“Jim?” Stonewall asked into the phone. He wasn’t expecting his friend to answer on the first ring, though five-thirty in the morning wasn’t too terribly early for Carmichael during the week, a Saturday morning was a little different.
“Hey, Stonewall, what’s up?” Jim asked somewhat apprehensively.
“Everything okay over there?” Stonewall asked, sensing something was wrong.
“Ah, no… we have a new president. President Barre collapsed this morning from a massive stroke. It sounds like he was dead before he hit the floor.”
“What?!? Is Donner up to speed on everything?”
“Yeah, that she is. She’s ex-navy, a sub driver. She’s a quick study and very cool under pressure. We’ll need that in the coming days. What do you have?”
“We have a bigger problem than we thought with these nukes. Dani just learned that a Dr. Mohammed Kayani is in Raqqa. He worked under AQ Kahn in Pakistan.”
“Great. We didn’t need that.”
“No, we didn’t. We’ve been working on an idea. We’ll spend the day here and then head back to Tel Aviv tonight. Early tomorrow morning, we’d hop an Israeli plane and HALO into Raqqa before sunrise and hook up with one of the teams Pardo already has there. For that matter, we should be able to hook up with one of the teams that Logan should have there by now — if he doesn’t have anyone there by now, he’s not doing his job. When I was still with the 5th Group, we had Kurds with us who would jump at a mission like this.”
“Okay, has Tamir signed off on this yet?” Jim asked.
“Not yet. Dani’s discussing that with him now but it only makes sense. With Kayani in Raqqa, we need someone up there that knows something about nukes. She was part of their Iranian team trying to snuff out their nuclear program so she’d be a natural fit for this. She’s more than qualified so that shouldn’t be an issue, either.”
“Okay, I can’t imagine Tamir turning this down. Let me talk this over with Stan and see who all we’ve managed to insert up there. I’d like you to meet up with our guys instead of theirs but either way should work. For now, go ahead and plan on this.”
“K, I’ll get back to you this afternoon.”
“Good morning, everyone. Thanks for coming in on a Saturday morning. Before we begin, President Deidre Donner is here for a brief statement and a few of your questions,” Chris Thompson said to the stunned White House gaggle.
“Good morning everyone. That’s correct. This morning at approximately 3:05, President Jack Barre suffered a massive stroke — a ruptured brain aneurysm, really. He was immediately transported to George Washington University Hospital and underwent emergency surgery. However, he had already succumbed to the stroke. Dr. Mike Lee actually told me that he was probably gone before he hit the floor. We received the news here at the White House a couple hours ago, at which time we called a judge from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to administer the oath of office.”
“Madam President, had the president been ill prior to this happening?” a reporter from the New York Times asked.
“Nothing that was thought too concerning. He had been complaining of a headache all week that had gradually gotten worse which is really the only complaint he mentioned. At this point, we don’t know if that’s related to this morning’s tragic event.”
“What about the First Lady?” another reporter asked.
“She was taken to the hospital at the same time as the President, though she wasn’t with him when he collapsed. She’ll be residing here for the time being and I’ll continue to live at the Naval Observatory until arrangements can be made to move into White House but no timetable has been set up yet.”
“Did the President see the latest video from ISIS before he died?”
“Yes, unfortunately, he did. I say unfortunately as this was one of the last things he saw. For the career he had and the life he led, I think it’s too bad that that hideous video was among the last things he saw.”
“So, is that an accurate video?” the Fox News’ White House correspondent asked.
“I can’t comment on the entire video but I can confirm that the women in the video are indeed Secretary Johnson and Lieutenant Colonel Susan Marshall. She was the co-pilot of the Secretaries’ plane.”
“Chris, so what happened that the Secretaries are hostages of ISIS?” another correspondent asked.
“Last night, we received confirmation that the Secretaries’ plane was forced down late yesterday afternoon at Batman air base in extreme southeastern Turkey.”
“What do you mean, ‘forced down?’”
“As we currently understand it, they were jumped by four F-16s based out of Batman. You have all heard of the unrest in Turkey that started yesterday afternoon. We called the Secretaries home right away but we had no expectation at all that much of Turkey’s air force would join with ISIS.”
“Didn’t they have any type of escort in the region?” another correspondent asked out.
“Yes they did — a pair of Eagles and a pair Raptors were in the region but, like I said, ISIS’s fighters got the jump on them.”
“Chris, that doesn’t make any sense. How do four Vipers get a jump on a pair of Raptors? The Vipers can’t even see the Raptors on radar?” another reporter asked.
“The Raptors were in the region but were not expecting any problems. The Secretaries’ plane flew directly over Batman so they flew directly into the Vipers’ path. Once intercepted, a single Raptor shot down all four of the Vipers, too late for the Secretaries, unfortunately.”
“Chris, if I can follow up, you haven’t answered my question: what do you mean when you said they were ‘forced down’?”
“At least one of the F-16s fired their cannon at the Secretaries’ plane, taking out one of the engines and then shooting the cabin full of holes.”
“Oh, my God!” several correspondents cried out.
“What about casualties?”
“We don’t have a full accounting but I can confirm that Colonel Bob McKenzie, the pilot of the aircraft, was killed. We have already contacted his family so they are aware of this. There were several other fatalities and injured, but again, we do not have a full accounting. We only know of Colonel McKenzie’s death as Secretary Axelsson helped Colonel Susan Marshall fly the crippled plane.”
“Have their families been notified? I’d hate to think of them waking up on a Saturday morning to see their wives and mothers in this video.”
“Yes, we have notified the families of each of them. That was among the first things President Donner ordered this morning.”
“What about the bombs they showed in the video? Are these really our nuclear bombs?” another correspondent asked.
“I cannot comment on that.”
“What do you mean? Those bombs in the cargo hold of the plane are definitely American — the labeling on each one is pretty clear.”
“As I said, I simply cannot comment.”
“In other words, it’s another mission for the SEALs,” simply a statement from another reporter.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Thompson replied. “You know as well as I do that ISIS is nothing more than a propaganda machine. Plus, ISIS has more than demonstrated their penchant for video editing.”
“I understand that,” the reporter replied, “it’s just that the pictures of the bombs in this instance looked incredibly authentic, right down to some of the serial numbers on them.”
“Like I said, I can’t comment on this.”