The Devil's Handshake

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.

Walking into the conference room on the base, his platoon commanders immediately stood up at attention and on reaching the front of the room he ordered them to sit back down again and began his briefing.

Clicking past the Operation Code Name of KANJAR of the PowerPoint presentation, he stopped at the picture of the map of Adwalland.

Never one for small talk he went straight to the point.

“Gentleman the operational codename is KANJAR!” he said, adding the mission in his no nonsense manner. “Our orders are to provide support to the President of the Country codenamed HARE and our command authority will be the Zaslon commander in the field codenamed MONGOOSE!” he continued, clicking on the key players.

“In your packets, you’ll find briefing notes on the threats to the mission coming from the Interior Minister code name VIPER, the capital’s choke points and also an overview of the American divisions stationed at Camp Lemmonnier codename TOMBSTONE,” he continued referring to their encrypted orders being downloaded into their battlefield Getac laptops as he spoke.

“It is a fast moving situation, so there is a chance we might have to HALO jump if the airport is not secure,” he added without looking into the faces of the young men he commanded. “If the airport is secure then we will use the Grasshopper tactic,” he stated.