Michael Reagan - The Devil's Handshake

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’état 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 immediately 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.

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.