“Excellent,” Wasir said before going on to explain that when the personnel carriers would arrive, and when the operation started he wanted him to take one of the vehicles and some men then drive to Lughaya and carry out a unique mission on his behalf.
At the end of the description of what was needed, Buryak just nodded.
“I require a one-off payment,” he said.
What the warlord was asking him to do would almost certainly grab the world’s attention, something he knew Martin was almost rabid about to the point of distraction, so much so the Englishman had ordered him to keep an eye on a couple of freelance stringers at Rays Hotel and left him with instructions to take them out when the action started.
“How much?” Asked Wasir popping his own date into his mouth while stroking the young terrified child that brought them refreshments.
“Thirty thousand U.S. dollars,” replied the former Foreign Legion Sergeant Chef, ignoring the whines of the young girl, figuring that it sounded reasonable.
At least this way Buryak knew that he would be able to head home to Camile, his wife, with at least eighty thousand U.S. dollars in cash. Experience taught him that it was unlikely that Martin would pay him the full hundred thousand, having heard on the grapevine that he had been struggling to pay his other men who were working for some of his other mining companies.
“That is a lot of money, Mr. Leo!” replied the former pirate in an attempt to bargain despite knowing it would be expensive as the targets were very high profile and had been specially chosen to get a response from the neighboring Americans in Djibouti. Yet he also knew he had little choice but to agree to the man’s terms as time was against him. The ex-pirate decided to trust his instincts as he reflected that.
“The tribal elders would never go with the breaking of the contracts with the Russians, despite convincing his Indian friend otherwise, nor would the Russians receive their loss of their base lightly,” he thought at the time over drinks with his friend at the Burj Al Arab. “For this to work I need to ensure the Americans replace them,” he concluded as his mind thought over the problem of the Russians’ response.
He had seen what they had done to his pirates when they captured them. That meant he had to ensure the Americans entered the country before the Russians arrived. Knowing full well that would be the only way the Russians would accept the change of the status quo, if somewhat reluctantly, thus enable him to broker his own deal with the Americans by using his Indian friends connections to bring in new partners to replace the Englishman and his Russian friends.
That is why he needed to have someone conduct his side operation that wasn’t directly linked to him or his militia. The Ukrainian in front of him with his son represented such a person. If his plan worked he would blame it on the Upper House Clan members of the President’s allies, Rooble Ali’s and Dudeh Jawari’s militias.
The fact that some of his Clan was going to have to die in the process so to ensure the outcome was the price he would have to pay.
“That’s a lot of people and some of them are very high profile,” was the straightforward response from Leo.
Seeing by the look on his face that the hard-nosed Ukrainian wasn’t going to budge on the price and with too much at stake for him to argue, Wasir released the girl he had been playing with and offered his hand to him to imply his acceptance of terms.
The experienced mercenary looked at him again with no emotion before he finally took his hand.
“Up front,” he repeated.
“Of course,” replied Wasir, before telling his son to go and get the Ukrainian his cash before ordering the young terrified child upstairs.
Parking her Land Cruiser next to the new offices of their Charity in the Dila district of Borama in the early evening, Clara Martinez stepped out of the vehicle to the sounds of the small local mosque next to the building calling the faithful to Prayer.
Stopping for a few moments, she chose some limes and grapefruits from the little boys parked outside their three-story building, checking as she did so to see if she had been followed. Satisfied she hadn’t been she paid the boys, collected the fruit, and then climbed up the stairs to the second floor of the building.
She knocked on the door twice to give a warning to the residents inside who was outside, and she was alone.
Once the door opened, the sight of Pete who had let her in and Joe who had the pleasure of monitoring the communications and listening equipment greeted her.
“So what’s up?” asked Joe referring to Navjot’s decision to arrive on site, something he had only advised them of this morning.
Earning a shake of her head then in return to reflect her own disapproval she explained that he was sure that the Russians were on to the Martin-led operation due the fact that they had organized for the gunship to be impounded in Bissau.
Like her they both expressed surprise that he chosen to come into theatre, as he where front and center of this operation, but ultimately unlike her they dismissed it. Navjot had always been a man who liked to lead from the front, so who were they to be questioning his judgment?
“Anything else happening?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Basir reports that one of Ukrainians that arrived on Saturday went off with one with Wasir’s sons,” offered Pete referring to one of the Special Operations SEALS they had on loan from Djibouti who was monitoring the base of the Turaegs for them posing as a goat herder. The young Petty Officer from Queens, New York was of Sudanese descent fit in effortlessly and so far hadn’t raised any suspicions.
“Mike reports Litchfield received the President and a couple of the tribal elders over at his villa,” he continued referring to the other SEAL in more tradition clothing of chinos and t-shirts of the NGOs located at the hotel and was observing the coming and goings around the Oligarch.
Clara nodded that wasn’t unusual, as when the wealthy Englishman was around the President was always close by, for he was the money.
“Any news on who, these new security members are?” Clara asked for although she knew they were almost certainly members of their Russian counterparts at Zaslon, she disagreed with Navjot’s summary that they were there to provide security to him. It was quite common for the unit to be used in the role of diplomatic protection, not just counter-intelligence functions, so she figured they were the advance party for the arriving Ambassador.
“No names, but they have been matched to a team that had been operating in Syria,” answered Pete, referring to the information he had received from one of the analysts at Langley who in turn had gotten it from the Israelis.
“Okay, I will pass that along to the Boss,” replied Clara before heading to the kitchen to put her limes into a cup of tea.
Outside and unknown to Clara, one of the little boys left his friend on the fruit stand to call his foreign friend on the burner mobile he had been given to let him know the woman was now at her office, earning himself a hundred U.S. dollars for his family in the process.
40
Roschinsky
Stationed at Roschinsky in Samara is a unit that is drawn from the elite of Russia’s Special Forces, known as the 3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade GRU. Formed in the 1960’s,the primary goal of the unit during the Cold War had been infiltration/insertion behind enemy lines, either in uniform or civilian clothing, usually well before hostilities were scheduled to begin and then, once in place, to commit acts of sabotage plus the assassination of key government leaders and military officers.
Since 2011 though, the unit’s role was to provide fast support in the field as when directed. The unit was led by a battle hardened division commander, a tall, striking man of thirty-eight with dark hair and deep brown eyes called Podpolovnk Alekseyevich Valeri Stukalov who had seen service in Dagestan and Chechnya and more covertly a few other places in between. A Hero of the Russian Federation, an award he had won for his bravery when he single-handedly engaged and overcame the enemy after his team had been ambushed on the operation in the 2005 he was a unique individual who inspired loyalty in his men and fear in his enemies.