“They’ve really hyped the game up,” added the lieutenant, who was clearly a football fan. “The halftime show is gonna be like the Super Bowl. You know, lots of pyrotechnics, hotties shakin’ what they got.”
“Hotties are good,” commented one of the men. The back-and-forth devolved into something akin to locker-room talk about the female anatomy until Wagner broke it up.
“Gentlemen, focus. We intend to give them, and the world, a halftime show they’ll never forget.” He turned to the laptop and switched the screen to an image of the halftime presentation during Super Bowl 50.
“When the game was played in early 2016, it followed an ISIS suicide bombing outside a stadium in Paris. As was always the case, governments overreacted and focused all of their resources on stadium security, just like they’re doing now after the U.S. Embassy bombing.
“My team has studied every aspect of the security measures installed for the Super Bowl. This game, while hyped by the media, will not have anything near the security of a Super Bowl. In fact, with information found on the internet, we know everything from manpower levels to security cam locations.”
“Are we going in?” asked one of the operatives who had special forces training courtesy of the U.S. Army.
“No, that’s the beauty of it. The entire operation is hinged on prepositioning of assets and infiltration of the pyrotechnics company. We will, however, be using our advanced weaponry and special operators to seal off the stadium exits.”
“Blocking them inside?” asked one of the men.
“That’s correct. We will be deploying a biological weapon at Levi’s Stadium similar to the one used in Azerbaijan. To achieve maximum success, we must maintain maximum exposure for those inside. Locking them down by whatever means necessary in a coordinated attack will see to that.”
“RPGs?” asked one of the men.
Wagner nodded as he switched the screen to the stadium’s seating plan, which also revealed the stadium’s gate locations obtained from the team’s website. “You can see that each of the six primary gates, labeled A through F, are located equidistant from one another around the stadium. At the precise time, our two-man RPG teams will fire a single round directly into the façade over each gate.
“As you can see, each of these gates sold out to corporate interests. Here is Gate A, sponsored by Intel. Gate F, located just down Tasman Drive, is sponsored by Toyota. As part of the sponsorship arrangement, advertising structures were built over the entryway for fans to walk through. I thought it would be symbolic to tear these down using the rocket-propelled grenades, effectively sealing off the exits for panicked occupants of the stadium.”
“What is the deployment vessel?” asked the former Army Ranger.
“We have a primary and a less effective backup,” replied Wagner. “The team assigned to deploying the primary method of dispersal is already in place. The family-run operation that conducted the Super Bowl 50 pyrotechnics show will be producing the special effects for this one. The explosions are not the method of delivery, but only cover for the RPG attack.
“Before the performer begins her show, fans will be released onto the field to lend a concert-like appearance. We’ve learned that as the show begins, smoke and liquid fog will be released from under the stage to hype up the fans. This liquid fog has a tendency to linger along the ground initially before it spreads upward into the sky.
“We infiltrated Hart, the production team who creates the performers mega-structure and pyrotechnics show. The liquid fog will be supplemented with sarin nerve agent. This company, Hart, is proud of the experience it provides the fans. We’ve obtained their minute-by-minute playbook for the halftime show. With this information, we’ll be able to confirm the release of the sarin nerve agent, and as the fireworks start during the performer’s opening song, we will commence firing the RPGs on the six gates.”
The former Army Ranger looked around the room. There were half a dozen more men than necessary to initiate the RPG attacks. “What’s the backup plan?”
Wagner turned to a group of four men who were not Americans. The former members of the Norwegian Navy Special Warfare Group had carried out the mission to steal the sixteen-ton underwater observatory in the Baltic Sea. Their task would be difficult, but using their expertise, Wagner was confident in their success.
“We have transported an underwater observatory to San Francisco Bay. It has been retrofitted to include eight underwater lift balloons designed to raise the vessel from shallow water to the surface. These balloons are filled with a sarin compound.
“Since 9/11, the skies above any sporting event are heavily patrolled by local law enforcement choppers, with U.S. Air Force jets on standby in the event of a hijacking in the area. These salvage balloons will not be suspected until it is too late.”
“How will you guide them?” asked the operative who was most knowledgeable about football. “At their old stadium, Candlestick Park, players complained about the unpredictable winds coming off the bay.”
“We’ve studied the data on this. Several things were learned during our scientific team’s research using the USGS website and Windy, a computer app allowing real-time analysis of wind speed and direction. Despite the close proximity of the two stadiums to the water, being on the south end of the bay is a benefit to the Levi’s location. There is less humidity, and the temperatures are six to ten degrees warmer. Further, the wind is substantially less and more predictable. In ascertaining the proper sarin compound mix, and the timing of the release, all of these things have been taken into account.
“There will be two snipers positioned to fire upon the balloons as they drift over the top of the stadium. Because the sarin compound is
