crash; And the lightning strikes the highest mountain.
It is not the roaring thunder that smites, but the silent lightning.
Cast of Characters
NICK FLYNN, agent, former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer
LAURA VAN HORN, agent, and a captain in the Alaska Air National Guard
CARLETON FREDERICK FOX, head of the Directorate’s American Station, Avalon House
GWEN PARK, chief of security, American Station, Avalon House
GIDEON AYISH, head of the Directorate’s Israeli Station
TADEUSZ KOSSAK, agent, former officer in Poland’s Special Forces
SHANNON COOKE, agent, former member of the U.S. Army’s ultra-secret Mission Support Activity
ALAIN RICARD, agent, former officer in France’s elite Marine Commandos
SARA McCULLOCH, Predator drone operator, former staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force
MARK STADLER, security officer, Avalon House, former member of U.S Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance
TONY McGILL, agent, former sergeant in the British Special Air Service (SAS)
COLE HYNES, agent, former enlisted man, U.S. Army
WADE VUCOVICH, agent, former enlisted man, U.S. Army
JACK “RIPPER” INGALLS, LM-100J pilot, major in the Alaska Air National Guard
PAVEL VORONIN, owner and chief executive officer
VIKTOR SKOBLIN, team leader, former major, Russian Spetsnaz special forces
VASILY KONDAKOV, Voronin’s top deputy, a former colonel in the GRU (Russia’s military intelligence agency)
YURI LINNIK, operative, former Spetsnaz officer
KIRILL ZAITSEV, operative, former Spetsnaz officer
DIMITRI FADEYEV, operative, former member of GRU assassination force, Unit 29155
YVGENY KVYAT, drone operator, former officer in the GRU
KONSTANTIN DANILEVSKY, team leader aboard SSBN-64 Podmoskovye, former colonel in the Russian Spetsnaz special forces
CHARLES HORNE, director of Central Intelligence
MIRANDA REYNOLDS, head of the Directorate of Operations
PHILIP DEMOPOULOS, head of the Directorate of Analysis
PIOTR ZHDANOV, president of the Russian Federation
COLONEL MIKHAIL KRYLOV, 12th Main Directorate, Russian Ministry of Defense
MAJOR ANATOLY YAKEMENKO, 12th Main Directorate, Russian Ministry of Defense
CAPTAIN LEONID KAZMIN, 12th Main Directorate, Russian Ministry of Defense
ADMIRAL BORIS PLESHAKOV, commander, Northern Fleet
CAPTAIN FIRST RANK MIKHAIL NAKHIMOV, Russian Navy, commander, SSBN-64 Podmoskovye
SENIOR LIEUTENANT IVAN POKROVSKY, Russian Navy, navigating officer, SSBN-64 Podmoskovye
CAPTAIN SECOND RANK MAXIM ARSHAVIN, Russian Navy, executive officer, SSBN-64 Podmoskovye
LIEUTENANT LEONID VOLKOV, Russian Navy, radio officer, SSBN-64 Podmoskovye
GENNADY KOKORIN, Minister of Defense
ADMIRAL NIKOLAI GOLITSYN, commander, Russian Navy
LIEUTENANT GENERAL YVGENY ROGOZIN, commander, Russian Air Force
KONSTANTIN YUMASHEV, head of the Federal Security Service, the FSB
SERGEI VESELOVSKY, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR
ALEKSANDR IVASHIN, head of the General Staff’s military intelligence agency, the GRU
MAJOR GENERAL KONSTANTIN REZANOV, commander 42nd Rocket Division, Strategic Rocket Forces
SENIOR LIEUTENANT ANATOLY YALINSKY, Russian Navy, diving officer, SSBN-64 Podmoskovye
MOHSEN SHIRAZI, commander, Revolutionary Guard Aerospace Force
ARIF KHAVARI, high-ranking official in Iran’s state-owned shipping company
DR. HOSSEIN MAJIDI, chief missile engineer, Shahrud Missile Test Facility
NAVID DANESHVAR, naval architect employed by the Shahid Darvishi Shipyards, Bandar Abbas
LIEUTENANT HASSAN NOORIAN, member of Revolutionary Guard escort force for MIDNIGHT truck convoy
CAPTAIN REZA HEIDARI, Revolutionary Guard Corps naval officer, commander of the Gulf Venture
TOURAJ DABIR, Revolutionary Guard Corps naval officer, second-in-command aboard the Gulf Venture
LIEUTENANT COLONEL DOV TAMIR, military attaché to Austria, also a member of the IDF’s Secret Liaison Unit
RIVKA AMAR, Mossad officer, chief of security, Israeli embassy to Austria
MIRIAM WEISS, chief of the consular section, Israeli embassy to Austria
AVI ELAZAR, high-ranking official in the Israeli government
COMMANDER RAFAEL ALON, head of Shayatet 13, Israel’s naval commando force
MASOUD BOKHARAI, government official, Nimroz Province, Afghanistan
Prologue
Off the northern Iranian coast, a sleek, 1,500-ton missile frigate lay at anchor, riding gently up and down as low waves rolled across the vast inland sea. On the open ocean, the Damavand would have been dwarfed by larger destroyers, cruisers, and aircraft carriers in the service of the world’s major naval powers. On the waters of the landlocked Caspian, however, the gray-painted Iranian war vessel, armed with anti-ship cruise missiles, a 76mm gun, and torpedoes, was the local equivalent of a mighty WWII-era battleship. The navies of most of Iran’s neighbors, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, were little more than collections of even smaller and more antiquated missile boats and other patrol craft. Even Russia’s Caspian Flotilla, based at Astrakhan, more than a thousand kilometers north across the sea, had no warships larger than the Damavand ready for duty.
For all of that, Pavel Voronin knew, this frigate, the pride of Iran’s Northern Fleet, was far more useful as an observation platform for today’s test than it would be in any real modern war. Naval guns and short-range cruise missiles were mere toys in any all-out struggle waged between nations armed with rockets capable of striking targets half a world away. And despite their stern religious fervor, many of Iran’s theocratic rulers understood this reality better than most. Which was why video monitors and computer consoles manned by white-coated technicians and scientists were currently crammed into almost every available square meter of deck space aboard the small warship.
Smiling inwardly, the trim, fit Russian moved to the windows lining one side of Damavand’s bridge, followed by his Iranian hosts — a group of bearded Revolutionary Guard officers. Voronin’s elegantly tailored Savile Row suit and handmade Italian shoes stood out plainly among their dark green uniform tunics, rank-emblazoned shoulder boards, and wide-brimmed caps. Surrounded by these hard-faced men whose brutal tactics kept Iran’s radical Islamic regime in power and spread terror around the globe, he appeared to be nothing more than a cultured and prosperous businessman. He found that a useful facade, one that concealed his true nature — ruthless, predatory, and utterly self-interested.