Command Screen

Prologue Two hours after sunset in the Persian Gulf a grey C -130 Hercules touched down at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar. The United States Air Force Operations Duty Officer Lieutenant Colonel Brad Winslow picked up the secure telephone and called the Transient Maintenance Officer. Major Richard Whidbey answered and was advised that the first of two had landed and to taxi them to Hangar 154 in accordance with previously approved orders from the Air Force Component Commander. The Hercules had taxied clear of the runway and was behind the ‘Follow Me’ truck when the second C-130 touched down. Both non-descript aircraft were taxied to the apron of Hangar 154 and shut down. Two blue painted Air Force buses drove to the aircraft to provide transportation to the crew and passengers. Heavily armed Air Force Security personnel took position around the aircraft. The second Hercules to land was towed into the interior of the hangar and the hangar door was closed. Air Force personnel near enough to each aircraft to see its markings could not identify what nation it was from. The remaining aircraft was towed to the refueling station, fueled and prepared for takeoff. Exactly two hours after having landed at Al Udeid Air Base the first Hercules rolled down the runway and became airborne. The pilot turned to a southerly heading as it disappeared out of sight of those watching it from the ground. Aboard the departing C-130 was a squad of the elite Israeli Air Force Air Commando unit Shaldag (Kingfisher). Their destination was a remote location in the interior of Iran: a former airstrip that once was a remote operating base of the former Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF). At the time the first Israeli aircraft departed Al Udeid Air Base Information Systems Technician First Class Dwayne Darby, the duty Broadcast Operator aboard the USS Eisenhower operating in the Arabian Sea, observed that an incoming classified message was printing. He read the initial header, placed it on a classified clipboard folder and took it to his supervisor Information Systems Chief Petty Officer Peter Longwell. Peter Longwell happened to be speaking with the ship’s Communication Officer Lieutenant Commander Frederick Smathers. Smathers read the header of the message which began with the words: SECRET NO FORN EYES ONLY TURNING POINT He then returned the clipboard to the First Class Petty Officer nodded his head and said: “Deliver it to the Admiral’s Chief of Staff.” After Captain Charles Smyth had signed for the message he sat down at his desk to read it. It advised that ‘Operation Buy Back’ had commenced at 1857 hours Zulu and ‘Spear One’ was enroute. He removed the folder marked ‘Buy Back’ from the safe and reviewed it quickly. He was already thoroughly familiar with the contents. He notified the staff to execute the Strike Groups action and to relay message traffic to the strike force. He left to brief the Admiral. After he had received the word the Eisenhower’s Air Wing Nine Operations Officer Vincent Trowbridge reviewed his copy of OP PLAN Buy Back. He read the brief summary: SECRET NO FORN EYES ONLY TURNING POINT (SNF)Israeli Intelligence Service has completed preparations to retrieve an Iranian Mashadi Crypto Jew for defection and asylum in Israel. The individual code named ‘Rock Hound’ is an American trained nuclear physicist working at the highest levels in the Iranian nuclear development program. Accompanied and escorted by Israeli Intelligence Service (IIS) agents he departed Tehran 48 hours previous to ‘Spear One’ departing ‘Stage One’ (Al Udeid Qatar Air Force Base). They will remain overnight in a safe house in a small town in South Eastern Iran named Bazman. The cover story of the party’s travel is that ‘Rock Hound’ will engage in two of his well-known passions: archeology and photography. There are several well-known ancient rock art petroglyphs and pictographs in the Bazman Protected Area some fifteen kilometers northeast of the town. The next morning they will travel twenty five miles southwest of Bazman to an abandoned Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) airstrip at Madar Maksan located at 27 degrees, 44 minutes, 59.88 seconds North (latitude) and 60 degrees, 05 minutes, 59.92 seconds East (longitude) at an elevation of 2653 feet. There they will wait for and rendezvous with the Israeli Air Commando Unit Shaldag which will be inserted by a night time airborne operation. (SNF)Shaldag troops will position navigation aids and ensure the air strip is prepared to receive the second C-130 Hercules, ‘Spear Two’, which will land two hours later at the airstrip and board ‘Rock Hound’, the agents and the Shaldag troops. Spear Two will carry a squad of the Israeli Navy’s Shayetet 13 (Flotilla 13) commandos for security and force protection. The Navy commandos will also carry three cadavers dressed in identical clothing to be placed in the party’s vehicle and set afire. They will rig the vehicle to appear that it caught fire from a broken fuel line spraying atomized gasoline onto the hot engine igniting the vehicle on fire and burning the bodies beyond recognition. (SNF)Spear Two will depart Madar Maksan and egress south to the Arabian Sea before daylight. Spear One will orbit fifty miles off the southern Iranian coast over the Arabian Sea as backup until Spear Two is feet wet. Trowbridge looked at his watch. Spear Two should be leaving the Air Strip at Madar Maksan 0230 local time or five and one half hours from now. The Eisenhower’s first launch was scheduled for 0600. The Israelis should be well clear by then. What could go wrong? He thought to himself.