“Not really,” Falcon answered. “As you can see, the building’s very isolated and its set back about fifty meters from the street. The lot behind the warehouse is completely fenced with guards all over the place during the day. They slack off quite a bit at night.”
“What about inside?”
“They worked all last night, well, Friday night, but we haven’t seen anyone in there since early this evening. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a guard or two inside.”
“I can’t imagine them not having someone inside. What about dogs?” Jackson asked.
“Haven’t seen any at all, or heard any for that matter. Our best opportunity to get in’s going to be on the east side of the lot. It’s still fenced but there’re several open gates and several of these buildings here, offer a fair amount of concealment,” Falcon added, pointing to the right side of the image.
“Okay, east side it is, plus, if they’ve got a few open gates, that’s going to rule out any dogs — that’s a good thing.”
“Next question, have you seen this man?” Arielle asked Falcon, bringing up a picture of Kayani.
“Yeah, he looks familiar. We saw him several times yesterday but haven’t seen him since he left with a small convoy late yesterday afternoon.”
“Convoy?” Arielle asked, looking at Jackson. “What convoy?”
“They had two trucks, similar to the trucks your army uses and they had two Humvees in front and back, looking like some sort of escort.”
“These trucks haven’t returned, have they?” she followed up.
“No, we haven’t seen them since.”
“Okay, sure sounds like this is the right spot then. The man is Dr. Mohammad Kayani. He’s their nuclear engineer. And, if they loaded two trucks yesterday and took them out of here under escort, it would definitely seem like we have the right spot. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about where this convoy went, would you?”
“No, we simply didn’t have the resources to follow it.”
“Chaos, we might have a problem,” Arielle said turning to Jackson. “Those trucks are just big enough to hold probably four of the B-61s at a time. That means they might have moved eight of the bombs and with Kayani involved, he probably already has them fully functional. I need to get into that warehouse.”
“Okay, Falcon, you’re up. How do we get her in without alerting the guards?”
“Follow me,” Falcon replied as Arielle, Jackson and two of Falcon’s men followed from their concealed spot in a narrow alley behind a couple buildings off of the street. “We’ll have a stretch of about 25 yards of open ground but as long as it’s still dark, we shouldn’t have a problem. I haven’t seen a single yard light. We’re going in around the back loading dock. They have several doors here and locks have not appeared to be a problem. Once we get in, I’ll lead the way and one of my guys will guard the door.”
“That’s fine. Remember, this is strictly a recon mission. We can’t afford to tip them off that we’re here.”
“Understood,” Falcon replied. “Recon only. Everyone ready?”
“Lead on,” Arielle replied, as she adjusted her backpack and tightened her ponytail.
“Okay, we’re in,” Falcon advised Jackson just as he arrived at the back door. “You’d think they’d have more secure locks if they’re guarding something so important. Arielle’s already inside.”
“Or, they’ve got guards inside, as well, which I suspect will be the case,” Jackson added. “Let’s go.”
“Chaos, we hit the mother lode!” Arielle whispered over their headset soon after they entered the warehouse. “They’ve got everything here — weapons, ammo, grenades, you name it.”
“What about the nukes?”
“They look to be in an opposite corner from the guards. I’m heading over there now,” Arielle whispered over the radio.
“Falcon, what do we have for guards?” Jackson whispered.
“I’ve got one in what appears to be an office and there’s a couple more watching what looks like a rerun of a soccer match,” Falcon replied. “They’re pretty relaxed for what’s all here.”
“Falcon, is there an exit over by Arielle?” Jackson whispered.
“Looks like a couple overhead doors, but that’s it.”
“Okay, Arielle, be careful over there.”
“Right. Chaos, I’ve got twenty-six bombs here, most of them are still assembled and in the racks they were loaded on for shipping, though, it looks like they’re in the middle of working on several of them.”
“Can you tell what they’re doing?” Jackson asked.
“They’ve got six of these pretty well torn down….” Arielle began as she looked over the dismantled weapons, noticing that the rear-subassembly component on each bomb had been disassembled. “Oh, my God,” she whispered to herself as an arctic chill suddenly enveloped her.
“What’s the matter?” Stonewall asked hearing her whisper.
“Stonewall, we’ve got a problem. They’ve figured out how to arm these things. They’re working on some of the pre-flight arming controls in the rear subassembly. They’d have to work on this if they want to deploy them with Turkey’s F-16s. Looks like we have our answer as to what their intention is.”
“Okay, confirm twenty-six bombs, right.”
“Right… two-six, twenty-six—
“Arielle, one of the guards is headed your way,” Falcon suddenly warned.
“I see him,” Arielle replied. “Has he seen me?”
“I don’t think so,” Falcon advised.
“I got him,” Arielle advised. “Chaos, watch the other guards, I’ve got this one.”
“Falcon, what about the others?” Jackson whispered.
“One’s still in the office, the other’s glued to the TV.”
“Chaos, we got trouble. He’s going to find me if he keeps coming this direction. I’m too restricted in where I can go,” Arielle warned.
“Copy that. Falcon, keep an eye on the other two. Make sure no one gets word out of here.”
“What’s this…” is all the guard got out as he turned into the gap between two racks of the B-61s. Arielle had pulled out her Ari B’Lilah tactical knife and thrust it into the left side of the guard’s upper left chest, severing the aorta.
“Guard one is down,” Arielle whispered over the radio as she quietly lowered him to the ground.
“Roger that,” came the reply from Chaos. “Falcon, keep an eye on the other two. I’m going to help Arielle with the guard — we need to hide that guy as best we can and then we need to take out the other two. Word’s going to get out but we need to delay it as long as possible. We can’t risk them discovering this guy and calling for help.”
“Both guards still oblivious to everything. Get busy.”
“You guys got everything situated?” Falcon asked. “Looks like there’s a lull in the match.”
“Ahmad, what’s taking so long? The match’s almost over?” the guard hollered out.
No answer.
“Hey Ahmad, what’s taking so long?”
The only reply the guard heard was the sound of a couple spare parts Arielle rolled across the floor to get his attention.
“Ahmad?!” the guard called out, now much more cautiously.
“Chaos, he’s headed your way, pistol in hand.”
“I see him,” Chaos replied looking around several ammunition pallets.
“I got him if he turns your way. You take him if turns my way,” Arielle whispered to Chaos as they crouched opposite each other across the aisle created by the ammo pallets.
“He’s almost on you two,” Falcon advised. “The guard in the office remains oblivious.”
Five seconds later, the guard turned the corner towards Stonewall. Before he could react, Arielle placed her left hand across the guard’s mouth and with her right hand, the Ari B’Lilah severed the guard’s trachea, and carotid and jugular blood vessels.