Illiguo, Baghdad Green Zone, Coalition temporary headquarters.
Local time: 00:15.
The echo of the encrypted call seemed to still linger in Major General Duke's ear.
He only took thirty seconds to make a decision.
Thirty seconds was enough for Duke to perform an initial threat assessment.
The information provided by Tor Khan had an unsettling "authenticity" to it.
The details were overly specific: pinpointing the ambush location, explicitly stating the weapon model as "Russian Kornet anti-tank missiles," and even the number of assault team members Barzani planned to have impersonate Abu You Brigade soldiers.
This level of detail meant either a real top-secret plan was leaked or it was a perfectly fabricated lie.
Combined with the intelligence reports from the past seventy-two hours, which seemed isolated yet subtly pointed in the same direction, the likelihood of the former skyrocketed.
These "anomalies" included the Kurdish "Freedom Fighters" (Peshmerga) Third Infantry Brigade's unusual border maneuvers, with flimsy excuses; select personnel from Masoud's core guard unit being temporarily drawn for "special training," with sensitive timing; inexplicable fluctuations in communication traffic within and around Elbil; and even the US Army's own Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) had intercepted some highly encrypted, fragmentary communications pointing to Barzani's inner circle.
These fragments could perhaps be explained separately, but pieced together, especially after Tor Khan provided this key puzzle piece, an impending coup crystallized rapidly in Duke's mind.
He turned and forcefully pressed the internal communication button.
"Captain Miller, Colonel Anderson, get to my office immediately. Highest priority. Repeat, highest priority."
The order was instantly transmitted through the encrypted intranet.
00:18.
The heavy blast door of the office slid open, two figures hurriedly entered one after the other.
"Sir?" Miller asked, breathing heavily, her voice strained from the run.
Duke wasted not a second on pleasantries or explanations.
"Miller, immediately attempt to contact Chairman Masoud."
His orders were crisp and direct.
"Use all registered emergency contact channels to reach him, including his office's direct encrypted landline, personal encrypted satellite phone, personal cell, Chief of Staff's hotline. If all direct lines are unreachable or unanswered, immediately contact his Chief Secretary Najib, Guard Captain Major Jalal, and if necessary, even try reaching his youngest son Bahaar. Within ten minutes, I want to hear Chairman Masoud Barzani's voice, awake, and in a secure environment. Understand?"
"Understood, sir!"
Miller clicked her heels together, turned, and sprinted back to her own workstation outside the door.
Duke's gaze swiftly turned to Anderson, who had already connected the tablet computer to the main office display system, with data starting to stream down the screen like a waterfall.
"Frank, pull up records of all unusual troop maneuvers from the Kurdish Armed Forces—priority on those directly controlled by Barzani—over the past seventy-two hours. Cross-check satellite images, signal intelligence, and human intelligence reports. Priority targets: Third Infantry Brigade, Elbil Guard Battalion, Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Communications Battalion, and any movement changes of Masoud's Private Guard."
Anderson's fingers were a blur on the virtual keyboard of the tablet.
"Retrieving now, sir. In fact... the comprehensive analysis division already flagged several 'items of interest' in yesterday afternoon's local time briefing."
He brought up summaries of several documents marked "Confidential."
"The Third Infantry Brigade moved towards Zahou 'in response to a potential infiltration threat from the Turkey border.' But according to our intelligence, the Turkmenistan border has been unusually calm recently, with no signs of any large-scale troop concentration or cross-border actions from Turkey. This threat assessment... lacks evidence."
He swiped the screen, bringing up another set of comparative satellite images.
"About two platoons from the Guard Battalion left their regular station at dusk yesterday, heading fifty kilometers west of the city to an abandoned chemical plant for so-called 'urban anti-terrorism and VIP protection advanced training.' But the infrastructure at that location is severely damaged and completely unfit for such high-profile training, let alone VIP protection drills which would usually take place at simulated residences or government buildings."
Duke had already moved to the electronic map table.
The three-dimensional terrain map hovered in the air, depicting mountains, rivers, roads, and towns in different colors and resolutions.
His fingers swiped in the void, zooming in.
"Highway 1, northwest towards Kirkuk... mark the stretch from Elbil to Kirkuk about twenty kilometers out. Set the terrain map resolution to the highest level, display topographical details."
The map responded to his command, quickly zooming and rendering.
A winding two-lane highway appeared before everyone, like a gray ribbon winding through ochre hills.
The image was so clear that road repair marks were visible.
Here the road entered a relatively open valley, yet there were limestone ridges on both sides, with heights ranging from fifty to one hundred meters, dominated by low shrubs and drought-resistant grasses, too sparse to provide effective concealment.
The ridges ran parallel to the road, forming commanding shooting positions.
A perfect concealment spot for ambushers and heavy weapons.
"A typical roadside ambush and 'kill zone' setup."
Anderson pointed to the location on the map and said, "The straight section of the road is about four hundred meters long, once a convoy enters it won't be able to turn quickly or escape. The high ground on both sides provides unobstructed firing angles. The riverbed can both conceal the attackers initiating the assault and hide anti-armor weapons. Once trapped in this pocket... without overwhelming air support or prior warning, the survival chances for a standard convoy are extremely low."