“Lieutenant, I’m expecting either F-15s or F-22s,” the colonel replied, to some surprised pilots. “That’s right, guys, I would expect we’ll be up against the varsity tonight.”
“Ah, Colonel, what are you not telling us? I thought the Americans transferred all of their Eagles and Raptors out of the region since the Russians no longer pose a threat. Why would the Americans keep their most advanced air-to-air fighter over here?”
“I have no idea, Captain. Just be prepared for anything. However, I fully believe that if we are up against either of these, we will seriously outnumber them. Plus, they won’t be expecting us, either. Our presence should be a complete surprise for them.”
“Stonewall, are you still at Incirlik?” Lion asked Jackson over his satellite phone.
“No, we left several hours ago. We’re back in Tel Aviv. Why? What’s up?”
“You’re not going to believe this but the Greeks just overran the Turks here on Cyprus. The entire island is now under Greek control.”
“What?!?” Jackson yelled out, clearly getting Dani’s attention across the apartment. “Why would they do that?”
“No idea, other than the obvious — the Greeks and Turks hate each other. I don’t have to remind you about the ’74 Turkish invasion — that really antagonized the Greeks. Maybe they felt the time was right with the Turkish army on Cyprus depleted with the war on ISIS — and, of course, the recent terror bombings in Turkey.”
“Wait, you’re not thinking the Greeks did that are you?”
“You have to admit, it’s mighty coincidental — the high command of the Turkish air force is taken out earlier in the week. Now, virtually the entire executive leadership of the country is assassinated and within hours — hours — the Greeks completely overrun Cyprus. That’s just too coincidental for me.”
“Lion, the Greeks aren’t the only ones with a motive to strike out at the Turks. You’d have to stand in line for that. There’s the Kurds, ISIS, the Russians, and don’t forget the Armenians, either.”
“Okay, point made, but you can’t dismiss the timing of everything that easily,” Lion followed up.
“No, I can’t, but I still can’t believe the Greeks are responsible for the attacks in Turkey.”
“You are familiar with the plaque at the entrance to Turkey’s military academy, aren’t you?”
“You mean ‘The greatest enemy of the Turkish nation is a Russian first and then a Greek’? I’ve heard rumors about that but never really put a lot of stock in it.”
“It’s there,” Lion confirmed.
“Okay, let me get ahold of Jim. I’ll pass on your suspicions.”
“So, Lion thinks the Greeks took out Turkey’s government to unify Cyprus?” Dani asked Jackson. She’d been relaxing at the piano playing David Benoit’s Human Nature.
“That’s right, and it’s hard to argue with the timing of this. The rest of it just doesn’t make sense but within just a few hours of the assassination of President Demirel and the rest of the executive leadership of the country, the Greeks move on Cyprus.”
“He doesn’t know about the missing nukes, does he?”
“No, he doesn’t. Let’s give Jim a call — I’m sure he didn’t have any lunch plans today anyway.”
“Jim, Stonewall here,” Jackson said as he heard his friend answer the phone.
“Hey, trust you’re both back in Tel Aviv?”
“That we are. Say, I just got off the phone with a friend of mine in the SAS stationed at Akrotiri….”
“We’re on that. It seems the Greeks have virtually overrun the entire island.”
“That’s what Lion just said. He’s thinking that the Greeks were behind the two bombings as well.”
“There’s some sentiment to that over here as well,” Carmichael conceded.
“Jim, you can’t be serious?” Dani interrupted. “The only thing the Greeks are guilty of is opportunism. Everyone knows there’s no love lost between the Turks and Greeks but everything that’s been going on inside of Turkey lately is all ISIS. The Kurds aren’t even crazy enough to attempt what’s all gone down.”
“Dani, I get it,” Jim replied, “and you’re preaching to the choir, but the enmity between the Greeks and Turks goes back a little further than it does with ISIS. I wouldn’t put this past some of the more hot blooded Greeks in their military and their government. I don’t believe they did this for a minute but I wouldn’t put it past some of them to have at least thought about doing something like this.”
“That’s crazy! Jim, the current administration has thoroughly underestimated ISIS. They are way more organized and far more powerful than what your government believes.”
“Jim, look, this has ISIS written all over it,” Stonewall began. “None of these attacks have been on a direct basis. It’s all been done the same way I’d do it if I were a part of either Al Qaeda or ISIS — asymmetrically. We know ISIS has infiltrated Turkey to an incredible degree. We’ve got the assassination of Turkey’s air force and governmental leadership. Then there’s the attack on the secretaries at Incirlik plus the theft of our nukes. None of this was done in a typical direct action method. It’s all been low-risk, high-return attacks — the same way we do things in the Special Forces. If the Greeks’ only concern was unifying Cyprus, they wouldn’t have needed to do anything else given the depleted Turkish army on the island. I realize we didn’t know the extent of Turkey’s depleted military on the island, but the Greeks sure did — and that’s all that really matters.”
“Okay, I agree with you. I fully believe that ISIS is behind everything over there. I don’t think there is any question about that. However, there are people over here that still believe this is beyond ISIS’s capabilities — but a country like Greece not only has the motive, but the ability to pull it off as well.”
“That’s insane! The Greeks wouldn’t instigate this any more than we would.”
“Jim,” Stonewall broke in, “have you discussed this with any one at State yet? Or National Security Advisor McDowell? I would imagine both of them would lean pretty hard on the Greeks.”
“That’s my point. Both Pam and Andrea continue to downplay ISIS, yet they just stole a planeload of nukes from us. I haven’t spoken with either of them. I’ll be making a few phone calls and I’m planning on speaking to my counterpart in Athens to see what he has to say for himself before I speak with anyone from State or the NSC.”
“Okay, let us know if you need anything from over here. We have a meeting with Tamir first thing in the morning. I know they are putting together a team to get their pilots back but not sure of any particulars on that.”
“Well, now that they have our nukes and their pilots, we might be on the same page once again. Let me know if anything develops.”
“Will do, talk to you later.”
“What do you make of Greece’s move on Cyprus?” Dani asked Stonewall as she continued with Benoit’s Human Nature.
“I think you’re right. The only thing they are guilty of is opportunism. ISIS is clearly behind everything that’s been going on in Turkey. The Greeks saw an opportunity and jumped at it. However, there are those in the government that will take some convincing of this — their first reaction is going to want to come down hard on the Greeks. State will eventually need to deal with the Cyprus issue but right now it doesn’t even rank as a sideshow to ISIS. My guess is that even the loss of the nukes isn’t going to convince either McDowell or Johnson about the serious threat ISIS poses.”