The Devil's Handshake

by Michael Reagan

41

  Borama

  Outside the residence as the cicadas, the hated foe of the hotel's gardener sang together in the gardens, Thomas and his team were standing huddled together away from their villa.

  "Boss!"

  "I got some more information that I think you might find interesting," Barak said in Hebrew as Thomas went about lighting his cigar.

  "My young housekeeper that works at the Sammo just told me that earlier today she saw a certain white lady entering the Indian's hotel room," Barak continued.

  "You're right, that is interesting Barak," answered Thomas to the ex-Policeman from Israel's Border Police known as the Yaman.

  "It sort of proves who's pulling the strings," offered Mikhail linking the dots of Barak's intelligence sources.

  "What do you want to do?" Barak asked his principal.

  Thomas took a long pull on the cigar so he could think for a few moments, allowing the rich smoke from Cuban tobacco to float upwards to the night sky.

  When he finished he said, "You and Yossi go with five of the Gurkhas and take them down nice and quiet. Once you've got them take them to our compound," he carried on without much ado, sensing they would make useful bargaining chips although he was just not sure yet why, how or when!

  "Oh! Barak, we will need them alive," Thomas then added accompanied with a wink before he departed to find Paul so he could steal five of his Gurkhas for their own covert operation.

  "You're not telling Igor about them then?" asked Mikhail once they were alone.

  "No. We might need some insurance," he answered.

  "From what?" Mikhail asked, wondering where Thomas was going with his thoughts.

  "Don't know yet!" Thomas answered honestly to his old friend and trusted bodyguard.

  Impromptu clandestine meeting over, the pair walked back into the villa together whereby Igor informed them that Units C and D had just arrived and were now on their way to the hotel and would be with them in about twenty minutes or so.

  "Badr's people took care of the formalities at the airport, but I am pretty sure Viper will be notified of their arrival," Igor added before telling them that Command had issues orders to the 3rd Guards Brigade, and they also would arrive on-board two Il-76 in Adwalland airspace around 0800 hours.

  "If they begin the operation at dawn that means we will have?to?hold for two hours," said Mikhail grimly calculating the time in his head.

  "I have already advised them that they might have to come in hot!" offered Igor, acknowledging Mikhail's statement and facial expressions indicating with a resigned look of his own admitting that it was going to be a close run thing.

  He turned to Jawari.

  "Mr. President, as soon as my teams arrive I suggest that we move to your offices and take up defensive positions."

  Less edgy, now having just received confirmation that the Russians were sending troops to support him and having been told by Badr that is family was safe, he answered that would be acceptable.

  Cardamom infused Coffee and Shisha Pipes laced with Rose Water impregnated the air as the two ex-Welsh Guardsmen, sitting in Wasir's Villa, walked through the plan once more with the Interior Minister, Ahmed and their paymaster, Gourgamangi.

  "Mr. Ahmed how many men will you have on the main roads to and from the city?" asked the former Colonel.

  "There will be twenty men at the airport, the Dilla Road on the North and South exits respectively, and twenty men on the Billa Road to the West and the East exits," answered the former Somali intelligence officer.

  Andrew nodded.

  "We will send a personnel carrier to the TV Station, another to the telephone exchange and one to the Hospital. Once these places are secured that should give us control of the principal buildings," he said as he pointed to their respective locations on the map for Gourgamangi benefit, if not his.

  "Ahmed's Land Cruisers with five Tureags in each will then seek and secure the President's principal allies in the city. These are designated as the Natural Resources Minister, the Imman of the Mosque, The Economic Special Adviser, plus the central council elders to show the various militias that we are in charge," pointing now to their respective locations on the map.

  "We will also send ten men to Litchfield to secure his satellite farm," ordered Andrew pointing to the map.

  "These men will then also secure Litchfield and the bodyguards," he added figuring that was where the English Billionaire would be when the coup d'?tat happened.

  "What's the plan for Litchfield?" asked Gourgamangi.

  "I want him dead!" answered Wasir before Martin could reply, determined to punish him for the insult he had given him on his yacht despite being paid millions of U.S. dollars by him.

  Surprised at the level of venom the outburst contained the Indian looked at Wasir for a second.

  "Killing off one of the world's wealthiest men would produce an enormous amount of media attention on the country and its new regime for the Englishman has a lot of friends not just the Russians," he offered to try to calm him down.

  "I agree!" replied Martin in support. The murder of Litchfield was something that could also cause him a problem especially if the world found out he was linked to it and as such, it was something he would be very reluctant to do.

  Privately he figured that Litchfield's security teams and the Russians would be more of a match for Wasir's boys so they would more likely than not they would get him out quick smart during the action. That is why he didn't bother to use any of his men for this part of the operation and had them focused on taking the President, something as far as he was concerned, was far more important.

  "It is necessary, Ahmed, that your men focus on getting hold of the mobile network, Litchfield is the secondary objective!" offered Martin instead towards the bodyguard who gave a nod in return.

  Like Martin, he knew the Englishman would be well protected and though he didn't say it Ahmed agreed with the foreigner as to what was more valuable.

  "That leaves us with the remaining seven armored cars to take the President's offices something that might prove difficult as its most likely he will have support of his local militia," Martin continued never in a million years believing he would have to face actually thirty highly trained members of Zaslon and twenty Gurkhas and five former Special Forces officers.

  "These men are vastly experienced they won't be pushovers!" added Wilson with individual analysis of the target's bodyguards.

  "Indeed, but will we have armor and superior numbers, so as long as take out the nests we should be able to contain the situation by herding them into the center of the structure," added Martin referring to the four militia machine gun nests around the building, by pointing at them.

  Again all the men sitting around the low table nodded.

  The next thirty minutes consisted of a run through of the secondary targets and their locations followed by an overview of how Wasir's should conduct himself on TV once the coup d'?tat was in full flow so to established martial rule and the changeover of power as quickly as possible from the President to him.

  Briefing finished the ex-guardsman suggested they synchronized their watches and confirmed that the operation would begin at 04.00 hours.

  "Excellent, so it looks as though we are ready to go," answered Gourgamangi when the mark was called, playing the role of an enthusiastic Indian businessman with limited experience.

  Twenty minutes later as the four of them were eating a light meal, their collective mood changed with the rushed and worried entrance of Ahmed with Mohammed in tow.

  "Sharmutaada ayaa ku dhashay was!" translated in Somali as "Fuck the whore that birthed you!" said Wasir as Ahmed let him know that more Russians had just arrived on a flight from Syria and were met by three of Jawari's advisors.

  "The Russians are here for the President!" he said towards Gourgamangi.

  Martin and Wilson quickly sat up.

  "How many?" Martin said fearing if the number was over a hundred it would immedia
tely tip the scales in the favor of the President.

  "It appears there are twenty of them."

  "And Ahmed tells me they were unloading heavy machines gun and some other bags of equipment," answered Wasir.

 

  Navjot, though saying nothing still in line with his cover identity trying to show he didn't understand the significance of the intelligence despite inwardly already processing the news. It confirmed his worst fears-it meant the Russians were deploying early.

  "They are definitely on to us!" he thought fighting the urge to show his concern and knowing he needed to take control of the situation, the SAD operative coolly took over the conversation.

  "We still have the numerical advantage gentleman," as if trying to brush away the news.

  "Yes but the operation is harder. I recommend that we delay and evaluate what we are potentially dealing with," offered Martin, suddenly getting cold feet.

  Fighting Militias was one thing fighting full trained Special Forces units was completely different.

  "It takes four hours to fly from Syria. Assuming that they would have also likely called up military support as well that gives us approximately maybe twenty-four hours or so before the initial wave of support troops arrive," Martin's mind quickly worked out in an attempt to assess the chances of success of continuing because he didn't want to give up his bonus or share of the spoils.

  "It's tight, but we can still do it," he said, greed winning through.

  "We must begin the operation now!" cried Wasir in support, having reached the same conclusion as Martin, but with a different agenda in mind.

  "The Russians will send more men, and we will have missed our opportunity!" he stated excitedly towards Martin and Wilson who were now looking towards their employer for a final decision.

  "I agree with Wasir we have to begin the operation now!" offered Navjot for completely different reasons to those around him.

  "Where are the Russians now?" asked Andrew in the general direction of Ahmed.

  "They were going to the Cismah," replied Ahmed.

  "That means we will need to change our strategy," answered Wilson thought that some of the armored vehicles and their men would be needed to take the satellite farm, a primary objective.

  "No, Tony I have a feeling that once they arrive they will go with the President to Dawalaa House de Borama," replied Martin overruling the fears of his former NCO.

  "So we need all the men with us," he continued, sealing right there and then the fate of their operation.

  Taking over in order to exert his authority in front of Ahmed and his sons, Wasir ordered Gourgamangi to return to his hotel for his safety.

  Relieved, the Indian billionaire gratefully nodded his agreement as it meant it would enable him to liaise with Clara and Langley over the developments that had taken place. The last thing he needed was to have to sit around in Wasir's compound throughout the coup having to rely on their basic infrastructure for information.

  With Langley having a KH-11 KENNAN satellite tasked over Adwalland, he would get instant information from Clara and the team as to the development of the different objectives around the city in live time.

  With that the three men departed the house and parted ways, Martin and Wilson headed off to the camp at Aw-Barre. Gourgamangi, courtesy of Wasir, was driven back to the Sammo in the city.

  Once they had departed his house Wasir turned to his son and said, "Call Mr. Leo. Instruct him to start his operation! There isn't a moment to lose!" He knew full well it would take the Ukrainian up to three hours at least to reach Lughaya by road.

  42

  Aw-Barre

  When Andrew and Tony turned up at their base to be informed by one of the other Ukrainians that Leo had already left they were absolutely furious.

  "Get him on the fucking blower!" Andrew said to the Ukrainian, only to be told by one of the other Ukrainian officers that he wasn't answering.

  "I have a bad feeling about this, Boss," offered Wilson reverting back to type as an RSM despite his years serving in the UAE Defense Force as an officer.

  "So do I RSM," answered Martin. "There is no point hanging around let's get cracking! Get the all the Ukrainians together and let's run through everybody's jobs again and then decide which ones have to step up to plug the gap of FUCKING Buryak!" he ordered with a resigned look on his face.

  Inwardly Martin felt he knew what was happening.

  "A bloodbath of Wasir's making?fucking dictators!" he swore to himself.

  43

  Langley

  The SAD situation room at Langley is one of the most secure rooms in America, with its numerous walls of screens hooked up to the world's media and U.S. spy and communication satellites, it is a 24/7 one-stop shop of information flow.

  Pouring a black coffee before returning to his seat, Ali began briefing the Director.

  "We ready to go, the personnel carriers have arrived in Borama, but it does appear Ivan is on to the operation, unfortunately," he reported.

  "How long do we have?" questioned Young.

  Both men had taken the loss of secrecy as part of the job and didn't lose any sleep over it. It was one of the reasons they had gone to so much effort in the deployment of a false-flag operation.

  "Navjot reports that contractors will commence the operation at dawn, at which point he estimates that they will have approximately twenty-four hours before reinforcements arrive in support of the Russian assets that are guarding the President." Ali then went on to brief the Director as to the emergency extraction contingencies in place.

  Having finished his explanation on how the Special Operations in Djibouti would be providing the extraction team for the SAD team if they needed to exit the country, the Director then asked Ali about Navjot's reasons for deploying into the theatre. He wasn't best pleased, to say the least, that the officer had done so.

  "A lot of time and effort has gone into the investment of his GS legend if this operation fails and he gets taken a number of Agency operations in the region would be comprised," lectured the Director.

  Ever the politician, the last thing Young needed to do was to explain to the President at National Security Briefing that they had just lost one of their most senior officers during a regime change in East Africa.

  "We will use one of our assets in Dubai if he gets taken as backup," replied Ali before going on to explain how the asset would be used saying that while it was a risk they had additional contingencies in place to protect his cover identity if necessary, without explaining what.

  He didn't have to explain what that meant as Young knew full well what that meant he just didn't want to look down that particular corridor.

  "Okay, I am satisfied with that, keep me in the loop." the Director said before exiting the room. Once he did so Ali turned to one of his young, bright analysts who had been tasked with keeping an eye on any Russian activity being reported in terms of troop movements.

  "Nothing of any note, Sir," replied the smart twenty-something MIT graduate in response to Ali question regarding activity.

  "Let me know the minute anything enters Adwalland air space that remotely looks like a troop deployment!" said Ali to his young charge while he took another sip of his coffee having decided that would be the signal to pull everybody out.

  44

  Borama

  As the morning call to prayer started to ripple across the city, the defensive deployment around the President Offices was primed and ready for battle.

  Arriving late last night they had quickly set up by the placing of the President's militia around and on the walls of the offices while inside on the compound in front of the steps of the building they had set up two machine-guns nests manned by Gurkhas who had also been given two RPGs and F1 Fragmentation grenades by the Zaslon team that had arrived from Syria.

  Inside the building, loyal men from the President's Clan had been split into two teams of three, again further supported by three Gurkhas in each.


  The newly arrived teams of Zaslon had been deployed to the second floor so they could defend the windows initially then once the building had been breached, the entrance to the President's office.

  Finally, inside the office was the last line of defensive deployment, Thomas's and Igor's own teams.

  The strategy created by Igor had been designed purely to delay rather than prevent the advance of the Viper's men with the idea of being able to buy time and cause additional casualties by yielding space rather than trying to defeat them with a single line. As such, no tripwires had been set up.

  "If we can get them to lose momentum over a period of time, that means we can yield lightly defended territory in an attempt to stress Viper's logistics," Igor explained to the President who had asked why they are setting themselves up in such a manner.

  "Once Viper has lost momentum or is forced to spread out to pacify us we can then defensively counter-attack his weak points with the aim being able to drive him back to its original starting position," offered Mikhail in support of the explanation having seen the confused look on Jawari's face despite knowing it was a waste of time.

  "I trust you my friends," Jawari answered trying to look as though he understood.

  Earlier when Igor had assessed strength numbers it hadn't gone unnoticed by him that some of Mikhail's men were missing.

  Surprised, he asked Mikhail as to their whereabouts. The former Israeli Special Forces officer had explained it away as Thomas wanting to make sure there was at least some protection provided for the personnel that made up TLH groups many teams on the ground. Although it was something Igor accepted without comment, he wondered privately if that were the real reason. Either way, it meant he had to adapt the plan to reflect the loss of numbers.

  "If it looks like we're facing a breach and we have to move the President, we will need to do this by surrounding him then move out in a circle are you up for that?" he asked as he knew the first instinct of Mikhail's team would be to protect Thomas.

  Thomas answered for him. "Igor, I am more than capable of holding my own so don't worry I know the score and I have told the boys the President comes first."

  Igor didn't argue. Mikhail's look suggested otherwise though. It was something that had been picked up by Thomas, who quickly asserted his authority over his friend.

  "Mikhail?"

  "I hear you, Boss!" he answered, accepting his order if somewhat reluctantly.

  Igor smiled. He decided he liked these men. "True professionals to the core."

  "We have company!" said one of the Gurkhas on the wall over the communications earpieces broke the tension.

  The deployment teams quickly took up positions at the windows to sounds of the ever-present call to prayer, coming from the loudspeakers attached to the mosques of the small city. The last line of defense around the President of Adwalland placed themselves at the windows off the office that looked out on to the compound.

  "Boss, make sure you don't poke your head out!" offered Avi towards Thomas with a smile.

  "Cheeky sod, I was fighting bandits long before you were out of nappies!" said Thomas towards his trusted and youngest bodyguard of his team while he cocked his Heckler & Koch M5, the trusted weapon of his youth as a Captain in SAS and as he re-checked his body armor one last time.

  "Concentrate!" ordered Mikhail in Hebrew towards them both, putting an end to the banter. He was never one for humor before an action. Especially one when they were out-numbered. His mind drifted back for a second to the last time he had faced such moment. He shivered. Bosnia still haunted him.

  "Mr. President please stay under the desk," ordered Igor towards the standing leader of Adwalland.

  "A President doesn't act like a coward he stands by his men!" he responded. "Give me a gun! I can fight!"

  The experienced intelligence officer rolled his eyes.

  "Badr, please make sure he has vest on!" he instructed the President's head of security not needing an argument at that precise minute. To which, the trusted bodyguard nodded his support and pushed his boss under the desk.

  The former Corporal in 7th (Duke of Edinburgh's Own) Ghurkha Rifleman Bijaya Dhimal reported his final reconnaissance of the building in Dila back to his leader.

  "There are a couple sensors on the stairs, and there are three targets inside all up and about and being very noisy!" he said.

  "Okay, Bijaya we go for a Dynamic Entry," answered Barak. With such little time to prepare both he and Yossi decided that their best tactic was surprise, speed, and domination.

  Moments later they quietly ran the eight hundred yards to the building and moved up the stairs without a sound, avoiding the sensors as they went, and deployed either side of the door. The assault team took up position.

  On Bijaya's closed fist movement and point towards the door, one of the other Gurkhas quietly placed about 30 grams of RDX explosive on the handle. Finished, he stood back.

  He gave the signal to take up position. Fifteen seconds later, BANG! The building shook.

  Moments after the explosion Bijaya quickly entered the room with one of the other Gurkhas, followed by two more from the team, before finally Barak and Yossi so they could take up the points of domination in the room.

  Before Joe, Clara, and Pete had time to react their collective ears still ringing and minds confused by the explosion they found they were facing weapons pointed at their faces.

  "DOWN! DOWN!"

  "HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!"

  "NOW!" the assault team shouted at once towards the three targets, again forcing their domination in the room through the use of lots of voices from different directions to cause confusion for the targets.

  Realizing they were completely covered with overlapping fire by the fact each corner in the room had been taken by their assailants the SAD team surrendered immediately and did as ordered.

  Not one shot had been fired in anger.

  "CLEAR," shouted one of the Gurkhas having checked the kitchen and bathrooms.

  Knowing there was no point pretending they were charity workers with the hi-tech monitoring equipment in the room the three SAD officers quickly went into silent mode so to prepare for the worst.

  Securing them firmly and roughly with flexi-cuffs, Yossi quickly pulled a sack over their heads one by one, then manhandled them to their feet ready to exit the building.

  "CLEAR," shouted the Gurkhas having checked outside to see if the team they had taken down were about to receive any help.

  "COMING OUT," Barak announced as he pushed the prisoners out and down the stairs one by one to exit the building to the lights of the surrounding buildings coming on one by one as the occupants' having been woken up by the explosion and the shouting.

  Once they were bundled, one by one, into the four Land Cruisers that had pulled up at speed in front of the building the assault team sped off to down the street to make their way back to TLH secure compound just outside the Cismah.

  "Just like the old days!" Barak offered in Hebrew towards Yossi who smiled in response.

  At his feet with her hands tied behind her back and her head still covered Clara began to get her bearings back, calming her mind to allow her training to kick in. She had trained for it once at the Farm and now for the first time in her life she was actually facing it. Taking slow breaths, she went through her mental routine.

  "Deny any connection with their agency. Do not request diplomatic legal assistance; none will come. Hold out for as long as possible to enable other team's members to escape." These were the thoughts swirling away in her mind at the same time as she started her mental count and direction change routine to try and work out when she was being driven to from their base.

  "Calm down," she told herself again. Taking a deep breath but having never experienced anything like this outside her training, her mind was drawn to voices above her.

  "Was that Hebrew?" she asked herself before she tried to focus her mind again. "That means they are Litchfield
's! How the fuck did they know we were here?" she concluded, remembering that all of his security team were Israeli.

  45

  Lughaya

  At the time Yossi and Barak were conducting their operation without a shot fired, a very different one was happening on the coast, 230 miles away.

  As part of the agreement of the acceptance of Adwalland as a country, the United Nations had originally established a comprehensive multi-dimensional operation to assist the new State on its journey.

  Over the last year, with the security situation how stabilized the UN had begun to wind down its operations to what was left now on the coast; A medical education program staffed by the Germans and human rights liaison officers from Nigeria and various support elements from charities that were involved in child protection programs.

  Within each mandate, there is a principal that every United Nations member has an obligation that lay at the core of every mission deployed around the world. No matter where that station may be. That being, "Every nation that hosts a mandated mission has to take the necessary action to protect UN personnel, facilities, installations, and equipment ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers, joint assessment mechanism and assessment and evaluation commission personnel, and, without prejudice the responsibility of the Government of the host, to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence."

  It was this obligation that Wasir now planned to use to his benefit.

  Using his night vision binoculars, Buryak could see the lights were out in the compound and much to his surprise he also found that the building only had a couple guard posts outside the mission as well. He spread his search to the surrounding area for any nearby threats and found none.

  "Habib, it looks like the guards at the gate are armed, and maybe a couple inside so we'll drive through the gate at speed then start the clearing operation room to the room," he ordered.

  Orders like this were nothing new to Habib. An experienced veteran of Libya, he had killed more than a fair share of innocents. All he cared about was that he was being paid three thousand U.S. dollars for his work to enable him to able to buy some goats for his smallholding and a new truck back home in Mali.

  "Use verbal commands to get them to surrender if you have too," Buryak continued. "Then shoot them once they have. These people aren't soldiers, so they will be scared and will do as you say," Buryak continued slowly using terrible but simple logic.

  "Yes, Boss," answered Habib as though it was nothing.

  "If you find some of the white faces don't shoot all of them just pick one and bring them to me," Buryak finally instructed before adding, "Oh and make sure you keep maybe ten or so dark faces alive."

  "Yes, Boss," Habib answered again. Five minutes later the Type 63 armored personnel carrier, drove at speed towards the Mission.

  The half-asleep poorly trained guards were no match. In a matter of moments, they had been taken out by one of Buryak's men. Ten minutes later, to screams and machine gunfire coming from the building at the center of the compound, Habib dragged a young absolutely terrified overweight blonde woman in her underwear out by the arm.

  Using his cunning, not to mention the confusion of the situation plus his skin color, Buryak asked the woman her name as she was dumped at his feet.

  "M-a-r-t-h-a" she replied in a heavy German accent.

  "Martha, what do you do?" the Ukrainian coolly asked with a smile trying to calm her appearing as though he was there to help her.

  "I am Doctor? Sir" she answered shaking again.

  Attempting to comfort her, Buryak lightly stroked her arm.

  "Okay, you must do something for me. Can you do that?" he said softly almost as he did to his children back home in France when they were babies.

  "Yes," she answered nervously still shaking as she looked up at him.

  Handing her a mobile phone, he told her to press three and then tell the people down the line they were being attacked. Still shaking she did as she was as told, telling them whom she was, her position, and then what was happening until getting to the point of when she was about to describe him and his men. Taking phone back from her hand, he promptly cut it off.

  "Good girl, I now require you to speak to this man on the phone and tell him the same thing," he ordered as he pressed the speed dial number.

  Again she did as she was told, until as before she got to the point of trying to explain about him, but this time instead of taking the phone he shot the woman in the head.

  "Now, Habib is that everybody?" he asked while throwing the burner phone on the floor by the dead doctor's hand.

  Earning a reply in the affirmative Buryak ordered they refuel the personnel carrier.

  Once completed, they drove out as though nothing had happened to leave the eighty UN staff members dead around them and only eight survivors cowering in the corner of one of the offices.

  "Twenty-five minutes, not bad," Leo thought looking at his watch.

  46

  Borama

  They arrived at the gates of the National Television Centre. When the militia guards saw who it was they immediately lifted the barriers to give a rag-tag salute towards the occupant.

  Although they had heard gunfire erupting in the distance, they made no attempt to stop the cars as they all belonged to the Interior Ministry.

  Earlier when he was speaking to the German doctor at the UN compound he had promised immediate assistance for, Wasir had done so purely for the benefit of the American listening posts that he believed would be listening. This was to be the next act of his theatrics.

  Telling the producer he was taking over the station for an important announcement, the young man did not protest on fear that he would be shot if he did.

  "You must get your messaging right, announce the President's resignation and a constitutional transfer of power as a 'run-of-the-mill' regular occurrence, so to speak," Gourgamangi had said to him.

  As the camera light changed green, the former pirate began his official coup d'etat.

  "In pursuance of the primary objective of saving our great country from total collapse, I, Interior Minister Wasir Osman Hassan of the Republic of Adwalland have, after due consultation amongst the services of the Lower house?" he started.

  Ten minutes later having reaching the end of his speech during which he cited the President's Militia as being responsible for the attack on the UN Mission and several examples to justify his action, he dropped his bombshell.

  "I am asking the Americans of Camp Lemmioner under United Nations resolution S/RES/2200 (2013) to provide support to the Government of Adwalland in the security of United Nations personnel!"

  47

  Langley

  The satellite currently placed above Borama was relaying the battle below it in real time while the Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye was all relaying the radio traffic in the same manner to the situation room at Langley.

  "Fuck! FUCK!" Ali had shouted at the screen as Wasir finished his speech. "Is Wasir fucking mad!" he said knowing despite saying otherwise he must have ordered the attack on the mission to get American troops into the country from nearby Djibouti.

  "Attacking a FUCKING UN compound!" he said shaking his head again in horror.

  Immediately Ali tried to contact Clara on the ground to confirm the report only to be told they couldn't raise her.

  "What do you mean you can't fucking contact her!" he shouted at the analyst, fearing the worst. "We only just spoke to her!" he raged.

  Half an hour passed. Still unable to reach them and seeing the world's media were now picking up on Wasir's request and contacting the White House for a comment, he was interrupted by assistant.

  "I have the Director on the line," she said impassively.

  Knowing the most likely content of the conversation he immediately told the young officer to transfer him to the quiet room.

  "WHAT THE FUCK! I just had the fucking Chief of Staff on the line
followed by the National Security Advisor and then the fucking Secretary of State asking me who behind the attack on the United Nations base," said Young angrily. "PLEASE DON'T FUCKING TELL ME IT'S OUR GUY!" he shouted down the phone fearing the worst.

  "The situation pretty unclear. We can see the Minister is trying to establish control as we speak," Ali offered, knowing their conversations were recorded, his own cool returning to the fore. "With regard to the Mission, I think Wasir is saying that Jawari's Clan feared it was under attack and may have attacked the United Nations compound as a kneejerk response," he continued despite thinking otherwise for the benefit of the recordings.

  "But we are facing another problem," he then added.

  "What's that?" asked the Director.

  Ali braced himself.

  "We believe our Alpha team is down," he said coolly.

  "Am I FUCKING hearing you correct, Mansoor!" Young exploded. "You're telling me we have lost our assets on the ground?" asked Young simultaneously trying to work out how he was going to spin it up the line.

  If the Russian backed President of Adwalland militia did indeed make the biggest blunder of all time and attack a United Nation mission he could work with that, losing a SAD team though had just seriously complicated matters for him.

  "Okay, get back to me with an update as soon as you can. In the meantime I will brief the President accordingly," answered the Director clicking off the phone still unsure how he was going to tell him about the loss of their officers in the city.

  In Ali's case, he walked back into the situation room.

  "Get me Navjot!" ordered Ali, stress now showing in his face.

  Seconds later the Indian was on the secure line.

  "Navjot, please don't fucking tell me that mess in Lughaya is our making?" he asked almost knowing the answer.

  Knowing their calls although encrypted to protect against outside ears would still be recorded and reviewed later by Langley and not wanting to be a scapegoat, the Indian answered.

  "No," he said, lying for the benefit of a future mission review committee having seen on his television Wasir's address in the privacy of his hotel room at the time had caused him to let out of his mouth a series of swear words in Punjabi and English.

  Ali then asked him a question he already knew the answer to.

  "I can't get hold of the Alpha team. Can you confirm that they are still in play?" he then asked again for the benefit of the oversight committees to come after.

  "Alpha team is down," Navjot replied with a heavy heart having tried to raise them when Wasir had first appeared on the screen.

  Both knew the next steps.

  "Execute Burn," ordered Ali. He couldn't afford to lose one of his top operatives.

  "Understood," replied Navjot.

  Finished, Ali walked back into the conference room sat down, took a moment then murmured a small prayer to himself in Urdu.

  48

  Washington D.C. / Moscow

  The clock showed 11:30pm (EST) as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America sat down in the situation room at the front of the conference table.

  He had a grim look on his face. Here he was dealing with yet another fast moving situation that had seemed to him to become a habit during his Presidency.

  An hour ago the Secretary of State who was still on his way to the White House had advised him that he had received a formal request from the Secretary-General of the United Nations asking him to provide support under the resolution S/RES/2200 (2013) to the mission in Adwalland as the civilian government couldn't do so.

  If that wasn't bad enough, events had been made even more complicated by the fact this application was being made during an attempted regime change, covertly backed by the Agency, taking place in the country at the same time.

  The icing on the cake of this grim picture was then completed when the Director of the CIA informed him that they believed they had lost three of their agents who were monitoring it.

  "Director, do we know who took them?" the President asked, trying to keep his anger in check as he sat in his office earlier.

  "We believe it was the Russians who are backing the President of Adwalland," Young answered.

  "Is that confirmed?" asked the President.

  "No, sir," answered the Director truthfully.

  Throughout his Presidency, he had found himself having to make tough choices, with respect the protection of the United States of America; the authorization of the covert assassinations of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and Al-Awlaki in Yemen was two such examples.

  The Executive Orders in those situations were a walk in the park compared to this one as then the United States had the moral high ground.

  In this situation, he was being asked to order U.S. Forces into a neighboring country to provide support to the United Nations personnel on the ground that appeared to be under attack from forces loyal to a Russian backed President.

  The problem he was now facing was related to how the United States of America wished to be seen in the world under his stewardship of the Presidency.

  If he delayed in deploying troops then his Administration would stand accused of abandoning the United Nations and pandering to the Russians, and thereby, by definition, allowing the Russians to give him yet another bloody nose to go with those his Presidency had received in Syria and Ukraine and by their welcoming of the traitor Snowden. He wasn't having that!

  "General, what is your recommendation?" he asked his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

  Since the compound was only one hundred and twenty miles from their base in Djibouti and the recommendation was that they should send four Black Hawk helicopters with personnel from the SEALS and air support using F-15s to secure the location within thirty minutes, then follow up straight away with two hundred men from the U.S. Marines using Hummers to relieve them within three hours. The President then opened up to the floor to his Secretary of State.

  "That would give us time to deal with the Russians, Mr. President, and fulfill our obligations to the United Nations," The Secretary of State had offered over the speakerphone. He was still on route to the White House knowing like the President that the minute the U.S. announced they were placing troops in theatre, the Russians would cry blue murder and quickly bring pressure to bear on the Security Council despite their nation having authority under the resolution to do so.

  "Are we absolutely sure this Wasir guy isn't behind the attack?" the President asked the Director of CIA again.

  "We believe that isn't the case with the information available to us at this time," answered the Director ever the politician without blinking not really answering his Commander in Chief.

  "Sir, if Wasir Hassan fails in his attempted coup then we will be facing a scenario whereby the incumbent Jawari will request an immediate withdraw of our forces back across the border. Legally we would have to do so. But at the very least we should demand the Russians bring their man back into line," said the voice of the Secretary of State giving his legal overview of the result if the coup d'?tat failed.

  "That will make us look like we bowing to the Russians again," replied the President unimpressed with his Secretary of State's statement.

  "It's God Dammed fucking Ukraine all again!" continued the tired President angrily with his own assessment of the international politics of the situation.

  The President took a moment. As he did so he reflected on what one of his predecessors and one of the men who inspired him as a young man once said.

  "I do the very best I know how; the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right what is said against me, won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference." -Abraham Lincoln

  Here, he was again facing such a situation yet without the benefit of time as an ally to respond. He had to determine the appropriateness of this request from the United Nations, and whether the moral/ethical decis
ion was not based on the international community's approval nor on divine approval but on the efficacy rather than the moral outcome.

  Having made his decision, the forty-fourth President of the United States of America looked at his Chief of Staff and gave his orders.

  "Authorization is granted. As soon as our men are on the ground I will make a statement," The President followed up as his Chief of Staff set about picking up the phone on the table to get the Director of Communications to do the necessary in the short time available for the President's speech.

  His orders were acknowledged by a chorus of, "Thank you, Mr. President!" The leader of the United States of America got up and left the situation room to return to his office.

  It was going to be a long night.

  As the President left the room the General made the call to Admiral in charge of Special Operations, followed swiftly afterwards by one to the Base Commander,

  "Operation BAILOUT is authorized," He ordered, using the codename in turn to each of them.

  The President of Russia sat at the front of the table listening to the Minister of Foreign Affairs brief him on his latest discussion with the United Nations Secretary General.

  Unlike its counterpart at the White House, the d?cor of the situation room in the bunker of the Kremlin could only be described as belonging to something out of a palace of Versailles. With its bright white walls and antique furnishing from that period, the only modern intrusion to the room was the HD Flat screen televisions on three walls and the Flag of Russia in the corner of his rectangular bombproof room.

  "The Secretary General advises me that he has asked the Americans to provide armed support to the U.N. base under the resolution guidelines of the original mission," the Minister of Foreign Affairs said.

  "Did you explain to him that it wasn't needed, as the Jawari's Militia will provide the support?" asked the President.

  "He says it was the President's Militia that conducted the operation!"

  "He did not trust them to fulfill their obligations," replied the Minister of Foreign Affairs putting his pen down in disgust.

  "And why is he under that impression?" said the President.

  "Just because a Putsch leader says it is,"

  "Doesn't mean it is!" replied the Russian President his anger building.

  The last Secretary General had been very vocal in his distaste of the Americans in their attempts to use the United Nations almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool. Unfortunately, this current Secretary General, although nobody had ever reported on it, maintained, in the opinion of many on the Security Council in contrast, a relationship with the Americans that one would describe as unhealthy, as he often shared their outlook on global issues and stepped firmly in line with U.S. foreign policy.

  "I did raise that with him," replied the Minister. "But he replied that they had confirmation they needed."

  "What confirmation?" the President of Russia asked.

  "A desperate call from one of the residents of the compound?a?young German woman," the Minister replied checking his notes.

  The Russian President looked towards the Director of the GRU to see if their listening post in Yemen had picked this call up.

  He got answer he didn't want.

  "We did pick up this call. It was made to the United Nations offices in Djibouti and then followed by another one to Viper. In both cases the woman asked for help and blamed HARE," he answered using Wasir's and Jawari's codename.

  "Sir, I recommend we declare to United Nations that we have a brigade on the way that can provide support for the mission," the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian military said knowing they were thirty minutes away from entering Adwalland's air space. He could see the situation descending into a full-blown confrontation between Russia and America if they didn't.

  The Russian President took stock for a moment through the placement of his hands into a praying form under his chin elbows on the table.

  The political loss of face at having Americans arriving at Russia's new significantly publicized Navy base to secure it was bad enough. The loss of his new ally in Africa would have political consequences with respect to Russia future plans for the region would be disastrous. Privately, he reflected somewhat bitterly that the Americans were out-thinking him on this.

  He reached a decision. The United Nations Mission at this moment was of secondary importance.

  "Sergey Viktorovich please notify the Americans as soon as the Brigade enters the Adwalland air space that we are sending Russian Armed forces to provide assistance in stabilizing the situation in Borama. Let them know they must not to interfere or prevent our aircraft. Also let them know that although we welcome their help in supporting the United Nations Mission at Lughaya; they must not to confuse the situation by stepping outside their United Nations remit." the Foreign Minister nodded and took notes.

  "Once our troops are on the ground inform the Secretary General and get our Ambassador to call a Security Council meeting immediately reviewing the situation on the ground," The Russian President further added. Again the Minister of Foreign Affairs nodded his acceptance at his orders without comment.

  "Valery Vasilevich, as soon the troops are on the ground and have secured the situation in the capital, tell the Brigade Commander to send his troops with all haste to relieve the Americans at the Mission," the President then informed his Chief of General Staff.

  "Sir, may I suggest that we set all Russian forces on Elevated Combat Readiness?" suggested the Marshal, referring to the equivalent of the American's DEFCON TWO knowing these decisions by his President would in probability lead to an exchange of fire between Russia and America.

  The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation took this as his cue to enter the discussion.

  "That is required by law Mr. President!" he said. Being a former lawyer before he entered politics at the President's side over thirteen years ago, he was ever aware of the need to do things in line with in accordance with the federal constitutional law "On the Government of the Russian Federation" and as his position demanded of him.

  The Russian President inwardly sighed, knowing his Prime Minister was correct in his demand.

  Because Russia had never forgotten the loss of face over the Cuban Missile Crisis, they had written into their constitution that all Russian Armed Forces must be ready for combat when declared members of the Russian military were to enter into theatre.

  "They will automatically respond accordingly," the President replied reluctantly knowing that the Americans would respond in kind.

  Ever the diplomat, the Minister of Foreign Affairs offered his thoughts.

  "Sir, I believe the moment we do that, the Americans will not yield the security of the Mission," he said reflecting on his personal dealings with the current Secretary of State and their determination to prevent the President at every turn in his foreign policy goals.

  The President of the Russia Federation took a further minute to reflect on the advice offered around the table, as he did so he fixed his piercing gaze upon the Prime Minister.

  In response the man quickly sat up straight and straightened his tie. To those who knew him well, this was his poker tell whenever he had gotten one over on the Russian President.

  "Make it so!" the leader of Russia ordered with all the authority of his office towards the Marshal ignoring his Minister of Foreign Affairs warning and putting his Prime Minister back in his place.

  "No trumped up little Prime Minister is going to make me look weak!" the President of the Russian Federation thought.

  49

  Borama

  The coup d'?tat started with Andrew Martin pulling in his Land Cruiser up outside the Presidential Palace walls in the center of the small city.

  Picking up the Codex phone at his side, he promptly dialed the President's direct number to ask him to surrender.

  The exchange was quick and ended with the President telling him he personally would put a bullet in b
oth him and Wasir.

  "I take it he told us to fuck off!" asked Wilson. Martin nodded.

  Five minutes later the ex-colonel sent the first two armored personnel carriers towards the gates at speed. One went left of the wall, the other to the right to take up offensive positions so to provide covering fire to those who would follow them.

  Seeing this, the Gurkha's and the militia loyal to the President's reply was instantaneous. They let loose a barrage of defensive fire towards the Turaegs as they exited from their vehicles, killing several in the process as they took up defensive covering fire positions behind the vehicles.

  The M60 mounted on a Toyota Land cruiser of Martin quickly stopped them in their tracks. A ripple of heavy machine gunfire attacked the wall, forcing the Gurkhas beneath the wall.

  Deciding there and then he would need to use one of their RPG on the mounted M60, the senior NCO, an experienced solider who had seen service in Afghanistan and Iraq, of the men behind the wall spoke into the speaker attached to his earpiece.

  "BUFFALO cover fire needed on 60," he said using the call sign of the team on the left of the wall.

  Instantly three of the Gurkhas, from the team on the other side of the wall to the ex-corporal responded to his appeal. They let off a volley of bullets in the general direction of the M60 so to draw the man in charge of the weapon to shift his assault towards them.

  Seizing his moment to strike, the forty-three year-old former Corporal took a deep breath and poked his head over the wall. He took aim then released the Grenade from the weapon. He had never missed during his two tours of the Helmand in Afghanistan. He didn't miss today either.

  The loud explosion and the screams from the fireball that followed on from the blowing up of the open top Jeep forced the Turaegs to scatter in panic.

  As they did so, they gave the Militia on the wall the opportunity to pick off four of them and wound at least fourteen.

  With the first assault in full flow Wilson ordered up another carrier, this one though had a battering ram attached to the front.

  "Take it out," he said to the Ukrainian commander using his call sign.

  At full speed, the vehicle did just that as the bullets fired from the Militia and the Gurkhas on the walls bounced off the carrier.

  The ramshackle gate of the Presidential Offices was no match for the battering ram of the Type 63 and debris flew in all directions as the vehicle burst through.

  Once the Type 63 carriers were inside the compound, the two nests in front of the offices let rip with their 12.7mm rounds into the approaching vehicles.

  The effect was instantaneous.

  The deadly shells tore through human flesh inside the carriers, bringing screams of pain and terror, stopping dead in an instant the initial assault of Martin in the process.

  Following their colleagues' lead on the ground, the Gurkhas and the Militia on the wall also let rip on the now retreating assault vehicles.

  A second RPG fired by one of the other Gurkhas took out the side of one the armored vehicle that was reversing from the right in the process.

  "FUCK!" said Martin as Wasir turned up, he had just lost over forty men in the initial assault and the last thing he needed was Wasir on the scene.

  "Tony put a couple of M60s and RPGs up on those BLOODY roofs and bung some covering fire on the wall! They're sitting ducks down there!" he shouted pointing towards the houses across the street from the building.

  He hadn't anticipated that the President had armor-piercing rounds that would take out his vehicles nor had he thought he would be facing Gurkhas, one of the most professional and fearsome fighting units of the British Army.

  "Yes, Boss!" answered the former RSM.

  "How are things going, Mr. Andrew?" asked the former pirate and coup leader as he walked into the room.

  "To plan!" answered the mercenary, lying.

  Forty-five minutes later with the battle still raging the second breach effort of the compound took place. This time it was successful, as the men on the wall, under constant fire from across the street, were forced to retreat back into the offices.

  "WHAT'S THE TIMING ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE CALVARY?" shouted Thomas across the sound of machine gun fire towards the general direction of Igor seeing that now the Gurkhas and the militia retreating behind the two machines guns.

  With a cut across Thomas's head and dust covering his face courtesy of a RPG that had hit the wall by the side of his position and had knocked him off his feet he looked nothing like the cool and calm image of his public persona.

  "THEY ARE ABOUT FIVE MINUTES OUT!" answered Igor, having just been updated on his Codex telephone by the inbound commanding officer just seconds before.

  Thomas gave a singular nod before returning to his position to offer defensive fire in the direction of the advancing troops.

  Turning towards Jawari, the Zaslon commander proceeded to update him on the situation and what were needed to ensure that either side sustained no friendly casualties.

  Omar Jawari nodded then quickly and called his man at the airport to tell them to expect reinforcements arriving by planes in five minutes and the code words he must use to identify themselves as his men.

  A nod of thanks came from Igor in return once the terrified President of Adwalland confirmed it was done. ?Returning to his Codex phone he then updated the Commander of the inbound assault force.

  "CONFIRMED TEACHER IS STILL A HOLD!" Igor said just as the militia of Wasir and the Turaegs breached the inner walls of the offices.

  "Breach, Breach, SANDBOX!" came the cry.

  It was now a race against time as the men downstairs let rip and the building shook from the sound of grenades.

  At five minutes past eight local time just as the back doors of the IL-76 opened to enable his men to disembark at speed, Podpolovnk Alekseyevich Valeri Stukalov took a private moment to reflect on the situation.

  In his entire professional career, he had faced many dangerous situations, but this was almost certainly his worst one yet! It was so fast moving with so many variables that he wasn't sure what would come next.

  It had started when he had been informed by Moscow that the situation had escalated to the point where both America and Russia were about to go toe to toe with each other. He wasn't aware of all facts as to how that had happened, and if he were honest it didn't concern him at that moment; he had his mission to focus on.

  That changed though the moment two American F-15s fighter jets appeared alongside them as they approached Adwal airspace.

  Initially, he told the captains to ignore them. That order though had to be quickly changed when the fighter jet promptly issued three warnings after telling them not to enter Adwal airspace and then fired warning shots in front of them.

  Immediately, as their mission was on the live feed, Moscow Command stepped in and told them to identify themselves as Russian Armed Forces to the pilot.

  "Sir!" said the captain attempting to protest, fearing what their response would be.

  "Just do it," he ordered, praying that it would work.

  Command was right, it bought them a further three minutes of approach time. Suddenly their radio crackled up.

  "Captain, if you or colleague deviate from your flight path into Borama we will shoot you down," said the pilot of one of the F-15s.

  It was only when the flash signal came over the wire on his laptop that he was actually informed of why this was happening and what his new orders were.

  The primary objective hadn't changed; they still needed to rescue the President of the little African country and assist him in stabilizing the city. It was the second one that bothered him.

  "Once HARE is secured make all haste to Lughaya to relieve United States of America Armed forces engaged on a rescue operation on behalf of the United Nations. Lethal force is authorized."

  His young second-in-command summed up his thoughts.

  "Lethal force!"

  "Are they fucking mad, Sir? We haven't
any air cover, tanks, or anywhere near enough men!" the Major said in response to the deadly force order as Alekseyevich briefed him as to their new orders, completely unaware of the game?brinkmanship?that was taking place on the diplomatic battlefield.

  "We'll worry about the second part once we dealt with the first part," he instructed the young Major, putting him back in his place. He wanted their minds focused on taking the airport first, although inwardly he agreed with him.

  The buzzer in the aircraft informing everybody the loading ramp was opening brought him straight back to reality.

  Despite the Zaslon commander informing they still held the airport, he knew this was a tense moment if the planes were attacked by ground forces or by weapons shot by F-15s as they came in to land then there was a good chance they would all die before they got a chance to return fire, proving for all your training and planning, all military operations always come down to luck and whose side the lady chooses to smile on any given day.

  The idea they would be using and trained for was known by them as 'the Grasshopper' an adaption of the famous Israeli operation on Entebbe airport, except in the Russian's idea it wasn't a Mercedes-Benz pretending to be a Presidential car that would come flying out the back of the aircraft. Instead, in their case it would be a pair of adapted UAZ-49s Jeeps being deployed as the first aircraft landed.

  Once released, the Jeeps would then drive at speed towards the Terminal Building providing covering fire, if necessary, to the rest of the men exiting out the second aircraft that was following the first plane to take up offensive movement positions and run in groups of five towards the terminal returning fire.

  "GREEN LIGHT-ONE!" The signal for the first aircraft's deployment came over the loudspeaker. Telling the Commander and his men the Jeeps were now seconds away from deploying, "GREEN LIGHT-TWO."

  "DEPLOY! DEPLOY!" The jump captain ordered releasing the two Jeeps.

  Seconds after that, one hundred and sixty Spentnaz commandos their weapons at the ready, followed them by flying out of the back of the now almost stopped Il-76.The commandos quickly running towards the Terminal Building.

  The first Jeep quickly reached the Terminal Building.

  A young man with his hands on his head who had exited out of the building greeted them.

  "FALCON!" the young Spentnaz commando yelled in English, using the call sign to identify the militia of the President, with his weapon trained on the young man.

  If he gave the wrong answer, the Commando would shoot him dead.

  "HAWK," was the response from the beaming young Somali using the signal as he was ordered to by President to indicate his non-lethal threat towards them.

  "Welcome to Borama," the young Somali said as the men began to arrive in force as the American F-15s buzzed them overhead.

  The strategy of Martin and Wilson had relied on was the element of surprise.

  The fact that they failed in the most important task of taking of the mobile communications masts of TLH at the Cismah meant that the militia loyal to upper houses had been able over the last hour to stall the coup d'etat and instead were counter-attacking Wasir's men at all the key locations around the city.

  This enabled the forces loyal to Jawari to gain the upper hand as the world began to get more and more tweets and live video that was being placed on the Internet and sent to world media sources and not just what had been peddled by Wasir.

  It was to cost them dear.

  50

  Washington. D.C

  The Russians placing their armed forces on Elevated Combat Readiness had caught the Executive Decision making arm of the United States of America on the hop.

  It was something they had not done since 9/11. On that occasion, it had been a response to President Bush's decision to place United States of America armed forces on DEFCON 2. This was completely different.

  "Mr. President, I recommend we do the same," suggested the Chief of Staff as their Commander in Chief sat back down in the situation room five floors down below the White House swimming pool.

  The President didn't hesitate; he instantly gave the order to do so.

  This wasn't a time for questions as to why they had done it.

  That was to come later.

  Turning towards the young air force officer in front of the safe computer connection over which messages are exchanged through email via the National Command Centre and the Kremlin the President asked his Secretary of State to propose the message with the question as to why they had done this.

  "Foreign Minister Lavrov, the United States is authorized under the Security Council S/RES/2200 (2013) to provide support to the United Nations Mission in Lughaya, why are Russian forces elevating their combat readiness?"

  The next ten minutes became a series of arguments over who was right and wrong before the Chief of Staff interrupted the Secretary of State and the President.

  "Sir, two aircraft have been picked up entering Adwalland air space, our F-15's report that they appear to be two commercial Il-76s. He is requesting permission to fire upon them to force them to turn around because they are refusing to answer his requests to identify."

  The President gave his authorization.

  "Box Two, permission granted fire a warning shot!" the Air Force Chief of Staff member ordered.

  Seconds later the direct link fired up.

  "The aircraft are carrying military personnel to provide support for the democratically elected President of Adwalland if you continue to fire on them, we will respond accordingly!"

  "Have they lost their minds!" said the President.

  "Where do we stand, John?" he quickly asked the Secretary of State.

  The tall Bonesman and graduate of Yale answered that legally they were within their rights.

  "We can only respond within the Mission guidelines despite whether or not the President they are assisting is the one who ordered the attack on the compound."

  "What's your recommendation?"

  "Tell them we accept their formal identification as Military Aircraft of the Russian Federation and then advise them that if they deviate from their predesigned course of Aden Isaaq International Airport we will consider them as representing a direct threat to our rescue mission and will respond accordingly. We argue about whether they are enemy combatants or not in the Security Council in any case, it should buy us time to complete the rescue mission!" he then added.

  The President nodded his approval towards the computer operator then took over the conversation.

  "Foreign Minister Lavrov, this is the President of the United States?" He started.

  A moment later he had his answer from the President of the Russian Federation accepting the terms with his own caveat at the end that if American Armed Forces attempted to give aid to the criminal Wasir Osman Hassan they would consider this an act of war on an allied nation of the Russian Federation and respond accordingly.

  "Typical FUCKING Putin!" responded the Secretary of State with a shake of the head.

  "Mr. President, BAILOUT is on the ground and securing the mission!" The Real Admiral in charge of Naval Special Warfare Command said, interrupting the exchange.

  "Casualties?" the President asked.

  "Looks like over eighty dead, with eight survivors," reported the Real Admiral.

  The President grimly thanked him for the update. "We need to get in the end zone on this!" he thought privately to himself.

  51

  Borama

  "Packet. We have reached the second floor!" shouted the Ukrainian commander over his radio to Martin who was in his command location across the street with Wasir. The battle had been raging for over two hours, and it was going badly as none of Wasir's useless bunch of cutthroats had kept any of their objectives they had secured. It suddenly got a whole lot worse for Martin once Wasir got off the phone with one of his men.

  "Mr. Andrew, the Russians are at the airport!" the ashen-faced Wasir stated.

  "What, how many!" Martin replied
. He tried to comprehend where the devil they had come from. The Russians didn't have any armed forces within nine hours of Borama apart from the men guarding the President and fighting tooth and nail across the street and who so far had taken out over ninety men in the process.

  "My men tell me two planes have arrived with over three hundred white devils with fighter jets also in support," the ex-pirate replied crestfallen. His plans in ruins!

  "That's it then, Minister. I am afraid we have to retire!" Martin replied they were outnumbered and now out-gunned.

  "No! If we can take the President all is not lost!" ordered the Minister desperately.

  Martin looked at Wilson first then replied over the radio, ignoring him.

  "Packet Four, withdraw. Mission is a scrub!" he wasn't about to send his men to their deaths just because of the ego of a warlord.

  "No!" cried Wasir again this time pulling his weapon. Immediately Wilson with his already in his hands cocked his own weapon in the same movement towards Wasir, his son, and his bodyguard before they even got a chance to pull theirs. Not wanting to die, both men relaxed their movements.

  "Minister, it is necessary that we get you to safety," offered Martin in an attempt to defuse the situation.

  "That way you can fight another day, my friend," responded Andrew with his hands up in a calming gesture towards the wild eyed Somali, not meaning a word of it as his primary objective now was to get out alive.

  "He is right, father!" replied Mohammed agreeing with the Englishman. He had no wish to die in this room chasing a lost cause.

  Wasir's eyes continued flashed in anger, but the primal need for survival overrode his desire to press on.

  "We go!" he said as he stormed off with his son and bodyguard out of the room.

  "Time to go RSM," Martin said with a sigh, knowing his bonus had also left the building.

  "I will let the Boss know it's a scratch!" Wilson answered shaking his head like his former Commanding officer over the disappointment of the loss of the bonus he had been promised and to tell Gourgamani to stay put at the Sammo while they made their way to him as they had pre-agreed to depart on his plane if things were scratched.

  As they started to drive away in their Land Cruiser, the former RSM turned to old commanding officer, his face ashen.

  "I can't reach him!"

  "Sir!" Wilson said reverting to type under stress and fearing what that meant.

  Before Martin could say anything in response, machine gunfire strafed their vehicle.

  52

  Moscow

  As the President of the United States of America's face appeared on the television screen, the President of the Russian Federation said nothing.

  It wasn't lost on him that it was the middle of the night in America. That meant the Bored Kid, as he thought of him, was as worried as he was despite trying desperately hard not to show it.

  "My fellow Americans, yesterday evening following a request from the United Nations under resolution S/RES/2200 (2013), I ordered our nation's Armed Forces stationed at Djibouti to provide support to the United Nations Mission that had come under attack from unknown forces. At this time, due to the worsening situation in the country. ?"

  During the speech, in measured careful tones he made reference to the fact that as Russian forces were currently engaged in an effort to put down the civil uprising in response to the outrage and had placed all Russian armed forces on an Elevated Combat Readiness footing. This meant he was left with no choice but to also do so.

  The President of Russia wasn't surprised by the content of the speech. He knew the Americans would state that it was Russia who had upped the ante by elevating the threat level and accuse him of supporting genocide despite having been behind the coup and the attack on the United Nations Mission so to justify them entering the country.

  "All because they wanted to undermine the Russian interests in the region,, Things never change! Arrogant as ever!" the Russian President thought in disgust.

  Once his counterpart finished with his grandstanding the Russian President also left his situation room to make his way to his office, it was time for his response.

  Walking briskly past the nervous State Television Broadcast support team, he sat down behind his desk with the Flags of Russia and his office behind him. He waited for the make-up assistant to finish powdering his nose. Once she was finished he gave a singular nod towards the camera and started his rebuttal of the accusations of the Americans.

  Unlike the measured tones, of his counterpart in the White House, the Russian President speech was designed for a different audience.

  Full of emotion, he took his turn to accuse the United States of supporting of the attempted coup d'?tat, firing on Russian Military Aircraft, and the breaking of International law by illegally entering a sovereign country, conveniently choosing to ignore the United Nations mandate in the process by suggesting that the UN didn't follow the procedure of waiting for confirmation from the host nation as to whether assistance was required.

  By the time he was finished the world's media were left scrambling for information, experts, and content on the world's newest state that was bringing two of world's superpowers to the brink of war.

  Speech finished, his heartbeat returning to normal, he walked back into Emergency Situation Room to be greeted by his Minister of Foreign Affairs.

  "I just took a call from the American Ambassador. He is advising me that if the President of Adwalland makes an effort to deploy his Militia in the direction of the Mission they will consider them a threat and respond accordingly."

  The President of Russia offered a nod.

  "It was time to hit back," he thought.

  "Tell our Ambassador in Washington to contact the Secretary of State and inform him that we will be taking over responsibility for the base and that our Russian Armed Forces on the ground will make all haste," just as he stated he would do in his speech moments ago, ignoring the US Ambassador's message.

  "I will also get our Ambassador in New York to inform the Secretary General as well," offered the Minister of Foreign Affairs making sure the President's bases were all covered legally.

  "How long will it take our troops to get from Borama to Lughaya?" asked the President towards the Chief of the General staff.

  "Approximately three hours, Sir," responded the Marshal.

  The President acknowledged the information with a further firm nod of the head.

  "Good! Give the order."

  "Yes, Mr. President," answered the Marshal without hesitation.

  "We must put our troops on 'Danger of War' footing," insisted the Prime Minister, ever aware of the legal requirements of the Russian Federation.

  The President looked towards the Prime Minister. There was no turning back.

  "Make it so!" he ordered on something that hadn't been authorized by Russian leader since the Second War World as he looked towards the Prime Minister.

  "Yes, Mr. President," answered the Marshal while he privately thought, "Are we really going to war over this?"

  53

  Borama

  In the office of Paul Compton, a doctor patched up Thomas's arm. He had been wounded during the battle at the TLH compound adjacent the "The Cismah" having now left the "machine-gunned" ridden offices of the President.

  All the men of the TLH Group sat in stunned silence watching the fast growing tensions rise moment by moment on television. The elation of earlier they had felt in surviving the attack had been quickly tempered when they found they had lost five of their Gurkhas in the assault.

  "This is Anne Jenkins of MGN reporting from the Whiteman Air Force Base," said the journalist as the network viewers watched the squadron of B2s take off behind her, a direct result of an increased war footing.

  Switching channels to Sky News, it didn't get any better

  "So is America at DEFCON three?" said the British journalist to an experienced stringer war correspondent who was on the ground in Djibouti.


  "This is turning into a right fakakta," said Mikhail as they switched back to MGN News. Another grim faced television anchor struggled to explain the escalation that built up to in the last few hours between two of the world's superpowers and the realization that war between the armed forces of Russia and America was fast becoming a terrible possibility.

  A fact that was confirmed from the briefings the journalists were receiving left, right, and center from the various informed sources of both Russia and the United States.

  "Are they really going to war over this?" asked Yossi still not quite believing what he was seeing and referring by the waving of his hands around them to the country they were currently located in.

  "What are we going to do?" asked Mikhail towards Thomas, hoping he would give them orders to evacuate from the country.

  Lost in his thoughts Thomas didn't answer until he was interrupted by one of the Gurkhas.

  "Mr. Badr is at the front gate asking permission to see you, Sir Thomas," said the middle-aged former solider with a salute just as he would of if he still served in the Army.

  "What does he want? I thought he was with the President and Igor?" answered Mikhail, before telling the Gurkha to let him in.

  Less than a minute or so later the Head of Security walked into the office.

  "Mr. Thomas," Badr said. "The President told me that you would know what to do with the prisoners I have outside," he said.

  "Prisoners?" asked Mikhail

  "Yes the Indian and two Englishmen," answered Badr proudly.

  "Where did you pick them up?" asked Mikhail.

  Badr smiled then replied that his people had arrested the Indian at the airport just before the Russians arrived. An action it turned out had transpired because the young, loyal officer thought he might be important, so he had arrested him on the spot instead of letting him leave.

  "Despite his attempt to bribe him with two thousand U.S. dollars!" added Badr proudly over the fact that his young officer hadn't accepted it.

  "The other two were picked up running away from the attack on the offices when my men stopped them," continued Badr.

  Immediately Thomas knew why Jawari had wanted him to take responsibility for them. They represented a hot potato for him because internally he needed to show the Chiefs that the foreigners had helped the young country as such they weren't the cause of the situation they found themselves in.

  "The cunning sod!" he thought acknowledging the hidden message of 'You deal with it.'

  "Tell the President I won't let him down," he said to Badr warmly.

  "I think I have a plan that might just be able stop this madness!" he said to Mikhail as the boys went with Badr to collect the prisoners.

  "I am glad somebody does!" answered Mikhail.

  Picking up the Codex phone, Thomas quickly dialed the number of the Principal Private Secretary of the President of Russia.

  "I would like to talk to the President," said Thomas once the young assistant was on the line.

  After a wait of about five minutes, the Mayor came on the line. Thomas didn't waste any time on small talk. At the end of his explanation, he received a simple response from the President of Russia.

  "You have permission to use your resources."

  Thomas thanked him for his trust. Nevertheless the Mayor issued final instruction for him.

  "If it doesn't work, you're to hand them over to Igor Valeriyoych."

  "Yes, Sir," Thomas replied despite privately acknowledging the fact that whatever way he cut it he was going to have kiss goodbye to a potentially billions of dollars' worth of contracts.