Checkmate

nuclear material stolen or sold from its own backyard. From there, momentum, world outrage, and Iran’s own defiance would do the rest. The U.S., the U.K., and whatever coalition they managed to gather would be sucked into a protracted and possibly unwinnable third war in the Middle East; Russia would be a pariah on the world stage, having caused the deaths of five thousand or more innocent civilians through neglect and/or corruption. Lives would be lost on all sides, and for years to come the last thing on the minds of U.S., Russian, and U.K. politicians would be Kuan-Yin Zhao.

At worst, Zhao has his revenge; at best, revenge and a chance to rebuild his empire.

* * *

Fisher said, “Colonel, this is it. This is Zhao’s game.”

“Agreed,” Lambert said. “But do we have enough evidence to prove it?”

“With Kavad Abelzada, we might,” said Richards. “He’s the missing link. He had to have supplied Zhao with the crew for the Trego and the men at Slipstone.”

Grimsdottir came back on the line. “And I think I know why. Up until eighteen months ago, Abelzada had spent the last nine years in a Tehran political prison. He was tried and convicted of ‘inciting radical insurrection’ and ‘plotting to overthrow the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.’ When he was sent to prison, he had a rabid following that numbered in the thousands. The day he was convicted, there were seventeen suicide bombings throughout Tehran.”

“Given its own track record, for Tehran to label Abelzada as a dangerous radical is saying something,” Fisher said. “Grim, do we know what his problem was with the government?”

“I’m looking… Okay, here: He was demanding they declare open war on the U.S., Israel, and all their allies. And I quote: ‘We must burn the civilizations of the West out of existence and scatter the bones of the infidels to every corner of the globe. Anything less is an insult in Allah’s eyes.’ ”

“Very nice,” Lambert said. “So, Zhao somehow becomes aware of Abelzada’s leanings; he makes contact and offers him a chance to not only bring down his own government, but also drag the U.S. into a bloodbath — all for providing a few loyal fanatics.”

“The blue-light special of wars,” Fisher said. “I can see why he couldn’t resist the deal.”

“So how do we get him?” Richards asked. “I can put together a team, but that’ll take—”

Fisher cut him off. “I’ll tell you how we get him. We’re twenty miles from the border. Another five miles beyond that is Sarani. We fly in, land on his damned house, and snatch him.”

“That easy, huh?” Richards said.

“Not easy at all,” Fisher replied. “But it’s the best chance we’ve got. Colonel?”

On the screen, Fisher watched his boss squeeze the bridge of his nose and close his eyes for a few moments. He looked up. “Go get him, Sam.”

50

Bird powered down the engines and they sat quiet and dark as Lambert smoothed the way for their mission. Where Turkmenistan’s airspace was a sieve, Iran’s was a wall, with a constellation of overlapping early-warning radar stations and antiaircraft missile batteries along the borders that were in constant touch with Iranian Air Interceptor Command. Being spotted in Turkmenistan would draw curiosity. In Iran, it would bring down a rain of missile fire and fighters flying at Mach 2.

Right now Lambert was on the phone with the NRO, or National Reconnaissance Office, requesting an emergency retasking of a satellite, in this case one of the two radar satellites that kept Iraq under constant surveillance. With names such as Lacrosse, Onyx, Indigo, these RAD-SATS orbited four hundred miles above the earth, weighed fifteen tons, and were as big as school buses — and they could see an object as small as a hardcover book through rain, fog, and the black of night.

“We got a map update downloading,” Bird called from the cockpit. “On your screen.”

Sitting at the comm console, Redding switched to the Osprey’s navigation net. Fisher leaned in for a closer look. The new image looked like a standard topographical map showing the terrain between their landing site and the village of Sarani, but it had been enhanced with data from the RADSAT, adding three-dimensional depth to the geographic features.

Overlaying the map was a dotted yellow line that started at the Osprey’s current position, arced around Ashgabat, then zigzagged through the Kopetdag Mountains, and finally ended at the collection of structures and crisscrossing roads that made up the village of Sarani.

Redding used the console’s trackball to rotate and zoom the image, changing it from a high overhead view to the first-person view. He scrolled the wheel and the image glided forward, like a hawk flying through a steeply walled canyon. He touched the wheel again, and the view returned to overhead.

“We clip a wing on one of those walls and we’re a fireball.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Fisher said. “Bird can fly this thing through a set of goal posts at four hundred knots. What I’m worried about are those.” He tapped the screen.

Scattered along their course through the mountains were pulsing red squares, each one a radar station linked to a nearby missile site.

* * *

Fisher walked forward to the cockpit. Bird and Sandy were leaning over the console screen, studying the RADSAT image. “What do you think?” Fisher asked.

“I think I want a raise,” Bird muttered, eyes on the screen.

“You get us in and out of there in one piece and I’ll pay it out of my own pocket.”

“From you, Sam, I’ll take a steak dinner.”

“Done. Can you do it?”

“Yeah, I can do it, but I can’t guarantee I won’t rattle the dishes a bit.”

* * *

“Lambert for you,” Redding called. He gave up his seat for Fisher. “Go ahead, Colonel.”

“Update, Sam. The President has authorized strike operations for the Reagan’s air group. They’ll be starting with the surface-to-surface missile sites along the coast, from Jask to Khark Island.”

This made sense. The Iranian Navy maintained hundreds of shore-based missile sites, most of which were focused on the Strait of Hormuz, the natural chokepoint between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. A variety of missiles, from Silkworms to C-801s, covered every square inch of water. The fact that Reagan’s strike aircraft were going for the missile sites first could mean only one thing: The 5th Fleet was preparing to enter the Strait and take up station along Iran’s interior coast. If the Iranians were inclined to hit first, it would be as the battle group moved into the strait.

“How soon?” Fisher asked.

“Tomorrow morning, before dawn. DESRON 9 will be going in first. Once they’re on station, you can expect a multiple Tomahawk strike in conjunction with Reagan’s aircraft.”

DESRON 9 was the group’s destroyer SAG, or Surface Action Group. The ship-launched Tomahawks would be assigned Iranian command and control targets and radar sites further inland. Fisher checked his watch: nine hours. They had that long to deliver proof that Iran’s role in all this was of Kuan-Yin Zhao’s manufacture.

“We’re lifting off in ten minutes,” Fisher said. “With luck, we’ll be back across the border with Abelzada in a few hours. Colonel, I’ve been thinking about Heng’s meeting at Marjani’s house. He briefed Abelzada on raid on a military installation — somewhere along a coast.”

“I put out the word. Every base on our West and East Coast is on alert.”

“Good,” Fisher said. “If Zhao’s got an ace up his sleeve, that’s it. The question is, what exactly is it and when will he play it?”

* * *

The Osprey lifted off and they banked northwest, picking up speed as they skimmed thirty feet over the hills and grasslands. They were flying dark, with no navigation lights and all emission sources powered down: no IFF transponder, radio, or FLIR (Forward-Looking Infrared Radar).

Within minutes, they’d skirted Ashgabat, which lay fifteen miles out the side window. Fisher could see