The Perfect Candidate: A Lance Priest / Preacher Thriller (No. 1) (24 page)
Read The Perfect Candidate: A Lance Priest / Preacher Thriller (No. 1) Online
Authors: Christopher Metcalf
As he pushed back up against the building for cover, a hand suddenly slapped down on Lance’s shoulder. It scared the hell out of him. He instinctively spun his leg and lowered with a force and violence that flipped the individual behind him to the ground as Lance’s leg met the other’s ankles. Lance was on top of him in a flash and had him by the throat ready to twist and rip out vocal chords.
It was Fuchs.
“Jesus, you scared me.” Lance blurted.
Fuchs wanted to speak but his throat was momentarily immobilized. He shot up his own leg and popped Lance in the back of the head and rolled over to get back up to his feet. They stood and faced each other as Fuchs gathered his breath and rubbed his throat. “Christ. You nearly broke my neck.”
Lance once again heard no German accent. “What are you doing here? What are
they
doing here?” He waived in the direction of the Spaniards.
Fuchs was getting back to normal and smiled briefly, “I forgot just how friendly your reaction to surprises was.” He continued to rub his throat. “A little surprised I caught you so off guard there. You didn’t hear or see me at all.”
“Isn’t that your specialty? Sneaking up and silently killing?” Lance stepped back and realized he’d just been totally fooled by Fuchs. His attention was on the Spaniards several hundred yards up the road and not behind him where one or more others could be following. “Crap, I focused in on them and forgot my flank. Completely missed you.”
“I know.” Fuchs grinned.
“How far back were you?”
“A hundred meters behind Espinoza.” The German accent was back.
“Crap. Didn’t make you at all. Foolish.”
Fuchs stood back to full height and brushed his jacket. “Seibel sent in a little crew to ensure your safety. It was my job to observe and report.”
“What’s the concern? Has my operation been made?”
“No indications there, but he wanted to be sure on a couple of levels. Activity has increased significantly over the last couple weeks.”
“What kind?”
“All kinds. You’ll get a full update day after tomorrow when he arrives.” Fuchs turned to look at the Spaniards up the street. “A new operation is in development. You will be moving within the week.”
“Iraq?” Lance asked, already knowing the answer.
“That’s my guess.” Fuchs nodded.
“You going to?”
“Not been told.” Fuchs leaned in close. “I believe you are being pushed from the nest on this one. On your own out there in the big desert.”
“When will Seibel be here?” Lance asked.
“He’ll contact us when he’s ready. In the meantime, he asked that you stay on base for tonight and maybe tomorrow night. Sleep in the radio room bunkhouse.”
“What’s he worried about?” Lance laughed.
“His investment. Almost three years and a couple of million dollars.”
“But why. What is he worried about for me? Anything I need to know about?” Lance could feel something amiss.
“I think he is just going on lock-down mode. Wants everything wrapped up tight to initiate the operation. I’ve seen him like this before.” Fuchs was convincing, but Lance wasn’t fooled. Something else was up.
Lance began to walk away, then stepped back into the dark. “I think it’s a coalescing of things Arab and Russian.”
“That too.” Fuchs remained in the shadow. “Your intuition serves you well. I think that as time and events pull at the edges, the center cannot hold. The breakup means the end of one war and the beginning of the next. From cold to hot, if you will.” Fuchs undoubtedly had just repeated something he’d heard from Seibel.
Lance took this as his cue to leave and walked down the street toward Gablingen Kaserne. Up ahead, the Spaniards took positions on either side of the street and remained silently in shadows as he passed. He turned on Am Flugplatz and walked down the last street before walking through the gates to the base. It all seemed a little much and didn’t take any great brains to see something else was at work here. Something else was blowing in the wind if Seibel felt it necessary to bring in resources just to get him three-quarters of a mile to his base. Something had changed. A leak had been detected. Someone had been compromised. Regardless, it was all pretty exciting. And the months of waiting around were about to come to an end with a real assignment, something with deep cover and an extended timeframe.
Lance saluted the guards at the entry gate and presented his ID. He couldn’t help but smile. The guards found his smile a little irritating this early in the morning.
Operation Desert Shield was in full swing and then some in the first week of December 1990. The Bush doctrine of protecting the world’s oil supply originating in Saudi Arabia necessitated action in the days after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in early August. The U.S. military build-up in Saudi Arabia included active and reserve Army, Navy and Air Force personnel and a bunch of pissed off Marines still smarting from the Beirut bombing in 1983. This purely defensive force included a coalition of troops from England, France, Canada, Australia and other countries looking to show their support of freedom, and free-flowing oil, of course.
On November 29, the United Nations Security Council had passed Resolution 678 authorizing all necessary military action to remove Saddam’s forces from Kuwait. The resolution took effect beginning at midnight January 15, 1991. Odds-makers around the world favored an Iraqi pullout before then. The leaders of the United States intelligence community possessed a vast amount of intelligence that foretold a different story. Saddam planned to dig in and keep Kuwait as the 19
th
province of Iraq by any means possible. These means included bringing other Arab nations into the yawning gap by goading Israel into military action. He planned to launch as many missiles as possible into Israel. And he hoped that at least one of these missiles would carry a nuclear payload when it landed in Tel-Aviv or Jerusalem.
The intelligence community had solid proof of missile capabilities, partly because portions of these systems had been sold to Iraq by U.S. intermediaries during the Iran-Iraq war. The possibility of obtaining nuclear material for warhead delivery had been uncovered in the preceding months. Geoffrey Seibel briefed the leaders at CIA, NSA, FBI, White House and military intelligence the day before Thanksgiving with news of former KGB agents offering nuclear fissile material for sale to Iraq. Competing KGB factions were confirmed in Iraq recently. Updates to this activity included intercepted communications and confirmed sightings.
“Just yesterday we received confirmation from Soviet resources that three nuclear warheads were discovered missing from a storage facility. The missing warheads were removed from decommissioned 1970s era SS-X-15 ICBM missiles being stored underground outside
Dombarovsky
, Russia.” Seibel said soberly.
The CIA Director had already been briefed by Seibel on this breach. “We have confirmation from multiple sources on the credibility of this information. This is one that the Soviets actually feel compelled to share with us. We are working together to track and recover the warheads.”
Seibel nodded and added, “Information is scarce, but all indications are that security workers at the facility were pressured to allow the theft to take place with the lives of their families threatened. Some were killed to get the point across.”
“Damn, this is nightmare stuff.” The NSA Director chimed in. “Just what we’ve feared the past decade since Gorbachev came to power. Certain elements within the former Soviet Union are significantly less interested in openness. Less money to make.”
“Correct.” Seibel wanted this meeting to move quickly so that he could get approval of his plan. He needed military buy-in and funding, and he needed it yesterday. “All of this has been confirmed, as we suspected as recently as last month. Since then, we have been developing plans that involve direct involvement with the sellers and the buyers.”
“Do we have any more information on each?” White House spoke this time.
“We do. Our resources have identified several key players in the Iraqi government and intelligence arm – the Mukhabarat. We are tracking their activities as we speak. Not easy, but we are on it.”
“So your approach will be to watch the buyers and catch the sellers when they show up, like a drug bust?” NSA again.
“Not quite so passive. We have placed additional resources in the market to intercept the sellers and the merchandise or potentially offer a counterproposal.” Seibel replied.
“To buy it from them?” White House this time.
“Something like that.”
“What kind of budget are we talking about?” NSA’s turn again.
The CIA Director took this cue and spoke. “We are prepared to offer an amount in excess of $100 million. This has been approved by oversight.”
“Damn.” White House exclaimed this time. “That much?”
“Less than 40 cents for each US citizen,” CIA added.
“Point taken, if you put it that way.”
Seibel interrupted. “We don’t expect to actually pay the sum. But if required, we need to be prepared. Folks, I need signatures for this one.”
CIA pulled a document out of his briefcase. “I have already signed.” He passed it to NSA. “This has been approved by legal oversight and POTUS.” The President of the United States, for those not versed in government-speak.
The White House intelligence director butted in, “I didn’t know this had been signed off.”
“Just about an hour ago,” CIA confirmed. No time for turf wars.
After signatures were obtained, the Military Intelligence representative invited to the meeting finally spoke. “Your operation has received clearance from the Joint Chiefs. Not thrilled, but they understand the need for military cover in the theatre.”
“Thank you. With that, I have what I need to proceed. I thank you for your time and hope to have better news to report the next time we meet.” Seibel rose and gathered his things.
“Before you go,” NSA held up a hand. “Can you enlighten us about your plans?”
Seibel had already stood. He leaned on the table with both hands and met everyone’s eyes before speaking. He turned back to NSA.
“You and your predecessors have asked me for a good many years to take the necessary actions to uncover nefarious behavior directed toward our country. I appreciate the leeway you give me and my chosen team members. While I cannot give you specific details, I can confirm what you are all thinking. We will employ the most sophisticated, newest and if called for, the most deadly resources at our disposal. Yes, this will include team members you have heard of for many years with Foxy leading a select team and our young Preacher deployed into the field. We will call upon military resources including Delta Forces. The enemies we are dealing with are capable, talented and many of them have years of covert intelligence experience. Add thousands of soldiers in the theatre and a vast desert full of uncertainty and this thing is the perfect recipe for something going wrong. It’s my job to keep that from happening.”
He looked each member of Account One in the eyes and nodded. “We will be successful. We have spent years preparing for this.” He exited without another word.