“You are correct in your assumption captain,” the general said, lighting the captain’s cigarette, then his own. “We have firsthand knowledge that the Americans planted roughly the same amount of “suitcase weapons” that we planted in their country. So, they have effectively evened the playing field.
The captain exhaled his smoke into the air above him. “God help us all. Anyone could strike and kill the other before they had any chance of possibly responding.”
“Now you know the reason for the plan’s implementation. The other would not dare strike, knowing what would happen in response. A first strike was no longer deemed an option, its risk too great to exercise.” He paused to look at photos of his grandchildren, wondering what type of life they would have if this madman were to succeed in his mission. “That is exactly why you and you alone are heading to the United States. Your mission when you arrive, to hunt down this rebel before he starts World War Three. Starting from this minute on, you will have less than 64 hours before this rebel is to strike. We know the rebel’s first target will be in Washington DC.”
“General, we could insert a small team of specialists around the Washington location and await our rebel to show and then eliminate the bastard? That way our weapons could stay put in their present locations and the adversary is dead. We could have the best of both situations without it affecting us.”
General Poszk pondered the captain’s response for several seconds. He rose from his desk, extinguishing his cigarette in an ashtray, and walked back over to his where his bottle of Jim Beam lay. “Captain, what I have said to you and what I am about to tell you stays in this office, Top Secret. Not even your wife is to know of our discussion. Is that understood?”
“I understand fully sir,” the captain replied.
General Poszk poured himself another generous drink, in the process not offering to refill the captains. He had already shared enough of his private stock and Christmas was still 4 months off.
“We have a problem with our weapons location,” taking a sip of his drink before he proceeded. “According to our sources, the two weapons are just the beginning. We evidently have thirty more whose locations may already have been compromised. We apparently had a mole in our Washington DC office who has come back to roost. Now you know our larger problem. As for your suggestion to eliminate him, a team of specialists would draw attention to our little problem. We know that the American National Security Agency has monitored all of our coded telephone transactions, and it is only a matter of time before their master cryptologists break it. And they will eventually break it Igor; the Americans are very good at what they do. You may ask, how do we perform damage control on our end? From what we understand, the first one is definitely in the open. So it is only a matter of time until it’s removed or,” pausing as he finished the contents of his glass, “detonated.”
Captain Isinov sat staring at the general for several seconds, mesmerized by the last statement, focusing on the word detonated.
“What exactly do you expect of me general?”
The general turned to his young counterpart, admiring his courage, knowing why he had selected him and him alone for this urgent mission. He had a short list of names he could trust to accomplish the mission. Only the captain’s name stood out.
“You, my friend are to fly to Washington DC aboard an Aeroflot flight that departs in two hours. Once in Washington, you will head to the location we have provided you and remove the weapon under the cover of darkness. Use your own ingenuity to remove it, I am told it cannot explode without the proper codes. You will then call this number at the embassy,” he handed him a standard white business card with a telephone number, “and you will receive further instructions. It is important that you do not mention anything about the weapon to this man over the phone lines; only recite these numbers below the telephone number. You will then proceed with the weapon to a payphone located one block from the Embassy. You will once again call the embassy and recite the second set of numbers below the first. No need to worry about the remaining weapons, they will be collected over the next 3 months by special teams and returned before something like this could happen again. Right now, we are only concerned with the disclosed weapon. As for the rebel, we will allow the American FBI to deal with him,” smirking as he said it. “We will disclose to the Americans that we have a renegade spy who is in their midst with a death wish. He is an Islamic fundamentalist who seeks revenge for their harsh treatment of Afghanistan. That should have him quickly disposed of.”
General Poszk handed a white paper airline ticket with Aeroflot written in bold red lettering across its face to the captain. “You will be completely on your own until you contact the embassy. Up until that time, you are considered somewhat of a renegade yourself. I think you understand why it must be this way? We are walking on new ground with the Americans, actually helping our former enemy hunt down terrorists like this one who is operating in the United States.”
The general handed him a glass capsule the size of an ordinary cold tablet. “Just in case you get caught. Don’t worry, from what I hear from our folks in the FSB department, the capsule works within 5 seconds of biting down. They also inform me, it is painless.”
Captain Isinov understood the consequences of mission failure and nodded solemnly before biding a quick exit.
Chapter Seventeen
The black dot was barely visible to the naked eye, and even if it were to be noticed, would present no issue to those viewing it from below. Many high-flying passenger jets still utilized the skies above, flying at distances well above the older model Surface to Air Missile’s range that the Chechnya rebels stored in their inventory.
In the skies above, Lieutenant Georgy Rogonivich expertly maneuvered his lumbering Blackjack Bomber. With his target now approaching, he pulled back the throttles on the center console, slowing the massive aircraft from 1,500 knots to just under 800. With beautiful weather presenting itself at 5,000 meters above the Nakyata Pass, he adhered to his navigator’s strict demands to steer a course of 170 degrees. This enabled him to follow the narrow outline of the deep canyon below.
“Remember Sergi, we are looking to drop this stuff on the rams head portion of the canyon,” Georgy said to his young bombardier, a Second Lieutenant straight out of the Military Academy.
“We could end this rebellion with one click of your well trained thumb,” looking back to gauge his response.
Georgy could see from the poor boy expression that he could not take a joke.
“Don’t worry, we have 30 of those 1,000 kilo bad boys in our bomb bay, you only have to hit them with one,” laughing out loud at the second lieutenant’s expression of panic.
“Target, two miles ahead, Rams Head positively identified below,” the navigator cried in a voice resembling a teenager on the verge of puberty. “Opening the bomb bay doors and I am taking command of the aircraft, Lieutenant.”
“Affirmative,” Georgy said in reply, the humor now gone. It was down to business.
Omar Turhaniz moved about his headquarters compound with the swiftness of a rabbit. At times, he seemed to be in multiple places at once, from directing the clerks and secretary’s to overseeing the security forces. Omar knew he had to inspire his charges to move quickly and leave nothing behind for the Russians to use. This meant destroying anything that was not transportable, including the water supply and latrine facilities.
Their only means of air defense, an antiquated radar system donated by the Syrian military, had been shut down 30 minutes earlier. After the radar unit was shuttered, its accompanying SAM-8 battery, another gift of the Syrians, was disassembled for travel. This left the Headquarters area defenseless from an air attack. Omar did strategically position five observers with high-power binoculars on the surrounding cliffs to scan all approaches, both ground and air.