He went on to ask that Zionist Israel move back its borders and allow the Palestinians to reclaim the lands that belonged to them. He felt the USA had confused Iraq citizens with its Western decadent thoughts and implored the Assembly to remove the American air bases from Afghanistan and Iraq.
He also noted that the Fifth Fleet had acted irresponsible in various incidents in the Indian Ocean and it was “only with great restraint” that Iranians withheld fire from the offending forces that had attempted to ram its ships. “Fortunately Allah was with us during these unprovoked attacks and protected our ships from certain death.” He expressed hope that international law could be updated that would help to reduce the presence of US forces in the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.
A pair of soldiers escorted Robinson toward the door. “I will need to speak to him of urgent matters. See that you speak of me immediately when he arrives.”
“Si Señor.”
Robinson was taken through the courtyard that was strewn with bodies. Then he found himself locked in the cellar with several other servants. As far as he could tell a guard was posted in the hall. He brought out his cell phone and dialed Larry Deshano, Director of the CIA. Let’s hope we get a connection. He felt the chances were slim, however it was worth a try.
It rang once and he heard the familiar voice. “Robinson. What can I do for you?”
“Larry, I am happy to hear your voice.” Thank God! “I’m in Venezuela at President Santiago’s Miraflores Palace. There has been a coup and I’m held hostage at the moment in the wine cellar until I can convince the new people they shouldn’t kill me.”
He could hear Larry barking orders to the staff. “Get the president on the line NOW! Robinson’s trapped in a hotbed in Venezuela. Someone get a fix on the Miraflores Palace! Code red! OK buddy, we are gonna get you out of there. Is there any chance you can make it out the door and I can have choppers pick you up?”
“I might be able to—”
“Landenberger here. What’s up Larry?”
“Robinson is on the line and he has been taken prisoner in a Venezuelan coup.”
“My God! Is he all right?”
“You can speak to him.”
“Yeah, I’m OK. They shot Santiago a few minutes ago.”
“What’s his status?”
“Dead. Other than that I don’t have any info about the coup. They stormed the palace and overran it about ten minutes ago. Someone called General Rio is now the top man here and they expect him to arrive here soon.”
“Rio?”
Deshano shouted to his staff. “Get info on Rio NOW!”
“Larry, what do you think? Can we get his butt out of there?”
“Yeah, I can do it if we work with the navy. You must OK the clearance to enter the airspace.”
“Officially no one is in charge of the country so we can pretty much do whatever we wish.”
“Yeah, if we can get in there unnoticed — we don’t want an international incident even if the situation is a bit unstable.”
“This is Bumgardner, I understand we need support in Venezuela. We have the super carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford down there keeping an eye on the Russians. We can launch some Vanguards or Blackhawks on a rescue mission. I have them on alert now. Let’s get Davis in the mix.”
“This is Captain William Davis of the USS Gerald R. Ford. What can I do for you?”
“We may need a Blackhawk rescue mission ASAP. How quickly can you get a Blackhawk in Caracas?”
“We could have someone there in an hour, maybe less.”
Landenberger jumped in. “I’m getting off the line for five minutes as I want you boys to work this out and give me a report on this. I need to check on another part of the operation. Let’s call it Operation Watchdogg.” He went off-line.
“How many evacuees are we talking about?” asked the captain.
Robinson checked with the others in the cellar and they indicated they merely wanted to get safely out of the building. “Probably just one — the others would appreciate getting out of here and want to go home. I want to hop on my jet at the airport and get back to D.C.”
“OK, that is the mission,” Davis answered. “If we see the airport is safe, we can get you there. If not, we will bring you here and then worry about getting you home. Is there any chance you can get out of the building on your own? We want to keep this as clean as we can. We don’t want to fight our way in there unless it is absolutely necessary.”
“I’d need to fight my way out. The guard is not that bright — I might be able to get past him and make a run for it into the courtyard.”
“We’ve got the thermal imaging on the place now. There are around fifty hostiles and more incoming — looks like about another hundred or so. We see your position, Robinson. It’s extremely hot all around you.”
Larry said, “We can do this — even with all the hostiles. We’ll need several Blackhawks with a squad of men in the event the ground is unfriendly. Our report says we have an eighty percent chance of success here and ninety-five percent if the hostiles can be neutralized before we arrive on the scene. Only reason it won’t work is that Robinson may become a casualty in the courtyard.”
“I have the report on Rio,” interrupted Deshano. “Actually, there are two and we are not absolutely sure which one he may be. Our number one man is one mean mother. He got his start working his way up the drug-cartels and controls the entire underbelly of the country. Prostitution, gambling, murder for hire — you name it he does it. He’s a kingpin drug lord. We would do well to take him out as a part of the operation however let’s not get another objective in the mix. In the event an opportunity comes along—”
“That’s up to the president. He’ll probably want to leave it alone as it could be a political hot potato.”
“And the other is a member of the legislator, a popular politician — a lightweight in the world of politics.”
Davis spoke, “Let us hope it is him and not the other one. I’m ready to go with Operation Watchdogg; probably the quicker the better. We would surprise them and be in and out while they have the details of their coup to deal with. A few more hours and things could be too settled to do this.”
Deshano said, “I’m for it. Robinson is too good a man to leave him hanging out to dry.”
Robinson agreed, “Great, I’ll do my best to—” The line went dead. He turned to the others beside him. “I am very fortunate to have faithful friends. We will all be out of here in about an hour and all of you can go home.” Landenberg will probably approve the mission and I can expect all hell to break loose in about an hour.
Maria had been listening to the guards outside the door. “They say that Red Dog uno will be here in fifteen minutes, Señor Robinson.
If I can time this correctly, I can meet with Rio and use my diplomatic skills to talk my way out of here. I would need to appeal to his greed if he is the drug dealer and the other I will need to do some thinking — dream up something to confuse him long enough to make it to the chopper. Right now, I must get myself out of here.