Viper Team Seven (The Viper Team Seven Series Book 1) (13 page)

Hazeroth had
more questions than answers, and he didn’t like that. He had to obtain some
intel, something to grasp onto and believe was viable.

He exited his
office and went to the prime minister’s. Aziza was still talking to the
American President so Hazeroth waited. But the more he waited the more anxious
he became. For all he knew, the State of Israel’s very being was hanging in the
balance.

Monday, March 17
^th
– 2000 hours

Jerusalem, Israel

“Proceed Mr.
President,” the Israeli prime minister pressed urgently.

“I would like to
shift your attention to Iran, Mr. Prime Minister,” the President said calmly.
“If you stop and think, you’ll see Iran is looking just as guilty, if not more,
than Lebanon.”

“I’m listening.”

“To cut to the
chase, let’s first trace Hezbollah. The real deal is that they are Iranian
terrorists working for Iran through Lebanon. Hezbollah terrorists have seats in
the Lebanese government, and Iran loves that. You see, Iran can maneuver Lebanon any way it wants by just working through those officials. Iran can gather any information it wants on Lebanon. Those Iranian officials are masters at the
inside workings of the Lebanese government.”

“I haven’t much
time, Mr. President,” the prime minister warned.

“Yes, yes, yes,
but please listen for a moment. Let’s just set up a scenario and say Iran sent that terrorist into Israel,” the President explained.

“Impossible.”

“Please allow me
to finish,” Winnfield almost begged. “Iran can authorize or order their
Hezbollah thugs to carry out suicide missions whenever they want. Lebanon really has no power over them. So let’s say Iran sends Qasim into Israel from Lebanon. It appears as if
Lebanon
has sent a terrorist into Israel. It looks like Lebanon is trying to retaliate against Israel because their UNON Plan was
denied. It works perfectly for Iran because now they look like innocent
bystanders. But really, they are the ones sending the Hezbollah terrorists into
Israel, via the Lebanon border. So Iran sits back and destroys Israel, while Lebanon takes the blows. Iran is then untouched, unharmed, and now Israel destroys Lebanon. Israeli military units are in Lebanon, and then, only then, will Iran strike. Your military will be battle weary and spread out from fighting Lebanon. You will have no power to challenge the seemingly superpower of Iran. You will then move out of Lebanon and turn to fight the Iranians. But then the catch comes. The
snare that Iran set closes. Lebanon will be furious and will not leave you
alone. She will strike out and attack while Iran also fights you.” The President
went on. “You can defeat Iran if it stands alone, but can you fight and defeat Iran while Lebanon is nipping at your heels?”

The prime minister
could no longer hold back. “You are saying Lebanon and Iran have formed a coalition to destroy us?”

“No, not at all.
Lebanon is clueless, but Iran is working behind the veil, using Lebanon to take your bullets while Iran prepares to hit you. It’s not a coalition, but a master
chess game. And again, when you leave Lebanon and face Iran, do you think the Lebanese will leave you alone? Of course not. They’ll jump at the chance to
destroy you while you are fighting Iran. Your country will be overrun,
destroyed.” The President waited a second to let the reality of his point sink
in. “Striking Lebanon is not the solution, Mr. Prime Minister; it is merely
what Iran wants. If you do so, who knows how many lives you’ll lose. It’s your
move; play wisely.”

“Mr. President,
that is impossible,” Aziza declared hotly.

“Give me a
reason, Mr. Prime Minister.”

“Iraq was taken out during your War on Terror, Iran was neutralized, Hamas is petrified of coming out
of hiding lest they get their heads cut off by you Americans. Syria is in a peaceful condition with us. Only one suspect remains in my mind: Lebanon. It makes sense that they’d attack us. They are humiliated by our refusal of their stupid
UNON Plan. The prime minister of Lebanon, Jamil Zacka, is desperate to get
revenge. No, there is no doubt in my mind who the culprit is.”

“Iran is, or shall I say
was
, neutralized. However, I think the Iranian government is
pretending to be more neutralized than it really is. They want to catch you
sleeping. They want to shift your focus to Lebanon while they get ready to
obliterate your country. Can’t you see that?” the President asked with concern.

“So you want me
to take out Iran, the pretend enemy, and let Lebanon destroy us?”

“Lebanon
isn’t
the enemy yet, but they will be if you attack them,” Winnfield
retorted with growing irritation.

“I will look
into this, Mr. President, but I still say that the Lebanese are to blame,”
Aziza stated.

“Good, look into
the matter and call me with whatever you find. We’re here to help.”

“
If
we
decide to move against Iran,” Aziza corrected.

The President
was not very comfortable with Aziza’s tone. “Please, don’t get me wrong. We
will back you up no matter what. No matter if it is Iran or Lebanon that is in your sights. We just want you to be sure who’s to blame.”

“Very well. I
will keep you up-to-date.”

“Great. Until next time, goodbye, Mr. Prime Minister.”

*          *          *

Parks walked back
into his office, logged on to his new email account, and punched in the short,
temporary password.
Inbox
thirty? Already?
he thought to himself.
Every single one of them was from the CIA operations center at Langley. Parks quickly opened the top message and began reading.

It was rather
hard to read so he had to reread it a couple of times before he fully understood
what it meant. It was an unimportant “chatter” email so he clicked off it and went
on down the line.

By the time Parks
opened the last of his emails from Langley he was only scan reading. There was
so much to read, and to be truthful, it was rather boring information. But it
was his job to read the intelligence reports, boring or not.

When he finally finished,
he clicked the link titled “change password.” He searched for an unbreakable one
and at last he came up with a password that no one could break in a thousand
years. After resetting it, he logged off his account, just as his desk phone
began ringing.

“Major Parks,”
he answered.

“This is the
White House operator. Please hold for the National Security Advisor.”

Parks tensed. Could
something be wrong, or was the NSA just checking up? That couldn’t be though;
Parks had just seen him. He didn’t have to wonder much longer. Soon Smith’s
loud voice boomed in Parks’ ear.

“Keith, are you
there?”

“I am sir, what can I do for you?”

*          *          *

President Winnfield
was upset. The prime minister of Israel had basically thrown Winnfield’s advice
back in his face. Lebanon was in Aziza’s sights, and he was too angry and
desperate to think that anyone else could be responsible. He wanted revenge.
Winnfield did too, but he wanted to get revenge on the right people. Haste
makes waste, and if the prime minister made a hasty decision, it could mean
disastrous consequences. The U.S. would still stand behind Israel, no matter what decision they made. But the President hoped that Israel would wait for more
solid information before taking action.

Winnfield’s mind
wandered back to the events of two months ago. The terrorists that had come
into the U.S. had all been Iranians – as far as he knew anyway. The cargo
hijackers had come from Egypt, and the CIA had tracked them there just a week
before the terrorists attacked the
USS George Washington
. The agents had
identified them as Iranian terrorists, and went to take them out but lost them
before they could. The Wal-Mart bomber had been tough to track, but after
talking to survivors who saw the bomber in action the FBI had nailed the
culprit. Hahmed Jassin was a “minor” terrorist that had never been seen as a
threat. The CIA presumed he was hiding in Iran, his homeland, before his
attack. The Mossad suspected him for Hamas connections. Even still, the CIA
still had no idea how he entered the U.S.

Likewise, Alka
vun Buvka was an Iranian. He had a terrorist file in the CIA and FBI for years.
Upon his attack in the U.S. and his escape, he was considered one of the most
dangerous men on the face of the planet. Winnfield knew that all those attacks
interlinked. They were all headed up by Hamas, Iran’s personal terror group.
But the Israelis didn’t think of that. They didn’t think of how dangerous Iran still was, and how capable of wickedness the Iranians were. Lebanon was the great evil
in the Israelis’ eyes, and they were being blinded by that. In Winnfield’s eyes
– and almost every advisor in the administration – Iran was guilty for the
terrorism on both countries. Hamas was guilty for the U.S. attacks, and Iranian-based Hezbollah for the Israeli would-have-been attack.

Still, one item
remained a question for Winnfield: the
Air Force One
hijacking. It made
no sense. None of the Secret Service agents could have been dealing with
terrorists, because the U.S. intelligence agencies would have picked up on it. But
how had it worked out so perfectly? The agents had to have had some way of connecting
with terrorist cells. Or were they working alone?

Iran could not be traced on that one – nothing could be. Background checks had been done
three to four times on the terrorist sleeper agents, and not a thing had come
up that even remotely looked fishy. Cummins and Watkins thought it was rigged all
from the inside. “Someone inside was working secretively with Iran to plan a night that would shake America,” Cummins had told him a week after the attacks.
Winnfield partly believed it, but when background checks on every agent in the
Secret Service, CIA, FBI and Homeland Security came up completely clean, he
dismissed the idea. There was no way anyone other than the terrorist agents and
pilots themselves set this up. They must have made the plan and then waited for
an incident similar to that on January 16
^th
. Even that notion seemed
sketchy given how hard it would have been to keep even private talks with each
other under the table. But it was more believable than anything else.

Winnfield had a
concussion when
Air Force One
’s front blew up, so he couldn’t remember a
thing about the scenario. He tried hard to, but nothing would come. He didn’t
even know where the terrorists had been taking him. Anders had brought up the
fact that the plane had been heading south, but the FBI Director had stated
that the terrorists could have taken Winnfield anywhere from Mexico to Antarctica, so that didn’t help much.

The President
couldn’t help but feel that the beings responsible for that night’s attacks
were now going against Israel. Iran – if they were responsible – would overrun
the Israelis and then come back and try a repeat of the stunt they’d pulled two
months ago. Winnfield was fearfully confident of that. Iran was the culprit. The Iranians were the masterminds behind all this, and they needed to be
stopped before their plan became a reality.

What would come
next if someone didn’t take out Iran? What kind of destruction would occur if
the Iranians were not neutralized?
The President wasn’t sure, but he
didn’t care to find out. All he knew was that if Israel went after Lebanon on a trumped up assumption that they were to blame, not only would Lebanon be in ashes, but Israel too. And all at the hands of Iran. Someone had to do some fast
figuring. Time was of the essence, and with every second that passed, Iran was securing the upper hand.

The frustrating thing was not having a confirmed target at which to
retaliate. Yes, Winnfield strongly believed Iran was to blame, but he couldn’t
declare war based on just an assumption, he had to have facts. Finding the
facts was going to be a hard job, but if anyone could, it’d be Cummins. Even
now, the D/CIA was working restlessly to try and pick up the slightest bit of
information that would help prove who was to blame. Somehow the U.S. had to get Israel on the defensive side of things until the two countries could prove who was
responsible. That would be tough, but it would have to be done, or the U.S. and one of her best allies, Israel, could be tangled in a mess from which they would not soon recover.

*          *          *

 Parks hung up
the phone. The call from the National Security Advisor had been an interesting
one. He hadn’t given Parks an assignment, but he had explained the recent
Israeli trouble. Parks had been in the dark on this until Smith had explained, and
now he was kicking himself for not paying more attention to the intel reports.
But even now he didn’t know what to think of the whole matter. Israel wanted to move. Lebanon looked guilty.  However, the American intelligence agencies
believed Iran was responsible. What was true?

Smith had also said
Parks needed to be ready in case the terrorist trouble came to the United State s. Parks had not known how to handle that. He and his team were unprepared,
untrained, and uncomfortable with each other. He’d have to step things up, and
quickly. Smith had piled a lot on him for the first day. Parks hadn’t expected
so much to be required of him so soon and with so little resources to
accomplish things. But he had to handle it.

As Parks thought
over the next day’s activities, he made a mental note to bring some decor for
his office as soon as he could. He needed to dig all his Marine decorations out
of the storage unit and bring them over.

The clock on the
computer read 1500. Three hours remained before Parks could leave work. He was
counting down the hours because he wanted to end this day and come back
tomorrow better prepared. He had decided to rent the house he’d looked at
yesterday. He figured with how busy he was going to be at work he didn’t have
time to go around looking for a better deal. He’d go over and sign the papers
immediately after work.

Checking his email again, Parks found that one had come in. It was from
Solomon.

KP,

Just
wanted to ask if you had any hobbies you pursue, any sports, or the like. I’d
like to go do something with you so we could get better acquainted. Let me
know.