Michael Reagan - The Devil's Handshake

Together the team reviewed the weather, terrain, and how the military aspects could be affected by their movement around the city and the country; followed by the civil considerations: political, economic, sociological and psychological factors that both the President and the perceived threat of the Interior Minister held.

In the enemy column, each placed into it the codename ‘Viper’ they agreed would be the call sign to represent Wasir.

“Mikhail, were you aware that he has been recruiting Ukrainians?” Igor asked, formal barriers broken down over the glass of excellent wine, stopping dead the briefing.

“Ukrainians?” answered Mikhail surprised.

“Yes our assets in Kiev inform us that a GSG Security Head a…” Igor paused to check his notes. “A Tony Wilson and his security consultant an Andrew Martin, have been hiring former officers of Gaddafi’s Islamic Legion for deployment into the region to supply advice to the Interior Ministry on how to protect mining companies,” he continued.

“That’s interesting!” Thomas thought he had heard of Martin, of course, he was a regular carpetbagger that one would find on AIM listed natural resources companies.

“Benny can you look into that when we land?” ordered a concerned Mikhail earning a nod from the Israeli in return. He had heard what some of those Ukrainians and the dead leader’s Tuareg Militia had gotten up to when the Gaddafi regime was collapsing. The thought sent shivers down Mikhail’s spine and instantly took him back to Bosnia from a long time ago.

Mikhail’s mind switched back to the present and he indicated towards Barek to continue, who did so by quickly adding his thoughts to the assessment.

“Dispositions! Let’s see, Viper maintains over hundred former pirates on the coast in Lughaya, all listed as Interior Ministry Port Control Officers!” Barak said with a smirk. “They have limited skills capabilities though with Toyota Land Cruisers and AK-47 and pistols for weapons. As men they might be helpful for intimidation, not for firefights in my opinion,” he added.

Igor nodded adding Barak’s comments to his notes.

“In Borama, Viper has ninety Clan members who are totally loyal, all listed as Interior Ministry Officers. They run his businesses from whores, tankers, money lending, and slavery.”

Again they all made notes before Barak continued on with his briefing on the weaponry they had.

“Their skill levels are better than the pirates as they fought in the various militias against the Ethiopians, Somalis, and Al-Shaahab, so they are battle hardened and utterly ruthless. Weapons wise though, they are limited to standard AK-47 and pistols.”

“At the Airport, Viper has an IL-76 transporter which is his air cargo business. It is run by a Turkmen who lives between Borama and Dubai,” advised Mikhail interrupting Barak for just a moment.

“Well, he just added to that fleet,” interjected Igor.

“Really! What has he bought?” asked Thomas, as he wrote his own notes.

“A Mil-17 helicopter!” answered Igor

“Omar didn’t tell me that!” Thomas replied, assuming that the government had purchased the helicopter Gunship as he put his pen down.

“It was paid for by GSG,” answered Igor.

“Don’t tell me Ukrainians?” asked Mikhail, a little pissed off as it was something he had only just asked Saul to organize for their interests down there. The Minister had beaten him to the punch.

Igor just offered a wry smile. They had some handheld Strela 2 shoulder missiles to deal with any Halo threats, but he knew it was unlikely, as Sergei had informed him that he would get the director to deal with neutralizing the threat of having a gunship running around with 57 mm rocket pods. Instead, Igor’s mind was focused on whether they had to deal with any tanks or armored vehicles. It was the next question he asked Mikhail.

“Viper uses a couple of Armored B6 Toyota Land Cruisers and is guarded by a team of ten, led by his oldest son Mohammed. All experienced, again ex-militia, but it’s my assessment that they’re not really trained in close protection skills. That said they are loyal and carry Heckler & Koch UMPs, so they are well equipped,” Mikhail replied.

“At Viper’s villa he has four mounted M60 machines guns at each corner with thirty men all armed with AKs. Vehicles wise, again three Toyota Land Cruisers not armored though one is a pick-up with a mounted M60,” Mikhail continued as he pointed to the house’s location on the overhead shots of Borama.

After taking a spoonful of his crème brûlée, the Israeli moved on to the offices, explaining in the process that the Interior Ministry was, in fact, a dressed up villa with the same structure in terms of men and deployment as the Viper’s own villa on the outskirts of the town.

“What is Viper command structure other than his son?” asked Igor.

“His number two is a guy named “Ahmed” we don’t know his full name, but he we know he is a former member of the National Security Services. He is bright and well trained, having received training from the CIA in Mogadishu. I think he is about forty but can’t be sure?” answered Mikhail.

“Okay, I will see what we have on him. The NSS are very sound peddlers of information!” replied Igor making a mental note to include it within his update later.

“What’s next?” Thomas asked.

“Jawari’s men,” answered Igor.

After about a further thirty minutes of briefing on the friendly forces, Igor gave his initial assessment.

“We need to look at the Americans’ capabilities in Djibouti as well.”

“Why do you think they would become involved if there were a coup?” asked Mikhail, thinking that now it had been smart of Thomas to order them to withhold the information about the surveillance team Barak had discovered, now convinced it was American.

“It never hurts to be prepared, Mikhail,” answered Igor, but still not explaining himself.

Thomas didn’t say a word; Igor’s answer was the exact reason why he had gone to such lengths to ensure he had his back channels in place.

With supper over, the plane fell silent as the lights dimmed. Igor sent an encrypted message on his military grade Getac Notebook to Sergei.

“FLASH CONTENT”

OPERATION KANJAR

First review attached for the possible deployment into theatre. Will provide detailed information once on the ground.

The information was immediately relayed on to Sergei, who was in bed with his wife at their family Dacha. The sound of his encrypted ready BlackBerry buzzing woke him. Picking it up, he read it. Then quickly went back to sleep, deciding it could wait until morning.

Igor was like a vampire! He never slept!

Moscow

The call from Alexei Nikolai in the early part of the afternoon, outside their formal once a week briefing, had taken the Minister of Foreign Affairs by surprise.

Listening carefully as he sat in his study at his weekend dacha, Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov took notes.

Trusted by Russia’s President although he wasn’t a member of his inner circle, he was nevertheless seen as a faithful servant rather than a formulator of foreign policy and thereby trusted for his skills as a tough, reliable, extremely sophisticated negotiator by all in the diplomatic world. This was the reason why he had stayed in the role since his appointment even after the man took power.

“This might need some fees to be arranged, Alexei Nikolai?” he further added after going over his notes.

“No problem Sergey Viktorovich, I will take care of anything that needs reimbursing,” answered the Director of the SVR, understanding what the Foreign Minister meant.

In the last few days, his analysts had tracked the whereabouts of helicopter through their assets within the Security Service of Ukraine having picked up on what they had previously reported over the last couple of months concerning the recruitment of individuals by Xerulla.