Authors: Dale Brown
“Everyone was clear,” Jon Masters said. “Thanks for the warning.”
“Can I bust some heads now, General?” Macomber asked.
“I don’t want anyone hurt, Rascal, unless they go for Jon and the techs,” Patrick said. “Take their weapons only.”
“When are we going to knock off the ‘Kumbaya’ routine around here, sir?” Macomber asked half aloud. “Rascal Two, can you take out the twelve-point-five and the Sagger without hurting—” But at that moment there was a small explosion on top of the second APC, and the gunner jumped out of the cupola, beating sparks and small flames off his uniform. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” Charlie said.
Whack was taking sustained rifle fire from the Turks as he jumped off the APC and walked over to Evren; they didn’t stop firing until Whack grasped Evren by his jacket and lifted him off the ground. “I asked you nicely to leave us alone,” Whack said. “Now I’m going to be not so nice,
arkadas
.” As easily as tossing a tennis ball, Whack threw Evren a hundred yards through the air, almost all the way back to the highway. He then raced over and did the same to the other Turkish soldiers around him who hadn’t run away. “Is that okay, Genesis?”
“Thank you for showing restraint, Rascal,” Patrick replied.
Macomber jumped over to the other APC, but the Turkish troops had already run off…because they got a look at Charlie Turlock, aboard a Cybernetic Infantry Device guarding the other side of the crash site. She carried her own electromagnetic rail gun and wore a forty-millimeter rocket launcher backpack containing eight vertically launched rockets with high-explosive, antipersonnel bomblet, and smoke warheads, plus a reload backpack in the Humvee. “Everything okay, Two?”
“I’m clear,” Charlie replied. She pointed to the east. “That helicopter is in sight. Looks like a standard-issue Huey. I see a door gunner but no other weapons.”
“If he points that gun anywhere near our guys, take it out.”
“I got him zeroed in already. Looks like a cameraman in the door with him. Smile—you’re on
Candid Camera
.”
“Just great. Masters…?”
“I don’t even have all the access doors open yet, Wayne,” Jon said. “I’ll need at least an hour just to find out what’s what. It shouldn’t take long to pull the major components and LRUs—maybe three hours, tops. But I’d like at least eight hours to—”
“I don’t know if you have eight
minutes
, let along eight hours, but get moving and we’ll hold them off as long as we can,” Whack said.
“Maybe if you’d help us, we’d be done quicker,” Jon suggested.
Whack sighed inside his armor. “I was afraid you’d say that,” he said. “Charlie, you got security. I’m going to be a mechanic for a while.”
“Roger. That helicopter is starting to orbit us. Looks like they’re taking pictures. The door gunner’s not tracking anything on the ground.”
“If it looks like he’s going to engage, nail him.”
“With pleasure.”
“We’re
engineers
, not mechanics,” Jon corrected him. “But
you’ll
be the demolition guy.”
“Well, that sounds more like it,” Whack said.
T
HE
O
VAL
O
FFICE
, T
HE
W
HITE
H
OUSE
, W
ASHINGTON
, D.C.
A
SHORT TIME LATER
The president picked up the phone. “Hello, President Hirsiz. This is President Gardner. What can I do for you today?”
“You can call off your attack dogs for one, sir,” Kurzat Hirsiz said from Ankara, “unless you are looking for war.”
“You refer to the incident at the crash site north of Mosul?” Gardner asked. “As I understand it, three of your soldiers were injured and two armored vehicles were damaged. Is that accurate?”
“Have you an explanation for this deliberate attack?”
“You’ll have to talk with the Iraqi government. The United States government had nothing to do with it.”
“That is not the truth. Those…those
things
are American weapon systems. The whole world knows this.”
“The robot and the armored commando were experimental designs and they were never used directly by the U.S. government,” Gardner said, using the story he and his staff had conjured up the minute they got the call from Vice President Ken Phoenix from Nahla. “They belong to a private company that had been contracted by the U.S. Army to provide security for its forces in Iraq.”
“So they
do
work for the American government!”
“No, because after the incident with your reconnaissance plane, their contract with my government was immediately canceled,” Gardner said. “The company was then contracted by the Iraqi government. They were working for the Iraqis when that incident occurred. Frankly I don’t know why your troops were at that crash site to begin with. They weren’t looting the plane, were they?”
“I resent that implication, sir,” Hirsiz said. “Turkish soldiers are not criminals. The aircraft was involved in the downing of a Turkish jet and the killing of a Turkish pilot; the troops were merely guarding the plane until a formal inquiry could begin.”
“I see. You should have communicated your intentions better to the Iraqis and to us. But that would have been difficult in the middle of an invasion, wouldn’t it?”
“So is this your plan now, Mr. Gardner: let the Iraqis take the blame for American actions?”
“Mr. President, your forces are on Iraqi soil, bombing Iraqi villages and killing Iraqi civilians—”
“We target only PKK terrorists, sir, terrorists that kill innocent Turks!”
“I understand, sir, and I agree something needs to be done about the PKK, and the United States has pledged more assistance to Turkey for this. But we do not condone a full-scale ground invasion of Iraq. I warned you about unintended consequences.
“As for the contractors at Nahla: they are working for the Iraqis and not under our direct control, but we are still allies of Iraq and can intercede on your behalf. The United States would be happy to sit down with Turkey, the Kurdish Regional Government, and Iraq to facilitate an immediate cease-fire by all parties, including contractors; a withdrawal timetable; and more comprehensive security arrangements on the Iraq-Turkey border, including international monitors, to eliminate PKK terrorists from crossing the border. But nothing will happen while Turkish troops are engaged in combat operations inside Iraq, sir.”
“So, this
is
a conspiracy: America uses these robots against Turkish troops, pretends they are not involved, but then offers to be an intermediary in negotiations as long as there is a cease-fire,” Hirsiz said angrily. “Again, Turkey is the victim, forced to concede everything, pushed aside and ignored. Then no one notices when another Turkish plane is brought down or another police station blown apart.”
“Believe me, Mr. President, we want to help Turkey,” Gardner said. “Turkey is one of America’s most important friends and allies. I understand your anger. We can send in monitors, technology, even personnel to patrol the border. But nothing will happen while combat operations are ongoing. They must stop immediately, and Turkish troops must leave Iraq. There’s no other way.”
“There is only one way we will agree to international monitors along our border, Mr. Gardner: the Kurdistan Regional Government must disavow the PKK and all plans to form an independent state of Kurdistan,” Hirsiz said. “The KRG must remove its flag from all public places, arrest the PKK leaders and turn them over to us for trial, dismantle all PKK training bases, and shut down all companies that support the PKK.”
“Mr. President, what you’re asking for is impossible,” President Gardner said after a moment’s confusion. “The KRG administers the constitutionally authorized Kurdish region of northern Iraq. To my knowledge, they’ve never supported the PKK.”
“As long as the KRG exists and tries to separate its territory from the rest of Iraq, the PKK will use terrorism to try to force that into effect,” Hirsiz said. “You know as well as I that some members of the KRG leadership have businesses that secretly launder money and transport weapons and supplies from Iraq and overseas into Turkey. Many, not just Turkey, consider the Iraqi PKK a secret military wing of the KRG.”
“That’s nonsense, Mr. President,” Gardner insisted. “There is no relationship between the KRG and PKK.”
“They both want an independent Kurdistan carved out of provinces of Turkey, Iraq, Persia, and Syria,” Hirsiz said angrily. “The Kurdistan regional government obviously does not want to openly recognize a terrorist group like the PKK, so they support them in secret, and they oppose any efforts to shut them down. That will stop immediately! The KRG can administer the three Iraqi provinces of Dohuk, Irbil, and Sulaymaniyah, but they must do so without advocating an independent Kurdistan or trying to expand to the western provinces that have a Turkmen majority. Otherwise, our offensive continues.”
Joseph Gardner ran a hand over his face in frustration. “Then you’ll agree to negotiations, Mr. President?”
“No negotiations until the KRG agrees to stop supporting an independent Kurdistan state and agrees to denounce the PKK and bring its leaders to trial for crimes against humanity,” Hirsiz said.
“If Baghdad and Irbil cannot get the PKK under control in Iraq and force them to stop killing innocent Turks, we will do the job. Good day, sir.” And he hung up.
The president slammed the phone down. “Humans shouldn’t be allowed to have this much fun,” he murmured. He turned to his advisers in the Oval Office. “Tell the KRG to stop all plans for independence?” He snapped his fingers. “Sure, we can do that. The only part of Iraq that has its shit together, and Hirsiz wants it shut down. Great.”
“But he opened the door to negotiations, sir,” chief of staff Walter Kordus said. “Always come in high and hope everyone meets somewhere in the middle.” The president gave him a sideways glance. “At least it’s a
start
at negotiations.”
“I guess you could call it that,” the president said. “Did you hear all that, Ken? Stacy?”
“Yes, Mr. President,” Ken Phoenix said from Allied Air Base Nahla. “The Turkish air force is pounding the Iraqi northeastern provinces, especially Irbil and Dohuk provinces. I doubt if either the KRG or Baghdad will negotiate while the Turks are attacking their towns and villages.”
“NATO is meeting later today to discuss a resolution ordering Turkey to cease fire,” Secretary of State Stacy Anne Barbeau said from Brussels, Belgium, the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “But the resolution has already been watered down to a
request
to cease fire. The Turks have a fair amount of support in the council here—they’re sympathetic about the continuous PKK attacks despite Turkey’s attempts to give the Kurds in Turkey more aid, a stronger voice in government, and fewer cultural and religious restrictions. I don’t think Turkey is going to get much pressure from NATO or the European Union.”
“They’re not getting much from Congress either,” the president said. “Most don’t understand the whole Kurdistan question, but they do understand terrorism, and right now they see the PKK as the problem. Turkey will eventually overstay in Iraq and public opinion will turn, especially if they try to widen the conflict.”
“And the last thing they need is a reason to widen the conflict…which brings me back to McLanahan,” Barbeau said acidly. “What in hell is he doing out there, Mr. Vice President?”
“He is apparently going to help the Iraqis defend themselves against the Turks,” Phoenix replied. “This mission out to his crashed plane was a test to see what the Turkish army would do. They seemed to do nothing until they went out to the crash site. The Turks were getting ready to move or dismantle the plane, and they tried to chase them away.”
“And McLanahan attacked.”
“I watched the images coming from a UAV over the scene,” Phoenix said, “and I listened to the audio as it was happening. McLanahan’s forces didn’t attack until the Turks did, and they even gave them a second warning after a soldier shot at the Tin Man commando. After it was obvious the Turks were going to attack the workers, the Tin Man and the CID unit went to work.”
“And now what’s happening?”
“Some of the Turks surrounding Nahla Air Base here deployed near the crash site,” Phoenix said. “Dr. Masters and his workers are still at the crash site recovering black boxes and classified equipment. McLanahan’s UAVs have detected some Turkish ground units en route, but they’re afraid the Turkish air force will attack. The Turks have flown helicopters near the site and shot a few mortars at them, trying to scare them into retreating.”
“You know, I don’t have much sympathy for McLanahan right now,” Gardner said. “He decided to twist the tiger’s tail, and now he might get his ass chewed off. We’re trying to find ways to de-escalate the conflict, and he just goes and finds new ways to
escalate
it.”
“We’ll find out what will happen next as soon as Masters starts to head back here to Nahla,” Phoenix said. “There’s about a hundred soldiers and six armored vehicles waiting for him on the highway, and I’ll bet they’re pissed.”
“I want our guys to stay out of it,” the president ordered. “No Americans get involved. This is McLanahan’s fight. If he gets his guys hurt or killed, it’s
his
fault.”
“We should contact the Turkish prime minister and urge restraint, sir,” Phoenix said. “McLanahan’s guys are outnumbered. Even with the Tin Man and CID out there, there’s no way they can fight through the Turkish army. The Turks are going to want some payback.”
“I hope McLanahan is smart enough not to try to take on the Turks,” the president said. “Stacy, contact Akas’s office again, explain the situation, and ask her to communicate to the Ministry of Defense for the army to hold back.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“McLanahan stepped in it big-time,” the president said as he turned to other business. “Unfortunately, it’s his guys that are going to suffer for it.”