“Colonel Arkin commands the render-safe special mission unit based here at Bagram,” Culler said. “His operations staff is preparing for a takedown of this facility. This operation will be conducted by a small number of JSOC personnel supported by Night Stalker helicopter crews.”
Specially trained by the DOE’s Nuclear Emergency Search Team scientists, the JSOC WMD render-safe units are composed of SEALs, Delta Force operators, and Night Stalkers, and supported by Rangers and paratroopers. They’re tasked with securing nuclear facilities and weapons, and neutralizing terrorist WMDs. On the American East Coast, these units rehearsed takedown scenarios on elaborate mock-ups of Pakistani, North Korean, and former Soviet nuclear sites. For the past decade, a render-safe team was stationed in Afghanistan, ready to seize the Pakistani nuclear arsenal in the event of a jihadist takeover in that country.
During his initial briefing with Arkin, Culler omitted many details. The JSOC officer knew only that this was a routine counterproliferation op against a Taliban WMD facility in a remote region of Tajikistan. Arkin may have suspected a connection with the recent news of the CIA officers killed in Tajikistan, but he kept any speculation to himself.
Culler began discussing with Poacher bringing in other CIA paramilitary units already stationed in Afghanistan.
“Sideshow can do it,” Poacher asserted, dismissing the suggestion, wanting to keep the operation small. He and Reaper had taken part in JSOC render safe training exercises and had experience with this type of op. “We won’t need detection or retrieval gear. We already know the HEU is on-site, and we know what to look for. As long as they haven’t broken the seals on those cylinders yet and started making bombs, which doesn’t appear to be the case, according to the FORTE data, we can operate without fear of contamination.”
“Just the four of you?” asked Culler, incredulously.
“I’m going, too,” Avery said.
“Oh, like hell you are, not in your condition.” Culler nearly jumped out of his chair. “I read the medical report. A concussion. Two cracked ribs. A hairline fractured vertebrae. A bruised kidney that will have you pissing blood for the next week. You’re in no shape to do anything. Frankly, you shouldn’t even be sitting in on this meeting.”
“My legs are working just fine, and I can still shoot.” Avery turned to Poacher. “You know I’m good for it.”
Poacher wasn’t so sure about that, but he didn’t want to argue. Plus, truth was, he could use Avery’s skill set. The target’s external security may have been soft, but they had no way of knowing what kind of opposition they’d face inside the factory. Litvin’s people were well-trained, and the Taliban were fanatical, dedicated fighters.
“It’s alright. I can vouch for him, Matt. I can use an extra body, and I’m comfortable taking him along. And I’m going to make it clear: I’m the one running Sideshow’s portion of the op. I’ll keep him in line.”
Avery started to open his mouth, but then thought better of responding.
Culler begrudgingly agreed, leaving Avery to wonder why he’d acquiesced so easily.
After further discussion, mostly coordination between the CIA unit and Arkin, they ended the briefing.
After Arkin left, Culler held the others back.
“There’s something else I need to tell you, another component to your mission that no one outside of this room will ever be made aware of.” He paused to make sure he held everyone’s full attention. “Cramer arrived at the processing plant with Litvin this morning.”
No one said a word, but Avery understood now why Culler hadn’t put up more of a fight about his joining the team.
“JSOC cannot find Cramer alive at this facility,” Culler said. The special operations community was a small one, and at least a few members of the render safe team, most of them veterans of Afghanistan, would likely recognize Cramer if they saw him. Even those who didn’t would probably recognize him from recent news reports and intelligence briefings. Of course the JSOC men could be counted on to keep a secret, but D/NCS didn’t want word of Cramer’s treason spreading. “It’s one thing if his body is recovered from the facility. He’s already supposed to be dead, after all, killed by allies of the Taliban. But the bottom line is Cramer needs to be eliminated before Arkin’s team goes in. That’s why your team is going in first.”
There was heavy silence as Avery and the Sideshow team processed this. They’d never been ordered to kill one of their own before. Personally, Avery didn’t have a problem with it, not after what he’d seen at Ayni and in Minsk. But he knew Poacher and the others wouldn’t be ready to kill a fellow American and brother warrior.
“If you don’t feel you’re able to do this, then better to tell me now,” Culler said after no one responded. “Hell, I’m not sure I could do it. I don’t even like having to give the order, but it needs to be done. This man is an enemy of the United States of America, plain and simple.”
“We’ll handle it,” Avery assured him and letting the Sideshow crew know that, if it came down to it, he’d be willing to pull the trigger.
“Rules of engagement concerning the other principals?” asked Poacher.
“I’m unconcerned with what happens to Litvin or Arzad,” Culler said. “Arzad’s name is still on the president’s kill list, and Litvin is certainly no friend to the United States. If he gets away from this unscathed, he’ll run back to Russia and continue arming terrorists.”
“It’s actually a nice opportunity to take out Litvin,” Mockingbird said. “The Russians aren’t going to make a big protest at the UN about a terrorist WMD factory that has their fingerprints all over it, and they can’t defend Litvin if he’s found there. They’ll keep quiet about everything and pray that we do, too.”
“That’s what the president is counting on,” Culler said.
They spent the next couple hours poring over the satellite and Predator pictures of the plant and formulating a comprehensive plan of attack.
“When do we go in?” Avery asked.
“Tonight,” Culler said.
“What’s our method of insertion?” Poacher asked.
TWENTY-FIVE
The Mi-8 Hip, painted in desert tan, was one of dozens of former Soviet aircraft that the Special Activities Division’s Air Branch retained for operations in places like Afghanistan, Libya, and Somalia, where this type of helicopter was still widely used, making it a familiar sight for locals. When the US conducted offensive military operations against another country, the first thing it did was destroy that country’s air defense systems, forcing the enemy to rely on visual contact. Therefore the Mi-8 allowed American operatives to travel freely and slip past the enemy. CIA also used the aircraft to deliver case officers to remote, isolated villages to reach agents in otherwise dangerous, inaccessible areas, or for covert insertions, like the one presently delivering Avery and Sideshow from Bagram Air Base into Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Province.
Although looking well past its prime and barely fit for flight, the helicopter had upgraded avionics and radar packages, including forward looking infrared (FLIR) sensors for night flying and an electronic warfare suite for jamming enemy radar. SAD Air Branch had also installed new titanium blades.
The Mi-8 entered Tajikistan at 20:35, with a second, identical Hip not far behind. After EAGLE CLAW, the disastrous 1979 operation to rescue the American embassy hostages in Iran, special operations forces always deployed with backup aircraft and their own specially trained pilots and flight crews.
Tajikistan lacked the sophisticated, modern air defense radar that had been in place around Syria’s al-Kibar facility. The Tajiks’ systems were early Soviet-era, largely inoperable and centered primarily on Dushanbe, but the SAD Air Branch pilots nonetheless flew low to the ground, nap-of-the-earth, following the contours of the low mountains and deep valleys, giving their passenger a gut-churning ride, while avoiding the major villages and roads. With near zero visibility, the pilots relied almost entirely on their instruments and FLIR to prevent hitting a mountainside or canyon wall.