Huey and Dewey were good company for me, didn’t talk much just performed excellent quality work. I really liked that, ticking items off the to-do list, the satisfaction of correcting, repairing, and performing quality maintenance on our critical subsystems put me in a relaxed mood and gave me a sense of peace and contentment.
I shared Beast’s premonition that things were going to get very ugly before this Op was completed. Sometimes Beast’s sense of premonition was excellent and would save our lives, but sometimes it causes that nagging worry that scratches and tickles at the back of your mind, particularly when trying to sleep.
Chapter 31: The Art of Negotiations
“Winning battles such that the whole world cries ‘Excellent’ is not the highest excellence.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Negotiation is about listening.
Negotiation is about give and take.
Be human, talk softly and pleasantly.
Encourage the other side to offer first.
Have a clear objective.
Do not constrain yourself with time.
We are an untraceable, invisible, and undetectable enemy, we are nowhere, yet we are everywhere, we operate outside all rules, laws, religions, traditions and customs of society. We have access to the deepest darkest secrets of humanity. Our advanced technology and ability to act terrifies governments, gangs, rebels, militants, and Islamic Muslims alike. There is no leverage on us, no way to obtain a grip or grasp. It’s like trying to control fate or the weather.
There are very distinct advantages to successful negotiations with us, we offer a very attractive win/win result for dealing in good faith. Your government secrets and your top level executive will look omnipotent, preserve and significantly, strategically advance your careers and you will become legends as the ‘people who got the job done’. You will be written about and admired for generations to come. Your families will be admired and opportunities and doors will open for them beyond your wildest dreams.
Or we can destroy your careers, imprison you for life, bring down the current government, and cause mayhem and bedlam. You will be ridiculed and hated, your family will be destroyed, and hated for generation, you will have nothing and your family will be forced to live in hiding as beggars.
Think carefully of the choices in front of you, view logic, tangible and sensible facts, clear situational analysis. Do not listen to fools, entertain ego, anger, or adopt the behavior of the braggart, to appear to be the ‘big American’.
Choose wisely.
We wait; short terse communications go back and forth. We can predict the actions in their camp, they are assessing their options and attempting to select a path they can all agree to. The failure of bureaucratic corporations, logic and sensibility do not always prevail. In fact in an alarming number of instances it is not even considered, better the self-spun doctored corporate lie than the truth.
Clarity is requested on price for the jihadist and that which ensures our silence. We know they are frantic in the background scanning every piece of data repeatedly that they think may have had anything to do with the black ops we have been involved in. We can see them in their boardrooms and action meetings yelling, banging the tables. Why can we not locate these bastards, how do they move with impunity, why is there literally no surveillance of these guys. How do they always have the correct intel and we don’t? What the fuck, what the fuck, the billions we spend on American and International security and you are telling me that we have essentially fuck all on toast on these sons of bitches? That is just goddamned unacceptable and if you want to retain your current positions you better goddamned well ‘fix this picture’!!
We wait, time is on our side.
Chapter 32: The Exchange Prep
We have reached an agreement in our negotiations which would seem that both parties can live with. At least that is what the appearance of it is. We have negotiated for $250,000,000.00 in diamonds for turning over the jihadist leader to the US government and for us ceasing our operations.
“Why diamonds?” xmits Beast
“It’s one of the best ways to compress wealth into a manageable package. The largest US denomination is $100 bill. It’ll take thousands of pounds of paper money for $250M. Gold is also too heavy to transport easily. But diamonds worth $250M will weigh about 14 lbs. and can be handled and inspected easily.” says D.
“I think it is a setup for a hit.” says Frosty
“Yup, I agree,” I add
“A setup, there is no doubt,” transmits Beast.
“I agree, they are being completely predictable. I suspect that there is dissention in the ranks and the young bucks have a hard-on to show up the senior decision makers. The executive has agreed to what they think is an exchange, but the younger cowboys are going to turn it into a hit in an attempt to bag us, the jihadist, recover the money, and look like hero’s.” says D.
“The weaseling cocksuckers, I’ll kill every one of them myself. That’s not what I call negotiating in good faith.” I state.
“You may have to Boss,” transmits Beast.
“Tell me about the exchange location and the details,” I ask
“The location coordinates are for a dry lake bed in Baja California, we meet at 2:00am in the middle of the lake for the exchange.” replies Frosty.
“How very convenient to have the Edwards Air Force Base and the Marine Combat Center at Twenty Nine Palms extremely handy to the exchange location.” I mutter
“Any doubt in your mind regarding their intent?” asks D.
Frosty just chuckles, “This is how the game is played, guys. No sweat we can whip their asses at their own game.”
“Well, let’s get our assumption set together and go down to the VR deck and begin the simulations, we know these buggers are not going to play fair.” I say.
“We must defeat this initial breach of negotiation protocol we know they are going to attempt and use it as a leverage for our own benefit over the senior executives.” notes D. “This is a good thing, it gives us a bigger stick to whack them with.”
“Roger that, I’m feeling good, Beast, you feeling good” I smirk.
“Hell ya Boss I’m feeling very good.” transmits Beast.
“Alright enough, you assholes, let’s go to work.” chides D.
We knew that surveillance would be absolute in every manner and looked for ways to defeat it and offset their coverage. The Marines would be using LRS Teams (Long Range Surveillance) to keep an eye on the area of the exchange. Their LRS Teams would be equipped with the latest version of the MIST Tech. MIST uses high-energy pulsed lasers, receiver telescopes that have a field of view and depth of field that obviates the need for steering or focusing the optical system, computational imaging algorithms to improve system resolution, and data exploitation and analysis tools. To augment their capability and to make damn sure that they didn’t miss anything they would salt the dry lake bed with ground sensors for five hundred yards in all directions from the exchange point coordinates. They would have the capability to track an inch long dung beetle across the surface of that lake. Ho yah!
All of the grunts on the ground other than the LRS Team would be equipped with Enhanced Vision Systems, helmet mounted flipped down, and utilizing the SWIR (Short Wave Infrared Vision) tech, as they work better in varied weather conditions and use ‘atmospheric nightglow’ to assist in image targeting. These boys are bad ass!
Overhead we could expect at least a couple of General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers UAV’s equipped with the Multi-Spectral Targeting System, which has a robust suite of visual sensors for targeting. The MTS-B integrates an infrared sensor, color/monochrome daylight TV camera, image-intensified TV camera, laser designator, and laser illuminator. The full-motion video from each of the imaging sensors can be viewed as separate video streams or fused. This tech can read a business card from an altitude of 15,000 feet.
The unit also incorporates a laser range finder/designator, which precisely designa
tes targets for employment of laser-guided munitions, such as the Guided Bomb Unit-12 Paveway II. The Reaper is also equipped with synthetic aperture radar to enable future GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions targeting. The MQ-9 can also employ four laser-guided missiles, Air-to-Ground Missile-114 Hellfire, which possess highly accurate, low-collateral damage, anti-armor and anti-personnel engagement capabilities.
For backup and to round out mission flexibility the government will in all likelihood bring a couple of fully prepared Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter with crew and six combat equipped troops. You just never want to be under gunned when going into an unknown situation.
Yeah, it was going to be a very upscale firefight get together all right, they were hauling enough gear to put a dirty fucking beating on us. Hell, I got a boner on just thinking about it.
Our side of this exchange/potential debacle firefight went like this. We would have Frosty and I flanking the exchange point with our plasma rifles out some 500 meters or so just outside the range of the ground sensors. Frosty will be wearing a backup combat suite. Beast would be dropped behind the government lads as they came up to the exchange point. Again Beast would be just outside the ground sensor field. Given the exchange is in the dark at 2:00am D is confident that she can project a 3 dimensional image of Juthamah life size at the exchange point. Juthamah will perform the negotiations using D’s voice pitched to a male tone and run through a scrambler.
The LRS teams will not get a reading on Frosty or I as we are wearing non-reflective cooled combat suits. Infrared will not show us up as I’m the same temp as the background. Our combat suites will not reflect the laser so no image can be built. In addition D can jam any signals that might compromise our position.
Similarly the Reapers circling overhead cannot pick us up due to invisibility and no temperature signature for the Infrared sensors to home in on.
If the exchange proceeds correctly, D will use the quadcopter to bring in Huey and Dewey on a platform along with a tub of water and a portable x-ray scanner. If the government brings the diamonds as requested we will scan them with the x-ray scanner. Real diamonds will not show up on the scanner. The diamonds will then be poured into the tub of water. Real diamonds will sink to the bottom, glass or fake diamonds will float on the surface or halfway between top and bottom in the water. Our suspicions are that a very high percentage of the diamonds will be fake. We will call them for breaching the negotiated agreement and the firefight will be on. D blasts the reapers out of the sky along with the Sikorsky Helicopter using our ship’s plasma cannon. Frosty and I will snipe as many as possible from the flanks while Beast moves in to handle the survivors.
We run the scenarios on the VR deck over and over looking for advantages, looking for pitfalls. We know we are outgunned, but you cannot shoot what you cannot see. Invisibility is a huge game enhancer for us.
Of course in the event that the government behaves and conducts the exchange as they have indicated then Mongo can bring the sedated Jihadist leader to the exchange point.
We won’t know for sure how this is all going to go down until just before it happens. Our intel collection will inform us of any treachery, but not until a very short time before the exchange.
Our operations plan must remain fluid and flexible yet still cover off the high risk areas.
Chapter 33: The Exchange
The night is warm and soft on the Baja, California dry lake bed. It’s clear and the stars are startlingly bright and close. There is little if any wind, it’s just peaceful and relaxing. Well, it should be relaxing but of course it’s not, there is growing tension as the exchange time creeps closer and closer. We review the processes and check our equipment for the umpteenth time. Then we force ourselves into a calming meditative state to conserve energy and to ensure our minds and senses are sharp.
The cloaking and surveillance equipment on the ship has allowed us to hover in position on station undetected and watch the government preparation. Their LRS Team is in place and we have them marked on our operational map. We watched the Marine Team install the ground sensor field. We are tracking, listening and watching the two MQ-9 Reapers as they set up complimenting orbits around the exchange position. The Sikorsky Helicopter is inbound to our position.
Frosty is in the backup combat suit with his plasma rifle, invisible on the East side of the exchange point out about six hundred yards, and I am ready on the west side the same distance away. We are prone, plasma rifle on bipods, stable, watching through the scope. There is nothing to see at this point we wait, relax, steady our nerves, and reduce our expectations so we can be flexible and ready to react. The LRS Team is seeing and detecting absolutely nothing. Just the way we like it.
“I have two vehicles inbound from the South, looks like our company is on time.” says D. “Last minute intel is very sure the offer will be fake diamonds and a firefight to exterminate us.”
“Roger that,” comes from Frosty, Beast, and myself.
Two black Suburban full size SUV’s pull up within fifty yards of the stick pounded in the ground with the orange survey tape on it marking the exact spot of the exchange point. Nothing happens for a minute, they are waiting.
“I have radio traffic to the effect of ‘what the fuck, where are they’, I’m going to wait a couple of beats and then introduce them to Juthamah.” says D.
“Beast, are you in position behind them?” asks D.
“Roger that,” transmits Beast.
Four combat ready soldiers equipped in black night gear step out of each Suburban, automatic weapons at the ready, night vision goggles down in position. They move smoothly into flanking positions relative to the exchange point.
D fires up the three dimensional hologram, its light bright and sears the night. The soldiers step back and shield their eyes. There in the column of light stands Juthamah, he visually checks each of the soldiers in turn. Their exact positions are marked on the operational map in the ship.
“You are the representatives of the US government?” ask Juthamah, in a low thick heavily accented voice.
“We are, what and who are you?” replies the government spokesman.
“The ‘what’ is not your concern. I am Juthamah; I have a man who would be the new Islamic Muslim Jihadist Leader. He is yours for the agreed to price in diamonds. Do you come so prepared?” asks Juthamah.
“We do, but where is the jihadist?” replies the spokesman.
“When we have examined the payment you shall have your jihadist.” replies Juthamah.
The spokesman confers by radio to someone, makes a signal, one of the soldiers extracts a briefcase from the back of the Suburban and brings it forward and sets it on the ground, and steps back to his flanking position.
Juthamah makes a signal, and out of the dark roll Huey and Dewey, one carrying a Tupperware tub of water and the other carrying an X-Ray Scanner.
The soldiers are startled and anxious by the sudden appearance of the bots and begin to talk and glance around nervously.
Huey opens the case and presses the plastic bag of diamonds flat, then runs the x-ray scanner back and forth over the bag, pauses, rolls the bag over and scans it twice again. Dewy approaches and sets down the Tupperware tub of water. Deftly he picks up the plastic bag and holding it over the water slits the bag and the diamonds glittering tumble into the water. Nothing happens, everyone is still. Nearly all of the diamonds are floating in the water.
“Here it comes boys, the stones are fake,” says D.
Juthamah raises his head from watching the droids. “You have breached our agreement, you US government representatives, these stones are fake!”
“Take them,” yells the spokesman and drops to his knee to fire his weapon.
One, two, three “thumps” and three massive explosions deafen the site as the Reapers and the Sikorsky Helicopter explode in midair, tumbling and streaming fire slowly begin the long fall to earth. At the same time the black clothed combat soldiers begin to explode into s
hattered body parts; one, two, three, four times my plasma rifle coughs in rapid succession. Frosty has cleaned the four on his side at the same time. The pulse cannon on the ship thumps twice more and the Suburbans explode in flames blowing tumbling metal pieces across the dry cracked lake bed.
“Hold your positions, we have an incoming vehicle.” says D.
A third black full sized Suburban races across the lake bed, pulls up and two men in black business suits get out. One of them is wearing a fedora hat and the other has a briefcase.
“Hold on a moment,” he calls, removing his hat. “We have made an error in assessment. I apologize for your inconvenience but we had to be sure of who we were dealing with. I have your payment in real diamonds, full payment as agreed to and no tricks I can assure you.”
Juthamah strokes his beard in silence.
“We are very unappreciative of your attempts to cause us harm. We negotiate in good faith and for our efforts you attempt to kill us. Perhaps the jihadist and his associated organizational data are not worth as much to you as other interested governments.”
“I understand your position; however you must understand that we needed to ascertain you are who you claim to be. In addition we have had some internal discord as to whether payment should be made. Let me assure you those you have disposed of did not have the vested interests in our agreement that we do. The diamonds are here, every penny.”
“We shall see,” Juthamah gestures for the bots to go forward.
Huey takes the x-ray scanner and scans the package of diamonds, rolls the package over and scans twice again.
“You speak the truth, the diamonds are real.” says Juthamah, and gestures over his shoulder.
Mongo steps off the ship loading ramp and clumps out of the gloom holding a chair with a man strapped to it. He lurches to a halt by the diamonds and sets the chair and jihadist leader down. The men in black had stepped back as Mongo approached, unsure as WTF he was, and how did he just materialize out of the dark. But now they move close and examine the jihadist closely. The guy without the hat takes a mouth swab from the jihadist and inserts it into a portable analyzer, a beep and the light turns green.
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