Kill Them Wherever You Find Them (38 page)

~ ~ ~

All agents in the field not absolutely
required to remain where they were stationed were recalled.
Preparations were underway to call up the reserve army. All
diplomatic missions and embassies around the world were put on high
alert. Administrators of hospitals and health clinics throughout
Israel were also alerted and asked to confirm all of their medical
and support staff could be sent a single text message as one large
group rather than individually. Additionally they were told to
expect the delivery of inoculations within the hour but to speak of
this to nobody.

Knesset members who could be trusted - two
ethnic Arab Knesset ministers were openly hostile to the state they
supposedly represented - were notified to stay in their homes, not
speaking a word of this to anybody lest a panic ensue. Other
preparatory steps and procedures were put into place as quietly as
possible. The Prime Minister and President were evacuated to an
underground bunker along with top, key aides. The Knesset building
itself, already nearly empty as the bulk of the Ministers were in
recess, was evacuated after sunset with the exception of a minimal
compliment of guards, then put into lock-down. The same procedure
was reenacted in government buildings throughout the country.

University directors were advised of a
possible attack within days and asked to have an evacuation plan if
needed, otherwise to insure that their bomb shelters and
infirmaries were sufficiently stocked with medicine, water, and
basic food supplies. As with all other people contacted throughout
the day, they were told to not share this information with anybody
on their staff beyond those who were necessary to avoid the damage
and casualties that typify public alarm and unrest.

Meir and Isser remained at their posts to
coordinate the efforts of their two agencies and agents remaining
in foreign countries. Both also maintained an open channel of
communication with Rav-ulaf Aharonson as she coordinated the
response of all branches of the military.

Lt. General Aharonson immediately went to her
offices in the facility headed by Dr. Itzhach Mendlesøn. Upon
arrival she found the heads of the various branches of the military
already on the large conference video screens in her Situation
Room. Each professional, all having seen their share of wars and
terror attacks, their visual cues of calm belied the tension they
felt. Gen. Aharonson confirmed with the head of the Kheil HaAvir,
Israel's Air and Space arm, that additional fighter jets were
equipped with nuclear bombs and airborne. Confirmation that they
were deployed was followed by additional questions for others
attending the video conference.

Assured that all was in order the time had
arrived for Gen. Aharonson to inform them of the existence of
The Project
and their duties to avenge the fallen State of
Israel and Jewish people should it fail in its mission.

Mobilizing the might of their forces now
would sound a premature alarm to their enemies, as well as have the
potential to draw in neighboring countries already skittish with
their own internal wars and uprisings.

At the same time this proud and great Jewish
nation would not be unprepared to fight to her dying breath,
visiting Armageddon-styled reprisals on her enemies before allowing
her sprawling vineyards and orchards to be returned to the barren
desert sands they were before the Jews began to return to their
homeland, tilling barren ground for the first time in
centuries.

The unthinkable happened. Reports of the bio
agents being released in the United States began to filter in at
first, followed by a deluge of reports. China and Russia activated
their nuclear launch codes. Radar picked-up the launching of
hundreds of rockets from within southern Lebanon, an offensive
bluff to keep the Iron Dome defense system busy as Iran
simultaneously launched nuclear weapons aimed at Tel Aviv, Haifa,
the Negev, and Jerusalem.

~ ~ ~

Stauffenberg was called from his home on the
compound into the facility. He was to be sent to the 1930's
immediately. They may already be too late.

"Jeff, you are as prepared as you will ever
be. The bio weapons are being let loose around the world even now
as we speak. Casualties are incalculably high. Thee countries have
launched conventional and nuclear warheads, most pointed toward
us."

Moshe continued, "We are not completely
certain which person, Abd or Ghasem, came up with the original
plan, or if they conceived it together. We think it may have been
Ghasem; therefore, you will
land
in Persia first. We expect
your mission there to bring an end to this desolation already on
us. It's
critical
you also complete your mission in Egypt.
The time you take there we know, based on your time spent the
American Civil War era, correlates directly with the passage of
time here. If the time change results from the McGlothlin
experiment prove true once more, and we have no reason to expect
differently, nothing in our time will change
until
you
return. Work as swiftly as possible but don't allow reckless haste
to compromise the outcome of your mission. We are depending on
you."

Moshe didn't tell Jeff the extent of the
destruction already enveloping the country, and the world. He also
kept to himself the fact that if any nuclear fallout or bio agents
were to leak into the facility, it may not be possible for Jeff to
return, as the facility itself might become compromised and cease
to function. Additionally, being inside the temporal shielding, any
catastrophe to befall the facility would not change with his
return. Jeff probably would have realized these two conditions
already. Moshe saw no reason to burden him with the voicing of
these thoughts.

"I won't let you down Moshe."

"Sir, Haifa has just been hit." The man
making the report was on the verge of tears, knowing that his
grandparents living near the port of Haifa were vaporized.

"Go,
now
Jeff."

At the departure area he was changed into the
clothing of the era. Jeff was provided with a large amount of
Persian and Egyptian cash, as well as a satchel of medicines in
glass bottles and vials, with labels appropriate to the times. A
digital button was pressed; he simply disappeared.

~ ~ ~

If Jeff wasn't 100% successful, all was
lost.

Now that the terrorist group had unleashed
their plagues, Israel retaliated with her full nuclear might. This
final act of defiance before she ceased to exist, coupled with the
atomic warheads already launched by three other nuclear powers,
would had the effect of speedily drawing an ever-growing circle of
countries into the conflagration. Wars of annihilation spread from
country to country - India and Pakistan delivering atomic hell to
one another.

An increased number of countries in the
Americas and Europe saw their populations in their capitals and
other key cities cut down by the terrorists' biological weapons,
destroying critical infrastructures. Not knowing the origin of
these attacks they turned their militaries on their enemies, real
and imagined.

One-by-one countries thus attacked launched
their own offensives, larger countries activating nuclear arsenals
from land and sea, bringing the entire world into the inferno of an
extinction level event.

Table of Contents

30. Past Revisited

"And he stretched forth his hand to slay
Ammon. But Ammon withstood his blows, and also smote his arm that
he could not use it."
- Book of Mormon, Alma 20:20

Suburb Of Northwest Tehran, Persia
- 1936

Zaferanieh district, in the
north-western
part of Tehran, was just like old photos showed it to be - only in
color. Jeff relished the colorful sights, smells, and sounds of
this venerable part of the city bustling and swelling with an
influx of people mass migrating here from all over the country. All
the while he was mindful of catastrophic events happening in his
own time, a yet future time he hoped to reshape.

Having
landed
once before,
Stauffenberg was slightly surprised at how different this time
seemed. Instant immersion in a culture and language unknown to him
accounted for that. He felt unprepared, having
landed
days
ahead of schedule. But he knew he was as prepared as he could
possibly be. The extra days would not have made much, if any, of a
difference.

As expected, many residents of the city spoke
English – at least sufficiently basic English that he could
understand and be understood, though hand gestures were also
required at times.

The first order of business was to secure
boarding. He was directed to an excellent hotel, clean and
comfortable with reasonable rates and plenty of places to eat with
them in easy walking distance. Checking into the hotel he carried
his bags and pharmacy satchel up to his room. The woman who checked
him in was friendly and seemed to love everything western, even
dressing in similar style.

The world was in an economic struggle with
the Great Depression holding a firm grip that would not fully be
released until the Second World War. While the financial crisis
deeply hit Persia, the receptionist seemed to take no note of it.
Or perhaps she dressed for success. It was more likely that she
dressed with the hopes of snagging a Western husband as most of the
guests in the hotel were European or North American.

Movies from Hollywood were all the rage
locally, this young lady decked-out in what must be the latest
Hollywood Starlet fashion. Jeff noticed the marquee of a movie
house advertising the 1927 'talkie hit,' "The Jazz Singer." Almost
nine years old, the movie must have resounded with its audience to
still be playing. Or it was just as possible that the movie house
could not afford the purchase of another 'talkie.' Converting their
equipment from strictly silent movies to these new-fangled talkies
would have been incredibly expensive, only to have the financial
Depression move in after such an investment. It was surprising that
the movie house was still operating. Maybe not, after all. In
difficult times such as these people still needed diversion from
their everyday lives. A large, free-standing radio in most every
home now, offered some entertainment, but not the social experience
that going to the theater or a movie provided, especially for the
twenty-something crowd.

That's it! The check-in girl reminded Jeff of
somebody but he couldn't place who until just now, thinking of the
dawn of the golden-era of movie stars and talking pictures. She
could have been Mary Astor's olive-skinned twin. The resemblance,
now that he recognized at, was amazing. When he returned to his own
time he'd have to pull up an Internet image of the playbill for
"Don Juan" to be sure. Mary was now a matinee idol, many young
women did their best to dress and talk like her, not to mention
emulating her hair style so popular at the time.

The open balcony door on the other side of
his room let in a cooling breeze. Jeff walked to the door, stepping
onto the small balcony surrounded by a waist-high work of
beautifully hand-crafted wrought iron.

Watching people mill about on the streets
below he found it somewhat difficult to reconcile this era with the
Iran of his time. Women dressed in western clothing, though
generally much more modest than their American and European
sisters, would never be tolerated by their future countrymen – and
women. More amazingly, men and women mingled without any appearance
of gender separation. The saying, "The more things change, the more
they stay the same" was definitely not applicable here.

Laying down to rest, hoping to get in a brief
nap, Jeff collected his thoughts and organized them. Knowing time
was already against him, he knew to proceed without the rest his
body and mind required would put the mission in jeopardy.

The missions ahead of him were actually quite
simple in most respects. At least they were from a technical
perspective.

In the current reality the grandmother of Abd
would be a young girl, not even a woman who would have had the
chance to experience most of her life.

How Jeff was to keep her from meeting her
future husband was up to him and whichever opportunities presented
themselves at the time.

Jeff became conscious of the fact that though
he knew their names he never addressed them by name in his
thoughts. Already overwhelmed by dread and even guilt from acts not
yet committed, he realized that by not using their names he was, in
his own way, dehumanizing them to make his task of radically
altering their lives more palatable. This acknowledgment
intensified his shame, but he still could not bring himself to
think of their names as his memory brought back their solemn faces
immortalized in the photos of so long ago.

He asked why somebody else from
The
Project
couldn't be sent back, why it had to be him. The
response was, in retrospect, obvious. All other members of
The
Project
were Jews. Though they could physically pass easily for
Persians, nobody spoke Farsi and they all had accents that would
not be recognizable in Persia which would undoubtedly raise
questions.

"Was there no Israeli who could speak Farsi?"
Surely, he knew, there had to be hundreds, if not thousands.

"Yes, certainly. A search for an alternative
candidate had already been exhausted, right from the beginning.
Given your hesitation, with the potential risk that alone
presented, the files were hauled out and a second review was
conducted. Jeff, the simple fact is that you have the training
already. You are an American with complete "Gentile" appearance and
mannerisms. You don't need to learn English or fake an American
accent. That alone opens doors for you. Beyond that, even if we
could bring somebody else in, it's just too late to start all of
the mental and physical training that you have already been
through. The irony in all of this is that we no longer have time on
our side."