“True.”
“Anyway, we’re using every asset we can to hunt for the warheads as well, and I’ll keep you posted. But there’s more.”
“What?”
“Well, for starters, our ground forces are encountering severe resistance in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is using a new kind of Russian antitank missile. We haven’t seen it before, so we weren’t expecting it. We’re taking heavy casualties. And we just lost two F-15s — one from triple-A fire over Sidon, the other because of mechanical troubles over the Med. But Hezbollah and the Iranians are taking credit for both.”
“When’s the good news?”
“Not yet,” Shimon said. “Our ground offensive in Gaza isn’t off to a strong start. There are a whole host of reasons. It’s house-to-house combat right now, sometimes man-to-man. Booby traps. Land mines. Real ugly stuff. I’ll get you a more detailed report soon. But the bottom line is we’re taking heavier losses than we would have expected and it’s going slower than we’d hoped. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are still firing rockets into the south at pretty near the same rate. But obviously we expect that to diminish once our forces gain the upper hand and we can begin clearing more territory of the launchers and the jihadis operating them.”
“And the Syrians?” the prime minister asked.
“Still nothing,” Shimon reported.
“Is that the good news?”
“No, this is. We think we can take out Darazi, eliminate some of their leadership.”
“Tell me.”
“Our agents inside Tehran have been noticing an unexpected increase in helicopter activity near the Imam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran. When they looked more closely, they noticed an odd level of security around the mosque, especially in the plaza out front, where the helicopters are arriving and departing.”
“Okay…” Naphtali indicated that Shimon should get to the point.
“Political VIPs have been known to worship there from time to time. But with the war under way, you wouldn’t expect any VIP activity there, and certainly not this much. They’ve actually erected a tent out front to obscure those getting on and off the choppers from viewers outside the grounds. What’s also strange is that there is new, high-tech microwave relay equipment installed on the roofs of the office buildings that are connected to the mosque. Just went up in the past twenty-four hours. But officially the mosque is closed. They’re not holding prayer services. The general public is pretty much staying indoors. There are hardly any vehicles on the streets, besides ambulances, fire trucks, various military vehicles, and some police cars.”
“You think Iranian political officials are going there to worship during the war.”
“No, sir,” Shimon said. “We think the military high command could be preparing to use the mosque as an operations center.”
“I thought they were operating out of the bunker at the airport.”
“We’ve decimated most of that military base. But we haven’t actually tried to hit the bunker.”
“Why not?”
“First, it’s located underneath and to the side of the main passenger terminal. Our IAF commanders say there would be too many civilians killed if we bombed it. Second, the Iranians think we don’t know about that bunker. We believe the main IRGC op center is six or eight stories underground. We’re not entirely sure we could destroy it with a bunker-buster if we tried. But we’ve got a drone monitoring the site, hoping the Iranians will make a mistake and give a clear and direct shot at one of their top people, maybe even the Mahdi.”
“Then if the op center is still up and running, what’s the deal with this mosque you’re talking about?” Naphtali asked.
“Sir, we think the Iranians may be setting up an alternate facility, a new or separate command center. By definition, the mosque is a religious site. It’s in a residential neighborhood. It’s not close to any military buildings or other major government buildings. Thus this particular mosque isn’t likely to be watched by satellites or by spies. They probably think it won’t be noticed by Western intelligence agencies, and even if it is noticed by us or others, they expect that we’ll hesitate before attacking a mosque. Honestly, sir, they were pretty close to being right. We just got lucky to even pick up on the activity going on there.”
“And why do you think Darazi is there?” Naphtali pressed.
“We don’t think he’s been there yet, but we do think he’s coming,” Shimon said. “One of our men photographed Darazi’s chief of staff and head of security strolling the grounds a few hours ago.”
“You think they were advancing the site?”
“Zvi does, yes,” said Shimon, referring to Zvi Dayan, the Mossad director. “I’m ambivalent so far. Not enough information. But it’s certainly got my attention.”
“Now it’s got mine, Levi. But tell me this: if Darazi arrives, is he likely to have Hosseini and the Mahdi with him?”
“I don’t know. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”
“One-stop shopping? Sure,” said the PM. “Okay, what do you need?”
“The Mossad wants to put snipers in place and position a dedicated drone overhead to take out Darazi, if they spot him, and others, if they’re there too.”
“Shouldn’t every drone we have be looking for the nukes?”
“I know. I thought that myself at first. But if we could actually take out Darazi or others in the high command…”
“It’s awfully risky,” said Naphtali. “Hitting a mosque in the heart of Tehran? If we’re wrong, or we miss, or we flatten the place and can’t prove we hit Darazi, can you imagine the blowback?”
“They’re trying to nuke us, Mr. Prime Minister. Do we really care about blowback?”
23
David and his team were approaching the outskirts of the Iranian capital. For much of the drive from Karaj, they had sketched out a detailed plan of attack and tried to imagine everything that could possibly go wrong and how they would handle each scenario. David knew they really could have used another few hours. He also knew they’d have been far better off attempting this in the dead of night. But they didn’t have the time to wait. He knew that Torres and his men were consummate professionals. If this could be done at all — and it was a big if, to be sure — these guys would not let him down.
David’s satphone rang. That had to be Zalinsky, and he was late. David glanced at his watch. It was 3:14 p.m. in Tehran and 6:44 in the morning back in Washington. They would be at the hospital in less than fifteen minutes. He put on his Bluetooth and took the call hands-free even though Torres was driving.
“Jack, where’ve you been?” David said. “We’re almost there.”
“Actually, it’s Agent Fischer. Sorry to disappoint.”
“Oh, Eva — no, not disappointed, just surprised,” David said.
“How are you?” she asked.
“A little stressed.”
“Guess that makes sense.”
“How about you?”
“A little stressed,” she mimicked. “It’s been a long night. I’ll fill you in later. But listen, I just finished translating Javad Nouri’s calls, and I wanted to try to get you before you headed in. Tom briefed me on what you’re about to do.”
“You think it’s crazy?”
“It is crazy,” said Eva. “I just hope it works.”
“Me too,” David said. “So what did you find?”
“The only call Javad made, the six-minute one, was to his mother in Mashhad,” Eva explained. “It was pretty straightforward, just explaining what happened to him and that the doctors say he’s going to be fine. That call was last night, and his mother said she and Javad’s father would call back after work tonight.”