Misdemeanor Trials (22 page)

CHAPTER FORTY NINE

DRONE QUEEN

“Ten years ago drones were called model airplanes.”

- -Anonymous Air Force Captain

John tried to attend prayers two, and sometimes three times a day with Raintree.  Many weeks ween by and no one told him when the operation would be over and he could return home.  They attended Mosques in different areas of Tehran, and in the larger Mosques they attended more than once.  The Mosques were all different.  Some were large and colorful, some were small and claustrophobic.  But the prayers were all similar and he felt comfortable attending and joining the prayers, but before and after prayer, he would look as much as he could without drawing attention to himself.  He was bored with the task he had, and felt anxiety that still lingered from the earlier operations, and apprehensive of another operation.  He had been trained to be a soldier, not a spy.  But another operation loomed in his immediate future, and he found himself riding in a large rented sedan with Raintree early in the morning before the sun came up.  Raintree told John they were going to Bushehr on the coast of the Persian Gulf which was about an eleven hour drive.  Raintree had tapped John for the simple task that Raintree promised offered no danger.  Farah was not available because she had to go to work, and Mac was typically unavailable for any venture out of Tehran.  Raintree explained, “We are going for a pickup.  I have been given exact coordinates and was told to be there at nine tonight for a pickup.  I'll tell you more when we get there, but right now you don't need to know.” The drive was long on the expressway, and the terrain was barren.  John drove for a while and then Raintree drove.  It was a long drive, and John tried to sleep whenever Raintree was at the wheel.  Night fell as they approached Bushehr. Raintree pulled off the freeway and told John to drive.  John stepped out of the car and could smell the clean and brisk salt air floating in from the Persian Gulf.  He walked to the driver's side as Raintree pulled out his GPS and told John he would give him directions.  Raintree searched inside the car and pulled out a flashlight.  He fiddled with it for a few minutes and then threw it angrily into the back seat of the car.  “Damn flashlight.  They're just a case for holding dead batteries.” John got in the driver's seat and drove for thirty more minutes, following the turn by turn instructions from John.  They stopped at the end of a rural road.  They could see no lights or indications that anyone was nearby.

“What are we waiting for?” asked John.

“A drone.”

“What is happening?” asked John.

Raintree responded, “There is going to be an event of some kind in Kashan.  Kashan is about 15 miles from Namak Lake and is in the foothills west of the Lake.  What kind of event?” He asked himself, and then answered himself.  “I don't know.  For some reason the people who tell us what to do want a drone to get a close and personal view and take scientific readings of the event.  It is not good for international relations in Iran to send a Predator Drone into their sovereign territory, especially if it gets shot down.  So, they use a small drone.  The small drone they are sending hasn't got the range and battery life to fly to Kahan from outside the country, so we have to pick it up, transport it to a specific place near Kashan, and then leave.  We don't pick it up afterward.  Apparently the drone will self-destruct.  Simple enough.” They waited outside the car for the drone to arrive.  John could see a million stars and some shooting stars in the night sky that was moonless and dark.  He understood the sky that Farah had seen as a child. 

As they waited quietly in the dark Raintree asked, “How do you like our new President?”

John replied, “She seems fine.  I haven't been watching too closely.  I have had too many other things going on, including my sudden vacation in Iran.  What do you think?”

“I think she's fairly good, especially the way she deals with the Middle East,” said Raintree.

“I guess,” said Trader.

Raintree said, “When she traveled to Europe a little while ago on some conference, a King of one of the Emirates wanted to meet with her.  The King's advance people told her she would have to wear a hijab in the presence of the King.  She rallied back that she would wear it if he dumped the silly hat he wore, and his white dress, and wear a white shirt with a tie and a sports jacket, slacks and penny loafers.”

“That's straightforward.  What happened?” asked John.

“He went shopping at Nordstrom,” said Raintree.  “And she wore a hijab.  I liked it because there turned out to be some respect for both cultures, and a compromise by each in order to solve some problem.  That kind of compromise dissipates hostility, I think.”

A few minutes later John heard the faint sound of something approaching from above them.  They looked up and saw a four bladed quadcopter drone descending to their location, almost whisper quiet.  It landed ten yards from their car.  It shut down as John and Raintree approached.  It was about six feet square.  Raintree removed an envelope taped to the top of the body of the drone and opened it.  “This gives us a location to take it to near Kashan, and instructions to fold the arms so we can fit it in the car.  Let's get going.  We have to have it there in eight hours.  It is going to be a long night.  Keep your speed under 120 kilometers.  There is no tolerance for speeders on the freeways.  Also, they have speed cameras.” Raintree looked at his watch, “We have to hurry, and I hope we’re not too late.” They switched off driving along the expressway while the other tried to get some sleep.  They arrived at the outskirts of Kashan and turned west towards the mountains on a road as the sky began to turn blue on the horizon with the light of the rising sun.  Five minutes later Raintree stopped.  “We have to hurry.  We only have minutes.” They unloaded the drone, extended the four arms, and almost immediately it began to power up.  The drone rose slowly into the blue morning sky and hovered, not yet moving the few miles toward Namak Lake.  Raintree pointed east and told John, “That is Namak Lake.  I have heard a rumor that there is a rocket test site on the Haj Aighdi salt lake near Sharud, but that is 60 miles northeast of Tehran.  I don't know anything about a site on Namak Lake.”

John felt a rumbling beneath his feet and then an explosion that he could hear coming from the Lake.  They looked over at the lake and saw what they immediately recognized as a very large rocket slowly lifting off the ground, leaving a fiery ball of flame behind it.  The rocket gained speed and left a smoking trail behind as it began to turn west towards the Mediterranean Sea.  They both watched with total focus on the strange but powerful liftoff for a few minutes.  As they were looking at the lake John pointed to another part of the sky.  They both saw a ball of light heading almost straight down to the lake.  It hit the lake and nothing happened for a moment.  Then they felt the ground below them shake.  At the same time the drone moved slowly towards the lake.  The target area of the lake began to sink into a large depression where the ball of light had struck.  Then moments later a huge explosion could be heard and the ground burst upwards and the ground continued to shake.  Raintree turned to John.  “That's not a bomb, John.  There is something big-time going on down there at the lake.  Let's get out now,” said Raintree.  They jumped in the car and sped off as they saw the drone became a pinpoint in the sky as it began moving at a slow speed for the lake.  As they drove toward the expressway, they felt the blast of fire from the lake as the sky lit up by the explosion in the morning dawn.  “I hope to hell that's not nuclear.  I still plan to have children.”

Eris watched the liftoff, the rumbling stopped and the quiet of the working groups continued to work on the next launch.  A few moments later he felt the ground move violently.  He knew something unexpected was happening.  The twenty foot ceiling began to move.  The ceiling and concrete walls began to break and crumble, landing on the missiles and destroying each of them.  Eris felt a powerful blast on his body that pushed him violently against the crumbling walls, crushing him into eternity, and his last thoughts were, “Now my family is safe.”

CHAPTER FIFTY

RUMBLING

“I feel the earth move under my feet/ I feel the sky tumbling down”

---Carole King

The command and control center of the Israeli Air Defense Command was quiet and subdued as military clad men and woman sat with earphones, watching large video display terminals.  Commander Molech Rubin listened over his headphones when he heard the report from station six.  The voice was quiet and professional.  “We have a sudden real time satellite visible and heat image out of Namak Lake.  The footprint confidence level is eighty percent missile.”

Moments later station 3 reported in calm sober tones, “Green Pine radar indicates a single missile deployment.  Computations show the target as Tel Aviv.”

Rubin had seconds to make a decision to launch the Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile system that was specifically designed and built to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles.  His country was the only country with the system.  It had been tested and deployed with a ninety percent success rate of interception and destruction of incoming ballistic missiles.  At three million dollars for each missile, he had to be right.  He also had to protect Israel.  He gave the order, “Arrow 3, launch from pad one now.  Three seconds later launch pad two.”

Fifty miles away in the desert near the Dead Sea two Arrow 3 missiles quickly rose from their launching pads, gained momentum, and headed east towards an intercept with the inbound ballistic missile.  The Arrow 3 had a ninety percent interception rate, and physical interception occurred consistently within twenty feet of the incoming missile.  He knew the intercept would take place within one hundred miles of Tel Aviv, but at such a high altitude that any debris, either conventional or nuclear, would be minimal.  In silence the room waited.  Rubin picked up the direct line to the Prime Minister.  “We have a single incoming missile from Namak Lake.  Two Arrow 3 missiles have been deployed.  We expect contact in minutes.” They waited on the phone without speaking.  Rubin knew the missile attack was expected, but he did not know the exact time.

The Prime Minister said, “I had hoped the Americans would be able to stop this.  We believed we had more time.”

Then Rubin heard, “Missile failure on one.” Seconds later he heard “Missile failure on two.”

He spoke into the phone.  “Mr. Prime Minister, both Arrow 3 launches have failed.  There is no way to stop the missile.  Tel Aviv will be injured or destroyed, depending on the type of warhead.  I believe a hot war has just started.”

The No Dong missile headed towards Tel Aviv unhindered.  The fuel in the missile reached its absolute maximum and the guidance system kept it on course as the missile, now silent, headed for its target.  “Radar computes three minutes to impact.” They waited.  “Radar computes two minutes to impact.” There was silence in the room save one voice everyone could hear.  “Radar computes thirty seconds to impact.” Then the countdown began.  “Fifteen seconds to impact, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, impact.”

“Mr.  Prime Minister, we have radar computations that Tel Aviv has been impacted,” said Rubin.

The Prime Minister could be heard speaking in the background.  He said, “No explosions have been reported in Tel Aviv.  It is possible their guidance system failed.”

The voice from Station six reported, “Coastal Radar picked up an unknown object that penetrated Israeli airspace and was lost in the Mediterranean twenty miles west of Tel Aviv.  The timing on the coastal radar and our intercept radar indicate the missile on our radar and the coastal sighting are the same.  The Navy is en-route to the splashdown and will report, and if possible recover.”

“Did you hear that, Mr.  Prime Minister?” asked Rubin.

“Yes, I did, Commander.  In spite of all our preparations, maybe God has to help once in a while.”

John and Raintree steered the car toward Tehran.  They heard nothing about Namak Lake on the car radio, but they saw several speeding convoys of trucks and cars headed toward the lake.  On the drive Raintree babbled on to John that there had been a fivefold increase in explosions at Iranian refineries and gas pipelines over the last year.  Explosions had become almost commonplace.  He said he was an observer on some, but had not participated in them.  He also said that the continuing attack on Iran included nuclear facilities, assassinating scientists, supplying plants with faulty equipment by bogus companies, and introducing ferocious viruses into Iran's computer systems.  John could not stay awake.

With great relief they arrived in Tehran and lost themselves in the traffic congestion.  When they arrived inside their gate, Raintree walked to the vehicles front and rear license plates and removed a transparent piece of plastic.  “I covered and changed the regional code and several symbols on the license plate, so if we were caught on camera, they won't be able to find us, hopefully.  I'm going to return the car.  I'll be back later.”

John entered the empty house, walked to his mattress on the floor and fell on it, exhausted from the night and the stress.  “What the hell is going on?” he asked himself, and then fell into the deep sleep of exhaustion.

The following morning Mac read him a report from the local paper that there had been an explosion at a munitions factory at Namak Lake.  They said the attack was the work of American Zionist.  Israel Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said that Israel has no idea what happened at Namak Lake and was getting information on the explosion from media reports.  John had no idea who to believe, the politicians who were lying or the journalists who were fabricating.  Politicians have a capacity to corrupt without limitations.  Journalists, on the other hand, were a semi-useful form of domesticated vulture who consumed the drivel from politicians.  Both valued integrity like the Romans valued chastity, a rare and valuable quantity best found in others.