“So, is the thirty-six hour number your desired schedule, General?” Tom Fleming, the chief of staff asked.
“Tom, we’ll go with what we have when the order is given. Right now, as I mentioned this morning, we have the operators over there for just the type of rescue mission called for in this instance. However, we really need to eliminate the threat posed by the Turk reinforcements and by this time tomorrow, we’ll be in good shape. Plus, we haven’t even considered the Israelis yet. I’m pretty sure we can count them in on this and I don’t think there’ll be too much in the way of push-back on the international scene.”
“On that note, General, are any of the commandos likely to be in on the recovery of the B-61s at all familiar with the weapon?” Jim Carmichael asked.
“No, I don’t believe they are. The Special Forces teams each have at least two engineer sergeants but I don’t believe any of them have any training or knowledge of the B-61.”
“So, if we find that any of these weapons have been tampered with, we’re kind of out of luck as to the significance of this when the troops are on the ground? Just how dangerous could this be?” Fleming followed up.
“It really all depends. Right now, the intel we have indicates that ISIS has not brought in anyone familiar with nuclear technology so we aren’t too concerned about that. We’re actually thinking that ISIS is more inclined to sell these to the highest bidder as another source of revenue rather than try and use them.”
“General, Tamir Pardo is a friend of mine. One of the members of his Unit has a doctorate in nuclear physics or engineering — one of the two, I forget which — out of Texas A & M. She’s going to be in on this raid as it is. Can we get the schematics of the B-61 to her so if our intel is wrong and someone’s been tampering with this, she’ll be able to assess the situation on the spot?”
“Absolutely not. The B-61 is highly classified. There’s no way we’ll release this to anyone. If word leaks out that we’ve allowed the Israelis access to our nuclear technology, there’ll be hell to pay in the Arab world,” Kaufman replied.
“Mr. President, I understand the gravity of the situation in the Middle East if word leaked out about that,” Carmichael continued. “However, we have several of these in storage at Aviano. What if we brought Lieutenant Colonel Yaniv in to help with their routine maintenance? This would give her critical hands on knowledge of the device rather than providing any real blueprints of the bomb. She could get there tomorrow morning and begin working on these right away. Obviously, she wouldn’t be allowed to take any notes or anything of the sort out with her.”
“Mr. President, I cannot allow that. This would be a huge security risk.”
“General, as Jim just mentioned, we already allowed the colonel to get her doctorate in nuclear physics at A & M,” Vice President Donner added. “Plus, Israel already has their own nukes. Due to the gravity of the situation, I think we should allow it.”
“I agree with De,” President Barre stated. “Let General Logan know as well as base personnel at Aviano that they can expect her sometime tomorrow.”
“I’ll take care of it. However, Mr. President, I’d like to add one caveat to this: this colonel needs to be accompanied by an American military officer at all times. No exceptions.”
“Mr. President, that will work,” Carmichael added. “I already have someone over there as a liaison that can do the job.”
“Excellent. How soon will General Logan have his plans finalized?” President Barre asked.
“I’ve scheduled a run-through first thing in the morning.”
“Excellent, the Israelis are actually meeting with Colonel Morrison first thing in the morning in Tel Aviv to go over all of this as well,” Carmichael added. “That’s just over seven hours from now. Will Logan be joining that meeting by teleconference?”
“Yes, I believe he will. I’ll have him advise General Pardo that Lieutenant Colonel Yaniv can proceed to Aviano. Right now, I expect that the actual raid in Raqqa will resemble the Entebbe raid in some respects. The Israelis had to rescue just over 100 hostages. We’ll have just over half that many hostages but we also have 34 B-61s to recover. This operation will be one for the ages, Mr. President.”
“Well, I just hope they keep all of the hostages together as you suspect they will,” President Barre added.
“Well, sir, from a logistical point of view, it will make things a whole lot easier if they do.”
XXVII
“What time are we meeting with Tamir?” Jackson asked Dani as she emerged from the bedroom. “I take it that this is considered an office day,” Jackson followed up, noticing Dani’s very stylish navy Brooks Brothers suit. The ivory blouse she wore underneath perfectly complemented the outfit while her darker complexion and long raven hair negated any need for accessorizing, though she wore her silver and gold Lion of Judah Mezuzah necklace.
“Yes it is. We need to hurry up,” Dani replied. “We’re meeting Tamir in half an hour.”
“I thought we weren’t meeting him until seven.”
“He’s meeting with Colonel Morrison and the rest of the General Staff at seven. We’ll be meeting with Tamir an hour ahead of that. That’s our usual practice.”
“So, I’m now considered a part of Mossad since I get to attend the meeting before the meeting?”
“Well, probably not formally,” Dani replied rather sheepishly, giving him a quick kiss as she passed him in the kitchen. “Hurry up and get ready — or you never will be.”
“Roger that.”
“Stonewall, I see Arielle’s rubbing off on you,” Tamir said as Jackson walked into the Mossad director’s office wearing a Brooks Brothers 1818 suit.
“You like it, Tamir? I think he looks incredible in it,” Dani commented right away with a huge grin on her face.
“I’ve left all of my suits back home and Dani wanted me in something ‘more appropriate’ than the sport coats I have so she took me out last week,” Jackson added.
“It fits you well, Stonewall,” Tamir added. “Ah, here comes the rest of the crew.”
“Hey, Moshe, good to see you again,” David Eitan said to Jackson, in reference to the famous one-eyed Israeli general, Moshe Dayan.
“You, too, David. Didn’t realize Tamir was bringing everyone in.”
“Well, when we heard you were going to be here, we couldn’t exactly stay away,” Zivah added. “I must say, Arielle is definitely treating you right. That suit fits you perfectly in all the right places — and I do mean all the right places!”
“Zivah!” Dani yelled out across Tamir’s office.
“What? Just sayin’ that you sure know how to dress your man,” she added with a sly grin and a wink at Jackson. “I must say, that eye patch adds a little something to the outfit, Arielle.”
“Okay, everyone, let’s find a seat. I think you all know why I called you in here,” Tamir began. “We’ll be raiding Raqqa and this will be a combined operation with the Americans. However, unlike Latakia, and Tehran, I expect this one to be a bit dicier. Last time, we caught everyone by surprise. This time, I think everyone in the world knows that we will be coming after our pilots and the Americans after their nukes and their own hostages, foremost of which are the Secretaries of State and Defense,” Tamir confirmed to the group, and getting some stunned looks. “That’s right. This just happened overnight. Now, the mere thought of them treating our pilots the same way they treated the Jordanian pilot raises issues I don’t even want to begin to contemplate. The only real question, is when we’re going. We’ve had two teams on the ground in Raqqa all this week looking things over. This past Tuesday we spotted the truck bringing our men up from Palmyra, and then the whole world saw the spectacle Baghdadi put on. From what we can tell, the guys have never left the Al-Qadim Mosque. About an hour and a half ago, we spotted the Americans’ arrival. They were also immediately directed to the same mosque. We haven’t seen any of them leave this place so we believe that everyone is still there. That is a good thing, though I expect it to be more heavily defended, especially now that they have both the American Secretary of State and their Secretary of Defense. I’m told the Americans know where the nukes are at and they are relatively close to the hostages — which may, or may not, be a good thing. It may not as it might complicate the logistics of the entire operation. I have a meeting with Colonel Elliott Morrison, the US military attaché, and the rest of the General Staff in a few minutes. We’ll be coordinating everything with him and General Frank Logan, who’s in charge of their Joint Special Operations Command. However, for now, Yoni and David, both of your teams will be working on our pilots’ rescue. Zivah, you’re with them. I’d like to see the foundation of an operational plan later this afternoon. Once you have that, we’ll hook up with Logan’s staff and start to get everything coordinated. Since the Americans have considerably more at stake with this, don’t be surprised if this becomes an entirely US operation. However, I still want an operational plan put together just in case things fall apart on their end. Time is obviously of the essence. Arielle, I know you’re Yoni’s XO but you’ll be working directly with the Americans on this. They don’t have as many men on their teams as they used to that are familiar with nuclear weapons — frankly, I’m not sure they have any — so I went ahead and offered your services to General Logan. I am expecting that you’ll either have access to the B-61 or its blueprints just in case you need to work on one.”