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.How this guy had ever become the second most powerfulmember of theRussian political system had never ceased to amaze him, but for now Bennetthad more pressing matters on his plate.He muted the monitors and asked McCoyto bring him up to speed on what she'd gathered so far.McCoy began by explaining that after much foot-dragging by Russianauthorities, the FBI and CIA had finally obtained complete copies of theflight manifest fromAeroflot and had reviewed them for possible suspects.So far, however, none ofthe names on the manifest had shown up on any U.S., British, Russian, orInterpol watch lists.McCoy promised they'd have more information in a fewhours, but Bennett privately wondered just how much time they had before theRussian "street" reached the boiling point.33McCoy continued by noting how odd it was that a plane with so many VIPs aboardcould be so vulnerable to hijacking.Contrary to the initial information givento the president the previous night, there had, in fact, been armed guardsaboard the Russian airliner.Some were protecting the three members of theDuma.Some worked for BorisStuchenko and his Lukoil board.In fact, by McCoy's count, no fewer than eightbodyguards were on the flight.Moscow airport security tapes showed each ofthe bodyguards going through proper procedures to bring the weapons aboard, sowhat had gone wrong?"Could the guards themselves have been part of the plot?" asked Bennett."That's what I'm wondering," said McCoy."I've got a team at Langley reviewingthe files on each of these guys as we speak, but there's something else thatsstrange.'""What's that?" asked Bennett."Doesn't it seem odd that the pilots never squawked an emergency not toair-traffic control in New York, not to Aeroflot flight operations back inMoscow? Not a single emergency call was placed by anyone on the flight.No oneused the onboard air phones.No one seems even to have used a cell phone.Wouldn't you think if there'dbeen a struggle with eight armed men battling a group of would-be hijackers,someone would have gotten the word out?"Bennett nodded.But McCoy wasnt done.She had a list of other possiblesuspects'besides the guards.It included Chechen separatists, various factions of theRussian mafia, and Al-Nakbah, the radical Islamic terror network that for thePage 29 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlpast several years had been fashioning itself as the global successor toAl-Qaeda.And Langley did have one interesting lead.Freshly translated NSA intercepts of cell-phone calls between known Chechenrebel base camps indicated that two senior Chechen leaders had been planningto go toMoscow ten days before the attack over Washing-ton.Their whereabouts at themoment were unknown, but the two men were believed to have extensiveexperience with explosives and were rumored to be planning some kind ofmega-terror attack inside theRussian capital for late summer."Were these men capable of hijacking a Russian airliner?" Bennett asked.McCoy conceded that the analysts back at the CIA and FBI weren't sure.Neitherwas she.But assuming they were, wouldn't the men have been spotted by Russiansecurity at the airport prior to boarding?"Something doesn't fit," McCoy said, sipping her coffee."I mean, let's say itwas these two Chechens.And let's say that somehow they got past airportsecurity.And let's say they really did overpower all those security guards orwere somehow in cahoots with them.Even if all that were true, wouldn't youexpect Chechen terrorists to fly that plane into the Kremlin, rather than intothe White House? The Chechens don't have a beef with us.They're trying totake out Vadim's government, not ours.In the last eighteen months, Chechenterrorists have been responsible for three assassination attempts againstVadim, two subway bombings near the Kremlin, and, of course, the recentkidnapping and beheading of Vadim's deputy press secretary.""I thought Al-Nakbah claimed responsibility for the latest kidnap-ping," saidBennett."Responsibility, yes," said McCoy.But as far as we can tell, the operationwas run"by the Chechens."34"Fair enough, but doesn't this seem like an Al-Nakbah operation to you?" saidBennett."The guys at Langley are leaning against any involvement by Al-Nakbah."Bennett shook his head."I didn't ask what they think.I want to know what youthink."McCoy hesitated."I don't know, Jon.I guess in some respects the Aeroflotattack resembles the Al-Nakbah operation against the president a few yearsback.""That's the first thing that came to my mind too The Last Jihad," Bennettsaid, citing the Iraqi code name for the airborne attack near Denver that hadalmost costMacPherson his life.The attack had been a key element of Saddam Hussein'splan to decapitate the U.S., NATO, and Saudi and Israeli governments almostsimultaneously."Me, too, Jon, but for crying out loud we've captured or killed al-most all ofAl-Nakbah's leadership and shock troops over the past few years.At this point,I'm not sure they'd even have the resources to pull off a job like this.""To take over a single plane?"on, it's not as easy to hijack a jet as it was on 9/11 or when Saddam orderedthe hit on MacPherson.Things have changed.""I know, but, Erin, come on; you've seen Al-Nakbah operate.They've certainlygot motive revenge, blowing up the peace process "McCoy cut him off."Jon, think about it.It doesn't make sense."Page 30 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Why not?""Look, Al-Nakbah's day-to-day operations are run by a guy named MohammedJibril, right?""Right.So?""So first, Jibril was once a senior operative in Iranian intelligence.Second,we still believe he has close ties to the regime in Tehran, and, so far as wecan tell, Jibril does theAyatollah's bidding when Tehran doesn't want to leave any fingerprints.Third,Jibril's partner in crime, don't for-get, is Yuri Gogolov, the former Russianspecial forces commander turned strategist for the Russian Fascist movement.The FBI actually believeGogolov founded the Al-Nakbah network.""But Al-Nakbah has tried to take down Vadim before," Bennett broke in."That'sthe reason Gogolov got involved with Jibril in the first place.""True.But don't forget, Tehran wants a strategic alliance with Moscow, andMoscow couldn't be happier to oblige.The fact is, the two countries havenever been closer than they are today.Since the breakup of the Soviet Union,Russia has sold hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of arms to Iran tanks,missiles, submarines, you name it.TheRussians are also helping Iran build no less than five nuclear plants, despiteintense in-ternational pressure to stop.""And despite the fact that gas in Iran costs six cents a gallon.""Well, that's just it," said McCoy."They've got huge reserves of oil andnatural gas.There's absolutely no need for Iran to develop nuclear power, unless it's toconvert the spent fuel into highly enriched uraniurn in order to producenuclear weapons which is exactly what we suspect is happening, with Russiancollusion.""So what are you saying?""I'm saying, add it all up.Moscow and Tehran are building a strategicalliance.They've been working on it for two decades while the world has focused itsattention35elsewhere, and Gogolov and Jibril are right at the heart of it all.Why in theworld wouldIran suddenly bite the hand that arms it? Why would they authorize Gogolov andJibril to take out a Russian airliner? It just doesn't make sense."McCoy had a point.She often did
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