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.