Secret of the Oil: Prequel to the Donavan Chronicles (17 page)

HEZBOLLAH FIGHTERS

RIYADH – 28 OCTOBER

Early in the evening Tewfik al-Hanbali called Faisal. He waited as the phone rang and Faisal answered on the third ring.

“Faisal, thanks to you I have a new phone. Never used before. I still want to make this short. Can you get your men to my new location? I am afraid the American dogs might be acting on our last conversation and would know where we were planning to meet. A change in plans is warranted.”

“Yes, we can come now. Tell me where. I think you are right in changing things after the recent series of attacks. Where do you want my men?” Faisal said without any acrimony in his tone.

“You will have to leave Beirut in time to get here by tomorrow evening. I would like to leave the next day to go to a staging area and on to the targets the day after for a noon attack. Can you do that?” Al-Hanbali was assuming that Faisal was still in Lebanon. He had no way of knowing that Faisal had taken his team of eight PLO-Hezbollah fighters to Riyadh. There Faisal met with fellow PLO members, who provided weapons for his cell. He then ordered his men to get some rest. Hezbollah planned to acquire the atomic weapon.

“I’ll get them there at the time you have said. Where is it that you want us?”

Detailed instructions were given as to his location. He ended the call with well wishes to Faisal and his men.

At the safe house in Riyadh, Faisal assembled his team and related the conversation to them. One of the team had a map of the area Tewfik had specified.

“I think it would take us about four hours driving time to reach the location,” Madjid said. He was one of the oldest members of the cell. He had also spent many months in Saudi.

After studying the map, Faisal said, “It looks as if the location is isolated and on a hill. The logical thing to do is to arrive early, before they expect us. Preferably in the middle of the afternoon; then they will be out of the heat of the day.” He moved away from the map and walked toward the open window. He looked out of his hotel room on the dusty suburbs spreading as far as one could see in the evening light.

He turned to the assembled group and continued. “I was surprised by Tewfik’s reference to ‘targets.’ If he has more than one bomb we are really in luck. We leave in the morning. We should be in his general area by noon to two o’clock. He won’t expect us till dark. That will get us there about the time they will be taking an afternoon rest and we’ll be able to initiate our operation in daylight with minimum preparation and good visibility since it will be over unfamiliar ground.”

“Do you think there will be any guards or security systems?” asked one man.

“That is very possible. After the attack on his house, I think he will have, at least, an exterior guard. Therefore, we will have to be careful on our approach. We will leave at seven. I don’t see any way we could arrive pretending to carry out the mission as was initially agreed. Our people would not have weapons and there would be only two. There would be no way for just two men to steal the bomb, as they will be guarding it. No, we have to attack and take it. If it’s ready to use, then the system to detonate it is already set up. We have to get it and Madjid can figure out how to use it.”

The next morning, the Hezbollah fighters set off for al-Hanbali’s location. The route they followed took them through the outskirts of Riyadh and then out onto the road leading back to Ras Tanura. Unlike al-Hanbali in his decision to use back roads, Faisal took the modern highway and sped across the open desert. Once beyond the edge of human occupation, the outlying mud huts of the city, the desert stretched as far as one could see. This early in the morning it was not hot, but in a few hours the temperature would be at least one hundred ten degrees Fahrenheit. The Hezbollah group traveled for over four hours with no stops. The road seemed to go on forever. Once or twice they saw camel caravans plying their way across the desert. Some nomadic tribes still kept to that way of life.

They had to get off the main road and follow a tertiary one for some distance to get to the area that al-Hanbali had specified. After traveling on the dusty road for some minutes, Faisal decided they needed to take a break and fuel the three vehicles. As he was in the lead car, he ordered the driver to pull into the little wayside store with exterior fuel pumps.

After the car came to a stop, Faisal got out and walked into the store. His men got out to stretch, relieve themselves and then start to fuel the vehicles. No one paid attention to a dust covered Land Rover parked only one hundred feet away.

* * * *

“Holy shit! That bastard is one of the ones you showed us back at the Center. Faisal, I think. He’s here. Right now with three vehicles,” Bridget exclaimed.

Inside the Land Rover, Mattt sat up straight. He saw, in the outside mirror, the small convoy that had pulled up to the pumps. A man had emerged from the lead vehicle, he could not believe his eyes.

Matt slowly moved his hand up to adjust the rear view mirror, not wanting to draw attention from any rapid movement. He studied the man as he went into the little kiosk. He nodded to Bridget.

“By god, you are right,” he said. “Get on the phone and tell our guys to get moving and we will inform them what to do as we follow these guys. You get into your vehicle after they leave and we’ll take turns following them at a distance. That way they’ll see different cars, just in case they spot someone on their tail. These types of cars are everywhere and shouldn’t draw attention.” Matt was reaching for his satellite phone as he gave the order to Bridget.

In less than a minute, he connected with the Center on the phone. Lieutenant Commander Glenwood McDonald was not there and he requested the duty officer to have McDonald call him at once. It would take a few minutes to get the message to McDonald and he did not have an encrypted phone at home. He would have to come to the Center.

As Matt waited for the return call, the men in the three dust-covered vehicles started to leave the fuel pumps. He slid down in his seat, as did Bridget. The vehicles turned down the road and headed east.

“Okay, you take the first trailing position. We were down this road earlier today and there are no turn offs for at least three miles. So don’t close on them. Give me a call on the tactical radio if you need anything,” Matt said.

Bridget jumped out and went to her Land Rover, its tan color barely discernible under all the sand sticking to the vehicle. She got in and started her pursuit of the targets. They would be easy to follow since the dust plume from three vehicles on the old road left a column of sand rising from the half-paved roadbed.

Matt heard the phone ring and answered. McDonald’s familiar voice came over it from Washington to the middle of Saudi Arabia.

“What’s happened?”

“We just spotted our buddy Faisal; he is about a mile ahead of me with Bridget following his three vehicles,” Matt informed him. “I’m moving the team to wherever he is headed. We’ll take action once we find out what is going on. I’m not going to lose them this time. When we get to their destination I’ll need some overhead if we have time. Can you help?”

“No problem. Just get me the coordinates and we can have something in at most two hours.” McDonald did not sound as excited as Matt felt. He would soon hear the reason. “I’ll call the general right now. We may have to hold up your operation to get more clearances.”

“What the hell do you mean? Hold up? We have the bastard in sight and if we find them all together we can take them out.”

“Hold on, Matt. You don’t have the firepower or manpower to take on a group that now has reinforced manpower of what—maybe eight bad guys with al-Hanbali and five to eight with Faisal? You can’t take on that many.”

“I’ll not attack unless I have the tactical advantage. I’ll get all I know to you as soon as we find the hiding place. Talk to the general and I’ll get back to you when we find their location.”

After closing the phone, Matt took out his frustration on the red tape he felt around his neck and that of his team by slamming the pedal all the way down and roaring down the road after Bridget.

TEWFIK AL-HANBALI

SAUDI ARABIA

28 OCTOBER – 1:03 P.M.

Tewfik stood in Yuri’s workshop. “Yuri, will you complete the work on the weapons by this afternoon? I’ve got to make plans to move them to their targets and to calculate how to get the one placed in the oil well shaft leading to the underground reserves. Madjid has already rigged the oil well to take the weapon, but I just want to make sure everything is in order.”

“Another hour on the smaller of the two bombs and I’ll be finished. The trigger mechanism is as you requested. I put a telephone in the fifty-kiloton bomb. It is keyed to the number you specified and is set for a quick dial on your phone. The bomb for the deep oil cavity is by detonation from electrical wires attached to a plunger that you must connect by hand. The small one, which is fifteen kilotons, is geared to a timer that can be set for up to twenty hours in advance.” Yuri sagged at his shoulders. Weariness was evident in his face. He knew the work was satisfactory, but not perfect. He worried that the method he used, even though in compliance with all the regulations he had followed in the Russian military, still might not function as he hoped. He knew the weapon would go off and some form of atomic explosion would occur, but it might not be as big as he hoped.

“Okay, Yuri. You will be a very rich man soon. Tell me. Are you glad you did this?”

“Now, I am. It is finished. When do I get my money?”

“You said you would go with us in case there is a problem. I want you to go with Basam and me to the oil fields. I may need help to get that one in place and then we will all disappear to our own prearranged places and you go to yours. Don’t worry. Your money has been wired to your account. You can check it on your computer.” Al-Hanbali went over to Yuri’s personal computer and tapped the top of it with his fingers. “You’ve done an excellent job but you’ll be hunted like the rest of us if your identity ever becomes known. I have kept my word and you have your money. Besides, we might need you again, and if we do, I have your e-mail address.”

“No, I’ll get a new G-mail account and will give it to you before I leave. My old one may be already compromised.”

****

Al-Hanbali left the workshop area and returned to the house. This place was not as comfortable as his principal residence and he had not taken as much care in the construction at this location. He’d never really expected to use the compound for this mission, but just in case, he had installed a high-grade security system. He had put in the latest security devices and had them all connected to the main control room in the back of the house.

“Basam, have we got all the security systems online?” Al-Hanbali asked his younger brother. Basam was computer savvy and in a short time had the external surveillance system active so he could monitor them 24/7.

“I have just brought the laser grid system online and anything over the size of a dog will set off alarms in this room. It extends quite a ways from the house. We also have a guard walking around outside. I would anticipate that anyone approaching will concentrate on that aspect of our security and allow our systems to alert us before an intruder would suspect anything.”

“Did you already set up the claymore mines to protect the main entrance to the house?”

“The outside guard helped me and told me he had seen the Americans set them up in Iraq. He informed me these things are from the Vietnam War era. They are convex shaped mines filled with small pellets the size of little bullets. On exploding, the pellets resemble buckshot and are lethal over a wide area. Any living thing standing in front of the blast ends up ripped apart,” Basam said.

“Okay, all of this electronic gear should deal with anyone trying to get near the house, but just in case, I want those claymores as a final defense line,” said Al-Hanbali as he stroked the scar on his neck. “We’re so close to being ready to set off for our targets. But we have to wait on Faisal to get here this evening so that his men can take the weapon into the center of Ras Tanura oil shipping facility.”

Al-Hanbali walked over and gazed out of the window. He felt a little tired. It was time for the afternoon rest. The terrain viewed from his window in the rear of the house was a rolling tabletop of sandy dunes. The ground just outside the rear of the house fell away at a steep angle into a small ravine about one hundred meters away. From there it rose to a dune top about two hundred and twenty meters further on. On his left there was a hard surface road, most of the time partially covered with sand, and the pavement followed the topography of the land, passing by the entrance to his compound on the way to higher ground to his rear. Tewfik looked to his left. In the distance, coming over the far rise, he could make out three vehicles. Unusual, he thought, to have a convoy like that out here, especially at this time of day. Faisal wouldn’t be here for hours.

“Basam, I think we have company coming. We need to be on guard. Tell the men to be prepared in case it is the Americans.”

“The Americans couldn’t track us here. I’ll still alert the outside guard,” Basam said.

“Wait a minute. They are stopping down in the valley about two hundred meters from here. If it were Faisal, the directions I gave him were specific. There would be no reason for him to stop there,” Tewfik said as he went to the table to view the monitors. “Go. Get the men up and alert the guard. I don’t like this,” al-Hanbali ordered.

Basam went out to alert the outside guard to observe the vehicles that had stopped on the road and for him to stay out of sight until they determined what was going on. He yelled at the others to get their weapons ready.

Tewfik waited for Basam to return. “Brother, can we zoom the cameras in that area where those men are grouped?”

Basam played on the keyboard and the picture zoomed in on the cars. It was now certain that the cars had stopped and the doors were opening. The pictures on the monitor were clear. The first ones out of the cars had weapons in their hands. Tewfik stared in disbelief. What was going on? Who was this? Could it be the Americans again? No. He could see this wasn’t an American unit by the way they deployed.

“Something is wrong. I think those men are going to attack us. There is no other reason for their actions.” Basam moved the camera to zoom in on one man. It was Faisal. Tewfik could see his face clearly on the monitor’s screen.

“The bastard is after the weapons,” al-Hanbali shouted. “He has betrayed us. He wants them for himself. I should’ve guessed.”

“Tewfik, they must think we are all resting,” Basam said. “The bastards really are going to attack us.”

“We’ll surprise them. Get all the men to go quietly to the rooftop positions. Have them stay out of sight from the rear of the house. I don’t think he’ll know about the workshop and will probably concentrate on the house.”

Basam started for the door and Tewfik called after him, “Also, I want you to send someone to the workshop to guard Yuri and the weapons, just in case.”

Going into the front room of the house, Basam yelled, “Get your weapons. Go to the roof. Do not be seen from the rear of the house. Cover the area in front of the main door. Now move it.”

The men rushed as quickly and as quietly as they could into excellent firing positions by climbing onto the roof of the house and of the adjacent building while staying out of sight. From those positions they could cover the front of the house.

In less than four minutes, the defenders had scrambled into well-hidden positions. A killing zone in front of the house was established. Now the weapons they could bring to bear, combined with the claymores, ensured a death trap for anyone caught in that area.

The men remained on the rooftops in the prone position; they stayed motionless. Tewfik knew this required them to exhibit extreme self-control in the stifling direct rays of the afternoon sun. The sweat started to roll down their faces. They wiped it away to keep their vision sharp. They had to be ready to fire accurately into the kill zone. The desert regions of Saudi Arabia were certainly not hospitable places in the middle of the afternoon reaching scorching temperatures.

On reentering the control room, Basam said, “Okay, I have everyone in position. We can wait to see what he does by monitoring his moves.”

Al-Hanbali did not look up but continued to monitor the screens. He watched as the screen showed the group in the ravine spread out and start in a circular formation to come up the hill. Two members of the attacking group set up firing positions for what looked like Rocket Propelled Grenades. He could see they were taking advantage of the supposed blind spot at the back of the house. The alarm sounded on the computer when the first man broke the laser of the intrusion alert system.

Al-Hanbali clenched his fists until his palm bled. Why had he not seen this coming? Stupid. Why had he been so blind as to let the Hezbollah fanatics in on the plan? Fatimah’s attempt to coordinate the various elements of Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and his cell was a horrible mistake. How could they have brought in these madmen? And he had agreed. Dumb!

He picked up the phone and dialed Faisal. On the third ring, the man answered.

“Faisal, when will you be here? I have to plan for the journey to Ras Tanura.”

“It will be at eight with my two men,” said Faisal, giving the agreed upon time.

Al-Hanbali terminated the call. Now he had positive confirmation of the intent of the Hezbollah/PLO leader.

Now he knew what he had to do. The budding cooperative effort with the Palestinian organization had come to naught. These traitors were only interested in their own agenda. The destruction of Israel was not as important to al-Hanbali as the destruction of the western economy that supported Israel. The objectives of the two groups were at odds.

“Come on, Basam. Let’s get out of here now. We don’t want to be in the house when they attack,” al-Hanbali said.

“Right behind you.”

There was no question that Faisal was coming to attack him. He must strike Faisal first.