"Intel reports Saddam is deploying his Scuds out west," an Air Force major told the assembled helicopter pilots, "but nothing is showing up in any of our satellite imagery..."
Callahan looked at the current photograph on the screen and held up his hand.
"Go ahead," the major said.
"Are the launchers small enough to fit under a highway overpass?"
"Yes, and that's going to be your biggest concern. These missiles aren't heavy, relatively speaking, and so the damn things are really easy to move around. There are literally hundreds of small metal buildings along highways 1, 10, and 22, and these routes place Scuds close enough to targets in both Saudi Arabia and Israel to put both coalition troops and large civilian population center in harm's way, particularly in Israel. Word is Patriot batteries will be deployed around major airbases in Saudi Arabia well before the outbreak of hostilities. I don't have word on placement of batteries in Israel at this time, but we have to assume that Saddam is going to go after Israel from Day One..."
"Why?" Rooney asked.
"To rupture the integrity of the coalition," the major replied. "If Israel is pulled into the conflict our Arab partners will likely either refuse to participate in the liberation of Kuwait or, worst case, they may use that as a pretext to move against Israel. At that point, we'd have..."
"A clusterfuck," Callahan sighed.
"Exactly. Now, Captain Callahan has trained this team to go after possible nuclear warheads, and as I understand the way he's structured you guys, we'll have two specially modified Hueys as the basic maneuvering unit, followed by four Blackhawks carrying elements of Army Rangers and British SAS, and six Hellfire armed Apache helicopters riding the perimeter. So, two eleven unit teams - is that about right, Callahan?"
"Yessir."
"What's the outline of your plan? The basic plan?"
"We operate at night, first of all. We assume they're going to hide out in the shadows during daylight, then move at night - especially if they launch. Basic operational characteristics of these mobile launchers is to launch one missile and move to the next pre-arranged hiding place, usually not too far away. That way they keep their exposure to a minimum and avoid discovery by back-tracing trajectories."
"So, how do you go about detection?"
"The first assumption we're making is that there are Scuds with nuclear warheads out there. Even shielded warheads emit particle trails, both alpha rays and gamma rays, but we won't run into alpha particles unless we happen to fly right over a warhead at very low altitude. Gamma-ray particles are another matter, as you know. Still, we can't detect by simple observation. We have to fly through a trail of particles left by a warhead as it's being moved from place to place..."
"Or accidentally fly over a launcher, I assume."
"Correct. And then we have to hope their escorts maintain discipline and don't open up on us."
"So," the major asked, "what's the best-case scenario?"
"Best case?" Callahan mused. "We run across a trail and follow it, and we run up on them from the rear before they can launch. Other than that, it's going to come down to simple luck, preferably finding a mobile unit moving between locations - and before a launch. I'd assume if they go nuclear all bets are off and Israel will hit back with nukes?"
"If Saddam decides to go nuclear, Captain, you'd better pray you get to that launcher before anything heads out. Saddam can hit Istanbul from these locations, not just Tel Aviv or Riyadh. And once that genie is out of the bottle there'll be no easy way to wind things down again."
"Major," Rooney asked, "is it confirmed Saddam has nukes?"
"Look, you guys have all seen the same shit on CNN that I have. Cheney and Powell are convinced, so POTUS is on board. That makes this operation a policy level decision, so that means you guys are going to be the tip of the spear. The number one operational priority right now - before hostilities commence, it to track down any nuclear-tipped Scuds and take 'em out. That means if you run across any, I repeat any Scuds without nuclear warheads you get the word back to SoComm and let them deal with it. We can't lose these two Hueys in some sort of spurious, feather-legged fire-fight. Got it? Is everyone clear on that? If someone starts shooting at you your response is simple. Call the CAP, let the Strike Eagles handle the threat. Cover the Hueys and get out of the line of fire, then start hunting again."
Everyone nodded.
"Again, men, your mission is simple. Find any nukes - on launchers or otherwise - and let either the Rangers or the Apaches take 'em out. We're looking at three to four weeks before hostilities commence, but you guys go to work tonight. If you succeed, the war will be over in a matter of weeks, not months, and the world stays a little safer for the time being. Now, we'll have a briefing by the lead Eagle driver on your CAP, and he'll go over frequencies and call-outs for the night's hop..."
_______________________________
"Jesus, Callahan, what the hell did you get me mixed up in?" Rooney said, grinning.
"Shit, this is gonna be a turkey shoot," Callahan said. "Line 'em up and knock 'em down."
"Yeah? And what if we screw the pooch? Then what, Smart Guy?"
"World War Three," Deke Slater, the lead Blackhawk pilot said. "And we'll be right in the bulls-eye when the word goes out to turn western Iraq into a glassed-over parking lot."
"Thanks, Harry," Rooney sighed.
"Stop worrying about it," Callahan grinned. "This Saddam character doesn't have any nukes. If he did we wouldn't be over here right now."
"How do you figure that?" Slater said.
"Seriously? Well, we got half the air force holed up on a couple of air bases in Saudi Arabia, and the other half on Diego Garcia. Two or three well-aimed missiles and there goes the Air Force. So...no way do we take that kind of risk..."
"So then Cheney and Powell are..."
"Garden variety politicians, Deke. Doing what they do best. We had to act when this jack-ass moved on Kuwait, and we had to intervene with some kind of global coalition or public opinion in Ames, Iowa would have skewed negative. Without public support, no war. If no war, then Raytheon and all the other toy-makers don't get in on another half a billion in procurements..."
"I keep forgetting you're one of those 'peace-love-dope smokers' from San Francisco," Slater added. "That's the same shit y'all were spouting back in '68."
"Slater," Callahan quipped, "you were still in diapers back in '68."
"True. But the premise stands."
"Fuck, it's gonna be Christmas in like a week," Rooney snarled, "and here we are stuck in some desert that thinks it's an icebox. I don't know about you guys, but I miss San Fran. Shit, there aren't even any trees out here..."
The two specially equipped Hueys were in their makeshift hangers, both fueled and ready to go. Their special antennas and probes were deployed and looked like the skeletal structure of a bat's wing, and they'd both been repainted from flat black to a kind of putrid looking gray-green that was supposed to be harder to see at night. Both were very lightly armed with just two HVAR pods with Willy-Pete loadouts, and they weren't carrying door guns - or gunners - so were, for all practical purposes, unarmed.
Located northeast of Turaif, Saudi Arabia, this special facility had been carved out of thin air in a matter of days and sat on the map near where Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq came to a point. The main highway from Baghdad to Jordan, Highway 10, lay just across the Iraqi border, but several Iraqi airbases lined that highway, as well. Smaller highways and roads crossed over Highway 10, and these overpasses provided endless opportunities for cover that mobile Scud launchers could utilize anytime reconnaissance satellites flew overhead. There was an almost endless supply of small buildings, too - most belonging to national mining concerns - where these launchers could hide.
Tonight's mission - the groups first - would take them between two small Iraqi air bases to the highway, and Callahan's Huey would fly along just above the highway for about 20 miles - his team's Blackhawks and Apaches flying on either side the main roadway. F-15 Strike Eagle fighter bombers would fly overhead in the "No Fly Zone" established during the initial phases of Operation Desert Shield, waiting for any signs of response from the badly organized Iraqi Air Force. Rooney and his team would wait, then fly along the same route twenty minutes later, hoping to catch anyone that decided to run once Callahan's team passed.
Callahan had trained for just this scenario, only in Germany in the sixties, in what would have been the opening phases of the Third World War. Still, the mission in Iraq was the same: find nuclear warheads typically used in tactical operations, those used in either short-range missiles or in artillery shells.
Callahan's team took off at zero-dark-thirty and crossed into Iraq; almost instantly radar alarms sounded so he dropped lower and assumed a hover, then he crept along at about thirty knots until he came to the highway. There was hardly any traffic on the road these days, but what traffic there was had to be considered hostile...
"Cat 1 this is Eagle 3, looks like a Mig taking off from H3, cold and dark, turning north your direction. Suggest you go quiet."
"Cat 1 roger." Callahan simply flared and landed in the middle of the highway about twenty meters from an overpass and waited for the Mig to vacate the area...
"Cat 1 Eagle 3, I think they must have painted you, he's coming low to make a run down the highway."
"Eagle 3, you'd better engage."
"Already on him."
Callahan saw the Eagle maybe ten miles ahead and coming down fast from forty thousand feet, and a second later he saw an air-to-air missile leap from the Eagle and streak down towards the Mig. Another Eagle fired an anti-radiation missile at an unseen Iraqi radar installation, and literally within seconds, all known threats had been eliminated.
