“So if ISIS had some inside help with this, how serious of a threat do you see them?”
“Think about it. This wasn’t your typical terrorist bombing,” the intel chief replied. “We’ve seen plenty of those over the years all over the world. I wouldn’t even call this a ‘terrorist’ attack. A terrorist attack is generally targeted to inflict terror, usually against civilians or a local populace. This was targeted at a military site, against the Turkish military — air force — leadership. No, this wasn’t a terrorist attack. This was an assassination. This has all the hallmarks of a military first strike more than it does anything else.”
“First strike?” Spanos asked with more than a little alarm. “So what’s next then?”
“I have no idea, but think about it: If we were to take out Turkey’s Air Force leadership, what would we do next?”
Admiral Spanos’ face immediately paled as Costas realized that the admiral had not thought of the attack at Eskisehir in quite this manner. “Okay, raise the alert level for our forces on Cyprus, Crete and Rhodes — I don’t know what to expect but I don’t want any surprises.”
“Lion, glad you could make it,” Jackson called out as he saw his friend enter the restaurant.
“Chaos, glad to see you, too. It’s been too long. Who’s your friend here?” Lion added.
“Dani, this is Sergeant Richard ‘Lion’ Morgan. Lion, Colonel Danielle Yaniv, with the IDF. Dani’s a friend of mine who I’ve been working with for the past couple of months.”
“Colonel, nice to meet you. Since you’re hanging around this guy,” Lion began, “I’m going to assume that your role with the IDF is more than a little understated.”
“Call me Dani, and, yeah, the IDF tag works.”
“Thought so. What’s the food like here?”
“Not sure, Colonel Cadonau recommended this place. He said the Izgara Kofte is very good. We’ve already ordered….” Jackson was saying as the waitress interrupted him with three plates, two of the Kofte and one plate of Manti.
“Oooh, this smells wonderful,” Dani added as the waitress served the lunch.
“That it does,” agreed Lion. “Hey, wait a minute.” Lion adding pausing for a brief bit, looking at Stonewall rather quizzically, “You two have been working together for the past ‘couple of months’? If I remember correctly, Iran’s always been your interest. Just how much of that stuff that went down with Iran a couple months ago were you involved in?”
“We were kind of in it up to our eyeballs,” Stonewall replied.
“We? You mean the Israelis helped you out?”
“We really couldn’t have done part of it without them. Dani’s team and one of our teams combined to wreak some havoc in Iran. We got a little banged up but we got the job done.”
“I’ll say you did. Ali Bagheri’s taking over in Iran was a real coup. I don’t know how you guys managed that but I’m impressed.”
“We had some help from our friends, and like I said, we couldn’t have done all of what we did without them. Speaking of friends, what’s the word on the street regarding Turkey? ISIS is right across the border from Turkey and the Turks are doing everything they can to contain them but there’s only so much they can do. After all, ISIS’s more of a movement than the typical nation/state confrontations.”
“Turkey’s not the solid homogeneous state that everyone thinks it is. They have a huge Kurdish problem in the eastern part of the country, but you already know that. Then, like you mentioned, they have ISIS literally a stone’s throw away in much of the southern part of the country. They nearly avoided a catastrophe in Kobani quite recently. Kobani’s right on the border and halfway between Batman and Adana. You know as well as I do that even though ISIS didn’t make any military inroads across the border there, they sure did in the hearts and minds of many Turks. Think about it. ISIS’s recruiting efforts in Europe and even the States has been quite effective. Hardly a day goes by that you don’t hear of someone in the US that’s joined them, let alone an ISIS related incident somewhere in Europe. If that’s the case over there and in Europe, how effective do you think they’ve been in Turkey? The Kurdish problem isn’t the only problem the Turks have in the southeast. Mosul’s only about a hundred kilometers from the border and this is ISIS’s largest, and possibly, greatest conquest to date.”
“When you put it that way,” Dani observed, “it would appear to be more of a question of when something’s going to happen, not if.”
“That’s right,” Lion continued, “something’s going to happen. I can feel it. Everything might seem relatively normal up at Istanbul, Izmir or even Ankara but these places are all in Western or west-central Turkey. I just don’t know when, or what, it might be. But I’m sure of it, something’s in the wind. I know you’re here at Incirlik, in the friendly confines of a NATO/US air base, but don’t get too comfortable with everything there, as yesterday’s little incident implies.”
“We’re only here for a few days, doing some ground work for Jim. We should be back in Tel Aviv very soon,” Jackson relayed.
“I don’t mean to imply something is imminent, but I’m quite certain something’s going to happen. We’ve seen demonstrations and protests here in Adana and more so throughout eastern Turkey. They haven’t really taken hold in the western part of the country yet. There’ve been a few in Ankara and, of course, a couple over at Izmir where they feel they can probably get more international attention with the US base there as well. Word on the street is that these aren’t the spontaneous demonstrations they are made out to be. Someone’s organizing these things. Whoever it is, they aren’t leaving any fingerprints, but it’s a pretty short list of suspects — it’s either ISIS or the Kurds, and since these demonstrations are spreading westward, I think it’s a pretty safe bet that ISIS’s behind them. I mean, if you’re demonstrating for the Kurds, why would you hold one in Adana of all places?”
“What about the bombing up at Eskisehir? That’s not a random attack,” Dani added.
“No, it’s not, and that’s what I mean: Someone appears to be orchestrating some type of activity against Turkey. It’s subtle and I’m guessing the Demirel administration hasn’t picked up on it yet — especially with Ataturk taken out of the picture. If anyone was going to pick up on this, he would have. You see, up at Eskisehir, you have a military attack, not a terrorist attack. The one here at Incirlik bears all the traits of a rather poorly disciplined unit where some of its members saw a target of opportunity and rather than wait for orders from their superiors, took matters into their own hands. Had these three dirt bags waited even a couple hours, they probably could have achieved their intended results. So, with the growing unrest in key strategic areas and the attack at Eskisehir, something’s goin’ on.”
“Do you think there’s an ISIS cell on base?” Jackson asked.
“No question about it. If this attack was only carried out by one individual, I’d have my doubts. But three of them? And literally, on a moment’s notice? No, my suspicion is that you’ve got a major security problem on base here.”
“Yeah, we haven’t talked about that but I think that’s our suspicion as well,” Dani agreed.
“Anything else? What about the Greeks?” Jackson asked. “Are they getting a little nervous with their neighbor to the east?”
“Can’t tell you about anything up in Thrace — I’ve never been up there. However, things on Cyprus are looking interesting. You see, the Turks have transferred a lot of their troops off of the island. They need them in Syria and their fight against the Kurds in Iraq. The Greeks don’t pose a threat, so might as well move the troops where the action’s at, right? However, the Greeks have been silently increasing their forces on the island. Historically, they’ve had roughly a battalion on pretty much garrison duty. It’s almost like a vacation for these guys. Over the past year, though, they’ve gradually increased their strength. I’d guess they are probably up to two reinforced brigades at this point and could easily overrun the depleted Turkish forces now on the island.”