Waleed frowned and shook his head. “I like your enthusiasm. But does Al-Nahda seriously expect us to pit our small armored force up against the Saudis alone?”
Bilal shook his head. “I would not be wasting your time if they had said so in our last meeting.”
Waleed looked up sharply. “Yes, and who will join us?”
Bilal looked distinctly unhappy and replied, “He refused to say.” Seeing Waleed’s expression, he quickly added, “But he promised to tell us if we commit to attacking once the Saudis are hit by their nuclear weapons. He added we would have to get the details to coordinate the attack.”
Waleed grunted. “You mean to be sure we don’t shoot each other instead of the Saudis.”
Bilal smiled. “That is in fact close to his exact words.”
Waleed shook his head. “And do we have any real chance to make it to Riyadh? Even if much of their armor is committed in Yemen, they still have planes armed with Hellfire missiles that could make short work of our tanks.”
Bilal nodded. “But we do have thirty-six F-15s, thirty-six Rafales, twenty-four Eurofighter Typhoons, and twelve Mirage 2000s available to fly cover.
Anyone attacking our force will pay a heavy price.”
Waleed grunted. “I think our F-15s and Typhoons still have the price stickers in the windows, and I think that’s also true for a dozen of the Rafales.
Just how experienced are our pilots with their planes?”
Bilal shrugged. “You know the answer — not very. Before we told the Americans they were no longer welcome in Qatar, we did participate in some joint strike missions against ISIS. All of the pilots who carried out those missions are now serving as flight instructors, as well as pilots who received advanced air combat training in the US and UK. We also have a few flight trainers for the Typhoons from the Royal Air Force, and some retired French Air Force pilots for the Rafales and the Mirage 2000s.”
Bilal paused. “I have faith in our pilots. I believe they will give our enemies a very unpleasant surprise.”
Waleed nodded. “Very well. Now, the key question- what does Al-Nahda want to achieve by attacking the Saudis? And why would anyone else join us in attacking them? Obviously, nobody else really cares about our desire to end the blockade of our country. So, what does anyone else have to gain?”
Bilal looked uneasy. “You’re right. I’ve wondered the same thing. The Al-Nahda representative has talked in vague terms about the need to end the royal family’s tyranny, and bring democracy to the Saudi people. But I have heard little about plans for internal uprisings, and much more about armor and air attacks from outside the Kingdom.”
Bilal paused. “So, should we abandon this path?”
Waleed shrugged. “Before the Saudis launched their first blockade, I would have rejected Al-Nahda’s approach out of hand. Even after this second, I am still frankly unsure. On the one hand, will the Saudis attack us once they are done with Yemen? Is this alliance with Al-Nadha our only hope to keep our independence? Or will Al-Nahda prove untrustworthy, and make us squander our limited military assets while leaving the Saudis no choice but to end Qatar’s existence?”
Bilal nodded. “There is a middle way. We can tell Al-Nadha we are committed to their plan, and find out more about this mysterious armored force that is to join us in our drive to Riyadh. I can also press for more details about what happens after we succeed, obviously assuming we do. If we don’t like what we hear, we can end it then. If we do, we will wait until the promised nuclear attacks. If they fail, or if Al-Nahda lies and does inflict mass casualties, we can still stay put.”
Waleed still looked unsure, but finally said, “Agreed. Let me know what you learn. In the meantime, we will continue our military preparations. They will serve equally well as preparation for attacking the Saudis, or defending us from their attack.”
Guardian Colonel Bijan Turani yanked open the door to the laboratory where he had been summoned by a senior technician named Arash Gul. One who would soon take up residence in Evin Prison if, as Bijan suspected, he was wasting his time.
“So, what was so important that I had to…” Bijan’s voice trailed off as he took in the thick cable stretching the length of the laboratory, and the section propped up midway on a metal table. The cable’s black casing had been sliced open, revealing additional smaller multi-colored casings inside. One of these interior casings had been sliced open as well, and the thin glass fibers inside it attached to an electronic device covered with lights and digital readouts. A small cable snaking from the device was attached to a nearby PC, and its screen displayed data that meant nothing to Bijan.
But he imagined he was about to get an explanation.
“You will recall several months ago you asked me for help in avoiding detection by automated border monitoring systems, specifically at the Saudi land borders. I suggested we put a notice on the dark web saying we would pay well for such information, without of course identifying us,” Arash said.
Bijan nodded impatiently.
Seemingly undeterred, Arash continued. “I also recommended that we not say we were interested in defeating the sensors at the Saudi land borders specifically, to avoid alerting them. The Saudis don’t have the capacity to monitor dark web traffic in detail, but their American allies do.”
Finally, Arash appeared to notice Bijan’s impatience was moving quickly to anger.
“I am pleased to report that we have finally been contacted by someone who says he has information that can help you. I paid the small sum of about ten thousand US dollars in cryptocurrency for the first part of his information, and you see the results of that here before you. For full details of how to defeat the sensors, he wants one million US dollars. I am not authorized to pay such a large amount, so I thought you should see what we have so far in detail.”
Bijan took a deep breath and nodded.
"Very well. You have acted correctly. So, what am I looking at here?”
Bijan asked.
Arash pointed at the exposed section of cable. “This is a fiber optic cable, of the precise type the man says is used to carry sensor data from the Saudi land border to their military headquarters in Riyadh. For ten thousand dollars he also gave us instructions on how to tap into the cable, and tamper with the data being transmitted. In short, he recommends recording data being sent through the cable over the time period needed, and then repeating it.”
Bijan grunted. “And you have confirmed that the instructions work?”
Arash nodded. “Just as he said. I could easily train any of your military communications technicians to do the work.”
Bijan frowned. “So, why am I going to pay another one million dollars?”
Arash shrugged. “For the precise GPS coordinates of the buried cable. He claims to have been one of the contractors who did the installation.”
Bijan pursed his lips thoughtfully. “This could be just a clever story, with nothing waiting for us at the GPS coordinates but sand.”
Arash nodded. “I said exactly that in our last exchange. He said he is willing to take half now, and the other half after we confirm the GPS coordinates. However, he recommends against that approach.”
Bijan smiled. “I’m sure he does. Why?”
Arash shrugged again. “Well, he says that if you dig up the cable once to confirm its location and then again when you really need to, your chances of discovery go way up.”
Bijan laughed. “Maybe so, but why not get the coordinates, use them when we need to and then never pay him the rest?”