Oddly, it was easy enough to get into Turkey. The wartime laws in that country were not as strict and most hadn't even been enforced so far, as probably their media hadn't let it on that there was a full swing war yet. A refugee flight was conducted by the Israeli government to deport citizens who were not Israeli back to their homes and quite a few of those homes were on the island of Crete just a few hundred miles off shore.
Dolan used her Mossad "Do-whatever-I-want-in-Israeli-government-run-airlines" badge to book a flight and secure fake passports and luggage into the small Gulfstream medium transport. It only carried about fifty passengers but the rule of the capitalist world in Dolan's experience was that if you were rich, you were less likely to be searched, so all six members of the team got to ride first class where the food wasn't bad and the attendants pretended you had a name. They also secured the conference room on the plane which was soundproofed and bug swept by Chavez before Dolan cleared her throat and began the latest briefing.
"So we have it all planned out," Dolan said and set her paper on the table. Oddly enough, the only fake passports she had to aquire were for the true Israelis. She, Clark, Chavez, Vega and Johnston simply used their American passports and all was good.
"the flight will land in Crete and we'll just hop onto a boat to take us to Turkey. Clark," she nodded at the old person who was trying to not look so awkward in his Italian suit and Armeni tie (Dolan thought he actually looked pretty good) "Knows a couple of people there and they'll have a safe house all ready for us by the time we are there." She took a deep breath and prepared herself for the next part.
"As of this moment, we are off the charts people, we do not exist and we will no longer be in contact with the Israeli government; we certainly will not be receiving any further orders from there and will not have any sort of back up. What is here, is all we got."
"Damn," Zilich said "I left my lucky underwear in Tel Aviv!" everyone had a good chuckle at that.
"Back to the brief, our first contact with the cell's director was made at this IP address", she wrote it on the white board so they could see it, "And we've managed to track that down to an address in Istanbul. So we start there, and see if we can push any further through the lead."
"The suspect has been confirmed to be a Turkish government office holder, however we'll need to push the investigation to discover if he's the only agent in the terrorist attacks on our country or more likely if there are other governments at work here."
"We'll also need to keep in mind ma'am." Clark interrupted "That its quite possible that they let us have this intel so they can weed us out easier."
"We'll stay on a short leash then." Dolan said.
The battle on the Golan Heights was to the Israeli's disadvantage. The massive Syrian and Lebanese tank groups swarmed over the three main fortifications the Israeli's had and while the bases held, they could not stem the invaders who were now pushing around and made their way onto the flats below. Those fortifications needed to be relieved GENIDF could see, and his reinforcements were already enroute, F-15 Ra'am fighters loaded with ground attack packages were stacked up a hundred kilometers away and four thousand meters above them. He regretted his earlier misconceptions about berating his comrade, GENIAF, for hiring Artemis corporation for consultant work. Already their A-20 stealth tank killers were streaking in low followed closely by IAF F-16 fighters for electronics jamming and SAM hunting with F-15 SE Stealth Eagles for light interceptor cover.
GENIDF marveled now about how smoothly this war was run, having Israel's army always excercising was now proving its worth as the AWACS crews directed air strikes toward the proper priority targets. He was back at headquarters, safe and sound as a general should (although he much rather preferred to be at the front), and watched the hologram that displayed all of the battlefields on one massive display. He was zoomed in on the battle for the Heights, but he quickly moved the display to check the Egyptian/Palestine front where a fierce artillery and infantry battle was taking place along the mountains that bordered Southern Israel. Even as he watched Israeli fighters streaked in and decimated the forward enemy tank and infantry columns with cluster bombs.
The Israelis had always had a smaller army than its opponents, but it had always been better.
"The enemy is closing." The radio order was given over the channel. "Make them regiment strength in tanks."
Sopot readied his weapons inside his foxhole. The defense plan was complicated, the ground was flat around the town as it was around Warsaw but there was also a long stretch of woods that surrounded it and provided his infantry with good natural cover. That was why he didn't deploy his commandos into it. His experience with flame weapons before had given him a more cautious stance against the Russian foe. Instead his commandos and the three hundred additional troops he commanded were dispersed in a ragged line of foxholes, the local enforcer contingent had plenty of Riot control equipment to spare, and these would become very useful indeed. The foxholes were dug a little bit wider than usual the better to contain the extra equipment each man now had in his defensive position. The ripping sound of artillery split the air as the first heavy shells fell on the forward positions in the forest, where the tank divisions were deployed and where the infantry were not.
"Enemy at twelve o'clock." The tank squadron commander said over the general channel. "Tanks and transports."
"Alpine and Rhine squadrons," the Colonel said coolly in German. "Weapons are free. Cut them up."
"Gladly." The squadron commanders had been a part of the action around Warsaw and were furious for not being able to lash out at the enemy at that disaster. He let into them eagerly, his four regular Enforcer Panthers and twenty reservist Leopard IIs fired their opening volley at maximum range and made sixteen kills while the Badger IFVs waited for the enemy to come a little closer before they engaged with missiles.
Russian artillery fire immediately shifted towards the Enforcer tanks, and Russian attack doctrine shifted on command. The remaining Russian tanks continued advancing at twenty KPH while the transports idled to deploy their infantry platoons who spread out and began firing missiles.
Six Leopards were destroyed and eight badgers exploded before Alpine and Rhine disengaged and fell back as per the plan, leaving the woods to the Russians.
Andreyev took his losses into stride, he'd lost a total of twenty three armored vehicles but that was negligible on his forward axis of advance. His attack was organized into a speartip formation, the better to pierce and punch through the circle. His enemy had learned, and were engaging him with their armored vehicles instead of leaving the infantry to shield them. They were retreating more readily to prolong the fight, but his SGB troops would eventually destroy them. His UAV spotter tagged the retreating tanks and noted that they were crossing over a line of foxholes where the Enforcer infantry had deployed.
Andreyev called in hydrogen gas canisters on their position, they'd burn as they had in Warsaw.
The ripping sound of artillery was louder, meaning it'd be coming straight down on them.
"Shields!" Sopot barked his command over the channel and lifted the Flourine Riot shield over the foxhole to cover it completely. The Riot shield was flat and heavy the clear carbon fiber coating contained a liquidy fluorine mixture that would slow rifle rounds and deflect exploding Molotov cocktails as Sopot had experienced earlier. Each foxhole had been dug in such a way that there were no mounds of dirt around the rims, everything was perfectly flat so that the shield could cover the entirety of the hole. Sopot ducked below as the shield went above him and the flammable gas canisters exploded above him. He hoped that his foxhole had been well dug, and that even a little gas wouldn't slip in.
"Enemy tanks are in the woods." The Enforcer colonel notified his troops. "and infantry."
"Wait for the signal." Sopot whispered on the channel. Above him the ripping sound became a roar as the air flared up and combusted. The gas however, finding few places to settle and the flame finding few fuel sources was burned up quickly in the air even though the grass field created visible walls of flame. The temperature rose exponentially but at least Sopot wasn't burning. His Lieutenants reported few casualties, and the majority of those had been those unlucky enough to get hit by a falling shell.
The motion sensor the engineer crews had placed in the fields earlier chimed in Sopot's HUD. The enemy tanks were now in perfect range.
"Now!" he snapped and pressed his own detonator.
All across the line, the European infantry sprung into action. The Polish captain in charge of the infantry had come up with the plan himself and it surely was a genious one. Sonic cannon hidden all over the woods immediately began to keen and wail. The decibles were so loud and sharp, all the Russian infantry began to collapse and convulse wildly and the Europeans who were safely contained in their foxholes popped from cover and fired missiles into the lead tank line who were caught completely off balance by such a swift counter attack. Mortar fire began landing amidst the tanks as well causing further chaos and confusion. The Russian squadron leader called for artillery support on the pre-designated coordinates but the Europeans had already tracked the incoming Russian shells with fire finder radars and had loosed their own volley before the Russians. The Russian artillery was savaged in a swift stroke and the Enforcer armored contingents counterattacked. Some of the Russian tanks had come too close to the line for missiles to be used but the Enforcer commando infantry were experienced in close quarters fighting and boarding a tank was no more difficult from clearing a house. Six Russian Ogres were boarded and destroyed as Panthers and Leopard IIs pushed around them chasing the Russians from the ground.
Colonel Andreyev cursed his luck and ordered a full retreat so he could regroup. These Europeans were better fighters than he thought. He'd have to keep that in mind as he moved his Ka-65 gunship squadrons into covering positions to discourage a European pursuit.
When Sopot rose from the foxhole and lead the charge, he hadn't known what to expect besides the fact that there would be a lot of them. He passed the burning hulk of a T-95 that had taken a tank round and a missile through the turret. His F2000 rifle clacked against his body plates and his HUD immediately tagged red threat icons around the Russian contingents who were rising. The Sonic cannon had an activation timer of thirty seconds of which to disorient the enemy infantry and had shut off now that the European infantry were coming in range. A Russian turned and gestured rapidly towards Sopot so Sopot knelt and fired off a burst. The Russian dropped and now sharp cracks of rifle fire danced in the air.
Sopot dropped prone and took a look around, his men were keeping good discipline, those that weren't shooting from behind Badger IFVs were advancing steadily behind pairs of men who had Shields raised.
He heard grenades go off, a slightly deeper note than rifle fire. The smell of smoke was almost unbearable, his gas mask would filter all the noxious and poisonous elements in the air but they did nothing to deflect smell. The dirt kicked up around him and the snap snap of bullets passing close by made Sopot take aim and fire at the red marked figures in the woods. He'd been ordered to take prisoners where he could and those with Riot control weapons were best for that, but he had a killing rifle in his hands and that is what he would do with it. Let the others take prisoners. He'd be one of those notching his gun tonight.