“And a breaking news update on that other Iran story… the violent attack that has killed a top Iranian politician and his wife, who we have now learned is the niece of the Iranian Supreme Leader… The Iranian government has stated that they now have indisputable DNA evidence linking the American government to the attack. They have provided a name — Tom Connolly — a man Iran claims was the CIA operative who was behind the gruesome attack that left over two dozen dead. The US State Department has condemned the attack but has yet to put out a formal statement regarding this new DNA evidence.”
“Mr. Manning, do you understand what I have said, sir?” the man in the European accent was talking to him.
David was nodding, but he hadn’t heard anything. Henry was screaming bloody murder about a lawyer.
“Mr. Manning, you are being charged under international law for acts of terrorism. You have confessed to these acts. Would you like to make a statement?”
David was numb. “I… I would like to speak to my wife.”
“I’m afraid that is not possible at this time. If you please, step this way.”
The Australians helped to haul Henry and David into the jail cell. There was a wooden bench, two small foam mattresses, and a toilet out in the open. A roll of toilet paper sat on the ground. Iron bars on three sides. A concrete wall on the far side.
The European man said, “I am Philippe Shek and I work for Interpol. I now have custody over the two of you. You are not to speak with anyone but me. Anything you say can be used against you when you are tried.” He walked out of the door, dialing a number on his cell phone as he left. Two Australian men remained, sitting at the desk. They turned up the TV.
Outside the jail, Philippe spoke on his phone.
Lundy said, “Excellent job, Philippe. Lena was right about you.”
“No problem, Mr. Lundy.”
Bob Crowley’s voice. “Mr. Shek, can you assure us that they won’t be able to communicate with anyone for the next few weeks? This will be very important to us. If you have any doubt about that, we may need to look at more permanent measures to solve that communication problem.”
Lundy. “What Mr. Crowley is saying is that we—”
Philippe said, “I understand perfectly what Mr. Crowley is saying. I have worked with Lena before. I assure you that I am one hundred percent reliable for her purposes. I’ll need to transport them through multiple countries on the way back to the US. Manning and Glickstein will be tied up and unavailable for several weeks as many of these countries often will have jurisdictional issues, especially as additional criminal charges may crop up.”
“Excellent. That will do nicely, Philippe.”
The two Australian guards were glued to the news. So were David and Henry.
Iranian authorities are claiming that weapons on the ground were made by both Israeli and American manufacturers.
The headline at the bottom of the screen read MASSACRE IN IRAN and had a subtitle of AMERICAN CIA AGENT IMPLICATED.
David whispered to Henry, “None of that was supposed to happen for a year. I mean, this was all thought up just a couple of weeks ago. There’s no way—”
The newscaster’s voice said, “Iranians are claiming that they have information linking US intelligence operative Thomas Connolly to the scene, where the Iranians were brutally slaughtered. The car carried…” The anchorwoman read off several Iranian names that David didn’t recognize, then said, “… the mother of the two children is the niece of the Ayatollah, Iran’s Supreme Leader, and the wife of one of Iran’s top political leaders. She was at the Iranian Naval Base in a naming ceremony celebrating Iran’s newest submarine, which was…”
Henry said, “They did this because of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you see? They moved up the attack on Iran because they knew we were out here.”
David shook his head. “We can still tell someone. We warned Lundy. This will all get cleared up. They told us—”
Henry shook his head, “David, it’s over. If they moved up Iran, they will have moved up the timing for the rest of the attack plans. Our credibility is shot. We’re terrorists now. They’ve got us on tape saying that we provided a foreign government with information on ARES and planned attacks on the United States. We won’t be warning anyone. Lundy and Bob and all of those people on the phone… whether they really were who they said they were or not… they must be on Lena’s side. It’s over. We lost.”
David, hands in his face, said, “So what happens now?”
On the TV, the newscaster said, “And now we have even more reports of widespread GPS outages. Flights in the US have been grounded at several of the largest airports with no specific timeline given for a fix…”
Henry said, “Now we watch our war plans come to fruition…”
A Note From Andrew Watts:
I hope you liked The War Planners.
I plan to have my next book out in late 2015. It will be a continuation of this story, and will examine other members of the Manning family as the war begins.
Want a sneak peak of what’s next? Click on the link below. You’ll also be able to sign up for the reader list to get an email when the next book is available.
http://andrewwattsauthor.com/sneak-preview-page/
About the Author:
Andrew Watts spent ten years as a helicopter pilot in the Navy. He flew missions chasing drug smugglers in the Eastern Pacific and disrupting pirate attacks off the coast of Africa. He was a flight instructor in Pensacola, FL, and helped run ship and flight operations on a nuclear aircraft carrier while deployed to the Middle East.
Today, he lives with his family in Ohio.