Stuart moved the team about twenty yards up slope. They slipped forward, paralleling the road, but several yards further up the slope so they could stay hidden. The team moved quickly.
They covered almost a mile of thick jungle, occasionally catching glimpses of the road off to their right through openings in the trees. Twice they saw the headlights of trucks driving down the road toward the harbor. Each time they froze, relying on their camouflage to keep them concealed.
Finally, the team halted. The road made an abrupt turn to the left, up the mountain slope. They could see a flickering light coming from a guarded checkpoint. Beyond the checkpoint, arc lights illuminated what appeared to be a military compound capable of housing several hundred troops. Parked in the central courtyard were several armored personnel carriers, each sporting a 23-mm machine cannon.
They skirted around the checkpoint and climbed to high ground. From this vantage point, they could look directly down into the compound and beyond it.
Troops moved around the brightly-lit inner area. The center courtyard was dominated by a large wooden building that appeared to be a headquarters and possibly a barracks. A smaller wooden building stood to the left of the main building, separated by a tall chain link fence. Stuart could see men dressed in white smocks walking in and out of it. Several sat on the front porch of the building, smoking.
A few yards beyond the small building he could see the opening of a large cave with bright lighting inside. Around the entrance the terrorists had placed sandbag emplacements containing Chinese made four-barrel Zu-23 anti-aircraft machine cannons and shoulder-fired SA-7 Grail surface-to-air missiles. A number of people, some in military uniform and others in civilian clothes, were entering and leaving the cave.
They had found the factory complex.
The digital targeting information for the command compound and the cave location were rapidly passed to SAN FRANCISCO.
As the team maneuvered around the complex to determine the defensive measures that were in place and the extent of the facility, they passed above the cave entrance. Here they crossed a footpath that they had not previously seen. The footpath headed over a low ridge.
Carefully paralleling the footpath, they crested the ridge and peered into the gully beyond. Even with night vision goggles, it was difficult to discern any human mark in the gully. The path seemed to suddenly end at the edge of some heavy undergrowth. It just didn’t appear natural. Why would a well-worn path suddenly end abruptly with some brush? The team spent the next hour working carefully around the uphill side of the gully to try to get a better view. They settled in to observe the mysterious end of the path.
22
21 Jun 2000, 0300LT (1400Z)
The dark shape emerged from the water and crouched under the low rock ledge at the water’s edge. As he removed his scuba equipment, three more men joined him. They buried their equipment in a hastily dug shallow hole. The men removed their weapons from waterproof pouches, then slithered across the damp grass to the edge of First Avenue.
The little community was nearly silent. Only the sounds of the night insects and the gentle lap of the water broke the stillness. Not a soul was out for a late night stroll, nor was there any traffic on the quiet street. The sweet scent of plumeria hung heavy in the moist night air.
The four black-clad intruders slipped quickly across the street and hid in the deep shadows under the banyan tree. There they briefly reviewed the plan.
All had gone better than expected so far. The Hawaiian spy had passed the information through several cutouts to Mustaf.
He had planned the action and handpicked these four for this mission. They were his best, most ruthless followers. The four had rehearsed this mission many times on the shore near Benghazi and at their desert camp. They even built a full-scale mock-up of the house and street to practice with. Mustaf had given them the high honor of giving them their final briefing himself.
The four arrived in Honolulu two days ago, coming in on four different flights from different US cities. Before that, they had flown, under different names and passports, from various Middle Eastern cities.
Security at the American airports was laughable. Ashad, the leader, had a moment of panic when a Customs Inspector at New York's JFK Airport reviewed his passport and visa. The Inspector held out his hand to stop Ashad. "Just a minute."
Ashad's heart nearly stopped. Had someone betrayed them? Were the Americans wise to their plot? His documents were flawless and he wasn't carrying anything that would incriminate him. It must be the Jew loving Americans harassing Arabs. They would pay for this!
The garrulous Inspector then added said, "Welcome to America." For the rest, cursory inspections of their documentation and then they were through.
The more difficult arrangements were those to smuggle in the weapons. Hawaii had some of the toughest gun control laws in the world, with registration of even ammunition, so locally acquired weapons were out. Smuggling the weapons into the Islands was the only alternative. The weapons were purchased openly in Los Angeles last month. They were modified, adjusted and sighted in by Mustaf's weapons experts in the desert East of Los Angeles. The machine pistols arrived in Hawaii on schedule yesterday in a container manifested as hardware onboard the new Matson liner, President Reagan.
They had slipped into the water from the public footpath near the COMPACFLT Boathouse just after midnight. The swim
