“The IR is going to conduct a massive military exercise in December. I believe this exercise is going to be used as a cover for an attack against the Israelis and the 5th Fleet,” said General Branson.
“Hmm, certainly could be. Does the intelligence support your assumption, General?” pondered the President.
Director Rubio suddenly remembered a report he had read two days ago on this topic. “Mr. President, one of our case officers published a report a couple of days ago that mentioned a possible attack against the 5th Fleet and Israel. We had tasked the agent with obtaining more information and I wanted to vet this information further before we briefed it…. I believe General Branson may be onto something. If he has additional information, then it may help us paint a better picture.”
“Thank you, Pat, for bringing us up to speed on what your agent found. It has been a well-known fact that the IR wants to destroy Israel and they believe our continued support and military bases there infringe upon the holiness of the lands of the Prophet. A lot of this does make sense when you picture it all together. I believe you both are right…the IR’s next move is probably going to be against our remaining forces in the Middle East and Israel. If this is the case, we should make preparations for it. Any suggestions?” asked the President.
“My advice is that we work off of the assumption that this is going to happen, and begin to shift specific forces to the area that could quickly be used. We could have a Marine Expeditionary Force conduct a joint military training exercise with the IDF at our base in Eilat. It would also reinforce the naval air station and port. This will place 3,500 Marines and their equipment on the ground prior to a potential attack; at the same time, we should have some of our F35s and F22s conduct a training exercise, enabling us to pre-position additional combat aircraft in Israel.”
“I would also like to add several additional anti-missile defense ships to the George H.W. Bush carrier battle group. We should also move the 6th Fleet out of Naples to Greece; they can quickly be in position if needed,” said Branson as he looked at the faces of everyone in the room, making sure they understood the gravity of what he was saying.
“I am in agreement, Mr. President,” said the National Security Advisor. “It’s better to have the forces in place and ready; if nothing comes of this, then at least our forces were able to get some additional training.”
“All right. Then let’s go ahead with the deployments; perhaps we should also send additional Special Forces teams and/or some airborne units to Italy.”
“We can do that, Mr. President,” replied General Branson as he looked at General Black, who nodded back knowing that these forces would be pulled from his resources.
Ibrahim had received a coded message early in the morning, letting him know it was time to activate his direct action unit. His cell had originally been developed by the Iranian Quds Forces; now that Iran was part of the Islamic Republic, his unit fell under the IR Special Operations and Intelligence Group. Having seen the numerous attacks happening across America, it was only a matter of time until they would activate his unit. Now it was time to let the others know.
“Najim, the attack is on. Get ready while I make the calls; this is going to be a long day.”
Ibrahim had been given some autonomy in determining his unit’s targets. The first target was a big one; the unit was going to attack the central police headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles. They were going to attack and kill as many police officers as possible and then release any prisoners being held. The timeline for the attack was ten minutes; they had exactly that amount of time to kill as many police officers as they could and destroy as much of the building as possible.
Pending their survival, they were going to break into three groups; one group of two people would take one of the Chevy Tahoe’s and drive through the varying valleys surrounding LA County, throwing road flares into the dry underbrush to start as many wild fires as they could. The second group would consist of three people who would also take a Tahoe, but would head to Malibu. Their mission would be to go house to house, killing people in their homes until the police either killed them or they successfully attacked 10 homes. Then they would fade into the background of the city and wait for further orders. The third group was to head towards the Universal Movies Studio and attempt to kill and destroy as much of the compound as possible. This group would be the largest, with the remaining members of the assault team.
Grabbing his cell phone, Ibrahim begin to make the calls to his lieutenants to activate their groups. “Have everyone armed and assembled at our preplanned staging point,” he barked.
Walking down to the basement, he removed a couple of boxes that were obscuring a large black trunk that was somewhat hidden. Pulling out his key, Ibrahim unlocked the trunk and began to do a quick inventory of what he had and what he would need to bring with him. Placing his military grade body armor on, he quickly loaded six magazines of 5.56mm ammunition for his AR15. He grabbed another eight more magazines and placed them in his backpack. Next, he grabbed his Glock 19 and five eighteen round magazines. Before he left with his tools for this mission, he placed six radios with throat mics in his backpack, knowing that his lieutenants would need them.
As Ibrahim pulled into the meeting location with his Suburban, he saw most of the group had already arrived. “Ibrahim, everyone is accounted for except Abu Kassim. We are ready,” said Mohammed, one of his lieutenants.
Getting out of his vehicle, he told Mohammed, “We need to hit these targets fast and stick to the timeline. If we stay at the objectives too long, additional police will arrive and we may not get out.”
“I understand. We are ready when you give the word. Do you think the 20 of us can really pull this off?” Mohammed asked.
“As long as Saïd does not chicken out and detonates his van in front of the police station, that should kill a lot of them.”
“I do not think he will become a coward at the last minute; he has been preparing himself for this moment for a long time and I think he is ready,” replied Mohammed with confidence.
“We shall see.”
Beep, Beep. Ibrahim checked his smartphone and saw the go order from his handler. The time had come for him to do his part in this Holy war against America.
“That’s it — that’s the message. Everyone get ready; we leave in a minute. Saïd, are you ready for your mission?”
“I am ready. I will not let you or Allah down. I will be a martyr for Islam as we bring Allah’s judgment upon America,” Saïd said with a wicked grin on his face and a look of burning rage. Saïd’s father had been killed by an American drone attack when he was just a child. His mother brought him up with one purpose in mind, to avenge his father’s death.
“You will be greatly rewarded, my brother. May we all die as great a death as you will…Now start heading towards your target and complete your mission.”
As their little convoy drove through downtown LA, they could not help but revel in the chaos they were about to cause. Americans had grown fat and lazy; they were more concerned with their own lives and did not notice anything else around them. Then they saw it — a big plume of black smoke rising into the sky just a couple of blocks ahead.
BOOOOMMM!!!!! A large fireball emanated from directly in front of the LA central police station. The utility truck Saïd was driving had been reinforced with bullet proof glass and armor around the passenger compartment to ensure that he survived long enough to detonate the truck. The truck had been loaded with 5,000 lbs. of high explosives and 1,000 lbs. of ball bearings to create additional shrapnel. When he reached the front of the police building, it detonated — the explosion was so powerful, it tore the entire face of the building off along with several buildings across the street. Dozens of people were laying on the pavement and sidewalks, some slowly moving, some discovering the gravity of their wounds. Others lay on the pavement like tossed and torn rag dolls. The screams of pain and cries for help began almost immediately after the shock of the blast wore off.