“I still haven’t heard a request from you, General Buzhazi,” McLanahan said. “Make a request, sir, or this conversation is at an end.”
The computerized translation noted several unintelligible words, interspersed with profanity; then: “Help me, General McLanahan. Send your stealth warplanes, your shadows of steel, and help me destroy the Pasdaran. I am outnumbered over fifty to one. I have killed or wounded a number of Pasdaran infantry when they tried to ambush me at Arān, but I discovered the plot against me and prepared a response. The rest of the Pasdaran are undoubtedly on their way to Qom to finish the job.”
“How many?”
“I estimate the Pasdaran have mobilized three infantry battalions, possibly one armored battalion, and one helicopter assault battalion against us,” Buzhazi responded.
“Five battalions?” Sparks exclaimed. “Almost an entire Pasdaran division up against a few insurgents? There’s no way Buzhazi’s going to survive, no matter how good or lucky he is.”
“What about the regular army, General?” Patrick asked.
“The regular army has not been mobilized and remains in their garrisons,” Buzhazi responded. “We have intercepted communications between Tehran and the military districts commanding them to begin mobilizing for battle.”
“Will they join the Pasdaran?”
“If my forces are crushed, everything stays as before — they will stay quietly under the heel of the Pasdaran or face being purged,” Buzhazi said. “But if my forces appear as if they might prevail, they may join the revolution. I have attempted contact with several friends in the regular armed forces, but none have responded, so I do not know if I shall receive any help at all from anyone.”
“Why should the United States join you if the regular army, the forces you once commanded, won’t?” Jonas Sparks asked.
“Who is this? Identify yourself.”
“This is National Security Adviser General Jonas Sparks, General Buzhazi,” Sparks said. “What does the United States get in return for helping you?”
“You would want to see the clerical regime crushed too, I think, General Sparks.”
“Only to be replaced by someone like you, General?” Sparks thundered. “You’re the one who tried to close off the Persian Gulf to every warship except yours. You were ready to destroy an American aircraft carrier with nuclear weapons…!”
“All that was eleven years ago, Sparks,” the translated text read. “The only thing that has not changed is the bloodthirsty nature of the clerical regime. You know they have nuclear weapons, Sparks — they have many more than when I was chief of staff, and the Pasdaran is more ready than ever to use them.”
“What makes you better than the clerics or the Pasdaran? Frankly, I don’t see much difference between you.”
“Do not let your bigotry against all Iranians blind you, Sparks,” Buzhazi said. “The difference between us is I want Iran to succeed, flourish, and prosper — the current administration and the clerics only want themselves and their twisted brand of Islam to flourish, at the expense of all else. I want Iran to stop all foreign intrigue, stop sponsoring terrorism and revolution in other countries in the name of Islam, and stop threatening its neighbors. Iran can be the desert flower of southwest Asia and take its place among the great powers of the world if the theocracy can be defeated.”
“How do we know this isn’t some trick?” Sparks asked. “You’d like nothing better than to shoot down a stealth bomber, spy plane, or special ops transport over Qom, wouldn’t you, Buzhazi? You’d become the defender of the holy city, the hero of Islam, the sword of Allah avenging the ass-whupping you got eleven years ago. You’d get your stars and your command back and look real good in the eyes of the ayatollah if you sucker-punched the United States, isn’t that right, Buzhazi?” They waited for a response, but nothing came. “The bastard hung up. Confront him with the truth, and he runs scared. It’s a bluff, Mr. President. He’s got something up his sleeve.”
“It sounded to me like he was desperate, General,” Patrick said.
“If half of what he said is true, I’ll bet he’s desperate,” the President said. He put away the tablet PC translator, rubbed his eyes wearily, then said, “A lack of judgment or poor planning on Buzhazi’s part doesn’t constitute an emergency on my part, no matter how interesting or important the opportunities may be. General Sparks.”
“Sir?”
“Meet with the National Security Council staff right away and come up with some recommendations,” the President ordered. “If you don’t have the intelligence data you need to make a decision, get it as quickly as you can. I’d like to hear your thoughts as soon as possible.”
Patrick knew right away that the President was done thinking about this topic — he was intentionally vague about when he wanted anything, and he wasn’t talking about a “plan of action” as he normally did — he was asking for “thoughts” and “recommendations,” which were something entirely different. This development was definitely going on the back burner unless he did something. He quickly interjected, “Sir, in the meantime, may I recommend…”
“Patrick, talk it over with General Sparks at his earliest opportunity,” the President said distractedly. “He’ll assemble all the recommendations from the Joint Chiefs together with State and other sources and present all possible options to me, including yours. I’ve gotta move on to other issues. Thanks, everyone.” That was the unmistakable signal that the meeting was at an end.
As they filed out of the Oval Office, National Security Adviser Sparks pushed past McLanahan. “Excuse me, sir,” Patrick said, “but I’d like a minute to brief you on…”
“Have it on my computer in an hour, McLanahan,” Sparks interjected impatiently, “and I don’t mean the spaceplanes — I want a plan of action from you using the Air Battle Force unmanned and manned bombers and ground forces at Battle Mountain. If it’s not on there in an hour, it won’t factor in.”
“It’ll be there, sir,” Patrick said. “About the nomination to HAWC…”
“Jesus, McLanahan, don’t I have enough to chew on right now?” Sparks thundered. Over his shoulder, he spat, “Send me a full written proposal, a command itinerary report, an outline of all the projects ongoing at HAWC, a staffing and budget proposal, and your full medical report and summary from the attending physicians on my computer regarding their opinions for your suitability for a command nomination. When things calm down I’ll look at it…but I don’t anticipate that happening any time soon.”
Brigadier General Mansour Sattari joined Major General Buzhazi in the minaret tower attached to the mosque of the Khomeini Library. It was just an hour or so before dawn, and the first glow of sunrise was already starting to illuminate the sky. “Are you ever going to let proper lookouts back up here, sir?” he asked him. “We’re not that far away that a good sniper couldn’t get a shot off at you in daylight.”
“I’ve never been in one of these crier’s towers before,” Buzhazi said. He was busy scanning the terrain all around them with a pair of binoculars. Two soldiers accompanied him, one with a sniper rifle. “Have you?”
“No. I’ve been told I have the voice of a muezzin, but I was never that religious.”
“Your voice was made for barking orders, not calling the faithful to prayer.”
“I agree, sir.” Sattari motioned out to the outer walls of the Khomeini Library compound. “There’s no doubt that the Khomeini Library was designed as a fortress,” he observed. “Three-meter tall, meter-thick walls; narrow roads with clear fields of fire and no hiding places; entryways too narrow for most armored vehicles to pass; gates made of thick rolled steel obviously designed for functionality and not just for decoration; and another one-hundred-meter-wide clear zone inside the wall to the main building.”