Back in CIC, Captain Hardy waited until Adams had walked around the command center, checking on the execution of his orders, patting the seamen on their shoulders. Then Hardy quietly asked the Fifth Fleet commander, “What modification to the plan?”
“The one the Gulf allies got from me last week,” Adams mumbled while reading a message board. “The one approved at CENTCOM headquarters by General Bobby Doyle.”
“Not by the CinC, General Moore?” Hardy asked.
“Bobby’s the J-F. He can approve plans, Johnny.” Adams smiled.
“And did you also arrange to have the entire goddamn Indian Navy, including its two little aircraft carriers, sortie out to trap the Chinese in between our two fleets, Admiral?” Captain Hardy whispered back.
“You overestimate me, Johnny. I think maybe Secretary Conrad had that little maneuver planned. God only knows what he gave them to do it.” The admiral laughed as he handed Hardy the message board. “But that’s not why the Chinese turned back. Look at the message traffic. The government of the Islamic Republic of Islamyah formally requested that the Chinese terminate their military assistance program and withdraw all Chinese military personnel. Abdullah bin Rashid’s office announced it publicly late last night!”
“No fuckin’ way — ah, excuse my French, sir,” Hardy said, flustered.
Admiral Haggerty joined the discussion. “Looks like I missed something. Anyway… Admiral Adams, shall I send a message to Tampa and Washington telling them what we’re doing?”
“Of course, Frank, that’s standard operating procedure. And we always follow standard operating procedure. Bring it to me to sign out,” he said, looking at his watch, “in about a half hour or so. I’m going out to watch the air wing launch. Maybe after that.”
Haggerty and Rucker both laughed. Haggerty saluted. “Aye, aye, sir.”
The Iranians may bomb the Ministry of Defense, but I doubt they will attack this bank,” the Bahraini Defense Minister, General Ibrahim, said to Brian Douglas. “And from here we have good lines of sight and communication.” Behind him, soldiers were connecting radios and telephones, setting up long-range telescopes and television monitors. Below, in the city, Brian could see fires and smoke rising from several locations throughout the area, where the predawn Iranian air raid had penetrated the Bahraini air defenses.
“We are protecting the mouth of the port with patrol craft, divers, our frigate, and a U.S. cutter. And we and the Americans laid a minefield last night. The Americans SEALs are assisting. They did not sail away with everything,” the Bahraini general said, pointing to the east.
“How much damage did the Iranians do at the air base?” Douglas asked. Sheik Issa Air Base was behind them to the south, a view blocked from where they stood.
“Pretty bad, but we had rolled some of our F-16s off the base and moved others to the corners of the International Airport, so we still have eight or nine F-16s operational,” the Bahraini general admitted. “We expect the Iranian landing to be at the northern beach area, and that’s where I have most of the army. We have some American-built multiple launcher rocket systems, and I have them aimed there.”
The sky was turning from black to gray in the north, the direction from which the attack would come. In the east, fingers of light pink were appearing on the scattered clouds as the sun began to rise. “I have a visual. I can see their fleet,” an officer yelled in Arabic. Brian looked through his telescope. He could see through the midst the hulk of a destroyer and then a smaller warship to the west. Then, between the two, he saw water sprays, and below the sprays fast-moving hydrofoils laden with armored vehicles and trucks. “They will be within range in two minutes,” Ibrahim said. The sun broke the horizon and shone brightly, blinding those who looked east. Brian slipped on his polarized sunglasses just as the flying wedge of American F-35 Enforcers appeared from out of the sun. He swung the telescope around and focused in on the aircraft. They were smooth, with no external missiles, bombs, or fuel tanks. As he focused the lenses, missiles shot forward from inside the aircraft. To the north, Iranian MiG-29s appeared over the ships. To the west, the first wave of Bahraini rockets soared up from the MLRSes near the beach. Brian looked north again. Almost simultaneously, the Enforcers’ missiles hit several ships, the rockets from the beach smashed into other ships, and Iranian aircraft exploded in midair. Above and behind the Enforcers, a line of Air Force Raptors were firing on the MiGs. As he tried to make out Raptors, Brian saw an Enforcer explode, hit by a missile from one of the MiGs. Then the windows shook as something blew up at the mouth of the harbor. A ship had hit one of the mines.
“I guess the Iranians lacked the element of surprise,” Ibrahim said to Douglas, “thanks to you.”
“General, I’d say it’s beginning to look like maybe two of the three scorpions have been stopped at the gate,” Douglas replied.
From behind Ibrahim, another rocket volley shot up from the beach. “By the way, Brian, the Shi’a imam from their big mosque is on the beach urging on our troops, along with our Crown Prince,” the general said, giving himself a thumbs-up.
Sweeping west from behind the bank tower, Douglas saw the contrails of another group of Enforcers and Raptors speeding west. Iranian MiGs flew after them, firing missiles. Douglas turned to General Ibrahim. “What Churchill would have given for a view like this over London during the Battle of Britain!”
“May we fare as well as he did,” the general replied. “Inshallah.”
The windows shook again, and below them, a wing of the Bahraini palace exploded.
Meanwhile, off the coast, the bulk of the Iranian force was heading toward Islamyah’s beaches. Hovercraft carrying light armored vehicles and trucks flew just above the water and then just above the sand as they came ashore. Above Islamyah’s beaches, Iran’s MiGs and Sukhois were dogfighting again with the American- and Britishorigin fighters that Islamyah could still get to fly. What had been the Royal Saudi Air Force was significantly smaller in number now because of cannibalizing for parts, and the Iranians were winning the air combat by putting more fighters up than Islamyah could, even over its own territory.
Behind the hovercraft came rehabilitated amphibious landing craft, disgorging troops into the surf. Islamyah’s forces rained artillery and tank fire down on the landing zone with deadly results, but some Iranian troops were getting ashore and off the beaches. Islamyah had more shoreline to defend than Bahrain and so the defense forces were more spread out. Iranian special forces employing mini-subs and semisubmersibles were placing commandos ashore in port areas, their goal to seize control of facilities for Iranian ferries and Ro-Ros to dock.
It was not going well for Islamyah. The general in charge of the Protectors in the Eastern Province, in a bunker in Dhahran, was beginning to think he would have no choice but to order his units to fall back to regroup against the Iranians, when he received reports that several Iranian troop-carrying ships had just exploded offshore. Seconds later, Islamyah’s AWACS reported that another wave of Iranian fighters coming across the Gulf had also erupted.
What was going on? Islamyah’s forces were not responsible for this, the general knew. There were no solid radar images of any new Air Force units arriving. Who was killing the Iranians?
Then the Iranian flagship Zaros was reported hit. In his Dhahran bunker, the general turned to the chief of his battle staff, who grinned and said, “I just picked up their comms, sir. It’s Enforcers. Raptors.”