Everyone stiffened slightly as the Air Wing Commander strolled into CVIC. Bark spoke first. “CAG. Good morning.”
“Well,” CAG said noncommittally, surveying the people before him and quickly scanning the chart. “What have we here?”
“Strike planning,” Bark said, with a hint of a defensive tone. “Contingency strike planning.”
“Into Iran, I see.” He looked at Woods.
Woods held his tongue. He really wanted to say something clever, but he didn’t want to torpedo his plan or his career right now.
CAG wasn’t really expecting a reply. “I’m surprised Washington signed off on this. Flying a GBU-28 out here on a day’s notice to be dropped by aircrew that have never dropped one before? Incredible. Who do you know in Washington?” He stared at Woods, still not expecting a reply. CAG examined the chart. “It really isn’t a bad idea,” he said, looking at Bark. “That’s what separates Navy Air from everybody else, you know?” he said, suddenly taking ownership of the idea, especially if it was going to be successful. “Flexibility. Adaptability. Better than the Air Force. For us, when things change, we make new plans. Better plans. Change to make it work. It entails some risk. But to succeed in this life, you’ve got to take some risks. Right, Lieutenant?”
“Couldn’t agree more,” Woods replied, fighting back a smile. “What do you think of the route?”
CAG looked at the chart again and studied the pencil lines. “How far?”
“Four hundred fifty miles one way.”
“Low level?”
“A lot of it. After we peel off from the diversionary strike.”
“Diversionary strike?”
“Yes, sir, a regular strike on the fortress in Syria. We pull away from them and get down on the deck and head east.”
“NVDs?”
“Yes, sir, once we get down on the deck, we’ll be on the goggles all the way in.”
“Hell of a long time.”
“Yes, sir, it is.”
“What’s the longest you’ve ever flown on NVDs?”
“Couple of hours.”
CAG wanted no part of that kind of flight. “Damned things give me a headache. Like looking through a drinking straw. Narrows your field of vision too much. Keep up the planning. Bark, I want you to show me the final plan. Nobody goes unless I sign off on it.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Bark replied as CAG walked toward the TV studio section of CVIC.
“Sami, my office!”
Sami jumped when he heard Kinkaid’s voice from over the padded cubicle wall. He knew he had said too much, but he hadn’t even said everything he felt. He didn’t care if Kinkaid fired him. He didn’t want to be a part of the charade of being the American arm of Israel’s military. He stood up and walked straight into Kinkaid’s office. He closed the door behind him so hard it slammed loud enough to make both of them jump involuntarily.
“Sir—”
“Shut up,” Kinkaid said, silencing him.
Sami waited, his anger building.
“You were way out of line.”
“I was just saying what I was thinking—”
“And that justifies it?”
“It’s my obligation as an officer—”
“Your obligation is to do what you’re told! What do you think you’re doing running around reading old investigation files and dreaming up grand conspiracy theories? Who do you think you are?”
“I’m not making it up. It’s what makes it all make sense.”
“You don’t even know what you’re talking about! I’ve been doing this since before you were born! And you stand there in front of a task force I’ve put together and insult the Agency, insult me, imply there are spies in our house, and I’m just supposed to take it because you’ve got it all figured out?”
“I wouldn’t put it like that—”
“I’ll bet you wouldn’t. I should end your little career for that stunt. You’d have no future in Washington, I’d make sure of it.” He studied Sami’s rigid face. “Why are you so suspicious of the Israelis?”
“They’re untrustworthy.”
“Sami, they’ve done things you could only imagine doing. You’ve read a few things, and think you know the whole picture. They sent men into the desert alone in the Gulf War to find Scud sites for us. They ate lizards for days to find where the launches were coming from.”
Sami smiled. “For us? Those Scuds were being shot at Jerusalem! What did you expect them to do? They seem to think the big favor they did for us was by letting us fight that war for them too! We begged them to stay home, while we risked our lives for them! They got praise from our government for being willing to do nothing. It was bullshit!”
“They give us intel that you don’t even know about.”
“Like what?”
“You’re not cleared—”
“Of course. So tell me the great stuff they’ve given us that I am cleared for.”
“They’ve given us entire SAM systems they captured. It gave us a great advantage.” Kinkaid waved his hand. “I don’t need to defend them.”
“They look out for their own interests. Period.”
“We all do.”
“Not true. We have helped a lot of other countries when there was no direct benefit to us.”
“And they have helped us. Just take my word for it.”
“In another ‘unofficial’ exchange between you and this Efraim guy?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes in more official channels.”
“For every one of those — and I’d love to be able to check them — there are two where they’ve either stolen from us or hurt us.”
“No—”
“Like Pollard—”
“Don’t go banging that damned Pollard drum again, Sami. I’m tired of it—”
“Do you know how many documents he stole for Israel?”
“Sure, a lot,” Kincaid replied.
“How many?”
“I don’t remember, exactly. It was a long time ago.”
“Five hundred thousand pages of classified information.”
“Like I said, a lot.”
“You know how he came to find Israelis that were interested?” Sami asked.
“It doesn’t matter—”
“A party in New York. Big party for the Israeli pilot who bombed the Iraqi nuclear plant. Big hero. Our boy Pollard makes contact and starts pumping out the Secret and Top Secret documents to the Israelis.”
“True,” Kinkaid acknowledged.
“But you know what they did with them?”
“Read them.”
“After they read them.”
“What?”
“They wanted to make the Soviet Union happy so it would release more Jews to emigrate to Israel. They gave the documents to the KGB.”
“That’s never been proved—”
“So they’re our friends?”
“Intelligence can be dirty business.”
“Like the Liberty.”
“Sami—”
“That’s right. Don’t look at history. It doesn’t matter. Joe,” he said, “we’re targeting an old fortress based mostly on my historical analysis of something that goes back nine hundred years.” He smiled ironically. “You won’t even look back thirty years?”
Kinkaid eyed his telephone as if waiting for it to ring. “The Liberty was a mistake. We’ve already talked about that.”
“What about their nuclear program?”
“What about it?”
“How did Israel get the uranium for it?”
Kinkaid didn’t reply.
Sami studied his face. “See, you do know. Rich Jew in Pennsylvania faked ‘losing’ two hundred pounds of it from his manufacturing plant after the Israelis visited. He had given millions of dollars to Israel before that. They denied it, if you can believe that.”