The Devil's Handshake

61

Nouakchott International Airport

As the old 737 cargo plane taxied into Nouakchott International Airport using the cover of a charter to carry out the gold that had been mined by one of the Canadian mining companies that operated in the country, all the men on board knew that they would have less than one day to complete the mission.

Igor’s team with the support of the local resident had established that Wasir’s villa, though near the main road, had only a team of ten guarding him. That meant that with his team of fifteen on site and all posing as many NGO’s plus Thomas and this team who had all insisted that they were coming with him that doubled the advantage over the team protecting the pirate.

Using the plans of the villa that had been registered at the Department of Works and Buildings that the Resident obtained, they worked on the premise that it was unlikely the internal walls of the villa would have changed much.

To save time, Igor had sent these plans to Mikhail so he and the team could get themselves familiar with the structure via the photos.

Getting off the plane, the five Canadians posing as security officers for the gold shipment presented their passports at the immigration desk at the private aviation department of the small airport.

Checking their passports twice making sure the visa was correct, the disinterested immigration officer found a free page in each as he slammed stamp after stamp to reflect their entry and then took the $200 entry fees from Yossi.

“Welcome to Nouakchott,” said the officer in French.

“Merci,” replied Yossi said taking back the passports back.

Picking up their kit, containing their equipment of Heckler and Koch UMP Machines guns, hunting knifes and a rather unique one, a Kukri Ghurkha Knife owned by Thomas, stun grenades, night vision, body armor, and headsets. All of which had passed through the turned off x-ray machine with the help of a $200 U.S. dollar bribe to the young police officer. The five Canadians made their way out of the small building where they were met by two of Igor’s team and their newly purchased fourth hand white KIA Gallopers.

“Good to see you again,” offered Aytrom towards Mikhail

“Likewise Aytrom,” answered Mikhail in return as he shook his hand first then following up quickly with everybody else.

Upon reaching Thomas, though, he held on firmly looked at him straight in the eyes.

“We will settle the debt, Fama,” he said, determination coming through in his voice instead of the usual condolences he received from everybody.

“Thank you Artyom,” replied Thomas towards the Zaslon officer.

Releasing his hand, the seven men got into the four-wheel drives and drove off for the short trip towards the base hotel.

Taking just ten minutes not one member of the team said anything in the short trip. Instead they choose to take in the sights and sounds of the neighborhood as they made their way through the city down the Avenue Gamal Abdel Nassar.

They arrived at the Residence Imam, and unloaded the kit. The men went through the hotel up into lift two at a time and rode up to the third floor, exited and made their way along the corridor to the suite.

Once inside, greetings and introductions out of the way the strike team assembled to go through the plan around the dining table.

“The villa is near the main road. According to our intelligence the only presence outside appears to be the two guards on the main gate,” Igor said starting the briefing by showing them the images on screen that had come from Anton.

“So Vitali and Emin will take them out with their sniper rifles,” Igor said looking towards his men before continuing with the briefing.

Ten minutes later briefing finished. The team set about stripping down their weapons to clean them before reassembling them ready for action.

“Are you really sure you want to be part of the main assault team?” Igor asked Thomas sitting down by the side of him. Sergei had told him to make sure that no harm came to him despite him insisting that he was to be part of the assault team. The fallout they would receive from their President if anything did, would be the equivalent of driving around Dagestan in an open top Jeep to quote his commanding officer.

Mikhail looked towards the Zaslon commander and gave him a shake of his head to signal that he shouldn’t bring it up.

“Igor, thank you for your concern. This is a debt of honor that I must follow,” replied Thomas firmly, his eyes full of steel towards the young commander as he clicked his firing pin back into place on his UMP. “So don’t worry I won’t let you or your men down!” he added finishing the conversation.

“Don’t worry Igor. I will make sure he doesn’t!” offered Mikhail in support.

Nodding in return, accepting that he had been put in his place, Igor grabbed Thomas’s shoulder.

“He is as pig-headed and stubborn as a mule,” he offered in Russian, earning a smile in return from Mikhail if not one from Thomas, who was in the zone.

With the city asleep and dawn still forty-five minutes away the assault team, dressed in black head to toe and with facemasks, took up position.

Eight hundred yards away further down the road and waiting for Igor’s mark, two snipers were in place ready to release their shots.

They didn’t have to wait long. Giving a fist pump then a forward pointing motion, a silent thud escaped from their barrels and instantly both guards fell to the ground like rag dolls. Moving quickly within seconds upon reaching the gates Yossi placed two extra shots in the heads of the fallen guards from his muffler attached UMP to make sure they were dead.

Taking up position outside the solid metal gate Aytrom pushed through the middle gap a small camera.

Looking on the small monitor, they found four guards outside the entrance of the villa, sleeping on chairs.

To signal to the assault team what threat would greet them he held up four fingers to signal four targets then two fingers to signal the split followed by pointed hand moved left and right to signal the deployment.

Igor nodded in return.

Quickly another Zaslon team member placed about seventy grams of RDX explosive on the bolt. He gave his signal to indicate he was ready to detonate the charge so to allow the teams to move either side of the gate to take up their position.

“BANG!” the explosion careened around the sleeping streets.

Pushing the gate open either side, the split assault team began their attack.

First the two guards either side of the gate were downed. No shot was fired in return. Again, as Yossi had done outside the gate, one of the Zaslon commandos followed up the kills by slotting the guards on the floor with four single thuds to the heads.

Still not a word had been said.

Reaching the villa front door from the side, within seconds Aytrom placed a further ball of RDX on the lock. He then stepped to aside and detonated it, just as four of the team went either side of the building to take up their entry points into the villa. While this was taking place another of Igor’s team took out the generator to ensure they could use the darkness and their night vision classes for the assault on the villa.

Still not a word had been said…

Seconds later, kicking the door open from the side Igor’s team entered the building.

Immediately machine gunfire was let loose at the door for just a few seconds as the loud bangs when off at the side entrance of the structure. This had the effect of causing confusion while both Benny and Aytrom chucked two assault grenades inside.

Once they heard the loud thud, the team entered the building, releasing a volley of shots into the hall of the villa followed by Yossi, Avi, Mikhail, and Thomas doing the same.

When the shooting was over the first voice erupted over the short-wave radios of the assault team.

“OCHISTIT,” meaning “clear” in Russian, shouted Aytrom as he proceeded to shoot one of Wasir’s sons in the head who was lying wounded on the floor.

Additional shouts and thuds continued to ring out across the villa followed within seconds by shouts of “CLEAR” to signal the assaulting teams that targets were being taken out.

“OCHISTIT,” shouted one of the men after clearing the rest of the room.

Awakened from the first loud bang and realizing they were under attack, Ahmed pushed the young girl who was sharing his bed aside. Grabbing his pistol he made his way out of the bedroom.

“Ybeeldaaje,” he shouted twice towards the bedroom of Wasir just as he saw the shadows of men dressed completely in black moving and shouts of words in Russian, following each loud bang.

He only managed to get off one shot towards them before he felt a volley of bullets rip through his naked torso. The last thing he saw was a man in black standing over him as the bullet ripped through his head.

Again the shouts of “CLEAR” echoed around the house. Igor checked his G-Shock watch. So far the operation had taken five minutes. They had planned to be in and out within ten minutes. The operation was ahead of schedule.

Upon reaching the door of the master bedroom at the top of the stairs, one of the members of the Zaslon team placed RDX on the door. Again they detonated and threw a shock grenade and as soon as it exploded they entered the bedroom. It took out one of the occupants of the bedroom in the process.

“I surrender, I surrender” came the voice of Wasir who was in a state of shock, naked with his hands in the air by the side of the dead companion who had been sharing his bed. Another innocent caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“We have VIPER!” cried Igor into his mic.

“OCHISTIT,” came the similar call from one the men who had just cleared the on suite bathroom. Just as he did so, Thomas walked into the bedroom.

Terrified, Wasir looked up towards him with his hands on his head as he did so he proceed to pee himself with anxiety.

“I surrender!” he said, hoping it was enough to save his life as he focused on the man in front of him taking off his mask.

The sounds of the Imams calling to dawn prayers began to ring out across the small city and ripple through the air as Wasir suddenly recognized the eyes staring back at him.

“Englishman!” he said shocked, the strange looking knife he had spotted in his mind, as he felt his head being violently grabbed upwards by Thomas.

“Please, I beg!” offered Wasir weakly but loudly towards Thomas, whose eyes were like a demon.

“Seniň mertebe bolmak meniň mertebe!” Thomas whispered in prayer towards the woman he loved as he took the head of Wasir from his torso in one movement with his Kukri.