“Where are they?”
“I think Eglin, but I’ll find out. But nobody’ll let us drop ’em if they haven’t done the flight tests on it.”
“They did do the flight testing. When I was an instructor at Topgun they did some flight tests at the Pax River. A couple of us were allowed to observe. I flew on the wing of the guys who did the drop.”
The Gunner wasn’t impressed. “It’s not in the confidential supplement.” The supplement was the big yellow F-14 manual that contained the weapons information on the F-14. It was the bible for the operation of the Tomcat with various weapons systems.
“The Air Force said it was going to be an Air Force weapon. They didn’t even want us doing the flight tests. They said the Navy didn’t need to pollute their system carrying around the GBU-28. But it passed the flight tests. Trust me.” Woods watched the Gunner’s face. The Gunner was deciding whether to believe him. Woods hadn’t expected the Gunner to think he was lying about it. He had never even considered he might be losing credibility with those who knew him best because of what he had been willing to do to get the Sheikh.
The Gunner stood. “I know the guy who runs the ordnance shop at Eglin. You know what this means, don’t you?”
“What?”
“The Air Force is already pissed. They feel like they’ve been cut out of the pattern. An air war is under way without them being in the lead. They don’t let that happen. They’ve got more PR guys than we have sailors. They’ve got more videotape recorders then we have airplanes. Any time anything is going to happen, they want to lead. You know that.”
“Right—”
“So I call this guy at Air Force ordnance. If I ask him to get a couple of 28’s ready for immediate shipment to the carrier Battle Group, what will go out is that the Navy is about to do a surgical strike. Everyone knows what the only important surgical strike would be in this war. They know we’re going after the Sheikh. They would also know that we’ve found him — which they may know already. I don’t know. Anyway, they will immediately load two, or three, or fifty GBU-28s aboard a B-2, fly it halfway around the world by refueling it thirty times, and say that this is a routine Air Force mission. You know that’s what will happen.”
“So how do we get around it?”
The Gunner put his Jolly Rogers navy blue baseball cap on and pulled it down over his forehead to accentuate his hard look. “I think we plan the mission, and then execute it. If something stops us that’s just the way it goes. If they don’t stop us, then we’ll get our shot.”
“Are you going to help me?”
The Gunner hesitated. He looked at the two Petty Officers hovering nearby. “Give us a minute,” he said loudly.
The Petty Officers put the air plan on the counter and walked out of the ordnance shop, closing the door behind them.
Gunner Bailey stood there looking at Woods. “You’ve already asked me to help you once. I did something I never should have done. I faked some missile records. Which wasn’t easy. The ship’s records are kept by the OHO. I had to call in a couple of big markers. Way big. He was not pleased, especially after the fact when CAG’s hair is on fire and it looks like the biggest damn international incident any of us has ever seen—”
“Look, Gunner, let me—”
“Let me finish,” he said. “I did that, because I thought Lieutenant Vialli got a shitty deal. I was willing to help you. But I don’t like this one bit. I love the Navy. The Navy is my life. More than my family. And I don’t want anyone shitting all over my career for his own reasons. I helped you once, but I’m not sticking my head in another noose. If this is another scam of yours, count me out.”
Woods was stunned. “Gunner, I appreciate what you did. It was risky, and we pulled it off. But this isn’t a scam. It’s totally legit. If we can locate some of these bombs, we’ll put in an emergency requisition request, all aboveboard, all with the Skipper’s approval.”
The Gunner looked into Woods’s eyes for any sign of games. “I’ll see what I can do. I’ll get on the e-mail right away.” The Gunner’s demeanor changed. “You need to get on the horn and keep the Air Force’s fat assess out of this. This is our fight. If you got any strings, pull them now.”
Woods immediately thought of Jaime.
President Garrett looked every bit as serious as the Syrian Ambassador did. He began speaking slowly, “I generally do not comment on remarks by diplomats of foreign countries. However, this time I could not let the Syrian Ambassador to the UN’s comments pass unnoticed. He has accused us of conspiracies and evil intentions. I will not allow him to slander our country. We are currently at war. True, it is only against one man and the group that follows him. One man and his group of terrorists, Assassins, and murderers. A group whose objective is to kill Americans. Doesn’t matter whether these people are armed, combatants, military, or even Department of Defense. It is despicable to attack unarmed civilians as they have. But more significantly, the Sheikh declared war against the United States. Unlike many times in the past, we decided to respond directly to this challenge to our country. It was the right decision and we will see it home.
“But Syria is a different question altogether. The implication by the Syrian Ambassador is that we have no business responding to terrorism with a declaration of war. The second implication is that they can harbor and protect the terrorists that they feel like protecting with impunity. Even one who has declared war against the United States. They are very wrong about that. They may try to protect him, but they will be unsuccessful. We will come to wherever Sheikh al-Jabar is hiding, with whatever force is necessary to get him. It doesn’t matter to me whether the result is capturing him, or killing him. What does matter is that we seek justice for the people of this country that he has attacked. If Syria stands between us and him that is not our problem. It is not a condition of our making.
“The Ambassador pretended not to know that Sheikh al-Jabar has been operating out of Syria. Such a position is disingenuous in the extreme. The Sheikh is the current head of the Isma’ili sect of the Muslim religion that has been operating in eastern Syria for hundreds of years. The Assassins, as they are known, have been known to reside in Syria for hundreds of years. To now claim that this particular group of Assassins is unknown to Syria is ridiculous.
“He also knows that the Syrian government has done nothing to limit or stop Sheikh al-Jabar from operating from Syrian territory.
“For Syria to assert these positions on the argument that a U.S. Naval officer was meeting with an Israeli intelligence agent to concoct a scheme for joint operations is outrageous. Navy Lieutenant Tony Vialli had simply fallen for a pretty woman, and had gone to visit her in Israel. That is well known. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If she was an Israeli intelligence agent, that is news to me, and I’m sure would have been news to him as well.
“He was told, and other officers aboard the ship from which he operated were told, that she was a schoolteacher. It is my understanding that she was going to Tel Aviv to interview with El Al airlines. That has been confirmed to us by the airline itself.
“Syria still claims that United States Navy fighters off the USS George Washington accompanied the Israeli Air Force on a strike into Lebanon. That is false. It is wrong, malicious, and false. The missile they showed to the world as proof was in fact sold to Israel years ago. They know that.”
President Garrett paused and looked at the camera with an intense stare. “What matters now is that terrorists operating from Syria continue to murder Americans. In fact, he seems to have raised the ante with his most recent bloody attacks on innocent civilians. We will raise the ante too. If it means sending American ground troops into Syria or Lebanon, or wherever he is to be found, we will do that. If countries are concerned about American troops landing in their territory, then they should get Sheikh al-Jabar out of their country. It’s as simple as that.”