Michael Reagan

THE DEVIL’S HANDSHAKE

Prologue

“What’s the crack, Stevie?” asked the Commander of Charlie Three Zero, who at first glance, looked more like a local Bedouin tribesman with his dark long matted hair and scraggy long beard rather than an officer of the British Army.

“The fucking RSM wants to call a staff meeting at the pickup point!” said the Liverpudlian Corporal shaking his head as he disconnected the call from the encrypted radio.

The man smiled at the statement, the RSM who apart from being the Special Air Services (SAS) Regimental Sergeant Major also doubled as the Commander of Alpha One Zero always had a dry sense of humor.

The young officer was just twenty-seven, well-built and possessing a set of deep brown eyes that could look into one’s soul, was in the second year of his secondment as a language expert to the SAS from the Royal Gurkhas Rifles asked what the RSM wanted to discuss. Figuring it was more than likely something to do with the new intelligence from the Yanks that they had received on their prime objective—the location and destruction of Scud missiles in the western corridor of Iraq.

“Boss, you don’t want to know,” answered the young Trooper, a title given to enlisted men of British Army elite fighting force that is comparable in status to the United States Navy ‘SEAL’ or ‘Operator’ in its DELTA force.

The young officer’s look told him otherwise.

“The fucking new furniture for the dining room in Hereford!” replied Stevie, rolling his eyes.

“Typical,” the old sage of the unit a Staff Sergeant called Richard “Taffy” Jones muttered in his rich Welsh accent before continuing, “I’m telling you!”

“Tommy,” he said to the young officer, using his first name as rank titles were never used in the Regiment when it’s members spoke to one another. “The RSM is fucking cracked!”

Thomas smiled at the Trooper. He took the request for what it was: a morale booster, something the Regiment certainly needed having just got the news they had lost four of their own men on a mission last week.

“I think you might find, Stevie,” Thomas replied. “That’s the RSM’s way of sticking two fingers up at Saddam,” he continued in an attempt to support a man who wasn’t present to defend himself as he looked at his Casio G-SHOCK watch on his wrist.

“FUCK THAT!” answered the Staff Sergeant who wasn’t the RSM’s greatest fan even at the best of times.

Ignoring the banter of his No. 2 for the moment, Thomas refocused his mind on the mission they had been given: The location and destruction of a very special Scud Al-Hussein missile launcher and its payload.

It wasn’t going to be easy. The terrain was rugged and flat and after being dropped in by a Chinook helicopter, it had taken them a day to make their Lay Up Point (LUP) as they were overloaded with the equipment they needed to destroy the rocket launcher. Nevertheless, Thomas tried to make his mind relax as he lay in a depression in the ground.

The American Intelligence officer who had operational command of this mission wanted a “hit and run” night raid that echoed the days of the North African campaign of World War II. This was in order to make it look as if a routine patrol had stumbled onto the launcher in spite of the mission being anything but that.

When Thomas had asked the man in front of RSM and the Colonel as to why they were sure that the square building with a massive antenna and satellite dishes surrounding it was housing the missile launcher and why didn’t they just call in an air strike and destroy it all, he was given an answer that had shocked him.

“Captain, we understand the Scud missiles are carrying Anthrax,” the man, whom Thomas had ascertained was of Pakistani origin despite his New York accent, had said.

“Is this a school?” the RSM had asked while pointing at the map to a small building by the side of the one that intelligence had assumed contained the hidden missile. Grimly, it had dawned on Thomas and those around the table why an air strike wasn’t possible. If an air strike hit its intended target, then the most likely collateral damage would be the deaths of the children the Iraqis were using as a human shield. The ensuing propaganda generated for Saddam would be: a) the Americans had destroyed a school and b) they had used chemical weapons—a spurious claim that, although it would be denied by the coalition, would gain useful political capital in striking a wedge between the fragile partnership of the Western and Arab nations. Worse still and the most likely result was something the Colonel had confirmed to all around the table in his stiff tone as “It would be impossible to keep Israel out of the conflict as they would argue that the missile could be the first of many that be directed in the direction of Tel Aviv.”

“How many of these blighters are in operation?” the Colonel had asked, referring to the missile launcher.

“Our intelligence informs us so far this is the only one,” the American-Pakistani had responded. Thomas had looked at him disbelievingly for a second but didn’t comment further. It wasn’t his job to question the intelligence.

“I understand,” Thomas had answered.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any confirmed intelligence on the number of troops guarding the Scud,” the American had continued. “But intelligence points to them as almost certainly being members of the Brigade of Mukhabarat, an elite group from the Iraq Intelligence Services (IIS) that reports directly to Saddam,” the man had explained

“Don’t worry. I am sure we be able to handle them!” Thomas had answered proudly.

“Of that, I have no doubt Captain,” the American had replied. With Thomas’s mind finally starting to shut down for a couple of hours, he was about to find out if his bold statement was going to be true or not.

* * *

“David, I have briefed the SAS team who is going to be handling the operation,” The CIA Officer had said to his line officer, on the encrypted telephone link to Riyadh just two days before the team had gone in.

“Your assessment of them?” the Virginian had asked.

“The Captain is young and capable,” the officer had answered. “He speaks Arabic like a native and moreover looks like one,” he had added, with a hint of admiration. “Mackintosh calls him one of his best,” he had further added, referring to the colonel of the regiment.

“Good.”

“We can’t allow that missile to be missed,” the voice at the end of the phone had declared.

* * *

The CIA Officer, an American-Pakistani called Ali Mansoor, did not need his boss to tell him that. If that missile landed anywhere in Israel, then the President would not be able to keep the Coalition together. He knew the risks better than anybody.

This intelligence was as good as it got. It had come from a source deep inside the PLO who had visited the site with Yasser Arafat earlier in the year and just four months before Saddam had invaded Kuwait. As was usual in human intelligence, the information was treated with skepticism because up to that point it was believed that the Iraqis hadn’t mastered the fuse technology and trigger mechanism that would be needed to detonate a warhead. That had quickly changed though when the Scuds started their reign of terror.

“Come on Walid,” Ali had said to the asset in the small Tunis café over a cup of sweet coffee. “Why would Saddam show Yasser such an important place and risk operational security?” “Because he is desperate, Habib,” Walid had replied before going on to explain to Ali that the Iraqi leader needed Arafat to join him politically when he made his move against the Kuwaitis, who, as Iraq’s biggest creditor, had begun putting international pressure on Iraq to pay back the eighty billion dollars he had borrowed from Kuwait to act as a security buffer against Iran.

“Okay, I can just about buy that,” Ali had answered at the time. The President of Iraq was always one for grand gestures designed to show his military power even to the point of comparing himself as a modern day reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar, a sixth century B.C. Babylonian king who had built his kingdom into the most powerful nation in the world by ruthlessly annexing the neighboring countries around his own.

“But an invasion!” he had said, not quite believing even Saddam would go that far. “Listen to these, then make up your mind,” the source had answered, handing over to Ali the set of tapes that Arafat had asked him to transcribe from the small personal tape recorder he had carried on him throughout his meetings and visits to the facilities with Saddam. That meant this intelligence alone was pure gold.

Yet it was only when Ali had returned to Langley from Tunis with the tape recordings and had heard the voices on the tapes that the asset had bravely copied, did both David and he change their minds; Leaving them in no doubt that it was just a question of when the invasion was going to happen, not if!

“Iraq has the chemical weapons it successfully used against the Iranians during the eight-year War, and I promise you, my dear, I won’t hesitate to use them against Tel Aviv,” Saddam’s voice had said on the tape. “This missile enables us to strike at Israel.”

“You mean military targets?” Arafat had asked. “No, my dear, we consider every city within Israel a target!”

“When will you use such a weapon, my friend?” the Leader of the PLO had fawningly replied.

“It will be kept in reserve so as to deter the Americans or the Israelis from using their chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons on the homeland and to prevent any invader from ever marching on Baghdad,” the President of Iraq had said proudly and with authority.

“Ali,” David had said, pausing the tape for a moment. “We need to confirm where and how many of these missiles Saddam has!” he had instructed.

“Walid indicated that this was the only one so far.”

“How is he so sure?” David had asked.

“According to Arafat?”

“Yes!” Answered Ali, “It seemed Saddam indicated to Yasser that he had been experiencing problems getting the necessary software microchip for the missile,” He then continued in an effort try to put his superior at ease before they completed the review of the rest of the transcripts from Yasser’s visit. “And You believe that?” David had doubtfully questioned at the time.

“It isn’t exactly the sort of chip you can buy off the back of the bus!” continued Ali, “However, we are aware that IIS agents have been in Japan trying to purchase chips via the Yazuka and have made visits to North Korea over the last three months, so for once evidence suggest that Saddam is telling Yasser the truth.”

Yet despite this, it was only when Saddam invaded Kuwait did the “powers that be” at the Agency finally begin to take the Middle East and Near East desk’s intelligence seriously.

The direct benefit of which for Ali had been a promotion and a career boost for David as it had caused the instant firing of his immediate superior he reported to because he had chosen not to pass the information up the line to the President’s National Security Council via the Director.

“Amazing,” Ali had said as the pair had continued to plough through the tapes.

“He’s likening the situation with Kuwait to fighting in the playground!” Ali had continued while shaking his head in disbelief at one of Saddam’s comments during one of his dinners with Arafat. Where he had claimed that if it wasn’t for him, Ayatollah Khomeini and Iran would have occupied the entire Arab world and as such, he expected the Arab world to support them during and after the war. Before launching into another venomous tirade with regard to Kuwait, whom he felt had been keeping the price of their oil at $7 U.S. dollars per barrel to stop Iraq from rebuilding its infrastructure.

“You know what those dogs said to Hammadi,” Saddam had said in disgust, referring to his Minister of Foreign Affairs. “We’ll make the economy in Iraq so bad, one would be able to sleep with an Iraqi woman for ten dinars.”

“They steal our oil using the practice of slant drilling!” Saddam ranted.

“Then laugh at us by saying they have only taken two and a half billion barrels!” He continued,

“And then tell OPEC that they will not abide by its decision!” he had ranted on, referring to Kuwait’s veto when the other members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had agreed to appease Iraq by fixing the price between sixteen and seventeen U.S. dollars per barrel.

“It was them, I tell you, Yasser, who convinced our brothers to call in their loans instead of what it was supposed to be ‘free aid’ in order not to upset the dogs at Iraq’s door” Saddam had said, spitting on the floor, or so it had sounded to both Ali and David.

“And why? Yasser,” Saddam’s voice had ranted on, “Do they do this? I will tell you why! Because it is a conspiracy! A conspiracy against Iraq, the Iraqi leadership, and our economy, all led by our mutual enemy via their conduit: the Great Satan - America! Zionist power and influence in the United States dictates its foreign policy. Any country viewed as a threat to Israel, such as Iraq, becomes a target of the conspiracy.”

“Look,” he had said making his gambit in effort to garner Arafat’s support by referring to Israel’s latest official statement saying any peace agreement with Arab countries must include Iraq. “They aren’t hoping for peace. Only other countries to abide by their wishes.”

“The Soviet Union is weak,” Saddam had rambled on. “Recent agreements between the two shows this,” he had said referring to America and the Soviet Union. “Therefore it is easier for the two powers to agree rather than attempt to get many to agree.”

“So what does this mean?” Saddam announced. “I will tell you what! We are left with economics led by certain Zionist entities within the United States, including the weapons manufacturers and elements in the military all of who favor war due to the financial profit which can be reaped.”

“With the Soviet Union falling apart,” he had continued now in full flow, “We represent a suitable new enemy to replace them. So we must defend by attacking! History dictates that Kuwait is part of Iraq. If Qasim wanted to make a Kuwait a district of Iraq in sixty-one,” he had said referring to the former President of Iraq, “Then this my friend, gives me the justification to act and make my people and brothers ready for the fight that one day would come to Iraq’s shores, and force those dogs of Al Sabahs to heel,” Saddam had said referring to the ruling family of Kuwait.

By the end of the tapes, both men had looked at one another. David made a comment that at the time had surprised Ali.

“Well, he’s right about one thing,” David had said, chuckling, something Ali found inappropriate but kept his own council.

“What’s that?” Ali had asked instead.

“America does need an enemy once the Soviet Union falls.”

“You think the Soviets are going to fall?”

David had laughed. “Ali, they can’t afford a bath plug, let alone a foreign policy. Unfortunately America does need an enemy to justify its Energy Security position.”

Ali mentally shook his head. David scared him sometimes. Everything to him was a game of chess. Assets were merely pieces on the board to be moved or sacrificed as when needed. Yet the fact remained because he was so politically connected and by definition going places, with his next posting most likely to be Moscow as a Station Chief at just thirty-five years of age, it made sense to remain close and stay friends with him so not make him an enemy within the Agency.

“Still for the moment we need to make sure that this gets passed up the line,” David had said, changing the subject. “The last thing we need is getting caught with our pants down, and we get the blame!” he had said with a smile.

“By that statement, you don’t think anybody is going to listen to us.”

David had continued to smile at him, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he had replied, “A great piece of work, Ali.”

* * *

Six hours later, having reached their primary target and unaware of the global politics and instead focused on the mission, Thomas and the team approached the buildings. Immediately they encountered a large long truck with a canopy around it. Using his night vision goggles he quickly spotted only two men guarding it, and everything was very, very quiet.

The young Captain was pleased. The mission was going without a hitch so far.

Giving the silent order to advance by way of fist pumps and points, the eight man assault team quickly went in, killing the two guards with their knives and then setting the explosives on the truck.

Suddenly, Thomas sensed movement to his right side, coming from the door opening in the building.

He didn’t have time to think. The instincts of one of his troopers reacted for him as the magazine was emptied into the person at the door.

The whole place erupted. The patrol was compromised.

Straight away, heavy machine gunfire rained down on the patrol as they attempted to make their escape.

Sensing they were in danger of being overwhelmed, Thomas gave the order to withdraw with a hand signal. As he did so, a tracer round whizzed past his ear, and the patrol moved back quickly to a place of cover. His heart pumped faster. Adrenaline pumped through his veins.

Being well trained, he didn’t need to give the order for the team to stop, turn, and return fire to stall the retreat. Three hundred yards out on cue, they did it automatically, immediately unleashing a barrage of covering fire in the direction of the Iraqi guards.

Screams erupted.

Yet still not one word had been said by the men of Thomas’s assault team only a group hand signals between one another to signal where to aim their fire.

Suddenly the Iraqi night sky lit up!

“Bigwig this is Hawkbit,” over the radio’s loudspeaker quickly caught the attention of Ali Mansoor, the Colonel and the RSM. He was using the codenames of characters from the famous story of Watership Down. Another of the RSM’s witty ideas!

“Objective successful,” confirmed the crackling voice.

“Woundwort destroyed,” came the confirmation. “Under heavy fire. Requesting immediately air support and EXFIL ASAP at original drop-in!” squawked Thomas’s voice, referring to the Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) of returning to your original drop in point to wait for a helicopter that once every twenty-four hours would return to pick up a comprised patrol.

The relieved looking Colonel immediately went to pick up the radio. The hand of the man belonging to a CIA Intelligence officer who had flown in the afternoon from Riyadh stopped him.

“Sorry, Colonel,” the Virginian said. “No, Air support or emergency Air Vac,” he ordered.

“WHAT!”

“This mission is off-book,” the Virginian calmly stated. “Emergency Air support requires logs and confirmation and gets journalists who hang around the base very interested as to why,” he said coolly and without emotion.

The fury in the face of the Colonel said it all. “Those are my bloody men out there! I am NOT leaving them to FUCKING DIE.”

The Senior CIA officer looked at him impassively, calmly pulled a letter out of his briefcase, and then offered it towards the Colonel.

The RSM snatched it from the Virginian’s hand, quickly handing it to his commanding officer. He promptly read it.

“RSM,” the Colonel said with sad eyes. “Pass me the radio.”

* * *

“Understood Bigwig,” answered Thomas despite his mind thinking anything but as he turned towards the team. “Looks like we on our own,” he said. Nobody said a word. They didn’t have to.

“It’s the back-up plan then,” said Taff Jones. Grimly, Thomas nodded.

“Well at least I don’t have to listen to the fucking RSM talking about tablecloths!” Taff offered in the way of humor.

Split into two teams of four and as had been pre-agreed in their pre-mission briefing if they couldn’t EXFIL. One team led by Taff Jones set off for Saudi Arabia, whilst the other led by Thomas headed for the Syrian border and their secondary pick up point that was about twenty-five miles away from the border, a distance that was at least hundred and twenty miles away from where they were now.

As freezing wind and driving sleet hit their faces, Thomas and his team watched Taff and rest of boys disappear into the night. He had no idea that it would be the last time he ever saw them again.

Forty miles into the trek, as they took a break in the first of the four LUP they had planned to take on water, Thomas and the men had their first contact since they destroyed the missile.

The hand signal of Mickey Ward, a thin and willowy Trooper from Essex, about eight hundred yards in front on point alerted them to the danger.

In the open and with limited cover all knew their options were few. Thomas focused in eyes in front of him. It was an Armored Personnel Carrier and an infantry truck that had spotted them.

He didn’t hesitate and neither did the rest of the three-man team, despite the Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) calling for a soldier to run away from Armor as fast as possible.

Mickey Ward fired the first shot, taking out the man on the top of the Armored Personnel Carrier with the 7.62mm machine gun.

Following the Trooper’s lead, Thomas let off a volley of anti-armor grenades, advancing quickly towards the enemy and Mickey’s position while Stevie provided cover fire with his FN Mimi 5.62mm machine gun in the direction of the truck.

The sounds of screaming Iraqis being hit by the rounds of ammunition rippled across the ground towards them as he closed the gap.

On reaching a position just to the left of Mickey in a matter of seconds, Thomas stopped and knelt on one knee continuing to let off more rounds towards the direction of the troops exiting from the armored personnel carrier. More screams erupted from the Iraqis.

As Thomas began to focus his gaze towards the threat of the truck, his peripheral vision took in the sight of Mickey being hit.

Traveling at speeds exceeding 3,200 feet per second and despite a soldier’s training, he may or may not see a bullet coming. In the end that is pretty much irrelevant, as you’re certainly not going to have time to respond to it.

That was why Ward didn’t duck, yell, or indicate to Thomas he had been hit.

Instead, Thomas relied on the blood spatter with Mickey’s hair, skin, and muscle hitting his face, followed by the acrid smell of powder burning flesh assailing his nostrils to tell him that the Trooper had been hit.

The Iraqi who released the round into Mickey also didn’t have time to respond. The 5.62mm rounds of his and Stevie Wiltshire’s machine guns tore him to pieces.

Seconds after that, Thomas gave the order to cease-fire with a hand pump signal from Thomas.

The early morning wind brought the sound of whimpering soldiers to be added to the smell of burning flesh that filled the air around him.

“Take his tag,” he ordered Stevie without emotion, referring to the bracelet with his name, rank, and serial number on it. The time for mourning would be at the Trooper’s memorial service at Hereford if they made it. Without saying a word, the Trooper did just that.

Stevie and the other remaining Trooper, who also doubled as the team’s Medic, Tony Patterson, calmly made sure there were no survivors in the burning truck and Armored Personnel Carrier. Taking out his binoculars, Thomas focused his gaze on the horizon, ignoring the screams in Arabic of the wounded Iraqis as he did so.

He knew what his men were doing was a war crime. Article 12 of the Geneva Convention states “Wounded and sick soldiers who are out of the battle should be humanely treated, and in particular should not be killed, injured, tortured, or subjected to biological experimentation.” Thomas didn’t care. Those Iraqis made their choice, and in any case they couldn’t very well take prisoners with them.

Instead, the young Captain chose to focus his mind on the billowing black smoke being emitted from the destroyed equipment. He knew the “contact” (the term used to describe a military engagement) would be most likely seen for miles. The direct consequence therefore would be most likely more troops on top of them within a matter of minutes rather than hours. This meant they would have to move out quickly to at least have half a chance of escaping, something they couldn’t do with 200-pound Bergen rucksacks they were carrying on their backs. This meant Thomas and the lads would have to ditch their warm weather clothing, food, and heavy weapons and just keep the water and ammunition for their remaining weapons. In his case, the M72 and an AK-47, a Russian weapon, but one Thomas had chosen as his own personal weapon of choice because it was the weapon most used by the Iraqi army as it didn’t require a lot of tender loving care and rarely jammed. In addition, since he had spent most his time since August pretending to be a tribesman since the invasion and as there were hundred million AK-47s worldwide, he reasoned that if he was ever in a contact he should be able to use ammunition of the dead or buy some from any Bedouin as needed.

At the time, the boys of the regiment had made jokes at his expense nicknaming him “Lawrence.” He doubted they would be now if they were here.

Knowing that they couldn’t engage with another bout of armored weaponry, Thomas took the decision to ditch his M72 anti-tank weapon. Weight was king in a fight for survival.

The wall of sand rolling in from the direction of Saudi Arabian border in the south brought him a sense of relief.

“What’s the plan?” asked Stevie handing him a collection of magazines full of ammo so as to save Thomas the time of picking the bodies of the dead Iraqis for resupplies.

Thomas nodded towards the wall of sand. “That might just be our friend, lads,” he said.

Stevie and Tony looked at each other and then nodded at the suggestion, fully understanding what Thomas meant.

“We will need to ditch our kits though,” offered Thomas. With temperatures of minus ten degrees Centigrade at night, it was, although nobody mentioned it, a prospect that terrified them more than another contact with the Iraqis.

“And we will need to make another fifty miles over the next twenty-four hours, lads, in order to make the back-up drop in,” he added, driving his knife home even more.

“But it’s your choice,” stated Thomas, referring to the one rule of the SAS being that, in the field, all Troopers were entitled to have their say regardless of rank.

Both men looked at the body of Mickey. Neither said anything for a moment.

“Drop the kit,” was Tony’s response.

“I thought fucking selection was hard,” answered Stevie before walking off in the direction of Mickey to say a silent pray for his fallen comrade and say his goodbyes. Thirty minutes later, the sand arrived and engulfed them. The three remaining members of Charlie One Zero set off in the direction of Syria.

During the next day, using the storm initially as a cover, they completed the fifty-mile target they had set for themselves, due partly to the steady pace set by Stevie and because they only took two stops for water. Yet it didn’t take a genius for the three men to realize that with only a couple of bottles of water on each of them, they were burning too much body fat in the cold by maintaining this pace.

Their training told them that losing five percent of body fat in a short amount of time and not replacing it causes the body to seize up as a consequence; the three of them knew the next five hours would be crucial.

As it was Thomas’s turn to set the pace he took the lead. Half way to the second LUP, he stopped and turned, only to find nobody was with him. That in it’s self wasn’t unusual; groups on a romp often separated.

Despite knowing he was exhausted, he focused on his training. Again following the SOP of the Regiment, Thomas pulled out his personal tactical beacon (or TACBE) as the device is known) so he could alert any planes or helicopters that might be overhead or nearby to his position. Designed primarily as a distress signal, it could also be used as a short-range communications device to nearby aircraft by indicating that someone is in danger and needs help. Five minutes later, having not received any response, he turned off the beacon and waited for his team to turn up. Half an hour later, he was fighting off the urge to sleep, knowing if he did he would most likely die from hypothermia, when they still hadn’t turned up after an hour it started to dawn on Thomas that he was on his own. A Trooper’s training tells to focus on the goal. Use your willpower to drive you on. That, unfortunately, though doesn’t stop you from second guessing yourself.

Thomas’s tired and troubled mind tried to focus. He checked his water can. His lips were cracked and sore. He could feel all the joints in his body and fingers becoming numb. That was a bad sign.

“Half a can,” he muttered as he fought the urge to sip it all, and questioned whether he should try to find his missing colleagues.

Suddenly the face of his dead mother appeared in front of him. He knew his mind was beginning to play tricks. He shook his head in an attempt to break free. He felt his muscles began to cramp up. He knew what that meant. His body was shutting down to reabsorb fluid from his blood and his other body tissues. He was about to go into shock. That meant he had to rehydrate. Yet before he could, the delirium arrived.

“Move darling,” she said.

“I need to wait Mummy,” he said to her out loud as though he was eight and heading off to boarding school.

Then the face of his hated father appeared in front of him.

“Fuck off!” he said as the wind continued to whistle around him. He shook his head to break free. He tried to focus on the waterproof map that he had pulled from the inside of his combat jacket, forgetting in the process about the urgent need to take on more water to stop the delirium playing havoc with his mind.

Then it was the turn of the mythical face of the legend Homer that he had used in his Thesis at Oxford to appear before him.

“Thomas, you must live,” the Greek ordered.

“Do not shrink from it. Have inner strength. Your Kelos will be won later through your great deeds,” the voice whistled, referring to the Greek word meaning “What others hear about you” through accomplishing great deeds, often through death.

“It is not Hades’ time to welcome you yet!” the voice instructed, referring to the Greek god of the underworld. “For the Gods have other plans for you. Your Odyssey is only beginning,”

Thomas’s entire world went black.

* * *

The word “Bedouin” is derived from a plural form of the Arabic word Badawi, and literally translates as “nomad” or “wanderer.”

Amongst the Bedouin, there are as many as one hundred and fifty tribes in Iraq. One such Clan is The Dulaym. Today many prominent Iraqis carry the last name “Dulaym,” because it signaled to the other Clans of the country and the area that they belong to the tribal confederation. Since 1968, the Clan had been allied with Saddam Hussein. They supported him throughout his war with Iran with manpower and ruthlessly opposed anyone that had tried to dispose of him. As a consequence, members of their clan held important positions within government, mostly in and around the western province of al-Anbar. Yet that link was severed forever when Saddam, by way of the arrest and removal of individuals that held close ties to Saudi Arabia via family connections, chose to break that bond.

One such man was Hassan Karim Dulaym, a senior chieftain in Albuminr. Charismatic and popular, the former Special Forces commander who had made his reputation during 1984 when he had led a helicopter assault on Iranian troops that were atop a mountain in Kurdistan.

It was because of this popularity Saddam, fearing him to be a rival for the Presidency had tried to have him arrested as soon as Iraq invaded Kuwait. In response, Hassan along with his sons somewhat foolhardily, instead of escaping and leading an opposition, had tried to orchestrate a failed coup attempt against Saddam utilizing former members of his unit that the dictator had disbanded.

“Drink! My dear,” came the voice filtering through the blackness.

Immediately Thomas’s mind switched back on. His eyes tried to open.

The first thing that struck Thomas was his body was covered in wet clothes. He knew instantly this meant he had been captured and the captors were now talking to him as they tried to return moisture back to his body.

“Drink!” came the voice again.

This time Thomas opened his eyes as the firm hand lifted his head and forced the liquid onto his dried lips. His eyes focused. The face of a man of about sixty with a salt and pepper beard with dark eyes and Bedouin smock was staring back at him. Thomas’s eyes moved to left and right quickly. He tried to move his body but because he was still weak, he couldn’t. A searing headache attacked his brain. Then as he swallowed the water, he felt the urge to vomit.

“Slowly,” the man ordered this time.

Thomas’s mind, if not body, was fully alert and answered in Arabic, “Thank you.”

“You are welcome my dear,” came a voice in fluent English.

“I do not understand?” replied Thomas in Arabic, in an attempt to convince his captor that he was local tribesman.

The face smiled.

“You are a British Solider. Although I must say your Arabic is most excellent, my dear. Now rest,” the man ordered. Being still too weak to fight, Thomas obeyed.

Two hours later, Thomas awoke again. His head was still throbbing. But he was alert.

This time it was the face of a boy of about fourteen with the same eyes of the man who greeted him earlier.

Wearily, Thomas lifted his body. He took in his surroundings. It appeared as though he was in a tent.

“Baba,” cried the boy. Immediately the entrance to the tent opened.

“Good afternoon, my dear,” said the man using the Arabic term of endearment. Thomas eyed him with suspicion. His instincts told him he wasn’t a solider but more likely a tribesman of the area allied to Hussein.

“I am Brigadier-General Hassan Karim Dulaym,” he said offering his hand in friendship. “And like you, I am no friend of Hussein,” he said with narrowed eyes.

* * *

“Kismet is a funny thing my dear,” said Hassan to Thomas, referring to the term that means that events are as ordered or “inevitable” and unavoidable as the three of them made their way to the border and the emergency pick up point.

“Just a year ago I would have handed you over to Saddam without a second thought,” he said before explaining why he too was on the run from the IIS and how he had lost his two oldest sons a Major and a Captain, in an attempt to overthrow Saddam just two months previously. After being betrayed by one of his own men he was now trying to save the life of his youngest son, the same boy who that had stumbled across the near lifeless body of Thomas.

“But today our journey finds us on the same path,” he said. “So who am I to refuse the Qadar!” he said, referring to the decree of Allah.

“Hassan,” replied Thomas, making the effort to bond with the man. “Classical and European mythology features Kismet as three goddesses dispensing a fate, known as Moirai in Greek mythology,” he said in Arabic. “They determine the events of the world through the mystic spinning of threads that represent individual human fates.” He continued as the two men watched Saleem walk in front of them so he could act as their spotter.

The man looked at Thomas for a second.

“So that was the language you were speaking in your torment,” he said as he smiled.

In the three days since the General and his son had found him close to death through a mixture of hypothermia and, and while he recovered well enough to make the journey, both men had learnt a lot about each other.

Hassan had even ventured to suggest that he would be a suitable alternative to Saddam and that the United States should support him in his Jihad, despite Thomas trying to tell the General that he doubted the Americans would take him seriously. He had insisted that at he had at least tried.

“Consider it the price of my Dakhala,” said Hassan referring to the law of protection that the tribes of Iraq practiced. That translated meant “Once a person passes the pegs that hold the tent ropes taut, then that person is entitled to the protection of the owner of the tent.”

During this time Thomas had also come to terms with the knowledge that Stevie and Tony had to be dead, a conclusion he reached when the General had told him he had heard on his shortwave radio he was carrying that a patrol had come across the dead bodies of two soldiers, not more than twenty-five miles from where he had been found. Although he had been saddened by the news at the time, he didn’t dwell on it the time for mourning would come later once he made it back to Hereford.

Instead, he focused his thoughts on the CIA man the colonel had told him over the radio that had refused his request to lift him and his team out. Whatever happened, swore Thomas silently, the day would come when he would find and pay that man back in full. “His honor code demanded it!”

Suddenly the movement of Saleem into a crouching position quickly had both men alert and focused on what lay ahead of them instead of their discussion.

At a trot both made their way to the boy. Once reaching him they joined him in kneeling down in the thick grassland so to hide their position. Then they removed their binoculars.

“Looks like we have squatters on our family well,” replied the General in Arabic as both men focused on what looked a troop detail guarding the water well. The last place they planned to stop before the last twenty-five miles to the extraction point.

“They know this is one of my family’s wells,” said the General in disgust. “So I fear, my dear, they are looking for me and not you,” he continued.

“Maybe we can use that to our advantage?” offered Thomas, referring to the fact that he didn’t think Hassan would have a highly trained soldier with him.

The General looked at him for a moment. “What is your idea?”

“There are five of them.”

“What do you suggest?” he asked.

* * *

As the first rays of morning light illuminated, Hassan and Thomas moved covertly towards the two sleeping men guarding the tent that contained three remaining guards, while Saleem remained under cover in the thick brush.

In readiness, both men pulled their knives from their belts. In Thomas’s case, his weapon of choice was the fearsome gift he had once received from the men of his platoon known by the Gurkhas as a Khurki.

When the General had asked him why he carried such an unusual weapon earlier, Thomas had responded with the Ghurkha’s motto, “Better to die than live a coward,” and the circumstances behind the gift.

The General with acknowledgement of respect had replied, “I have heard of these fearsome warriors. This explains why the desert didn’t take you.” He had handed it back to him with a smile.

Creeping towards the two sleeping guards, Thomas could smell the breath of his sleeping target, he was that close.

The plan of using their knives to kill the two guards was a last resort and not without risk. Without the luxury of silencers on their weapons, they had to be sure at the very least that they could kill the two guards before the others realized. If they used their weapons then there was a good chance the remaining three would be able to escape and out gun them. Thomas was still weak. So physically he was in no shape for long drawn out gunfight. Unfortunately before Thomas could kill the guard, disaster struck. The guard that Hassan was about to kill stirred, mayhem arrived in full force.

“Ali!” The guard shouted just as Hassan was in the process of trying to slice his vocal cords from behind.

Knife combat is one of the most terrifying and primal ways to kill. The rules are simple. Expect to get cut, time is of the essence, and finally, the most important imperative, “Survival is everything.” Don’t hesitate. Lose control of those three rules and you are dead.

Although Thomas had been trained for it, nothing prepares you for the look of a man’s eyes in that situation. Resting his weight on the balls of his feet, Thomas slightly bent his front knee and made sure his elbows were in at the sides, his left hand was up for protection and leading, so to support his cutting hand by controlling the enemy’s weapon. In this case, the young Iraqi’s AK-47.

The young guard suddenly awake and alert to the screams of his fellow guards panicked as he tried to gather his bearings. He tried to pull the trigger to kill Thomas but hadn’t realized he still had his safety on. As he scrambled to find the catch on the weapon, the last thing he saw was Thomas’s Khurki taking his head off all in one movement.

Turning towards Hassan, Thomas dropped the Khurki, then pulled and removed the pin on the M67 grenade containing 6.5 ounces of composition B explosive from his jacket and lobbed the device into the tent just as one of the men attempted to exit it quickly to help the two soldiers outside. Designed to explode just four seconds after release and kill anything within five meters, Thomas threw the device underarm into the tent knowing that the explosive force of the weapon could disburse steel fragments fifteen yards from the center of the explosion.

Aware that Hassan and he were inside that radius, Thomas shouted, “Grenade!” Just as he ducked for cover, a loud and savage bang followed a wall of heat and wind ripped through the air. Hassan and the guard he was fighting with were both thrown into the air while the two remaining guards in the tent and the one who had been trying to exit it were torn to pieces by the blast and wall of flames.

“Hassan!” cried Thomas fearing the worst as he got up and made his way to his new friend who was now lying on the ground on the top of the soldier he had killed just as the blast erupted.

Reaching him within seconds, Thomas ignored the screams of the wounded Iraqi soldier who had exited the tent.

“Hassan,” Thomas whispered knowing that instantly his friend was wounded badly.

“Baba!” came the repeated cry of Saleem running from the high brush outside the camp.

The General looked up at Thomas as he checked him over.

“Fuck!” Thomas said. A piece of fragment was lodged deeply into his gut, and blood was pouring out at an alarming rate. Thomas knew instantly there was no way he could make the twenty-five miles to the extraction point.

“I know it’s bad, Thomas,” whispered the old solider, seeing the guilt on Thomas’s face.

He murmured weakly, “It was the only way, my dear.”

“Do not blame yourself,” he ordered taking Thomas’s arm. “It is my Qadar,” he smiled in an attempt to soothe. “Take Saleem and deliver him to his mother in Syria,” he ordered Thomas just as Saleem arrived at their sides.

“No, Baba,” replied Saleem with tears in his eyes. “I want to stay with you,” cried the son as he cradled his father’s head in his arms.

“Your mother and sisters need you,” said Hassan weakly. “You’re the head of our family now,” he said with fatalistic understanding of his future.

Thomas looked at Saleem then Hassan.

“From this day forward, I promise you that your family is my responsibility,” Thomas said.

* * *

When Thomas arrived and stepped on to the back of the Chinook just ten days after the still secret mission, he looked like a modern version of T. E. Lawrence with the smock of an Arabian Sheikh of from the nineteenth century around his head and full beard and child at his side.

Legend goes within Hereford that Thomas had replied somewhat flippantly to the RSM who had picked him up had asked how he had managed to walk out of the desert accompanied by a boy of no more than fourteen at his side and to survive, had killed over a hundred Iraqis along the way.

“Train Hard, Fight easy.” Yet that wasn’t what that the old timers of regiment still to this day talk about long after the young officer had Returned to Unit (RTU) and left the Army. Nor did they talk about the Military Cross he had been awarded when they described his escape to new recruits after their selection. That honor instead always belonged to the look Thomas had on his face when he walked into the Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Saudi, asking to see the Colonel.

“So what was it like?” Troopers would often ask.

“He had the eyes of the fucking devil,” came the reply of the NCOs with just a hint of admiration.

1

London

It was not a typical spring morning as residents and visitors of central London alike scurried through Mayfair’s famous Berkeley Square trying hard to avoid the icy spring rain that lashed at them.

At the window of one of the many townhouses located around the Square that act as private offices for wealthy men and women of the world using the London as a base, stood a distinguished man of forty-eight and lost in thought.

Sir Thomas Litchfield, or simply “Tommy,” to his friends or lovers was dressed in an expensively tailored double-breasted cashmere and silk suit, cut in a Prince of Wales style. He stood 6’2” in height, had a mop of black hair with flecks of white scattered through it, a pair of deeply set eyes that could look as if they could penetrate one’s soul, a strong clean-shaven jaw and muscular physique.

The digital phone on top of the antique walnut writing desk buzzed and interrupted his thoughts and brought him back to the world.

Leaving the window, the proud looking man took a short walk to the high desk in the center of the room and pressed the speakerphone option on it.

“Sir Thomas, I have Miss. Gurbanammedowova on line, shall I put her through?” asked the crisp upper class English voice of his personal assistant.

He answered with polite affirmative.

“Nara,” he said letting the recipient know they were connected.

The lady in question, or to be more precise “Gunara,” to quote the world’s newspapers and gossip magazines when the woman was often followed and photographed by them, was his thirty six years old Muslim Turkman, his companion and mother to his twelve year-old daughter, Victoria Emilia Litchfield.

Nara; blessed with a full naturally athletic, exotically bronzed body, stood 5’10” tall, with an angular, oval shaped face with high naturally puffed up cheeks, thinly plucked eyebrows over a set of deeply dark brown eyes surrounded by long black eyelashes, a pair of luscious lips, and a mane of incredibly long straight coal black hair; was considered to be amongst of the most beautiful women in the world.

“Hello, my darling. You wanted me?” Nara asked in her English Russian accent that Thomas had always found rather sexy.

Never one for small talk on telephones except when talking to their daughter, as time was money, he got straight to the point.

“Yes, I need you to fly down to Nice tomorrow and prepare yacht for the weekend,” he ordered.

“Of course, my Thomas,” Nara responded in return without hesitation, using the word “my” in front of his name as a kind of respect to his position when given a task.

A natural linguist fluent in Russian and Arabic and a passable knowledge of Turkman, Mandarin, and Japanese, and who had read Russian and Classics at Oxford before joining the Army. Thomas’s education had provided him with the unique understanding of the endocentric constructions of languages, so he knew the use of “my” was Nara’s way of indicating to him the hold he held over and in her life. He had never bothered to try and correct her English despite the many years they had been together.

In the early part of his adult life, this education had been one of the reasons how he had ended up in the Special Air Service (SAS) as part of the Mobility Troop Squadron. When he left the Army in 1991 after the First Gulf War it had also enabled him to build his Empire in the ashes of Yeltsin’s Russia.

“Excellent, Louise will send over the details and requirements to you.”

“Of course, my Thomas,” again she repeated firmly, wanting to please him.

The call out of the way, Thomas sat down behind his desk and went back to reading the contract notes from the lawyers he had been mulling over at the window.

* * *

On the street corner was an alert man dressed in a single-breasted dark blue suit, which gave the impression of someone that shouldn’t be “messed with”, watching for possible threats.

At his side, stood a beautiful woman who in contrast to that of her bodyguard who looked anything but that of a woman that shopped in a local Marks and Spencer for her wardrobe. Her mane of long hair was pulled back, a tight black silk tight top showed off her full ample cleavage, and a pair of black skinny jeans wrapped around her legs as though they were part of her. Wearing a pair of black simple Ballerina shoes on her feet all under her couture half Sable Fur by the famous Marc Kaufmann, the personal designer of choice of the wealthy Russian émigré women that lived in ‘Londongrad’, was Nara Gurbanammedowova.

The Blackberry’s “hum and buzz” indicated to her that an email had been received at the same time as her call with Thomas ended. Focusing her mind, she clicked open the email.

Skimming it, the beautiful woman quickly decided to stop her mission to “shop before she dropped” in order to allow her to return home to prepare herself for tonight’s dinner with one of his business associates.

After all, she only had three hours to ensure she looked the part for the evening.

“Mason, I would like to go home,” Nara ordered.

Immediately the bodyguard sprang into action. He touched his earpiece and spoke a few words. Seconds later, a black Vogue Armored Super-charged Range Rover pulled up alongside them.

Opening the door to the private section of the two-ton luxury four-wheel vehicle and still fully alert to any threats, Mason allowed his charge enter the vehicle.

He then closed the door behind her, took one last look around to make sure there were no threats on the horizon and then climbed into the front seat.

“Let’s go!” he said to the driver at once, disappointing the on-looking shop assistant of the boutique Nara had been about to enter before her call. Such was her reputation for being able to spend.

As they sped off, Nara reflected on the abruptness of the conservation she had just had with Thomas. She nibbled her bottom lip as the Range Rover began to weave its way through the traffic.

“Is he losing interest in me?” she pondered. A deeply complex man, honorable, hard, yet fair unless crossed or dishonored collectively, something he once described to her as the “Homeric” code of honor, loyalty, and revenge. Yet to her it sounded more like the tribal laws of her Turkmenistan unknowingly due to her limited knowledge of the Classics that those laws had actually come from Alexander the Great, a follower of Homer and the conqueror of Turkmenistan thousands of years ago. She loved him passionately.

Compassionate, intelligent, powerful even humorous, something again Nara had observed over the years they had been together, that he often used as a defense mechanism whenever he was deflecting difficult questions. Although still passionate in their lovemaking, it was only on rare occasions he reciprocated and told her he loved her these days. This in spite of her losing count of the number of times she told him that he was the only man she ever loved. No small thing as she had been a man-hater up to the moment he entered and took possession of her life.

For his all idiosyncrasies, one thing she loved most about him completely, unlike her own father, was Thomas’s parenting abilities.

He had even allowed her to register Victoria, his only heir, as a Muslim and always backed her in matters relating to their daughter.

“Well at least until recently!” she thought nibbling her lip nervously, again thinking back to their recent horrible argument over their baby, as she thought of her current insecurities over her future role in his life.

Twenty minutes later, after her protection team had confirmed that it was safe for her exit, the beautiful woman stepped out from the four-wheel drive and made her way up the path towards the large mansion. Yet before she could even reach the door of the house, a man opened it to greet her.

Anybody meeting Stephen Pritchard would assume he represented a classic literary image of the quintessential British Butler with his manners and demeanor.

He was a tall man of 5’11”, single never married, and obsessive in regard to standards relating to dignity. Physically, he would be best described as thin, willowy, and long. He had grey hair and a pair of blue eyes hidden under his simple silver rimmed glasses, and something the beautiful woman whom he had open the door for had never seen him out of in all the years she had known him; his classic butler’s uniform of black long coat, white shirt with butlers tie, and morning suit trousers all finished off with a pair of extra black polished Northampton soled shoes.

He was sixty years old, but Nara had never checked nor had she even wished him ‘happy birthday’ during the twelve years he had served her.

The mansion had once belonged to the late mother of Thomas that meant Pritchard’s loyalty towards that of the Litchfield family was total, having served them and her love since he was fourteen. Unfortunately, this had also meant the man was by definition “untouchable,” despite her many attempts to get rid of him over the years.

“Good Afternoon, Lady Gunara,” Pritchard said without smiling, using the term that he only used when Thomas wasn’t in the house. For when her love was in the residence it was, “Miss Gunara.”

To Nara this insult was taken by her as Geci’s way of sending the message that she was only his Mistress for short periods, and thereby here at the grace and favor of Thomas and Victoria, who he always referred to as either “Sir Thomas” or “Lady Victoria” or “My little Lady.”

Affection was something Stephen certainly never shown towards her in any shape or form in all the years Nara had known him. Today was no different.

Where this mutual distrust and resentment had come from had its roots in an event seven years ago, when the old “Geçi” meaning “Goat” in Turkman, as Nara always thought of him, had complained to Thomas about her conduct over the disciplining of a member of the household staff.

The shame and embarrassment the exotic woman felt from that moment still burned deeply within her and as a consequence would never leave her. As far as far as the butler was concerned the incident had showed him well and truly where the “little cow,” as he thought of her, stood within the pecking order of the house.

Although the butler had never quite comprehended exactly what Thomas saw in this uneducated, fiery, and impolite Russian woman from central Asia, despite her physical attributes, his feelings towards their daughter were a completely different matter. In the little girl’s case, she could do no wrong. He absolutely adored her. She was the grandchild that Stephen had never had.

2

Holland Park, 2007

With a heavy heart because Stephen felt he had been left with little choice but to resign his position, which was why the butler found himself opposite Sir Thomas in the study of the house explaining what his “Woman” had done to the young and inexperienced member of his staff.

Twenty minutes later, having finished his explanation and despite being red-faced Stephen waited for his Master’s response. He didn’t have to wait long. It was instant and without hesitation.

“Stephen please pay the girl £30,000 on the condition she signs a binding Private and Confidentiality Agreement, and please make sure we give her an excellent introduction and reference,” Thomas ordered his face impassive as he came straight to the point.

The statement caught the old butler off guard because Thomas had used his Christian name. That was something done he hadn’t since he was young boy. Gathering his thoughts, Stephen offered first a singular nod as to his acceptance of the task. He then answered. “A very generous offer, Sir Thomas. I am sure young Jackie will accept.” as he believed it was an extremely fair offer for it was equivalent to two years’ salary for the girl.

“So there will be no need for your resignation?” queried Thomas, hoping he had put an end to the matter.

The man was the only real link he had left to his mother, as he had chosen to cut all ties with his father and didn’t want to lose Pritchard over the incredibly stupid actions of Nara.

“No, Sir Thomas, my mind is made up! I cannot work for such a person who has no respect for the people who are only trying to make her life easier! Physically attacking a poor young girl over an accident is just not acceptable in any society,” Stephen answered sticking to his guns resolutely.

“He’s right of course, Nara is thoroughly out of bloody order and has acted no better than the bloody animal that once owned her life!” Thomas reasoned inwardly. “Well I am certainly putting a stop to that! Right now!” He thought with conviction. “Maybe that will work” he concluded, his mind made up as to his next course of action.

“Stephen would you mind waiting for one moment please?” he asked trying hard not to show his anger.

“Of course, Sir Thomas,” answered the butler as his master got up and left the room.

Less than a minute later, he returned with a sweat-covered Nara in tow from the private gym in the house. Looking up at her, Stephen immediately felt uncomfortable.

“Does he really believe an apology from the little tart is going to work,” Stephen angrily thought with distain and disappointment showing on his face. He had expected more from Thomas.

“Nara, did you hit Jackie?” Thomas asked, ignoring the disapproving look from his long-standing butler.

“Yes, my Thomas, I did!” Nara answered without remorse and with fire in her eyes.

“Why?” Thomas queried.

“Because the little ‘gullukçy’ spilt boiling tea over me in front of my friends, so she needed to be taught a lesson!” Nara answered, using the Turkman word for servant disparagingly.

Suddenly without warning, all in one movement Thomas smacked Nara across her face with a stinging slap.

“HOW DARE YOU, THIS IS NOT FUCKING TURKMENISTAN!” Thomas shouted loudly towards Nara. “WE DO NOT ACT LIKE THE DICTATORS OF YOUR COUNTRY AND HIT OUR STAFF LIKE ANIMALS! IN DOING SO YOU HAVE NOW EMBARRASSED ME AND MY NAME WITH PRITCHARD, FOR THAT YOU WILL BE PUNISHED”

“N-O, N-O P-L-E-A-S-E M-Y THOMAS” “P-L-E-A-S-E,” Nara screamed with terror as it suddenly dawned on her that Thomas was about to beat her.

Unknown to the Butler watching them, she had not experienced a beating since Turkmenistan at the hands of her pimp. “NOT IN FRONT OF PRITCHARD. PLEASE I BEG-”

The fury in Thomas’s eyes burned her like a hot iron.

“Sir Thomas! PLEASE!” Pritchard had pleaded with perspiration starting to form on his head from a raised heartbeat. The dark look from Thomas as he turned his head sent shivers through Stephen, even more so than the one he had given his own father over his mother’s grave.

Suddenly as if realizing he had gone too far, Pritchard watched the devil in Thomas’s eyes disappear back into the depths of his soul.

“My god!” he thought, “He’s punished her for my benefit!” Unsure of what he should do next, he looked on in stunned silence that was until his master made the decision for him.

“Go to our room Nara,” Thomas ordered evenly as when punishing their daughter for being naughty.

Watching her quickly scurry out of the room, his master’s eyes now normal again, the room fell silent as though everything was now settled. Thomas focused his eyes on Stephen.

“I take it that has satisfied you as suitable punishment and your honor is restored?” Thomas asked breaking the uneasy silence between them. The butler nodded.

“Good, I am certain she won’t ever do it again! Oh and thank you Pritchard,” Thomas said.

Taking this as the signal to leave the difficult meeting, Stephen nodded once more, but this time chose not to say anything as he left the room for his resignation was no longer needed, his honor had been restored.

* * *

A distressed Nara ran through the house and up the stairs with tears streaming down her face. The “Gates of Hell” that had been held back until that moment in Nara’s mind unlocked and opened with a vengeance and in doing so with it came all the worst nightmares that she had long forgotten.

The image of her pimp from Turkmenistan, the man who had purchased her from her Papa as a thirteen-year-old, manifested in front of her and with it his evil laughter ring loudly in her ears. Endeavoring to escape from him, Nara fled into their bedroom.

Nowhere else to run, having hit the wall, she turned and collapsed to the floor. She began rocking herself with her arms clutched in front of her legs that were pushed up into her chest, sobbing loudly.

Thirty minutes later, a distraught and now an extremely guilty Thomas came up the stairs to their bedroom to find her. Entering the room he immediately found her in a semi-comatose state, rocking herself back and forth and staring into the floor.

“Oh my God! What have I done?” he thought in horror as he rushed to her.

He sat down at her side and gently pulled her under his shoulder. She flinched at his touch. He went to kiss her head but she pulled away without saying anything.

It was half an hour before the intimacy of them locked together finally appeared to work its magic. Nara looked at up him weakly. She attempted to offer him a smile.

Taking it as his cue to make amends, in response Thomas kissed her hair.

“I am sorry, my Thomas,” she said shaking, fearing he might slap her again.

“Shh,” murmured Thomas before releasing her. Then without a word he stood and offered his damp hand for her to take.

“Nara,” he said simply, his foolish pride stopping him from apologizing to her for his loss of his temper despite her unacceptable actions with regard to Jackie.

Nervously, Nara looked at him for a second. Despite fearing another assault she, with a touch of hesitation, took his outstretched hand.

Pulling her up and into his arm, it suddenly dawned on him by the way she was shaking that she still was terrified of him.

“God!” he thought guiltily. “What have I done?”

Trying to make amends. He leaned down then kissed her on the lips. She flinched again at his touch.

“I won’t hurt you my love,” he whispered.

It was only when he picked her up in his arms in one movement that Nara started to realize that he was no longer angry with her.

Nevertheless, still gripped by fear she carefully placed her arms around his neck while he carried into the bedroom.

In effort to please him, just had she once done with Oleg all those years ago, she kissed him on his lips.

“I am sorry my love,” she repeated again, earning another. “Shhh,” in return from Thomas.

“I am the one at fault,” he stated.

“I should know better!” he admonished himself.

Reaching the bed, Thomas gently placed Nara on it, stroked her face again and lightly as a feather brushed her long hair away to the sides while never losing eye contact with her.

“Tell me my darling. What was it?” Thomas had guessed that his raising of his hand and slapping her had released something terrible from her past in Turkmenistan.

She nodded, wiping her face with her arm while releasing a little sniffle. Wanting to please him so his terrible beast would not return Nara looked up him once more then started to tell him what had happened to her the afternoon Allah had sent him to save her.

By the time she finished, with tears in his eyes, he swore he would never raise his hand again.

3

Ashgabat, 1998

In 1998 Ashgabat the capital of Turkmenistan, unlike the semi-modern self-gloried city it is today, then could only be described as a typical city of the former Soviet Union with it rows upon rows of low-rise soviet style buildings and a population of approximately one million souls.

Led by Saparmurat Niyazov, an old style communist and his bunch of cronies, the country was a very necessary, if somewhat corrupt, supplier of natural gas to the world.

One such crony of the President was Oleg Mälikgulyýewiç Rejejow. Hailing from Gipchak, the hometown of the President, through his mother’s side and the son of a former Turkman General in the Soviet Union, he came from the privileged set that had ruled through the Communist Party of Turkmenistan since the twenties.

A bright child who graduated as expected from Moscow University in the mid-1980s in Foreign Affairs, Oleg had then joined the KGB. Rising to the rank of Major, before returning home to Turkmenistan in the early 1990s because of the failure of the KGB led coup in Moscow.

Ambitious and determined to secure a job in the new government, he joined the local KGB. Spotted by Niyazov, who having started his purge of Russians in the State Intelligence Services wanted Turkmen in the senior officer positions to cement his power, the President had quickly promoted Oleg to the rank of Munbashi with a unique responsibility for International Relations.

In reality, that title was merely a cover to allow Oleg to put his talents into the setting up of money laundering operations in Turkey and Germany for US$3 billion the President had skimmed from the financial exploitation of the natural resources of his country, while allowing him at the same time to set up his drug smuggling and prostitution rings. This was something he did with great effect by the use of violence amongst the tribes and through killing and torturing at will those who didn’t fall into line and his use of the President’s name to expand his empire. As a direct result, he was considered one of the most powerful members of the President’s entourage.

Possessing a stocky build and a rounded face with closed puffy eyes that made him look as if he were a nasty, aggressive temple dog guarding its territory—It was a look that only reinforced his legend.

Although debt collection was considered an Onbashi task, Oleg somewhat perversely rather enjoyed it and as such he took great delight performing this chore himself.

On the night he had entered Nara’s life, he was planning to torture her father, but when the bloodied, desperate man had offered up his daughter as security for his debt by showing and giving him a blood stained photograph of her, the brutal enforcer had changed his mind and instead accepted the beautiful angelic looking child instead.

From that moment on Nara’s, who was just thirteen at the time, remaining childhood turned into a hellish nightmare that often returned to haunt her at night in the following years.

To survive, she quickly developed street smarts: teaching herself English by watching movies from America, learning to mask her emotions and keeping herself in shape by staying off the drugs, while throughout constantly telling Oleg she loved him when pleasuring him to ensure she remained one of his favorite concubines.

In order to survive this continuing torment over years, the pretty teenager created a private place in her mind where she would escape to, that place was “an ocean of tranquility—blue clear water under a cloudless sky” and had been so ever since her parents took her to the Caspian Sea when she was a child.

Although Nara had never seen a real ocean, as Oleg would never allow his favorite concubine to leave Turkmenistan, it had remained her dream to reach it. Today she hoped that it would finally come true by the repayment of her father’s debt so allowing her to escape to Dubai!

When Nara had told her mother of her plan to repay him the twenty thousand U.S. dollars of her father’s debt, the total sum she had managed to squirrel away from the tips of the men and women who used her body, her mother had insisted as per their tribal law that she should go with her as the family representative. She had reasoned that there would be a need for a witness as her father had drunk himself to death on cheap “jet-fuel” vodka over the guilt of what he forced his daughter into. Despite arguing heavily with her and against her better judgment, Nara had allowed her mother to come with her.

Arriving at his office next door to the newly built Sheraton Grand Hotel, neither Nara nor her mother had any idea of how the next forty-five minutes would mold, change, and shape their family’s destiny forever.

Walking into the office they were met at the door by his best man and enforcer who was wearing a cheap green suit, shirt, and white tie made by a Pakistani tailor from Lahore, a pair of cheap black shoes, and his pistol showing under his jacket. He smelled of the strong perfume that men from the Middle East often wore to mask their body odor known as Yuri Karajaýewiç Gorbunow.

A typical looking Turkman with a Chinese look to his face, dark thick hair with obsidian dead eyes, stocky in build, around 5’8” and had a body of 210 pounds of rock hard muscle. A veteran of Afghanistan, where as a member with the 105th Guard’s airborne division, he had earned a fearsome reputation as a sadistic, brutal killer who took enjoyment in celebrating his kills by removing the ears of the Mujahideen with his hunting knife. He had always desired Nara ever since Oleg had once, as a reward for a particular job well done, given him access to her young body.

The beautiful teenager felt her entire body shiver, a reaction she always felt when he looked upon her with his leering smile. Today this terror was even worse, for Nara could have sworn she saw him lick his lips the second he set eyes on her mama.

“The Boss will see you in five minutes; he is just finishing with an important client,” he stated as he continued to leer at her and her mother. Forcing her troubled mind to acknowledge him, Nara did so with a polite “thank you,” followed by a forced smile, her only weapon in an attempt to disarm him.

An attractive looking forty year-old woman, Tania, possessed looks that would be best be described as similar to that of her daughter. Her face had the same high naturally puffed up cheeks, extremely thinly plucked eyebrows, deep brown eyes with one or two laughter lines surrounded by dark eyelashes and her natural pout smile and luscious lips framed with long jet black hair gave an observer a direct link to Nara. Yet because she was 5’4” in height and had a naturally bronzed, fuller, curvy figure, something that was reinforced by her ample breasts and larger rounded bottom compared to that of her daughter who was six inches taller than her, she was considered curvy rather than statuesque.

A full-time secretary who worked for a bank as did many women in her country who worked to support their ethnic Russian husbands who had lost their jobs. She was a proud woman who had absolutely hated her husband for what he had done to their daughter through his weakness and had lost no sleep when he died from a heart attack, sadly, so different to the young Engineer of the Oil Refinery under the days of the Soviets that had married her. It was why, despite her fears, she had accompanied her daughter today.

To look conservative, Tania had insisted that they dress in a more formal way by wearing red and green long one piece dresses. Unfortunately as Nara grimly reflected by the look of Yuri, it certainly hadn’t worked.

In contrast to him, as they sat down to wait their turn, Nara noticed the man standing opposite them was a truly different sort of individual.

* * *

A tall, striking man with short military style blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and a solid muscular frame he was dressed in an expensively tailored simple, but elegant, dark blue suit, light blue shirt, and dark blue tie by a designer Nara immediately assumed was Italian. With his pistol nestling discreetly underneath his jacket and his feet shod in an expensive pair of dark tanned English style shoes; he looked the polar opposite in class and style to Yuri.

The man known as Mikhail Olegovich Pshenicnikov she would later find out, she realized was assessing her but then without saying a word, he put Nara quickly at ease by smiling at her and then respectively offered a nod towards her mother.

Having spotted Mikhail’s respectful actions, Yuri decided to mark his territory almost as was a dog cocking his leg by retorting, “You can’t afford her Mikhail!” while laughing at his own joke.

It was spiteful comment that immediately sent a shiver down Nara’s spine. She hated it when men treated her as a piece of meat, evermore so as it was in front of her mama.

Seeing that her daughter was biting her lip and knowing that she was worried and nervous, Tania put her hand across hers gently and patted it, almost to imply it didn’t matter in an effort to comfort her. The young lady smiled in response towards her mother but didn’t say anything. She also caught sight of the polite man shooting Yuri a look, dismissing him for the prick he was. It warmed her as he turned again towards them and repeated his respectful nod again.

Feeling better, Nara offered a smile of her own as a way of a thank you, thinking to herself as she did so that he looked Jewish.

“Whatever he is he is a gentleman!” Nara thought. “At very least a bodyguard to very powerful Oligarch who was meeting with Oleg!” she quickly summarized as she continued to smile back.

Her instinct had served her well for she was right on both accounts being Jewish then secondly being a bodyguard to a powerful man.

Born in Soviet Russia in 1964 to Jewish parents that were later allowed to emigrate, to Israel, the young Mikhail had joined the Israeli Army at eighteen where his talents as an excellent soldier were honed in the Shakbat and then in its Protective Security Department.

He had served six years and rose to the rank of Chief Sergeant before leaving and going on the reserve list as all Israeli’s did until they reach sixty-five.

Having just managed to survive a bad operation in Bosnia that involved the extraction of ethnic Jews who had been caught up in the war between the Muslims and Christians in 1992, Mikhail, like many other Russian émigrés around the same time, headed back to home to Russia to find work as a personal bodyguard for the new Jewish Oligarchs who were making their fortunes and wanting individuals with ‘special skills.’

That was where he had met his current boss who was doing business with the principal he was working for around the same time.

Recognizing Mikhail’s professionalism the man had contacted him and invited him for a drink, something at the time that had surprised him, as most the principals he found himself working for didn’t give him the time of day. Finding he liked the man, it hadn’t taken much for him to readily accept his offer to come and work with him and watch his back.

However it was a night three years ago, when they were under fire during an attempt on the man’s life by a Moldovan Mafiosi who was trying to force him to sell an asset in Moscow, that their loyalty to each other was sealed in blood.

That night had been a bloodbath. Upon leaving the upscale restaurant, they were suddenly hit by a team intent on killing the man and anybody who got in their way. Yet instead of panicking, as one would expect when one of the guards from Mikhail’s handpicked team was killed next to him taking a bullet for him, the man had instead picked up the bodyguard’s Glock pistol and fought alongside them.

Moving forward in a technique known “Offensive Movement Action” to close the gap on the kill zone, they had then proceeded to take out the assassination team in a matter of moments.

After Mikhail had been hit, the man had led the way and while the other men secured the area, he had professionally finished the assassins off with double taps to their heads each in turn before finally pausing over the badly wounded leader, lying on the floor with blood pouring out of him.

Seeing all of this take place as he lay badly wounded, Mikhail watched the man say something in Russian to the remaining live Mafioso before shooting him in the head without any emotion or hesitation.

“B-o-s-s what d-i-d y-o-u s-a-y to him?” Mikhail had asked as he laid on the verge of passing out having seen his principal in action and now knowing he was a professional like him.

“There won’t be a next time! Now let’s be getting you to the clinic, Old Chap” the man had said looking at him steely eyed with a grim smile.

Remaining by his side for he knew full well that with Mikhail being an ex-Russian and worse an Israeli, it was likely that he would have been the “fall guy” when the FSB turned up. He had taken care of everything, ensuring the FSB and Moscow Police buried Mikhail’s wounded presence in the process. A gesture, Mikhail later learned, had cost the man a quarter of a million U.S. dollars in bribes.

As for the Israeli family of the young man who died protecting him, Mikhail had later learned that he taken care of them as well by placing them under his protection and ensuring that his widow received million U.S. dollars per year until his three children reached eighteen. These two gestures alone ensured that Mikhail had never faced a problem in recruitment in the following years. To him and the men who protected him, he had truly Chesed, a unique word in Hebrew as it was a word that couldn’t be translated into English, but nonetheless to the Jews meant ‘loving-kindness,’ ‘mercy,’ ‘steadfast love,’ and sometimes ‘loyalty.’

Every member of his security team was treated as if they were family and each shared in the spoils as he made his fortune in the development of the new Russia.

When they flew back to London five weeks later whilst Mikhail was still recuperating from his wound, the entire team shared a bottle of ‘Blue Label’ to toast their fallen comrade’s life. It was at that moment as the head of his security team Mikhail had asked him where he had honed his skills as it was the topic of gossip amongst the men and the wives.

“Hereford,” the man had replied referring to the famous home of the SAS base that lies on the border of Wales.

Nothing more needed to be said amongst the men who guarded him. They knew what meant.

“Hashem yikom damo (We will avenge his blood)” the man had whispered in Hebrew.

Mikhail looked at him for a bit, puzzled.

“That’s what I said to the Moldovan,” the man clarified in answer to Mikhail’s question when he had been lying on the floor wounded.

Silence descended on the cabin. Then over the plane’s engines he said, “To Avram.”

Soon after, the Moldovan who had ordered the hit was found hanging by piano wire in his Moscow apartment by the local police.

It was news at the time and had made The Times of London as just another gangland murder in the Yeltsin-led Russia. To the men who guarded the man, it was a debt of honor that had been repaid in full and helped forge him a legend in Russia as a man not to be crossed.

Of course, the beautiful young street-smart childlike young teenager knew none of this, just that her instincts told her correctly Mikhail was a man of principle and a professional.

The room was silent for a few minutes until the doors to Oleg’s office opened.

Immediately Yuri stood to attention and sensing that somebody of great importance and power was coming out, so did Tania and Nara as well.

As Thomas Litchfield walked out, Nara could see she was right with her assumption. Dressed elegantly as the man she had assumed was his bodyguard and wearing what she again assumed was a very expensive tailored grey and yellow pinstriped suit with a Cornish cream shirt, light pink tie, and black English shoes, Nara immediately felt his presence and power as he stopped and took her in. Their eyes meeting for the first time, her heart jumped. She smiled at him.

Unbeknownst to the beautiful young woman, Thomas was also feeling something he had never felt before in life as his eyes met hers, but sensing they were Muslim women he chose not give his hand as to do so in their culture would be an offence. Instead, noting the older woman’s presence in the room, he politely greeted what he assumed was this stunning creature’s mother with a respectful smile, then winked towards the girl earning another shy smile in return.

“My god, what a woman!” Thomas thought as he left the office with Mikhail behind him not hearing what was said in his wake.

“If you’re lucky tonight you’ll feel his cock in you!” offered the Turkmen in Russian with acid in his voice. “In you go, Gunara, he is waiting,” he followed up this time in Turkmen as both women watched Thomas and Mikhail leave the building.

Forcing herself not to tell him to “go to hell,” her mother took her hand as they entered. It was not lost on Nara that her mother’s hand was trembling. She squeezed it.

Once inside they found Oleg sitting behind a long desk with ivory tusks for legs. He didn’t get up. Manners were something he never bothered with even at the best of times. Instead, both women stood waiting for permission to sit down.

Unaware that Oleg had only agreed to this meeting as he wanted to see where his most productive Jelep’s looks had come from, and because he already knew from the other girls of his harem what they were there for, he wanted to it make it as uncomfortable as possible for them. He made them stand.

Enjoying his moment of power to the full, Oleg continued to lustfully stare at them both, feeling his erection grow by the second in anticipation.

“My little pet’s mother doesn’t disappoint!” he thought with an evil intent.

Giving his signal to begin with the motion of his hand, Nara’s mother started in Turkmen instead of the more common Russian that was often used by the residents of the capital.

“Munbashi Rejejow, we are here to ask for your release of Gunara from our family’s debt,” the proud woman asked using Oleg’s military rank as a sign of respect.

Looking at them, his erection now fully extended, he asked how they intended to do this.

Quickly, Tania motioned her daughter to give him the Chanel bag containing the twenty thousand U.S. dollars.

As Nara went to do so he slammed his hand on the desk, catching the both of them by surprise.

Standing up, fire in his eyes, his erection bulged beneath his suit trousers something that was immediately noticed by both women. He rushed from around his desk, forcibly grabbing hold of Tania by the arm whilst Yuri restrained Nara by her arms, pulling them behind her back all in one movement.

“YOU FUCKING JELEP…. YOUR FUCKING DEBT ENDS WHEN I SAY SO!” Oleg venomously spat towards Nara whilst dragging her absolutely terrified mother by the arm screaming, until her poor mother was forced to stand behind the desk in front of her shaking daughter with the evil looking Oleg behind her.

“NOOOOOOO!” cried Nara as he pushed her mother down on the desk, knowing what was about to happen.

The begging, fear, tears, and whimpering of the women in contrast to his and Yuri’s evil laughter echoed around the room as Oleg proceeded to savagely rape the both of them in turn from behind.

Once finished, Oleg zipped up his trousers. He looked at the stripped half-naked mother and daughter for a second. Power flowed through him as his eyes enjoyed the sight of them cowering in the corner of the office.

“Make sure this fucking Jelep is dressed for this evening,” he ordered Yuri, pointing at Nara.

“Sure, Boss,” answered Yuri before dragging them screaming out of the office, their honor in tatters from the sodomy Oleg had inflicted upon them.

4

Holland Park, 2007

The punishment Thomas had inflicted upon her in front his servant had brought that afternoon’s terrible trauma back with a vengeance.

With Nara cradled in his arms and as he listened to her tell him of what the animal had done to the both of them, Thomas silently swore revenge on behalf of the blood of his daughter.

Hiding his anger at the actions of Oleg Rejejow, he looked into Nara’s eyes. He took hold of her hand gently and pulled it tenderly to his lips. He kissed it long and hard.

Without waiting for a response, she removed her training top releasing her beautiful large breasts then leaned into him to him and grabbed his head forcefully to pull his lips to hers, a gesture designed for two purposes: firstly to show him that she had forgiven him for his earlier punishment and secondly to avoid any possible further punishment. They kissed passionately for a long minute.

“I am so sorry, my love,” he whispered with tears in his eyes.

Ever the skilled courtesan Nara studied his face. Sex had always been a defense mechanism she used to protect herself. It would be again. Men had often punished her before taking her in life, and now it appeared the man she loved and thought was her protector was no better than those monsters. Her dormant survival instincts kicked back in.

She lifted her hand to his face. Then stroked the tear under his eye.

“Are you?” she asked still not quite believing him.

“I am ashamed of myself,” he said with emotion in his face.

“Then show me,” she ordered pulling his head into her forcibly. Sex had been her weapon once, and it would be again.

5

Hong Kong / Dubai / Aeolian Islands, 2007

Once Thomas had told Mikhail what had happened to Nara at the hands of Rejejow and of his intention to avenge her honor, the bodyguard knew there would be no talking him out of it despite the possible repercussions to TLH and himself if he were caught. Nevertheless the former Israeli operative insisted on helping him.

“This is my fight,” Thomas had responded.

“We Jews have a saying, Thomas,” Mikhail had answered shaking his head, not taking no for an answer. “Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world and whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” He was referring to the passage from the Babylonian Talmud called Tractate Sanhedrin 37a.

“That animal destroyed the soul of Nara and her mother” Mikhail had continued with disgust. “So because you saved my life on that street in Moscow and that of Nara and Tania for that matter on your journey, to right the wrongs of your life our souls are forever entwined with that of yours,” Mikhail had concluded with his ever-present fatalist outlook on life.

“I may not understand all what drives you on your quest,” Mikhail had carried on in reference to Thomas’s determination find those who had betrayed him in Iraq. “But it is my turn to help save your soul from yourself old friend.” He ended the discussion.

“Let me make some enquiries,” Mikhail had offered. “I am still owed one or two favors at the Institute,” He had said with a grim smile referring to the headquarters of his former employers.

The favor called. Three weeks later, Thomas and Mikhail found themselves in a suite at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong greeting a Hasidic Jew and former colleague of Mikhail’s who made his living as a diamond dealer in Hong Kong while doubling as an intelligence officer of the Mossad.

There is perhaps no other ethnic group that is as inextricably intertwined with the world’s diamond trade than the Jewish people. A position that they as a collective have held ever since the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovered India in 1488. Ever alert to a business opportunity, the first traders who were based in Lisbon and belonging to the Sephardi opened their cutting houses and quickly gained a dominant role in the diamond-polishing industry before moving to Holland and then London to escape persecution. Yet despite financing the East India Company in the seventeenth century and running all of the diamond trade, it was not until the discovery of South Africa’s vast reserves during the late nineteenth century that they came to dominate the trade.

Concerned over a glut in the diamond market throughout, London’s diamond merchants a group of wealthy Jewish dealers of the Hasidic sect to pooled their resources to form ‘the Syndicate.’

The Syndicate’s purpose was simple in design: “Soak up all of the excess capacity being created by South Africa” in order to prevent the devaluation of diamonds. So successful in their endeavor did they become, that it enabled the dealers of London and New York to remain the driving force that lies behind the multi-billion dollar diamond industry that exists today throughout the world.

Possessing a long beard and wearing a simple jet-black suit, Yoel Teitebaum embodied to a ‘T’ what one would expect of a man belonging to the famous trader’s sect.

In the world of terrorists and criminals where diamonds had long been the currency of choice it made sense for the Mossad to place their assets in different locations around the world to keep an eye on the various individuals who acted as brokers and financiers.

Yoel was one such man. Recruited out of a northern Israel kibbutz at eighteen, he had served Israel faithfully in Hong Kong over the years. To his friends and business partners he was a successful diamond merchant who did business with anybody as long as the price was right. He was also the source of intelligence that had been passed on the Americans before 9/11 by the Institute (the Israeli’s name for the Mossad), warning them that a diamond merchant working for Bin Laden had been purchasing Sierra Leone diamonds from Charles Taylor, the dictator of the Sierra Leone.

Buying at a rate of three hundred thousand U.S. dollars per week between December 2000 and September 2001, then sending the diamonds to Hong Kong to sell them and transfer the funds into the money trader’s Dubai bank accounts, Yoel had passed on to the Institute the location of the funds he had transferred who in turn had then tracked them to Hamburg and then to America and into Atta’s and the other 9/11 terrorists bank accounts. It was these assets who had provided the intelligence to their Americans counterparts at Langley, before they, at their peril, had chosen to ignore the information until after the event.

“So Mikhail,” Yoel said after their expressive hugs were out the way.

“This is the famous Sir Thomas Litchfield,” he said offering his hand in the direction Thomas warmly.

“My pleasure Mr. Teitlebaum,” Thomas said in Yiddish taking the hand of Yoel.

“All lies,” Thomas answered with a smile in reference to Yoel’s ‘famous’ remark.

The man smiled but didn’t comment further as he took off his Beaver fur hat and sat down on the suite’s sitting room’s couch.

Neither Mikhail nor Thomas offered Yoel anything to eat, as they knew he would refuse it because the religious law of the Hasidic sects forbids a gentile from making food for Jews. Instead, because he was Jewish, Mikhail made and then poured him a cup of green tea.

Yoel thanked his old friend and got straight down to business. He didn’t ask the reasons why he had been asked to find a man within Oleg Rejejow’s criminal organization that could be approached to betray him. It wasn’t his place. It was also one of the reasons why he had stayed alive as long as he had, living in the shadowy world of criminals and terrorists. His role was merely to find, report, and pass on information.

“The man you seek is a diplomat in the Beijing Embassy. He is their local resident,” Yoel stated with authority, “But more importantly he is Oleg’s dealmaker with the Japanese Yazuka who uses their country’s diplomatic ‘bag’ to transport their illicit methamphetamines from North Korea via China into Western Europe.”

“My sources tell me that he has expensive tastes,” he continued with a smile that said it all before providing them with an outline of what they were. “I have set up a meeting with him tomorrow at Peninsula Hotel for you,” he said referring to the famous hotel located on Kowloon Island of Hong Kong where the tourists and members of the jewelry and apparel trades like to stay.

“Now, Mikhail tell me how is your family?” Yoel asked changing the subject to more palatable matters.

* * *

The next day, at five o’clock in the evening, a member of staff from the hotel led Ruslan Amangylyç Mingazow into a conference room overlooking Hong Kong harbor.

Instantly Thomas and Mikhail could see the colorful description of the man by Yoel who had described him as a ‘Cane Toad’ was spot on. In his late forties, medium height, possessing the typical rounded features of the tribes of Central Asia, and weighing at least two hundred and thirty pounds he moved like a man who was overweight. Thomas quickly sized up the man. He could see he had the look of one of Turkmenistan’s famous mountain men but being a trained diplomat, his mannerisms were anything but that of his brethren.

“Sir Thomas,” he said offering his hand respectfully.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Yuzbashi,” replied Thomas, formally using his military rank as he shook his hand.

“I am always happy to meet one of our President’s dear friends and partners,” he replied in a manner and style that Thomas concluded was creepy by the way the man smiled.

After the formalities of coffee were out of the way, Thomas got straight down to business.

“I am not going to waste your time,” he said. “I seek your help to settle a matter of honor relating to my family,” said Thomas.

“Sir Thomas,” the diplomat started.

“Qan dushar is illegal,” he continued referring to the term that means ‘blood reaches’ and an unwritten law of the tribes of Turkmenistan that allowed an individual with a common patrilineal ancestor who is not more than seven generations removed to seek revenge on the killer and their immediate kin, but had been declared illegal ever since the Soviets had ruled Turkmenistan.

“And in any case the law does cover foreigners,” he continued.

“Yuzbashi.”

“I am claiming the right on behalf of my daughter who is the granddaughter of Täçmyrat Baýramow,” answered Thomas using Nara’s grandfather’s name on her mother’s side. The man looked at Thomas for a second. He hesitated for a moment.

“The law only covers the patrilineal side of the family, not its matrilineal side,” the diplomat responded somewhat uncomfortably, implying he knew where the conversation between them was heading.

“Your woman’s father was Russian,” he tried to answer in the manner he had been trained.

“By definition because he is a foreigner the qan dashar cannot be claimed”

Thomas’s eyes narrowed, and then focused on the man. He kept his anger in check, but decided to take control of the situation.

“Ruslan Amangylyç. You will find I can be a most generous friend,” Thomas said making his move.

The man licked his lips. Thomas took this as a signal of greed he had been looking for.

“How generous?” He asked, falling in line with Yoel’s assessment of him.

“One million U.S. dollars!” answered Thomas.

Mingazow carefully picked up his glass of water. He sipped slowly to gather his thoughts. As he did so, Thomas assessed the man. He could see he was attempting to act cool. The offer was generous but not without risk. He was asking him to betray one of the most dangerous of individuals in his government’s list of henchmen.

“Who is the person the qan dashar will be performed on?” asked Mingazow with caution despite already indicating through his body language that he knew the answer.

“Oleg Mälikgulyýewiç Rejejow,” Thomas replied without hesitation.

Mingazow’s eyes widened. The fact he was sitting here meant that if Thomas failed with his attempted bribe, then the Turkmen would be facing certain death, for Thomas could not allow him to leave the room alive if he refused to help him.

“Five million upfront,” came the response of Mingazow without hesitation.

Thomas nodded. One never bargained with a person on matters of betrayal. Each man had a price that they valued their life at.

“I am not finished,” replied Mingazow forcefully laying down his terms. He put down the glass trying hard not to shake.

“If you’re successful, I want your support for my political ambitions in Ashgabat.”

Thomas nodded again.

“And a seat on the board of your Turkmen Company.”

At this statement, it was Mikhail’s turn to get angry. A look from Thomas defused the situation. Mikhail’s body language immediately relaxed at the instruction.

“With a salary and profit share I assume?” Thomas asked picking up his cup of green tea.

“Yes,” replied the diplomat without a flicker of emotion.

Again Thomas nodded.

“I will make the arrangements.”

“Then we have a deal,” replied Ruslan with a smile and offering his hand for Thomas to shake.

“We do indeed,” replied Thomas with the devil’s eyes.

* * *

Later that month, good to his word, Ruslan arranged for the setup, using the pretense that one of their partners in Japan wanted to meet with a man who could introduce him to the President to discuss a lucrative gas deal.

Being a trusted lieutenant in his business, Oleg didn’t even bat an eyelid when Ruslan had told him that the client wanted him to come to Dubai as he always enjoyed his trips to the Emirate. Nor did the Munbashi question the location of the meeting that was due to take place at a small four star hotel located on the busy road of Al Maktoum Street in Deira, known as the Moscow Hotel, because the hotel contained one of favorite dancing troops all drawn from Russia’s famous ballet schools who girls represented just the type of plaything he loved. Young, beautiful, elegant, and graceful but best of all, with limited experience in the ways of the world having been recruited from some of Russia’s famous dancing troops, therefore by definition, weren’t professionals, unlike the Jeleps he kept in Ashgabat and thus more innocent. As such his stays at the hotel were always thoroughly enjoyable.

“The manager has arranged for a private showing,” said Ruslan referring to the group of girls he had arranged to be delivered to the suite in order to pick one or two to share his bed as they were being driven to the hotel in a Sand Gold colored Vogue Range Rover by Yuri.

Already in a good mood because he had an excellent meal at the Emirates Towers Hotel’s Japanese restaurant, Oleg smacked his knee, making Ruslan wince in the process as he started the conversation.

“Who is this person the Katamaya-Gumi are sending us?” Oleg asked referring to their Yazuka partners from Osaka in Japan.

“Oleg Mälikgulyýewiç,” Ruslan answered formally, as nobody below him in the business was allowed to be informal when addressing him. “His name is Yaturo Nakajima and he represents one of the biggest Gas cartels in Tokyo.”

“What’s our take going to be?” Oleg asked, despite already knowing the answer. He just wanted to be sure the man wasn’t skimming anything.

“Twenty-five-year contract at $200 USD per 1,000 cubic meter gas delivered,” Ruslan answered, using the figure and term to reflect they would pay the transport costs of the Gas by sea that Thomas had given him.

”It will be worth two billion U.S. dollars to the President,” he offered nervously dangling the carrot just like Thomas told him to do so.

Oleg looked at him and smiled. Ruslan prayed to Allah that he would survive tonight. When the Jew had told him that the famous Sir Thomas Litchfield was looking for a good man to introduce him to Katamaya-Gumi he had jumped at the chance to earn some extra money on the side. Only to have that hope dashed as soon as the meeting started in Hong Kong.

He also knew if had refused then he was a dead man. Being a survivor, Ruslan tried to make the best deal possible out of a bad situation. He had no love for Oleg so the choice in the end had been relatively easy for him. That though didn’t stop him feeling nervous and terrified. If they failed tonight, his entire family would suffer.

“Who knows, you pull this off we might send you to Paris next,” Oleg said as the car pulled up in front of the hotel.

“Thank you Munbashi,” Ruslan replied with a nervous smile.

As they walked into the lobby, neither man spotted the dark looking Arab sitting there as they entered nor did they hear him mutter that the targets had entered the lift with a pair of locals dressed in their dish-dashes.

Exiting the lift moments later leaving the locals in the lift, the three men quickly made their way to the suite.

Once outside the door they rang the bell. The door opened and a Japanese man wearing a dark blue suit and red tie greeted them.

“Gentleman,” said the man warmly. “Do please come in.”

Once inside the Asian man, as was the Japanese way, presented his business card to Oleg and Yuri.

Although surprised that he had been given a business card, Yuri took it and made the pretense of being able to understand what was written on it so not to cause offence before promptly placing it into the pocket of his cheap tailored green suit.

“Thank you Nakajima-San,” replied Oleg respectfully as he took his card with both hands before presenting the man his own business card in the same manner.

They sat down and almost immediately both Oleg and Yuri started to feel out of breath and dizzy. An odor hit their nostrils. It was then they realized with horror where the smell was coming from. Their hands!

“YOU TRAIT….” was all Oleg managed to blurt out as his and Yuri’s world went black.

* * *

Originally developed by the Czechoslovak communist State Security secret police in the 1980s, the version of scopolamine used on Oleg and Yuri was four times more powerful than most date rape drugs that are sold and regularly used by the Colombian cartel known as “Devil’s Breath.” When a drugged person wakes, the first things that hit them are the side effects. A mixture of blurred vision, dizziness, and hypertension, Oleg felt all of these as his eyes opened.

A searing pain flowed through his brain. He tried to move his hands, but couldn’t. It was then he realized he was hanging by his arms above his head held up by a set of chains.

“Hello Oleg,” said the voice.

The second Oleg heard that English accent, he knew instantly who his captor was.

“LITCHFELD,” he said using the Russian form of Thomas’s name.

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU ARE YOU DOING?” he demanded as his blurry eyes began to focus on Thomas’s face as a pair of black soulless eyes stared back him.

“Spare me the tantrums, Oleg,” Thomas answered calmly.

“THE PRESIDENTS WON’T STAND FOR THIS,” Oleg said desperately.

Thomas looked at the man. He chose not to respond to the statement.

“Oleg, you are my prisoner because I am claiming the right of qan dashar on behalf of my daughter’s grandfather.”

“Qan dashar?”

He appeared confused before it suddenly dawned on him. Oleg’s venom returned in full force.

“FUCKING JELEPS CANNOT CLAIM THAT RIGHT, YOU PRIZA!” Oleg said referring to Nara’s previous position. “Poshel na knuy,“ he said, meaning “fuck you.”

Still Thomas said nothing.

Because Oleg knew that he was only moments from death, he decided to go out with pride. He started laughing.

“I always knew that bitch gave the best blowjobs! I just never expected just how good!” he said continuing with an evil laugh that echoed around the room.

Thomas’s eyes narrowed. The demon in his soul surfaced.

“I bet the bitch didn’t tell you the words you’re supposed to say when honor is claimed,” he taunted Thomas. Still Thomas said nothing.

“Before you kill me, Englishman, you should know that your bitch and her mother had screamed like little piglets when I took them,” he said as he spat on the floor.

“Seniň mertebe bolmak meniň mertebe,” meaning “Your fate is my honor,” Thomas whispered as he lifted Oleg’s famous gold pistol and pointed it at him and fired, taking his head off his spinal cord as he riddled with it all the bullets of the magazine in the process.

* * *

It wasn’t long after that Nara had told him that day in their bedroom of what had happened that it transpired by a strange coincidence Oleg’s own bodyguard had killed him with his own pistol before disappearing in Ashgabat.

It was even stranger, when it was reported that the bodyguard also had turned up dead in Dubai with his throat cut and an ear missing less than a week later.

Although the news only made Sky News and The Times of London as a minor item, in Turkmenistan it was about as significant as news got for he was considered a powerful man with connections to the Government.

The police and the government both promised to investigate, but despite reported intense efforts being made throughout the country nobody so far, had been caught for the murders.

Nara came breathlessly running into his study upon The Libertine that were moored of the coast of the sky blue waters of the Aeolian Islands with her hair loose, wearing a sarong around her waist. She wore an orange sexy bikini top to tell him of the gift that had been granted from Allah to her and mama. He knew instantly why.

“Thomas!” she said, not stopping to draw breath, her breasts moving up and down seductively. “Mama says the pig is dead!” she announced excitedly.

Without a word, Thomas smiled at her, pulled out a walnut polished box from his desk drawer then got up and walked around the desk until he came to stand in front of her. Pausing for a moment, he looked into her seductive brown eyes.

“Open it, Darling,” he ordered softly, giving it to her whilst stroking her hair away from her face gently with his other hand.

Thinking it was just another one of his gifts of guilt that he had bought her as a way of an apology since that terrible afternoon of few weeks ago, Nara’s face immediately showed intense disappointment.

“He doesn’t understand!” she thought.

Nevertheless she did as he told her.

Upon setting eyes on the box’s contents that lay on green velvet, she quickly stared straight back up him in shock and awe.

“It’s the p-i-g’s pistol!” she exclaimed, recognizing it straight away.

“Is this his animal’s ear?” she asked referring to the piece of shrived up anatomy that was lying next to a knife that she had instantly recognized as belonging to Yuri.

“Seniň mertebe bolmak meniň mertebe,” Thomas said quietly in Turkmen, which meant, “Your fate is my honor.” He kissed her forehead beneath him ignoring her question.

Immediately, tears arrived in Nara’s eyes as she began to comprehend the enormity what her love had done in her name.

6

Africa, Two Weeks Ago

The meetings in Borama, a city that for some unknown reason is twinned with Henley-on-Thames in England, but more importantly is the capital of a new country born out of the ashes of Somalia, and known as Adwalland, had been both trying and complicated for Thomas over the last few days.

Much more difficult to that of a typical natural resources deal with a host country he usually experienced because of the additional intricacies of the wider issues of superpower politics and global dominance were brought into play.

Adwalland, the world’s newest country was situated right in the middle of a plan that would see Russia’s re-emergence on the world stage as a military power with Thomas acting as the point of the sword as the country’s lead proxy investor.

As to why Thomas had been drawn into this position was complicated. Due initially, to TLH’s (Thomas’s Holding Company) strong ties with Russia through its present control of one of Siberia’s major Oil and Gas fields but primarily it was due to the close personal relationship Thomas had with the young President of the country. A former mailroom employee whom Thomas had befriended five years ago when he had contacted TLH offering exploration rights in Awdalland in an attempt to try to raise funds for a permanent diplomatic mission in London so they could build the momentum of their country’s right to exist as a legitimate State.

A buccaneer at heart, Thomas knew that the only way to get TLH into point position for the area’s rich natural resources was to ensure his young friend got a seat at the negotiating table, especially as Somalia had already previously granted the same rights to the U.S. Oil exploration companies main competitors of TLH in the business of exploration rights. Although skeptical at first, it wasn’t until he had visited the little self-governing area when he was impressed by the shared determination of all the tribal leaders to bring the rule of law to this small desperate area of Africa, did he take the initiative to set the ball in motion.

Thomas provided the struggling little organization with the five million U.S. dollars they needed for their Missions in London and New York and then placed TLH Public Relations teams at their disposal so they could build the necessary momentum to ensure this dream they held came to fruition.

Although it was incredibly difficult with the United States of America opposing the break-up of Somalia all the way, seeing it as a threat to their national security objectives related to the defeat of Al-Qaeda and because of their determination to protect their leading oil companies existing rights in the area, the end result was eventually achieved.

The little country now included at the negotiating table, with the support of Russia and China and much to the disgust of the US Oil explorers, who had lost their exploration rights in the process, became Africa’s newest state.

Unfortunately, like all young states born out of years of struggle and pain, not all of the Adwallians shared the elders’ vision for a respectful, peaceful country.

One such opportunist was a forty-five-year-old former pirate named Wasir Osman Hassan.

By using the money he had earned from the payment of ransoms in the lawless days of 1990s, Hassan had bought himself the post of the Interior Minister and staffed the Ministry with those loyal to his tribe to ensure he kept everybody in place with a “rod of iron” in the process.

It was this man who had given Thomas the most problems because the President, although a good and honest person, certainly wasn’t a wolf despite the traditional role of his tribe to be so in the region. This meant Thomas needed to ensure that the Minister was kept happy as he controlled the capital’s security. That meant money and lots of it was needed to change hands.

He was not new to this, as ever since he had arrived in Russia, twenty-seven years old, flush with money from U.S. Private equity and fresh from the hairiest experience of his life in Iraq in 1991, Thomas had carved his own way free and away from his father’s influence, doing deals including a couple involving the use of the gun. It was because this unique business experience and having had done his fair share of deals with the devil that Thomas understood the problem the young President was facing.

One such a deal for Thomas was in 1996 and involved a meeting with the ‘Mayor’ of St Petersburg otherwise known as Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

At the time, the future President of Russia was foolishly considered by some as a mere bag carrier for Yeltsin and as such was dismissed by the new oligarchs “carpet-bagging” the country being fuelled with U.S. finance as being of limited importance in Russian politics.

However when Thomas met him he immediately grasped that sitting across him was a man of the principle who only cared about one thing, Russia, and was determined to do this through his newly promoted “National Champions” political concept.

This ideology was born out of Putin’s education and experience from the ashes of communism, his idea, was simple in design—the largest corporations in strategic sectors of Russia’s economy are expected to not only to seek profit, but also to “advance the interests of the nation.”

Yet for all of Thomas’s initial skepticism his basic instinct told him that he would be foolish to attempt to discredit him, or worse, ignore him at his peril, so instead Thomas offered the hand of friendship and support for Putin’s ideas.

It was a move that would bind Thomas to his fate forever.

At the time, The ‘Mayor’ suspiciously had taken his hand and money with a mere nod then a sip of his black tea without a flicker of emotion.

Over the four years that followed as both of their mutual fortunes rose, Thomas had watched the Mayor rise first to the top of the FSB, Russia’s replacement for the KGB and then to Deputy Prime Minister before finally taking the Presidency from his mentor six months later on the 31st December 1999 and in one night ruthlessly take out those who stood in the way of his vision of a new Russia for the twenty-first century.

“We have three years,” Thomas had said to Mikhail at the time as they watched the Mayor’s handover speech whilst celebrating the New Year in Haifa over a traditional Jewish feast with Nara and Hanna, his wife.

“Three years?” Mikhail had replied confused.

“Before he comes to take back Russia’s rights!” Thomas had grimly answered.

The exit strategy Thomas planned was simple in design and required the diversification of the group’s assets quickly, the taking on debt to fund it, whilst spreading his wings in the process, so absolutely sure in his assessment that someday the Mayor would come “calling.”

In the early days of 2003, the Mayor did just that. By that time the international influence of TLH had grown to make him one of largest privately owned natural resources companies in the world, its power extended well beyond that of owning yachts or the football clubs like some of his contemporaries. Knighted in his own right by the Queen for his business acumen, Thomas had become a man who influenced the political elite of the World.

However, he stilled faced one problem: the lifeblood of the company depended on the cash flow from the oil and gas revenues of the assets of its Russian companies.

Sensing the changing mood correctly with the way the state oligarchs were “toeing the line,” Thomas decided that when he received an approach from the ‘fixer’ representing the Sheikh of Dubai (flush with money by selling the sand of his Emirate and then mortgaging it) offering to buy his forty-nine percent stake in his Oil Company for US$30 billion he concluded the time was right to leave Russia forever.

With the deal all but signed and just as he was about to get on the plane to head for the United Arab Emirates Thomas’s private mobile went off with the screen flashing “Mayor.”

The oligarch took a deep breath and answered on the second ring. The conversation was curt and in English.

“Thomas, I want you to join me in Sochi tonight.” No greeting or small talk after three years of silence, just an order to be obeyed.

“Yes, Mr. President,” Thomas’s reply was equally short.

“Mayor?” Mikhail asked, already knowing the answer.

“Better tell the Captain we are going to Sochi!” Thomas ordered. The expression on his face said it all.

The flight took nearly four hours. Thomas didn’t speak once as he sat opposite his trusted aide and bodyguard lost in his thoughts, something Mikhail later remarked had worried him immensely for he was never like that.

Once the plane landed they were met by the President’s protection team and with only Mikhail allowed to travel with him, but not before he had to with great reluctance his hand over his weapon, they were driven to the Mayor’s summer residence.

Arriving at the grand villa on Bocharov Ruchey, Thomas was shown directly into the President’s office while Mikhail was asked to wait outside.

The sight of the Mayor standing behind his desk, as was his way, signing papers with two aides at his side greeted Thomas as he entered the room. Motioning for him to sit in a chair in front of the desk Thomas did so in silence for five minutes. It was pure theatre by the Mayor designed to impress upon Thomas his position and power.

Finished and dismissing the aides, The Mayor opened the discussion.

“Thomas,” he said, taking a pause as his signal to answer reflecting his position over Thomas and it was his turn to answer. The Oligarch did just that.

“Mr. President,” he replied, dominance established.

“How are Miss Gurbanammedowova and Victoria?” The Mayor asked, providing him a signal that he always kept tabs on him.

“They are extremely well, Sir,” Thomas offered in reply that earned a single nod back in return.

The “Presidential style” small talk over, the President of Russia got up then requested that they go out on to the terrace.

Having sat down at a cast iron table in the sun, the Mayor picked up the silver tea set and poured Thomas a cup of black tea and then one for him.

“Why are you selling to the Sheikh?” the President asked as he stirred the glass to release the flavor.

“His offer is a good one, Sir,” Thomas responded, leaving his tea untouched.

“Not for Russia my friend!” the President answered referring to the fact a foreign state not even a country but a mere city state within an OPEC nation potentially owning a Russian Oil Company thereby affecting its Energy Security position was not an acceptable situation.

Sensing that the conversation was now not a negotiation, but that of a directive, Thomas knew instantly that his deal with the Sheikh was dead.

“Do you have a preferred buyer, Sir?” Thomas asked, for being a wise man, he knew now was a time when to bow down at the throne.

“Niet.”

“This is going to be extremely difficult!” Thomas thought as he took a sip of his black tea trying desperately hard not to show his nerves.

“Then what would you suggest, Sir, as I am sure now that my business does not comply with your National Champions Policy,” Thomas stated, knowing that if the man nationalized his business the cash-flow loss on his entire business would almost certainly break him.

The Mayor smiled at him. “The solution is simple, you either keep it or give it back!” There it was, in pure terms, no escape.

As if sensing his discomfort, the President then continued. “The price for giving it back is six billion U.S. dollars in cash from us.”

“Twenty-four billion under the deal I agreed with the Sheikh’s people,” Thomas thought knowing full well that such a deal would be difficult if not impossible as it would affect the entire debt structures of the group he had put into place upon the sale of his stake in New York, London, and Hong Kong.

“However, I would prefer that you kept it, as your blood belongs to Mother Russia,” The President said as he picked up his tea. “You have an obligation to our country that has given you everything,” he continued, referring to and using his daughter’s heritage of Soviet Russia by the use of the term “Mother Russia” to justify his expectation that despite his offer Thomas never had the option of taking it and walking away.

Inwardly despite being relieved as only moments before he assumed his core business was about to be nationalized by State, Thomas knew it was only temporary because whatever happened from this point on the lives of his and Nara’s family was entirely tied to the will of Russia.

Reluctantly, Thomas gave the answer he was expected to give.

“I understand, Sir.”

“Good,” the President answered with a wry smile.

The rest of the discussion then reverted to what he would like to see happen on various projects in Russia and of course with it a request veiled as an invitation from him to invest, thereby dragging Thomas back into Russia to never escape completely.

Forty-five minutes later, the President ended the meeting by placing his hand inside his blazer jacket and removing a pair of new Russian Passports that he promptly gave to Thomas. Opening them, Russia’s latest “National Champion” found his and Victoria’s details respectively in each of them.

“We must do this again, Fama,” he said, using the Russian form of his Christian name to reflect his new citizenship.

On the plane back, a truly relieved Mikhail, having been briefed by Thomas on what had happened got up, took a bottle of The Macallan 1965 from the drinks cabinet for them to share, then slumped sat back down in his seat. As he offered him a glass with large measure Mikhail smiled at him, then said in English, “Next Year in Jerusalem,” a typical Jewish response of the Israeli Special Forces members used to describe a classic ‘Catch-22’ situation.

* * *

As the plane returned back across the African landscapes to Europe, Thomas told himself, “No little warlord is going to change the rules!”

Looking towards Mikhail and the rest of his protection team and seeing they were all asleep, as they hadn’t slept the whole time they were in-country for longer than a couple of hours each day, he asked the pretty air hostess to serve him a light supper of a Blue Stilton, Pear and Walnut Salad, with a very good chilled Puligny-Montrachet.

Once finished, Thomas picked up the phone and dialed Steve Krivets.

Steve Krivets was born into the world of filmmaking in Hollywood in the 1960s. Tall, thin set, short blonde hair with piercing blue eyes inherited from his Belorussian roots, and like most Americans a full set of brilliant white teeth, he was the CEO of Media News Group known as MNG. He had assumed the role the same day Thomas had backed his three-and-a-half billion U.S. dollars management buyout bid of MNG to ensure THL’s public interest and media profile always had a counterpoint. The group was described as “Titan,” with only Murdoch’s News International group being larger, certainly did that for Thomas.

With this latest deal signed and sealed, and fallout that what would come with it, was almost certainly going to create waves and Thomas knew he needed to make sure the “Media Management” was carefully deployed to his organization’s advantage.

Steve was asleep in bed with his latest conquest, a young starlet of just eighteen, when the phone went off.

“What the fuck!” he moaned before wearily reaching across for the phone. Seeing it was Thomas, he pressed ‘to accept the call’ request immediately.

“Steve, sorry to bother you. A quick question,” Thomas asked without ceremony before he could answer otherwise.

“No problem, Thomas,” Steve answered having decided that telling one of your significant shareholders, not to mention debt holders, to “fuck off” even if he was calling you at three o’clock in the morning would not be a good idea.

Listening carefully although still half-awake Steve thought to himself, “Oh fuck!” as he processed what his English friend was telling him, he said, “No problem, I have just the person.” He sensed it was a request to be followed without question once the briefing was over.

“Excellent, meet me in London next week.”

“Who was that, babe?” asked his teenage companion, now fully awake.

“Nobody… Go back to sleep, honey,” Steve ordered before finding the number of his contact at the State Department figuring that this could not wait, and because he didn’t want to forget anything while it was clear in his mind.

The number Steve dialed was that of Joseph McGiven, who unlike himself, as the time in Washington D.C. was six o’clock in the morning, was already up drinking his first coffee of the day. A tough political operator of thirty-nine, he was Counselor and Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State.

As Counselor, his role was to serve as special advisor on major foreign policy challenges. As Chief of Staff, he managed the Department’s staff that provided the support to the Secretary in administering operations of the Department. He did both jobs with ruthless efficiency and for one goal only: the enrichment of the “Interests of the United States of America.”

Seeing it was Steve Krivets, one of the most famous media barons in the country, he picked it up quickly.

“Steve this is a pleasant surprise,” he answered in his Bostonian accent that, despite his years in Washington, he accentuated.

“Hi Joe, I know it’s early but have you got a moment?” the mogul asked.

By the time, Steve had finished his briefing he had earned a promise to do lunch plus round of golf with the Secretary of State next time he was in L.A. in exchange for being a good American.

“HOLY FUCK!” the Chief of Staff said out loud once the telephone call was disconnected, grasping what he had just been told by Steve.

One hour later having reached and entered his office, McGiven switched on his desktop computer then entered the secure cryptonym software that generates code words across all the National Security Platforms of the United States of America.

He generated a code word and then emailed his and the Secretary of State’s executive assistants to get them to request and organize a meeting with the President, the National Security Advisor, and Director of CIA, all present with the subject line stating Project GOLDEN WOLF [RESTRICTED CONTENT].

7

Ashgabat, 1998

Sitting across from a very pleased Oleg over the Gas pipeline construction deal he had just made on behalf of the President and drunk on a potent mixture of champagne, cognac and fresh sushi, sat a very bored Thomas.

His mood quickly bounced back though, the second he caught sight of the absolutely stunningly beautiful young creature he met in Oleg’s office as she walked into the club together with several other women and even more so when he saw they were making their way over to their table.

“Oh yes, much better!” Thomas thought enjoying her arrival at the table, the visual feast of her exotic features, her long jet black hair in a ponytail over her shoulder, clothed in sexy black silk trouser suit as one might find on a concubine in a harem and with her belly button showing off what he assumed was a crystal stud.

“My God, she’s ravishing!” he mused.

Getting up quickly, something he noted Oleg hadn’t bothered to do, Thomas smiled at her just as he did earlier in the day, only this time he shook her hand as her mother was not present, then her companions one after another before motioning for them to take up position opposite him in the booth.

On autopilot from the trauma of the afternoon, Nara forced a smile back towards him as he took her hand. It wasn’t lost on her that there appeared to be an aura surrounding him as she assessed his physical attributes. Tall, handsome black hair flecked with grey, and forcibly focused brown eyes, her initial impression was one a man of strength and maturity and in his late thirties.

“He looks as though he doesn’t miss anything,” she thought while tuning her mind into flirting mode. “Seen and done many things!” she further added, inwardly reasoning that you didn’t become an Oligarch in Russia by being soft.

As he held on to her hand instead of kissing air on her cheek, as was common in her homeland, she felt his power in his firm but gentle grip as he continued to look into her eyes as he introduced himself. Immediately she felt her heart jump. Being well trained she knew that he was sexually attracted to her, Nara flicked her long jet-black hair.

Her staged “flirt” was ruined and she had to stop herself from the urge to throw up as Oleg took hold of her arm painfully to motion her to sit by him. It was not lost on Thomas that it was sort of thing you would expect an alpha male gorilla to do so to establish his position over the females in his harem in response to an interloper.

Watching the beautiful girl wince as he grabbed her, Thomas sensed that it obvious she couldn’t bear Oleg’s touch although he didn’t know why.

Awestruck by her beauty, Thomas continued to stare at her intently.

As he did so Nara smiled at him again while she picked up a flute of Champagne.

Having realized the increasing level of flirtation between them both, Oleg took the opportunity to assume a position of ownership over Nara by pawing the side of her face.

“THOMAS, YOU LIKE MY ‘JELEP DOVE,’ DON’T YOU?” Oleg asked over the Russian pop music.

“She most definitely doesn’t like you, old boy!” Thomas thought, having caught sight of the beautiful girl’s second wince of the night.

Pressing his ownership again over her, a move that Thomas assumed was merely for his benefit he watched as Oleg pawed her again only this time more firmly by grabbing the other side of her face and pulling towards him. It was a motion made easy because he had made her sit next to him.

“You should have seen her this afternoon when I was fucking her in the ass—” Suddenly with fire in her eyes, Thomas watched in awe as the beautiful girl smashed her champagne glass and went for Rejejow. The other girls screamed together in chorus.

“FUCKING PIG,” she yelled in Russian then switching to Turkmen she screamed, “Gyrmak sen!” meaning, “I will kill you!” she hissed quickly in succession with such hatred and venom.

It was an effort that had also certainly saved her life, although she didn’t know it at that time, as Oleg’s guards appeared out of nowhere to forcibly grab her.

Nara fought them all the way as they leaned across the table and violently pulled her out of the booth spraying the bottles of champagne and whiskey, the flutes of the Epernay nectar, and plates of Sushi out of the way.

“Yuri, take this fucking whore away, and when you have finished with her get rid of her!” Oleg said in disgust while looking at his soaked suit.

Brushing it off as “matter of fact,” flicking the liquid from his hand that had sprayed all over him from the champagne flutes plus other glasses that had gone flying in all directions, Thomas coolly and politely joined the conversation.

“Oleg Mälikgulyýewiç, but then what will I do for the evening?”

Surprised, Oleg smiled in return before replying in Russian to his guest. “Well there plenty of other toys here, Thomas. This one’s a wild horse who needs to be put down!”

Restrained in Yuri’s arms, her “moment of fire” over, Thomas could see the young girl by her look of fear in her beautiful eyes, had calmed down enough to realize that she was now moments away of being raped then murdered.

“Yes, Oleg Mälikgulyýewiç, but I want this one,” he insisted looking into her eyes smiling, determined to defuse the situation by making fun of her afore-mentioned fire, by dismissing it as trivial in an effort to save her life.

Looking at her and seeing the same fear in her eyes over the folly of trying to “glass” him, Oleg denied Thomas’s request again.

“No. Thomas, I do not want to risk any injury to you riding wild horses in Turkmenistan; it is a dangerous sport for the inexperienced,” he said at his attempt at humor.

Instantly a chorus of evil laughs from his minions echoed around the table while the drained looking Nara stood slumped in Yuri’s arms.

“Allah has decreed I am to die for committing sins of the flesh by the hand of his man,” she thought in despair to herself as she waited to be dragged off.

“Oleg Mälikgulyýewiç, would you sell her to me then? For one always needs a filly to break in?” Thomas asked again, making one final effort to save her life as he watched the light go out in the beautiful child-woman who was being held by his bodyguard.

This time, Oleg pondered the request as it suddenly dawned him on that the Englishman was serious.

The fact was that the Englishman was a powerful man and having been ordered by the President to look after him and keep him happy, Oleg was smart enough to recognize the opportunity his guest was offering him to regain his honor not to mention the chance to make a deal of which he would be the main beneficiary.

He accepted the challenge.

“Twenty-five-thousand U.S. dollars!” he quoted a price he thought even a man like Litchfield would baulk at.

“Done,” Thomas answered without hesitation, as he reached into his jacket and promptly pulled out a thick wad of cash then put it on the table.

Having heard the interplay between them on the next table Mikhail motioned one of the assistants with him that was carrying a briefcase to hand it over to him.

Opening it Mikhail, then pulled out another collection of wads. Cash being king in the former Soviet Republic, you always made sure that you had money for bribes on you—just in case.

“There you go, Boss,” interjected Mikhail handing over the money to Thomas who promptly parked another wad of dollar bills on top of the ones he had already set on the table as Nara and the other girls looked on dumbfounded.

“That should be the twenty-five! Please have her suitably delivered to my suite with her passport and travel papers!” Thomas said, the deal done.

Not wanting to lose face, but happy that he had made a good profit of forty-five-thousand dollars that day, if you included the money he had already taken off the beautiful Jelep who just tried to kill him, Oleg Mälikgulyýewiç Rejejow offered his hand to reflect the agreement: changing Nara’s and Thomas’s life forever in the process.

“Allah?” Nara’s mind whirled. “Who is this man?” she asked inwardly as Yuri dragged her off to collect her papers and things.

“Why in the hell did I just do that?” Thomas thought, as Oleg and he joked and toasted each other health for the umpteenth time that evening.

The romantic in him answered, “Maybe it’s because I am drawn to her hate and fire mixed with such suppressed passion in her beauty?” The pragmatist in him dismissed the answer as rubbish. “If I hadn’t she would have been raped to death and then tossed on an Ashgabat rubbish tip like a dead dog,” he told himself taking a sip of his whiskey. “That’s something I am most surely not going to allow to happen to such a beautiful creature!” he further convinced himself as he took a bite of a piece of California sushi roll.

On arriving back at his hotel an hour later having left Oleg to play with the remaining whores, Thomas was informed by Mikhail with a disapproving eye that his “purchase” was now in his suite. He looked at his friend but chose not to say anything.

Mikhail had become a changed man ever since he had married his young pretty redheaded wife Hanna, telling him at every opportunity to settle down and find a nice girl almost as if he was afraid that Thomas would burn himself out.

“Bit expensive though for a Jelep, Boss!” Mikhail joked despite his eyes saying otherwise using the Turkmen word for a whore within his English sentence.

“I know, Mikail,” Thomas answered with a smile at Mikhail’s attempt at humor before continuing, “But when in Turkmenistan, one has to buy a horse!” making reference to the passion of the Turkmen people as they entered the lift together and rode it to his suite.

“By the way, that prick Yuri wanted to make sure I gave you this,” Mikhail said passing him an envelope.

Opening it, Thomas found it contained the girl’s “Permission to Travel” documents from the Government and a pristine Turkman passport. Taking her passport out and flicking through it, he saw it only had a recently issued visa for the United Arab Emirates in it. Turning to the end page, he found her full name.

“That’s a bit of a mouthful Boss!” Mikhail exclaimed, looked over his shoulder indicating his understanding of British humor for double entendre having been with him for so long.

“Indeed!” Thomas replied even though he hadn’t been listening as he had been taking in the fact that even in a passport photo the girl was stunningly beautiful, a feat in itself.

“Christ, she’s only nineteen!” he thought as her date of birth sunk in as he promptly closed the passport and placed it back in the envelope. He resealed it before passing it back to Mikhail.

“You keep this but give a copy to the Captain,” he said, referring to the skipper of his Gulfstream G-4 as he was going to need it for the paperwork for their return to Moscow in the morning.

“I don’t want my wild horse running off and getting herself killed!” he joked. “Oh and when we get to Moscow can you sort out her visas at the British Embassy as well, please.”

“Sure, Boss,” answered Mikhail without question although nonetheless somewhat surprised that Thomas actually intended to take the young girl with them. Up until that moment Mikhail had thought Thomas had saved the girl’s life because he was a ‘white knight’ but by the statement he had just given him it now appeared he was actually going to keep her. It disappointed him, but he decided against making comment. After all, despite their close relationship, he was the Boss.

“Hopefully he will do the right thing,” Mikhail thought before asking, “What should I tell the Embassy in Moscow for her multiple re-entry visa?” knowing that an entry visa for the UK wouldn’t be easy.

“Tell them she is the going to be the new Executive Director of The Libertine and as its parent company is English, that should be enough to get her an annual one.”

“Will do, Boss,” answered Mikhail. “I will get Rubin to get the paperwork sorted,” he then said referring to the member of the team who was the bag carrier as filling in paperwork was never Mikhail’s strong point. It reminded him too much of his days in the Shakbat.

Arriving at their floor they walked out of the lift then down the corridor that had the remaining members of his personal security team posted along it, to the suite.

“Night, Boss,” said Mikhail once they reached the door giving yet another disapproving look before making a mental note to have some clothes sent up for her.

“Goodnight, Mikhail,” replied Thomas, unaware of what was waiting for him in his suite.

Closing the door behind him, Thomas walked into the presidential suite. Taking off his tailored Saville Row blazer he then placed the garment on the long sofa and walked to the bar, whereupon he proceeded to get a champagne flute and a whiskey glass from the cupboard underneath and placed them on top of the bar.

It was that point he removed his Glock and holster. Something since that brutal night in Moscow he always wore. Putting the safety on the pistol, he placed it on the top of the bar.

Opening the refrigerator he found a bottle of Moet Chandon and some “exotic” Georgian Champagne.

“I think we give that miss,” he said, over the thought of drinking Georgian Champagne, as he put some ice in a whiskey glass then opened the bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label and poured two fingers of the whiskey over the ice.

Guessing that he would find his guest already in the bedroom waiting for him and hopefully under the covers he made his way to its entrance.

The second Thomas entered the bedroom with the drinks he immediately felt guilty for his quips in the lift with Mikhail on the way up.

Lying on the bed, with just a blanket covering her perfectly naked beautiful naturally bronzed skin, her long jet black hair running down her back over the blanket covering her, on her side, blindfolded, her hands tied behind her back, legs also bound together in flex cuffs so she could not escape and gagged, lay Nara.

“Fucking Hell, Oleg!” Thomas thought with disgust knowing that the animal had sent her to him naked because in his eyes, she owned nothing that wasn’t his. He also knew now why he had been getting such disapproving looks from Mikhail. Although he couldn’t quite grasp why his friend had chosen to leave her like that. He realized now it was Mikhail’s way of sending him a message.

Seduction plans over, Thomas put down the Champagne flute followed by his whiskey glass on the table and then quickly walked to the bed, but, not before he had picked up the pair of cutters for the flexi-cuffs that had been left for him by Mikhail.

“Okay, Mikhail, I get the message!” Thomas thought, as he sat on the bed.

Drawn by her seductive beauty he listened for a few seconds to Nara’s heavy panicked breathing. Then like a moth to the flame drawn to her pretty face he gently touched it. The action immediately caused her to shake followed by a scream through her gag.

“You bloody idiot!” he scolded his mind, realizing because she couldn’t see the poor girl must have been terrified by his sudden unwanted touch. “Get control of yourself,” he ordered his brain.

“GUNARA,” Thomas said firmly, “ENOUGH,” in Russian.

She screamed louder. Needing to take control quickly of the situation without a word Thomas roughly flipped from her side to her back forcing the blanket off her in the process.

Screaming this time from the pain in her shoulders as her body fell on her hands behind her back and because of the unknown of what was about to happen to her, Thomas took her head firmly in his hand then pulled her back by her hair.

“Gunara, ENOUGH,” in Russian he repeated. “You have two choices, you must submit to my will and please me, or I give you back to Oleg,” he continued using the terrible words as a shock tactic to try and get calm her down with the threat of a bigger fear. “Your choice?” he added in a softer tone. “Nod once if you want me to send you back to Oleg?” he concluded using the return to Oleg clutches like the ultimate fear factor.

It worked instantly. He could see Nara’s fear fueled mind had started to calm down. She shook her head frenziedly. It appeared the mention of sending her back to Oleg had terrified her more than what he was about to do her, although he could help but look at incredible breasts as the continued to rise and fall as the result of her heavy breathing.

“Good,” he said as he removed her blindfold to be greeted with terrified tear filled eyes. Immediately Thomas felt terribly guilty.

“S-i-r… I b-e-g d-o-n-’t” she said breathlessly once he removed the gag and then gulping as she said the words.

“Please don’t send me back to Oleg Mälikgulyýewiç,” she added, tears arriving in full flow like a waterfall down her face.

“Thomas,” he whispered to calm her. “Call me Thomas,” he repeated this time taking a tear and brushing it away from her face and stroking her cheek softly.

Still breathing heavily and thus continuing to provide Thomas with the absolutely wonderful sight of her breasts while trying to cross her legs because she was still naked. She closed her eyes and then nodded.

“Thom… as,” she said slowly.

* * *

Nara’s mind was in turmoil.

Earlier, she had been absolutely terrified when Yuri had dragged her out of the club and back to her little flat. She thought despite what happened in the club with that strange Oligarch buying her, he was still going to kill her. Only that didn’t happen; instead he asked her where her papers and passport were.

“I don’t have one, Yuri,” she had replied and earnt a hard slap across her face in response.

“Don’t lie to me ganjyk. I know you do. We own this fucking country, everybody knows Oleg’s Mälikgulyýewiç girls!” he had said with evil intent.

Shaking with fear knowing now that even after paying one thousand U.S. dollars for her documents that it appeared that Oleg had known all along about her intentions to escape to Dubai, she did as she was told and gave them to him.

Ordering her to strip, fearing the worst she had initially refused, but when he pulled out his famous knife she wet herself for the first time since the terrible night she had been raped by Oleg as a child.

“N-O!” she had repeatedly screamed in Russian as he ripped at the material of her outfit.

“Don’t worry ganjy, you’re not the Boss’s property anymore. So stop pissing! And fucking turn around,” he had ordered whilst laughing. “I am not that fucking stupid!” he had added before he tossed and turned her around and bound her wrists behind her back with the flexi cuffs that he had pulled out of his pocket as he had known all about the rumors of what had happened those that had crossed the English Oligarch in past. A death sentence if he touched something that wasn’t his was most definitely not on his agenda.

Having gagged and blindfolded her, Yuri then pushed her on to bed so he could put a set of flexi cuffs on her ankles thus binding them together to stop her from trying to run away.

Finishing off his interpretation of “suitably delivered,” he tore off all off her remaining clothes so to leave her naked with tears rolling down her face from the shame.

Then with a rough pull of her arm he lifted her limp body up and placed her over his shoulder, then promptly walked out of the little apartment along the corridor and down the stairs as her scared neighbors quickly closed their doors before he reached them, out through the apartment’s entrance until he reached the black Mercedes S500 waiting outside.

Shoving her roughly in front of him first, he got in by the side of her. Once the door was closed they sped off towards the Sheraton.

As they made their way through the city, with her head pulled into Yuri groin forcing the terrified Nara to smell not just his strong perfume, but also the foul smell from his private parts in the process, she willed herself to ignore the groping of her breasts. She shut her eyes despite them already been covered.

“Allah. Am I going to die?” she asked but didn’t receive an answer.

Finally, the car stopped. As he got out of car Nara heard the voice she had heard earlier.

“Yuri, for the love of god! Give the poor girl some respect!” the voice said as she felt a hand grasp her arm and drag her out of the car.

“Your boss said suitably prepared, so fuck off!” Yuri responded with venom.

“Here’s the Jelep’s papers,” he said as she felt Yuri roughly hand her over to what she assumed was another person, as while the hand was firm it wasn’t rough.

Suddenly Nara felt a jacket being put over her and then buttoned up at the front followed by the voice saying,

“I will keep you blindfolded, so you don’t have to look upon your shame… while I get you upstairs,” in Russian.

As he picked her up in his arms she felt him carry her into what she assumed was the elevator. Then after a few moments as she heard the doors open again and felt her body being carried down another corridor and then into what she assumed was a room before finally another room where she was gently placed on a bed.

As she felt the jacket being removed to leave her naked again, fearing her rape was about to begin Nara started breathing heavily only to calm down again when a blanket was placed on her,

“Don’t worry,” the voice said. “He won’t hurt you.”

What seemed like hours to her, but was, in fact, was only forty-five minutes Nara suddenly felt the presence of a person in the room and then, to her horror sit on the bed.

Fearing her second rape of the day was about to begin as she felt the hand of the person touch her face, she started screaming into the gag. Suddenly, she felt herself being flipped her over. Immediately a searing pain tore through her shoulders. She whimpered.

“It is the person who bought me from Oleg!” her mind had raced as she recognized the voice.

Ordered to calm down by him she only stopped screaming when his words sunk in that if she didn’t, he would send her back to Oleg. Willing her mind to be strong as the blindfold came off, her eyes fixed on him.

Listening to him and fearing him now as the new Oleg in her life, she prepared herself for the worse, only that didn’t happen!

Yes, she could see immediately he desired her by the way he looked up and down at her body, but instead to her surprise he cut her bonds off, one by one then surprised her further as she tried to cover her naked vulnerability when he got up and went to the bathroom.

Nara looked around to gather her bearings. She knew instantly where she was, having spent many an hour in the hotel’s bedrooms but due to the fact she was naked without clothes she decided against making a break for it. Instead, her mind focused on the telephone.

“Do I call Mama?” she had thought before dismissing it. She knew her poor mother was still in shock from the attack of the afternoon. She couldn’t ask her to come to the hotel.

“It will send her over the edge,” she bitterly concluded as he wandered back into the room holding out for her a long robe with his eyes turned away.

Still half crazed Nara snatched it from him. Then he surprised her again. He kept his eyes shut while she put it on.

“That’s odd!” she thought, bearing in mind how he had already seen her naked moments ago, but she didn’t complain. Men were always strange. It appeared this one was no different.

Her modesty covered, Thomas opened his eyes, opened the champagne expertly then handed her a flute.

“Nostroviya,” he said looking into her eyes where upon he drank his whiskey in his other hand.

Suspiciously, Nara returned his toast in an effort to satisfy him as she took a gulp of champagne to calm her mind. “Who is this strange, powerful oligarch?” she asked herself. She didn’t get a chance to find out. He took over.

“Now, why don’t you tell me your story,” he ordered as he made his way to the sofa in the bedroom by the wall as she gingerly sat down on the bed and continued to stare at him.

To please him, as she would do when with Oleg or his many clients, she told him her story including to her surprise some of the worst bits for the next hour before exhausted from the stress of her day and the realization that the “strange man” who had bought her wasn’t going to rape her, she felt herself falling into a restless sleep.

Watching the beautiful woman-child fall into a half sleep, Thomas knew without a shadow of doubt that this intoxicating young sensual creature of the Turkmenistan Mountains was the first love of his life.

“Such a determination to survive,” he had thought with admiration as he listened to her tell her story and how she became one of Oleg’s women. Keeping his counsel on the fact that she had been just a child of thirteen at the time had revolted him. He had known many women over the years in Russia who used prostitution to feed and support their families. He never judged them. Indeed he often enjoyed their company, this though was completely different.

“She was a baby!” he bitterly thought. As far Thomas was concerned, the fault lay with her father. He had seen many things on his travels, but the selling your own daughter to clear your debts. It had turned his stomach as she told him just as it was still doing now.

He made a decision. He would be her guardian no matter what destiny she wanted to choose for herself.

Seeing she was asleep, he got up from the sofa. He lifted up the blanket that had been discarded earlier and so as not to disturb her, as he could see the emotional exhaustion on her face, covered her with it.

He took one last look at her sleeping form. He smiled at her. Then he walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

* * *

The next morning, as she woke to get her bearings like she always did where or whoever’s bed she was in for the night when on duty for Oleg, the beautiful teenager found a red Nike tracksuit, panties, a white t-shirt and some trainers at the bottom of the bed.

Getting up, Nara then on tiptoe walked into the bathroom to take a shower, where to her surprise she also found a fully stocked ladies makeup bag from Chanel on the side. Again she asked herself all the while looking at the expensive makeup bag, “Who is this man?”

As the power jets of the walk-in shower hit her body, the water doing its job, she reflected with a clearer understanding that he was certainly strange.

“He had bought me! Although he had touched me, he didn’t take me! Then once I submitted to his will he promptly changed again into the respectful man that I had met with Mama? Questions? Questions?”

Thoughts raced through her mind as the spray continued to hit her body.

Finally ending her shower she asked a respectful question of Allah. “Have you sent me a guardian or the devil’s illusion?”

Finishing her makeup, her hair now tied back, dressed in the tight satin tracksuit with the trainers on, Nara walked out of the bedroom into the lounge of the suite to find her guardian or foe sitting at the main table with his blonde bodyguard.

“Good morning, Gunara, please come and join us,” Thomas offered on seeing her enter the room. He stood up respectfully

Nodding her head dutifully to both men although incredibly nervous, Nara gingerly took up his offer and as she did so, his bodyguard who was with him in Oleg’s office and the restaurant introduced himself.

“My name is Mikhail,” he said offering his hand smiling to her. Taking it, Nara smiled, instantly recognizing his voice as belonging to the person who carried up to this room and tried to protect her privacy in the process.

Nara quickly sat down like a little girl by the side of Thomas opposite Mikhail while he poured her a cup of coffee. She saw him wink in the direction of Mikhail.

“Miss Gurbanmammedowova,” Mikhail said taking his cue to leave with an additional smile.

Quietly, as Nara sipped her coffee Thomas opened his briefcase beside him, pulled out, then put her letter “Giving her permission to leave the country” and her passport that Mikhail had now returned to him after he advised him he was going to give her the decision to choose her destiny, on the table.

Something Mikhail had quickly said in response had pleased him, as he never saw Thomas as “Slave Master.”

“I know Mikhail, I blame that prick Oleg’s presence!” he responded.

“Er iz gevorn far ir di kapore!” Mikhail had muttered while shaking his head in disagreement drinking his coffee with his eyes twinkling. It was a Jewish saying, meaning, “He fell for her hook, line, and sinker!”

“Bugger off, you sod!” Thomas responded laughing understanding his joke.

“I will tell Hanna to stop her search!” Mikhail responded in kind continuing with the joke.

But now as he took in the sight of the beautiful young woman in front him Thomas concluded that his old friend had been correct in spite of her being only just nineteen.

“I am going to release you from my protection,” Thomas said causing her eyes to shoot up with panic. Sensing her fear, Thomas moved quickly to calm her.

“Don’t worry Oleg won’t touch you or your family,” he said, guessing at what the look of terror in her eyes was about. “If you come with me I will expect that you obey by my rules and submit to my needs without question,” Thomas carried on looking into her eyes again using Turkmen tribal law to provide Nara with an anchor despite it not being his intention at all.

He looked at her for a moment to try and gauge her. Then she answered.

“I and my family belong to you T-h-o-m-a-s. I will follow you until you say otherwise,” she answered slowly in English to show her commitment. She was smart enough to recognize that he was offering her a way out of Turkmenistan.

Putting down her coffee cup she picked up his hand lifted it up and kissed it with her lips for the effect to show her acceptance. Her training as a concubine was on display for him.

“Good, now call your mother!” Thomas ordered as he gave her a mobile phone.

“I hope you know what you are doing, old chap!” he told himself as he watched her dial her mother’s number on the mobile having caught her overt but bloody sexy professional attempt to satisfy him with an answer she knew he wanted to hear.

Later as they took off in his plane, something she had never done before, Nara watched the powerful man who now “owned” her despite his words to the contrary as he talked about things she assumed was his business with Mikhail while she pretended to flip through a fashion magazine.

She reflected on the whirlwind events of the last two days then concluded, “He is certainly different to any man I have ever met!”

“Baby, he means what he says, I know it!” her mother had said with tears in her eyes as they stood together in the bedroom absorbing his promise to look after Nara after her still traumatized mother had come to the hotel with some more clothes for her.

“Allah has sent you an angel!” her mother had said with authority.

“I know he has!” Nara had replied.

Knowing her mama was still in shock from the terrible savagery of the yesterday Nara had chosen not to argue with her not even when she had told her that she must not fail him but look after him and bear him children. That was something that was most definitely not going to happen as she had decided at the time as soon as she got Moscow she was going to escape from him and head to Dubai.

However it was only when they had emerged from the bedroom that she started to believe her mother’s assessment.

Suspiciously she observed Thomas, as she now called him, take her mother aside then give her a large thick envelope.

As soon as her mother opened it she could see her face was one of shock, her body shaking. Worried, Nara bit her lip.

“Baby! Look, what your Angel has given me!” she said in Turkmen handling her the envelope shaking.

Looking inside, Nara saw what she assumed was fifty thousand U.S. dollars in cash!

“It is to give you choices, Madam Tania,” Thomas had said with a smile as her mother set about hugging him in tears.

It was an action Nara had concluded that must have caught him off guard by the way he hesitantly patted her mother awkwardly in return.

“From now on you are under my protection and I will advise the President accordingly,” he said. “If you need anything, call Gunara and I will take care of it,” he stated with authority.

“No man had ever done that for them in their entire life certainly not her drunken father! And he was going to tell the President to look after Mama,” Nara thought while watching him doing his paperwork.

“Who are you?” she pondered.

* * *

Arriving in Moscow in good time, the drive to his home in the diplomatic residence area of the city was less so. It took an hour and a half due the traffic, the bane of Moscow.

On reaching the house they were greeted by his personal butler Sergeant Tan (who she later found out, thinking him to be a Tajik at first, was Nepalese and Thomas’s first platoon sergeant from his time in the army) and his wife.

“Sergeant and Mrs. Tan will look after you,” he said, introducing them.

“Thank you,” she replied as she watched him go into another room with Mikhail and his men.

“Please follow me, Madam Gunara,” said Mrs. Tan indicating with her arm to do so.

“Madam?” thought Nara. That was a title given to the ladies of powerful men in her country. “Does it mean the same here?” she pondered as she followed the woman upstairs. Mrs. Tan first showed her to her bedroom then on to another room with built-in wardrobes.

“This is your dressing room, Madam Gunara,” stated the servant, having already surprised her moments go by telling her that the beautiful bedroom was hers and not his.

“Dressing room!” that was something she only read about in Magazines, she thought.

Leaving her with a little bow a gesture that made feel like a Princess, Nara couldn’t believe how much her life had just changed in two days.

“These rooms are five times bigger than my entire apartment!” she thought, dumbstruck, taking in her new surroundings. Opening the cupboards, she was further surprised once more to find a range of outfits, underwear, and shoes all from the pages of Vogue, although not all to her taste, nor completely fitting her, they were near enough as she picked them out to look at them.

“Who is this man?” she pondered again. “Allah, my thanks to you for blessing me!” she said closing her eyes again as she suddenly realized that God had heard her prayers.

At which point as Thomas entered the room. Nara turned quickly then ran into his arms like a schoolgirl, excitingly kissing him with force for the first time in their life.

“My Thomas,” she murmured in a lusty sexy Russian accent.

“I take it you’re happy then!” he said almost breathlessly after she kissed him.

He had asked Hanna to deliver a range of outfits from her friend’s boutique for her, so he was hoping his friend’s wife had chosen well. It appeared she had done so.

“Yes… of course my baby, but not because of the clothes,” she replied in her English slowly like she were a little girl.

“Really?” he responded slightly disappointed.

“Because you had promised to look after my Mama!”

A questioning look came from him followed by a question. “Why now?” Thomas asked now seeing quite a different girl to the professional one of earlier in the day.

“Because this was the first time I could be alone with you, my darling, for our first time,” she answered looking up into his eyes as Nabokov’s “Lolita” with wide-eyed innocence.

“I want you now!”

“Take what is yours!” she suddenly demanded, kissing him again and again as she wrapped a leg around him tugging at his black silk and wool trousers in the process. “T-h-o-m-a-s, I NEED YOU TAKE ME HERE NOW,” she continued as if possessed, the trained Jelep in control figuring that to secure her position she must submit to him despite her dislike of men.

Undoing his belt buckle, she pressed her hips against his crotch as he roughly pulled at her Nike training tracksuit bottoms. Noting that they had come off rather easily as he yanked them down, Thomas inhaled deeply as he continued to kiss her, drinking from her moist lips as she stepped out of them.

Suddenly he felt his trousers around his ankles in moments. Then he felt her hands working on his underpants.

“I need to feel his strength now so to satisfy Allah and his will as well,” she reasoned to herself as the professional in her kicked in.

Helping her get his underwear off he then offered to go to the bedroom but instead she simply grabbed hold off his now rigid manhood and wrapped her leg around him again. Easing him inside her so to let him slam himself quickly she pulled him into the built-in cupboard for balance as he entered her.

At that moment, Nara felt all the years of physical abuse and torture of the last two days flood over her. It was so intense it almost caused her to pass out, yet something else happened to her.

“What is this? No man has ever done this!” she thought as she wrapped her other leg around him.

Taking hold of her taut bottom, he drove himself into her over and over against the wardrobe.

He had wanted this release all day as he watched her on the plane, her incredible beauty bewitching him with every passing minute as the two of them made small talk and probed each other on their backgrounds. Now it was finally happening.

“Bloody hell!” he murmured for he had never felt anything like this with a woman before.

Kissing him deeply for a moment so she could catch her breath from the emotions that were now laying siege to her from his assault on her, the moans from both of them rang loudly in the room before back in control Nara encouraged him to take her even harder as if forcing out the “demons” whirling around in her head.

Taking her instruction verbatim, Thomas did as he was ordered to do with more force and animal lust as he drove up against her over and over again, slamming himself into her as her legs locked around him, causing her to start babbling.

They carried on like this for the following two minutes, bringing each other to the shared brink of orgasm before feeling herself come / first she held onto him tightly digging her nails into his back.

“MY T-H-O-M-A-S!” she screamed as her soaked sex clamped down on his manhood.

Feeling her intense orgasm arrive caused Thomas to lose all control as waves of release cascaded throughout his body as well, with his whole body becoming rigid just before he exploded into the young woman he sworn he would look after with his life.

Now breathless while he pressed himself into her Nara opened her eyes. Unwrapping from him, she put one leg on the ground then kissed him deeply. As she did so she separated from him, then lowered the other leg, pulling him close to her.

“I can feel your seed inside me, my love,” she huskily whispered as she held him.

“Now we go to the bedroom!” she ordered the professional in her taking over.

8

Washington, D.C.

In the rather dull colored situation room of the White House, very unlike how one of the most secure locations in the world is portrayed in films, waiting for the President and the Chief of Staff to arrive for the regular debriefing on the latest national security threat that their country was facing were the Secretary of State, Director of the CIA, the National Security Adviser and finally Joseph McGiven.

In the week leading up to this briefing, each servant of the President’s administration relevant institutions had been tasked to prepare a situation analysis and formulate recommendations for POTUS’s consideration and action.

As this was the “pre-briefing,” the Secretary, as the most senior member of the Administration, was chairing the meeting until the President’s arrival.

A distinguished former member of the Senate and Presidential Candidate, John Kerry had possessed a unique understanding of U.S. Foreign Policy due in part from his education in Europe, at the sharp end with his decorated service in Vietnam, then once he was elected, by his stints on the committees for International Trade and Foreign Relations.

To kick-start the meeting he asked the Director of the CIA to begin his overview.

After a rather long-winded introduction during which the Director paused to drink a glass of water and irritating the Secretary in the process, the man finally reached a crucial point of the briefing.

“It’s the Agency’s opinion that this ‘action’ by the placing of this proposed base virtually next door to ours in Djibouti is purely about sending a message to African States and the rest of the world that Russia is ready to do business and as such represents a continuation of their confrontation policy with the United States, as recently demonstrated in Georgia Syria, Crimea and Ukraine.”

He continued, turning a page of his notes. “As the African Continent is going to provide a quarter of the world’s oil in the next ten years, coupled with the fact that Russia is now facing competition from the U.S, EU, Chinese, and Indian companies as well as with corporations from the Arabian Peninsula in the region, it is the Agency’s belief that ARCTIC TIGER intends to rebuild what they perceive as their natural position in the world. It is also our belief Russia intends to achieve this ambition through its use of their competitive advantages in quality-price ratios they currently enjoy in the knowledge of prospecting, production, and transportation of natural resources in tandem with their military ‘wrapper’!”

The Director paused again, ignoring the Secretary’s gesture of throwing his pencil down to show his displeasure at him. He took another sip of water before continuing.

“With no traditional colonial influence in Africa; our analysts believe that Russia, by concluding this deal with the continent’s newest state, are sending a message that they intend to compete against our U.S. trading links that we have under the AGOA (American Growth and Opportunities Act) within the region. This is furthermore supported by HUMINT intelligence sources that advise that ARCTIC TIGER privately sees the ‘Arab Spring’ policy of this Administration as re-branded product of the privatization policy U.S. Administrations have used in Russia in the nineties as a tool to degrade competition to U.S. interests.”

The Secretary of State sighed inwardly. He wasn’t a fan of Director Young seeing him as the epitome of elegant evil with his affectations, even if he was a fellow “Bonesman” from Yale.

He decided to push on, as the Director wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know having dealt with ARCTIC TIGER in frosty meetings in the past, none more so at the G8 summit last year where he had clearly stated his desire that it was Russia’s right to be equal partners with the United States of America in the world and demonstrated it by out-foxing the administration with regard to the Ukraine’s mineral rich Eastern Provinces return to the Russian fold, despite the sanctions.

“So, what you are saying is, this is the beginning of the second Cold War that the various ‘Hawks’ in our departments have been touting since Putin came to power and not just a sample of more of his grandstanding in manner of the Ukraine to score points of the President?” He ignored the use of Putin’s ARCTIC TIGER “call sign,” as he had enough of that when he had left the Navy in the sixties.

A former analyst, then the Station Chief of Moscow who had overseen operations to disable Russia in the early nineties, the Director had a total distrust of everything ‘Putin’ and saw him as many in the American Civil Service did as a modern day Stalin, just without the death camps.

So although he had only been in the top job for two months the man immediately seized this opportunity to promote his crusade to “not to drop the guard” against the “old enemy.”

“Yes, Mr. Secretary. We now believe that is the case,” David Patrick Young answered without a flicker of emotion on his face just as the President of United States of America walked into the room.

9

Moscow

Sitting at his desk so he could read the latest analysis reports around the world, Alexei Nikolai Anynkov, the Director of the SVR, the organization that is responsible for intelligence and espionage gathering outside the Russian Federation and within, providing the dissemination of intelligence to the Russian President, picked up a cup of black tea. He pulled the report from the resident asset manager in the US towards him, opened it and started to read.

Littered with “codenames” to reflect companies and senior individuals in the U.S. Government it provided him initially with an analysis of Krivet’s conversation with Joseph McGiven. This wasn’t an unusual event, as the SVR routinely monitored all the world’s major media company C-Suite individual telephone communications just like their counterparts in the U.S. did from time to time. In the case of the famous U.S. media mogul, the monitoring of all his calls had only just been stepped up since the President, at a meeting he attended in Moscow two months ago, informed “Fama” the English Oligarch asset of the President that he would like him to lead the delegation of Russian businesses to invest in Africa.

The Russian President had chosen the “Anglichanin”, as Alexei Nikolai Anynkov thought of Thomas, notwithstanding his Russian passport and his unique basket of business assets, but more importantly because he had seen how well he had built his company’s position within the new African State. The President was convinced that in order for this plan to succeed they would need to engage in a program to win the “hearts and minds” of public opinion around the world, unlike they had in the past with Georgia and Syria. He had taken his time to find a possible opportunity that would enable Russia to do that.

The Federal Republic of Adwalland with its location at the entrance to Red Sea was rich in natural resources and he had determined that it represented the perfect situation to start the re-establishment of Russia as a military power, much to the surprise of Alexei, until he had explained why.

The day the Englishman had brought Krivets into the circle of trust meant that the cat was truly out of the bag and the game could begin on the political stage. This view, held by Alexei, was further supported by what he read next in his summary.

The local resident had reported that sources within National Security Organizations were now advising that, in the last week, their companies had been asked to elevate counterintelligence operations against Russia in all theatres.

Again, Alexis mused there was nothing new in this intelligence as the “Hawks” in the State Department and National Security Organizations of the United States had always held a deep suspicion of the Russian President and his objectives—so much so they were always making such recommendations. He had also come to the conclusion with the appointment of David Young to the head up the CIA a few months ago, the very man who had led his country into chaos with his assets through their advice and management of Yeltsin program of privatization in the 1990s, that this type of intelligence chatter would be now become more common.

It was the next line of the report that really caught his eye, with the phrase, “President’s Authorization has been granted.”

That was something he hadn’t expected!

Immediately Alexei put down his tea picked up his phone then dialed the President’s Office to ask for a time to see him that evening.

10

London

The dinner was arranged for quarter to eight o’clock but he was late and Thomas didn’t have time to change, so instead he found himself in the study waiting for Nara to join him.

Nara, running late as was the norm, walked into the study just as the clock in the study chimed seven thirty. She was wearing a sexy, short, black couture dress from one of the many famous designers she gave her patronage to.

“By God, she is beautiful,” reflected Thomas as he recovered from the stunning sight she presented.

The silk dress, designed with lace around the front and sides provided revealing glimpses of her bare olive skin from the thigh up to her cleavage in front, had left nothing to the imagination—she was a vision of alluring elegance.

“God knows how much that cost me?” he thought as for all her natural beauty and the ability to look stunning in anything, his ‘wild horse’ as he fondly thought of her certainly knew how to spend it. By definition, she fitted in well with the wives and girlfriends of the Oligarchs that were exiled in London.

To finish off her look, she wore a pair of high stilettos with ankle straps, the color of legendary soles of the designer matching her very kissable made up red lips. “Darling you look absolutely ravishing,” he said as kissed her gently on her cheek so not to ruin her lipstick. He put an arm around her and felt his loins stir as his fingertips traced along the length of her long naked back.

“Thank you, my darling!” she sparkled. “I am pleased you like it,” she followed up with an alluring smile to match her sparkling eyes that seemed to Thomas to be working in tandem with diamonds in her ears and around her neck.

Changing the subject quickly to fight the urge to cancel dinner there and then and take Nara to bed instead, he asked if she knew who the woman was that would be joining them for dinner as Steve’s companion. His personal assistant had told him earlier she was an actress, but he had never heard of her.

“Yes! Darling, she is on the TV Show that Victoria watches—you know, the one with all the singing,” Nara answered straight away with authority.

“That means she’s young then, I suppose?” he said with a twinkle, as he knew Stevie liked his women young and had a reputation of using his position and the casting couch to full effect. Looking at his watch, the small talk over, he said, “We better make a move. I will brief you in the car.”

During the short drive, he briefed his ‘partner in crime’ on the background of the night. Nara listened carefully as he spoke, so she didn’t miss anything. It had filled her with immense pride that the President of Mother Russia saw ‘Her Thomas’ as a key part of his plans to rebuild her country’s status in the world.

For Nara, like the vast majority of her contemporaries of the émigré community, considered him a strong and fair leader in direct contrast to rest of the world that fell outside his influence.

Being street smart, she had learned early on in her life that important men often like to impress pretty girls engaged in pillow talk after sex. Yet it was only after the time when he had made love to her after punishing on that terrible day that Thomas changed towards her in this regard and started to treat her as his sounding board by involving her in his thought forming processes.

Whenever he did, it proved to Nara that she was truly his woman not just Hiskəniz (meaning concubine). It also had the added effect of allaying her fears as to Thomas moving on from her, something that had been festering inside her since he took the decision to send Victoria to boarding school.

Most of the time she had learned Thomas preferred for her to sit quietly and listen, but one thing he always did without fail was to ask her at the end of the night for her impressions on his associates when acting as his hostess. This act alone made her feel special.

“I will not let you down my darling,” she responded in Russian smiling at him taking his hand as he finished his briefing. Arriving at the restaurant, the resident paparazzi readied themselves as they pulled up just in case it was a famous person about to get out of the car.

On seeing it was Sir Thomas Litchfield with his famous girlfriend, the bulb flashes immediately lit up the street as they stepped out surrounded by their bodyguards. Thomas straightened his back and helped Nara out of the Rolls Royce Phantom. They briskly walked together arm in arm into the restaurant, ignoring the volley of flashing lights.

Once inside they entered the bar, Steve, having already arrived with his companion and his own bodyguard quickly spotted them and waved them over to join them.

Expressively, he hugged Thomas first, as was his way, before respectfully kissing Nara on each cheek. Initial formalities out of the way, he introduced his young companion standing just to his side.

“Guys, this is Daniela,” he said.

Thomas and Nara immediately thought that she was incredibly beautiful. Eighteen, she may be, but she came across as an illicit sixteen something they also surmised she almost certainly used to her advantage with certain types of men or women. Both also assumed unkindly that because she was with Steve, a man old enough to be her father and who had a passion for young girls, this was the reason why she was currently starring in the successful TV show set in a high school on the network owned by MNG.

“Yes,” Nara reflected, recognizing a predator instantly. “In looks she maybe a child underneath, however, she is anything, but!” she thought with authority.

“Christ, Stevie, you’re going get into trouble one day!” Thomas thought as he reached the same conclusion as his beautiful companion, just by a different route.

“It is a pleasure to meet you both,” Danielle responded with her best apple pie accent and smile just as she did on her television show, kissing air with each of them in turn after she had said it.

Introductions over, they went straight to the table.

As Thomas slid into one of Nobu’s famous booths, Nara immediately noticed the young girl had made sure her Thomas could see her legs.

“Jelep, I am not letting my Victoria watch her show anymore!” Nara jealously thought. Thomas, who unknown to Nara was into women and not children, blatantly ignored Daniele’s very obvious attempt.

She perked up straight away when she spotted the young girl’s disappointment that he done so.

“That’s right, Jelep! He’s mine,” Nara thought glibly, ignoring the fact that she wasn’t much older than the girl herself when she entered her Thomas’s life all those years ago.

“Why don’t you ladies do the ordering tonight?” Thomas asked.

“That’s a fabulous idea, Thomas!” Steve replied jovially, in support of his friend and business partner.

Much to Daniele’s annoyance, Nara immediately asserted her place as a senior female and did just that. She put the little starlet back in her place by not even consulting with the girl on the food for the night.

Inwardly Thomas chuckled, “God, she can be such a little cow when she wants to be,” he thought having spotted straight away Nara displeasure over the way Danielle had been flirting with him. “But a sexy one,” he added,

With the conversation over dinner touching on places, art, and music, interjected with several interruptions by fans for Daniele, friends of Nara, or business associates of both men, the point had come for them to discuss their business.

Taking her cue from Thomas with one of his famous winks, Nara suggested that Daniele and she go to the powder room. Again Thomas could instantly see it had infuriated the young starlet who had spent the entire dinner flirting with both him and Steve not to mention enjoying the attention of her fans, if not offering much on the subjects of general conversation.

But just as Daniele was about to decline, Steve backed up Nara by suggesting or ordering her to do so, depending on your point of view. Only then did the pretty teenager take the hint and did as she was told.

With the ladies out of earshot, the two men turned to business.

“Did McGiven take the bait?” Thomas asked as he sipped his chilled Sake.

“Because if the Chief of Staff hadn’t taken the bait, then the both of them were going to have to come up some other another angle they might be able to use because for all your planning or planting of seeds, you just don’t control an individual’s understanding of the situation until it is presented to them,” Thomas thought, using one of Homer’s quotes on the aspects of human nature.

“Pretty much like you had said,” Steve responded to the point at which, Thomas nodded and began to relax.

When the Mayor had first informed them of his desire for TLH to put forward the offer of a new Russian military base in Adwalland as part of his proposed infrastructure investment package into the new country by using the argument that it would support the Russian oil companies entering the region, Thomas had quickly grasped the dressed up offer for what it was: “Russia was re-entering the great game.”

With the negotiations completed and the Memorandum of Understanding initialed and agreed with the Government and with the formal signing process to be completed in Borama after he had agreed the deal with the greedy minister on the yacht over the weekend, the only thing of the investment program that needed to be handled was the planned construction of the Russian Navy base on the coast of Africa’s newest country.

At the meeting with the Mayor, he knew instantly why the Mayor had chosen him.

“Christ,” Thomas had exclaimed. “It’s like setting up shop in a ‘surrogate’ Cuba!”

“Yes, it could argue that it may not be ninety miles off the coast of America, but it may as well have been, with the Horn of Africa being one of the world’s significant trading routes, has and sees eleven percent of the world’s trade passing through it and by definition a ‘choke point. Ukraine was only a test of resolve!” Thomas grimly thought.

Desperate not to be drawn into the political game, Thomas had started to argue that Gazprom as a state entity might be better placed to handle the offer of a military support. The Mayor had waved his hand dismissively as if irritated.

“Why do you think I have selected you, Fama!” he had said in English, with the use of Russian name instead of Thomas.

With a large shareholding in the U.S. media company sitting alongside his oil interests, it had quickly dawned on him why he was the chosen one. He was the perfect political proxy.

“I should have known! He knows full well that their great enemy isn’t going allow a base a hundred and twenty miles away from their own one in Djibouti! Not without some kind of response, especially after the bloody nose he had given them in Syria and the Ukraine,” Thomas had mused.

Having been put firmly in his place, Thomas then had known what this meant.

TLH and thereby him as the company’s owner were about to become a piece on the Mayor’s chessboard.

This meant Thomas was going to have to protect his position. If he did not then the collateral damage cost to his family and those who depend on him would be measured in billions of U.S. dollars.

Figuring he would at least try and be the one piece on the board that can escape from attack of a Queen, Thomas had formulated a plan.

Over the years, chess often acted as a sounding board in his strategizing when he started to think through a problem in business. It was something his father in one of their few moments of parental interaction had taught him when they holidayed at his estate outside Florence.

He still remembered that day like it was yesterday

“A knight can only move one square horizontally and two squares vertically or one square vertically and two squares horizontally, however its ability to move over the other pieces to a free square or capture the piece on that square makes the knight special,” his father had said showing him the moves.

“In the best circumstances, Tommy,” his father continued, “he can sidestep an attack.” Again, he showed him the moves.

“A King moves one space in either direction so is limited in his movement, but he must be protected at all costs. A Queen is seen by many as the most powerful piece on the board, hence why it is always attacked or coveted as it reflects the power and strength,” his father said smiling before he took a puff of his cigar. “A knight though, always has the ability to sidestep an attack and survive!” he stated through the smoke surrounding him.

“My friends, albeit unwittingly, are the Knights,” Thomas decided. “A controlled leak through Steve is the perfect way to kick start the backchannels,” Thomas concluded. In his heart he hoped it would be political grandstanding but with recent state of relations between the two protagonists at recent all-time low it made sense to Thomas to try and have an insurance policy.

History taught Thomas that the world’s conflicts were either started or ultimately stopped because men worked in the shadows of diplomacy and despite trying hard to avoid it, Thomas now found himself to be such a man.

“It will be just like when Kennedy used Scali in that role in the Cuban crisis in 1961 as the tensions, really started to rise,” Thomas had said during his call to Steve while he was on the plane flying across Africa, referring to the famous news reporter who had acted as a back channel, as he was trying to convince Steve to use his contacts on his behalf.

“I have no doubt you will be able to earn yourself a lot of favors,” he had offered as Thomas had continued his charm offensive, knowing full well his friend was thinking of a political career in the future, as it was something Steve had mentioned during their last dinner together.

In the Cuban crisis, the famous journalist had been rewarded with an Ambassadorship for service to his country, and as they took out their phones, Thomas wondered what reward his friend would seek.

Personally Thomas had never sought power or wealth though he readily accepted that it be could be argued he had both. His mantra was more akin to a quote he had once heard the late Margaret Thatcher say at Hereford during a visit to the base, to thank the men personally for their efforts in Northern Ireland: “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”

Although she had used it as a sound bite to justify why their undercover work had to remain secret.

In Thomas’s case he used it to justify his desire to survive.

Irrespective of your wealth and power, if you suddenly found yourself the target of a country’s wrath above the line then you sure as hell not going to survive unless you had a piece of leverage, pure and simple.

When Steve had suggested it might be appropriate for him to call McGiven, to brief him on the background behind the deal, Thomas had quickly grasped at his friend’s suggestion because it enabled three things.

Firstly, he knew that it would establish Steve’s credentials as a potential backchannel that might be trusted by the State Department, if needed at some point. When his friend had recommended McGiven, he later admitted to himself after the call that it had gone better than he had hoped. For, until Steve had proposed McGiven himself, the best Thomas had hoped for was a high level introduction to somebody appropriate within the Administration.

This was high as it got: ‘Two degrees of separation’.

Secondly, by involving his friend personally, Thomas knew that by playing to his ego as a CEO of a world media group, he was now a ’world player’ in forging public opinion, not just feeding them the ideas of others. This meant that as long as he was smart and managed it carefully Thomas could pull the strings on the message and at the same time, ensure his overriding goal that being the protection of TLH’s commercial position.

Lastly, though, on this part of his plan he couldn’t be sure that there wasn’t a guarantee that anybody was listening, he was sending a signal to the Mayor that the ball was in play, thereby putting in place his survival goal of his plan.

His mind reflected on that last part of the plan for a few moments.

“Yes,” he concluded. “It may be speculative to assume that SVR was monitoring all my communications just as it would be to assume that the National Security Organizations of the United States had been monitoring those calls but assume otherwise would be stupid.”

So much so, it was something he shared with Steve. They had both taken their batteries out of their phones and placed them on the table before they started their update.

“One thing life’s taught me,” Thomas said as he opened up the back of the phone. “The day you stop attempting to work out what would the other side was going to do in their situation would either be your last day on earth or it will end up costing you money.”

Steve laughed and then said, “One thing Snowden’s affair has shown the world was that with the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act allowing for the sharing of Internet traffic information between the U.S. government and technology and manufacturing companies it would be foolish not to assume that from the moment I called Joe McGiven, if not before, then all our communications together are going to be recorded and reviewed. So don’t worry, I am on the same page, old buddy.”

Thomas smiled at his friend. “Excellent Stevie! Welcome to the great game,” he said, offering him a toast in response.

“Hell, Tommy,” Steve replied as he picked up his drink. “If I pull this off I might even have a run at the Presidency myself one day!” he said, his ego rising to the surface as he tapped Thomas’s sake shot with his own.

“Indeed,” answered Thomas before he started to brief him on the next parts of the plan over the coming weeks.

He thought, “I might have guessed an Ambassadorship wouldn’t cut it for the famous Steve Krivets!” in reference to the question he asked as he presented his idea.

Moments later, with heads turning in their direction from restaurant, scores of celebrity watchers of London, the ‘jailbait’ looking Daniele and his stunning life’s companion walked back to join them.

“Stevie if you’re really serious about being President one day you’re certainly going have to give up ‘pursuits’ like that!” said Thomas in his best sage-like voice laced with a little humor.

“Yeah I know, buddy, but just not yet!” he laughed while offering his friend another toast.

Returning to the table, having changed places with Daniele so she could sit next him, Nara took his hand and he instantly responded with a little squeeze of his own, his signal he had finished his business for the evening.

Allowing normal conversation to resume until the meal ended with both Titans having a mock fight as who paid the bill. The honor fell to Steve.

“Keep in touch,” he said to Steve as they hugged each other.

“I will, buddy,” Steve responded as they left the restaurant together, but not before each man’s various protection teams took up their anti-threat positions, to allow their charges to get into their various limos as the blinding wall of light from the awaiting paparazzi lit up the night again.

* * *

Awake, having looked at the clock by the side of the bed and seeing that it was seven o’clock, Thomas quickly realized that he had only three hours sleep. Getting up, despite his body telling him not to, as he had a meeting at ten with the Prime Minister, he slid quietly from beneath the linen sheets trying hard not to disturb the sleeping Nara knowing she was not due to fly to Nice until midday.

Glancing over at her face, he took a moment to reflect on the night before. An intense bout of lovemaking had taken place after getting home from the restaurant. Demanding and passionate, it reminded him of their time in Venice when they created Victoria together.

They hadn’t wasted any time on their return home, once inside their bedroom, tearing at the dress like a possessed man, wasting the thirty thousand U.S. dollars in the process but not caring as he made love to Nara.

The rest of the night was as just as frenzied and passionate while they attacked each other. On and on, it went with him exploding each time as his beautiful wild love controlled him.

“Yep,” he told himself as he shook his head with a broad smile. “I am a blessed man!” He caressed her long hair gently.

Leaving their bed quietly, he slipped through the dressing room straight on through to the bathroom; automatically the lights came on as the sensors picked up on his body movement. Reaching the sink, he grabbed the can of shaving gel, stretched, turned on the tap, lathered up his face, and started to shave. As he did so, he thought about his imminent meeting with the Prime Minister.

Ruminating that it is never the easiest of jobs leading a coalition, Thomas concluded it was because PM always ended up sounding like he was delivering a sound bite from a PowerPoint presentation and also, in no small part, due to the fact he was a product of a privileged education having gone to Eton and Oxford, that the PM struggled in presenting himself as a man of the people.

Each time he did he just ended up sounding like a British First World War officer ordering his men over the top of the trenches and then onto their deaths.

It was the Mayor who ensured Thomas used the first part of his conclusion to their mutual benefit having told him the KGB had tried to recruit him once when he was nineteen on a visit to the Soviet Union knowing he was from the political elite of England and on his way to Oxford. That attempt ultimately failed because he wasn’t a traitor in the traditional sense of the word.

When the Mayor became President, he chose to use his National Champions allies in England to cultivate him this time by using commerce and political self-interest as the tools of choice.

“Almost like Satan in John Milton’s Paradise Lost,” Thomas suddenly thought chuckling to himself as the razor glided over his chin.

Ambitious, principled, driven, not to mention a family man, the Mayor had told Thomas over a dinner that he actually quite liked him before ordering him to help him through his media interests.

Following his instructions to the letter Thomas proceeded to do just that in subtle ways until the man finally sat in front of him in the China Tang’s Private Room located in the famous Dorchester Hotel as the Leader of the Opposition.

Described as the “Leader in Waiting,” it hadn’t taken much for him to make a deal with him over his media’s support for the next four years leading up to the General Election: just the promise that TLH agenda received full access to his ministers and support from him whenever they requested it.

“You have to hand it to the Mayor. He was right, the National Champions are the best recruitment team of the Special Services of Russia!” he sadly concluded looking at himself in the mirror.

His second country’s interests were now well and truly established in his first country’s institutions of the City and Whitehall, that was something the Soviet Union never achieved in it is eighty years of existence despite the nest of assets they had in the security services and civil service, and reinforced by the fact that for the first time since the Special Relationship had begun Britain hadn’t followed the U.S. into a conflict by the way the PM had allowed the MPs of his party to vote against Syria.

“Rumpelstiltskin always gets his due, old chap,” Thomas thought chuckling to himself over the comparison of the Mayor to the famous children’s fable.

That said, the fact, that “repayment” happened to suit the Federal Republic of Russia’s interests and not that of the United States of America, the traditional ally of the United Kingdom, was neither here or there.

Finished shaving he stretched again, feeling his old wounds in the process throb in the process. He turned on the cold tap very briefly to wash away the remains of his shadow mixed with the shaving cream and to wake him up, then turned to the power shower and stepped in.

As the water roared out hitting his body, he reflected again on his life. More and more he was beginning to feel like Achilles. Like many of the Oligarchs who had taken the wealth of Russia’s soil, he had become the instrument of the Mayor. He just wondered if his own particular heel would kill him one day.

“If I get this wrong, it will!” he concluded as his mind went over what he needed from the meeting that was due to place in a few hours’ time.

The warm water jets were exceptionally relaxing against his skin, though he had little to relax from at this precise moment—he had, after all, apart from the views whirling in his head just had a bout of passionate and stress-relieving sex with his amazing woman followed by a short, deep sleep.

He was so wrapped up by his thoughts he had not noticed the figure of Nara enter the bathroom until she spoke.

“Morning, my Thomas,” she said through a giggle, her smile widening as she watched him turn his head slowly back towards her with his own smile.

“Morning beautiful,” he said with his own naughty glint in his eye.

“You’re up early. Do you have to be somewhere, darling?” she asked innocently, earning a response that he did although not telling her who with.

“Then why didn’t you wake me?” she said as a siren to a sailor, wrapping her hand around the large silver handle set into the glass shower door making clear her intention to join him. “I need to shower too, my love,” she further added as she stepped in.

Seeing his devilish eyes twinkle with amusement, she laughed as she shut the door behind her.

“It certainly looks like I’m not the only one happy that I’ve joined you my Thomas,” she murmured looking at the stirring taking place below as her hand went about weaving its magic as the water hit them both.

11

Venice, 2001

The weekend they conceived Victoria was in many ways one of few moments in their life together when Thomas and Nara actually felt like an everyday couple losing themselves in romance like the rest of tourists that visited Venice over the ages. It was a time when they believed it was for it was just for them, and nobody else.

His exotic creature of Central Asia had been with him two years or as she preferred to tell him, “Allah had sent him to save her,” rather dramatically.

He had just received his knighthood, something he knew would have pleased his mother if she had lived and though Thomas and Nara’s relationship had certainly grown, it wasn’t until what she said in the car on the way back from Buckingham Palace to him that he actually realized what she meant to him notwithstanding their many passionate moments together.

Up until that moment he had been convinced she masked her emotions from him, something he thought was a direct consequence of her former profession.

“Your Mama would have proud, my Thomas,” she had said, looking at him tears forming in her eyes, her black kohl mascara running.

“Of what?” he had responded teasing her.

“Of seeing her son and the love of my life being made a Knight of the Realm by your great lady, of course!” she had replied her feelings hurt giving him the look of an innocent child.

“So I am your love of life?” he had teased again causing her to look at him with even more shock and horror because he questioned her statement.

“A-l-w-a-y-s, my Thomas” she had responded continuing to show her shock that he would think otherwise.

“My God! She means it!” he had thought, feeling guilty for teasing her.

Putting his arm around her as a way of an apology Thomas kissed her gently on lips before allowing his mind to drift for a few moments.

He knew he loved her. It was just that he was having trouble getting his head around the fact she was so young and he was sixteen years older than her.

“But he had made a vow,” Thomas had decided. “Vows are never broken!” he had admonished himself.

“I would like to take you to Venice this weekend just you and me nobody else,” he had said suddenly.

“I would like that, my darling,” Nara had answered

The person who didn’t was Mikhail. He went ballistic when Thomas had told him of his intentions. The two of them argued heavily over it.

“It’s not bloody Moscow!” retorted Thomas.

“No, it’s worse. It is the land of the Mafia!” replied Mikhail.

In the end he reached a compromise with Mikhail insisting that he would carry his Glock pistol at all times, and the team though not following them, would remain on station in Venice and out of sight.

Having arrived at midday and now on the launch, he took in the face of the young woman he had sworn to protect as she saw Venice for the first time, as through the mist and half sunlight the beautiful city appeared.

To many, the city is at its best when the high water known by the locals as “Acqua alta” takes away the decay floating around the city.

“Thomas, it is so beautiful!” she said excitedly.

“Not as beautiful as you my darling,” he said taking her hand.

Turning towards him, her lovely jet-black hair drifting in the light wind from the Adriatic she pulled him into her. She kissed him forcibly on the lips, her saltiness tasting to him like honey.

“I love you, my Darling!” she said with a smile as their long kiss ended.

That afternoon, no guards, no demands, just Nara and him like two young lovers, he showed her around the Venice of his youth that despite the tourists, never seems to change. When he last visited the floating city just after the First Gulf War to take up a position as a researcher for his former professor at Oxford who was writing a book, , he was a broken and bitter young man by what he felt was a betrayal by the politicians of him and his men when they had left them to die.

“I want to you meet a very special person,” he said as they walked hand in hand.

Taking her to an old church of the San Martino, he presented to the man who, with his kindliness and reflective advice had brought him back from the edge and set Thomas on the road to become the man he now was.

A charmingly cluttered parish church, built in the Renaissance Period, was located on a canal in Castello not far from the Arsenale. The church wasn’t listed in most guidebooks probably because it doesn’t have any famous masterpieces, but Thomas had loved it for its art including some modern twentieth century works mixed in with the old which ranged from the Byzantine to Baroque periods and, he had further explained to her as they walked together, that the church always felt less of a museum more like an active part of the neighborhood.

“Like our Mosques back home,” Nara responded trying to show him she understood.

“Yes, Darling,” he answered with a smile followed by passionate kiss, their tenth of the day, and again earning a “Bella Bambina” or “Molto benne” in admiration from the male Italian residents of Venice every time he did.

Walking into the Church he immediately spotted Father Umberto Amersini.

He caught sight of Thomas at the same time and quickly walked briskly towards him beaming and shouting out loud, “Thomas! It is so good to see you again my son,” he said in Italian to him as they hugged each other.

“So many years! Tell me have you beaten your demon, my son?” He looked at him with a quizzical eye before answering his own question. “I think he lies only dormant, my son!” he concluded almost sage like.

Changing the subject before the old priest had time to question him further, the former researcher cum billionaire introduced Nara to him. The old man smiled as he took her in.

“I can see though you have captured his heart, La Signorina! Such a beautiful woman, Thomas you’re a lucky man,” he said as he now took and then kissed her hand.

Watching Nara blush as she thanked the priest, he had to agree with his old friend who still had a twinkle in his eye despite his vows.

Thomas, having decided to spend the rest of the afternoon with the priest and with Umberto holding court telling her things about him that even Mikhail didn’t know, watched on, falling in love with her once more as she listened, warmly smiled, and laughed over coffee and cake.

On returning to the hotel, Nara made him wait by refusing him the honor of taking her in the shower instead she insisted that he went first, dress for dinner, and wait to take her out. As he entered the bathroom he decided if somewhat reluctantly to follow her orders, she then smacked his bottom.

“Bad Thomas!” she chastised him.

When he came out, he tried to make a move towards her again, but before he could grab her Nara ran past him into the bathroom and locked the door behind her to the sound of her saying, “Niet! Naughty, naughty!”

He laughed loudly.

Foiled! He set about drying himself, put on some cologne from Aqua din Pinna, his favorite from the small perfumery in Florence, his underwear, and then his linen tailored white shirt followed by his sky blue linen trousers. He pulled his holster personally designed to fit discreetly with a Glock pistol in it over his shoulder, around his side, just as Mikhail had insisted. He donned his tailored linen jacket to hide it.

As he made his Bombay Martini with a drop of bitters from the drinks tray, Thomas pondered Umberto’s final words of the afternoon.

“Thomas, promise me you will control the Demon for if you don’t he will consume your soul one day,” he said referring to Thomas’s determination to use power as a way to punish the injustice in his life he felt that had been committed to him and those he was charged to lead and protect.

“Remember, my son, rather than providing closure, he does the opposite, keeps the wound open and fresh by taking those things you value most treasured!”

Thomas had replied back with a wry smile as he always did when they debated all those years previously when he had shared his plans to travel to Russia.

“Yes, Father and when presented with a Gordian knot, one slashes it,” he replied using the reference of the famous legend that the man who could untie the knot was destined to rule the entire world. When Alexander was presented with it, he had slashed it with his sword and unraveled it and conquered the known world.

Umberto rolled his eyes at Thomas’s use of the legend of Alexander as a justification that one shouldn’t walk away from a fight of honor whatever the cost.

“Just make sure you find peace one day and give that young lady of yours, a child,” Umberto ordered before forcibly kissing him on both cheeks with a firm grip.

A half hour later as he sat lost in his thoughts slipping his chilled Martini listening to the sounds of Venice mixing with the classic music of Bach’s Cello suite No.1 being played softly from the musicians on the terrace bar below, Nara entered the room. She took his breath away yet again, just like she had done two years ago in Oleg’s club, except this time she wasn’t dressed for sin but instead she was a young elegant, classy woman. As his eyes wandered all over her, he was sure she would have matched in looks the lost painting by Aetion of Roxanne, the chief wife of Alexander the Great who was described as the most beautiful woman in all of Asia by historians.

With her light naturally olive complexion, long flowing jet-black hair brushed into a ponytail, so it sat down the front of her left breast, she wore no lipstick, just eye shadow in doing so emphasizing her dark brown eyes. She completed the spell by wearing a long flowing dress with a single Chanel top, with a Gucci charm bracelet on her wrist.

Standing up he smiled looked into her eyes and was mesmerized.

“How do I look, my Thomas?” she asked.

He replied in Italian that she was breathtakingly beautiful as he held open his hand for her to take, earning a smile from her even though she had no idea what he said until he translated it in Turkmen for her.

He took her to a small restaurant in the shady lanes behind Ponte delle Tette (Tit’s Bridge) and sat in a corner so he could have sight of the exits, old habits dying hard, not to mention Mikhail’s orders ringing in his ears. They ordered antipasti to start, for the entree Nara ordered filetto di San Pietro while he ordered Risotto al nero sepia accompanied with a beautiful bottle of Brunello di Montalcino for them to share.

They chattered about everything and nothing while they waited for main courses to arrive. Looking into her smoldering eyes, he slipped his hand behind her neck and drew her closer where he kissed on her mouth. It was a slow kiss and gentle.

“My beautiful darling,” he whispered into her ear as he attempted to feel her breasts.

“Naughty! Naughty!” she said playfully spanking hand in admonishment.

The rest of dinner was interrupted with lots of looks of love, plans for the new yacht, and fingers intertwining as they had their coffee and shared a Gelato before he paid the bill and they left the restaurant.

As they walked back to the hotel along the streets, a massive downpour arrived just as they reached Piazza di San Marco.

Standing under the arches with her under his arms watching the rain come down Thomas murmured, “I better ring the hotel and ask them to bring the Wellington Boots darling the flood is coming!”

About ten minutes later, instead of a hotel porter turning up Mikhail and one of his men rolled up with the boots and a couple of umbrellas.

“I thought you said I would be alone Mikhail?” Thomas said towards him slightly displeased that his bit of escapism was over.

“I lied!” Mikhail replied smiling, not a touch of remorse in sight.

“Well, I hope you brought Hanna with you to Venice!” Thomas said, not letting him off the hook.

“Yes, I hope you did as well Mikhail,” Nara said in support of him. Though Hanna and Nara were from different worlds, they had become good friends.

“Yes! Yes! Of course I did, it was the only way she would let me come!” he replied in mock shock.

As they looked at Mikhail with him shaking his head, the string quartet started playing for the patrons of the tourist restaurants around the Piazza.

“I’m glad to be spending this moment with you, my love,” Nara said before turning to look up at him.

“Me too, my darling girl,” he whispered as he leaned down and kissed her ear.

Taking over the party Nara invited Mikhail, Hanna, and Yossi, his man, for a nightcap at the hotel as they waited for the rain to cease.

Once it had lightened enough, the pair of them with Mikhail and Ari his new member of their protection team trailing behind them walked to a pier near the Palazzo Ducale, at that moment, a streak of lightning flew across the sky. Thomas wondered if it were his lightning bolt!

On reaching the Danieli on the Grand Canal, they had their nightcap with Hanna, Mikhail, and Yossi with lots of joyful laughter ringing around the small bar and then bid them goodnight they retired to their suite. Once in the lift Thomas had pressed her up against the wall and let his hands roam freely as he had kissed her.

“I love you, Nara!” he said passionately.

“My love,” she whispered back, her eyes stoned with love.

Upon entering the suite, they quickly shed their clothes. Thomas went slowly to kiss her.

“My Thomas, please!” Nara screamed at the top of her voice not wanting the slow build up.

Holding her gaze staring into her eyes with one long push into her, Thomas did as Nara demanded.

“I love you, my beautiful Nara,” he said as he felt her contract around him, an action that enabled him to feel the shudders that were rampaging through her body. She whispered his name as over and over using it as a whip to make him drive into her, so when they came together which they did quickly and with the spontaneity of their love, created their beloved Victoria.

12

London – Present Day

Arriving approximately thirty minutes before the meeting with the Prime Minister, Thomas and his security entourage walked down Parliament Street until they reached and entered a little coffee shop known as Café Churchill.

Unlike its high street competitors, the coffee shop was old-fashioned, had no internet, and yet to this day was the place where most of the world’s movers and shakers always met before a pre-meeting at Downing Street, just as Thomas and his entourage were about do.

As they entered the cafe, a tall man in his sixties stood up and greeted them.

Brigadier Angus Mackintosh, standing poker straight and well over six-feet tall, was certainly a person who met the description of former British Army Officer. He was dressed in his grey pinstriped tailored suit, highly polished black leather shoes, and his Guard’s tie, providing him the blessed appearance of a leader of men.

Thomas, as a young officer during his tour with the regiment had always respected him for his cool leadership style. Certainly one not to play politics, as he was the man who recommended him for his Military Cross and fought for and tried to force his political masters to recognize his men’s bravery right up until he retired.

He had joined the board of TLH after a stint in the Royal Omani Brigade of Guards to provide a necessary respected ‘back-door’ between the British Government and Thomas.

“Hello, Dear Boy,” Angus said warmly crushing Thomas’s hand in the process.

“Late night, Tommy?” he immediately enquired, spotting Thomas’s eyes and earning a cheeky smile from his charge in return. Almost as if was the old days.

“Always, Brig,” Thomas replied for he never called him Angus out of respect.

While Mikhail got an espresso for the both of them, his other bodyguards took up their positions either side of them.

“So are you sure the PM is going to go for this, old chap?” Angus asked.

“Well, Brig, it not just me that needs this so does Britain. The potential oil reserves under little Adwalland should ensure Britain’s requirements are met for the next fifty years,” Thomas began. “I do recognize though that it’s a tough pill to swallow having old Ivan acting as the security guarantee!” he continued as Mikhail arrived with the strong black, rich Italian coffees the café was famous for.

“Mmmm,” the old solider replied. He wasn’t completely convinced of his former protégé’s synopsis, yet he kept wise counsel while they finished their coffee and enquired about each other’s family.

Coffees finished, the five of them left the small café and walked down the busy Parliament Street for about a minute before crossing the road to Downing Street. Mikhail and the security team, armed with Tasers and batons, had to wait outside.

Once the reception officer had confirmed their identification, the former Special Forces officers walked through the security gates and down the road to Number 10.

Arriving outside in a matter of moments and as if by magic the door opened before they could knock. Met a female aide she proceeded to take them to the garden room at the back of the building that overlooked a small courtyard.

As they made themselves comfortable, both men refused the offer of tea or coffee from the lady while they waited for the PM to see them. They didn’t have to wait long.

Minutes later, the door opened allowing the PM, followed by his Personal Private Secretary, the Foreign Secretary, and to ensure the public demands for greater transparency, the official minute taker to walk in.

“Sir Thomas, so very good to see you,” the Prime Minister said in his crisp Etonian tones offering his hand to introduce himself.

Aware that, with the minute taker in the room, no reference should be made to their previous meeting in the Dorchester when he was in Opposition and understanding that the PM’s diary with commercial interests was now “matter of public record,” and having been briefed by Angus not to mention their previous meeting, Thomas took his hand firmly in return and politely greeted him.

* * *

At the start, the meeting went pretty much as expected with bland questions being asked by the PM and his aides and equally non-committal answers from both Angus and Thomas being received. This was created purely for any nosey reporters looking for tidbits in the official minutes.

Then after ten minutes with a single nod towards the minute taker, the men watched as the young man left the room only to be replaced by an attractive woman in her early forties.

“Thomas Litchfield,” Thomas said offering his hand, beating the Prime Minister to the punch.

“Sir Thomas,” the woman said taking it while turning towards the Foreign Secretary to lead the way to introduce her.

“Elizabeth, good of you join us,” the Foreign Secretary said taking his cue as he gestured for her to sit down, where upon they all quickly followed suit as well.

Taking in her appearance, Thomas thought she was extremely attractive indeed. She had piercing green eyes and long auburn colored hair. The standard high street dark blue business suit concealed her long slender body gave her a height of ,he guessed, at five-foot-nine-inches and since she hadn’t introduced herself, he quickly surmised that it meant she was from the Intelligence Services so he waited for the PPS to confirm it.

“Elizabeth is from our Security Services, gentleman,” he said before continuing. “As this part of the meeting is privy to the Official Secrets Act, and a DA notice to reflect Elizabeth’s presence I will be taking the minutes,” he added. The DA notice meant anything discussed could never be reported on and could be removed from the public eye.

Nodding their agreement in return, the PM gave his permission to Elizabeth to start. As she did, it suddenly dawned on Thomas he had met her before.

“Sir Thomas, it has been made aware to us that your reasons for this investment may be linked less to your commercial interests, and more to the requirements of men of your position on the other passport you hold are required to deliver?” she said as both a statement and a question in an oblique reference to his citizenship of, and the National Champions policy of Russia, getting straight to the point.

“Yes Elizabeth, that scenario could be easily presented,” Thomas replied without hesitation having expected it.

“We would like you to explain why you think it is vital that the British Government should support your proposed investment plan and not to mention provide its formal recognition of the Russian Government’s intention to build a Naval base less than hundred and twenty miles away from the Americans in Djibouti?” she continued.

He crossed his legs and relaxed and did just that for the next forty-five minutes during a question and answer discussion as Elizabeth, the PM, and the Foreign Secretary probed him hard on the benefits versus the negatives of the erosion of United States and British security relationship that would most likely outcome from such an action and how it would help the long-term interests of Britain. It was a tough sell; Thomas could see everybody was less than convinced but knowing his hour was almost up, nonetheless he decided to go for broke.

“If Britain is going to maintain its Energy Security position then its needs to do it by allowing Joint Ventures of this nature, for if it vocally opposed to them then our country’s major Nature Resource companies can kiss goodbye the prospect of cheap power from Russian related interests.” He paused to take a drink of water. “Britain just cannot afford the cost of taking a neutral position, Prime Minister,” he continued.

“How do you know this Thomas?” the Foreign Secretary queried.

“The President of Russia, unfortunately, made it abundantly clear to me in our last meeting,” Thomas said delivering the Mayor’s back channel message somewhat more diplomatically than when the man had actually said it.

The room was silent for a moment whilst it grimly absorbed his statement.

The UK, whether it liked it or not, was the slave of the natural resources of Russia and Asia and as such it had to always tread a tightrope in how it engaged above the line with them whilst not appearing as allowing them to walk all over them in front of the Americans who fuelled the Private Equity of the British Economy. The problems of Ukraine remained fresh in both politician’s minds. The prices of Natural Gas had spiked by ten percent in the months following the crisis, as Russia punished Europe for the sanctions they had placed on them.

The threat, masked as intelligence, that Thomas had just delivered them was a bitter pill to swallow, as it meant they would be facing additional Energy costs rises as they approached the general election.

Thinking on his feet, the PM closed the meeting with a request in very simple straightforward terms so he could take advantage of the DA notice.

“If Her Majesty Government agrees to support Russia’s security proposal to safeguard joint investment interests in this part of East Africa,” he paused before continuing, “I assume your media interests will be fully briefed?” He was referring to what he needed from TLH with respect to positive media for his Party in the next general election in return for his government’s support of his interests.

“Of course, Prime Minister,” Thomas replied without hesitation as he stared into the eyes of Elizabeth, having noticed she was somewhat uncomfortable over the misuse of the meeting for political capital instead of Her Majesty’s nation’s security. As he did so, he remembered where they had met.

* * *

Born of Algerian Jewish extraction whose grandparents moved to London in the twenties, Rebecca Leiris was forty-four years old, a graduate of Bristol in International Relations where she had achieved a First, and was recruited as a spy after applying for a position in the Foreign Office, only to be offered the opportunity to work in SIS half way through her interview. Never looking back, she truly loved her work and her country.

She had never married due to the nature of work or had any long term trusting relationships much to her parents’ despair and who to this day still didn’t know she worked in SIS as they thought she worked in the Foreign Office as an undersecretary.

Only her brother knew, as her next of kin, what she really did, and they had never told their parents, knowing they would worry nonstop if they did. A specialist in Russian affairs she had first come across Thomas Litchfield, as he was then, in the early nineties when she had been placed at the Embassy as part of the British Council and the British Ambassador had introduced them at a party under her real name. This had happened because her work at that time was merely analytical, and as such a Non Official Cover (NOC) identity wasn’t needed.

Intrigued by his flawless Russian, not to mention his rakish looks she checked him out only to find out that he was a decorated former ex-Special Forces British Army officer with some very interesting links to certain people emerging and making their fortunes in Yeltsin-led Russia.

They had never met again despite him ringing her to ask for a date, which she had turned down due to his rather exotic business interests. Instead, she had placed him on SIS watch list.

Over the years, Rebecca had watched him grow into an immensely powerful man with his tentacles reaching way beyond anything she imagined.

To her, Thomas, with a Russian child, Turkmen mistress, and most importantly the fact that Putin had granted him Russian Citizenship considering him an instrument of his new Russia to the extent that he had used him to deliver the threat, appeared to represent everything she most feared.

“Above the law, able to move within the corridors of power at will and a person who even had the PM of the realm she was sworn to protect appearing to ask him for favors!”

As the meeting broke up, Thomas followed his instincts that for some unbeknownst reason was convinced that Elizabeth held the key to his endeavor, not the Foreign Secretary.

“Elizabeth, you are most welcome to have a cup of tea anytime you want with me if you feel it would help” he offered.

“Thank you, Sir Thomas. On behalf of service I fully appreciate the offer,” the Foreign Secretary answered for her before she had a chance to.

“Excellent, that’s settled then I am sure we can leave the both of you to work out the proper place for the meeting,” said the PM laughing because he was actually quite pleased with himself over the fact that he just gotten an important endorsement from one of the country’s most famous media barons for his run-up to the next General Election.

* * *

Once on the road having left the building, Thomas turned towards his Executive Chairman.

“Brig, can you get everything on Rebecca Leiris please?” he asked

“Who the devil is that dear boy?” Angus asked

“The attractive lady you just met,” Thomas replied nonplussed to the shocked former Brigadier.

“I am not going ask!” Angus replied with a chuckle as they walked back up Downing Street to join Mikhail and the team outside the British Empire’s gates of power.

* * *

Whilst waiting in the lounge at the TAG Aviation’s private airport at Farnborough Airport to travel to Nice on one of the TLH’s G-4’s so she could organize The Libertine for the weekend, Nara’s mind began to wander as she looked at the guest list and the requirements.

When Thomas had first told her of the new role as the Executive Manager, all those years ago he said it was merely so he could bring her to England but when she found what “The Libertine” was, she had seen it as another sign.

“Allah was truly merciful,” and that he was her guardian.

The yacht “The Libertine” was her favorite place in the world when the passengers were only Thomas, Victoria, and herself.

Earlier Victoria had made Nara happy when she told her that she was starting to like the school in Somerset that Thomas had insisted that their baby went to, despite Nara’s forcible objections otherwise.

She missed her baby terribly and couldn’t wait to see her again.

Although she was protected 24/7 by one of Mikhail’s teams she always worried that someone would take her most precious gift from God, and having seen the effort by the childlike Jelep of Stevie only the night before as she attempted to flirt with Thomas her mind begun to wrestle with the realization that as she was getting older, her sell-by date was fast approaching.

“No,” she decided that wasn’t going to happen.

She was determined to protect her and Victoria’s place in his life.

“I will not let Victoria’s position come under threat from the day he would give in to his natural desires with the inevitable result being the introduction of a son from the liaison with a younger woman,” she resolved as the Captain arrived in the waiting room to advise that they could now take off.

So as the plane taxied down the runway she first prayed to Allah that he would bless her again with a son for “Her Thomas,” then refocused her mind on the weekend, and the African Minister they were to have as a guest.

* * *

As Thomas walked into his office and greeted Louise, his secretary, he took in her short cream skirt and matching blouse with her hair up in the process. He smiled at her and then commented that he thought she looked lovely which instantly earned him a blushing thank you from her in return.

Before Nara entered his life, he had been very much the typical description of a rake in the traditional sense of the word with a reputation as a lothario that would have put Don Juan to shame. But that was then and this was now. That didn’t mean though he didn’t like to flirt and look from time to time,

Telling Louise he didn’t wish to be disturbed until one o’clock, Thomas sat down at his desk and gathered his thoughts from the morning.

Feeling his phone buzzing he pulled it out and seeing it was a text from his daughter he opened it.

“Love you daddy enjoy the L this weekend!” it said.

“I see she spoke to her mother this morning!” he replied out loud with a shake of his head.

Looking at his watch, he realized that his daughter had sent this note in a lesson covertly.

“I will call you after prep lessons young lady!” he ordered.

He received an immediate reply of, “Sorry D xxx.”

When he had told Nara he felt the time was right for her to go boarding school they had fought tooth and nail over the decision.

“N-o, m-y T-h-o-m-a-s… PLEASE NIET… do not send my baby away… I B-E-G YOU!” she had pleaded in broken English and Russian like she always did when under stress with tears flowing from her eyes.

She had delivered her wails with such distress Thomas almost backed down and gave in to her before sticking to his guns because he was absolutely convinced that their daughter would have a more rounded education with some level normality.

The point was he had never even considered becoming a father until his little girl was delivered into his arms and now the little girl and her mother were the center of everything he did in his life and would always remain so.

Even his father, the infamous head of one London’s oldest and biggest private Merchant Banks, had sent him a note of congratulations, despite the fact they hadn’t spoken since he left Oxford. Stating only, “Well done! Your mother would be proud! Always, Rufus.” And although he had kept the note all these years it he had never responded back to the old bastard.

His thoughts moved back to Nara, it wasn’t lost on him that she had recently started to become more and more insecure despite him telling her there would never be anybody else. Of course, the direct benefit of this for him was their recent love making—it was almost as if she were using sex to make sure his eye didn’t wander.

“Maybe I should ask her if she would like have another child,” he mused sensing her insecurities were possibly a direct link to her own troubled relationship with her father and of more terrifyingly the life she was forced to lead before he entered her life.

As he waited for the laptop to come to life he confessed to himself that over the last year or so he had begun to worry about Victoria’s future.

He expected his ‘Plum,’ as he thought of her, and who was fast becoming a younger version of mother with every passing day, to run the TLH Group, a company currently worth sixty billion U.S. dollars by herself one day.

“It just isn’t fair,” he reflected as he made a decision that he hoped would rectify it.

He just hoped Nara felt the same as he returned to his paperwork in readiness of a meeting with the technical team of his Oil and Gas division.

* * *

The walk back to her office on 18 Old Queen Street took Rebecca just under eight minutes. As she was technically an officer working under “NOC,” meaning Non-Official Cover, she wasn’t located in the imposing building overlooking the Thames. Instead, her office, located in Westminster, was surrounded with small legal firms and lobbyists who had no idea that their neighbors, were the Near East Desk’s operations desk of MI6

As she walked, she mused over the problem she potentially faced with Litchfield. He knew her real identity. A conclusion she had reached by the way Thomas had looked at her. If she reported it up the line she would have been immediately removed from the scene and having spent the last six years watching him and suspecting that he was a traitor, she certainly wasn’t going to allow that to happen.

“I need to meet him!” she silently told herself.

On entering the office, she sat down at her desk, started her desktop computer, entered her password, and then pulled up his extensive file. As she did so, her boss Michael Barnes walked in.

He was a tall black man of second generation West Indian descent, fifty-two years old, wearing the sort of clothing you would expect to find in any Next or M&S of a simple dark blue blazer, white shirt, with a red tie and trousers with a black pair of black shoes. He was married with two teenage children, a house in Maidenhead, and a product of the State school system having gone to school in Reading, before going on to Guildford where he studied Business Studies.

After gaining a First, he then applied on a whim to the Civil Service only to be like Rebecca diverted into SIS. Together over the years they had served all over the world.

“I hear the meeting with the PM turned into a bit of love-in,” he said.

“Oh yes, I thought he was going to beg at one stage!” Rebecca replied uncharitably with a smile making reference to the PM taking advantage of the notice to ask for a media endorsement.

“Just be careful; the DG wants this handled with kid gloves” he said, ever the politician. “If he is an agent rather than a messenger of Ivan we will need to advise the FS. If he isn’t and we get this wrong then the fallout would be disastrous for us!”

Rebecca looked at him one more time, but didn’t say anything as he got up and walked out of her office. She knew the stakes more than anyone.

The African investment although important from a trade perspective and of course to the United States whose interests in the area were dead set against the growth of Russian influence in the Horn of Africa was secondary as far as the SIS were concerned. The real threat they were concerned about was whether the major contributor to the different political parties of the United Kingdom represented a clear and present danger to the ‘Defense of the Realm’ with his ability to mold and form policy. If he was an SVR asset then his reach and influence could have serious implications. The fact he had a Russian passport should have been enough for them all at the SIS in usual circumstances. Still, the game had changed dramatically over the last twenty years; ideology trumped by financial power throughout the fabric of society every time and when aligned alongside his outstanding military record from when he had served in the British Army meant that nobody wanted to risk sending it up the chain that he was suspect.

Being the service experts on the Oligarchs, Rebecca’s department had been tasked to rubber stamp him one way or another. The more political animals of the service considered it a poisoned chalice, so stayed away relieved it was not on their desk.

Get it wrong and it would be career suicide with a posting to the Congo, Michael had warned when giving her the task.

As she stared back at his rakish features on the desktop, Rebecca took the decision to use the high ground.

“Strike while the iron is hot!” she told herself with determination.

* * *

The phone buzzing on the desk interrupted Thomas’s thoughts. On pushing the button he was greeted by his assistant’s crisp voice.

“Sir Thomas, sorry to bother you I have a Mrs. Elizabeth Field from the Home Office on the line.”

“Put her through please,” he replied without hesitation.

Greeting her politely and choosing not to reveal that he knew her real name as he knew the call would be recorded her end and was almost certainly being monitored by SVR, he arranged to meet her for a coffee at Connaught around the corner from his office at three just before heading off to Nice.

As he put the phone down he reflected, “That was quick!”

In the back of his mind, Thomas had suspected that the charade of this morning’s meeting was actually about two things.

For the PM, it was getting his covert support for him as the election approached. That was positive because it showed him that the British government would at worst take a neutral position with respect to the Adwalland deal. Something he would “pass” up the line to Moscow at a suitable moment.

For the SIS, he initially assumed it was to report back to the Americans under the terms of their shared intelligence platform, but it wasn’t until Rebecca brought up his discreet Russian passport granted by the Mayor all those years ago to test his reaction did he realize what they really concerned about: that he was an enemy agent of the Special Services of Russia.

He pondered on that thought for a moment. He had considered the passport of limited importance. A mere piece of theatre created by the Mayor all those years ago to justify his expectation of his continued loyalty and ensure that he knew his place within the political fabric he had created within Russia.

Most of the time the bloody thing sat in the safe at Holland Park except of course whenever he traveled into Russia and the former Republics of the Soviet Union.

To the SIS, he summarized it appeared it was much more important, something he had gauged by the approach of her questions.

The appearance of Rebecca in the sitting room at Downing Street had been a pleasant surprise.

The years had treated her well as far Thomas was concerned, she was now even more elegant and beautiful than when he last saw her all those years ago in Moscow, of course only then he didn’t know she was in fact, a young officer of the SIS. As he remembered about that moment he smiled, it pleased him his photographic memory never failed him.

His wandering mind’s attention moved back to his inbox. Seeing an email from Angus in reference to her, he opened it. Reading it, he noted that she had never married, had a private life, which couldn’t be at best described as a threat to national security as none of her recent lovers actually knew what she did. He also noted with a chuckle that she was considered the expert in the service on the Oligarchs.

“That explains a lot!” he thought out loud before continuing with his reading.

A rotation in Iraq as a support member in the ‘Green Zone,’ keeping an eye on the contractors then a placement in Nairobi monitoring the area in the early 2006 showed him that she was highly thought of in the service.

His mind returned to the fact she had never married and then to a collection of newspapers reports that were attached as files.

It appeared that one of her lovers, the man she planned to marry, was a member of the Red Cross and had been tragically killed in Somalia when his Land Rover had driven over a landmine.

The death of her fiancée he guessed had to be linked to her career, an assumption he reached by its lack of reference of him in Angus’s notes.

“Nice to see some secrets are still kept!” he concluded.

Experience told him that Rebecca had to enjoy the power of knowledge. In her work it was a function that was an essential prerequisite, for him he considered it a weakness.

It was then he decided that he would use to his advantage as he tested her this afternoon over afternoon tea. Bored, he skimmed the rest of the notes that were pretty standard on her background in terms of family and friends.

Truth be known he was actually quite disappointed that Angus could get that much information within an hour from former colleagues on a dedicated officer who had served faithfully her country in spite of the lack of background on the death of the one person that she appeared to be close to.

Closing the file down he reflected about the stepped up interested in him again by the SIS. The simple fact was though he wasn’t a fully paid up agent of the SVR he was certainly and had been whether he liked it or not an asset of the Mayor and as such, was his instrument just as Achilles was of King Agamemnon in the Trojan War.

He didn’t believe, like the beautiful Rebecca, in the concept of blind loyalty to one’s country rather like Dostoevsky.

“The line between good and evil is drawn, not between nations or parties, but through every human heart.”

To him the said heart was those he was sworn to protect, gave him their loyalty, and those of his blood no matter the cost, with Nara and Victoria at its epicenter.

The deal he had brokered in East Africa had originally been driven by the huge profits. The fact it had to include the interests of Russia was merely a by-product that he had no escape from.

He stroked his chin. “So let see where the game takes us Rebecca?” he mused in a final reflection as he leaned back in his chair.

* * *

At ten to three on leaving his townhouse office, Thomas with his ever-present guards led by Mikhail walked around the corner to Mount Street, up and into the famous Connaught Five-Star Hotel. On entering, Espelette, the General Manager warmly greeted him by informing him that his guest Mrs. Field was waiting for him by the window. Signaling Mikhail and his men to stay in the lobby of the hotel, he walked towards the beautiful woman.

“Thank you for seeing me on short notice, Sir Thomas,” she said offering her hand as he sat down in front of her continuing with her cover.

Taking a moment to look at her as he had done earlier in Downing Street, this time Thomas replied as he took her hand firmly. “Rebecca, you don’t need to call me Sir Thomas,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, thereby acknowledging and proving her initial conclusion that he had recognized her in an instant although Thomas didn’t know that.

“Gosh!” Rebecca exclaimed, playing along. “How on earth can you remember that it was almost twenty years ago!” she said, regaining her composure.

“One always remembers the ones that got away!” Thomas answered with a chuckle releasing her hand.

“Well I can see your charm hasn’t mellowed over the years, Thomas,” she fenced back at him dropping the ‘Sir’ in front of his name. “In any case, thank you for not embarrassing me this morning,” she answered sincerely.

Acknowledging her thanks with a simple nod to put her at ease as the waiter turned up, Thomas offered a glass of champagne. She politely declined before they both settled on a cup of tea each.

Knowing he had to leave so he could make his slot time at Farnborough in the late afternoon, Thomas immediately got down to business with her.

Rebecca, as he was offering her the champagne, was sizing up her person of interest and wondering what was his angle. She didn’t need to wait very long.

“So SIS is concerned that I am an asset of Foreign Power?” he said matter of factually.

“The sledgehammer approach, Thomas?” Rebecca replied with a slight smirk that earned in return one back from him as the waiter arrived then theatrically poured their tea through the strainers into the signature bone china cups and then placed the silver teapot on the table and left.

Their conversation resumed.

“Why don’t I put you at ease as it appears an African Oil deal and the building of a Russian Naval base stopped being of interest to the Great British Empire in 1990s,” he answered in reference to the fact that Britain’s interests were no longer Cold War focused.

Using her skills to spot micro-expressions that linked to deceptions during interrogations during the next twenty minutes, Rebecca concluded that though Thomas had admitted he was close to the President of Russia, the relationship was best explained by Thomas’s way of a cricketing analogy.

“That whether I like or not, I have no choice but play each ball as it comes.”

“Much like the messenger from the Iliad?” She fenced with him.

A look of surprise appeared on Thomas’s face. She knew all about his background, including his love of the classics and the teachings of Homer and by using the response in the manner she had just done told him that.

After a moment Rebecca noted his initial shock had dissipated well enough to laugh.

“Indeed,” he acknowledged. “But I certainly don’t want to end up like the poor messenger from Troy!” In Homer’s poem, King Agamemnon messenger had been stoned to death upon the delivery of his message because they did not like its contents.

“More like Bellerophontes,” Rebecca replied with a piercing stare preferring to use the part of the epic poem when Argos sent the hero with message saying, “Kill this messenger” to the ruler of Lycia but instead ended up becoming Greece’s greatest hero for killing the Chimera, the monster that Homer depicted with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail.

This time he didn’t say anything for a few moments. Instead he smiled and kept her stare before breaking it by looking at his watch.

“You’re most welcome to liaise with Angus for your report, I promise I have nothing to hide from you,” he offered.

“I do apologize, but I am running late,” he said with sincerity. “When I get back to London let’s get together again,” he further offered. “That’s if you have any more questions?” he quickly added with warmth.

“Absolutely,” Rebecca answered back.

“Of course, it’s only so I can recruit you for Ivan!” he joked attempting to gain the upper hand to which Rebecca smiled in return but chose not to comment.

As she watched him walk away, Rebecca felt something she hadn’t felt since Christopher lost his life, but being a professional she quickly banished so to focus on her work at hand something now made more complicated by the fact Thomas knew almost certainly everything about her, if he was connected as she expected him to be.

13

Cote d’Azur

Fitz Ernst had captained The Libertine since it had been launched. It had been built at the famous Lurssen yard in Bremen at the start of the millennium. The yacht was 330 feet in length, had three decks, a helicopter pad plus four zero-speed stabilizers with modifications, and was driven by two 5,500 horse powered engines with a maximum speed of nineteen knots. It was considered one of the most luxurious pleasure crafts in the world. Costing over three hundred million U.S. dollars, to many she represented the ultimate statement of total self-indulgence, but to Fitz she was the goddess of the Ocean.

A throat cleared respectfully behind him.

“Captain?” a voice asked.

Fitz turned and found his Second Officer, Daniel Hartmann, standing at attention before him.

“Ja?” the captain asked quietly in German.

“Weather report is good, sir,” Daniel replied also in German but with a Swiss accent.

“Clear skies all the way. Sir Thomas will be arriving around eight tonight, and his guest will be on board at five.”

“Very good, Daniel, I will inform Miss Gunara.”

Leaving the deck, the experienced Captain made his way at a measured pace to the ready room at the back of the yacht, which had its own deck. Entering the room he found his employer, Nara, going through the menus for the weekend with the Chef.

When Mikhail initially introduced her to him she had taken his breath away. A sultry lightly tanned youthful creature just out of her teens, oozing femininity and sensuality from her every pore. He wasn’t surprised Sir Thomas had fallen for her. She was beautiful, and she knew it, and she acted as if she knew it!

“Fitz!” the lady stated warmly as she saw him approaching. He smiled back for her smile, had always dazzled and tormented him at the same time. Today was no different.

Over the years, he had seen her turn from an exotic sexy child-woman into one of the world’s most beautiful women and although he would never admit it to anybody else, especially his wife, he was half in love with Nara.

Yet for all of her charms she was not without her faults and could be a real bitch, often making everything all the more difficult if the yacht were not just so, never more so when Sir Thomas had business associates on board.

It was only when her family or Victoria was on board she was more relaxed as if changing persona in the process that he found her to be more approachable as she was now.

“Your Lady,” Fitz said inclining his head pleasantly knowing she always enjoyed the title even though technically she wasn’t.

“Isn’t it a beautiful day, Fitz?” Nara breathed as she rose up giving him sight of her exquisite breasts and her long jet-black hair draped over one of them as she did so. They had moved so seductively that he worried they would fall out of her top.

“It is my Lady,” Fitz replied as his eyes took in the sight of her.

“The weather report has just arrived,” he reported. “Clear skies and smooth waters ahead,” he stated before continuing with the arrival times of the guests and Thomas.

“Do you have information on who is accompanying the Minister yet?” she asked, referring to Wasir Osman Hassan.

“Yes, My Lady” he confirmed nervously.

“He will be traveling with the President’s Economic Advisor, his own protection team of four, plus two officers of the French Police and his companions,” he said pausing on the last word of his statement.

For all of his private lustful thoughts with regard to Nara, the Captain certainly didn’t like his yacht being used as a whorehouse.

“Thank you, Fitz,” Nara answered, ignoring his pause on companions but privately agreeing with him.

14

Langley, Virginia

The United States Department of Defense defines a Covert Operation as “an operation that is so planned and executed as to conceal the identity of or permit plausible denial by the sponsor” while a Clandestine Operation as “an operation where the emphasis is placed on concealment of identity of the sponsor rather than on concealment of the operation.”

So when the Director received the authorization from the President a week ago to enter into a new phase in relations with Russia; Deputy Director Ali Mansoor wasn’t surprised, for Young had made it his personal crusade ever since the focus of the agency shifted to the catching of terrorists under the Bush Administration. It wasn’t a secret, the whole of Langley knew about it.

Ali, an American Pakistani whose family had moved to New York in the seventies, had joined the Agency in the mid-eighties after graduating from Georgetown University, via the U.S. Marine Corps.

Blessed with his unique experience he had gathered from serving with the Recon division he had quickly progressed through the ranks at the Agency due to his special abilities and middle-eastern looks in the fight against Islamic terrorists initially, as a Non Cover Officer in Beirut, then Baghdad, Kabul and finally Lahore. A devout Muslim, Ali absolutely hated the Mullahs who turned the hearts and souls of the less educated into the killers who perpetrated the 9/11 incident. He had made the manhunt of Bin Laden his own personal “Jihad” for the shame he had brought upon his faith. In the preceding years, he had won an “Intelligence Star” and a “Distinguished Intelligence Cross” for his actions in Afghanistan, when against great personal risk he stopped an attack on Kazai, the President at the time. The actions were deemed classified and to this day nobody outside the Agency including his family knew about them for they remained locked up in the Langley vaults, for Officers are never allowed to confirm that they are even a recipient of them.

Age now having now caught up with him and because he had missed his young children growing up, Ali requested a posting to Langley whereby the former director by way of a thank you and his service record had quickly promoted him to head up the elite Special Activities Division known as SAD or in the accounts and personnel files as a Political Affairs Office.

Over the last week, Ali’s team had built up an impressive brief on Thomas Litchfield and the main players in Adwalland to enable them to formulate a recommendation to place Russia on the back foot by the creation of forward operating base in Lughaya. He just needed an asset in the country to be his tool to do it.

As was customary in the SAD, all briefings took place within their Cube, a quiet room that could not be spied on, within SAD’s own restricted entry office within Langley.

Taking his seat the director nodded for Ali and his team to start.

“As you’re aware, Litchfield isn’t the usual Oligarch,” Ali said as his picture appeared on screen.

“We asked our friends at Vauxhall Bridge for some background on him, and they advised us that he is a former Special Forces Officer, fluent in seven languages and has the ability to cross both the worlds of crime and politics,” he started.

When Ali had first read Litchfield overview he had thought immediately thought it had to be too much of a coincidence.

“Special Forces? It can’t be!” he thought as his memory banks went back to that mission all those years in the First Gulf War.

When he looked at his picture, the eyes of Litchfield told him it was. He had heard that only one man had made back from that mission. It appeared that man was Litchfield.

Ali mentally took his hat off to him.

“Do I include it in the briefing?” he had asked himself the night before. He decided it against it for two reasons; firstly that it would mean giving everybody involved in the planning of this operation security clearance. Something despite the electronic age would have meant Ali was going to have fill in at least twenty forms because it involved a mission that the Director was part of it. Something he hated! Secondly, because Young had never met him during that mission it made no difference.

“Better to let sleeping dogs lie!” he had concluded, opting for the second option, instead as Ali continued with his briefing he skipped over it.

“Has a net worth of approximately sixty-billion U.S. dollars with investments and controlling interests in everything from Oil to Media,” Ali continued while the next slide appeared which was Mikhail’s photograph.

“He also maintains a highly trained close protection team all drawn from the Israeli Shabak. When we checked with our counterparts at the Office for any possible weaknesses that we could exploit they told us there weren’t any,” he said using the term of the headquarters of Mossad.

“What, none!” Young answered in disbelief as Ali took a sip of his coffee.

“Yes, none!” Ali said.

“All Yural Diskin said was that Pschenichikov was one of their best!” said Ali, referring to the previous Head of the Shabak.

“Diskin said that?” the Director questioned, equally surprised that ex-head of Shabak had personally vouched for the bodyguard because he didn’t usual bother to make calls of that nature. That told him the man on the screen must have been an exceptional operative before he joined Litchfield’s organization.

“All of his inner circle and their families are treated as part of his family. All well paid and rewarded,” Ali said continuing with his briefing.

“This has enabled him to develop a ‘Clan’ feeling amongst them to such an extent that their loyalty is without question,” the psychologist offered in support of his immediate superior, and was about to continue by providing the Director with further support to his hypothesis with an overview on his Homeric beliefs.

Young quickly interrupted him. “Okay, the opportunity to get an asset inside is limited let’s move on,” said the Director, not in the mood for a behavioral science love fest.

Ignoring the disrespect towards his team, Ali pressed on.

“If a sanction is authorized we recommend undertaking the operation in the UK or by drone if overseas, as the chances of assault in a location where his security team would be armed, success would be limited due to their highly skilled individual abilities.”

He paused. “The risk of fatalities to our assault team would be well over the thirty percent threshold,” he stated making reference to a watermark figure a mathematician of Langley had once calculated where the death of service personnel was too vast to maintain the covert nature of the mission.

“Not to mention the point that the target is so high profile it wouldn’t remain covert in any case,” added Young, dismissing a drone strike as an option. “And we will piss off the Brits in the process!” he quickly added, ignoring the use of the threshold as irrelevant and the fact that trying to get a sanction approved by the oversight committee for an operation in the UK would be virtually impossible.

“Indeed sir,” answered Ali already knowing what answer the Director would give.

“Okay, let’s move on, we let State decide,” Young answered, parking it. He recognized a hot potato when he saw one.

“We do though, have a plan that we believe has a good chance of success of disabling the deal on all fronts within the desired timeframe and at this time doesn’t require additional authorization,” offered Ali as the next slide came up on the screen.

Once the briefing was completed three quarters of an hour later, Young got up and gave a singular nod to Ali, satisfied with what had been presented to him.

“Authorized,” was all he said as he left the room.

Ten minutes later Ali made his way back to his desk in his office.

He sat down. He switched on his desktop computer and, then once it was up and running, entered the secured assets area of the central server and typed in a name. Once in the asset’s secure communication packet, he then typed a single predefined message.

If any observer or foreign intelligence agency reviewed it they would think the email was a request for a meeting, to the agent it was a signal that his Controller needed to speak to him.

Finished he picked up the phone and then made a call to one of his most trusted officers who was currently on leave to meet for breakfast.

* * *

For many in Dubai, the city-state of the United Arab Emirates has been seen as a playground with every conceivable high-end consumer product in the world available in the Malls to cater for the whims of the socialites together with a duty free zone to repackage and distribute the same commercial goods to the rest of the Middle East, but to others it was a hell hole built on nothing but credit, ecocide, suppression, and slavery. Irrespective of these diverse views to the money-laundering brethren of the world with Dubai’s limited regulation it was one of their places of choice in which to deposit their money.

To twenty-nine-year-old Reza Namazi, an American-Iranian with a degree from Columbia who had been recruited by the CIA at an employment fair while he was still at college, it was home.

Due to his unique experience in finance, his controller at the Agency decided to put him in plain sight, a term used to describe the most stressful form of assignment for many as it meant agents have to operate under their true identities.

Placed as an associate in a top bank in New York to build his creditability, Reza had waited for two years for his chance to enter the field once he had completed his training. That opportunity came when his controller asked him to apply for a job in Dubai at a small boutique private bank.

To many of his friends and colleagues, they just couldn’t understand why Reza would want to give up an incredible job with one of the best banks in the world to join one with a questionable reputation in the “fool’s paradise” of Dubai.

Neither did the recruiting agent who was over the moon when Reza had applied, bearing in mind his other candidates and as such, it was no surprise when the local bank immediately offered him the job.

To maintain his production and to keep his questionable bosses happy and thereby override any suspicions as to his real motives, Langley provided him with one hundred million U.S. dollars in ‘Ops’ accounts that he handled on their behalf as part of his day job for funding agents, sources and clandestine operations as when needed around the world.

Although his role mostly consisted of harvesting information on accounts of questionable persons or organizations around the region and Africa it was a role he was immensely proud of.

Sitting in the Regal Palace nightclub in downtown Dubai with a couple of Russian whores and one of his questionable clients from Uzbekistan, he felt his Blackberry hum and buzz.

Pulling it out of his pocket seeing the message was from Ali Mansoor, he responded with a confirmation that he could meet with him in two days’ time when, in fact, he was saying he would call him on his CODEX phone in the morning as part of their pre-arranged routine before picking up his drink and toasting his Uzbek client’s health.

15

Borama

Wasir Osman Hassan stood lost in his thoughts waiting in the VIP waiting room in the new terminal at Aden Isaaq International Airport in Borama as he watched his guest arrive from Dubai on in his private jet.

With the landing strip now operational and able to land aircraft of the size of an Airbus A300 and Boeing 737, he inwardly reflected that until the Englishman’s group had built this new runway, the city, served only by a small dirt runway, would never have investors like this arriving keen to explore the opportunities his country offered.

When his Iranian banker from Dubai rang him yesterday and asked whether he could look after a major Indian client and his team who were arriving today looking to invest in natural resources in Awdalland, the ex-pirate had immediately jumped at the chance.

“Of course Reza, I would be delighted to host and assist them in any way,” he had said, mentally rubbing his hands in glee.

“You’re most kind, Minister,” Reza had replied. “Mr. Singh is a powerful man, worth well over a billion U.S. dollars and is very keen to have good relationships with a partner…how do you say?” he paused for effect. “That understands the ways of Africa.”

A carrot that said everything as far as Wasir was concerned.

“I understand, Mr. Reza,” Wasir had replied.

“Excellent, Minister, I think you will both get on well together,” The banker had warmly said before sending him the flight details.

For Wasir, this visit represented a unique opportunity to build his own international network away from the grip of the Russians who had been flooding into the country.

Experience told him that the minute work began to build the port to take large containers ships and naval ships, the President’s grip over the tribes would be complete and with the President’s Russian Military advisers at his side the end result would be the erosion of his influence. Something he was determined to prevent.

What the former pirate didn’t know was that the billionaire that Reza had arranged for him to meet was, in fact, a forty-eight year-old British-born and educated Sikh SAD Operative from Austin, Texas called Navjot Sidhu, known in the diamond trade by his alias, Gouramangi Singh.

When the world of the Internet and mobile communications started to make it harder to create and protect its assets’ cover identities, SAD recognized they needed to become more robust and charismatic to enable them to fit into the money laundering world of the terrorists. That meant the operatives needed to have genuine operations and not just on paper.

To solve the problem they created legitimate private equity houses in New York and London as fronts with a brief to invest and set up physical companies engaged in their foes’ traditional areas of operations, like banking, gem trading, and foreign exchange shops.

For last ten years, the GSG Company and Navjot’s aliases had been painstakingly established through the smart use of sponsorships and carefully placed media management to create his persona into a successful billionaire British-Indian diamond retailer based in London, Mumbai, Dubai, and Antwerp. The alias originally developed for catching terrorists, Mr. Singh’s latest role was now to be used for something completely different.

16

Washington, D.C.

Five days ago when Ali had briefed Navjot at a diner near his house why the mission was taking place, Navjot, like the rest of the team at SAD, thought the Director had lost the plot. For although he had used his various identities over the last ten years to trap and take down numerous terrorist operations since joining the service, this was to be the first time one would be used in an old-style covert operation designed to disable a major business investment in another country. It was something as he listened Navjot found he wasn’t entirely comfortable with either.

“Jesus he’s only been in the job a couple of months!” Navjot had said to Ali, referring to the director’s unspoken crusade and rapid dislike of anything Putin.

“It’s got a Presidential Authorization,” Ali had replied as he drank his coffee.

“So this State led?” Navjot had referred to the State Department as he continued to shake his head in disbelief. “Are they really that pissed off at them over Syria and Ukraine? I mean it’s going to take years for the Russians to build the damned port!” He had countered having been told by Ali the deal needed to be scuttled as soon as possible.

“I know, but the Director convinced the Administration that if the Russians gained a foothold in this country less than hundred and twenty miles away from Djibouti then we will be facing a potential flood of other nations around the world inviting in the Russians as a security buffer right under our noses and we will be back in the Cold War again,” Ali had answered.

“Essentially what you’re saying is he is advising, via the Langley hawks, that if we don’t do something then we’re facing another Cuba or Ukraine situation with the Russians sticking it to us again only this time in Africa,” Navjot had responded with his own internal analysis on the ‘Clear Present and Danger’ recommendation touted by his ass-kissing colleagues to their Commander–in-Chief who had, to his utter disbelief, had approved it. “Except this time there are no evil Reds under the bed to fall back on, and our interference makes us look like the bad guy if we get caught!” Navjot had offered, considering the worst-case scenario as an additional supporting argument to his objections.

“It going to take at least three months, you know!” he had said finally signaling his acceptance of his job by a further shake his head resigned to the fact that as nobody was going to be interested in what Ali or him had to say anyway, it was pointless to go on about it and just get on with the work.

“Well, you’d better get going,” Ali had countered relieved that his experienced officer had now accepted his job if somewhat reluctantly.

He knew his friend had been receiving counseling. The mental scars of recent operations mixed with the fact that his wife was making noises about him retiring from fieldwork were taking its toll on his best agent. Unfortunately, the fact was Ali needed him because the SAD had very few field agents with his natural resources related experience to hit ground running for this new operation.

“Reza will be setting up a meeting with the Chief of the Interior Ministry in three days’ time in Borama for you,” he had added.

“What’s his background?” Navjot had asked due to the fact that he hadn’t read the briefing file yet that was waiting for him back at the office because he had been on leave in an effort to save his marriage and get his head back in order.

“Ex-pirate, slavery, prostitution, and murder,” Ali had simply stated.

“Sounds peachy!” Navjot had said just as the waitress delivered their eggs.

As the young lady placed the breakfast on the table, Navjot had wondered how he was going to tell his wife Lori that he was about to go back on operations again. It was a prospect he wasn’t looking forward to.

17

Borama

“Minister, it is a fabulous pleasure to meet you,” Navjot offered in a crisp educated British accent as he proffered his hand having been taken into the lounge by the ex-pirate’s entourage to meet him.

“Welcome to my country, Mr. Singh, we are extremely honored to have you here,” Wasir replied, taking the Indian’s hand in the process.

“Our mutual friend Reza speaks very highly of you,” the ex-pirate continued as he gestured to a young boy to give the party welcome juices and teas.

“Likewise, Minister. And may I say I am particularly looking forward to exploring the opportunities your country has to offer,” Navjot said politely, acknowledging the small talk.

“My team will take you to my hotel so you can rest,” stated Wasir with authority. “Then I suggest that we meet for dinner this evening?” he offered or ordered, depending on an observer’s point of view.

“Why that sounds wonderful!” replied the billionaire businessman with a beaming smile as he took a glass of Mango juice.

18

Washington, D.C.

Back in Washington three days later, Navjot and his team sat down to debrief Ali in the Cube.

As Wasir Osman Hassan’s face appeared on the screen, Navjot commenced the briefing.

“The baseline with Hassan is now in place. Over the next two months, we will court him, increase his profile and allow him the opportunity to ‘step up’ in the tribal politics by offering a deal as a counterpoint to the Russian influence in the country,” he said and then continued. “He is purely motivated by money and power despite the promotion of himself as a trusted militia leader to the Clan chiefs.”

“Our assessment of him is he only did this to eradicate rival pirate competitors despite him saying he did it to counter the growth of Al Shaahab Islamists in line with the wishes of tribal elders,” he said before pausing for a moment while one of the team changed the PowerPoint slide, he then pressed on.

“Since giving up piracy he has used his wealth to take control of money lending, Hawala, general trading, prostitution, and slavery in Adwalland, ruthlessly taking out any competitors in the process.” Again Navjot paused for the next slide, which showed an organization chart.

“Using his wealth as a tool enables him to recruit former pirates from all the Clans then with their placement into the Interior Ministry he ensures their loyalty by providing members of his Clan with loans or equipment to make money themselves, much in the same way a classic Mafia Mob boss does. In so doing he successfully took them outside their traditional Clans.”

“This means he has created in effect his own Clan?” Ali offered.

“Yes,” answered Navjot.

“Don Osman doesn’t have the same ring though!” thought Ali silently as Navjot continued to brief him on his various family connections and their organization within his Clan.

Inwardly Ali was pleased that their initial synopsis of the Minister was proving correct because until Navjot’s team met him they had no intelligence on the ground in Adwalland to give them a full profile, only the bullshit peddled by Somalis from Mogadishu.

The next PowerPoint slide arrived with a pie chart.

“In terms of assets, Reza advises he currently holds approximately ten million U.S. dollars in cash assets in Dubai with him at the bank and a number of properties including a large villa in the salubrious Emirates Hills area of Dubai.”

“In Adwalland, Wasir owns a hotel and offices that are rented out to NGOs; An exchange shop, a couple of Petrol Stations, a fleet of tanker trucks all rented out to members of his Clan, and an IL-76 cargo plane which is owned in partnership with a Turkmen based in Dubai.”

“On the coast, he owns a fleet of about hundred fishing boats all conversions from his pirate days when the Pirates would rent the boats from him for a share of the spoils and finally a fish cannery that exports through Mogadishu onto Jebel Ali in Dubai then onwards to Iran.” Navjot briefed as he explained the charts.

“This explains, incidentally, why he survived the international efforts to round up the pirate leaders and how he stayed under the radar,” Ali offered with his own review.

“Yep, he’s a string puller,” Navjot answered in agreement.

“I bet you enjoyed your tour of all them!” offered Ali deadpan, earning smirks from his team around the table if not Navjot, before asking, “Education?”

“That’s the interesting bit actually, as his father before the war was a manager at Italian Oil Company; he was able to gain an education at the school provided by them.”

“So he speaks Italian, not just English”

“Although he has had no formal university education he’s street smart and knows his way around a bookkeeping ledger,” responded the behavioral science expert.

“If Reza is right then he’s our man!” Ali stated, pleased with his young protégé. When he had called him initially for a possible lead he had instantly said he had just the man for him.

“He’s turning into a real asset that young man!” he thought to himself with pride as Navjot for the third time agreed with Ali’s study.

19

Cote d’Azur

Climbing onboard the yacht, Thomas was met by Nara who had dressed for dinner in a black Abaya finished with gold trim and a silk one-off Hermes headscarf on her head because they were hosting a Minister of a Muslim country. Fitz was dressed in his Captain’s uniform, just in case he were required if Thomas was delayed.

He quickly apologized to the both of them for being late due to the missing of his slot out of Farnborough following his unexpected not to mention very surprising afternoon tea with Rebecca over the fact by way she had indicated to him just how much an expert she was on the subjects of Oligarchs, but more importantly, him.

Greetings out of the way, Thomas asked if everybody were settled in.

“Yes, darling everybody is in the dining room,” Nara answered with a look of distaste on her face something he quickly picked up on.

“What’s wrong?” he asked automatically.

“The Minister seems to be under the impression I am part of his entertainment!” Nara answered with disgust at the way he had mentally undressed her on the occasion she had greeted him initially onboard and for drinks earlier.

“Well, I will soon put him right” he responded as he kissed her gently to put her ease. “Thank you, by the way,” he said.

“For what, Thomas?” she replied confused.

“For your respect towards the position of our guest my darling despite his lack of manners,” he answered as he kissed her again.

“Always, my love,” she replied after their quick kiss was over, pleased at his acknowledgement at her form of dress.

Having decided not to change being so late, he followed Nara through the yacht up into the dining room.

As they entered the room, the President’s advisor Hussein Ali Yusuf greeted him warmly with a kiss on both cheeks followed by a similar greeting from Wasir, except in his case it was more of a formality and without warmth.

As Wasir wasn’t going to introduce his young female companions who in direct contrast to Nara had dressed in a manner that left little to the imagination, it was left to her to do so politely. By their Slavic looks and accented English, Thomas guessed they were Ukrainian. They were blonde, blue eyed, plus had large enhanced breasts finished off with rounded bottoms. They were typical of the type of girls that worked the Cote D’Azur servicing the wealthy Arabs who tended to prefer the “curvy” look. It was a look it appeared Wasir went for as well, he mused.

Introductions out of the way they quickly sat down to dinner.

As the champagne arrived, knowing Hussein did not drink the staff, having been briefed by Nara earlier offered him a fresh watermelon juice. Wasir, having no such qualms waved the juice away and instead said “champagne,” with no please nor thank you. Hussein, being ever the diplomat, started the conversation.

“My friend, I must say your Yacht is absolutely incredible! Madam Nara has made us most welcome,” he said warmly with a nod of his head towards her, aware of her standing in his friend’s life whilst Wasir lustfully eyed her up just as Nara had said he had done earlier.

When his partner in his cargo business from Turkmenistan had told him that Litchfield had one of the most famous and beautiful women from his country as a concubine he had incorrectly assumed she would be offered to him as part of his hospitality. However it wasn’t until she greeted them formally with a slight bow did he realize just how beautiful she was, so much so he quickly had lost interest in the two blonde companions who had accompanied him.

“If her body were as beautiful as her face then I am really going enjoy her!” he had thought to himself at the time.

“What a treasure!” He said in Somali, eyes roaming all over her as Hussein introduced them enjoying the sight of her as she nervously nodded her head in respect towards them, an action he had automatically incorrectly assumed was because of his power and status at the time. Only to have his rising expectation ruined within an hour when having joined her in the lounge area of Litchfield’s a great boat for drinks while they waited for him to arrive.

Catching sight of a picture of her on the table beside the sofa of her looking lovingly up at Litchfield in his arms with a beautiful little girl who was obviously their daughter in front of them, he picked it up. As he did so he ruefully thought, “My friend is wrong!” in reference to his Turkmen partner. “She isn’t his whore, she is his woman!” shaking his head knowing his chance to take her would not be offered. He silently murmured, “That will cost you, Litchfield! Tempting me with such a vision!” he told himself as he put down the image in disgust referring to the upcoming negotiation to be held later as one of the yacht’s staff provided him with a Blue Label on the rocks.

Picking up his look of lust across the table, a look Nara had seen before from many men over the years, she took Thomas’s hand in comfort. She knew killers, and she felt this man was one. It scared her.

“Thank you Hussein, I am indeed truly blessed,” Thomas replied in response to the advisor’s toast as he lifted her hand to his mouth to signal towards the peasant masquerading as a Minister at his side that she was indeed his lady and not for his pleasure. Something Wasir resentfully acknowledged also by the raising his glass if somewhat reluctantly.

Toast over and determined to punish Litchfield in their negotiations and the whores like dogs later, in frustration he ordered another drink. With various courses coming and going the conversation crossed many subjects from the history of Adwalland to the politics of the region. With the dessert course to arrive and been treated to the sight of Wasir getting drunker with each course and now past the point of just mentally undressing Nara with his blatantly leering looks and sensing she was becoming more and more uncomfortable, Thomas gave her the signal that it would be all right to escape. Picking up on it instantly, Nara’s relieved eyes said thank you to him.

Then not wasting a further moment she immediately suggested to his bored companions that they retire to the ready room on the main deck and leave the men to their business.

20

Borama

Sitting with the President a month ago, sharing a sweet, bitter coffee, the staple drink of East Africa, and pleasantries out of the way the conversation was nervously opened by the worried man.

“My friend, I have a problem with Wasir!” Omar had said before launching into a diatribe about the man and his constant undermining of his position. He is the richest man in Adwalland! I have nothing!” he had continued emotions boiling over, waving his hands in the process.

“You have me, Omar,” Thomas had countered evenly to his dramatics. “And the word of the President of Russia,” he had continued in reference to the Russian Government offering technical support to his Army and Police forces which would be borne out of the Militia disbandment.

“Yes I know, but as you know he is using his money to gain loyalty within the new Army and Police forces,” the President had countered. “And the support of Russia still needs to be approved by the leaders!” he then had added in reference to the tribal leaders of the land that he had to adhere to.

Thomas had looked at him as he talked and could tell the President was a man under pressure and reflected that had having fought for so long for the birth of their nation he now faced the added problem of having an ex-pirate erode away at his power base with the tribes as an intended power grab.

“What would you like me to do, my friend?” Thomas had asked to help, knowing it was almost certainly going to involve a payoff.

The man didn’t need to be asked twice.

“Please, my friend, reach a deal with him over the provision of security to your drilling teams,” the President had said.

Thomas nodded his head. He had taken out one of his Cuban Robustos from his cigar case and he offered one to the President. He knew he needed to give the President time to deal with the tribal elders while he waited for the first deployment of support by Russia, something that he had understood would happen over the next six months from the man who had also accompanied him as part the investment delegation from Russia on the trip and would eventually become the Ambassador to the country. As his African friend had taken the cigar, Thomas gave him the answer he knew he needed to hear.

“I will ask Hussein to organize that he comes to France as my guest in a month.”

“So long?” the President had questioned.

“There’s much I need to cover up to make sure my partners are happy,” Thomas had replied, something that was only a half-truth, but he wasn’t going to tell his friend. He needed to make sure that TLH’s bases were covered politically.

The worry written on the President’s face had told Thomas he felt it was too long. He had moved to put him at ease.

“Don’t worry, Omar, we will find a suitable solution,” he had said as he offered his gas lighter to the President.

“Thank you, my friend,” a very relieved President had acknowledged.

21

Cote d’Azur

With the ladies departed, Hussein and Thomas, who had both risen as a sign of respect towards the women, sat back down with the drunk Wasir who hadn’t bothered to get up.

Nervously, the President’s Advisor moved the discussion towards the reason for the weekend.

“My friend,” Hussein said, licking his lips nervously. “The Minister has a request that I have been charged with to discuss with you in regard to the security measures that need to be put into place for your drilling teams,” he somewhat long-windedly offered on behalf of Wasir.

Thomas nodded his approval for Hussein to continue. Drunk, frustrated, and without the patience for a diplomatic approach, Wasir took over the meeting and went straight to the point.

“I need ten percent of all the revenues from your wells, one million U.S. dollars for my employees who will be selected to protect your interests and another one million for my expenses!”

As he listened to his statement, Thomas saw Hussein bulk at the figures. He agreed with him—two million U.S. dollars was a huge sum for security personnel in anybody’s language, but it was the ten percent added element, giving him at least fifty million U.S. dollars per year out of the ground once it was operational, that had made his statement outrageous.

“Over fifty million a year for security is rather steep,” Thomas responded coolly as he actually thought, “Greedy bastard!”

“You can afford it my friend,” Wasir responded with a toothy smile waving his hands around as a gesture toward his surroundings.

“Normally a security provider from the government receives a flat fee, not added incentives, as that goes to the Natural Resources Ministry,” Thomas countered ignoring the rude hand gestures as to his wealth.

“We are a poor country who needs the support of our wealthy friends,” Wasir said dismissing Thomas’s reply, determined not to budge.

“Do you have a suitable figure in mind Thomas?” Hussain asked respectfully to at least start a negotiation he knew his President needed to succeed.

“I have no problem with the two million just not the percentage of revenues,” Thomas said firmly.

“No percentage no deal!” the pirate said as he took yet another sip of his Blue Label that had been continually topped up through dinner.

“You are not authorized to speak on behalf of the President with that respect,” Thomas replied with a piercing stare. It was a look that instantly made Hussein shift in his chair nervously as the two men fixed on each other.

“Maybe it would better if we finished our discussions tomorrow?” Hussain offered. With neither man backing down nor was Wasir unlikely to be sensible due to his alcohol fuelled state of mind, it would be a good time to call it night. His statement brought an instant change in focus from the Minister he ranted at his advisor in Somali.

By the look on the face of the advisor, Thomas immediately thought he had just threatened to kill him, though he didn’t understand what he had said.

He certainly understood though what Wasir, having turned his gaze back towards to him, and said to him in Italian in an effort to show him he wasn’t just some peasant from Somalia who could, be pushed around by rich white men.

“Only if you send me your whore for the night!”

Instantly Thomas’s eyes flashed his demon appearing with force. It was a look that made Hussein feel a shiver down his spine.

In measured flawless Italian like the devil Thomas replied, “You will leave my boat in the morning! You will take the two million I have offered. If you do not, I will cut off your balls and feed them to fishes for your insult.”

In any other circumstances, he would have made Wasir pay the two million for the insult to the love of his life on pain of death, but he had given his word to his friend so instead he had offered the pirate a way out.

The fact that Litchfield had replied unexpectedly in fluent Italian to his insult just as Wasir’s teachers did as a small boy had taken aback the pirate for he could tell Thomas meant what he said.

Although Hussein had no idea what had been said, the former teacher could sense both parties were at a point of no return. He was thoroughly terrified and not just because of the threat, he had just been on the receiving end of from Wasir.

While the ex-pirate, sensing through experience that now was not the time for a fight, not to mention still in shock having been called out by the Englishman’s fluent Italian, he chose to listen to his survival instincts.

“Two million is acceptable,” he said taking the offer and allowing Hussein to breathe again as catastrophe had been avoided. Having being a teacher in London before returning home, he wasn’t used to ‘the sharp end’ of life.

“I will let the Captain know you’re leaving in morning Minister,” Thomas said with finality, letting Wasir know he was no longer welcome under his roof. He promptly left the room to join Nara.

As he did so, Wasir turned to the relieved Hussein and ordered, “Go and get my bitches and tell them to join me in my room!” in Somali.

“Ybeeldaaje,” meaning “Chief,” said the advisor in a subservient manner, praying that Wasir didn’t carry through on his threat to cut out his tongue.

Sitting in the Master cabin on the sofa at the end of the bed having retired in the evening, Thomas picked up the phone and made his call to Adwalland to let the President know how the meeting went with his problem Minister.

He hadn’t been on very long though before he was momentary distracted by Nara exiting their bathroom wearing the most incredible lace silk teddy. Covering the receiver he said, “La mia Signora di Bellezza!” receiving blown kisses in return from her.

Returning back to his call, he decided to finish it as quickly as possible so he could get his hands on Nara. He proceeded to brief the President as to his thoughts, including his disappointment at Wasir’s attempt to extort fifty million for his own personal pocket.

With the conversation now reaching a natural end, not to mention Nara giving him her “best come to bed” look as she sat by him on the sofa stroking his arm and sinfully using her toes to rub his crotch that in response was stirring to life, he wrapped up the call.

“We will need to deal with him in the near future, Mr. President.”

The President chose to ignore him. “I will see you in soon?” the President asked hopefully as he knew he needed Thomas’s financial strength and help to ensure the chief’s loyalty.

“Next month,” he promised his friend.

Call ended, the phone replaced, Nara pounced and arrived on his lap, straddling him with her feet either side whispering huskily in Turkmen as she bent down to kiss him. “Take what is yours, my love.”

As Thomas and Nara started to make love on The Libertine, the conversation between him and President started simultaneously downloaded by two listening posts, one at GCHQ in Cheltenham the other at the FAPSI listening post based in Syria.

The download completed, the communication was immediately forwarded onto Navjot and Rebecca respectively under the terms of their nations shared intelligence agreement and the analysts of the SVR by the FAPSI.

On the shoreline in Nice, three surveillance teams of MI6, SAD, and SVR unbeknownst to each other were also sending their images from the day on their respective laptops to their masters.

22

Washington, D.C. / London / Moscow

Arriving in Washington, London & Moscow almost within minutes of each other, yet unknown to each recipient, the transcript of the telephone conservation between the billionaire and the President of the world’s newest nation was handled differently.

Navjot and his team retreated to the Cube together to listen to it.

Rebecca left it on her laptop unopened, as was the case with regard the photos that had been emailed as well.

Alexei was still unaware of the call and would remain so until his analysts had summarized it for him.

Navjot left the images to one of his team, who deemed the photos of limited importance and as such parked them in a file.

Later still Alexei was still unaware of them, he too having left them for his analysts to deem whether the information was important enough for his attention to be included in his Report.

Rebecca dropped her coffee the second she saw the pictures of Wasir Osman Hassan boarding his yacht!

23

Kenya, 2006

“God’s Place” is the loose translation of the word “Kenya”, and for Rebecca would forever represent both the place that she had fallen in love and the place that had then cruelly taken that love away from her.

After a challenging tour in Baghdad’s Green Zone liaising with the contractors tasked with the security of Iraq, the tracking and then relocating members of the failed state’s abandoned chemical weapons program to ensure that terrorists or States engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction didn’t get their hands on them, she was then transferred to Nairobi. There she was to monitor the growing problem of Islamic terrorists from Britain and Pakistan that were making their way to Somalia for training to become the next the ‘lambs to the slaughter’ in the fight against the great Satan.

She had first met Chris Anderson on the famous Lord Delamare Terrace of the Norfolk Hotel where they were both staying while setting themselves up in Nairobi.

With his blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, sun-washed face scattered with one or two lines from his years spent in-country working for the Red Cross and at a muscular framed six-feet, to Rebecca he looked like her image of Hercules, and he had quickly swept her off her feet.

Until Chris appeared, relationships in Rebecca’s life were just moments in time. He changed that in the instant they met. A surgeon by profession, principled, committed to injustices of the world, he had said to her in their first night together that he could never leave Africa.

“Africa haunts your soul,” he had said and told her every time they discussed it.

Although they had been together for nearly two years, and despite knowing she was in love with him, Rebecca still hadn’t him told him what she did really for a living.

Her reasoning was simple—she was terrified of losing him.

He knew her as “Cathy Benson,” the Regional Asset Manager for London and Africa Loss Adjusters, not as “Rebecca Leriris,” East Africa Section Chief for MI6, despite HR clearing him.

In the past, she had often used the service’s regulations as justification for the ending of her relationships, as officers of the SIS weren’t allowed to marry non-British nationals or even disclose their real names until they have been security vetted. But because he had become such an important part of her life she took the plunge and had declared their relationship to her superiors.

With her tour ending in just a few months and fast approaching in the back of her mind if not in reality, she was resigned to the fact that she was either going to have to bite the bullet and tell him or end it like she had always done in the past and return to Britain back to her real life.

It was a prospect she couldn’t bear to think about but as was typical in their relationship he beat her to the punch so to speak. Lying in bed together after Chris had spent a hard month in South Sudan supporting the overworked doctors in the field, he had asked her to come to Lamu and Kiunga on the coast over the weekend with him so they could have a “mini-break.”

Ever the agent, Rebecca had jumped at the chance to go with him having been tasked for intelligence on the area on the growing influence the Al Shabaab that had taken over much of south and central Somalia.

“We need an on-ground assessment whether AQ has established training camps in the area,” Michael had said in their weekly briefings over the sat phone.

“I’ll get on the case,” she had replied without a second thought.

For adventure driven tourists of the world, Lamu is the epitome of what happens when the film the Arabian Nights has a relationship with the Blue Lagoon.

For the rich wealthy jet set of the world, it represents the end of a party circuit that starts in Gstaad and ends amongst the poverty of Lamu. The reason why the area had become so popular over the years amongst this unique set of adventure seekers was because for some of them who were backpackers in their youth in the 1970s, had returned to build their guarded villas on the Shela Beach, making the small little town Africa’s own “Sodom and Gomorrah” with an underground of sex and drugs, with some of the beach boys doing the delivering in more ways than one.

Yet for all its excesses, it is in its proximity the border with Somalia there is an area called Kiunga, which is the nearest thing on Earth to purgatory outside a gulag in North Korea. With its islands it shelters an extensive system of creeks, channels, and mangrove forests that were the perfect safe haven for smugglers and pirates alike who in turn were the lifeblood of the terrorists.

The fact that Chris had just asked her to come to Kiunga was too good an opportunity to turn down even if she did feel guilty using her lover as an intelligence source.

As a direct consequence from having worked for many aid agencies over the last ten years the simple fact was his intelligence sources were much better than hers would be.

As they drove up to Lamu, he had told her had arranged to meet one such pirate with a good reputation for always delivering to get much needed supplies into Ras Kamboni.

“How did you meet him darling?” she had asked, ever the intelligence officer.

“One of my runners set it up,” he had said without actually explaining how, despite her attempt to push him.

What Chris had told her though was that the little community on the Somali side of the border that had been on the U.S. radar since the early days after 9/11, when the U.S. had thought the town was used first for the bombings of the embassy in Nairobi and then the Mombasa hotel bombing by the Jihadist fighters, was in a desperate situation due to a takeover of the town by Al Qaeda.

Later on that night having had arrived at the little hotel while they had sat on the beach with a light wind brushing against her face looking at the map of the area Chris suddenly had said, “I know why my locals call it Dick’s Head now!”

“Pardon?” she had replied giggling.

“Because it’s a phallic spit of land extending out from the village!” he had added, showing her the map.

“Oh gosh! They’re right! It is!” she had said, still giggling.

“Marry me?” he had said out of nowhere, interrupting her.

“WHAT!” Rebecca had replied her laughter stopping dead in her tracks as her mind had processed what he had just asked.“You heard me Cath,” he had responded.

“I… I…” she had answered in s

hock.

“It’s okay. I know darling,” he had said, interrupting her and taking hold of her hand.

“Know what?” she had said, completely thrown by not just his proposal but also his line of questioning.

“That you’re not just a Lost Adjuster,” he had said squeezing her hand in the process.

A flood of emotions hit her all at once as her deception of the man she loved was out in the open and not because she had told him.

“How?” she had responded weakly.

“About a year ago, I sort of worked it out, when I had a series of probing chats with several friends from other NGOs, at the time it felt like an interview …and well I put two and two together when I suddenly realized that I had never met any of your friends or family.” He had smiled at her. “So, yes or no?” he had asked as she sat there in shock processing his words.

“This was why I fell in love him!” she had thought. “He has never put pressure on me to meet my friends or family, he accepted me warts and all.” Her mind had processed all at once.

“But But… You don’t know my real name” she had replied, tears in her eyes.

Suddenly dropping the map he had pulled her towards him. They had met in the middle and kissed each other.

“I am Chris,” he had said after breaking away brushing away her long hair from her face followed by a small smile as he looked into her tear filled eyes.

“I am Rebecca,” she had responded.

“Will you marry me, Rebecca?” he had asked this time using her real name, love in his eyes.

“Yes, my darling Chris. Yes!” she had replied as they kissed and then they had made love on the beach as the waves had rolled in around them.

24

Ras Kamboni, 2006

Wasir Osman Hassan, due to his Clan links in Adwalland, had always had a reputation for delivering. In the south, on the Kenyan border where the Foreign Islamists were using the area as a base camp, his links weren’t as strong and as such, he was suffering.

With the only healthcare available in Ras Kamboni in the form of a small pharmacy, the Al-Qaeda foreigners had contracted him to deliver to them their medical supplies from the Yemen.

Unfortunately, despite a heavy investment of bribes, Wasir, because the Kenyan coastguards were receiving more money from the Americans to stop the deliveries, and after the loss of another boat this morning, had come to the bitter conclusion that it was time to cut his losses and run.

Unable to fulfill the foreigner’s delivery, he was in a vile mood as this meant he was now going to have to purchase another load out of his own pocket to meet the order as one didn’t stiff or disappoint a client like the Al Qaeda if you wanted to survive.

His mood greatly improved while sitting in his little villa picking his teeth when one of his runners briefed him about an Englishmen in Lamu who was looking for a boat captain to bring into Ras Kamboni some much needed medical supplies from the Red Crescent Society for the little pharmacy to distribute.

“Arrange the meeting!” He barked at the runner. A plan formed in his mind before getting up to select one of the terrified young girls that he intended to use for his evening’s entertainment.

25

Lamu, 2006

Small, personal, and considered to be the perfect resting place after a safari or as a hideaway holiday from modern life, The Peponi Hotel, run by the Korschen family, who had opened it in 1967 to look after the hedonistic party seekers from Gstaad, was the reason why Chris and Rebecca had chosen it for their romantic weekend.

Walking into the bar of the small hotel, Wasir Osman Hassan spotted his ‘runner’ sitting in the corner with a man he was assumed was the Englishman and a very beautiful woman.

The runner having spotted Wasir as he walked into the bar immediately got up out of respect to his chieftain in order to offer his chair to him.

“It’s good to meet you, Mr. Wasir,” Chris said as a way of an introduction standing up in respect earning a single nod in return from Wasir whose eyes were instantly on Rebecca who in turn felt he was undressing her as he looked at her.

“May I introduce my fiancée, Miss Benson,” Chris said ignoring his lack of acknowledgement or manners to finish the introductions by indicating her position in his life to the pirate having spotted his obvious leer in her direction.

Again, Wasir said nothing; instead he offered a further nod in return. As far as he was concerned women existed for pleasure and creating sons, of which he had two from his three wives, and certainly not for attending meetings between men.

With the arrival of the waiter Rebecca asked if he would like a drink.

“Whiskey!” said Wasir towards the waiter, ignoring her.

26

London – Present Day

For what seemed like ten minutes when in fact it was just a minute, Rebecca sat in numb shock at the screen of her computer staring at the face of the man who had killed Chris as the steaming coffee continued to drip over her desk from the cup she dropped.

Hearing the coffee cascading off her desk and shaking herself free of Wasir’s image, on autopilot Rebecca got up and cleaned up her desk with her emotions in turmoil.

“It’s the Captain!” she said out loud, a fact she later confirmed when she had read the notes from the team in Nice.

“Interior Minister of Adwalland, Wasir Osman Hassan boarding The Libertine,” it had said.

Composing herself, she sat back down to gather her emotions.

When the Kenyans had told her that Christopher had been found dead over the border in Somalia she just couldn’t believe it. He would have never crossed the border.

“He an experienced aid worker, I don’t believe it,” she had said to her counterpart in the NSIS, the Kenyan Intelligence service.

“Cathy, I am extremely sorry,” was all he had said.

Because he was found murdered over the border she had no choice but to tell Michael that Chris was aware of her true identity because they just became engaged.

His response was immediate. He lifted her out that day, thereby rendering her powerless to question or make her own enquiries into his death allowing the official report to stand.

“Although he was foolhardy crossing the border to assess the situation in Ras Kamboni, his death was not because of kidnapping but instead tragically because his Toyota hit a landmine,” the report had read.

No mention was made of him illegally smuggling medical supplies across the border because neither Kenya nor the Red Cross wanted the embarrassment.

In her heart, Rebecca had always known it was the Pirate Captain who had killed him and stole the medical supplies.

Despite many attempts and enquires since his death, from the reading of prisoner transcripts to intelligence reports supplied from the Somali’s NSS nobody could find the Captain she had met in Luma named Wasir. Until now! When out of the blue when he appears on the yacht of a billionaire she was investigating.

Over the years out of a sense of loyalty whilst continuing to contain her emotions by throwing herself into her work, she had kept an eye on his elderly parents, who only knew her as Cathy Benson. It was the only time she had grieved as she stood by his parents and buried him in their small village in Hampshire and vowed.

“I will find your killer, my darling! God punishes! Man takes revenge!” she had said in Yiddish, her Jewish upbringing spurring her to act and finally, God had answered her and was going to allow the opportunity for her to do so.

27

Washington, D.C.

The conversation between Thomas and the President of Adwalland brought a pensive look from Navjot. Stroking his beard, he processed the essence of the discussion and after another moment of reflection and a review of his keynotes, he looked up into the eyes of his team.

“Well, that was certainly interesting,” he said.

“Did Litchfield just suggest that they take out Wasir?” Clara Martinez, the logistic planning officer and the number two of the group, asked.

“Yep”, Peter Obraniak, the group’s communications expert replied.

“Greedy bastard though, isn’t he?” said Joe Tonelli, his Behavioral Analyst, as if in support of why Litchfield might have made such a suggestion.

“Fifty million U.S. dollars per year for security to a pirate was steep in anybody’s language,” Navjot answered as if in agreement.

“Well, we now know for certain he appears to be the perfect choice to prod the tribal chiefs,” Joe offered.

“So are we going to push it along Boss?” asked Pete.

“I think so… let’s get Reza on the horn and just ‘up’ the time table a little,” Navjot answered. His mind already processing that if they didn’t get the ball moving then SAD options were going be limited as it was clear that Litchfield intended to remove him from the picture with a bullet.

“Pete; can you find out what Andrew Martin is up to?” Navjot then asked.

“Xerulla?” Clara replied using the name of Martin’s security business somewhat surprised. For although they had used him in Iraq to provide contracted support he was pretty much small fry compared to the firms of Tim Spicer’s AEGIS and Prince’s Academi, the consultants the Agency traditionally used for private security operations.

“Yeah… We going to need some technical support for Wasir, and it cannot be directly linked to us,” Navjot countered, answering her question.

Earlier Ali and Navjot had discussed the fact the GSG were going to need to put some “contractors” on the ground to provide support for any effort Wasir made to take over the country or a scapegoat if the operation was scrapped, as had happened in Simon Mann’s attempt to take over Equatorial Guinea, they had narrowed the list to a couple of firms that would fit with an ambitious Indian.

Andrew Martin, a former Lieutenant Colonel of the Welsh Guards, represented one such individual out of the original list of about twenty.

They finally settled on Martin because unlike Princes Academi or Spicer AEGIS that had won the principal contracts in Iraq, his company had bounced along the bottom.

Martin’s firm was originally formed to provide law enforcement training, logistics, close quarter training, and security services to legally recognized governments in the late 1990s. Over the years, the former Lt. Colonel’s company had held contracts with multinational corporations and small carpetbaggers engaged in the extraction of natural resources around the world. But lately, as the world through improved satellite communications and exponentially improved iPhone technology, the use of Twitter, and YouTube, had become aware of some of more dubious techniques these firms and employed. Consequently, Martin’s traditional client base had set about trying to change their images to protect their brand.

A casualty of this change of policy was the employment of Mercenaries in the mold of Martin. As a consequence, he had struggled badly.

With a couple of ex-wives, four children, not to mention a country estate to maintain back in England, together with the fact that the various mining companies he held stakes in were running out of money; both Ali and Navjot had reckoned that former Guardsman would jump at the chance to work for a wealthy Indian diamond merchant looking to secure his new oil-gas assets in crisis-torn East Africa.

“See if you can find somebody who has links with him so we can use them as a back door access to recruit him,” offered Navjot thinking that the classic false flag strategy would work well.

“Sure, Boss. I will get on it straight away,” Pete answered.

28

London, Two Months Later

On reaching passport control having arrived at Heathrow on the “red eye” from Washington, a smiling Navjot presented his NOC Gouramangi Singh British Passport to the officer on Passport Control desk.

Despite being a proud American through and through, the SAD operative up to the age of thirteen had been brought up in Reading, England and as such, he had never lost his English accent. So much so that when he went to Peary, the famous Farm located in Williamsburg, Virginia on being selected for NOC work, his trainers recommended that his cover identities, if possible, were to be always linked back to a British education.

This meant as far as the British Intelligence Services were concerned he was undeclared asset on their soil and by definition ‘illegal.’

Passing through the control without incident, he walked out of the Arrivals Hall to the pick-up location.

Met by his driver, they joined the early morning traffic and headed for central London.

The “legend,” is the slang for a NOC background was an expensive operation to maintain because it was also a fully-fledged diamond trading business not just a front.

Initially, from a standing start both he and his blonde, blue-eyed wife Lori, whom he had met at the Farm and then married, had created the retail business from scratch by buying and reselling diamonds in Mumbai and Dubai. Then once the reputation of the business was established they had entered the Indian community of Dubai. There, they had set about building the brand of the business, through placements into the society magazines of the area, sponsorships of various events ranging from cricket to fashion shows and the establishment of glossy retail stores in the Five Star Hotels that were being built on money borrowed against the sands owned by the ruling families, before finally moving on to Mumbai three years later to establish their reputations well and truly below and above the line.

Yet it wasn’t until just before the end of the decade that the company had started to become noticed on the world stage and in the process had become far bigger than either they or the Agency had ever originally imagined and all achieved by an astute investment into an Alaskan diamond production business.

As to how that had come about was all down to David Young who was at that time a Deputy Director of the Agency.

Taking opportunity to upgrade the Legend he ensured that the CIA’s Private Equity firms and key oversight committees steered the Alaskan State Government in the direction the GSG.

To a director like Young, who had internally supported the view with an argument that the world’s next Cold War would be fought over resources like water, oil, and gas and rare metals used in advanced technologies, it made sense. With Al Qaeda all but defeated, he ordered Navjot and his team reassigned with a plan for them to act as the United States’ point in this new battle.

On reaching the Carlton Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge at seven thirty in the morning, Navjot got out of the Mercedes, walked briskly through the hotel, and right into the famous Rib Room to join his newly hired Head of Security, Tony Wilson.

He had chosen the dining room for the meeting as it was his alter-ego Mr. Singh’s local restaurant of choice when in London because it was near Mr. Singh’s townhouse in Walton Row.

A former Major in the UAE Defense Forces and prior to that an Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) in the Welsh Guards, the stiffed backed man of over six-foot-three-inches had been over the moon when a recruitment agent rang him out of the blue at his Thailand home informing him he had got him an interview with a rich Indian who was looking to bump up his security for his expanding business in Africa.

With an ex-wife in England, a young Thai wife, plus two families to support, Wilson had thought when he looked GSG up on the web that his Christmas had come early. Even more so when he found it came with a package of £120,000/- per year plus all the fringe benefits. Consequently it hadn’t taken him long to confirm he would take the job after his first meeting with Mr. Singh.

Apart from the making sure the security at the shops and transportation was all spot on, a job he could do in his sleep, Tony thought his life was on the up.

That had quickly changed, however, when his new employer had asked him to look at bringing onboard some technical consultants for the group’s new investment interests they were intending to build.

Not wanting to show his contacts in the world of former “Ruperts” were limited, he had approached his former Commanding Officer Lt. Colonel Andrew Martin. Of course, Tony was completely unaware that was the only reason he had been hired in the first place.

This was going to be Navjot’s first meeting with Martin.

“Mr. Singh good to see you, Sir,” said the former RSM as he got up to shake his hand.

“Good to see you Tony,” replied Navjot with a smile.

“May I introduce my former Commanding Officer Lt. Colonel Andrew Martin,” the ex-RSM said almost barking his name as though he would do on parade.

“Absolute pleasure, Mr. Singh,” offered the former guardsman in a crisp public schooled accent in comparison to Tony’s East London one.

“Likewise Colonel,” Navjot replied, knowing British Army Officers loved their titles.

“The Major here was telling me all about your little project you have got going on in Adwalland. I must it all sounds rather good!” Andrew said taking over the meeting instantly. As he did so, Navjot chuckled at the use of Tony’s faux rank from his days in the United Arab Emirates armed forces.

“Well, let’s hope so! This is the first time we moved out of diamond mining!” Navjot replied as he sat down.

The next five minutes consisted of ordering of breakfasts, but as the menus were handed back to the waiter, Navjot got right down to business.

“We are pretty new in the country but we have an excellent relationship with the Interior Minister who will provide members of his Clan to undertake the day to day security of the teams, but he has,” he paused, taking a sip of his English Breakfast tea for effect, “requested that we assist him with equipment, technical support, and training,” he continued with a smile as he put the napkin to his lips. It wasn’t true of course, as Navjot hadn’t even got to that point with Wasir.

The second the Indian had finished his statement Martin’s mind began working overtime.

When his secretary had let him know he had a Mr. Wilson on the phone he had thought he was going to be in for one of those typical begging calls that he received from time to time from his former employees or NCOs asking whether he had any work.

Unfortunately, the truth was he was almost broke himself as the shareholdings he had in all his companies he had previously invested in and earned fees from providing his security teams to had virtually dried up as the world media had recently made its mission to hold them accountable as part of the “Twitter revolutions” in the world dictatorships.

In the old days when media had meant walking around with heavy cameras it had been far easier to manage the floor, but with every phone in the world now loaded with a camera and worst still Internet ready, it had become much harder to control. As a result he had suffered badly because he hadn’t won any of the larger contracts that were handed out as part of the Iraq Mission. Yes, he had done well in the early years earning some high fees, but that train had long left the station.

He couldn’t believe it when Wilson actually rang him up to offer him a job!

“How the bloody hell did Wilson get that job!” he thought as the RSM asked him to meet with his employer.

Discreet enquiries made with some of friends in the security services told him that, despite his high profile retail business that was worth about a billion U.S. dollars according to The Times’ Rich List, the man was also suspected of doing questionable deals with Taliban agents along the way via the purchase of conflict diamonds from the Congo. That didn’t bother Martin one bit. He just saw the much needed dollar signs.

“That sort of help does not come cheap Mr. Singh. Any idea what kind of equipment he has indicated he wants?” Andrew asked.

“Tony has the list,” Navjot said pretending not to understand the ins and outs of the business.

It was the exact opposite, in fact, as Clara, Pete, and he had sat down and worked out what was needed having assessed Wasir’s capabilities during their visit and then in turn gave the list to Wilson on behalf of the Minister.

“I just want to know how much?” Navjot continued as Tony pulled out his list from his file on the table and gave it to his former Colonel.

As Andrew scanned through the list, he knew instantly it wasn’t going to be used for technical assistance.

The Mil-17 Helicopter with counterinsurgency weaponry alone was going to cost in the region of five million U.S. dollars. He could see a nice commission on that item only for himself alone. He was hooked and went straight for the jugular so to speak.

“Well, looking at this, old boy, the equipment alone going to cost at least ten million with my twenty per cent handling fee on top to do it as it’s sensitive, to say the least,” the former Colonel answered without emotion.

“Men for the technical support would also cost about a million in salaries and bonuses,” he continued calculating the commission as he went.

Navjot listened carefully and pretended to nod.

“What’s the rest of your fee, Colonel?” he asked while he stroked his beard.

“Two million upfront and another two on conclusion of the contract plus a three percent non-diluted shareholding in any natural resources companies that are established or floated from Adwalland,” Martin answered without hesitation.

Although greed always disappointed him, Navjot wasn’t surprised.

“Let Tony know your account details,” Navjot said offering his hand to the Mercenary, who as he took it was thinking he that he would use the money to sort out that damp on his current family’s mansion that he lived in.

29

Los Angeles

Steve Krivets was at his home watching one of his former conquests on Television. A tall sexy blonde, blue-eyed thirty year-old anchor of his news network was about to cross-examine Thomas.

“She might make a suitable partner for me at some point,” Steve said out loud as he made a mental note to check to see if she was married or had any hidden skeletons since the last time she had last shared his bed as he was already thinking about the run he intended to make for the Governorship of California.

Over the last month the management of MNG, as agreed between Steve and Thomas, cascaded down to the news desks, and the various newspapers of the group the desire of the board to see positive news stories about the new breed of African states in an effort to support their agenda. A task made considerably easy by the fact that over the last two years, the media management teams of TLH given them the material to work with.

Examples ranged from bylines called “Adwalland puts the pirates to the sword,” to special four-page business reports, the establishment of a new professional website with direct links to the Mining Ministry, and finally start the promotion of the country as the next tourist destination with a positioning of “exciting untouched, unexplored land,” followed by lots of features in the travel sections of the “weekend” editions of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

The Pièce de résistance though was going to be Thomas’s first ever interview on the business channel which ensured that the entire business community plus a few political hawks would be watching with great interest.

Steve though was watching for a different reason; he wanted to see how his ally handled himself in what he knew was going to be a difficult interview.

His mind pondered on the exchange that he had with McGiven just three days before.

“Steve, I have to say I am disappointed over the amount of puff pieces your guys are fucking doing on Adwalland and TLH!” the Chief of Staff had said to him. “I mean I know he is a fucking major investor in your business, but fuck it! You don’t need to keep up with the goddamn blowjobs. You know the fucking value of what sits behind all this!” McGiven had ranted on with his diatribe by making direct inference to the fact that Steve was the one who had called him with his concerns in the first place.

“I don’t tell my news or features teams what to report or write, Joe,” Steve had defensively replied pushing back even though that was the case.

“BULLSHIT! I’m fucking starting to wonder whose fucking side you’re on!” The Bostonian had angrily said before backing off knowing calling out a CEO of a significant news company wasn’t the best policy. “I am sorry, Steve. I know am over-stepping the mark,” McGiven had added. “It’s just that I am under pressure from the Sec. State!” Joe had continued even though that wasn’t the case but in any event useful in the game of political negotiations.

This call hadn’t been a surprise as both Thomas and he in London had discussed that it would come at some point.

That night they had agreed that for them to become the ‘Brokers’ they would need to appear as neutrals despite their links to each other so for the moment Steve kept wise counsel and remained silent.

“Look, I honestly need your help on this, Steve,” The Chief of Staff said finishing off his mini-performance.

“Okay, I hear you,” Steve had responded on cue.

“Look, nobody is supposed to know this as we only start running the promos tomorrow, but Litchfield is doing an exclusive interview in a couple of days with the Business Desk in New York.”

“Really, who’s doing it?” McGiven had quickly asked seizing the moment and falling into Steve’s trap.

“Jessica Austin,” Steve had responded with a smirk that the Chief of Staff couldn’t see, as he had cast his fly almost as if he were fishing in Montana for trout.

“How about you get somebody to brief her on the value of the Russian base. What she does with it is up to her.”

Immediately the Chief of Staff had bit, “Thanks I certainly appreciate your support, Steve!”

“Oh and don’t worry the Sec. State will be at your dinner for your coming out parade,” Joe had added, to which Steve chuckled.

“It amazing what a little push can do,” Steve had privately thought.

“Favors for favors,” he had chuckled to himself, having Kerry at the dinner was going guarantee him the exposure and political support he needed to announce that was throwing in his hat and entering the ring as a potential serious candidate for Governorship of the world’s ninth biggest economy in the near future.

Once the call was out of the way, Steve had discreetly let Thomas know that McGiven was coming for him just as they had discussed through the simple use of a code word in BlackBerry instant messenger within a good luck note. Now he was just waiting to see how he managed it.

“Don’t let me down buddy,” he said to Thomas’s face on the screen.

Introductions completed, Jessica turned and smiled towards the famous billionaire.

“Sir Thomas, welcome to the MGN Newsroom.”

“Thank you, Jessica.”

“Your career has certainly been stellar, to say the least, with your interests ranging from a shareholding in our parent company it needs to be mentioned to our audience, to your global natural resource interests,” she said setting the scene. “So I would like to begin our interview with a question that although I understand it is one you hate, but I feel our viewers would like to hear an answer to?”

“Of course,” answered Thomas all charm personified, knowing what was coming.

“Do you consider yourself an Oligarch?” she asked.

“Straight to the point!” Thomas thought.

“Yes Jessica,” he answered coolly. “I do hate the term because the media always tags each successful businessmen with it whether he is working in or is Russian. An Oligarch is driven by the ability to set cash above everything else! I have never done that. So, to answer your question, no, I am not Oligarch. But I am pleased and proud to be part of the rebuilding of Russia after a difficult transition in its history,” he added attempting to close down the question.

“Do you have links to organized crime?” she probed.

“No, I don’t. I have always had complete confidence in the laws and the officers who uphold them in all the countries my group over the years has invested in and continue do so,” he answered sincerely, despite having done the exact opposite as working with and around organized crime in Russia was an unfortunate but a necessary evil.

Again Jessica probed, but having been signaled by his friend by way of a message that U.S. would start their campaign to paint either him or the leadership of Adwalland as criminals, thereby potentially derailing the Russian presence, Thomas offered his answers in a cool and understated manner.

Under any other circumstances, he would never dream of doing an interview and indeed until this one he had never done so in the past. He didn’t even have a Facebook or Twitter account, despite the many efforts of Victoria to make him get one.

When the Mayor made clear his intentions and what he expected from him, Thomas’s instincts had told him at some point he was going to be receiving a barrage of questions of this sort as he was the lead investor and broker.

His instinct had also led him to believe tensions between the U.S. and Russia were almost certainly going to start to boil in the coming months.

So using the logic to get the skeletons out of the way and on record at a time of his choosing instead of being ambushed down the road, Thomas summoned his media information officer to help prepare him.

It was a decision that had nearly given the poor man a heart attack after initially thinking Thomas was joking.

“Fucking hell, Thomas, you’re bloody nuts!” James Weston had said in typical blunt fashion, reflecting his Northern England roots.

“Jim, just get me ready,” he had said, calming his long-standing combustible friend who lived on too much coffee and cigarettes.

So as Jessica pressed him again, this time Thomas continued in the cool and focused manner just as James had taught him earlier in the day during their training session and answered.

“I think I answered that question,” he stated, followed by a deadly pause designed to fill the air with silence so to push her to move on.

With her screaming producer’s orders in her ear, sensing that he wasn’t going to answer, Jessica did just that by moving on to his education, military career before she came to a question of how he saw Russia’s future.

Her questions were presented as her views but obvious to the informed who were watching and not just Thomas, had come from a State Department briefing, signaled by her use of a statement by former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on the attempt of Russia to “Re-Soviet” around the world as the catalysis, Thomas responded.

“In all my years doing business in Russia and the neighboring states that surround her, I have always mixed with perfectly happily ordinary people,” he said. “As I said earlier, I am proud to be part of the rebuilding of Russia after a difficult transition. The atmosphere in these countries is always totally different to the way it perceived by your colleagues in media.

“People go to work, socialize in bars and restaurants, raise families and don’t keep looking over their shoulder for the KGB at the door, so I disagree strongly with Mrs. Clinton’s perception,” he said with conviction in his voice, ignoring her question completely and giving a party line answer he knew would please the Mayor.

“How do you see Putin?” Jessica asked suddenly as if out of blue, which it was anything but.

“Here, we go!” Thomas thought. He took a big breath.

“I see him as a strong leader for whom the majority of Russians that make up the general populace respond to, whether the world likes it or not,” he answered neutrally.

“Is he your Krysha, meaning Roof, to use a Russian word?” she fenced.

The fact she used such a word in her subject confirmed to him that she had, as Steve suggested, received a full briefing from the State Department by the mentioning an essential part of Russian business in the 1990s when the country was weak and more corruptible than they were today as to the way to try and link him to the Mayor.

“Yes, I do know the President, but I wouldn’t say I am his ‘Buddy,’ Jessica. And no, he is most definitely not my ‘Protector.’” He took a moment to gather his thoughts just like James taught him he continued on.

“It’s the other way around. The President expects all of Russia’s business leaders to help and support the country interests by becoming National Champions,” he answered seriously and deliberately to give her an opening to bring up Adwalland and so send a message to State Department that he could be used as an instrument in any back channel if needed while hoping they were smart enough to see it. She didn’t disappoint.

“So your investment in Adwalland is an example of that expectation in action?” she asked as if on cue.

“Yes, I was asked to lead a delegation of Russian companies due to my close relationship with the President of Adwalland, who I think by the way, is doing a magnificent job with his tribal leaders in rebuilding his young country…But you have to remember that we are British company at heart and will always be so,” he answered carefully to lay out his position as the Honest Broker by publically espousing that, despite his many years in Russia as an investor, he was British.

“So the fact that you assisted in the negotiations between the two Presidents, in the agreement, to put a navy base one hundred and twenty-five miles away from the American base in Djibouti is secondary,” she said, delivering the statement as promised to her source at the State Department.

“What’s your point, Jessica? I don’t understand your question?” he asked to give her more fuel for the fire.

“That you’re part of the new Russian Policy deliberately challenging the United States of America in all theatres,” she said, taking the bait with piercing blue eyes.

“Well, I don’t speak for the Russian Government; you will need to ask the Russian Foreign Ministry that question. I will counter that if the Russian Government is prepared to support its and their partner’s organizations with a ten billion dollar investment into the infrastructure needed to assist in the extraction of the world’s much needed natural resources then that State,” he paused for effect, “is entitled to safeguard their interests as they see fit. So yes, if the governments of Russia or Adwalland believe a navy base will help in a traditionally hard and difficult region then I welcome it as a businessman… That said, I think it would be arrogant or naive to believe the TLH Group is part of a deliberate challenge between two great countries especially when all we are trying to do is help in the rebuilding of a young war-torn country,” he answered with a smile, implying it was.

The power-keg was now well and truly lit.

* * *

While Jessica Austin was finishing her exclusive interview with Litchfield with a move back to puff pieces, Joe McGiven turned down the television set in his private office within his Georgetown townhouse, picked up the phone and dialed David Young who was at a dinner party his wife was hosting.

Having checked to see who was calling him he excused himself from the table, immediately walked into his office, and closed the door. On the fourth ring, Young answered.

“Mr. McGiven,” he said.

“Director Young,” The Chief of Staff said. The greetings out of way, McGiven started with the reason for his call.

“Director, I don’t suppose you just saw the Litchfield interview on MGN?” he asked.

“No, Sir I did not,” Young answered before continuing. “However, I am aware his communication teams have been busy briefing journalists all over the world on the positives of the Russian commitment in Adwalland.”

“Well, it’s been over a couple of months since the Secretary has had a full update,” McGiven responded using his boss as a stick, having just been put in his place by the Director.

“Yes I’m aware that is the case, Mr. McGiven,” Young countered dismissively.

“I will have my office arrange a briefing for you if you feel the Secretary needs one,” Young continued in measured tones knowing that his calls were monitored despite the encryption software before ending the call, annoyed that he had interrupted his dinner for something he could have requested by secure email.

* * *

Interview completed, Thomas thanked Jessica and with Mikhail left the studios of MGN in his Armored Mercedes Benz S500.

Pulling out his phone, he rang Nara first in London to see how she was.

“You did very well, my Thomas!” she said before he said anything referring to the interview he had just given.

“You saw it then, darling,” he chuckled.

“You put that little Jelep in her place!” she responded with passion before launching into an update on Victoria, who was still calling home once a day while she got used to boarding school.

The update exhausted, Nara finished off the call with a confirmation as to their table guests for the annual TLH senior team dinner at the weekend at Farrow Hall, their country retreat in Sussex.

Domestic obligations out of the way Thomas then emailed Louise whose BlackBerry was never off and asked her to ask Angus to invite Mrs. Elizabeth Field and a guest that he knew, if she accepted, would be a fellow officer.

He also instructed to put her on his table, as well as making sure that the new Russian Ambassador to Adwalland and his wife were on it as well.

He had decided to invite Rebecca because she had asked to see him so to provide with her an update on matters in Adwalland.

It was something he hadn’t expected, so he wondered if that meant the British was about to pull the plug with respect to his formal request that the Prime Minister and Trade and Industry secretary make some kind of formal statement of support for the British companies investing in the country due to the Americans increasing counter briefings.

With what he just said on television and not to mention having put the ball into play with Steve over the last month Thomas knew at some point that would almost certainly happen and now it appeared it was.

He just needed to make sure that whatever happened in the game between Russia and the U.S. with respect the Naval Base, his interests were protected.

Reaching Aureole Charlie Palmer’s restaurant on 135th and 42nd Street, Mikhail got out of the car first checked the environment, then allowed Thomas to get out and enter the restaurant. As he did so, he spotted the Black Cadillac SUV sitting across the street.

“I see we have a friend Mikhail?” Thomas noted.

“FBI,” Mikhail answered earning a nod in return from Thomas over the fact that they were keeping tabs on him as they walked into the restaurant together.

Greeting the receptionist on the front desk he asked if Ambassador Fielding had arrived at the restaurant.

“Yes sir, he’s there already, sitting at the table,” the pretty lady answered with a smile before gesturing for him and Mikhail to follow her.

Twice married, hard-nosed, no-nonsense Jack Fielding was a career diplomat who previously had been a Special Advisor to the President George Bush Junior on African Affairs, and before that when the French ran the forward operating base a former Ambassador to Djibouti and now ran his own strategic consulting firm on business development.

James Weston had set up this meeting, on the premise that “If you’re going to be taking fucking heat on the Adwalland investment from our cousins then I suggest you get your own voice within the floors of the houses,” he had said, making reference to the lack of friends that TLH had in the congress and senate.

Reaching the table he found James, tie undone as usual, in his Saville Row uniform of a pinstripe grey suit, while the ambassador wore a uniform that most New York businessmen preferred of a regular Brooks Brothers dark blue suit though, in his case, his tie was made up and because he was a former public servant he had a little American flag pin on his lapel.

Getting up, James greeted him.

“Fucking good effort, Tommy!” he said instantly in his regular redneck boy-made-good way in respect to his coolness under pressure during his interview with Jessica. “The fucking phone has been going non-stop from the business desks asking what you meant on the Russian Navy base situation, though,” he said, half asking.

“What have you been telling them?” Thomas asked.

“That you’re FUCKING British! Not FUCKING Russian!” James answered hoping that he had actually grasped his positioning.

Thomas acknowledged his answer with a nod of his head knowing he would have been a tad more eloquent than that though, but, not by much, he reflected just as the Ambassador decided to introduce himself.

“I can vouch for that sir, Jack Fielding,” he said offering his hand with a smile.

“Oh fuck! Where are my manners?” said James embarrassed, despite his brilliance in communications, a double first in Modern and Medieval Languages from Cambridge, he had missed out the lesson of diplomatic etiquette. “Ambassador Jack Fielding, may I present Sir Thomas Litchfield,” he said introducing, now back on track, “and Mikhail Pshenicnikov,” he added.

The Ambassador started the conversation.

“I haven’t seen your interview yet, Sir Thomas, but having been briefed by James and seen the number of calls that he has been getting I certainly can see you must have set fire to the ‘blue touch’ paper!” he said warmly.

“I just answered it from a businessman’s point of view, Ambassador,” Thomas replied as he began to assess the person across the table from him.

“Well, I can certainly see why the State Department has been taking an interest in you!” answered the Ambassador with a small smile of his own and who was doing the same thing with respect to Thomas.

“Well, one does like to get out in the midday sun,” deflected Thomas straight-faced as he began to look at his menu.

“Indeed,” replied the older Statesman as he put his glasses on to read the menu in his hand.

The dinner was really a fishing expedition for both men, with the Ambassador providing Thomas with insight as how the State Department was viewing Russia’s re-emergence, himself, and of course their proposed base in East Africa, and finally in an effort to promote himself how he could be potentially useful within the corridors of the lower and the upper house on the Hill.

Thomas was impressed. The former Ambassador knew his stuff and quickly grasped what TLH end game was and positioning.

“You know, Sir Thomas, I think there is a touch of Metternich in you,” Fielding said suddenly out of the blue as the coffee arrived.

“Witty or tenacious?” Thomas offered deadpan with his own light-hearted attempt at the synopsis.

Smiling back in return if what somewhat surprised that the man across from him actually knew he was referring to the great Prince of Austria’s personal overall character traits who kept the powers of France and Prussia surrounding him at bay in the 1800s, the Ambassador, having recovered from his momentary surprise, answered.

“I was actually thinking that you’re unquestionably someone who has perfected the shape and nature of diplomacy of this era is going to take just as he did in his.”

“A dokter un a kvores-man zeinen shutfim,” offered Mikhail.

“I am sorry, Mikhail, forgive me. I don’t speak Yiddish,” replied the Ambassador recognizing the language nevertheless.

“It means ‘doctors and grave-diggers are partners.’” Mikhail replied with a smile as he took a sip of his water. He never drank when on duty.

“So true! That works too!” offered the Ambassador with laughter. “So which are you, Sir Thomas?” he probed again.

“I will take the fifth on that Mr. Ambassador,” Thomas answered.

“So you will support TLH?” James asked, ignoring the Ambassador’s efforts at intellectual flattery by pushing him to confirm whether he would act as their advocate in the corridors of Washington, knowing full well that Thomas needed him.

“I would be delighted to consult for your business, gentleman,” he answered as the bill arrived.

30

Dubai

Sitting in his villa in the old part of Jumeirah, Navjot set down his secure sat phone having just finished briefing Ali on where the operation was with regard to the seduction of Wasir for the Director’s office. He reflected on their conversation for a moment.

With the hiring of Andrew Martin, he now had all the cornerstones in place. Later today he planned to introduce the future dictator of Adwalland to his new technical advisor, who had impressed him for, as promised, over the last month he had very efficiently delivered the recommended equipment on time and within the budget.

Despite Navjot’s doubts at the time, the refurbished Mil-17 helicopter had been sourced from Ukraine and was about to be refitted in Guinea Bissau by the Ukrainians, complete with its gun pods and rocket launchers.

Then a few days before they were ready to go they would use Wasir’s front-loading Il-76 plane to pick it up and fly it into Adwalland, offload it at the airport and then start the operation to bring into effect a regime change.

The former Guardsman had estimated he needed about two hundred men. At first Navjot thought that was an excessive number but to remain in tune with his cover he had accepted it.

Instead, he had asked. “Why Ukrainians for officers?”

“That is simple, dear boy, Gaddafi had them as officers of Tuareg in his old legion, so there is a natural mechanism of command for the NCOs.”

“That essential?” he had questioned.

“Very much so, I am afraid experience tells me that these things have a habit of getting out of hand, there is no such thing as a bloodless coup. If our friend Wasir is going to get dirty it is better that his Muslim foreigners do it for him rather than his Christian Mamluks,” he had said with sigh, before continuing.

“So if does happen we need to make sure up until that point arrives our orders are being followed,” he had said without emotion.

“Three degrees of separation Mr. Singh,” Tony Wilson had offered in support of his former boss who had sat in on the briefing.

At that precise moment, Navjot despite being an experienced operative, had started to feel incredibly guilty, but he had quickly dispatched it. He had done things in the past in the pursuit of terrorists that in some cases caused innocents to die this, however, with its capacity to be a bloodbath was something very different. It troubled him greatly.

When he was at the Farm, the lecturers had once made the trainees debate the thought process behind Winston Churchill’s decision to not to warn the residents of Coventry that Hitler was planning to level the city as a requiem to the Luftwaffe dead to protect the fact that they had broken the German Enigma Codes used for their coded radio messages. One thousand souls had lost their lives that night. In a war of attrition, terrible decisions had to be made, Churchill did not shirk them, nor would he. He suddenly remembered Jeremy Bentham’s famous quote, “It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong.”

That didn’t make it any easier though. On his last operation in Pakistan before he was reassigned he had ordered the death of twenty people, some of them children, just so they could get a high value Al Qaeda operative who happened to be on the bus with them.

“No,” stopping his train of thought in mid flow. “Deal with this later once you get back home with the Langley shrinks,” he had lectured himself as he responded with a single nod of his head without emotion.

“I understand, Gentleman,” he had answered.

With the rest of the weaponry arriving from Thailand, it was not lost on Navjot that Martin deliberately used five brokers to make sure the purchases stayed below the radar.

“Clever,” he had said respectfully nodding his head towards the former Guardsman.

Finally, the ten refurbished Type 63 personnel carriers from North Korea would be delivered to Addis Ababa by way of China and then transported across Ethiopia on Wasir’s trucks to the border ready for deployment. Although he couldn’t show it as he wasn’t supposed to hold any knowledge of military matters and planning nevertheless Navjot was completely satisfied by the proposed plan from Martin.

So much so he had instructed Reza to wire the money through their British Virgin Islands front companies to the relevant lawyers Martin had used in each part of the world in readiness for immediate payment.

All he needed now was the Devil’s handshake with Wasir Osman Hassan.

Navjot picked up his mobile and called his asset in the Burj Al Arab, whom he had recruited when they had met at one of his friend’s Mahesh Tourani’s famous parties when he was establishing the Gourgamangi Singh identity in the early years when he was living in Dubai. Over the years, the asset had become an essential part of the SAD monitoring function on the comings and goings at the famous hotel often making sure Langley received excellent intelligence from the staff, who were always ignored while serving the targets.

It was not though until one particular operation that they realized just how unique he was. On that occasion when having spotted and reported that a senior dealmaker of Hamas was staying at the hotel with no minders as a guest of one of the Sheikh’s of a country sympathetic to the cause, he was asked to take him down in a joint operation with the Israelis.

At the time, Navjot and Ali had both been dead set against it, saying that he wasn’t trained for that kind of operation, but having been overruled by their immediate superiors they reluctantly lent him to the Israelis who had not been able to get a team in place fast enough with strict orders not to reveal his identity. Watching and waiting until the terrorist leader was in the sea with his young Jordanian girlfriend on the hotel’s private beach he coolly took the opportunity to swap his cell phone with a one that had been cloned. This cloned cell phone however contained fifteen grams of RDX explosives that young Israeli Shinbet courier had given him the day before.

Later that evening having followed terrorist out of the hotel and on into Deira, located on the other side of Dubai creek far away from the hotel cameras, the asset had waited. Then as the terrorist walked out of the offices he was visiting answering the call on his mobile phone he coolly and without hesitation remotely detonated the device killing the man instantly before calmly walking away as though nothing had happened, got into his Range Rover, and drove back to the hotel to carry on with his day job.

“Masterful and cool in his approach an absolute credit to your country,” the Shinbet Chief had written when he sent his thanks to the Director.

It was that point Ali and he realized they had recruited a very unusual operative.

The Israelis may have gotten the credit and had the Dubai Police running around trying to trace the steps of a phantom kill team, not to mention trying work out how the Israelis had done it—indeed this was one of reasons why they had gone over the top when they did actually send in a kill team in to take out Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh. One thing was absolutely sure about this operation was nobody suspected it was Sheikh of Dubai’s ‘hotel man,’ as he was known in the Emirate.

Quietly, when the man was on leave after he had traveled to Langley to obtain his Intelligence Star for that operation, he went onto the Farm for special training so they could upgrade his status. They had stood together in the reception room for his private ceremony surrounded by men and women who had never met him nevertheless saluting his bravery.

Asking if he was okay, fearing it was one thing to pass information along another to be asked to kill, for until an agent is faced with an extremely prejudiced situation despite all the best training in the world it stands for nothing until you have processed the baggage that comes with it, he received his answer.

“Never better, G!” he had replied with a smile.

“Because of me, the children on the West Bank get a chance to live whether they’re Arab or Israeli,” he had replied, as if touched by Navjot’s show of concern. “Don’t worry. I sleep like a baby at night,” he had rejoined. Navjot never doubted him after that as could see he meant it.

The click on the end of the line had brought his friend and asset on the line.

“Hi Rob…” he had said letting him know who it was.

“Gourgamangi! Great to hear your voice again,” he had replied with genuine warmth.

“I need favor old chap,” he had asked.

“Don’t you always, G!” he had laughed reverting to his nickname.

* * *

In a lightweight dark blue suit with a light blue silk tie, the typical color of hotel managers all over the world sitting in his office of the famous Burj Al Arab awaiting the arrival of Wasir Osman Hassan, was Robin “Rob” Ashley.

British born, single, with no ties he had joined the famous hotel group in early days of early of the Dubai boom at the end of 1990s. Tall with a strong chin and dark brown eyes, he was to all intents and appearances a loyal servant of the Sheikh of the Emirate serving as the organization’s development director and in a less visual role of a ‘fixer’ of deals when required by the Ruler’s Office. Although he hadn’t been originally trained as an intelligence officer, Rob nevertheless had all the natural skills to be one, with his ability to recognize that information was a tradable commodity and being able to act as necessary and coolly under a great deal of stress.

Immensely proud of his Intelligence Star he had earned for the take down a Hamas terrorist in his backyard and was locked up the vault in Langley, along with his freshly minted U.S. passport, and the monthly salary the Agency paid into an account for him that he would receive in full once he became surplus to requirements to the Sheikh or needed to leave immediately, nobody had known about his work outside the Agency not even his closest family.

Although he didn’t even know his friend’s real name who was also his ‘controller,’ their bond over the years had grown into a true friendship, and when he was first approached on a visit to New York in the “mid-noughties,” he did not have a clue that his friend whom he had a met at a party of one of the ‘true’ traders of the Emirate was actually an intelligence asset. Overweight, depressed and drinking too much over some of the things he had been asked to do in his employer’s service all that had changed the minute he went to work for Langley.

They gave him a purpose to his life. Now he was part of the secret battle against the terrorists of the world and was using his black book for something other than the whims of the royal family.

When the phone rang from the front desk advising him that his guest had just gone through the front gate, he left his office to meet him.

A seasoned pro at avoiding the killing humid heat of Dubai he arrived outside the famous hotel’s volcano fountain just as the black Mercedes Benz S500’s, with the flags of Adwalland on the front, passenger door was being opened by one of the lavishly dressed doorman. Ignoring the two bodyguards, Rob offered his hand to the man.

“Minister, welcome to the Burj Al Arab. I am Rob Ashley from the Hotel,” he said in his crisp public school accent, using the hallmark of the hotel of, “Always greet the guest before they greet you.”

Wearing a white linen shirt and black tailored trousers with sandals with large ‘rapper’ style Gold Gucci Sunglasses over his eyes, making him looking more like a pop star to him than a Minister, Wasir Osman Hassan replied.

“Thank you Mr. Ashley,” he said, firmly taking his outstretched hand in the process.

“Mr. Singh has asked me to look after you, so if you would like to follow me,” he offered as he gestured towards the open front door. Making small talk was something all trained hotel employees of a five-star hotel were taught to do yet sensing Wasir wasn’t someone who engaged in the art Rob instead just smiled politely at him.

Leading the way in silence up the escalator past the fish swimming behind the glass wall of the aquarium, past the indoor water feature, until they reached the lifts on the first floor at the back of the Hotel. Once inside, the lift dropped back down again to the Juna Lounge on the ground floor behind the vast aquarium.

The lounge, rarely used in the daytime was the perfect place; away from eyes, out of sight, and any possible surveillance equipment as there are no cameras on the floor unlike the conference rooms at the top of the hotel and as such that was why Rob had arranged for the lounge to be closed for a private meeting for his controller.

Opening the door, they found the Indian sitting in the seat in the corner smoking a cigar playing the part of a successful, rich Sikh businessman to the “T”.

Immediately on seeing them enter, the Indian got up to shake Wasir’s hand. As he took it, Rob spoke up.

“Gentlemen, I’ll leave you to it, but if you need anything let me know and I will post a Butler to look after you.” Before he left the room he gestured to Wasir’s bodyguards who hadn’t moved to follow him. Initially refusing, they finally did so when Wasir nodded his head for them to go.

Sitting back down, Wasir got right down to business straight away.

“Gourgamangi! I understand from Reza that you have a proposal for me,” he said coolly.

All he knew at that moment came from his friend from the bank while the both of them sat having a drink together in the hotel nightclub in Bur Dubai he liked because it was always stocked with blonde Russians, was that his new wealthy friend whom he had hosted on his recent trip to Borama was interested in exploring some business opportunities.

“A good one Minister,” replied Navjot as he exhaled smoke from his cigar before offering one from his case to Wasir, who took the expensive stick but chose not to light it, because his mind was focused on business.

“I would like to give you the opportunity as we discussed to take your rightful place as the leader of among your people,” Navjot continued.

“No point beating around the bush when offering to back a coup,” he had reasoned.

“I am listening,” answered the pirate cautiously rolling the cigar in his fingers as one would do with worry beads.

“If we become partners I will give you three million U.S. dollars for security provision now and another three per year followed by a undiluted thirty percent stake in any ventures we undertake together in Adwalland and anywhere else,” offered Navjot knowing full well it was higher what he had agreed to with Litchfield a few months ago on his yacht.

The pirate trying hard not to move his position forward so as not to show his delight failed, because old habits die hard. Navjot could see he had grabbed the man’s attention.

“A fair offer,” Wasir replied his composure restored.

“Which areas of our country are you interested in? I am sure the Energy and Resources Minister will be very helpful,” he asked and offered in quick succession with a cruel smile.

“All of it,” Navjot replied as he exhaled the rich smoke again.

“All!” Wasir answered in disappointment.

“That’s not possible. TLH and the Russians have already signed agreements with the Government,” he said as he waved his hand disappointed at the Indian’s lack of understanding of his country.

Ignoring the theatrics while he continued stare at the pirate to drive his statement, Navjot went for the kill.

“I have a solution I would like to put to you,” he said. He was actually thinking if he didn’t go for it then, nearly two months of work would be wasted. “What about if I could bring in technical assistance at my cost to help you to convince the tribal chiefs to support you?”

The ex-pirate’s eyes immediately narrowed taking in the Indian in the process.

“I am listening,” he replied, now clipping the cigar.

31

Upper Barpham

Once a year ever since he started his business, Thomas would host an event for his partners and staff.

At first he had held the event at The Savoy in London, but that changed when he purchased the lease of Farrow Hall from the National Trust as a ruin in the mid-nineties.

The Hall in many ways was to Thomas a representation of his success. First built in 1570 by his ancestor it was best described as classic looking Elizabethan Manor with its Boston ivy all over it.

Spread over fourteen thousand acres, over the years and as his personal fortune grew Thomas had modernized the estate to include the addition of a fifty-room luxury hotel, serviced cottages, guest wings, and stables on the edge of the estate.

Throughout the renovations and expansion he had insisted that the refurbishment and development of all of the buildings were true to original manor in order to maintain the integrity of history that surrounded the property.

When the house was not in use by him or Nara, the estate was run as a business offering a range of sports, operated as a farm, and allowed members of the National Trust to visit as per the conditions of the lease.

Originally, his assistants had managed the program of events around the weekend, but when Nara entered his life he allowed her to take over all the event planning. This was why he found himself with her and Louise parked inside his study going over the guest list and the seating plans for the weekend.

The list included the UK Business Minister, the local MP, CEOs, Oligarchs, Ambassadors, Financiers, Socialites, senior staff, spies and finally because he was on charm offence, though much to his distaste if not Nara’s as he had never allowed the event to be photographed, a society magazine from Steve’s group to record the event.

Something that he did draw the line under was the magazine’s crude attempt to park a few of their contracted starlets into the event to promote their profiles.

In fact, apart from the hired help for the night and Steve Krivets’ latest starlet Danielle Becker and one or two actresses or famous ballerinas attached to the arms of his National Champion’s colleagues for the weekend, the event was a true high society event.

Having reviewed the menus, declaring he was satisfied with what the Michelin starred chef from the village was going to prepare for both evenings and not just tonight, which traditionally was purely for his team, he moved on to the entertainment planned for each night.

Again using a record company within Steve’s group, Nara had arranged for some of their musicians to be supplied. Reviewing it, he found an exciting mix of modern pop with a band of the moment and more to his taste a brilliant Jazz band from Ronnie Scott’s plus, though he chose not to make a comment, the addition of the Russian Pop group.

Looking up from the list he smiled at his Nara then raised his eyebrow in mischief.

It was a quizzical look that said it all. She took the bait.

“I like their music, darling!” she said with a glare, ready not to back down if he attempted to take them off the list.

“I didn’t say a word!” he joked in return, knowing if he did he would be playing with fire having already vetoed the fountain of ice surrounded by Iranian caviar that would have cost a hundred thousand pounds for being a little too over the top!

“No caviar!” she had said in horror with a look that looked like a knife had just been plunged through her heart desperately trying to get him to change his mind with one of her sexiest pouts. Nine times out of ten he gave in to her, but this time he had not. For all her other talents, she had never learned that having a mountain of caviar as a centerpiece while a magazine was in the house was inviting a public relations nightmare!

Review finished, Louise left the room leaving them alone together. Assuming that Nara would follow he went back to his paperwork on his desk.

“Thomas,” Nara asked.

“Yes,” He said, looking up to find a slightly worried look on her face biting her bottom lip. A look that usually meant she needed something outside her usual spending patterns.

“I…h-a-v-e something to tell you,” she nervously stuttered.

She had only found out this morning when her doctor rang her to confirm the news. Immediately she had been awash with emotions, she hadn’t told him that she had stopped taking her birth control pills because she wanted to make sure that she secured her place in his life by giving him a son and eventually marry her. If she did she feared he might forbid her and quickly decide she was surplus to his life in the future.

Over the years as he had never expressed any interest, in adding to their family or marriage she had wrongly assumed it was because, like the majority of her girlfriend husbands or partners, he had other women that he enjoyed. So accepting that he never threw it her face, ever the survivor, she had parked it in the back of mind just as her friends did with their men.

She truly loved Thomas more than life itself over what he done for her and her mother, but because of her early life she automatically assumed the day would come when he would move on from her.

Taking her early life experiences as a base she threw herself fully into making a baby with him. Much to her surprise though to her delight Thomas had responded with just as passion and was if anything even more passionate with her now than when she first entered his life at nineteen or their weekend in Venice all those years ago when they made their love child.

The result was the last couple of months had been to her the most incredible of her life with him despite missing her little girl terribly whom he had made her send away to school.

“Would he act like that again?” she had thought, thinking back to the last time he was angry with her and beat her all of those years before. Although it had never happened since it was never far from her thoughts.

By the look on his face, she knew he was under a great deal of stress at the moment with the job he had been given by the President of the Motherland.

Dispatching her worries momentarily as she found the courage to tell, Nara said, “I am pregnant, my Thomas.” She bit her lip.

As she said it, Thomas felt a thunderbolt sear through him, but it wasn’t destructive or unpleasant in nature rather an intense, powerful feeling of emotion, something he had only ever experienced in his life once before.

“Bloody hell!” he thought as looked back stunned at his beautiful but terrified lover seated in front of him.

Getting up, Thomas quickly walked around the desk, fell on a knee, took her hands, looked into her eyes and said with sparkling eyes.

“That is wonderful, my darling girl!” he said, his emotions bubbling over.

“You’re happy? My Thomas,” she said with a nervous smile.

“YES…yes… and yes! My lovely lady!” he replied excitedly as her news began to take hold over him.

At that moment having seen that in fact Thomas was completely over the moon and not upset in any way over her news she tore her hands away from him, grabbed him, passionately drawing him into her, and then peppered him with a kiss after kiss, dropping her papers out of her lap in the process.

“I love you my darling Nara!” he said, making her happiness complete.

On the morning of the main event with the guests now arriving, Mikhail, who was still nursing a seriously bad hangover from the amount of champagne, wine and fatally, the whiskey he had drunk after the both of them had told him and Hanna their news, wandered in to join Thomas and Saul the CFO of the group, to let him know that Rebecca and her companion had arrived at the hotel.

Immediately as he entered, Thomas laughed.

“You look like how I feel!” he said something that was true because the pair of them had drunk for England and Israel so much so that Nara had undressed him and put him to bed.

“Don’t!” he said with a laugh. “I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m all farmisht,” using the Yiddish phrase “for mixed up” as he sat down beside Saul before continuing.

“Anyway, Boss! Miss Leiris has checked in under Miss Field with her companion,” Mikhail said somewhat gingerly changing the subject back to his reason for popping in, ever the professional to the core.

“Companion or spook?” Thomas asked intrigued, unaware of the room arrangements.

“Spook!”

“He would never pull something as Shayn as her; he must be her boss!” answered Mikhail using the Yiddish word for “beautiful.”

“Don’t let Hanna hear you say that, she’ll cut your balls off,” retorted Thomas to his old friend in reference to his wife who before they married and had their three children, was an operative in the Shin Bet and had more than once had killed in the service of Israel, causing Saul to laugh at his friend and colleague’s expense.

“Tell me about it!” replied Mikhail joining the laughter in the room everybody knowing that although Mikhail may still look, he would never betray one woman who had tamed him. “I asked Angus to pop in and say hello like you asked,” he said, changing the subject back to business. “I also asked Saul here to make sure she gets twenty minutes with you this afternoon as well, Godfather,” pointing with his thumb towards to Saul making sure he wasn’t the only one in the room to bear the brunt of jokes. Thus earning a further chuckle from the CFO at his use of the Godfather reference of Thomas, half in joke and half in truth, knowing his habit of having him line up every thirty minutes, “a private meeting” slots outside the study door in the evening before the main events during the weekend.

“Alright! Alright! I get the message!” Thomas said, putting his hands up in mock surrender with a smile to hold his aching head.

When the offer arrived to attend his private garden party in response to Rebecca’s request to discuss further the situation in Adwalland, Michael, who was sitting beside her as they drove down to Litchfield’s estate together, had no idea it was to do with her personal crusade with regard to Christopher’s killer.

Instead, her immediate superior believed it was linked to the additional information request they had received from across the water with respect to Thomas Litchfield.

At first Michael thought about having one of Rebecca’s colleagues attend the event but thought better of it when he reviewed the guest list.

The opportunity to gain intelligence overrode his plans for the weekend! Not to mention if he were honest with himself he was guilty of suffering from a touch of voyeurism in that he desired to see how the other half lived. Something he wisely kept to himself when telling his wife.

Checking into the hotel on the estate once inside the room, Michael actually thought his wife would have really enjoyed this place not to mention the Spa, so much so he mentally decided not to tell her about it, as they could never visit it because he had used a cover name instead of his own.

Although they had been happily married over twenty years and she knew what he did for a living; he hated lying to her. It was bad enough all their friends thought he was a middle ranking civil servant instead of a senior officer in the SIS.

Because she never complained or asked him details in turn, he never told her about anything he experienced, not that there were many of them which could be considered luxurious or potentially enjoyable and he stuck rigorously to cockroach related stories to make her feel better.

At that moment though, Rebecca wasn’t thinking about the Spa.

Originally she had toyed with using the approval as a carrot as part of her strategy to get at Wasir, but she had changed her mind when one of her junior analysts advised her that the Americans had requested increased monitoring and information on Litchfield’s interests plus on his investment in Adwalland.

When she listened to his telephone conversation with the President of the country she quickly decided there and then Thomas represented a much better chance of revenge, if she handled it correctly.

With British interests over the last two years becoming focused on ongoing Gas supplies and Asian export Markets like India and China, Her Majesty’s Government, since the election, had moved away from the supporting American Foreign Policy goals and focused heavily into the rebuilding of relations between Russia and China using the position of a trusted ‘neutral,’ following the parliament’s vote over military action in Syria representing a prime example.

First, the Litchfield deal had been parked on the sidelines on the basis it was considered advantageous for British business but when the Americans had turned up on the scene, this meant as far as Rebecca was concerned that situation presented a much better bargaining chip that she could use on him.

The Vauxhall Bridge analysts had immediately grasped this by watching his first interview describing it as hostile, to say the least, for a network his company was a major shareholder in.

With the Director General instructing Michael to be “helpful” towards the Americans, in effect, meaning “all assistance short of help” so to allow the opportunity for the “deal” to bed in one-way or another.

Using her rank she had quickly taken over the liaison with the Americans using excuse that as she had the most knowledge on Litchfield and having established links of communications with him and senior members of his organization, she was the most logical choice. Secretly though it was because she instinctively knew she could use him as a lever in her quest to revenge Christopher.

“Bloody Americans! I take it we are being ‘helpful.’ I don’t want us to be caught up in a pissing contest between them and Ivan primarily as the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have both expressed their support in this deal!” the Director General had said to Michael and her in their weekly briefing at his offices in Vauxhall Bridge.

“Of course, Sir” Michael had replied.

“We are also happy to confirm that we don’t believe he is an agent of the SVR,” Rebecca had added, handing him her report.

“Excellent news! I will let Foreign Secretary know so he can brief the Home Secretary and Number 10.” He smiled. “I had the ‘comic relief’ boys on at me why we were taking so bloody long—now I can tell them to bugger off,” he had said taking the report from her, having used his Service’s nickname for the MI5 which came about due to the red nose of Sir Francis Walsingham, the famous spymaster of Elizabeth I that formed part of their crest.

Like always, Michael, ever the inquisitor, had eyed her with a thoughtful eye when she presented her case for taking over the file.

Originally she had planned to tell him that Thomas actually knew her real name due to the politics surrounding him because she still wanted a career in the service, but relying on her instincts she had changed her mind on her way back to the office from their meeting at the Connaught over a month ago.

At the time, she processed the decision as low risk because he hadn’t let on he knew her in any of their public meetings so why take oneself out of the game, plus, though she didn’t want to admit it, she wanted to see him again having enjoyed the mental swordplay and flirting with him.

That had all changed the moment when she saw the photos of Wasir, to the point that she actually thought it might have been fate, for if she had told Michael he would have taken her off the assignment immediately. The direct consequence would have been that she would never have seen Wasir’s picture, and as such missed her opportunity to get him.

“Bashert!” meaning destiny in Yiddish she had thought at the time.

“Makes sense, Becks” Michael had said in support at the time when she offered him her dressed up false flag logic. “I will let Langley know you’re the new case officer.”

The phone buzzing in her room pulled her away from her thoughts and her unpacking for the night.

“Mrs. Field?” asked the regular public school voice of an older gentleman when she picked it up.

“Yes.”

“Angus Mackintosh.”

“Hello, Angus, and how are you?” Rebecca replied, recognizing the voice.

“Very well, Mrs. Field. I was wondering if you’re free for a meeting with Sir Thomas this afternoon?” he asked with the typical style of a British Army Officer not bothering with small talk, something his wife told him he was useless at in any case.

“Of course, what time would suit you?”

“How about three?”

“That is absolutely fine,” Rebecca answered.

She didn’t ask to bring Michael because she wanted to take the opportunity to find a baseline as to what type of leverage she might be able to use. If Michael attended the meeting he possibly could weaken that position by expressing or giving up the fact the service was only going through the motions with respect to their increased interest in Awdalland.

At a quarter to three Rebecca made her way down the stairs of the hotel. Finding Angus waiting at the bottom they shook hands then got into his golf buggy and proceeded to drive towards the main house from the hotel. Making a terrible attempt at small talk by using every Englishman’s old friend of the weather as a subject, Angus never mentioned that he knew her real name by sticking religiously to Mrs. Field all the way.

Taking five minutes to reach the main house, Angus parked up the buggy. Whereupon a member of the household staff quickly ushered them inside to the study.

Finding Thomas was already standing. It pleased her that he made no reference to their meeting at the Connaught as he shook her hand and smiled.

“Mrs. Field. I trust everybody is looking after you at the hotel?” he said using her cover name as a way of telling her that as Angus was present he wouldn’t call her by real name.

“Very much so, Sir Thomas,” she replied smiling in return, playing along.

“Excellent. I hope you don’t mind Angus being present?” he then asked.

“Of course not,” she replied. In her mind over the last hour she had toyed with a couple of scenarios as to how she could use the man standing in front of her now in the personal quest; in the end she settled on testing him first with respect to his relationship with Wasir and whether the phone conversation with the President was just to keep him on side.

Getting the small talk out of the way she went straight down to business.

“Sir Thomas, what can you tell me about your relationship with Wasir Osman Hassan?”

That question in itself immediately told both Angus and Thomas two things: firstly the British had him under surveillance, something both had expected so not surprising, and secondly the Interior Minister was a person of interest to the British.

“Why are they asking about him?” Thomas thought.

“I am sure you know more about him than we do, Mrs. Field,” Angus stated in return, surprised that a field intelligence officer was actually telling them they were under surveillance despite them both suspecting they would be.

“Why are you asking?” he probed with a forceful look.

“We are trying to make sure that no laws are being broken with respect to possible links back to Her Majesty’s Government,” she offered using the government’s latest crusade in the buildup towards the General Election.

Again that told both men they were also listening to their conversations, but that was pretty weak positioning as nobody took any notice what really happened in a third world country.

Having gathered his thoughts, Thomas answered this time instead of Angus. “He is the Interior Minister of Adwalland and provides security to the TLH exploration teams in the fields, because at the moment the law enforcement officers of the country are still pretty much in their infancy. His Ministry is responsible for the protection of all foreigners in the country.”

Angus offered a question back. “So why is he a problem Mrs. Field?”

“I take it you’re aware of his rather suspect past and business operations?” she countered ignoring Angus’s question for the moment.

“Well my dear, we know he isn’t a saint!” Angus answered annoyed at her rudeness in ignoring his probing and the fact that it was an unwritten rule that the role of MI6 wasn’t there to pass judgment on Her Majesty’s subjects and business practices of companies registered in the United Kingdom with regimes, not under UN Sanctions. It was only supposed to get involved or provide assessment with respect to whether British interests were at risk. This was a line of questioning was overstepping the mark in his opinion.

“Bribery! I will be damned,” he thought.

Sensing she had touched a nerve by Angus’s tone, this time Rebecca chose to stay silent to get the answer she needed to hear one way or another.

How Thomas answered it over the coming seconds or minutes, would tell her whether he would be an asset or represent an obstacle to her plans. Reading her face, trusting his instincts that there was more to this than meets the eye, Thomas chose to answer her question.

As he did so, Angus raised an eyebrow at his answer.

“Elizabeth, I actually agree with your service’s assessment. I think he is a dangerous man with his own agenda with respect to the leadership of his country and he is somebody that we are very aware could cause serious harm to TLH reputation if we do business with him.”

Her next answer totally surprised him in return.

“Her Majesty Government will be pleased to hear that, Sir Thomas, as you are aware the Prime Minister is keen on seeing your investment in the country gets the full support it needs. I have been tasked with making sure that happens and it is our office opinion he represents a clear threat to that.”

Rebecca’s next statement told them everything.

“Our American cousins believe he is a strong leader who has the support of the Clans. Therefore he represents to them a potential ally in the region against Al-Shabaab for them.”

“Interesting,” answered Thomas quickly understanding the significance of the exchange of information now taking place, for Al-Shabaab though a useful “PR” tool, had nothing to do with the real reason behind the American positioning.

“So they think that the Russians are backing the wrong man in the President?” asked Angus.

“That appears to be their assessment of the situation in Adwalland,” answered Rebecca.

Deciding to push a little further, Thomas asked, “So if he were to convince the Chiefs that he was a suitable alternative then he could count on their full support?”

“We can’t speak for our cousins, but we believe that is indeed the case,” the MI6 officer responded without emotion, years of training masking Rebecca’s true feelings.

A dumbfounded Angus now sat in silence processing Rebecca’s words as she started her briefing on Wasir Osman Hassan to ensure that TLH Group could best prepare with the threats coming from within Adwalland.

“Her Majesty’s Secret Service has just basically tipped a wink towards us that they’d rather see the Russians secure their interests in Africa over that of the United States of America! Just like Thomas told me over lunch,” the old General thought as she went about briefing them on the Americans view of him.

“The next Cold War is not going to be fought over ideology but rather over natural resources and in future, Her Majesty’s interests will have to be wrapped up in who best provides them to our way of life,” Thomas had said to him.

“That’s the only ideology that matters now, Angus,” he had said with absolute conviction when they had disagreed with each other two hours earlier.

“Britain would never back the Russians over American interests there’s just too much history, old boy,” he had said to back to Thomas, but now this beautiful young woman had just proved him wrong. He suddenly felt very old.

“It was always easier when it was just black or white, Communist or Capitalist, Christian or Muslim, Jew or Muslim, this new game only had survival of the fittest at its heart,” Angus sadly thought.

“The lines from now on would only be blurred!” he reflected in sadness. “The world was now the Devil’s playground!”

By letting Thomas know the Americans were taking a close look at Wasir as a possible replacement of the President she had thereby planted a seed. Dressing for dinner, Rebecca’s mind pondered on their exchange of the afternoon.

“Dad would be pleased in his little Jewish princess!” she told herself as she did her makeup.

She hadn’t actually formulated what she would do had Thomas’s answers indicated that he had in fact, a close relationship with Wasir. The fact that he didn’t, she took as a sign of “Bashert” was in motion.

Pleased with her overall appearance, she was wearing a simple long, black evening dress with her hair up in a bun above her face to show off her angled features. She picked up her clutch bag as she shut the door behind her and joined the rest of the guests in the lobby to wait for the convoy of BMWs and Audis that had been leased to take guests to the main house.

She spotted Michael dressed in a white dinner jacket with black trousers engaged in conversation with a colored gentleman and a lady Rebecca assumed immediately were Somali by their profiles. She gracefully joined them at his side.

“Ah, Elizabeth there you are!” Michael said smiling as he kissed her cheek.

“I was just having a chat here with His Excellency Suleiman Qalajango and his lovely wife, Aasyia,” Michael said. “Your Excellency, may I introduce my colleague, Mrs. Elizabeth Field,” he said keeping in line with their simple cover of civil servants newly attached to the East Africa desk. She offered her hand to the man who she guessed was the Ambassador of Adwalland and whom Michael had befriended earlier, before they had had a cup of tea together on her return from the main house so she could brief him on the meeting she just had with Thomas and Angus.

After introductions, a young member of staff, with an overriding instruction to herd the guests towards the cars outside to maintain the steady flow up to the house and avoid congestion in the lobby, wandered over. Politely he asked that the four of them make their way out of the hotel to the porte-cochere where a car would take them to the main house. Taking the hint, Michael suggested that they should catch up later. Something the Ambassador also agreed on.

Reaching the house in a matter of minutes they were met by yet another member of staff who quickly directed them through the Tudor hall and out towards the back of the house. As they wandered through the corridor, Michael’s eye was drawn to an overly large picture of an Elizabethan Buccaneer with piercing eyes watching over them from above.

“He looks like a hard bastard! Christ, doesn’t he look like Litchfield,” Michael observed.

“Yes he does,” answered Rebecca. “They’re very similar as well!” she offered.

“Really?” asked Michael.

“That’s Sir Humphrey Litchfield. He was one of Elizabeth the First’s famous Seadogs,” she briefed him.

“Christ, you really do know everything about Litchfield!” replied an impressed Michael with a smile at the extent of her knowledge covering his family history.

“That’s a little harsh Elizabeth, I have never traded slaves!” a voice behind them said with a chuckle as he joined them.

“You must be David,” Thomas said, dressed like Michael in a tailored white dinner jacket and black trousers, offering his hand

Taking his hand with a firm handshake, Michael confirmed his cover identity.

“I trust everybody is looking after you?” Thomas enquired as he did earlier with Rebecca.

“Very much so, Sir Thomas, and thank you for inviting us this evening,” replied the diplomat despite his hidden agenda.

“You’re most welcome and thank you very much for your assistance,” Thomas responded in turn in reference to his and Rebecca’s meeting this afternoon as Nara wearing a stunning couture Chanel dress joined him at his side.

“Madam Gurbanammedowova, I am Elizabeth,” Rebecca said offering her hand seizing the initiative to introduce herself to the woman who shared Thomas’s life.

“I am impressed, Elizabeth, most people have no idea how to pronounce my name,” Nara replied smiling, taking Rebecca’s hand who in turn was also assessing the attractive mature woman in front of her.

Thomas looked on with a quizzical eye.

“There were very few women in the world who can hold a candle visually to Nara in looks. Rebecca, although a polar opposite, is one of them,” he concluded as Rebecca informed Nara in fluent Russian with a hint of a French accent that was because she was once attached to the British Embassy in Moscow.

“Your Russian is perfect!” an impressed Nara said with a sparkle in her eyes.

“With a St. Petersburg accent as well!” injected an equally impressed Thomas as if a complement in reference to the fact that her accent with its French undertones sounded like the highborn society women of the early twentieth century from that city.

“A lady of many talents,” Nara implied, now eyeing up the woman copiously considering her as a possible rival after seeing the light in her Thomas’s eyes as he looked down at the woman while she introduced herself to her companion.

It was something that hadn’t been lost on Michael either as they wandered out towards the lawns of the house at the back, having had their introductions curtailed by Nara spotting one of her friends behind them, dragging Thomas off to say hello to them.

“I see he likes you, Elizabeth! Are you sure you two never met in Moscow?” he asked ever the intelligence officer, knowing they were both there at the same time.

She turned her head ever so slightly towards Michael. “His eyes just like to wander!” she answered, attempting to deflect him.

Michael smirked as if not quite believing her as yet another member of staff asked for their names so he could show them to their table for the night.

“My eyes wouldn’t wander if I had that firecracker in my life!” He muttered in reference to Nara’s beauty as they followed the young man to their table.

“Michael! What would your wife say,” mocked Rebecca.

“Where did he find her?” he asked intrigued whist ignoring the quip.

“The legend goes he bought her off a pimp in Turkmenistan!” answered Rebecca quietly as they walked down the path of the gardens.

“Really!” he answered in genuine shock.

“So he is a slave trader then,” he joked as he took onboard her response.

Rebecca smiled back at Michael’s joke but didn’t say a word.

“He certainly doesn’t play by the rules of society!” she thought knowing the details behind the legend of how the beautiful woman entered his life having researched him. The psychoanalyst report made reference to the particular moments and decisions in his life appeared to follow a form of Homeric views.

Not knowing what the analyst meant by Homeric she had looked it up and agreed instantly with his synopsis. It was why she used the Greek legends during their conversation at the Connaught.

“Everything he undertakes in his professional and personal life appears to have reason, intelligence, worldliness, secularism, courage, honor, integrity, and restraint,” the analyst had concluded. Rebecca though recognized something else. That being, because Thomas was bound to act in a particular way and to live up to his nature and not shirk from it. More specifically he had a strong inner and outer strength to achieve it. This meant once you put them all together then it was fair to assume that Thomas certainly didn’t feel the need to conform to the defined laws of society or even feel the need to be bound to it and as such in the future, this might represent a threat if on the other side,

The saving of the beautiful woman at his side was pure consequence of those views. The romantic in Rebecca saw him as a throwback to a warrior king from the stories of ancient Charlemagne. Yet from a national security viewpoint Thomas represented a dangerous threat to the national security and to the way of life she had sworn to protect if Britain’s interests ran contrary to his own, such was his influence and power.

For now though, he was an ally in her quest. At their table Rebecca and Michael found the dashing Angus and his wife, Anne, the rather young looking new Russian Ambassador to Adwalland known as Vitkor Vladimirovich Karpin, and his wife Olga.

Introductions out of the way, the dinner started with a routine by a famous wit from British Television and a contemporary of Thomas’s from Oxford as the host of the night promptly followed by a short speech by Thomas.

With the first courses delivered as the first band of the night started the entertainment, all the parties made a toast with the excellent Penat-Chardonnet Grande Reserve Grande Cru.

His speech finished, Thomas quickly left the stage and made his way to his table, stopping to shake a few hands along the way in the process with the Minister of Business, the local MP and his wife, who made sure the society photographer got a photo of her kissing his cheek.

Arriving at the table, Thomas apologized for getting caught up. Luckily everybody had started without him as Nara told everybody not to wait, knowing from experience he would most likely get waylaid.

Going around the table, Thomas hugged the Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, then Steve Krivets followed by a handshake with his long term friend and fellow National Champion, Valeri Aleksandr Berezutskiy, before finally their particular wives with kisses on the cheeks, and in Steve’s case his girlfriend Danielle. It did not go unnoticed by Nara that the girl had stroked Thomas’s side rather too suggestively for her taste.

“Little Jelep!” she thought in disgust.

As they picked up their glasses for their private first toast, Elena a beautiful young former ballerina from the Bolshoi, whom Valeri had acquired as a second wife, commented on the champagne.

“Nara, this champagne is like fresh, crisp green apples in my mouth it is so complex, where did you get it from?” she asked with her piercing blue eyes.

Knowing her young friend had a penchant for following them, having taken her under wing when she moved to London with Valeri, Nara replied.

“You can’t buy it, Elena, because we own the entire vintage.”

“The entire vintage!” cried Steve impressed. He didn’t think that was possible.

Stepping in to cut short the discussion as Thomas hated it when Nara went into one of her ‘One-upmanship’ modes, despite understanding that it was part of her make-up, due to having nothing before he entered her life and a general affliction of his National Champion colleagues, including Valeri who had just brought his own Premier League team, he interjected.

“There are only five thousand bottles Steve, I agree though; it is a fabulous champagne, excellent choice darling,” lifting his glass to Nara to show his appreciation.

The Ambassador’s wife, ever a trained diplomat herself noticing that Nara’s glass was filled with only mineral water and her plate was missing, knocked on the table three times then pretended to spit three times over her left shoulder as she radiantly smiled towards Nara, who quickly followed suit and did the same in response.

A shining glowing Thomas also followed suit.

“What does that mean?” asked Steve as the Ambassador, Valeri and Elena having now grasped the situation as well, followed suit, which carried over to the next table where Mikhail and Hanna and his closest aides all did the same, beaming smiles all around.

“We are praising Nara’s pregnancy. You knock the table three times and spit over your left shoulder so not to jinx it,” the Ambassador answered with a huge smile.

“It’s an old Russian custom,” Valeri further explained to Steve.

“Pregnant!” shouted Steve as both he and his young starlet girlfriend Daniele followed suit as well joining the joyful laughing surrounding the tables.

As the ripple was finished, Thomas winked at Nara whose eyes sparkled when she caught it as they raised their glasses to his lady, but not before a little shiver went down her spine.

* * *

Once the party had entered into full swing Steve joined Thomas in his study. After offering him a cigar and a tumbler of three fingers of his 78 Speyside Mortlach, Thomas asked if he wanted water.

“Yes, please Buddy, just a touch,” Steve answered as he clipped a Short Churchill cigar and proceeded to light it.

Handing the malt to his friend, Thomas started to light his own cigar.

“I am sorry Jessica went a little overboard the other day,” Steve said, starting their catch-up.

“Don’t worry about it! James had me well prepared,” Thomas answered sincerely. “We knew it was coming and anyway it proved one thing! Your leaders have definitely taken the bait!” Thomas added.

“Yeah I had that prick McGiven on the line moaning to me that our publications were being too friendly towards you and the Russians. Little fucker!” Steve added with a touch of theatre as he remembered the exchange that took place having decided he wasn’t go to tell his friend yet of his plan to run for the Governorship.

Thomas too held own his secret. That being the meeting with Rebecca at which she informed him about the “nod and the wink” as to the Americans intending to support Wasir.

Instead, Thomas asked Steve if he could give Ambassador Jack Fielding some airtime so he could assist them in the pushing of the neutral position of being honest brokers to be used by, rather than Thomas becoming the recipient of the United States of America sword.

“Fielding!” Steve replied shaking his head with a pained look that immediately told Thomas there must have been some past history between the two men.

“Do you know him?” he probed.

“You could say that!” Steve cryptically answered looking into his whiskey deeply.

To Steve the memory that flooded back after all these years was of her slender, girlish figure. Her oval face that made her beautiful in the extreme and with her finely honed figure, large eyes, a mass of coal black hair, olive skinned skin and molded lips, Kelly Christina Fielding. The only woman he had ever loved.

A product of Jack Fielding’s first marriage to an aristocratic Spanish woman Steve had met her at the Cannes Film Festival at one of his father’s parties when he was twenty-one, and she was just eighteen. She was a free spirit, born from unstable home life and a Swiss boarding school and Steve was instantly drawn to her for her ability to spark chaos all around. Over the course of that wonderful summer, he had fallen head over heels in love with both her vulnerability and independent spirit like a moth to a flame and found himself constantly getting into fights all over South of France trying to protect her from herself, forgiving her each time. It was to end tragically at the end of the summer with Steve losing her to a drug overdose on the Rivera and with it all his dreams of having children and a stable relationship.

Fielding blamed Steve, so much so, he had banned him from attending her funeral.

“We have a personal history,” was all he said to Thomas.

Seeing his friend face change to one of sorrow within an instant, Thomas chose not to press him on it.

“Fair enough, let’s forget it, I will get Weston to earn his keep,” Thomas offered wondering what had affected his friend so badly.

“Thank you,” was all Steve said.

32

Borama

Although all Somalis genetically belong to the “G” tribe, each town or city much like the cities of the United Arab Emirates were responsible for their immediate geographical area.

In Adwalland, these areas were Saylac and Lughaya in the northwest then finally Awdal in the west with all the areas using the original Clan base divisions of the sixteenth Century Sultanate that had ruled when it was known as the Emirate of Saylac.

The reason why they chose to follow the municipality system of the UAE had made sense when they had been setting up the State as it meant it the Presidency of the new nation could be shared every five years and allow the tribal chiefs to self-govern their own areas without one tribe dominating the others.

In bringing all the sub-clans of the Upper and Lower Houses together to create a cabinet of six members to act as the ruling council, the President had for the first time since the Sultan been able to create a State for the whole area, but despite this, the peace was still fragile. Therefore Thomas and the President needed to make sure that the spoils from their agreement with the Russian Government were shared correctly and more importantly, fairly.

The clean water wells, roads, electricity, telecommunications, schools and medical facilities were the first part of the plan as the harbor contractors set about creating the docks and channels to take boats with up to twenty meter drafts to make it one of the biggest ports on the East African coast and one to certainly a rival to Djibouti’s next door to Adwalland once it was completed.

The second part was cash. Over the last month the Russian Central Bank had set up the correspondence relationship with Adwalland’s new Central Bank and in doing so was able to serve as the underwriter to the Western banks for the new country that would struggle to get credit otherwise if they hadn’t.

TLH had placed its first lease payment of fifty million U.S. dollars on deposit into the new Commercial Bank of Adwalland, and the Russian Government had placed into the new branch in Moscow their first tranche of 200 million U.S. dollars for deployment into Adwalland joint ventures.

This was now being explained to the Council by Omar, but instead of understanding the significance of the gift they were receiving, which would make them over the next ten years a leading African state, unfortunately it now appeared to Thomas that they had all immediately seen it as an opportunity for ‘land grab.’ As a result, each Clan was seeking to divert the monies into their own areas, not understanding that the money couldn’t be deployed in that way.

At least that’s what he surmised from what he could make out by the emotions on the President and his many advisers’ faces.

After about three hours of going around in circles, and copious amounts of mint tea, the meeting finally broke up for the evening.

“Thomas, I need money!” the mentally exhausted President said once they were alone.

“You have money, Mr. President,” answered Thomas bracing himself for a renegotiation of the terms.

“No, I need money here in Adwalland, not in Moscow!” replied the emotionally drained man.

“Once they begin to see the buildings going up, the supplies arriving they will be glad.” Thomas offered in simple terms. Omar waved his hand as if to cut him off at the pass.

“That is not the problem! The problem is Wasir!”

“Why?”

“I took care of him. He has received the payments he requested to be sent to Dubai for his security teams,” Thomas answered annoyed having not understood a word of the exchanges over the last few hours, only the bits that used Arabic. He had assumed it was about greed, not the vicious bastard who had insulted his family and had cost him a couple of million U.S. dollars in a thinly veiled bribe.

“He has been filling the Council’s heads with thoughts that the deal is not good enough!”

“Well, that is nothing new!”

“No deal is good enough,” Thomas replied even if he were still fuming inside at the treachery of the pirate.

Omar said nothing, but Thomas could see he was at his wit’s end.

“Okay, what did he say?” he asked instead.

“That he has partners from India through his contacts in Dubai who will give them a better deals than my Russian and English friends.”

“Better deals!”

“Mr. President, Adwalland has only just been born, it cannot act like pirates and tear up international contracts with a sovereign state like Russia because it has been promised more elsewhere,” Thomas explained to his friend with a touch of anger in his voice. “In any case how do they know it is a better deal!” he asked doubtfully.

“He took his friend to see them, and in each case he gave them money and left it up to them on how best decide to spend it within their area!” he said. “Just like the old days!” he said continuing with his rant in reference to a time when you could buy a Clan’s loyalty with a few U.S. dollars.

Thomas looked at Omar’s tired face.

“For all the idealism one may have, self-interest always trumps in the end!” Thomas sadly reflected.

“How much?” Thomas asked instead, resigned to the fact he was going to have to match the offer. “One million each, plus five percent of any resources mined or extracted from their regions,” the President answered in disgust.

As he took onboard the latest information he reflected that it wasn’t the cash figure that bothered him, he thought that affordable. It was the percentage figure.

When Wasir originally asked for ten percent of the profits before taxes he thought that was excessive, but this was completely uneconomic.

After a mine or oil company had paid out the expenses and the Central Government’s share of the revenue, it generally left them with profit before taxes of about twenty-five percent though he admitted to himself it was still huge a sum it certainly isn’t if you have to factor in local Clans receiving revenue shares as well as. Investors would deem it uneconomic for the area and pass on it. Therefore, this was far worse than having to up cash contributions as he was now facing a creditability issue on the international markets. That affected TLH, not just Adwalland.

“Who is his friend?” asked Thomas narrowing his eyes.

“Some rich Indian called Gouramangi Singh,” answered the leader of Adwalland.

“He is in diamonds not oil!” thought Thomas surprised. Although he had heard of him their paths had never crossed.

“Okay, what do you believe will help you with the Council?”

“I think I need ten million U.S. dollars in cash to keep them in line,” answered the President sincerely.

“I will organize to have the cash transferred,” Thomas answered decisively having also reflected on Rebecca’s warning of a week ago and thinking it had to be linked. “But I will need to go Moscow and make sure our partners are satisfied as to the reasons why,” he added.

“Of course, I understand, when will you return?” the concerned President asked.

“I will be back next week for the arrival of the Russian Ambassador,” he answered to a now very relieved President.

Not wanting to waste any time, Thomas left the President’s residence and went straight to the airport.

On boarding his Boeing BBJ to head off to Moscow, he noticed a G-4 parked up by the Cargo hanger.

“That’s the GSG plane,” Mikhail said, reading his thoughts.

“Where are they staying?” Thomas asked.

“With our friend Wasir,” answered Mikhail before again beating him to the punch by adding he had asked Barek to get his system of street kids to discreetly keep an eye on him having observed the exchange between Thomas and the President.

One other thing he did as well was to ask Angus to get some intelligence on the Indians.

Once settled into their seats for takeoff Mikhail asked Yossi for the printout of what the former solider had sent across.

“From Angus,” said Mikhail as Yossi handed the notes to Thomas.

Casting his eyes over the report Thomas reflected that thought it made interesting reading, but he couldn’t quite get his head around why he was offering such an uneconomic deal from his point of view.

“One could argue he was of a marketer or retailer, therefore, inexperienced,” he countered trying to see the Indian’s point of view, but because he had a joint venture in a mine in Alaska that meant Singh should have enough experience with ‘Hardhats’ to understand that offering deals of this nature would never appeal to an investor base in London or Canada let alone New York, not to mention by trying to secure all the rights already contracted he was putting at risk a major piece of infrastructure that would be created to export the product.

With plenty of rights to go around because Thomas and his investors had advised the President and his Energy and Mines Minister to structure it as such on the basis that encouraging investment meant the country could grow faster, it was nothing but plain stupid.

So again reflecting back on the Rebecca discussion of a few days ago still not quite believing it he as he thought through it, Thomas concluded that the Indian had to be receiving money from one source and one source only with a completely different agenda to that of business.

“This is fucking suicidal!” Saul who never swore unless stressed interrupted Thomas’s train of thought for a moment.

“He couldn’t possibly afford five billion in infrastructure either!” Thomas added, referring to the sum that the Russian Miners and TLH as one of the Anglo-Russian Oil and Gas producers had secured from the Russian Government when Saul finished walking him through the numbers.

“So what or who do you think is behind our Mr. Singh?” he asked Saul, wanting his trusted CFO input not just his own conclusion to mull over just as one of the team pretty air hostesses brought him his customary glass of Blue Label on the rocks.

“I am on the case!” replied Saul not being able to answer Thomas at that time.

It didn’t matter. Thomas figured he already knew the answer: The United States of America.

33

Moscow

They arrived at Sheremetievo airport’s private terminal early Tuesday morning. They progressed quickly through customs and immigration because the resident FSB officer had cleared them as belonging to the ‘trusted person’s list,’ a godsend as Mikhail’s and Saul’s Israeli passports under most circumstances would have meant at least a two hour delay traveling in and out of Russia.

Getting quickly into the dark blue armored Range Rovers the TLH group owned, Thomas and the team set off for his home in Moscow with a black BMW X5 with a blue light from the FSB tailing them.

The Director of FSB Dmitri Arkady Pavlov was sending his message, “I am always watching you,” just as he did with Thomas and all of the seventeen super wealthy brethren, all with a net worth of over one billion U.S. dollars in Russia otherwise known as “a National Champion.”

With a gifted Russian passport, Thomas was considered no different, despite on this occasion, having used his British documentation, as the visit was unplanned.

Traveling quickly through the dark streets due to the fact that the early morning arrival had provided them with the benefit of being able to avoid the dreaded Moscow traffic that seemed to get worse every time he returned to the city, they reached the house thirty minutes later.

Met by his former Ghurkha batman Sgt. Tan and his wife, who ran the house and had done so ever since he had bought it when he had first come to Russia in the early 1990s. A tired and jetlagged Thomas asked Tan to wake him at six-thirty before making his way to the bedroom where he hit the bed, fully dressed apart from his shoes and fell fast asleep.

Three hours later Mr. Tan, just like when they were in Army, gently placed a cup of extra sweet English Breakfast Tea by the side of his bed. Old habits dying hard Thomas was instantly awake and alert.

“Good Morning, Sir Thomas!” beamed the batman.

“Mrs. Tan will have breakfast ready for you in the Conservatory whenever you’re ready,” he continued with a smile because he was happy to have his former commanding officer back home.

“Thank you, Tan,” Thomas said rubbing his weary eyes as his old Army Batman and trusted servant left the bedroom.

Sitting up, the former Gurkha officer took a sip of the sweet tea. Instantly the potion did its magic by helping to clear his mind. Seeing he was still dressed, Thomas got up, quickly took his clothes off then walked into the dressing room then finally into the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later, completely refreshed, the old warrior emerged from the bedroom, clean-shaven wearing a simple tailored blue suit with a sky blue shirt and tie, and then went downstairs for breakfast.

Entering the conservatory he found Saul already up and dressed like him except he was in a grey suit with white shirt and purple silk tie.

“Morning, Boss,” he said with a smile as he set about bashing his boiled eggs.

“Bloody hell, Saul, don’t you ever sleep?”

At just thirty-three years of age with short cropped jet-black thick hair, deep blue eyes and a thin physique, Saul Berkovic had become Thomas’s CFO of his Private Office after having been recommended for the job by Hanna Pschenicnikov who knew his family well before she had married Mikhail.

Joining TLH straight after graduating from the London Business School, the hawkish looking book warrior had become an indispensable member of his team over the last few years because of his “terrier” ability in being able to run the numbers for the hordes of lawyers and bankers of the overall group around the world. So much so, Thomas had made him an Executive Director of TLH Group and one of Victoria’s trustees despite his young age.

“No rest for the dammed,” replied Saul taking it as a backhanded compliment. Thomas just shook his head while he sipped a cup of coffee.

Breakfast over, Thomas departed to his study. Unlike his homes in England his Moscow abode was ultra-modern in design, with Swedish look with black and white and stainless steel reflecting the style of the furniture. The art in the room though, was most definitely Russian with a beautiful Icon from Peter the Great era of the Madonna and Child taking center stage.

He looked at the vintage Patek watch on his wrist, a special gift he had never changed, as the timepiece had come from his mother. Seeing it was seven-thirty he picked up the phone on his desk and dialed the CEO of the new Russian-Adwalland joint venture Bank. Then the CEO of the Russian Correspondence Bank before finally the person who was his overriding reason for coming to Moscow: Alexei Nikolai Anynkov.

“Good morning, Director,” Thomas offered as soon as the Director of the SVR picked up his call, earning a simple reply of his name in Russian as an acknowledgement.

Knowing Anynkov didn’t bother with small talk, Thomas asked for a meeting with him to give an update on matters in Adwalland, again Alexei Nikolai was quick in his response by confirming he could see him at ten o’clock.

As he put the telephone back on the hook, Mikhail walked into his office looking refreshed and as always looking more like a businessman than his personal bodyguard in his Brioni suit instead of his Adwalland attire of chinos, desert boots. The holster with his Heckler & Glock pistol in it showed over his polo shirt with dark sunglasses over his eyes.

Morning greetings out of the way, Thomas informed him that they had a meeting with Alexei Nikolai at ten o’clock. Looking at his watch, knowing that the office of the SVR was on the other side of Moscow, Mikhail immediately suggested that they leave at eight thirty knowing the unreliability of the ever-growing Muscovite traffic it would be a push to get there on time

“Oh and tell Saul to get some sleep, will you Mikhail?” Thomas added concerned that his young CFO was burning himself out.

“He needs a good wife,” replied Mikhail with a smile.

“Who says that, you or Hanna?” asked Thomas, knowing Hanna’s habit of acting like a good commanding officer wife when it came to life’s of many members of his team, and that including him before Nara entered his life all those years ago.

“No, comment!” Mikhail said as he departed his study.

As always Mikhail was right on the money; the traffic was absolutely terrible. Arriving at quarter to ten and on walking into the tall structure known as “Les” or “Wood” in English on the outskirts of Moscow in the Yasenevo District amongst the trees that surround it, Thomas was met by an attractive blonde in her late twenties and immediately shown to a conference room.

Refusing the offer of tea, Thomas waited patiently for Alexei Nikolai. In business life, Russians hate being late, seeing it as a kind of impoliteness Thomas took it for what it was and in spite of his unique relationship with Russia and his citizenship he was still a foreigner in the eyes of the technocrats that run the country and as such he would always remain so.

Over the last five years since Alexei Nikolai had become the head of the SVR the organization of 13,000 men and women had redeveloped itself into an impressive network of operatives that followed the second pillar of recruitment for the “Love of Russia.” Though Thomas wasn’t one of them in heart, the Mayor had made sure he was very much an instrument as when needed.

“Good Morning, Fama,” said Alexei Nikolai entering the room not bothering to give his hand as he sat down. Despite the insult nevertheless Thomas responded politely using the Director’s title in front of his surname instead of the informal but respectful use of his two Christian names.

Having listened for ten minutes during which his assistant delivered them both a pot of black tea, Alexei offered his views.

“So you believe Singh is being bankrolled by Americans interests?”

“I have no proof, but it makes sense, the economics of the deal suggest a primary underwriter of the deal he is offering and the Americans have been very vocal in their attacks on this investment,” replied Thomas. He was referring to the media he knew the Director of SVR Analysts would have almost certainly been monitoring including his personal interview, but still not declaring the actual source of the intelligence that had confirmed it for him had actually come from Rebecca in their meeting at Farrow Hall.

Taking a sip of tea, Thomas tried to gauge the director’s reaction.

“Do you believe the President’s at risk?” Alexei Nikolai probed.

Thomas nodded then offered, “I have to say the answer is Yes!” before adding that he had also asked the bank to make ready the ten million U.S. dollars in cash to take back with him to assist in shoring up the President’s position with the chiefs.

Alexei took a moment to reflect on Thomas’s response in silence. It was true the American media had been carefully increasing the temperature through various worldwide media outlets over the last couple of months. This method of destabilization certainly wasn’t new—they had used the same strategy in Russia in the early 1990s.

The new director of the CIA also had a reputation of being a manipulator of the dark arts.

With an ambassador due to be deployed next week. A regime change was the last thing Alexei felt he needed primarily because Vladimir Vladimirovich had made this agreement a cornerstone example of the re-emergence of Russia’s traditional rights in the world.

He didn’t like the man sitting across the table from him. Thomas was an example of everything that was wrong with the Russia emerging from the ruins of “Catastroika.” Ever the pragmatic though, that certainly didn’t mean he wasn’t useful plus he had certainly been making a difference in the sectors of the economy the President had told him to invest in.

As he respected Thomas’s business experience and contacts this meant the Englishman wasn’t exaggerating the situation that was fast developing in the Adwalland. It was because of this he took a decision.

“I will make sure that Jawari has a team of suitable advisers he can turn to if he wants to and I will take your thoughts under advisement,” offered the Director of SVR before getting up, signaling that their meeting was over.

Taking his cue, Thomas also rose and followed him out of the conference room. A brunette instead of blonde met him this time to show him out of the grey building.

Met by Mikhail, his trusted old friend asked how it went.

“He listened!” was all he said as he got into the Range Rover. He debriefed Mikhail as Barek drove the off road vehicle back to the house. His trusted driver offered a piece of information.

“Boss! I think that means the team who been observing us in Boroma belongs to Americans then,” he said as he drove.

“What team?” Thomas asked before answering his own question. “I think you’re right,” linking it to Rebecca’s information before Barek completed his explanation.

* * *

Returning to his office picking up the phone, the Director of the SVR dialed a number. The person he called was Sergei Andreyevich Petrov.

A tall man with salt and pepper hair, a strong jaw and piercing blue eyes Petrov was the forty-nine year-old commanding officer of the SVR paramilitary unit known as Zaslon. Numbering just 500 personnel in size and reporting directly to the Director, the unit had a fearsome reputation.

Established in the late 1990s to perform covert missions abroad, the unit’s brief ranged from anything involving hostage rescues to assassinations. To many in the counter-intelligence community it was considered the counterpart of the Agency’s SAD, however within the Russian Intelligence as it did not even have a service badge, it didn’t even exist.

Joining the KGB straight after university during the last days of the Soviet Union but choosing not to resign like many of his colleagues after the fall and enter the world of commerce or organized crime, Petrov stayed to become part of the new ‘refocused’ SVR under Yevgeniy Maksimovich Primakov.

With his ear for languages and his unique survival experience, he had been deployed to the United States, Europe, Afghanistan, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, and few other places along the way.

A tough no nonsense man, he was a dedicated professional who cared deeply for his country. He had taken over the Zaslon unit after his predecessor botched the assassination of the Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiev in Qatar in 2003. Officially, Sergei’s title was Deputy Director of Planning but everybody in the service knew who he really was.

Although the conversation was warm between the two men it had been short with a request that Sergei join the Director for a meeting in his office.

“Of course, Director,” replied Sergei in his dress uniform of a blue pinstripe tailored English suit sitting at his own desk.

One hour later, the pair sat across from each other.

Old soldiers they went back along the way, with a bond of trust that had been forged in blood. First working together in the early days of the 1990s stealing industrial, scientific, and technological data from American and European companies, their role changed the moment the Mayor became President after the Chechen terrorist attacks.

Following that attack and working together as a team they set up a series of networks in the Middle East and Pakistan to combat the growing threat from the second Chechen war.

Bloody and ruthless with neither side backing down, Alexei and Sergei had both carried out sanctions in the past in response to the hijackings, the infamous taking of the Moscow theatre and the worst kind of crime the murder of children who were only guilty of going to school.

One such operation took place in the UAE. Sergei and his team had tracked the target to a villa in Sharjah who was known as the Financier of the Arab Mujahedeen in Chechnya and the man behind the kidnapping of the four Russian diplomats that were later executed in Iraq.

“Acting as the tip of the sword,” to quote the Mayor, Sergei had shot the Jordanian of Chechnya heritage in the head as he was coming out of the Villa and was awarded the Hero of Russia medal for the kill. Clean, efficient with little collateral damage he was always Alexei’s first port of call when he needed something handled with kid gloves so to speak.

Over the last couple of years with the exception of the successful Crimean Operation, Sergei’s part had been mostly handling the training of Assad’s militia and the covering of Moscow’s tracks by ensuring that sensitive military technology—including new surface-to-air systems—didn’t end up in foreign fighter hands in Syria.

A war the pair both sadly reflected was likely to become another Chechnya or Dagestan with it international funders from America and Wahhabists.

“I need you to put a team into Adwalland,” Alexei said once their friendly enquiries into each other families were out of the way.

“No problem, Alexei. May I ask what their role will be?” Petrov asked.

“Officially to provide protection services to the new embassy, unofficially to put a shadow team in theatre to ensure Omar Jawari maintains his position as President,” answered Alexei

“Who is the threat?” Sergei asked because his experience with regard to the country was limited to the fact that it was new and Russia’s President had reached an agreement to set a new naval base there similar in size to the one they currently had in Syria to replace their listening post located on one of the Yemeni Islands that was being shut down by the Pro-American Government.

“According to the ‘Blagorodnyy,’ the threat is coming from an ex-pirate who runs the Interior Ministry with backing from an Indian with American ties,” Alexei answered, using Thomas’s codename meaning ‘Noble’ and taking the intelligence of Thomas as read, even if he hadn’t acknowledged that he had.

Sergei nodded as Alexei handed in an encrypted USB stick containing analysis from the famous Support departments of the Special Services on Adwalland, the key players and intelligence evidence from the U.S.

34

Bangkok

The sweat caused by the unrelenting heat and humidity of Bangkok dripped down the back of Ahmet Abylow’s neck as the air-conditioning was still switched off to save on fuel while he was going over his final pre-flight checks on the IL-76 aircraft.

The young man had the look of a person on a personal crusade brought about by years of bitterness over his circumstances. He was originally educated in Switzerland and the plan had been to join the air force of Turkmenistan for a few years to fly MIG-29s before joining his father in his business. The assassination of his father though had ended that dream abruptly. Fearing for the lives of his mother and two younger sisters alongside him, Ahmet had left his homeland forever the night that happened.

With no access to any of his father’s wealth, apart from the cash he had hidden away in Dubai, Ahmet had used the skills for flying to get rated on, IL-76, Airbus A300, and 747’s to enable him to feed his family by flying beaten-up cargo planes in and out Africa and Asia.

It wasn’t until 2011 when having gone into business with the pirate he had met in one of Bur Dubai hotel bars and was, by a happy coincidence, looking for a pilot to fly cargo in and out of Somalia that Ahmet had found his life picking up. So much so he was looking at buying an old 727 to add to the fleet.

Then earlier this year as he sat in his friend’s hotel in Borama having an espresso he couldn’t believe who appeared before his eyes.

The very person, who was known, though nobody had ever proved it, to have ordered the murder of his father, the famous Oligarch who had become a legend in Turkmenistan over the deal he had once done with his father when he had brought one of his whores, walked through the lobby.

“Allah, please allow me to avenge my father!” he had asked spitting on the floor in disgust at the time. Now it appeared such a chance was going to be granted.

When he first saw the cargo that was being loaded up, Ahmet had quickly worked out that his friend and his new Indian business partner were planning a possible coup d’état.

He didn’t care; he saw it as ‘Kismet.’ Deciding there and then he would kill the Englishman and in his eyes regain his family’s honor under the law of qan dushar, a term that means ‘blood reaches’ and a unwritten right still practiced by the tribes of Turkmenistan that allowed an individual with a common patrilineal ancestor who is not more than seven generations removed to seek revenge on the killer and their immediate kin.

The plans of Wasir represented a perfect opportunity for him to do so.

“We’re ready, Ahmet!” said his Bosnian-Croat Co-pilot.

“Right let’s get this show on the road,” answered the young Captain.

35

Moscow

On Thursday morning as Sergei Petrov and his driver pulled up to the gate of Litchfield residence in their black Mercedes Benz G Wagon, he chuckled as he caught sight of the standard FSB X6 BMW with its blue light on top sitting across the street.

It wasn’t lost on his driver either.

“I bet you one hundred Roubles he’s on the phone right now telling Dimitri Arkady that we are about to have a meeting with Blagorodnyy right now!” the tough looking Crimean said, referring to the Director of FSB and Thomas as the residences security team went about checking them over.

“Ruslan, Don’t be so horrible!” Sergei replied sarcastically with a smile before dismissing them from his thoughts due to being more interested in the professionalism of the men that were now inspecting the car.

Despite the both of them showing their state credential cards of the SVR, it was not lost on Sergei that they had taken their time and reconfirmed everything. Twice over!

“No lazy dreamers here!” he thought.

Over the last twenty-four hours, Sergei and his team had read a considerable amount of intelligence and analysis on Blagorodnyy’s organization. Made up with ex-military or policemen it was the sort of protection any high profile Oligarch would have. So it wasn’t this fact that had impressed him.

“This Englishman is certainly no ordinary Oligarch.” He continued.

“And, it isn’t because the British have awarded him a Military Cross either, despite the impressive account on how he had supposedly received it.” He concluded as he made notes.

No, what had really impressed Sergei was how he handled the attempt on his life by the ‘Moldovan Mafioso’ and again it wasn’t over how he handled the gun as the SAS were among the best in the world at training their men.

The way he had stood by the side of his wounded head of detail. Protecting him from the FSB and also, over the following years, taken care of the family of the young man who had died taking a bullet for him by taking an activate interest in his children’s lives by acting as their ‘Sendakim”. Proved to the Head of Zaslon that these weren’t the typical reactions of the spoiled, arrogant rich men that he had come across in life who overdosed themselves on the excesses of success.

“No!” he decided. “This is the reason why his team were completely loyal to him,”

For as far as Sergei was concerned it was this reason why they had never given away any valuable intelligence on his weaknesses and not just the theory promoted by the Analysts of the SVR “That he is extremely generous with his remuneration of them all!”

“Idiots! This man has fought with them! He is one of them!” he said out loud to himself in the early hours of the morning.

Having spent the last twenty years of his life fighting the Clans of Chechnya and Dagestan plus running his own teams the same way he certainly recognized Clan loyalty when it was presented to him.

It was that point he dismissed the synopsis before him and had gone to bed to get some sleep having decided he would call Alexei in the morning and ask him to arrange a meeting with the man so he could evaluate him face to face.

“Intelligence files only went so far, instinct was what saved you in the field.”

Security checks finished, the gate opened and in they went. Arriving at the house both men were met by the man they immediately recognized as his head of detail.

“Mikhail Olegovich,” Sergei said offering him his hand in respect one professional to another.

“Sergei Andreyevich,” said Mikhail responding in kind while taking his hand firmly before asking them to follow him into the house as his personal security team stayed outside with his men.

Mikhail handled the introductions as both men assessed one another.

“Sir Thomas, thank you for seeing us on short notice,” offered Sergei in fluent English that would have made a Newsreader on the BBC proud.

The fact that Sergei had chosen to use Thomas’s title an affectation something that a Russian and certainly not an officer of the SVR would never do with its links to the Imperial past had momentarily caught him off guard.

It was something, though not mentioned, that wasn’t lost on Sergei either.

“Happy to help Sergei Andreyevich,” Thomas answered, his composure restored.

When Alexei had rung and told him to expect him he was privately pleased. He had heard of the legendary Zaslon unit, but this was the first time he had actually met a member and certainly not the Director of them. This signaled that Alexei was taking his concerns seriously and not just giving him lip service.

“Sir Thomas, that is excellent! Although Alexei Nikolai has officially tasked me with the security of the Ambassador for his arrival next week,” Sergei started. “Because I am never one for the bullshit why don’t you tell me about what this Jawari has so we can assess what he needs and what we have got in the short time available!” he answered referring to the real nature of his mission.

Thomas quickly decided that he liked the man sitting across from him dressed like a British lawyer in his bespoke Saville Row suit with an understated tie.

“Please call me Thomas,” he offered towards Sergei just as Sgt. Tan walked into the study with black tea and coffee, earning a smile in return from the Director of the Zaslon as an acknowledgement as the old Ghurkha asked if he would like tea or coffee.

“I don’t suppose I could have some sweet English Breakfast Tea, please Sgt. Tan?” asked Sergei.

Again Thomas raised an eyebrow slightly by his use of Tan’s previous rank and at his request of a cup of tea the way all members of the British Army took it.

“This Petrov is definitely an interesting man!” he reflected.

“Why of course, Sir!” answered the Ghurkha with a beaming smile pleased that an English friend of his former commanding officer had used his former rank.

* * *

Twenty-four hours later the BBJ plane was on its way back to Adawlland with ten million U.S. dollars in cash for chieftain’s whims, along with Thomas, Mikhail and his long standing permanent security team of Benny Zaguri, Barak Levi, Yossi Spungin and Avi Ohana and a team of ten men known as Unit B from Zaslon.

All veterans, experienced in the dark arts of counter-intelligence and insurgency Unit B had spent the last six months in Syria training and assisting Assad’s intelligence service. Led by a thirty-three-year-old dark haired man with his hair cut crew cut style with brown eyes and olive skin, due to his mother’s Chechen heritage, called Igor Valeriyoych Protasov.

Although Sergei had been less than forthcoming in terms of his experience, he did admit to them he was a graduate of the Foreign Intelligence Academy and over the last six years had seen service in the Middle East.

As with all the members of Zaslon, he spoke four languages other than his native Russian, but it was because he was fluent in Hebrew and English that Sergei decided he would be the best qualified to work with Thomas and his men.

Assessing him, Thomas could see he had already seen enough action for two lifetimes from the look in his eyes. It was the look he once had before Nara and Victoria had entered his life.

Still probing the young officer the only time in the last couple of hours he had managed to catch him off guard was when he had spoken Arabic to him. Immediately Igor had responded with a Jordanian tint in it, but he could see he was surprised that he had spoken the language as fluently as him.

Thomas knew then that the young man had spent time undercover in Amman with the ten thousand strong, exiled Chechen community. It was something Thomas had said to Igor as well to test his reaction. Yet again though although Igor had smiled politely he didn’t comment.

He had of course read the background files on all them. So the officer knew they weren’t your usual civilians, plus Sergei Andreyvich had warned him he was no ordinary Oligarch, but nevertheless he was still impressed “Blagoeodnyy” had picked up his Jordanian accent.

Despite this, for the moment neither Thomas nor any members of his team had shared their information with respect to the observation team that had been watching them in Borama, as Thomas had wanted that kept in his back pocket for the moment. The logic was simple.

“If they were Russian, there was no point letting on about them, but if they were American and things started to get out of hand, then the information about the presence might represent a useful bargaining chip for TLH.” So instead, they had briefed Igor and his men on all the stress points in the capital, covering off on their maps and satellite photos the locations of the hotels, hospital, TV station, airport, petrol stations, government ministries, electricity hubs, communications towers, embassies, and residences of key individuals before finally the various Ministries.

The advance team of the Russian Foreign Service that was tasked with the setup of the embassy had been very helpful with this respect. So it was a job made easier by the excellent photographs they had taken on the ground.

During this time, not offering any value, Thomas took the opportunity to touch base with home first, then read the encrypted notes that Saul, who had stayed behind in Moscow on the GSG business, had sent him. The report covered everything that good due diligence on a potential acquisition target should provide, if that was the goal. One name stuck out “Litchfield Hirsch,” his father’s firm. They had acted as one of advisers on the other side of the joint venture of his mining deal in Alaska. He decided to park that revelation for a moment when one of the plane’s staff said dinner was ready to be served. It wasn’t a hard decision. Whenever his father’s name popped up it always brought a mixture of emotions within in. None of them ever good!

Litchfield Hirsch was originally founded in the mid-1800s in Hong Kong as a trading house by one of their shared ancestors. The business was originally an importer of opium but by the 1880s Henry Litchfield, his great, great grandfather, recognizing the opportunities offered by the emerging rise of the oil industry, instead started to ship cask oil from Russia to Japan. His business began to do so well that he was able to commission his own ships for bulk oil transportation.

By the twentieth century, flush with the excess capital, Sir Henry’s third son and Thomas’s great grandfather, Edward, started the Merchant Bank in partnership with his other great grandfather, his Jewish partner Arabham Hirch. Together they then set about turning it into one of the best natural resources merchant banks in the world.

When Thomas’s father Rufus married his mother, the eighteen-year-old Emilia Hirch, the only child of Abraham’s son Isaac, many saw it as the as the final merging of the bloodlines into one on the birth of Thomas.

History though chose otherwise. Despite the many affairs of his father over the years, his mother had steadfastly refused to divorce him. It was only when Thomas was up at Oxford when his father told her that he was leaving her finally for his young mistress who was pregnant did he finally push her over the edge. It was as though the loss of her husband and son at the same time was too much for her to bear.

Her funeral at the family estate was the last time he had ever spoken to his father despite his father’s many attempts to reconcile. Indeed he had never met his thirty-year-old socialite twin half-sisters who were always in the society pages and their many efforts over the years to engineer a meeting. In Thomas’s mind, the best way to punish his father was to be better than him in business, something he long surpassed.

Sitting around the table waiting for dinner, the three men started to fill in their situation assessment grid together. It was something neither he nor Mikhail had used since their days in their respective army careers, thus rekindling memories of times gone by for both of them.

The meal included a starter of smoked salmon with traditional garnish of endive salad of goats curd and sweet mustard dressing, followed by Australian lamb cutlets with new potatoes with a very good white burgundy by Corton Charlemagne, Grand-Cru, Rapet père et fils, and finally a vanilla crème brûlée served with excellent Sauternes by Chateau Laville. It was something that even a seasoned professional like Igor or any of his team couldn’t turn down despite being on an operation.

Thomas chuckled watching them all. Soldiers always enjoyed a good meal before going into battle. It was also because of meals like this he personally worked out at every given opportunity in the morning for an hour with each member of his protection team in turn. If he didn’t, he would be the size of a house.

Together the team reviewed the weather, terrain, and how the military aspects could be affected by their movement around the city and the country; followed by the civil considerations: political, economic, sociological and psychological factors that both the President and the perceived threat of the Interior Minister held.

In the enemy column, each placed into it the codename ‘Viper’ they agreed would be the call sign to represent Wasir.

“Mikhail, were you aware that he has been recruiting Ukrainians?” Igor asked, formal barriers broken down over the glass of excellent wine, stopping dead the briefing.

“Ukrainians?” answered Mikhail surprised.

“Yes our assets in Kiev inform us that a GSG Security Head a…” Igor paused to check his notes. “A Tony Wilson and his security consultant an Andrew Martin, have been hiring former officers of Gaddafi’s Islamic Legion for deployment into the region to supply advice to the Interior Ministry on how to protect mining companies,” he continued.

“That’s interesting!” Thomas thought he had heard of Martin, of course, he was a regular carpetbagger that one would find on AIM listed natural resources companies.

“Benny can you look into that when we land?” ordered a concerned Mikhail earning a nod from the Israeli in return. He had heard what some of those Ukrainians and the dead leader’s Tuareg Militia had gotten up to when the Gaddafi regime was collapsing. The thought sent shivers down Mikhail’s spine and instantly took him back to Bosnia from a long time ago.

Mikhail’s mind switched back to the present and he indicated towards Barek to continue, who did so by quickly adding his thoughts to the assessment.

“Dispositions! Let’s see, Viper maintains over hundred former pirates on the coast in Lughaya, all listed as Interior Ministry Port Control Officers!” Barak said with a smirk. “They have limited skills capabilities though with Toyota Land Cruisers and AK-47 and pistols for weapons. As men they might be helpful for intimidation, not for firefights in my opinion,” he added.

Igor nodded adding Barak’s comments to his notes.

“In Borama, Viper has ninety Clan members who are totally loyal, all listed as Interior Ministry Officers. They run his businesses from whores, tankers, money lending, and slavery.”

Again they all made notes before Barak continued on with his briefing on the weaponry they had.

“Their skill levels are better than the pirates as they fought in the various militias against the Ethiopians, Somalis, and Al-Shaahab, so they are battle hardened and utterly ruthless. Weapons wise though, they are limited to standard AK-47 and pistols.”

“At the Airport, Viper has an IL-76 transporter which is his air cargo business. It is run by a Turkmen who lives between Borama and Dubai,” advised Mikhail interrupting Barak for just a moment.

“Well, he just added to that fleet,” interjected Igor.

“Really! What has he bought?” asked Thomas, as he wrote his own notes.

“A Mil-17 helicopter!” answered Igor

“Omar didn’t tell me that!” Thomas replied, assuming that the government had purchased the helicopter Gunship as he put his pen down.

“It was paid for by GSG,” answered Igor.

“Don’t tell me Ukrainians?” asked Mikhail, a little pissed off as it was something he had only just asked Saul to organize for their interests down there. The Minister had beaten him to the punch.

Igor just offered a wry smile. They had some handheld Strela 2 shoulder missiles to deal with any Halo threats, but he knew it was unlikely, as Sergei had informed him that he would get the director to deal with neutralizing the threat of having a gunship running around with 57 mm rocket pods. Instead, Igor’s mind was focused on whether they had to deal with any tanks or armored vehicles. It was the next question he asked Mikhail.

“Viper uses a couple of Armored B6 Toyota Land Cruisers and is guarded by a team of ten, led by his oldest son Mohammed. All experienced, again ex-militia, but it’s my assessment that they’re not really trained in close protection skills. That said they are loyal and carry Heckler & Koch UMPs, so they are well equipped,” Mikhail replied.

“At Viper’s villa he has four mounted M60 machines guns at each corner with thirty men all armed with AKs. Vehicles wise, again three Toyota Land Cruisers not armored though one is a pick-up with a mounted M60,” Mikhail continued as he pointed to the house’s location on the overhead shots of Borama.

After taking a spoonful of his crème brûlée, the Israeli moved on to the offices, explaining in the process that the Interior Ministry was, in fact, a dressed up villa with the same structure in terms of men and deployment as the Viper’s own villa on the outskirts of the town.

“What is Viper command structure other than his son?” asked Igor.

“His number two is a guy named “Ahmed” we don’t know his full name, but he we know he is a former member of the National Security Services. He is bright and well trained, having received training from the CIA in Mogadishu. I think he is about forty but can’t be sure?” answered Mikhail.

“Okay, I will see what we have on him. The NSS are very sound peddlers of information!” replied Igor making a mental note to include it within his update later.

“What’s next?” Thomas asked.

“Jawari’s men,” answered Igor.

After about a further thirty minutes of briefing on the friendly forces, Igor gave his initial assessment.

“We need to look at the Americans’ capabilities in Djibouti as well.”

“Why do you think they would become involved if there were a coup?” asked Mikhail, thinking that now it had been smart of Thomas to order them to withhold the information about the surveillance team Barak had discovered, now convinced it was American.

“It never hurts to be prepared, Mikhail,” answered Igor, but still not explaining himself.

Thomas didn’t say a word; Igor’s answer was the exact reason why he had gone to such lengths to ensure he had his back channels in place.

With supper over, the plane fell silent as the lights dimmed. Igor sent an encrypted message on his military grade Getac Notebook to Sergei.

“FLASH CONTENT”

OPERATION KANJAR

First review attached for the possible deployment into theatre. Will provide detailed information once on the ground.

IP

The information was immediately relayed on to Sergei, who was in bed with his wife at their family Dacha. The sound of his encrypted ready BlackBerry buzzing woke him. Picking it up, he read it. Then quickly went back to sleep, deciding it could wait until morning.

Igor was like a vampire! He never slept!

36

Moscow

The call from Alexei Nikolai in the early part of the afternoon, outside their formal once a week briefing, had taken the Minister of Foreign Affairs by surprise.

Listening carefully as he sat in his study at his weekend dacha, Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov took notes.

Trusted by Russia’s President although he wasn’t a member of his inner circle, he was nevertheless seen as a faithful servant rather than a formulator of foreign policy and thereby trusted for his skills as a tough, reliable, extremely sophisticated negotiator by all in the diplomatic world. This was the reason why he had stayed in the role since his appointment even after the man took power.

“This might need some fees to be arranged, Alexei Nikolai?” he further added after going over his notes.

“No problem Sergey Viktorovich, I will take care of anything that needs reimbursing,” answered the Director of the SVR, understanding what the Foreign Minister meant.

In the last few days, his analysts had tracked the whereabouts of helicopter through their assets within the Security Service of Ukraine having picked up on what they had previously reported over the last couple of months concerning the recruitment of individuals by Xerulla.

It had then taken them the rest of the day to locate the helicopter and send the local resident at the embassy in Guinea-Bissau to the airport to confirm it was indeed there.

They were able to do this so quickly because one of the pilots had foolishly left his travel itinerary from his travel agent on his Gmail account.

“Give me an hour,” the Minister asked.

“Of course sir,” replied the Director.

Picking up the phone, the Minister spoke to his personal assistant to ask him to find the man he was looking for. Ten minutes later, his assistant rang back and connected him to the person he wished to speak to.

When the call came in on his mobile, The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Francisco da Silva was at dinner with friends at his favorite local restaurant, the Enotheque Tinto Fino. Seeing it was from the Foreign Ministry he answered it immediately only to be surprised to find the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the other end of the call. Excusing himself for a few moments, he went outside and listened.

Two hours later he met with an operative from the SVR at the famous Night Flight nightclub. He listened to his request and considered his thoughts for few moments as he took a sip of his Black Label. He then stated the amount he needed for expenses before finally outlining what he required to be transferred to his Swiss account in Zurich for organizing the arrangements.

Meeting over, the Ambassador finished his drink, got up, and left the nightclub a very pleased man because he was now able to buy a house in Lisbon on his retirement. Ready to celebrate he picked up his favorite big-breasted curvy blonde, left the bill for the SVR officer to pay, and walked out of the club.

An hour later the transfers were made. The first transfer for $100,000 U.S. dollars went to an account in Jersey, Channel Islands. The second transfer of $200,000 U.S. dollars went to a small private bank in Zurich.

Four hours after that, the Ukrainian pilots currently working for a company that had just set up their helicopter transportation business in Bissau were both arrested by the State Intelligence Services of Guinea Bissau.

37

Borama

Arriving in the early hours of Saturday morning and having gotten only the few hours of sleep that they had all managed to grab on the plane, both Thomas and Mikhail were now sitting in one of the serviced Private Residences within the secure compound of TLH’s new five star hotel on the Airport Road known as ‘The Cismah.’

“Yossi tells me that the Turkmen’s Il-76 arrived from Bangkok via Mumbai last night with a rather interesting cargo from Ukraine and various tractor parts,” Mikhail said rather grimly.

“Not good!” Thomas answered quickly knowing that meant the Viper’s planned coup d’état could literately days away, if not hours.

“I know!” answered Mikhail before advising him that he would brief Igor accordingly.

“There’s something else as well,” offered Mikhail before he went on to explain that he had learned from one of Barak’s sources—that all of Wasir’s transporters had just left Borama for a cargo pick up in Ethiopia.

“I will call the President and ask for a meeting,” replied Thomas quickly, even more fully convinced than he ever was before that Adwalland was a matter of hours away from having a coup-d’etat on its hands.

“I will get going and brief Igor on the transporters,” offered Mikhail somewhat grimly. In every military operation throughout history, despite the best intentions of the strategists, nothing ever runs to plan and depending on what side you are on this will be either fortunate or disastrous.

“What do you mean, Mr. Tony, ‘there is a problem with the helicopter?’” asked Wasir, anger rising as he received his briefing from Tony and Andrew who had been told by their runner in Bissau that their expensive helicopter gunship had been impounded.

Earlier, Andrew had sworn loudly using every swear word in his vocabulary when informed of the news, but now as he briefed the warlord he just sighed and took a sip of his bitter-sweet coffee.

“The authorities have apparently arrested one of our Ukrainian pilots on the back of one of them getting into a bar fight over a whore during which he had killed the whore’s pimp at the small hotel they were staying at,” Andrew explained. “Unfortunately for us they arrested the second pilot when they checked on what they were doing at the hangar at the airport and found the packed-up weapons systems,” he further added.

The rage that followed over the next couple of minutes contained a variety of insults towards both Andrew and Tony, ranging from their lack of professionalism in English to a curse about their parentage, something that neither man understood as he said it in Somali before finally ending with Wasir telling them to get out of office, but not before he had told them at least his men had left this morning and were making their way to Addis to collect the armored personnel carriers from his contacts.

“I thought he took that rather well all things considered!” Tony said as they drove off. Andrew chose to ignore him. He just thought all the dictators-in-waiting were the same the world over. This one was no different.

“Just think of the money!” he told himself with a heavy sigh.

38

Dubai International Airport

Navjot walked up the steps of the G-4 and once onboard settled himself into his seat with the aim of ‘switching off’ and give his brain a few hours off during the trip to Borama.

The fact that he already had his team of Clara, Pete, and Joe in theatre under the guise of Non-Government Officers to monitor the operation discreetly meant this trip shouldn’t have been necessary, and more importantly because of his cover, he shouldn’t have been anywhere near the country. Unfortunately though, the Section Chief felt he had no choice due to the events of the last twenty-four hours.

Yesterday when Tony rang him to inform him that the helicopter gunship they had purchased had been picked up by the Guinea Bissau intelligence services, he had in keeping with his character expressed his anger to his head of security. Yet inwardly he was anything but. His instincts immediately kicked in.

Convinced that there was more to the incident, despite Wilson’s assertions to the contrary expressing that it been down to a piece of bad luck, he had asked Ali to check it out whether it was or not.

Unfortunately, because the Agency didn’t have intelligence assets in the small African country, this meant Ali had to go through Homeland Security, as the only Federal Agency to have assets in the tropical country was the DEA.

With a population of approximately one and half million, a political history of non-stop coup d’etat’s and a seemingly endless array of coastal inlets and islands that had made the country an ideal staging ground for Latin American cocaine that was bound for Europe this made logical sense. Before 9/11, he would have used the inter-agency liaison, and if he were honest would most likely have gotten nowhere because the DEA and the CIA hated each other, a direct result of the CIA giving up the DEA agents to the drug cartels of South America. However with the role of Homeland Security to pull intelligence into one source so as to ensure all Federal agencies actually shared their information without favor, politics, or fear of security breaches he now could go through them. Although Ali didn’t have access to the actual assets at the very least he could get a request looked into.

By eleven o’clock last night, Navjot finally heard back from Ali.

“You’re telling me that the Ukrainians were picked up on request from the Russian Ambassador?” Navjot asked.

“Yep,” replied Ali who himself had only just heard back from the Homeland Security liaison.

Yet it was when Clara informed him that Litchfield had returned from Moscow with a number of extra-unidentified personnel and a large number of equipment that was off-loaded from the aircraft that he was firmly convinced that the Russians were deploying a team just like them into the country. Ali and Navjot quickly come to the conclusion that the Russians were on to the plot.

That meant it was now a race against time. In the buildup of the operation, the team had spent a considerable amount of time assessing whether they could use the Agency’s existing platform in Somalia quickly dismissing it for one reason only: That it was focused around the trading of intelligence or capture of a small number of individuals rather than a platform built for affecting change.

In the aftermath of 9/11, the Agency had funneled over twenty million U.S. dollars into Somalia, initially funding the Warlords through the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism only to see them all disappear by the end of the decade with the arrival of the Islamic Courts Union, which then in turn disintegrated and re-formed as Al Shabaab. The idea had ended in disaster because the Agency didn’t put into place a strategic framework. This also meant, albeit unwittingly, the United States had assisted in the creation of Adwalland through the fact that they had forced the tribal leaders to become proactive to protect their own areas.

Having failed in that program and now facing a collective of mini self-governing states within the failed nation they then began funding the Somali National Security Agency directly, an organization who had worked out collectively that having the intelligence agencies around the world funding them was better than relying on the aid agencies. Not to mention the pay was better.

All this led Navjot and his team to the same conclusion: “The moment we attempt to use assets on the CIA platform they will brief the SVR and the mission would be over.”

So having reviewed the outline with Ali, the team subsequently recommended that the Agency establish a completely new platform using the Interior Minister as the lead on his return from Borama.

“It cannot cause embarrassment to the service or the administration by being able to trace it back if it goes wrong,” said Young to Ali during the approval oversight meeting in the Cube. Nobody spoke about it but collectively they all knew that meant ‘plausible deniability,’ a term coined by the CIA during the Kennedy Administration and what they were doing now was it in its purest form and hadn’t been practiced by the Americans since the Reagan Doctrine had ended the Cold War signaled by the fall of the Berlin Wall. That doctrine had been originally been designed to diminish Soviet power in the regions of Latin America, Africa and Asia as part of the Administration’s overall Cold War strategy.

The new Director was now dusting off the plan and re-activating it but not using a marketing message to the voting public of America fighting an “ideology” that threatens not only your “freedom” and your “way of life.”

The outline put together by Ali and team once the regime change had been completed was simple in design.

GSG, as the exclusive partner of the in country asset, was going to swiftly enter into partnerships with American natural resources corporations who then in turn would then reimburse and create a profit sharing model with the CIA for its new counter-intelligence platform.

“A self-funding platform ‘off the books’ for future counter-intelligence operations of the CIA using GSG as the funnel,” Navjot had said with a shake of his head once he had finished reading the proposal when he had been given his new orders by Ali.

“Private Sector Intelligence,” Ali had said joking. Navjot had seen it as immoral.

“Invest and resell making a profit in the process. Was that really what I signed up for when I was younger?” Navjot had questioned himself as he privately struggled with the direction the Agency was now asking him to take in the future.

“Maybe it’s time to get out?” Navjot had asked himself.

Fighting terrorists on the basis of faith was easier to process than that of material gain. Changing governments, potentially killing hundreds and affecting thousands of people on the basis of next year’s mobile phone or being able to build and sell next year’s car was, he had reflected, becoming harder and harder to process.

It wasn’t until Ali had convinced him over a lot of coffee in the planning room back at Langley that the strategy would ensure that the United States of America had access to the essentials of life that he had begun to feel more comfortable with what his team’s new management would be taking it’s ‘raison d’etre’ in the new secret war of the twenty-first century.

“The Energy Security Doctrine,” the Director had coined it when he had presented the paper to the Secretary of State and the President.

As the Indian closed his eyes, he wondered somewhat cynically whether the Director had called in an advertising agency to come up with that new brand identity.

“I wonder how Don Draper would brand it?” he half-jokingly asked himself in reference to the Mad Men character of the show that Lori always recorded for him to watch when he got home when he was unwinding.

Unfortunate as it was, the news he had just received from both Wilson and Ali had proved to him that they had been right to create such a buffer. With the Russians now on their tails plus the upgrading of their presence in the country; Navjot knew he needed to make sure that the train didn’t derail at the first turn with the end game in sight.

He just hadn’t planned for what Wasir would do to up the ante.

39

Aden Isaaq International Airport

A still fuming Wasir and the resigned pair of Andrew and Tony met the Indian as he reached the bottom step of the G-4.

“Gouramangi, I am glad you’re here my friend!” said the Interior Minister as he hugged and kissed him on both cheeks expressively. His embrace provided Navjot with a whiff of extra strong perfume that was general in the Middle East plus a rather unsavory deposit of damp sweat from the minister’s linen shirt onto his.

“These idiots have placed great pressure on us!” he added waving his hands towards the Englishmen at his side.

Yesterday when Wasir had ranted and raved about them letting him down, at that point Navjot hadn’t committed to traveling into Borama due to the rest of the plan progressing well. The two hundred Turaeg soldiers had arrived over the last week entering variously through Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia respectively and were covertly being taken to a camp just outside the city. There, the Ukrainians were going through their weapons training with the Non Commissioned Officers and finally the armored vehicles that had arrived in Addis Ababa from China and were being loaded for transportation through Ethiopia and onto Adwalland.

Having been briefed by Ali to make sure there weren’t any problems with the arrival of vehicles Navjot had ordered, in somewhat colorful language, the resident in Addis Ababa made sure that was the case.

“There was a time when a bribe was only a couple hundred bucks here or there!” the resident had said to the Indian as it was now costing them ten thousand U.S. dollars.

Again the reliable Reza had made the transfers to relevant accounts in Dubai and sent some money to the resident, so he didn’t have to go to the Ambassador for petty cash, thus avoiding the need to fill in about twenty-five forms of paperwork, the absolute scourge of every officer since the austerity measures of the Obama Administration.

“Don’t worry my friend these things happen; that is why I am here,” Navjot replied lying to the Interior Minister as he caught sight of the look of thunder on Andrew and Tony faces. He did have some sympathy although he didn’t show it. Working with amateurs like Wasir was never easy, as he knew through bitter experience during his time working with the ISI in Pakistan.

“Tell me what else has been happening?” Navjot asked in keeping with his cover. A question he would also ask his team later but first, he needed to hear it from his expensive pair of contractors having caught sight of Litchfield’s large private BBJ already parked up to the side of the runway as they were taxiing in.

“Litchfield and Jawari are going to have a meeting with the chieftains from Lughaya and Saylec this afternoon,” Wasir said with authority. He had been briefed by one of his men who kept tabs on the different Clans for him.

“Is that a problem for us?” asked Navjot, eyeing up the pirate.

“No,” replied Wasir, lying to his face because, despite his growing commercial control through the Interior Ministry in the country, it wasn’t the case due to the fact he belonged to the Bima, a sub-clan of the Gadabuursi’s Dir so, therefore, unfortunately was still bound by the decisions of his Chieftain, something no foreigner couldn’t possibly understand.

The background to this tie of blood, a fact of everyday life in Somalia, was founded in the civil war that followed on from the revolution in 1969. After the breakdown and bloodshed of the brutal civil war and eventually sick of the bloodshed, the Clans of the North finally “stopped digging in their hole,” to quote President Bill Clinton, and met at a conference entirely organized by the elders in the early 1990s. The outcome of the conference was that all parties agreed to return to customary law and to form a grassroots assembly through which Clan leaders would oversee.

Overnight, this had the effect of legalizing the Clan structure and introducing a bicameral system consisting of Upper and Lower houses. The Clan elders predominant in the Upper house, and all from the Issa Clan took over security and helped hold the region together. The Lower house all from Bima Clan considered the educated ones became responsible for the legislation, which used Sharia law as its base.

Because Wasir belonged to a sub-clan under the Lower house it meant that despite his appearances to Navjot, even he had to bend to the will of the Upper house on matters of security. It was a bitter pill to swallow for the ambitious Wasir Osman Hassan who had funded and paid taxes over years from his piracy and had ensured that his Indian friend made a contribution of a million U.S. dollars to each tribal chief to gain power.

Yet, the simple truth was that because Jawari was a member of the Upper house through the blood of his uncle and furthermore maintained a close relationship with his area’s Upper house Chieftains, it meant that the man’s position was still stronger than his own due to his hereditary rights.

The deal offered by his Indian friend in Dubai with his white mercenaries had allowed Wasir a unique opportunity to change the natural order of things. He didn’t care about whether the Russians liked it or not. He was only interested his own power base within Adwalland. If the Indian and his friends wanted him to break the agreement with the Russian oil companies and the Englishman, so be it. Being an opportunist though he recognized this was the only chance to do it, because he knew the moment the Russian soldiers arrived, the power of Jawari would be absolute with his friends acting as guarantor.

He had seen how they had stood by the Syrian leader despite international pressure and they had always kept their promises.

With his friend’s adviser’s plan to bring in Gaddafi’s mercenaries to assist in any difficult operations of what Martin described as “sensitive,” Wasir immediately recognized what he could use them for: “A takeover in Lughaya then blame it on Jawari and his militia.”

His plan simple in design within the confines of his mind guaranteed him as the Minister responsible for security that the militia under his authority was sent in to restore order with the direct result being the unfortunate death of the incumbent Clan leader, Reer Rooble Ali.

What Wasir hadn’t bothered to explain to his Indian friend was that the difficult part of the operation, despite explaining otherwise, was the acceptance of him as Jawari’s replacement as he belonged to a Lower house Clan.

The only real way that he could ensure this happened was to slaughter Jawari and Rooble Ali’s entire immediate Clans and some of his own for appearances plus a unique group of VIPs. Together that decision represented the lives of over two thousand men, women, and children. Despite his friend and his Englishman’s tough talk, Wasir knew this final part of the plan would be something even they would hesitate over on fear of the world media finding out about it. Something that appeared to always be their first consideration in every decision he noted but still not understanding as to why.

It was because of this that Wasir had decided that he was only going to tell his Indian friend after the event.

“Excellent!” replied Navjot with a false smile.

“Let’s head back to the hotel so I can take a rest and then meet up this evening for dinner,” Navjot offered, just as a runner who had been observing started to call his supervisor on his cheap handset to let him know that a foreigner had arrived and been met by the Minister, knowing as he did so he would earn a hundred U.S. dollars, half a year’s salary for his family.

At about midday with the air conditioning working overtime as the heat continued to build outside sitting with Igor and his number two, Mikhail and Benny were at the suite’s dining table with Jawari’s head of security reviewing the security arrangements around the President and the different areas of importance around the city.

“I cannot put our men around the television center,” said Badr before explaining that the Interior Ministry had full responsibility for the security of the place.

“What about the telephone exchange?” Igor asked.

“The same again,” replied the experienced battle-hardened veteran of the civil war in Arabic, before adding as the mobile masts are here in the Cismah Hotel grounds, he would make sure the internet and mobiles of TLH network had their security increased with men that were loyal to the President.

“That will work,” thought Igor.

As long as they had a key piece of communications infrastructure under control, by giving Badr’s men loaded up burner phones, they could communicate at will on the TLH Network with all the President’s loyal fighters.

“Whatever happens, Badr,” said Igor. “You must hold the communication towers,” he instructed the Somali.

“I understand,” the man grimly nodded.

Earlier Mikhail had briefed Igor on the arrival of the Il-76 despite the intelligence being something Igor already knew about having been notified by Moscow who was monitoring all air traffic through their listening post in Yemen. The next piece of information from Mikhail’s update he certainly wasn’t aware of.

“The ten transporters,” Igor said, shaking his head. He hated surprises. This news definitely fit into that category.

“Should take them about nine hours to get to Addis,” continued Mikhail.

Fearing that the transporters could be picking up tanks or armored personnel carriers, Igor sent an immediate flash message to Sergei Andreyevich in Moscow asking for a confirmation of anything unique or unusual being reported from the local resident in Addis. Then things got worse.

“Mr. Igor, my people have found a farm that is located just outside Borama in a village called Aw-Barre. It appears to have over two hundred men on it undergoing drills and training,” Badr said.

“How do you know this?” injected Mikhail.

“We followed a white man who had a meeting with this Martin and Wilson at Rays Hotel in the Shacabka district,” answered the veteran.

“Thank you,” replied Igor, trying not to show his concern while his mind worked over the intelligence. With only the ten of them plus Litchfield’s men on site at the moment and with a possible coup d’état just days away he had to make a call whether to request additional backup. What happened over next few hours would determine whether he made that call or not.

A burner phone ringing on the table interrupted them.

“That was Barak,” reported Benny after he had finished listening to the pre-agreed coded-message.

“It appears that the Indian has arrived at the airport,” he said

“Really?” offered Igor somewhat surprised. In his experience Principals never arrived on the scene when a putsch was about to take place.

“What’s he doing here?” asked Mikhail having thought the same thing as Igor.

“Good Question!” Igor replied assuming at that moment the putsch wasn’t now so imminent.

“Let me know what your boys in Addis come up with in respect to the trucks,” offered Mikhail towards Igor being older and more experienced. He was thinking something must be up.

Two hours later, while Thomas and Jawari were still having their meeting with the two tribal elders and their advisers, Igor received his answer.

Picking up his ringing codex phone, he quickly answered it. He listened carefully what Sergei had to say. The grim look on his face told the waiting Mikhail the whole story.

“It appears that our friends have been busy picking up Armored type 63 personnel carriers at the airport this morning, and as we speak are on their way back to the border,” Igor said completely disregarding his own private assumption with respect to the putsch not being imminent of earlier.

“As it will take them about nine hours to return to Borama so add that to load time plus customs perhaps a stop or two, say two hours. That means we have until 20:00 hours before they arrive then maybe an hour or so after that for them unload them,” Benny said out loud making calculations on timing as he went along.

“As soon as they get here they will almost certainly start their operation,” injected Mikhail.

“We will be getting some additional support from Damascus in the form of two teams,” Igor offered to have been told by Sergei that he had ordered them to be deployed to him.

“How many?” asked Mikhail, having already mentally calculated that they will arrive approximately at the same time as the trucks.

“Twenty,” answered Igor.

“It will still take them about six hours best case, say seven hours to get here,” offered Igor’s deputy Aytrom before adding that they had only two PMILE–general purpose machines guns with 12.7mm rounds within their kit having also checked the strength of the armor on the carriers on the Getac laptop.

“Better make sure they put extra PMILEs in their kits, please,” Igor asked Aytrom who nodded his head in response then began typing out the request on encrypted emails to the quartermasters of units C and D.

“This is going to be tight. Anything else your boys can get to us?” asked Mikhail using the old Israeli logic of military operations never run on time.

“Yes, but we must get Jawari’s permission before we can receive the authorization from Command for them to deploy,” he said before explaining further that they could have two hundred men from the 3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade GRU in the theatre within twelve hours.

“We better go and tell the boss then,” said Mikhail getting up never actually believing he would be so happy see the sight of two hundred Russians Spetsnaz commandos arriving in his lifetime.

Taking lunch with Rooble Ali the leader of the Lughaya Clan and Rashid Dualeh Jawari the President’s uncle and leader of his own Clan from Saylac Thomas was in a pensive mood.

The reason as to why they were having lunch was because both were representatives the Upper House and of the Issa, the main Clans that held responsibility for the safety of Adwalland. A right given to them because of their shared Arabian roots that dated back to Aqeel ibn Abi Talib the second son of Abu Talib, the uncle and protector of Muhammad.

In their late seventies, the men were not only the oldest Clan heads, but also tough no nonsense men having fought, initially, in the brutal civil war against Said Barre the former leader of the dictatorial regime of Ethiopia.

Both had suffered terrible losses of children of both sexes as the aggressor’s troops and militia shelled bombed and strafed all towns and villages in Awdalland before they finally set aside their traditional differences and joined together to fight the SNM’s in the early 1990s.

Both were also determined to see their country and their grandchildren no longer fall back under the boot of oppression.

Although initially distrustful and suspicious of the President’s foreign friend they had finally bonded with Thomas on his trip five years ago when he had informed them that his own daughter was Muslim, and sworn on his child’s life that he would support their country’s birth as a nation.

With Thomas having fulfilled all his promises to them despite their minor sub-clans having their head turned by Wasir’s Indian friend, they had steadfastly stood by the President despite their initial reservations over the Russian naval base forming part of the deal.

Then, over many shishas together, they finally concluded that the base would offer great economic opportunities and more importantly security if the Somali or other neighboring states decided to cast lustful eyes towards the bounty of natural resources that lay off their coast. The decision was made easier by seeing how well their respective Clan members from Djibouti were prospering from the Americans foreign presence primarily through Camp Lemmonier. This wasn’t known however to the President or their friend.

Earlier with their greetings out of the way, symbolized by the kissing of each cheek and then, a third time with a hug the three men had sat.

“Sheikh, we are very grateful for all your support!” Rashid said expressively in Arabic, using the word Sheikh in a respectful manner as a thank you for the ten million U.S. dollars in cash Thomas had brought and handed over to them both without comment or conditions.

“You are most welcome my friends,” replied Thomas in Arabic taking the hand of Rooble Ali first then Rashid as he was slightly younger with both hands to show respect each time.

“We look forward to our friend President Putin’s Ambassador’s arrival in Borama next week,” offered Rashid as conversation filler while the hotel staff entered with dates, pastries, and chilled fruit juices.

Once the Cismah’s staff departed, Rooble Ali continued where he left off as he picked up a date with his right hand.

“Sheikh Omar tells us that you are concerned about Wasir and his friend.”

“That is correct, great Sheikh,” replied Thomas ensuring he showed his concern in his face using the title granted to men who were direct descendants of Muhammad. Something both these men were.

Rashid offered that there was no need, for all elders were fully behind the strategy of having Russia as a tenant in Lughaya having seen how many of their extended family and friends had prospered in Djibouti. Suddenly, Thomas felt a lot better. With a beaming smile, Thomas replied in kind that he was pleased while actually thinking privately he had just had his “pocket picked” by the cunning elders over the way they merely dismissed the deal offered by the Indian.

With this important agreement out of the way, the President as they had agreed beforehand, took over the next part of the mini conference.

Yesterday, when the pair of them had discussed the need to remove Wasir from the scene, the President explained this could prove extremely difficult because he provided a valuable source of income to many sub-Clans nevertheless he had changed mind in an instant when Thomas advised about the impounding of the helicopter gunship, the sending of his trailer trucks to Addis, and when his Head of Security advised him of the discovery of the two hundred foreign fighters this morning.

When Omar had been informed of Wasir’s treachery he had nearly gone into meltdown. Nevertheless he knew he needed to make sure they had the Clan leaders’ ongoing support; something that allowed him to manage to contain his anger.

That being granted, he took the gloves off.

As Omar set about explaining with lots of hand movements to his tribal elders in excitable Somali what Wasir was up, to Thomas could tell by the look on their grim faces they were completely shocked.

“We are very grateful for our Russian friend’s help,” said Rashid, emotionally supported by Rooble Ali having been told by the President that the Russians had arranged for the hated gunship to be impounded in Guinea Bissau. Both men had a rabid fear of them having seen the terrible effects the ones from Ethiopia had inflicted on their Clans during the war.

Interrupted by Mikhail, he could tell by the look on his trusted friend’s face that the news wasn’t good something that was confirmed to him when Mikhail leaned down into his ear and told of him of the news from Addis.

“What is it my friend?” asked the President concerned as he picked up on the same look. Just to have his own look match Mikhail’s and his when Thomas informed the three of them the news.

“What do you suggest Sheikh?” asked Rooble Ali in Arabic, still in shock over Wasir’s actions. In the twilight of his life, he had no wish to see his country fall back into the bloodshed of the past.

“Why don’t I ask our Russian friend to join us, he has a proposal,” replied Thomas, grimly knowing that they had a fight on their hands.

* * *

During the ten minute trip to the hotel, Navjot received an update from both Tony and Andrew with regard the loss of the gunship and as he listened to them offer up their excuses he knew it was an attempt by them both to downplay its significance because they had tried to convince him they had suitable backup plans in place to work around its loss. He didn’t bother to tell them that the Russians were behind it because he knew they would get cold feet.

So instead he set about briefing them on what the future plans were on the various companies he had lined up to enter into partnership once the regime change was completed. As he did so, could see the former Guards officer was impressed and already counting his money.

Now checked into his suite, Navjot started to sweep the room for listening and observation devices. Seeing there were none he opened his case pulled out the Codex phone and dialed a number. A lady answered.

“Coast is clear I am in my room,” he said.

Less than a minute later on the second knock he opened the door so allow Clara Martinez to walk in. As she did so, both of them ignored the little housekeeper of about fourteen going about her business on the same floor.

On the ground for the past two weeks watching the coming and goings of various designated parties with four other members the Special Operations Group, Clara and the rest of the team had entered through Ethiopia posing as NGOs attached to one of the CIA fronts, a water aid charity called Water & Life Aid. They had rented some offices in the center of the city where they had set up their communications and monitoring equipment.

A strong willed, attractive woman of Mexican descent in her mid-thirties, Clara was best described as having a slender, girlish figure with an oval face, large and lustrous eyes, and a head crowned by a mass of coal black wavy hair. She had served with Navjot for the last ten years since graduating in Politics and Economics from Berkeley and given her ability to multi-task, she held responsibility for logistics and planning of the group’s operations.

It was her unique ability at being “better at playing a part” and “superior to colleagues” when it came to “suppressing her ego in order to attain the goal,” as her trainers at the Farm had placed on her file alongside her skill in speaking Spanish and Arabic, that she found herself recruited into SAD.

An Intelligence Star locked up in the vault in Langley for her role in assisting in the take down of Anwar al-Awlaki in the Yemen, the unmarried “mother” as the team referred to her for the way she worried, Clara was always the first name Navjot added to his team list when setting up an operation.

“Boss! Do you think you should really be here!” she said not bothering with any formalities like greetings after he closed the door.

“Nice to see you too, Clara!” Navjot said making light of her statement.

“We are a fucking day away, and now the Principal is in the theatre! What the fuck does that look like!” she continued, ignoring his attempt at a joke not to mention angry with him for taking such risks.

“Like it’s supposed to!” Navjot answered, with a wry smile still trying to put her at ease before going on to describe both his and Ali’s suspicions that the Russians were on to the operation due to the gunship being impounded.

Their theory was a stretch, more Navjot’s as Ali wasn’t that convinced, despite backing him with an authorization to deploy, that for the sake of appearance with his presence in Adawaland they would ensure the Russians, fearing a regime change was about to take place, didn’t up the timetable by landing troops before their Ambassador officially took up residence,.

“No self-respecting billionaire is going to put himself in harm’s way due to the risk of things going wrong,” Navjot stated, ignoring the fact that Ali wasn’t fully behind the plan either.

Clara shook her head.

“I still consider it a fucking risk. What happens if they grab you?” she said, using almost the same line Ali had yesterday over the secure line.

“Then I am a star on the wall!” Navjot answered flippantly referring to the wall at Langley where all the fallen agents were honored.

He didn’t need Clara or Ali to tell him that. He knew it was a huge risk, but Navjot had rationalized that it was one he had to take due to the pressures of time working against them. That didn’t mean though he should not have a backup plan in place, that he done by putting Rob Ashley on standby back in Dubai, but again for operational security reasons, he chose to keep that from Clara for the simple reason she had no knowledge of Rob’s identity having never met him.

Finally, getting the message sensing she had almost certainly pushed her friend and colleague far enough, Clara reluctantly accepted his decision.

“Now having heard bullshit from everybody else can I have a proper update, please?” Navjot asked again with his smile returned before offering her a drink from the bar.

Forty-five minutes later, the attractive aid worker left the room and made her way back out of the hotel and got into her Land Cruiser.

As she did Navjot, still in his room, looked at his watch. Seeing that he had about an hour before he had to meet Wasir again, he undressed and went for a shower so he could think through the effect of what he had just been told to him by Clara.

“So Litchfield has ten Russian special forces members guarding him!” he told himself as the jets of water hit his face. That meant with Litchfield’s own team of four they had to deal with fourteen highly trained security officers plus the team of twenty ex-Gurkhas that were in charge of guarding the TLH assets in Adwalland, whom he had reasoned Litchfield would certainly be able to draw upon.

In his mind he had discounted Jawari’s own men due to their lack of skills and having assessed Wasir’s men on his previous trips he figured they could be easily neutralized; experienced fighters yes they were, but organized, no. “As long as it stays that way, we should be okay!” he convinced himself as he began to wash his hair.

To the sounds of the evening prayers echoing around the city and needing privacy to make his call, Igor entered his hotel room. He too checked for listening and monitoring devices then pulled up the stocky aerial on his Codex phone and dialed the number for Sergei Andreyevich.

Instantly his call was picked up.

“Sergei Andreyevich,” Igor started the call respectfully. “The President, within the next thirty minutes, will be sending the Minister of Foreign Affairs a formal request for assistance from Russian Armed Forces under the terms of their cooperation agreement fearing an attempt by foreign powers to overthrow his government,” said Igor.

“Understood, Igor! I will let the Director know. Your mission is now to protect the HARE at all costs.” Replied Sergei Petrov, using the call sign for the President of Adwalland. “Command Authority is granted. Unit C and D and the Brigade Commander that will be providing support for your team will be informed. What other resources do you have at your disposal until they arrive?” asked Sergei Petrov.

Having read Igor’s notes on the current disposition of the potential forces of Viper and then updated him on the carriers that were on their way from Addis despite the removal from the field of the Mil-17, Sergei was concerned they were outgunned. As he listened, he was even more concerned.

“This is going to be tight until the GRU Guards arrived in the theatre,” Sergei told himself.

“Within his security detail he has ten immediate bodyguards,” continued Igor. We are unsure of their loyalty, so we have not briefed them with the exception of Head of Security, but Blagorodnyy has placed his assets at our disposal, so this gives us extra twenty-five,” concluded Igor. His count included Thomas, who had insisted that he was staying in Borama despite him and Mikhail arguing about it and overriding Igor’s objections when they had stepped outside having received the President permission to make the call.

“Really?” answered Sergei surprised having assumed that Thomas was going depart the scene with his men knowing a putsch was imminent. It was what any sensible Oligarch would do.

“He has also placed his aircraft at our disposal if we need to do an emergency extraction,” Igor further added.

“Please pass on my thanks to Blagorodnyy,” offered Sergei gratefully.

This was going to be a close run thing, deciding there and then whatever happens he would ensure his wife cooked Thomas dinner next time he was in Moscow over this gesture. For he was sure the moment the Director reported to Vladimir Vladimirovich that one of Russia’s most important National Champions was staying, he would be ordered out of the theatre of operations for he was much too valuable to Russia to have him dying in the small country on the Horn of Africa.

“I will sir!” answered Igor, thinking the same thing despite Thomas overruling him.

* * *

After dropping off his Indian friend at the hotel, Wasir and his bodyguards drove back to his villa located on the outskirts of Borama, reaching it just as the midday sun reached its zenith.

The villa, built by a Sharjah based Pakistani three years ago, had cost him over two million U.S. dollars to construct in the foothills of the mountains that surrounded the small city.

The compound, enclosed by a two-meter high wall with machine gun posts at each corner was designed in a contemporary Arab style, set in a garden of date and palm trees much like the luxury Signature Villa the same contractor had built for him in the Emirates Hills, Dubai.

It had a spacious open plan living area, high ceilings, and a clerestory in the central living area, so to allow the ample natural light to filter through the property. The four bedrooms on the first floor were located off the double height gallery landing; two of the bedrooms and his master bedroom also contained a safe room. He maintained a separate similar villa on the compound for his wives and their children, as he preferred not to have the sound of them disturbing him. Only his eighteen- and sixteen-year-old sons, Mohammed and Samir, lived with him at the main house.

On entering with Ahmed, he found his oldest son Mohammed sitting in the lounge with a white man of about forty. After first greeting his son with a hug and a kiss on each cheek in the traditional method he then turned introduced himself to the man.

“You must be Mr. Leo,” he said offering his hand to the tall, bald, tanned, well-built muscular man with piercing blue eyes dressed in a black t-shirt with his holster looped over his shoulder and army trousers.

The UN convention defines a mercenary as “any person who is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict; is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and…. is neither a national of a party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a party to the conflict.” Leonid Yosipovich Buryak was such a man. A Jew starting his career as an eighteen-year-old in the Airborne Brigade of Ukraine, he had served three years with the unit before he left after the fall of Soviet Union because of the poor conditions and pay to make his way to Paris, France where his sister was making a living as a prostitute. He had been there six months scraping a living as a bouncer or enforcer for his sister’s pimp when he walked past a recruiting office for the French Foreign Legion. Thinking that it represented a better opportunity of allowing him to make a living and have a career he quickly joined up to serve ten years, eventually reaching the rank of Sergeant Chef. In the Foreign Legion, he served in the Central African Republic, Rwanda, as part of the KFOR mission in Kosovo and Iraq along the way before finally leaving to make a living as a security consultant back in Bagdad and in Afghanistan before finding his real calling as a mercenary in Sierra Leone and the many miserable holes of Africa.

When the business began to dry up he signed up with the Libyans at the start of the Arab Spring, working with the Turaegs for six months in the bitter civil war, only quitting when the U.S. dollars stopped coming. He didn’t really care about the rights and wrongs of a side. He had killed a lot of men and women, even child soldiers, over the years. Instead, he dealt with it by telling himself as they weren’t his friends or family, it didn’t matter. Life was cheap in a war zone.

Despite that rather cynically cold outlook on life he had never discussed any of it with his French wife or his sons and being smart neither did they; instead they just accepted his money gratefully.

When Xurella asked him if he could oversee the training and general operations for Adwalland, he had asked only one question.

“How much, Mr. Martin?”

When he got the answer of $100,000 U.S. dollars with $50,000 up-front, he packed his bags that night and recruited as requested, the nine other Ukrainians all in their fifties, eager for the money and had also previously worked with Gaffadi’s Islamic legion when they were in the Soviet Union’s GRU, and two hundred Turaegs who had all worked with him previously in Libya and were fresh from fighting his old Alma Mata—the Legion in Mali.

He hadn’t bothered to tell Martin or Wilson about this particular meeting because the Principal’s liaison had asked him not to when he took him to one side on his arrival at the airport from Mumbai. Assuming that he was the man paying him he replied that wasn’t a problem, “As long as he kept paying him he would do as he asked,” he said to the young man.

* * *

The Interior Minister started their discussion with an update on the armored personnel carriers to which Buryak had replied politely that he was very pleased. Privately he was actually thinking, “The sooner they could start the operation the sooner he could get out this shit hole!”

“I want to be sure that we both understand each other, that your men follow my orders, not Martin’s or Wilson’s,” stated Wasir as the young house girl who doubled as a concubine for him brought them dates and dark bitter coffee refreshments.

“Of course, Sir!” replied Leo. He knew where this was going and he had no “special” loyalty to Martin or Wilson. In any case, he was absolutely sure those two were certainly getting more than him.

If this African warlord wanted him to ignore their orders, so be it. Instead, he figured it was because Martin was being greedy or maybe the warlord was cutting him out. Either way he didn’t care.

“As long as you keep paying me, you’re the boss,” he replied picking up a date and popping it his mouth.

“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.

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.

41

Borama

Outside the residence as the cicadas, the hated foe of the hotel’s gardener sang together in the gardens, Thomas and his team were standing huddled together away from their villa.

“Boss!”

“I got some more information that I think you might find interesting,” Barak said in Hebrew as Thomas went about lighting his cigar.

“My young housekeeper that works at the Sammo just told me that earlier today she saw a certain white lady entering the Indian’s hotel room,” Barak continued.

“You’re right, that is interesting Barak,” answered Thomas to the ex-Policeman from Israel’s Border Police known as the Yaman.

“It sort of proves who’s pulling the strings,” offered Mikhail linking the dots of Barak’s intelligence sources.

“What do you want to do?” Barak asked his principal.

Thomas took a long pull on the cigar so he could think for a few moments, allowing the rich smoke from Cuban tobacco to float upwards to the night sky.

When he finished he said, “You and Yossi go with five of the Gurkhas and take them down nice and quiet. Once you’ve got them take them to our compound,” he carried on without much ado, sensing they would make useful bargaining chips although he was just not sure yet why, how or when!

“Oh! Barak, we will need them alive,” Thomas then added accompanied with a wink before he departed to find Paul so he could steal five of his Gurkhas for their own covert operation.

“You’re not telling Igor about them then?” asked Mikhail once they were alone.

“No. We might need some insurance,” he answered.

“From what?” Mikhail asked, wondering where Thomas was going with his thoughts.

“Don’t know yet!” Thomas answered honestly to his old friend and trusted bodyguard.

Impromptu clandestine meeting over, the pair walked back into the villa together whereby Igor informed them that Units C and D had just arrived and were now on their way to the hotel and would be with them in about twenty minutes or so.

“Badr’s people took care of the formalities at the airport, but I am pretty sure Viper will be notified of their arrival,” Igor added before telling them that Command had issues orders to the 3rd Guards Brigade, and they also would arrive on-board two Il-76 in Adwalland airspace around 0800 hours.

“If they begin the operation at dawn that means we will have to hold for two hours,” said Mikhail grimly calculating the time in his head.

“I have already advised them that they might have to come in hot!” offered Igor, acknowledging Mikhail’s statement and facial expressions indicating with a resigned look of his own admitting that it was going to be a close run thing.

He turned to Jawari.

“Mr. President, as soon as my teams arrive I suggest that we move to your offices and take up defensive positions.”

Less edgy, now having just received confirmation that the Russians were sending troops to support him and having been told by Badr that is family was safe, he answered that would be acceptable.

* * *

Cardamom infused Coffee and Shisha Pipes laced with Rose Water impregnated the air as the two ex-Welsh Guardsmen, sitting in Wasir’s Villa, walked through the plan once more with the Interior Minister, Ahmed and their paymaster, Gourgamangi.

“Mr. Ahmed how many men will you have on the main roads to and from the city?” asked the former Colonel.

“There will be twenty men at the airport, the Dilla Road on the North and South exits respectively, and twenty men on the Billa Road to the West and the East exits,” answered the former Somali intelligence officer.

Andrew nodded.

“We will send a personnel carrier to the TV Station, another to the telephone exchange and one to the Hospital. Once these places are secured that should give us control of the principal buildings,” he said as he pointed to their respective locations on the map for Gourgamangi benefit, if not his.

“Ahmed’s Land Cruisers with five Tureags in each will then seek and secure the President’s principal allies in the city. These are designated as the Natural Resources Minister, the Imman of the Mosque, The Economic Special Adviser, plus the central council elders to show the various militias that we are in charge,” pointing now to their respective locations on the map.

“We will also send ten men to Litchfield to secure his satellite farm,” ordered Andrew pointing to the map.

“These men will then also secure Litchfield and the bodyguards,” he added figuring that was where the English Billionaire would be when the coup d’état happened.

“What’s the plan for Litchfield?” asked Gourgamangi.

“I want him dead!” answered Wasir before Martin could reply, determined to punish him for the insult he had given him on his yacht despite being paid millions of U.S. dollars by him.

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.

42

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.

Inwardly Martin felt he knew what was happening.

“A bloodbath of Wasir’s making…fucking dictators!” he swore to himself.

43

Langley

The SAD situation room at Langley is one of the most secure rooms in America, with its numerous walls of screens hooked up to the world’s media and U.S. spy and communication satellites, it is a 24/7 one-stop shop of information flow.

Pouring a black coffee before returning to his seat, Ali began briefing the Director.

“We ready to go, the personnel carriers have arrived in Borama, but it does appear Ivan is on to the operation, unfortunately,” he reported.

“How long do we have?” questioned Young.

Both men had taken the loss of secrecy as part of the job and didn’t lose any sleep over it. It was one of the reasons they had gone to so much effort in the deployment of a false-flag operation.

“Navjot reports that contractors will commence the operation at dawn, at which point he estimates that they will have approximately twenty-four hours before reinforcements arrive in support of the Russian assets that are guarding the President.” Ali then went on to brief the Director as to the emergency extraction contingencies in place.

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.

He gave the signal to take up position. Fifteen seconds later, BANG! The building shook.

Moments after the explosion Bijaya quickly entered the room with one of the other Gurkhas, followed by two more from the team, before finally Barak and Yossi so they could take up the points of domination in the room.

Before Joe, Clara, and Pete had time to react their collective ears still ringing and minds confused by the explosion they found they were facing weapons pointed at their faces.

“DOWN! DOWN!”

“HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!”

“NOW!” the assault team shouted at once towards the three targets, again forcing their domination in the room through the use of lots of voices from different directions to cause confusion for the targets.

Realizing they were completely covered with overlapping fire by the fact each corner in the room had been taken by their assailants the SAD team surrendered immediately and did as ordered.

Not one shot had been fired in anger.

“CLEAR,” shouted one of the Gurkhas having checked the kitchen and bathrooms.

Knowing there was no point pretending they were charity workers with the hi-tech monitoring equipment in the room the three SAD officers quickly went into silent mode so to prepare for the worst.

Securing them firmly and roughly with flexi-cuffs, Yossi quickly pulled a sack over their heads one by one, then manhandled them to their feet ready to exit the building.

“CLEAR,” shouted the Gurkhas having checked outside to see if the team they had taken down were about to receive any help.

“COMING OUT,” Barak announced as he pushed the prisoners out and down the stairs one by one to exit the building to the lights of the surrounding buildings coming on one by one as the occupants’ having been woken up by the explosion and the shouting.

Once they were bundled, one by one, into the four Land Cruisers that had pulled up at speed in front of the building the assault team sped off to down the street to make their way back to TLH secure compound just outside the Cismah.

“Just like the old days!” Barak offered in Hebrew towards Yossi who smiled in response.

At his feet with her hands tied behind her back and her head still covered Clara began to get her bearings back, calming her mind to allow her training to kick in. She had trained for it once at the Farm and now for the first time in her life she was actually facing it. Taking slow breaths, she went through her mental routine.

“Deny any connection with their agency. Do not request diplomatic legal assistance; none will come. Hold out for as long as possible to enable other team’s members to escape.” These were the thoughts swirling away in her mind at the same time as she started her mental count and direction change routine to try and work out when she was being driven to from their base.

“Calm down,” she told herself again. Taking a deep breath but having never experienced anything like this outside her training, her mind was drawn to voices above her.

“Was that Hebrew?” she asked herself before she tried to focus her mind again. “That means they are Litchfield’s! How the fuck did they know we were here?” she concluded, remembering that all of his security team were Israeli.

45

Lughaya

At the time Yossi and Barak were conducting their operation without a shot fired, a very different one was happening on the coast, 230 miles away.

As part of the agreement of the acceptance of Adwalland as a country, the United Nations had originally established a comprehensive multi-dimensional operation to assist the new State on its journey.

Over the last year, with the security situation how stabilized the UN had begun to wind down its operations to what was left now on the coast; A medical education program staffed by the Germans and human rights liaison officers from Nigeria and various support elements from charities that were involved in child protection programs.

Within each mandate, there is a principal that every United Nations member has an obligation that lay at the core of every mission deployed around the world. No matter where that station may be. That being, “Every nation that hosts a mandated mission has to take the necessary action to protect UN personnel, facilities, installations, and equipment ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers, joint assessment mechanism and assessment and evaluation commission personnel, and, without prejudice the responsibility of the Government of the host, to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence.”

It was this obligation that Wasir now planned to use to his benefit.

Using his night vision binoculars, Buryak could see the lights were out in the compound and much to his surprise he also found that the building only had a couple guard posts outside the mission as well. He spread his search to the surrounding area for any nearby threats and found none.

“Habib, it looks like the guards at the gate are armed, and maybe a couple inside so we’ll drive through the gate at speed then start the clearing operation room to the room,” he ordered.

Orders like this were nothing new to Habib. An experienced veteran of Libya, he had killed more than a fair share of innocents. All he cared about was that he was being paid three thousand U.S. dollars for his work to enable him to able to buy some goats for his smallholding and a new truck back home in Mali.

“Use verbal commands to get them to surrender if you have too,” Buryak continued. “Then shoot them once they have. These people aren’t soldiers, so they will be scared and will do as you say,” Buryak continued slowly using terrible but simple logic.

“Yes, Boss,” answered Habib as though it was nothing.

“If you find some of the white faces don’t shoot all of them just pick one and bring them to me,” Buryak finally instructed before adding, “Oh and make sure you keep maybe ten or so dark faces alive.”

“Yes, Boss,” Habib answered again. Five minutes later the Type 63 armored personnel carrier, drove at speed towards the Mission.

The half-asleep poorly trained guards were no match. In a matter of moments, they had been taken out by one of Buryak’s men. Ten minutes later, to screams and machine gunfire coming from the building at the center of the compound, Habib dragged a young absolutely terrified overweight blonde woman in her underwear out by the arm.

Using his cunning, not to mention the confusion of the situation plus his skin color, Buryak asked the woman her name as she was dumped at his feet.

“M-a-r-t-h-a” she replied in a heavy German accent.

“Martha, what do you do?” the Ukrainian coolly asked with a smile trying to calm her appearing as though he was there to help her.

“I am Doctor… Sir” she answered shaking again.

Attempting to comfort her, Buryak lightly stroked her arm.

“Okay, you must do something for me. Can you do that?” he said softly almost as he did to his children back home in France when they were babies.

“Yes,” she answered nervously still shaking as she looked up at him.

Handing her a mobile phone, he told her to press three and then tell the people down the line they were being attacked. Still shaking she did as she was as told, telling them whom she was, her position, and then what was happening until getting to the point of when she was about to describe him and his men. Taking phone back from her hand, he promptly cut it off.

“Good girl, I now require you to speak to this man on the phone and tell him the same thing,” he ordered as he pressed the speed dial number.

Again she did as she was told, until as before she got to the point of trying to explain about him, but this time instead of taking the phone he shot the woman in the head.

“Now, Habib is that everybody?” he asked while throwing the burner phone on the floor by the dead doctor’s hand.

Earning a reply in the affirmative Buryak ordered they refuel the personnel carrier.

Once completed, they drove out as though nothing had happened to leave the eighty UN staff members dead around them and only eight survivors cowering in the corner of one of the offices.

“Twenty-five minutes, not bad,” Leo thought looking at his watch.

46

Borama

They arrived at the gates of the National Television Centre. When the militia guards saw who it was they immediately lifted the barriers to give a rag-tag salute towards the occupant.

Although they had heard gunfire erupting in the distance, they made no attempt to stop the cars as they all belonged to the Interior Ministry.

Earlier when he was speaking to the German doctor at the UN compound he had promised immediate assistance for, Wasir had done so purely for the benefit of the American listening posts that he believed would be listening. This was to be the next act of his theatrics.

Telling the producer he was taking over the station for an important announcement, the young man did not protest on fear that he would be shot if he did.

“You must get your messaging right, announce the President’s resignation and a constitutional transfer of power as a ‘run-of-the-mill’ regular occurrence, so to speak,” Gourgamangi had said to him.

As the camera light changed green, the former pirate began his official coup d’etat.

“In pursuance of the primary objective of saving our great country from total collapse, I, Interior Minister Wasir Osman Hassan of the Republic of Adwalland have, after due consultation amongst the services of the Lower house…” he started.

Ten minutes later having reaching the end of his speech during which he cited the President’s Militia as being responsible for the attack on the UN Mission and several examples to justify his action, he dropped his bombshell.

“I am asking the Americans of Camp Lemmioner under United Nations resolution S/RES/2200 (2013) to provide support to the Government of Adwalland in the security of United Nations personnel!”

47

Langley

The satellite currently placed above Borama was relaying the battle below it in real time while the Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye was all relaying the radio traffic in the same manner to the situation room at Langley.

“Fuck! FUCK!” Ali had shouted at the screen as Wasir finished his speech. “Is Wasir fucking mad!” he said knowing despite saying otherwise he must have ordered the attack on the mission to get American troops into the country from nearby Djibouti.

“Attacking a FUCKING UN compound!” he said shaking his head again in horror.

Immediately Ali tried to contact Clara on the ground to confirm the report only to be told they couldn’t raise her.

“What do you mean you can’t fucking contact her!” he shouted at the analyst, fearing the worst. “We only just spoke to her!” he raged.

Half an hour passed. Still unable to reach them and seeing the world’s media were now picking up on Wasir’s request and contacting the White House for a comment, he was interrupted by assistant.

“I have the Director on the line,” she said impassively.

Knowing the most likely content of the conversation he immediately told the young officer to transfer him to the quiet room.

“WHAT THE FUCK! I just had the fucking Chief of Staff on the line followed by the National Security Advisor and then the fucking Secretary of State asking me who behind the attack on the United Nations base,” said Young angrily. “PLEASE DON’T FUCKING TELL ME IT’S OUR GUY!” he shouted down the phone fearing the worst.

“The situation pretty unclear. We can see the Minister is trying to establish control as we speak,” Ali offered, knowing their conversations were recorded, his own cool returning to the fore. “With regard to the Mission, I think Wasir is saying that Jawari’s Clan feared it was under attack and may have attacked the United Nations compound as a kneejerk response,” he continued despite thinking otherwise for the benefit of the recordings.

“But we are facing another problem,” he then added.

“What’s that?” asked the Director.

Ali braced himself.

“We believe our Alpha team is down,” he said coolly.

“Am I FUCKING hearing you correct, Mansoor!” Young exploded. “You’re telling me we have lost our assets on the ground?” asked Young simultaneously trying to work out how he was going to spin it up the line.

If the Russian backed President of Adwalland militia did indeed make the biggest blunder of all time and attack a United Nation mission he could work with that, losing a SAD team though had just seriously complicated matters for him.

“Okay, get back to me with an update as soon as you can. In the meantime I will brief the President accordingly,” answered the Director clicking off the phone still unsure how he was going to tell him about the loss of their officers in the city.

In Ali’s case, he walked back into the situation room.

“Get me Navjot!” ordered Ali, stress now showing in his face.

Seconds later the Indian was on the secure line.

“Navjot, please don’t fucking tell me that mess in Lughaya is our making?” he asked almost knowing the answer.

Knowing their calls although encrypted to protect against outside ears would still be recorded and reviewed later by Langley and not wanting to be a scapegoat, the Indian answered.

“No,” he said, lying for the benefit of a future mission review committee having seen on his television Wasir’s address in the privacy of his hotel room at the time had caused him to let out of his mouth a series of swear words in Punjabi and English.

Ali then asked him a question he already knew the answer to.

“I can’t get hold of the Alpha team. Can you confirm that they are still in play?” he then asked again for the benefit of the oversight committees to come after.

“Alpha team is down,” Navjot replied with a heavy heart having tried to raise them when Wasir had first appeared on the screen.

Both knew the next steps.

“Execute Burn,” ordered Ali. He couldn’t afford to lose one of his top operatives.

“Understood,” replied Navjot.

Finished, Ali walked back into the conference room sat down, took a moment then murmured a small prayer to himself in Urdu.

48

Washington, D.C. / Moscow

The clock showed 11:30pm (EST) as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America sat down in the situation room at the front of the conference table.

He had a grim look on his face. Here he was dealing with yet another fast moving situation that had seemed to him to become a habit during his Presidency.

An hour ago the Secretary of State who was still on his way to the White House had advised him that he had received a formal request from the Secretary-General of the United Nations asking him to provide support under the resolution S/RES/2200 (2013) to the mission in Adwalland as the civilian government couldn’t do so.

If that wasn’t bad enough, events had been made even more complicated by the fact this application was being made during an attempted regime change, covertly backed by the Agency, taking place in the country at the same time.

The icing on the cake of this grim picture was then completed when the Director of the CIA informed him that they believed they had lost three of their agents who were monitoring it.

“Director, do we know who took them?” the President asked, trying to keep his anger in check as he sat in his office earlier.

“We believe it was the Russians who are backing the President of Adwalland,” Young answered.

“Is that confirmed?” asked the President.

“No, sir,” answered the Director truthfully.

Throughout his Presidency, he had found himself having to make tough choices, with respect the protection of the United States of America; the authorization of the covert assassinations of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and Al-Awlaki in Yemen was two such examples.

The Executive Orders in those situations were a walk in the park compared to this one as then the United States had the moral high ground.

In this situation, he was being asked to order U.S. Forces into a neighboring country to provide support to the United Nations personnel on the ground that appeared to be under attack from forces loyal to a Russian backed President.

The problem he was now facing was related to how the United States of America wished to be seen in the world under his stewardship of the Presidency.

If he delayed in deploying troops then his Administration would stand accused of abandoning the United Nations and pandering to the Russians, and thereby, by definition, allowing the Russians to give him yet another bloody nose to go with those his Presidency had received in Syria and Ukraine and by their welcoming of the traitor Snowden. He wasn’t having that!

“General, what is your recommendation?” he asked his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Since the compound was only one hundred and twenty miles from their base in Djibouti and the recommendation was that they should send four Black Hawk helicopters with personnel from the SEALS and air support using F-15s to secure the location within thirty minutes, then follow up straight away with two hundred men from the U.S. Marines using Hummers to relieve them within three hours. The President then opened up to the floor to his Secretary of State.

“That would give us time to deal with the Russians, Mr. President, and fulfill our obligations to the United Nations,” The Secretary of State had offered over the speakerphone. He was still on route to the White House knowing like the President that the minute the U.S. announced they were placing troops in theatre, the Russians would cry blue murder and quickly bring pressure to bear on the Security Council despite their nation having authority under the resolution to do so.

“Are we absolutely sure this Wasir guy isn’t behind the attack?” the President asked the Director of CIA again.

“We believe that isn’t the case with the information available to us at this time,” answered the Director ever the politician without blinking not really answering his Commander in Chief.

“Sir, if Wasir Hassan fails in his attempted coup then we will be facing a scenario whereby the incumbent Jawari will request an immediate withdraw of our forces back across the border. Legally we would have to do so. But at the very least we should demand the Russians bring their man back into line,” said the voice of the Secretary of State giving his legal overview of the result if the coup d’état failed.

“That will make us look like we bowing to the Russians again,” replied the President unimpressed with his Secretary of State’s statement.

“It’s God Dammed fucking Ukraine all again!” continued the tired President angrily with his own assessment of the international politics of the situation.

The President took a moment. As he did so he reflected on what one of his predecessors and one of the men who inspired him as a young man once said.

“I do the very best I know how; the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right what is said against me, won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.” -Abraham Lincoln

Here, he was again facing such a situation yet without the benefit of time as an ally to respond. He had to determine the appropriateness of this request from the United Nations, and whether the moral/ethical decision was not based on the international community’s approval nor on divine approval but on the efficacy rather than the moral outcome.

Having made his decision, the forty-fourth President of the United States of America looked at his Chief of Staff and gave his orders.

“Authorization is granted. As soon as our men are on the ground I will make a statement,” The President followed up as his Chief of Staff set about picking up the phone on the table to get the Director of Communications to do the necessary in the short time available for the President’s speech.

His orders were acknowledged by a chorus of, “Thank you, Mr. President!” The leader of the United States of America got up and left the situation room to return to his office.

It was going to be a long night.

As the President left the room the General made the call to Admiral in charge of Special Operations, followed swiftly afterwards by one to the Base Commander,

“Operation BAILOUT is authorized,” He ordered, using the codename in turn to each of them.

* * *

The President of Russia sat at the front of the table listening to the Minister of Foreign Affairs brief him on his latest discussion with the United Nations Secretary General.

Unlike its counterpart at the White House, the décor of the situation room in the bunker of the Kremlin could only be described as belonging to something out of a palace of Versailles. With its bright white walls and antique furnishing from that period, the only modern intrusion to the room was the HD Flat screen televisions on three walls and the Flag of Russia in the corner of his rectangular bombproof room.

“The Secretary General advises me that he has asked the Americans to provide armed support to the U.N. base under the resolution guidelines of the original mission,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs said.

“Did you explain to him that it wasn’t needed, as the Jawari’s Militia will provide the support?” asked the President.

“He says it was the President’s Militia that conducted the operation!”

“He did not trust them to fulfill their obligations,” replied the Minister of Foreign Affairs putting his pen down in disgust.

“And why is he under that impression?” said the President.

“Just because a Putsch leader says it is,”

“Doesn’t mean it is!” replied the Russian President his anger building.

The last Secretary General had been very vocal in his distaste of the Americans in their attempts to use the United Nations almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool. Unfortunately, this current Secretary General, although nobody had ever reported on it, maintained, in the opinion of many on the Security Council in contrast, a relationship with the Americans that one would describe as unhealthy, as he often shared their outlook on global issues and stepped firmly in line with U.S. foreign policy.

“I did raise that with him,” replied the Minister. “But he replied that they had confirmation they needed.”

“What confirmation?” the President of Russia asked.

“A desperate call from one of the residents of the compound…a young German woman,” the Minister replied checking his notes.

The Russian President looked towards the Director of the GRU to see if their listening post in Yemen had picked this call up.

He got answer he didn’t want.

“We did pick up this call. It was made to the United Nations offices in Djibouti and then followed by another one to Viper. In both cases the woman asked for help and blamed HARE,” he answered using Wasir’s and Jawari’s codename.

“Sir, I recommend we declare to United Nations that we have a brigade on the way that can provide support for the mission,” the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian military said knowing they were thirty minutes away from entering Adwalland’s air space. He could see the situation descending into a full-blown confrontation between Russia and America if they didn’t.

The Russian President took stock for a moment through the placement of his hands into a praying form under his chin elbows on the table.

The political loss of face at having Americans arriving at Russia’s new significantly publicized Navy base to secure it was bad enough. The loss of his new ally in Africa would have political consequences with respect to Russia future plans for the region would be disastrous. Privately, he reflected somewhat bitterly that the Americans were out-thinking him on this.

He reached a decision. The United Nations Mission at this moment was of secondary importance.

“Sergey Viktorovich please notify the Americans as soon as the Brigade enters the Adwalland air space that we are sending Russian Armed forces to provide assistance in stabilizing the situation in Borama. Let them know they must not to interfere or prevent our aircraft. Also let them know that although we welcome their help in supporting the United Nations Mission at Lughaya; they must not to confuse the situation by stepping outside their United Nations remit.” the Foreign Minister nodded and took notes.

“Once our troops are on the ground inform the Secretary General and get our Ambassador to call a Security Council meeting immediately reviewing the situation on the ground,” The Russian President further added. Again the Minister of Foreign Affairs nodded his acceptance at his orders without comment.

“Valery Vasilevich, as soon the troops are on the ground and have secured the situation in the capital, tell the Brigade Commander to send his troops with all haste to relieve the Americans at the Mission,” the President then informed his Chief of General Staff.

“Sir, may I suggest that we set all Russian forces on Elevated Combat Readiness?” suggested the Marshal, referring to the equivalent of the American’s DEFCON TWO knowing these decisions by his President would in probability lead to an exchange of fire between Russia and America.

The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation took this as his cue to enter the discussion.

“That is required by law Mr. President!” he said. Being a former lawyer before he entered politics at the President’s side over thirteen years ago, he was ever aware of the need to do things in line with in accordance with the federal constitutional law “On the Government of the Russian Federation” and as his position demanded of him.

The Russian President inwardly sighed, knowing his Prime Minister was correct in his demand.

Because Russia had never forgotten the loss of face over the Cuban Missile Crisis, they had written into their constitution that all Russian Armed Forces must be ready for combat when declared members of the Russian military were to enter into theatre.

“They will automatically respond accordingly,” the President replied reluctantly knowing that the Americans would respond in kind.

Ever the diplomat, the Minister of Foreign Affairs offered his thoughts.

“Sir, I believe the moment we do that, the Americans will not yield the security of the Mission,” he said reflecting on his personal dealings with the current Secretary of State and their determination to prevent the President at every turn in his foreign policy goals.

The President of the Russia Federation took a further minute to reflect on the advice offered around the table, as he did so he fixed his piercing gaze upon the Prime Minister.

In response the man quickly sat up straight and straightened his tie. To those who knew him well, this was his poker tell whenever he had gotten one over on the Russian President.

“Make it so!” the leader of Russia ordered with all the authority of his office towards the Marshal ignoring his Minister of Foreign Affairs warning and putting his Prime Minister back in his place.

“No trumped up little Prime Minister is going to make me look weak!” the President of the Russian Federation thought.

49

Borama

The coup d’état started with Andrew Martin pulling in his Land Cruiser up outside the Presidential Palace walls in the center of the small city.

Picking up the Codex phone at his side, he promptly dialed the President’s direct number to ask him to surrender.

The exchange was quick and ended with the President telling him he personally would put a bullet in both him and Wasir.

“I take it he told us to fuck off!” asked Wilson. Martin nodded.

Five minutes later the ex-colonel sent the first two armored personnel carriers towards the gates at speed. One went left of the wall, the other to the right to take up offensive positions so to provide covering fire to those who would follow them.

Seeing this, the Gurkha’s and the militia loyal to the President’s reply was instantaneous. They let loose a barrage of defensive fire towards the Turaegs as they exited from their vehicles, killing several in the process as they took up defensive covering fire positions behind the vehicles.

The M60 mounted on a Toyota Land cruiser of Martin quickly stopped them in their tracks. A ripple of heavy machine gunfire attacked the wall, forcing the Gurkhas beneath the wall.

Deciding there and then he would need to use one of their RPG on the mounted M60, the senior NCO, an experienced solider who had seen service in Afghanistan and Iraq, of the men behind the wall spoke into the speaker attached to his earpiece.

“BUFFALO cover fire needed on 60,” he said using the call sign of the team on the left of the wall.

Instantly three of the Gurkhas, from the team on the other side of the wall to the ex-corporal responded to his appeal. They let off a volley of bullets in the general direction of the M60 so to draw the man in charge of the weapon to shift his assault towards them.

Seizing his moment to strike, the forty-three year-old former Corporal took a deep breath and poked his head over the wall. He took aim then released the Grenade from the weapon. He had never missed during his two tours of the Helmand in Afghanistan. He didn’t miss today either.

The loud explosion and the screams from the fireball that followed on from the blowing up of the open top Jeep forced the Turaegs to scatter in panic.

As they did so, they gave the Militia on the wall the opportunity to pick off four of them and wound at least fourteen.

With the first assault in full flow Wilson ordered up another carrier, this one though had a battering ram attached to the front.

“Take it out,” he said to the Ukrainian commander using his call sign.

At full speed, the vehicle did just that as the bullets fired from the Militia and the Gurkhas on the walls bounced off the carrier.

The ramshackle gate of the Presidential Offices was no match for the battering ram of the Type 63 and debris flew in all directions as the vehicle burst through.

Once the Type 63 carriers were inside the compound, the two nests in front of the offices let rip with their 12.7mm rounds into the approaching vehicles.

The effect was instantaneous.

The deadly shells tore through human flesh inside the carriers, bringing screams of pain and terror, stopping dead in an instant the initial assault of Martin in the process.

Following their colleagues’ lead on the ground, the Gurkhas and the Militia on the wall also let rip on the now retreating assault vehicles.

A second RPG fired by one of the other Gurkhas took out the side of one the armored vehicle that was reversing from the right in the process.

“FUCK!” said Martin as Wasir turned up, he had just lost over forty men in the initial assault and the last thing he needed was Wasir on the scene.

“Tony put a couple of M60s and RPGs up on those BLOODY roofs and bung some covering fire on the wall! They’re sitting ducks down there!” he shouted pointing towards the houses across the street from the building.

He hadn’t anticipated that the President had armor-piercing rounds that would take out his vehicles nor had he thought he would be facing Gurkhas, one of the most professional and fearsome fighting units of the British Army.

“Yes, Boss!” answered the former RSM.

“How are things going, Mr. Andrew?” asked the former pirate and coup leader as he walked into the room.

“To plan!” answered the mercenary, lying.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later with the battle still raging the second breach effort of the compound took place. This time it was successful, as the men on the wall, under constant fire from across the street, were forced to retreat back into the offices.

“WHAT’S THE TIMING ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE CALVARY?” shouted Thomas across the sound of machine gun fire towards the general direction of Igor seeing that now the Gurkhas and the militia retreating behind the two machines guns.

With a cut across Thomas’s head and dust covering his face courtesy of a RPG that had hit the wall by the side of his position and had knocked him off his feet he looked nothing like the cool and calm image of his public persona.

“THEY ARE ABOUT FIVE MINUTES OUT!” answered Igor, having just been updated on his Codex telephone by the inbound commanding officer just seconds before.

Thomas gave a singular nod before returning to his position to offer defensive fire in the direction of the advancing troops.

Turning towards Jawari, the Zaslon commander proceeded to update him on the situation and what were needed to ensure that either side sustained no friendly casualties.

Omar Jawari nodded then quickly and called his man at the airport to tell them to expect reinforcements arriving by planes in five minutes and the code words he must use to identify themselves as his men.

A nod of thanks came from Igor in return once the terrified President of Adwalland confirmed it was done. Returning to his Codex phone he then updated the Commander of the inbound assault force.

“CONFIRMED TEACHER IS STILL A HOLD!” Igor said just as the militia of Wasir and the Turaegs breached the inner walls of the offices.

“Breach, Breach, SANDBOX!” came the cry.

It was now a race against time as the men downstairs let rip and the building shook from the sound of grenades.

* * *

At five minutes past eight local time just as the back doors of the IL-76 opened to enable his men to disembark at speed, Podpolovnk Alekseyevich Valeri Stukalov took a private moment to reflect on the situation.

In his entire professional career, he had faced many dangerous situations, but this was almost certainly his worst one yet! It was so fast moving with so many variables that he wasn’t sure what would come next.

It had started when he had been informed by Moscow that the situation had escalated to the point where both America and Russia were about to go toe to toe with each other. He wasn’t aware of all facts as to how that had happened, and if he were honest it didn’t concern him at that moment; he had his mission to focus on.

That changed though the moment two American F-15s fighter jets appeared alongside them as they approached Adwal airspace.

Initially, he told the captains to ignore them. That order though had to be quickly changed when the fighter jet promptly issued three warnings after telling them not to enter Adwal airspace and then fired warning shots in front of them.

Immediately, as their mission was on the live feed, Moscow Command stepped in and told them to identify themselves as Russian Armed Forces to the pilot.

“Sir!” said the captain attempting to protest, fearing what their response would be.

“Just do it,” he ordered, praying that it would work.

Command was right, it bought them a further three minutes of approach time. Suddenly their radio crackled up.

“Captain, if you or colleague deviate from your flight path into Borama we will shoot you down,” said the pilot of one of the F-15s.

It was only when the flash signal came over the wire on his laptop that he was actually informed of why this was happening and what his new orders were.

The primary objective hadn’t changed; they still needed to rescue the President of the little African country and assist him in stabilizing the city. It was the second one that bothered him.

“Once HARE is secured make all haste to Lughaya to relieve United States of America Armed forces engaged on a rescue operation on behalf of the United Nations. Lethal force is authorized.”

His young second-in-command summed up his thoughts.

“Lethal force!”

“Are they fucking mad, Sir? We haven’t any air cover, tanks, or anywhere near enough men!” the Major said in response to the deadly force order as Alekseyevich briefed him as to their new orders, completely unaware of the game brinkmanship that was taking place on the diplomatic battlefield.

“We’ll worry about the second part once we dealt with the first part,” he instructed the young Major, putting him back in his place. He wanted their minds focused on taking the airport first, although inwardly he agreed with him.

The buzzer in the aircraft informing everybody the loading ramp was opening brought him straight back to reality.

Despite the Zaslon commander informing they still held the airport, he knew this was a tense moment if the planes were attacked by ground forces or by weapons shot by F-15s as they came in to land then there was a good chance they would all die before they got a chance to return fire, proving for all your training and planning, all military operations always come down to luck and whose side the lady chooses to smile on any given day.

The idea they would be using and trained for was known by them as ‘the Grasshopper’ an adaption of the famous Israeli operation on Entebbe airport, except in the Russian’s idea it wasn’t a Mercedes-Benz pretending to be a Presidential car that would come flying out the back of the aircraft. Instead, in their case it would be a pair of adapted UAZ-49s Jeeps being deployed as the first aircraft landed.

Once released, the Jeeps would then drive at speed towards the Terminal Building providing covering fire, if necessary, to the rest of the men exiting out the second aircraft that was following the first plane to take up offensive movement positions and run in groups of five towards the terminal returning fire.

“GREEN LIGHT–ONE!” The signal for the first aircraft’s deployment came over the loudspeaker. Telling the Commander and his men the Jeeps were now seconds away from deploying, “GREEN LIGHT-TWO.”

“DEPLOY! DEPLOY!” The jump captain ordered releasing the two Jeeps.

Seconds after that, one hundred and sixty Spentnaz commandos their weapons at the ready, followed them by flying out of the back of the now almost stopped Il-76.The commandos quickly running towards the Terminal Building.

The first Jeep quickly reached the Terminal Building.

A young man with his hands on his head who had exited out of the building greeted them.

“FALCON!” the young Spentnaz commando yelled in English, using the call sign to identify the militia of the President, with his weapon trained on the young man.

If he gave the wrong answer, the Commando would shoot him dead.

“HAWK,” was the response from the beaming young Somali using the signal as he was ordered to by President to indicate his non-lethal threat towards them.

“Welcome to Borama,” the young Somali said as the men began to arrive in force as the American F-15s buzzed them overhead.

* * *

The strategy of Martin and Wilson had relied on was the element of surprise.

The fact that they failed in the most important task of taking of the mobile communications masts of TLH at the Cismah meant that the militia loyal to upper houses had been able over the last hour to stall the coup d’etat and instead were counter-attacking Wasir’s men at all the key locations around the city.

This enabled the forces loyal to Jawari to gain the upper hand as the world began to get more and more tweets and live video that was being placed on the Internet and sent to world media sources and not just what had been peddled by Wasir.

It was to cost them dear.

50

Washington, D.C.

The Russians placing their armed forces on Elevated Combat Readiness had caught the Executive Decision making arm of the United States of America on the hop.

It was something they had not done since 9/11. On that occasion, it had been a response to President Bush’s decision to place United States of America armed forces on DEFCON 2. This was completely different.

“Mr. President, I recommend we do the same,” suggested the Chief of Staff as their Commander in Chief sat back down in the situation room five floors down below the White House swimming pool.

The President didn’t hesitate; he instantly gave the order to do so.

This wasn’t a time for questions as to why they had done it.

That was to come later.

Turning towards the young air force officer in front of the safe computer connection over which messages are exchanged through email via the National Command Centre and the Kremlin the President asked his Secretary of State to propose the message with the question as to why they had done this.

“Foreign Minister Lavrov, the United States is authorized under the Security Council S/RES/2200 (2013) to provide support to the United Nations Mission in Lughaya, why are Russian forces elevating their combat readiness?”

The next ten minutes became a series of arguments over who was right and wrong before the Chief of Staff interrupted the Secretary of State and the President.

“Sir, two aircraft have been picked up entering Adwalland air space, our F-15’s report that they appear to be two commercial Il-76s. He is requesting permission to fire upon them to force them to turn around because they are refusing to answer his requests to identify.”

The President gave his authorization.

“Box Two, permission granted fire a warning shot!” the Air Force Chief of Staff member ordered.

Seconds later the direct link fired up.

“The aircraft are carrying military personnel to provide support for the democratically elected President of Adwalland if you continue to fire on them, we will respond accordingly!”

“Have they lost their minds!” said the President.

“Where do we stand, John?” he quickly asked the Secretary of State.

The tall Bonesman and graduate of Yale answered that legally they were within their rights.

“We can only respond within the Mission guidelines despite whether or not the President they are assisting is the one who ordered the attack on the compound.”

“What’s your recommendation?”

“Tell them we accept their formal identification as Military Aircraft of the Russian Federation and then advise them that if they deviate from their predesigned course of Aden Isaaq International Airport we will consider them as representing a direct threat to our rescue mission and will respond accordingly. We argue about whether they are enemy combatants or not in the Security Council in any case, it should buy us time to complete the rescue mission!” he then added.

The President nodded his approval towards the computer operator then took over the conversation.

“Foreign Minister Lavrov, this is the President of the United States…” He started.

A moment later he had his answer from the President of the Russian Federation accepting the terms with his own caveat at the end that if American Armed Forces attempted to give aid to the criminal Wasir Osman Hassan they would consider this an act of war on an allied nation of the Russian Federation and respond accordingly.

“Typical FUCKING Putin!” responded the Secretary of State with a shake of the head.

“Mr. President, BAILOUT is on the ground and securing the mission!” The Real Admiral in charge of Naval Special Warfare Command said, interrupting the exchange.

“Casualties?” the President asked.

“Looks like over eighty dead, with eight survivors,” reported the Real Admiral.

The President grimly thanked him for the update. “We need to get in the end zone on this!” he thought privately to himself.

51

Borama

“Packet. We have reached the second floor!” shouted the Ukrainian commander over his radio to Martin who was in his command location across the street with Wasir. The battle had been raging for over two hours, and it was going badly as none of Wasir’s useless bunch of cutthroats had kept any of their objectives they had secured. It suddenly got a whole lot worse for Martin once Wasir got off the phone with one of his men.

“Mr. Andrew, the Russians are at the airport!” the ashen-faced Wasir stated.

“What, how many!” Martin replied. He tried to comprehend where the devil they had come from. The Russians didn’t have any armed forces within nine hours of Borama apart from the men guarding the President and fighting tooth and nail across the street and who so far had taken out over ninety men in the process.

“My men tell me two planes have arrived with over three hundred white devils with fighter jets also in support,” the ex-pirate replied crestfallen. His plans in ruins!

“That’s it then, Minister. I am afraid we have to retire!” Martin replied they were outnumbered and now out-gunned.

“No! If we can take the President all is not lost!” ordered the Minister desperately.

Martin looked at Wilson first then replied over the radio, ignoring him.

“Packet Four, withdraw. Mission is a scrub!” he wasn’t about to send his men to their deaths just because of the ego of a warlord.

“No!” cried Wasir again this time pulling his weapon. Immediately Wilson with his already in his hands cocked his own weapon in the same movement towards Wasir, his son, and his bodyguard before they even got a chance to pull theirs. Not wanting to die, both men relaxed their movements.

“Minister, it is necessary that we get you to safety,” offered Martin in an attempt to defuse the situation.

“That way you can fight another day, my friend,” responded Andrew with his hands up in a calming gesture towards the wild eyed Somali, not meaning a word of it as his primary objective now was to get out alive.

“He is right, father!” replied Mohammed agreeing with the Englishman. He had no wish to die in this room chasing a lost cause.

Wasir’s eyes continued flashed in anger, but the primal need for survival overrode his desire to press on.

“We go!” he said as he stormed off with his son and bodyguard out of the room.

“Time to go RSM,” Martin said with a sigh, knowing his bonus had also left the building.

“I will let the Boss know it’s a scratch!” Wilson answered shaking his head like his former Commanding officer over the disappointment of the loss of the bonus he had been promised and to tell Gourgamani to stay put at the Sammo while they made their way to him as they had pre-agreed to depart on his plane if things were scratched.

As they started to drive away in their Land Cruiser, the former RSM turned to old commanding officer, his face ashen.

“I can’t reach him!”

“Sir!” Wilson said reverting to type under stress and fearing what that meant.

Before Martin could say anything in response, machine gunfire strafed their vehicle.

52

Moscow

As the President of the United States of America’s face appeared on the television screen, the President of the Russian Federation said nothing.

It wasn’t lost on him that it was the middle of the night in America. That meant the Bored Kid, as he thought of him, was as worried as he was despite trying desperately hard not to show it.

“My fellow Americans, yesterday evening following a request from the United Nations under resolution S/RES/2200 (2013), I ordered our nation’s Armed Forces stationed at Djibouti to provide support to the United Nations Mission that had come under attack from unknown forces. At this time, due to the worsening situation in the country….”

During the speech, in measured careful tones he made reference to the fact that as Russian forces were currently engaged in an effort to put down the civil uprising in response to the outrage and had placed all Russian armed forces on an Elevated Combat Readiness footing. This meant he was left with no choice but to also do so.

The President of Russia wasn’t surprised by the content of the speech. He knew the Americans would state that it was Russia who had upped the ante by elevating the threat level and accuse him of supporting genocide despite having been behind the coup and the attack on the United Nations Mission so to justify them entering the country.

“All because they wanted to undermine the Russian interests in the region,, Things never change! Arrogant as ever!” the Russian President thought in disgust.

Once his counterpart finished with his grandstanding the Russian President also left his situation room to make his way to his office, it was time for his response.

Walking briskly past the nervous State Television Broadcast support team, he sat down behind his desk with the Flags of Russia and his office behind him. He waited for the make-up assistant to finish powdering his nose. Once she was finished he gave a singular nod towards the camera and started his rebuttal of the accusations of the Americans.

Unlike the measured tones, of his counterpart in the White House, the Russian President speech was designed for a different audience.

Full of emotion, he took his turn to accuse the United States of supporting of the attempted coup d’état, firing on Russian Military Aircraft, and the breaking of International law by illegally entering a sovereign country, conveniently choosing to ignore the United Nations mandate in the process by suggesting that the UN didn’t follow the procedure of waiting for confirmation from the host nation as to whether assistance was required.

By the time he was finished the world’s media were left scrambling for information, experts, and content on the world’s newest state that was bringing two of world’s superpowers to the brink of war.

Speech finished, his heartbeat returning to normal, he walked back into Emergency Situation Room to be greeted by his Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“I just took a call from the American Ambassador. He is advising me that if the President of Adwalland makes an effort to deploy his Militia in the direction of the Mission they will consider them a threat and respond accordingly.”

The President of Russia offered a nod.

“It was time to hit back,” he thought.

“Tell our Ambassador in Washington to contact the Secretary of State and inform him that we will be taking over responsibility for the base and that our Russian Armed Forces on the ground will make all haste,” just as he stated he would do in his speech moments ago, ignoring the US Ambassador’s message.

“I will also get our Ambassador in New York to inform the Secretary General as well,” offered the Minister of Foreign Affairs making sure the President’s bases were all covered legally.

“How long will it take our troops to get from Borama to Lughaya?” asked the President towards the Chief of the General staff.

“Approximately three hours, Sir,” responded the Marshal.

The President acknowledged the information with a further firm nod of the head.

“Good! Give the order.”

“Yes, Mr. President,” answered the Marshal without hesitation.

“We must put our troops on ‘Danger of War’ footing,” insisted the Prime Minister, ever aware of the legal requirements of the Russian Federation.

The President looked towards the Prime Minister. There was no turning back.

“Make it so!” he ordered on something that hadn’t been authorized by Russian leader since the Second War World as he looked towards the Prime Minister.

“Yes, Mr. President,” answered the Marshal while he privately thought, “Are we really going to war over this?”

53

Borama

In the office of Paul Compton, a doctor patched up Thomas’s arm. He had been wounded during the battle at the TLH compound adjacent the “The Cismah” having now left the “machine-gunned” ridden offices of the President.

All the men of the TLH Group sat in stunned silence watching the fast growing tensions rise moment by moment on television. The elation of earlier they had felt in surviving the attack had been quickly tempered when they found they had lost five of their Gurkhas in the assault.

“This is Anne Jenkins of MGN reporting from the Whiteman Air Force Base,” said the journalist as the network viewers watched the squadron of B2s take off behind her, a direct result of an increased war footing.

Switching channels to Sky News, it didn’t get any better

“So is America at DEFCON three?” said the British journalist to an experienced stringer war correspondent who was on the ground in Djibouti.

“This is turning into a right fakakta,” said Mikhail as they switched back to MGN News. Another grim faced television anchor struggled to explain the escalation that built up to in the last few hours between two of the world’s superpowers and the realization that war between the armed forces of Russia and America was fast becoming a terrible possibility.

A fact that was confirmed from the briefings the journalists were receiving left, right, and center from the various informed sources of both Russia and the United States.

“Are they really going to war over this?” asked Yossi still not quite believing what he was seeing and referring by the waving of his hands around them to the country they were currently located in.

“What are we going to do?” asked Mikhail towards Thomas, hoping he would give them orders to evacuate from the country.

Lost in his thoughts Thomas didn’t answer until he was interrupted by one of the Gurkhas.

“Mr. Badr is at the front gate asking permission to see you, Sir Thomas,” said the middle-aged former solider with a salute just as he would of if he still served in the Army.

“What does he want? I thought he was with the President and Igor?” answered Mikhail, before telling the Gurkha to let him in.

Less than a minute or so later the Head of Security walked into the office.

“Mr. Thomas,” Badr said. “The President told me that you would know what to do with the prisoners I have outside,” he said.

“Prisoners?” asked Mikhail

“Yes the Indian and two Englishmen,” answered Badr proudly.

“Where did you pick them up?” asked Mikhail.

Badr smiled then replied that his people had arrested the Indian at the airport just before the Russians arrived. An action it turned out had transpired because the young, loyal officer thought he might be important, so he had arrested him on the spot instead of letting him leave.

“Despite his attempt to bribe him with two thousand U.S. dollars!” added Badr proudly over the fact that his young officer hadn’t accepted it.

“The other two were picked up running away from the attack on the offices when my men stopped them,” continued Badr.

Immediately Thomas knew why Jawari had wanted him to take responsibility for them. They represented a hot potato for him because internally he needed to show the Chiefs that the foreigners had helped the young country as such they weren’t the cause of the situation they found themselves in.

“The cunning sod!” he thought acknowledging the hidden message of ‘You deal with it.’

“Tell the President I won’t let him down,” he said to Badr warmly.

“I think I have a plan that might just be able stop this madness!” he said to Mikhail as the boys went with Badr to collect the prisoners.

“I am glad somebody does!” answered Mikhail.

Picking up the Codex phone, Thomas quickly dialed the number of the Principal Private Secretary of the President of Russia.

“I would like to talk to the President,” said Thomas once the young assistant was on the line.

After a wait of about five minutes, the Mayor came on the line. Thomas didn’t waste any time on small talk. At the end of his explanation, he received a simple response from the President of Russia.

“You have permission to use your resources.”

Thomas thanked him for his trust. Nevertheless the Mayor issued final instruction for him.

“If it doesn’t work, you’re to hand them over to Igor Valeriyoych.”

“Yes, Sir,” Thomas replied despite privately acknowledging the fact that whatever way he cut it he was going to have kiss goodbye to a potentially billions of dollars’ worth of contracts.

54

Washington D.C.

The world was in melt down, markets had opened in panic with sell offs everywhere being registered across the board, worse still commodity prices had also risen in sharp razor-like peaks, added to that petrol stations and supermarkets were now starting to report long queues and stockpiling.

All sparked from the response by the Russians that they were sending their “peacekeeping” troops to the Mission in Lughaya.

For the President of the United States, it was about to get a lot worse.

“Mr. President the Russians appear to be making ready their mobile regiments in Teykovo.”

“I strongly recommend we do the same and move to DEFCON Three,” said the Air Force Chief of Staff as a response to the mobile nuclear missiles regiments of Russia departing their home base.

“What! Have they gone mad?” replied the Assistant to the President on National Security Affairs, in shock.

“Sir, they would do this if they believed there is a Danger of War,” offered the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs understanding instantly why.

“May I suggest that we stopping buzzing their troops with the F-15,” offered the Secretary of State trying to prevent the grandstanding blowing into a full-blown engagement.

“We will do both,” replied the President acknowledging his equally tired Secretary of State effort to try and strike a balance between the two options without appearing weak.

“We believe it’s time to invoke Title 12, Mr. President,” said the Secretary of the Treasury, crisply adding his thoughts and to the stress if not the temperature by referring to the law that gave the President in times of war the right to order the freezing assets of companies and nationals of an enemy nation.

“Jesus Christ! Freeze their assets! They will take that as an act of war!” blurted out the Secretary of State understanding the significance of his colleague’s recommendation.

“We are taking hits from Russians shorting our gold reserves,” said the Treasury Head, rebutting him. He refused to be bullied.

“We wait,” said the President, backing his Secretary of State.

“Sir—” replied the Treasury head ready for a fight, only be cut off by the President’s stare.

An hour later the Director of Communications of the White House went on television in response the White Press Corps to accuse the Russians of supporting genocide and comparing their actions to what they were doing in Syria in an attempt to rebuke the Russians claims that the United Nations Secretary General had acted outside his mandate.

Immediately the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs responded in kind by rebutting the comments from the White House by claiming that the Americans were operating outside the Mandate of the UN Resolution by refusing to recognize their requests to hand over security for the mission to Russian Armed Forces.

The result of which quickly had the two Ambassadors on the Security Council engaging in bitter diplomatic war of words over principle with the world as very worried and scared spectators, the financial markets responding accordingly.

Yet, by luck rather than design, both parties as of yet had still so far not fired a physical shot against each other.

In between this, the Russians or the President of Adwalland had not yet announced that they had the three CIA assets in custody. It was a problem that was resting heavily on the President’s mind for if and when they did he was sure the response of America’s allies would be less than supportive and result in a cold freeze on par with what he experienced the year previously over the illegal monitoring of their telephones.

Worse still, his political instincts were telling him that they would quickly lose any potential goodwill they were now receiving from the world’s media over their actions in regard to the rescue mission.

Despite all of that, it wasn’t until the Chief Agent of his Protection Detail gave him his body armor to put on as he left the Situation Room, and then informed him that because the country was at DEFCON 3 from this moment onwards the White House would be in lock down mode did it really strike home the enormity of what he had just ordered on behalf of his nation.

Taking stock, and in his thoughts as he walked through the White House, it wasn’t lost on him that none of his Administration team had said a word in greeting towards him; their grim faces told him the whole story as they observed the President in body armor over his suit, an increased security detail in a circle around him and Heckler and Koch MP5s on full display in his own house,

Entering his private office, he instantly switched on the television set to find a journalist from MGN, who was among the first of the world’s main media into Borama, reporting that the order had been restored to the city.

He switched to CNN. This time he found a journalist reporting that Russian Special Forces were parking up outside the Mission.

“Ladies and Gentleman, we are interrupting the broadcast as it appears something is happening at the White House.”

“Here we go,” thought the President, switching off the television screen knowing full well what they were about to refer to lock down that had been ordered by the Secret Service.

He closed his eyes, all he got, unfortunately, was only a few minutes of respite.

His Presidential Secretary, the last line of defense, interrupted his thoughts. Knowing she would not do it lightly despite the situation in the office, he pressed the phone with a sigh.

“Mr. President the Chief of Staff says he needs to speak to you urgently,” she offered down the phone.

“Send him in please.”

Within seconds the man entered to brief him on the call he had just received from Ambassador Jack Fielding. The President listened carefully then gave a singular nod of his head just as his Secretary interrupted again.

This time it was the Secretary of State, only in his case, the call he had received had come from Steve Krivets, the owner of MGN.

As his Chief of Staff and The Secretary of State discussed and compared the calls they had received they were interrupted one last time. This time by a simple knock on the door whereupon his secretary quietly informed him that she now had the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on the line asking for him.

Asking the Secretary of State to wait a moment, The President switched lines.

“David, what can I do for you?” he asked informally as was their way between each other.

“Barack, I just had a somewhat interesting call from Sir Thomas Litchfield, Chairman of TLH,” he said before continuing with the content of the call.

“I think we can say this guy is real,” he said to his Secretary of State and Chief of Staff when he disconnected the call from the Prime Minister.

“That’s some impressive clout!” said his Chief of Staff reflecting on and the fact one man had managed to get a back-channel message across to them from three different sources of the highest level.

“Not even John Scali achieved that,” said the President who being a keen student of the Kennedy Administration, had like his Chief of Staff grasped just what the Oligarch was doing.

It was at that moment he took a decision to back his gut.

“Call Jack Fielding and let him know we are prepared to accept the terms that they are offering.”

Thirty minutes later the President of the Russian Federation appeared on television to his country to confirm his signal within a softer speech.

“I am convinced that our two great nations with pride and noble purpose—” using Thomas’s code word ‘blagorodnyy purpose’ confirming his below the line approval of the idea put forward by his National Champion.

Twenty minutes later the President of the United States of America with his body armor off appeared before his country and confirmed he accepted the proposal by his use of the same line at the beginning of his speech in English and a response in kind with a speech that suggested that a way forward could be found by the two great nations.

An hour later with little fanfare or statement, the American Commander of the rescue mission walked out to a watching world media and handed over responsibility of the mission security to the Russian Commander. As the two veterans saluted each other, the world started to breathe again.

Over the following ten hours, as agreed, the Russians took the lead as the armed forces of both countries stood down and returned to peacetime footing.

As they did so the world, praised the statesmanship and common sense of both leaders and breathed a collective sigh of relief.

With the television screens off, the exhausted but much relieved President summoned the Director of the CIA to his office. Forty-five minutes later on being shown into his office, his President’s expression said it all.

“Director Young, I would like you to contact Ambassador Joe Fielding so you can make arrangements for the collection you’re missing agents,” he said.

“I assume that I can leave you to clean this mess up?” The President added, handing him the contact details of Fielding.

“Yes Mr. President,” answered the dumfounded Director.

“Good, you may go now,” said the President, dismissing him.

As Young exited from the office, he wondered just how in the hell Litchfield had pulled this off.

* * *

The answer to how Thomas managed to get the both leaders to back down came from the four most important phone calls of his life.

Yet despite believing otherwise the reasons as to why Thomas’s plan had been approved by the Mayor had nothing do with the commercial reasons that he offered up at the time.

The leader of Russia couldn’t have cared less about saving the Americans’ embarrassment over their failed coup d’état by handing over the three CIA assets Thomas’s people had caught below the line, or his request to ask the many National Champions of Russia to prevent the shorting of U.S. Stocks and attacks on the U.S. Economy.

“Sir, the Americans are perceiving this as an act of War,” Thomas had suggested to him.

The Mayor’s single overriding objective had been the political process and ensuring Russia didn’t lose face, but more importantly he didn’t.

Much like his predecessor in the 1960s, the Mayor couldn’t use his country’s diplomatic channels, as that would have meant breaking constitutional law.

The result of such an action would have given his former protégé and partner the extra weight he needed to have him removed just like Brezhnev had been able to do to Khrushchev once the Cuban crisis was over, ending right there and then his dream of a strong Russia leading the world into the twenty-first century.

“Use him to act as a go-between without breaking constitutional law,” thought the Mayor as Thomas continued with his explanation, which didn’t mean he shouldn’t cover his bases. Something he did by instructing Thomas to hand over the prisoners to the SVR commander in theatre if he didn’t get anywhere within twenty-four hours.

“Of course sir,” Thomas had answered hoping he had enough time and luck on his side.

The second call Thomas made was to Jack Fielding. It was to the point and insightful.

“The President will get the Russian financial community to stop the shorting of U.S. positions,” confirmed Jack. “He will also tell them to start supporting the Feds’ efforts to rebuild confidence in the U.S. dollar by purchasing U.S. positions.”

“Yes,” Thomas said firmly.

“And get you to hand over the CIA officers to avoid any potential leaks in Borama,” the Ambassador had continued.

“That’s correct!” Thomas had replied, telling Jack only some of the truth.

“In return, he asks that the United States hand over the responsibility of the Mission in Lughaya to Russia,” the Ambassador had stated. “As a direct result of this Statesmanship by the White House he will personally praise his leadership and quickly order Russian strategic forces to stand down first so to ensure that the United States doesn’t lose any face over the hand-over and then take the lead over the next ten hours as America stands down theirs in response in each case.”

“Yes!” Thomas had answered for the third time. It was essential Jack got this right.

“Finally, he will support U.S. Corporations in natural resources joint ventures by underwriting the United States sides of the deal in Adwalland through TLH?” the Ambassador had asked.

If anybody else had made this call the respected diplomat would have thought he or she were crazy.

“That’s it in a nutshell,” Thomas had answered not bothering to tell him that it was actually going to cost him, personally, three billion U.S. dollars, not the Russian government.

“I will call White House and pass it on, but you will need a few other advocates, Thomas, I won’t be enough and there isn’t much time,” the former Ambassador had advised whilst looking at his television screen showing the Fifth Fleet exiting the Arabian Gulf. The fact that the Russians were to going assist in the shoring up of the commercial positions of the United States and then give the Americans the credit for acting as the peacemaker in exchange for the handover of something the world would be telling his country’s many Ambassadors to do so to avert the crisis was a lot to absorb.

Experience told him this offer had nothing to do with the agents or commercial benefits; they were all window dressing. This was all about pride and having the excuse to not to go to war.

It was at that moment Jack knew that he had been right to work for Litchfield; he really was the real-politic deal.

“I am on it, as we speak,” Thomas had said.

Thomas’s next call was to Steve Krivets.

“Fuck me, Thomas, this is turning into a real fucking shit storm!” Steve had expressed while he watched Jessica Austin report on the fact that the White House was now in lockdown, and speculating on unconfirmed reports that an attempt had just been made on The President life by the Russians.

“I know, but I have something that I think will help! But we don’t have much time, so fucking listen!” Thomas had ordered him. It was a language he had rarely used with his friend, but he needed to ram home the importance of what was going to ask him to do.

“I am on it!” the Mogul had answered, fully briefed and already thinking about the political capital he was going to get from the White House for his efforts in the brokering of this deal.

“The Governor of California here I come!” he had said as he dialed McGiven, all the while making a mental note as he watched Jessica on screen to invite her dinner for it was time to put away the starlets.

The last call Thomas made went to Angus, except in this case it was an instruction to call Rebecca and ask her to pass the content up the line and give to the Foreign Secretary and then ultimately the Prime Minister.

“Consider it good as done,” The former commanding officer had replied before adding his condolences over the death of the five Gurkhas.

“Those are my next five calls,” he said.

55

Aden Isaaq International Airport

The ever-present call to prayer rippling across the city joined the men in welcoming the Falcon that was taxiing into the hanger.

Once parked up, a door opened to allow a man to walk down the steps of the aircraft.

He was a very different person to one Thomas had first met in the early 2003 when he was trying to sell his Russian Oil interests. That man had been overweight and heading for a heart attack. This man was fit and lean.

Earlier when Fielding rang him and told him that the Americans were sending Rob Ashley, the trusted representative of the Sheikh of Dubai, to receive delivery of his employer’s Indian partner and their people to expedite matters by acting as their proxy as well in the handover of the officers, it had completely taken Thomas by surprise. Up to that moment he had assumed that it was Americans that had financed the coup d’état. Rather, it appeared now that it was the Sheikh who had covertly backed the regime change.

Only to have this assumption changed back to his original hypothesis, when Benny walked into the office after seeing the man’s passport details arrive over the wire as part of the aircraft flight plan.

“Boss, I know this guy,” Benny said holding a copy of the man’s passport details.

“So do I, he works for the Sheikh of Dubai,” Thomas answered, thinking that was what his trusted bodyguard was about to say.

“No! I know him from my time at the Institute,” Benny replied making reference to his service in the Mossad before going on to explain how he had delivered a mobile phone to a CIA asset that killed the Hamas commander on behalf of Israel due to the short time constraints in the city.

“Rob Ashley did that!” offered Mikhail shocked and not to mention impressed before offering up to Thomas that the man Ashley had killed was the bastard who ordered the murder of Hannah’s brother along with thirty other souls in a café in Tel Aviv.

“That means Gourgamangi has to be an asset as well!” Thomas inwardly reasoned but kept that to himself.

“If that is the case that means the CIA is now actively engaged in securing natural resources!” he further theorized on the implications of what that intelligence had just given him.

“Either way we soon find out,” he thought as the smiling Fixer walked up to him, offering his hand.

“Been a long time, Sir Thomas,” Rob said.

“Indeed” answered Thomas noting the Glock under his shoulder over his white linen shirt as he took his hand firmly.

“You look well,” said Mikhail shaking his hand also referring to physical appearance.

“Amazing what a sexy personal trainer and giving up the booze will do for you!” said Ashley in return in an attempt to break the ice.

Seeing Thomas’s continuing lack of a smile, he quickly decided to end the small talk.

“I don’t suppose the Boss can have his friends back now could he?” he asked instead, keeping the façade of his cover intact.

Thomas turned towards the team and gave them a nod.

At which point Avi and Yossi turned on their heels and went to obtain the prisoners, leaving the three of them to stand in awkward silence in the process.

Less than a minute later, Rob’s face instantly changed the second he caught sight of Benny walking out with the five prisoners with their hands behind their back in FexiCuffs.

Mikhail broke the silence, having caught the nod between Benny and Rob.

“Rob, my thanks to you on behalf of my wife’s brother in getting that bastard!”

“Don’t mention it, Mikhail,” replied Rob knowing that his cover was blown and what Mikhail was referring to.

As they were handing over the five to Ashley, the now uncovered CIA officer suddenly drew his pistol, pointed it at the head of Andrew Martin first and released two shots. The sound rippled across the hanger in loud thuds as he did so in quick succession into the Guardsman’s head. Then without hesitation did the same again into the face of a wide-eyed Tony Wilson who were all rooted to the spot in stunned silence from shock,

Again the thuds echoed around the hanger.

Execution over, Rob coolly reapplied the safety catch and replaced his weapon back into its holster under his shoulder.

“Orders, Sir Thomas,” Rob offered as he turned back towards Thomas and Mikhail to find weapons pointing at him as to the justification of why he had just executed the two men in cold blood. Ignoring them, the Fixer turned again, this time towards the other equally wide-eyed prisoners at his side.

As he did so he could see by the look in their eyes to a man and a woman, they were still in shock and terrified from thinking they were next.

Instead, Rob coolly walked behind them one by one and cut their bonds with his Swiss Army knife.

“Let’s go guys,” he ordered to them.

“G, I think it’s time for me to come home,” Rob said to his Indian friend as they walked up the steps of the Falcon together leaving the two dead bodies of Martin and Wilson for Thomas and his men to clean up.

“Let Badr know they tried to escape,” Thomas said as he watched the plane engines started up feeling nothing because these two men were the architects of the deaths of his Gurkhas.

The next day Sky News exclusively reported that Andrew Martin of Xerulla and his former Sergeant Major from the Welsh Guards a Tony Wilson working in partnership with the Interior Minister were actually the masterminds behind the whole plan to overthrow the government and were, in fact, the ones responsible for the massacre at the Mission, not The President’s Militia.

“All done so they could steal all the natural resources rights by getting the Americans to serve as their security proxy while they tore up the agreements with the Russians,” said the shocked journalist.

“Mindboggling!” replied the experienced anchor.

The Prime Minister promised to investigate and hold a public enquiry in the actions of the various security companies that employed former military personnel stating in Prime Ministers Question Time.

“Men like Martin and Wilson cannot bring nations to the brink of the war in the pursuit of commercial gain!” to sounds cheers and “Hear!” “Hear!” coming from both sides of the House.

The widow of Andrew Martin and the English family of Wilson desperately tried to tell the world that it was an Indian Businessman named Gourgmangi Singh who was actually behind the plot, but, unfortunately, for them, nobody was interested.

The Presidents of United States and Russia promised to work together to ensure that incidents of this nature never happened again between them, and Thomas flew to Nepal to attend the funerals of the five Gurkhas whereupon it was reported in the local media that he had set up foundations in their names and would be providing the men’s villages each a new school, hospital, and scholarships for the children of the fallen.

The Ambassador of Russia was met by Igor as he arrived to take up his post in Borama, quickly followed by a thousand Russian ‘advisors’ to assist the President’s security forces in rounding up Wasir’s criminals.

The United States of America announced that it would be opening an Embassy in Borama to support the growing interest in the country generated by the three American Natural Resources corporations who had applied for and had been granted several exploration licenses.

“The former Interior Minister remains at large, despite his assets in Dubai being frozen,” reported the MGN journalist from Dubai.

The Movers column on the Hotels.com website reported that the development officer of Sheikh’s hotel group was leaving after thirteen years for a new job in Hong Kong.

A Tuareg shepherd watched by his sons shook hands on new additions to his goatherd in Mali.

A Frenchman of Ukrainian extraction went shopping in his local Carrefour in Lyon.

The UN personnel murdered by Wasir were buried in the respective countries.

The world commodity markets stabilized.

The world returned to normal, or its previous version of it.

56

London

Looking at his reflection in the mirror Thomas was lost in his thoughts as he set about putting the shaving foam on his face.

It had been both a rather hectic month and a rather expensive one in economic terms, due to the personal commitment he had made to the President of the United States.

Described by the media and many analysts as the best piece of business that CORETEXAS had ever made by the fact that the field in Adwalland was estimated to be worth well over ten billion U.S. dollars in potential revenues, and it hadn’t cost them a single cent, he had tried not to think about the cost as he signed the agreement just yesterday.

Despite James, behind the scenes, heavily briefing the financial community’s various analysts that it made sense because of the increased marketing channels that TLH would be able to tap into, the business community on the whole wondered whether Thomas had lost his touch.

The only actual benefit the Englishman-become-Russian had actually received out of his ‘Noble’ act of stopping two of the world’s powers from a confrontation, was an invite through Jack Fielding for a private dinner with the President on his next trip to Washington and a Russian Diplomatic Passport with a title of ‘Special Advisor’ attached to the Embassy in the United Kingdom as a thank you from the Mayor. An item he thought of as a ‘poisoned chalice,’ as it now meant he was well and truly an instrument of the will of Russia.

On the other hand, one person who was completely satisfied with his gift was Mikhail who immediately saw it as an excuse to upgrade his security by taking up the option of contracting Armed Close Protection Officers from the Police due to him being a designated person in the country of the Russian Federation.

“I feel less naked now!” Mikhail said as he waved his hands dramatically about in defense of the fact that he wasn’t allowed to carry firearms when in the UK when a furious Saul had found out the cost of the team of officers per year was going to be half a million pounds.

“The Mayor is not going to be paying for this is he?” Saul had said to Mikhail in disgust.

“Just keep the old man happy,” Thomas had said to the CFO with a hand on his shoulder.

Yet despite the heavy cost to his fortune on a personal level, it had been a rather good one as Thomas had finally asked Nara to marry him.

It was a decision that he had made as the consequence of surviving the grenade that had fallen just short of his position in Borama. At the time the blast had knocked him off his feet. It wasn’t until he looked down while momentary dazed to find shrapnel lodged in his chest amour next to his heart that he had his epiphany.

“Fuck!” he had thought as the bullets and smoke whizzed around him as it had suddenly dawned on him that his first thoughts weren’t about himself they were about Nara and Victoria for the first time in his life, before switching back on to instantly to take up position again by the window.

As he did, so he made a vow. If he survived he would marry his Turkmen wild spirit.

The look on his beautiful life’s companion’s face was one he would never forget. They were on The Libertine off the Amalfi coast. He had woken and finding she wasn’t there he had gotten up from the bed to look for her only to find her, as she often did when on the yacht, on the deck outside their bedroom looking out to sea, watching the sunrise.

Taking a moment to gaze at her as he did so he was more convinced than ever she had never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment just as a touch of wind had caused her loose coal-black long hair to flutter about as she sipped on the glass of water that she was holding with both hands.

“Good Morning, my Thomas,” she had said as he had come up behind her and wrapped his arms around her while water lapped against the yacht. Her scent mixed with the smell of the clear blue sea was almost aphrodisiacal.

“My lovely lady,” he replied as her hand went around behind his head and pulled his hair before turning around to look up him. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds.

As she set about kissing him on the lips, sucking him deeper and deeper into her mouth while flicking out her tongue, he stopped her for a moment. The fact he had done so upset her.

“Have I done something wrong?” she had asked concerned.

“No,” he had replied with a serious look. “My darling, I just want you to let me put this on your finger,” he had said as he lifted her hand up to his chest before showing her the beautiful large pink pear shaped diamond ring on a rose gold setting that he had collected from the famous Bond Street jeweler and somehow had managed to keep hidden from her the day before.

The significance of his actions immediately caused Nara’s eyes to water.

“Oh, … My T-h-o-m-a-s, yes!” she said, answering him before he could ask her.

“Will you marry me?” he asked anyway, determined to have his moment.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! My, My Beautiful T-h-o-m-a-s,” in Turkmen she replied excitedly as she reached up into his face with hers before kissing him over and over again, sucking his lips and licking his mouth hungrily as she went.

57

St Ageranus School, Somerset

Sitting concealed among dense underbrush by the school’s playing field quietly observing the growing crowd of parents, teachers and children was the former security chief of Adwalland’s Interior Ministry.

This last month had been incredibly challenging for him, a wanted man by the United Nations and now vilified by the world as a war criminal of the worst kind, meant that they had only just managed to escape from Adwalland.

Bitter and twisted, the Chief wanted revenge, and the focus of which was the Englishman.

“No! Ahmed I want his entire seed taken out!” Wasir shouted at him as they sat together in the rented villa in Nouakchott licking their collective wounds when he had suggested they use a sniper to kill him.

“Ybeeldaaje,” the man answered resigned to the fact that an order like that would be extremely difficult if not expensive to undertake in England.

If it wasn’t for the pilot friend of the Ybeelaadje suggesting that maybe the best place to take him would most probably be at the school sports day of his daughter, the battle harden Clan fighter Ahmed would still be wondering just how he was going to carry out such an attack without dying in the process.

“Chief, the Englishman is on the field by the running track,” offered one of his spotters, in Somali, a young teenager he recruited from the East London’s exiled community.

Using his binoculars, Ahmed immediately spotted him cheering away, with his woman and the guards alongside them both as the children began their race.

Counting the numbers around him, he could see he had a team of seven around him.

“Good our numbers are equal!” he thought smiling.

“Take up positions! Wait for my signal!” he commanded on the radio.

“Ybeeldaaje,” came back over the radio.

The tactic was simple in design; a standard L-shaped formation in the heavy trees to the right and a team of three led by him in front of them.

Because the Englishmen bodyguards were professionals, Ahmed had reasoned that this would mean once the attack started that they would almost immediately form up into a circle to protect the principal.

But he theorized that with the children and parents in the way taking fire from the team confusion might rain, and if they broke to the left, they would move into the fire of his flanking team. If they moved to the right, then the flanking team would paint their backs. If they tried to move forward, then they would walk straight into his central team that would be advancing forward, again giving him the opportunity to create a lethal killing zone. Finally, if they chose to turn around and try to move out towards the school then, his central team would be able to paint their backs.

Either way they took, Ahmed was confident that with all the panic and screams, the killing zone would be a place that nobody would want to be for unlike them the Englishman men would be able to return fire as they wouldn’t be armed because of the laws of the country. Something he again took as a sign of Allah granting the wish of his Chief.

As the loud repetitive cracks of gunfire, sounds all of Mikhail’s team immediately recognized as Mac-10s, over the cheering and shouting, launched the security team into action.

Ignoring screams of bullets hitting flesh and blood spatter, Avi and Yossi quickly pulled Thomas behind them while David the bodyguard of Nara quickly did the same to her.

“Circle,” cried Mikhail to his men while the two Close Protection Officers of the Metropolitan Police Protection Unit took up position at the front acting as the point. By the sounds of the weapon fire, Mikhail knew instantly they were caught in an L-Shaped ambush.

“L!” he shouted to the team to tell them what type of ambush they were in. As he did, a bullet seared passed his ear hitting one of the parents behind that the fully trained team were using as cover.

Unbeknown to the assault team Mikhail had been prepared for such an attack ever since he scoped the school for risks once Thomas informed him that he was going to send Victoria there.

So instead of panicking as Ahmed hoped he would do and moving into the line of fire, the experienced Israeli bodyguard ordered his team to shift forty-five degrees to their left.

Taking up point, the first armed police officer fired his pistol four times toward the front of the L.

“Victoria!” Nara screamed in panic desperately looking for their daughter amongst the confusion, spotting her frozen in fear in the middle of the running track. Immediately Nara, spurred on by her maternal instincts, broke from the center of the circle taking her personal security officer, David with her with automatically.

“Fuck!” cried Avi as she bolted.

“Go with her Avi,” Thomas ordered his bodyguard.

“You’re the fucking objective not her!” Mikhail cried overriding Thomas’s order as other bullet whizzed past them and into another set of screaming parents and teachers.

“Go!” Thomas ordered with a look that was obeyed. This time, Mikhail reluctantly nodded.

Thomas took up Avi’s former position on Mikhail’s shoulder by tapping on it in the process to show he was now the last-man in the formation.

“Mikhail, we have to move towards them,” shouted Thomas seeing people and children being cut to ribbons around them.

“No way!”

“There are too many of them, we will fall back via the center then back up towards the school.”

Reluctantly knowing his old friend was right. Thomas followed his orders as they began to do by walking backwards in a cool measured manner.

Seeing them form up to do so Ahmed realized the team of the Englishmen weren’t panicking instead, they were using the panic in front of them as cover.

“They are escaping!”

“Break cover, attack!” he ordered the men on the side of the L-formed ambush, a fatal mistake as they up until then had the benefit of cover.

“Targets moving!”

“On the right,” cried Benny seeing them break cover.

Immediately the two police officers fired off three rounds hitting two of the ambushers coming out of the trees before they could fire another volley.

Seeing his comrades falling by the side of him, the remaining Somali gunman panicked as Ahmet had told them that the target would not be armed, he was wrong!

“Action Movement! V Formation,” shouted Mikhail at the two officers at the front. Straightaway Thomas took up on his left while Benny did the same on his right. Yossi immediately came up beside Thomas as the second officer fired off another couple of shots towards the trees at the left.

With no ability to return fire but not wanting more children or civilians, to be hurt they shouted, “DOWN! DOWN!” towards the remaining parents, teachers and terrified children still standing frozen in fear.

Swearing in Somali on seeing the side of his ambush was being counter-attacked, and his ambush was breaking up because his men were fleeing the scene, Ahmed ordered his men away from the advancing counter-attacking V.

“Take out his family!” he ordered towards his remaining men determined to extract some form of revenge from the fast deteriorating situation.

Unfortunately for Ahmed though they only got time for one round of shots off in Nara’s direction, as the rapid fire of the two officers ripped into the trees around them.

Knowing he had missed his chance. Ahmed reluctantly ordered their withdraw cursing in his wake as he did so. Escape was his overriding objective now.

What felt like an hour but was in fact less than a couple minutes later the attack was over.

“Cease-fire” cried the first officer as they surveyed the carnage behind and in front of them realizing now that the attackers had withdrawn from the field.

“Boss! Nara is down,” cried out Avi to Mikhail in his earpiece.

“It’s Nara!” said Mikhail to Thomas ashen faced.

Turning his head, ignoring the screams, sobs, wailing of parents, teachers and more terribly children Thomas’s eyes fixed upon Avi and David’s position.

Seeing them on their knees over a body he set off like a freight train at full speed towards them, his head on fire.

Reaching them in a matter of seconds, he found Nara on the ground with Victoria at her side.

“Naraaaa!” he screamed seeing blood pouring out of her.

“V-i-c-t-o-rrria-” Nara whispered concerned for her daughter and not understanding why she felt so cold.

“It is okay boss. She’s okay!” answered David rapidly in succession having checked Victoria over finding it was only blood spatter on her. Turning momentary towards his little girl to make sure although he could see she was in shock but not physically unharmed he nodded his thanks towards David.

Focusing all of his attention back on Nara, looking down on and one knee fear gripped him.

“Plum is okay! My Darling,” Thomas said, the shock beginning to hit him as he told her.

“I am sorry my T-h-o-m-a-s-” Nara whispered, pain starting to go, light fading from her eyes.

“Shhhhh, darling!” Thomas answered, knowing his beloved was dying in his arms.

“I can’t stop the bleeding boss!” said Avi in despair seeing she had been hit twice in the stomach trying to keep pressure on the wounds with a mass of blood everywhere. Time stopped.

“I love you my Darling,” Thomas said towards Nara ignoring his bodyguard’s words, tears abundant in his eyes knowing he was losing her and there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

A few moments later a hand on his shoulder brought him back from the depths of his mind as he held Nara limply in his arms.

“She’s gone, Thomas,” said Mikhail his voice full of sorrow.

“I know, I know,” he said repeatedly in anguish before turning his head looking up towards Mikhail with a stare of the devil. A look that gave the hardened bodyguard shivers all the way through his spine.

58

London

The despicable and horrific attack made news everywhere for a week around the world. Questions had been asked why, knowing that VIPs’ children were at the school, it had taken thirty minutes for the nearest armed police unit, and medical units to descend on the school in force having been alerted by the two armed security officers. Additional questions were then asked as to how something like this could happen again at a school in his country. Each time, the Chief Constable and the Home Secretary tried their best to give a sensible answer. Each time both failed in the process.

As the dust settled the facts began to come forth.

The assassination team had killed fifteen parents, five teachers, and more terribly six children and wounding another ten in trying to kill Thomas.

He had lost Nara and his unborn child when she had shielded their little girl.

Unsurprisingly Victoria, had had become withdrawn and silent as the direct result of the trauma of seeing her mother die before her eyes. Not even Tania could get a word out of her.

Every night the little girl would climb into his bed and only then would she fall asleep in his arms.

Although he had returned all the numerous calls of condolences from his associates, Presidents, Prime Ministers, and his and Nara’s friends, lost to his demons and grief just like his daughter, Thomas withdrew from the normal world and society.

Within days six men were arrested in the manhunt that followed, now all that remained was the ringleader, a Somali only known as Ahmed.

Although the press speculated to the causes of the attack privately Thomas knew who had ordered it.

With the coroner ordering an inquest into the deaths of all the victims of the school massacre, Thomas was told he had to wait until the body had been assessed for evidence. It had taken ten days for that to happen.

Replacing the phone in his study having just been told he was allowed collect Nara’s body, Thomas took a moment to mentally pull together.

He stiffening his back, straightening his neck then went to find Tania so he could ask her if he could bury her alongside his mother at the family plot at his father’s estate.

“I am sure our Gunara would like that, Thomas,” the woman answered who had aged ten years over the last week as she hugged him in tears sobbing in the sitting room of her bedroom.

“Thank you,” was all he could reply fighting his own grief.

Back in his study, still just holding it together he picked up the phone again. He paused briefly then dialed the number of his father’s office. Immediately he was transferred to Rufus when he announced whom he was.

It had been almost thirty-one years since he last spoke to his father.

“Thomas, I am so very sorry!” the merchant banker said as if they had only spoken yesterday, the second he came on the phone.

“Thank you Father,” replied the man, no longer the angry youth of eighteen.

“I will ensure the family plot is prepared for her alongside your mother,” his father stated, knowing why after all these years he had called him.

“Thank you Father,” Thomas answered again before putting down the phone so not to allow his father to speak any further.

* * *

Arriving at the TLH private office Rebecca was immediately shown into the conference room on the ground floor. She declined the offer of refreshments and chose to stand as she waited for Thomas to come.

The last ten days had been a whirlwind to say the least.

When she heard of the attempted assassination and the carnage she immediately asked her counterparts at MI5 if she could question the arrested members of the hit team. After a week of giving her the run around they finally gave her permission to do so. It hadn’t taken her long to break one of the young Somali refugees who up to that point like his colleagues hadn’t said a word despite intense questioning by the locals and the comic relief of Thames House.

Walking into the room Rebecca had quickly taken up position opposite the young man of no more than eighteen, she could tell straight away by the expression on his face he was terrified despite his lack of words.

Her assessment was that he more than likely was a refugee roped in by his Principals on fear of the threat of death of his family in Somalia if he did not do as ordered. She didn’t pity him as he had made his choice, and it was one that would cost him the rest of his life in prison just like his colleagues.

To break him, all she had to do was put a picture under his nose of Ahmed and Wasir to get the answer she had known was right. The look of fear in his eyes told her everything.

“That was quick!” commented the impressed Chief Inspector observing her when she got up without asking a question.

“They belong to the Clan of the former Interior Minister of Adwalland,” she offered as a courtesy towards him. “We will send you over any relevant files we have them,” she added as she left in the interview room hardly less than a couple minutes of sitting down in.

Sitting in Vauxhall Bridge updating the DG, as to who was behind the attack on one of Britain’s most significant businessmen the Head of MI6 she was told.

“Rebecca, the PM wants this bloody bugger caught!” stated the senior officer reflecting on his rather uncomfortable meeting with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary yesterday when he was informed in no uncertain terms that Britain should not be used to settle debts like something out of the eighteenth century. Such was the depth of public outrage over the murdering of children it was politically damaging the Government. The world’s press were like a swarm of hornets, anything even remotely related to Litchfield was looked at: his links to the Russian President, the fact that an armed police unit was only there to limit the casualties because he held a diplomat passport of Russia, his influence in the corridors of power of Westminster and so on.

The situation was a hot potato, to put it mildly.

“Even the bloody Yanks have washed their hands of him!” he continued making reference to the fact that they covertly supported Wasir’s coup attempt despite denials.

“We believe he is in Mauritania, Sir,” Michael offered, drawing upon from the intelligence that an aircraft belonging to one of the companies Wasir was linked had flown out of Bristol airport two hours after the attack with a passenger that looked like the ringleader onboard.

It had taken them a week to find out that the aircraft had flown first to Madeira then changed it flight plan mid-flight by taking a detour to Mauritania instead of Eritrea.

“Really?”

“Is that confirmed?” asked the DG, looking for a bone for the Foreign Secretary, his immediate superior, to gnaw on.

“Yes, the Americans confirmed it for us,” Rebecca answered. Something she had only just found out about, when to her surprise an English sounding voice had called her back a couple of days before in response to having asked Langley if it were case due to the fact they had assets on the ground. The voice confirmed the inquiry and then followed up with an email attaching surveillance footage to confirm it.

“Mmm so do you have a plan?” asked the DG, hoping it didn’t include an expensive Special Forces assault as he was already over budget.

“Yes we do,” Michael answered looking towards Rebecca.

The man that greeted Rebecca was not the same man of several months ago at his annual party. Although he was smartly dressed and his face sported a neatly trimmed full beard, his eyes told a somewhat different story.

“Thank you for seeing me,” Rebecca said shaking his hand first then just as everybody else had since Nara’s death offering her sympathy and condolences.

“I have something for you,” she said giving him the envelope.

“Where were these photos taken?” he asked after he pulled them out.

“Mauritania,” Rebecca answered simply.

“Thank you. I owe you one,” he said understanding why she was giving him the photos.

“No, you don’t,” she replied before explaining the link that bound them. Once she finished, Thomas took her hand lifted it to his lips and gently kissed her fingers looking her straight in the eyes. Not a word said between them.

Composing herself, Rebecca got up and made to leave the conference room, but when she reached the door she stopped and turned back towards to Thomas.

“Got shtroft! der mentsh iz zich noikem!” she said in Yiddish.

Thomas’s reply to her statement was a mere nod. No translation was necessary; he understood the meaning completely.

Picking up the phone on the conference table, Thomas dialed the personal number for Sergei Andreyevich Petrov who like everybody else when he picked up offered his own set of condolences.

The painful account of ‘thank you’s’ out of the way, Thomas set about explaining what information Rebecca had just given him, if not the source of information.

Once completed, the Head of Zaslon replied he would send Igor and his team to assist him following up on the directive made by the Mayor that all efforts would be made to find the man that had almost taken Russia and America to the brink of war.

* * *

Awake at seven. Thomas gently moved his sleeping daughter by the side of him. He got up and went into his bathroom, showered, trimmed his beard and brushed his teeth before returning to the bedroom. Taking a moment, he sat down by the side of Victoria and gently stroked her hair, seeing Nara in her features brought him a sense of peace if only for just a moment.

“Time to get dressed Plum,” he said using her nickname gently as he woke her. Opening her eyes again, he found Nara staring right back at him as if haunting him through their daughter. She still hadn’t spoken since that fateful day. Knowing his daughter was traumatized, initially Thomas had hoped that eventually she would just start naturally talking again but as of yet that still hadn’t happened. Instead, she would just nod and hug everybody she knew when was asked something.

“She needs help!” offered Hannah, firmly backed up by Tania in turn, when they confronted him in the study of the Holland Park house.

“They are right, Thomas,” Mikhail also offered to support his wife and Victoria’s grandmother.

“I’ll think about it,” Thomas had responded, unimpressed with their proposal yet understanding why they were pushing him.

It wasn’t though until Pritchard offered his opinion when bringing him some coffee in the afternoon that he actually took notice.

“Sir, may I have a minute?” asked the butler putting down the tray with the silver coffee pot.

“Of course Pritchard,” Thomas answered, turning off the television he was watching before turning towards him.

“You’re bloody fool, Sir!” Pritchard blurted out when their eyes met.

“Pardon!” Thomas replied absolutely shocked.

“Sir! That little girl needs help! And you’re an arrogant bugger if you think she doesn’t,” he said. “You and she are the nearest thing I have to a family! So please I am begging you, don’t allow her to be lost to the demons of her soul like your mother!” he said going for the killer blow.

Looking at Pritchard who was actually shaking from the emotional courage he had used to create a stand on behalf of Victoria, Thomas reflected first on his statements then acknowledged within seconds that his old charge was right, and it took the mention of his mother’s demons to terrify the hell out of him to recognize it.

“Thank you Stephen,” he said taking his arm to put him at ease as his mind took on board the possibility that his little girl might end up the same way if he didn’t act. “I will make the call,” he continued as Stephen went about pouring the coffee his hand still shaking.

“Blast!” Pritchard said, having spilt coffee in the saucer and not wanting to embarrass him Thomas said nothing having recognizing the courage it took to confront him in the first place.

Awake, Victoria hugged him first, got up with the sleep still in her eyes and left the bedroom, to return to her own room; still not a word muttered by her. Thomas’s eyes never lost sight of her until she closed the bedroom door behind her.

“Soon,” he thought almost as if he were talking to Nara. His mind lost to the demons of vengeance.

Walking into the dressing room that still smelled of Nara’s perfume, Thomas faced up to the possibility that, after the funeral today and when the time was right and he left to revenge Victoria’s mother, his little girl could lose him as well.

He reflected for a moment as he tied his black tie.

“You have no choice,” his mind concluded in reference to the conversation that he now knew he need to have. A conversation with the one person in the world he swore he would never ask for support.

Arriving at the Litchfield House estate they were greeted by a whole volley of flashes from to the cameras outside the gates from journalists that had massed to record the funeral. Keeping his eyes ahead with Victoria tucked under his arm Thomas ignored them. Instead he focused his gaze on the road ahead that led to his father’s mansion.

Admired by all since it was established in the 1880s as a country retreat on a grand scale for its magnificent gardens, the house had once been the glittering hub of society; visited by virtually every British Monarch and home to Litchfield’s since the early twentieth century and just as infamous for its exclusive parties and political gatherings.

Yet, because his mother hated it she had rarely visited it during her lifetime, preferring the party set of London, that’s why he had always found it ironic that she had chosen it as her final place. Of course, he knew why. It was his mother’s twisted way of punishing Rufus and telling his young wife that one day he would come back to her.

* * *

Despite his mother’s tormented last laugh on his father Thomas however, thought the house was lovely, but because it would have meant interacting with his Father he had never visited his mother’s grave.

“God has it really been over thirty years!” he asked himself in relation to the last time he was there as the car pulled up outside the house.

Luckily because the Chapel of the great house was private, this meant Victoria wouldn’t have to deal with the attention of the world.

Although he never said anything he was grateful to the personal assistants of both him and his Father in ensuring that all the correct people were invited.

“Thomas,” his Father said once he had exited the Rolls Royce proffering his hand and offering the first olive branch between the two men of the Litchfield Clan.

Standing around six-foot-three with hazel eyes and short white hair, Thomas could instantly see the old bastard was still fairly well built with the firm jaw of all the Litchfield men pointing forward with pride.

“Father,” Thomas answered taking his hand firmly.

Despite all these years and long surpassing his Father’s power and status, Thomas still felt like the young boy in front of him. Today was no different.

Turning to his daughter, Thomas took the opportunity to present them to each other for the first time.

“Victoria, I would like to introduce you to your grandfather, Rufus,” he said.

“You’re a lucky man,” Rufus said taking in sight of the beautiful child and as he did so he could have sworn he saw Amelia in her smile.

“It’s a great pleasure to meet you Victoria,” Rufus said introducing himself by leaning down and kissing her cheek. It was a gesture that took Thomas by surprise, as he was never that friendly with him as a child. It was always handshakes, never hugs or kisses.

Figuring Victoria was shy, as she hadn’t said anything, Rufus moved on quickly to introduce his wife and two daughters.

“Thomas this is my wife, Cecilia.”

Although Thomas had never met her before he was very aware of her, a striking attractive long blonde, blue eyed woman in her early fifties who looked no more than forty years old, he could see why she still captured the attention of all the men, old or young. Standing barely five-foot-three in height, with a very narrow waist and slender legs the woman had been his secretary before becoming his wife at the age of just twenty.

“Cecilia,” Thomas offered with a nod. Defensively.

“And your sisters, Charlotte and Eleanor,” said his father.

Again despite never bothering to meet them Thomas was very much aware of them as they both girls had reputations that would have put the famous Mitford sisters to shame. Just thirty, the twins were the reason his father had left his mother all those years ago. Slight and slim, he could see both had inherited their mother’s figure, with long and wavy dirty blonde hair, wide-set blue eyes, pert upturned noses, and pleasantly oval shaped faces he could see why the papers, including his own tabloid, had made them the darlings of the gossip pages.

Over the years with ambitions of careers in the Media they had many a time tried to engineer a meeting with him. It had taken a tragedy to finally do so.

“Ladies,” Thomas answered. Recognizing despite his personal feelings towards their mother because they shared the same blood he bent down and kissed each of them on the cheek as if it were a regular occurrence in turn.

It was a gesture that wasn’t lost on either Cecilia or his Father. In Cecilia’s case, it was one of fury because he refused to kiss her, thereby acknowledging her place in his father’s life while in contrast his father’s case it was one of pride because it meant Thomas had acknowledged the girls as part of his family.

Awkward introductions out of the way, the Litchfield clan walked into the chapel for the service together.

Because Nara was Muslim the washing and shrouding and Janaazh prayer are the responsibility of the deceased family, but as Thomas wasn’t of the faith, Tania had taken over the responsibility. She allowed Thomas to stand at her side watching her wash her beloved daughter forty times in the morning at the funeral home before Nara was driven down to the country for her final resting place. It had nearly torn him apart watching it, but he had remained composed for Tania’s sake.

Together they had designed a service to reflect the celebration of Nara’s life. So as the Imam sung his prayer it wasn’t lost on him that it made a lovely contrast to surroundings of the Christian chapel, so much so by the end of the service the only ones not crying were Thomas and Victoria. Something he had only noticed when his daughter looked up at him under his shoulder.

He smiled and kissed her head.

At the end, the service over Thomas and Victoria rose together. He felt his daughter take his hand firmly. He squeezed it gently then placed an arm around the sobbing Tania as the coffin was carried out the three of them followed behind so they could walk to the plot that had been made ready by the side of his mother. They were swiftly followed his Father and his second family, Mikhail and Hanna, Sgt. Tan and his wife, Pritchard and the rest of his men and senior staff then finally the now permanent police protection unit that had been increased in size since the incident at the school.

Watching his beloved Nara being lowered into the ground Thomas made a silent commitment to the woman he loved, “I will revenge you my darling! On my life!”

“Please look after them for me?” Thomas suddenly asked of his mother referring to Nara and his unborn child within his confines of his mind.

A gust of wind out of nowhere in response, Thomas took it as a sign his mother would do as he asked. He leaned down and kissed his daughter’s head again at his side, getting another squeeze of his hand in return from the little girl.

An hour later back at the house Thomas found and asked for a moment with his father.

“Of course, Thomas,” Rufus answered putting down his cup of tea.

Walking into the study, he closed the door behind them. Straightaway Thomas spotted the chess set on the side table.

“I would like very much if we could have a game together again,” his Father said having spotted what he was looking at as he placed his hand on Thomas’s shoulder.

“As you wish Father,” Thomas responded before giving the reasons why he had asked for a moment alone with him not really wanting to engage in small talk until he reached an agreement with his father.

Once completed and looking grim his Father give a singular nod of his head if not his approval for he knew his son would not change his mind.

“I ask only one thing in return,” Rufus said before going on to ask that he and his family spend Christmas with him on his return from his duty and that he swore to look after Cecilia and his sisters once he was gone.

“I promise you on my honor that I will,” answered Thomas without a second thought despite his feelings towards Cecilia.

His response was a source of great relief for the old man. He had worried considerably over the years that once he was gone from this world his son would reap his vengeance upon Cecilia and the girls, for though they hadn’t spoken, he still intended to leave the company and house to him as honor demanded but most of all he had worried about his son’s exotic business reputation with its unproven links to a number of high profile deaths in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Over the years, Cecilia had lobbied hard for him change his will on the basis that Thomas didn’t need his money and would only kick them out with nothing. Relentlessly using the logic that Thomas had not once had he made the effort to be part of their life despite his and the girls multiple attempts not really understanding that was the least of her worries.

The answer his son had just given him had immediately lifted the weight of the world of his old shoulders. Now his concerns would be directed to that of his son’s chosen path.

Seeing an ivory piece on the chessboard, Rufus suddenly picked it up and threw it towards his son. Catching it, Thomas looked at the piece and smiled: It was the Knight.

“Bring it back for our game!” he ordered his son and heir.

“So like his mother,” he thought. “Always swimming upstream as though he was a salmon to its fate.”

59

Nouakchott

A week later when sitting in his office, in the grounds of the Russian Embassy on the Rue Mamadou in the capital belonging to one of the poorest states in the world twenty-eight-year-old Anton Vasilyevich Sosnin, the local resident of the SVR, had nearly fallen off his chair when he received a call from his line officer at the Wood telling to make himself available for a team from the famous Planning Division that would be arriving that night.

He was even more surprised when he received his encrypted packet to find he was ordered to gather intelligence on the background on the villa of the now infamous warlord Wasir Osman Hassan, who was in Nouakchott.

Being his first posting overseas as a resident and only being in-country for just eight months to find out he had been sitting on the individual that his country had declared public enemy number one for his attempted coup d’état and his massacre of the United Nations Mission of Russia’s new ally in East Africa, had been a shock to say the least.

He also knew that failure wouldn’t be tolerated. With his contacts still quite limited, Anton immediately knew he was going have to do the job himself. The possible loss of operational security was too great.

Getting into his Toyota Corolla and grateful for the air conditioning, as the humidity at this time of the year was an absolute killer, the young intelligence officer drove the car to the Centre Emetteur district to case the warlord’s villa.

It didn’t take him long to find the compound for it was just off the main road. Driving past, Anton quickly made a mental note of the two guards out the front then parked up about 500 yards up the road, having seen a street seller that he could use for cover.

Once out of the car he then took a photo discreetly with his iPhone of the street at the front as he bought a bottle of cold Seven-Up.

He was able to do so without anybody noticing because he belonged to the forty thousand strong mixed-race community of Russia.

The product of a marriage between his Russian Father and his Cuban Angolan mother had given him features that in appearance that were similar in looks to a member of the Berber tribes that inhabited the countries of the Sahara, which is why he had been chosen by the SVR for a North African posting. When he was told he going to Nouakchott at the time he had disappointed. He had hoped for the very least for a posting in Rabat or Tunis. Now he could see that fate had dealt him a fine hand indeed. Get this right and he could have his pick of postings.

Finishing his Seven-Up, giving it back to the trader as was a tradition in the third world countries of the world so they could return to the bottling plant to fill it up and sell the contents again, Anton got back into the small car and then drove around the back of the compound whereupon he proceeded to do the same thing again. This time finding no guards at the back he was able freely take a set of photos of the back and each side. Finished he drove back to his office to make his report to Moscow.

Within minutes of sending the photos to the email address he had been given, his phone buzzed.

“Anton Vasilyevich,” he said announcing he was the line to the caller.

Five minutes later putting down his phone he got up, told his secretary that he was taking the rest of the day off and then drove out of the compound so he could take the short ten minute drive to the Residence Iman hotel. On reaching the small five-story pink hotel at the heart of the city he parked outside its front, got out, and walked up and through the entrance to the reception of the hotel.

“Monsieur Morris?” he asked in French to use the preferred language of the hotel staff of Nouakchott.

Taking a moment to check if the man was a guest of the hotel, the man at the front desk nodded then handed the young intelligence officer the phone so he could speak to the guest.

Receiving the room number from the same voice that had asked him to come to the hotel, Anton handed back the phone, entered the drain smelling lift and made the short journey to the third floor before stepping out and walking along the corridor to the end.

On reaching the door he was looking for, Anton knocked three times. The door opened immediately.

“Igor Valeriyovich,” the voice said introducing himself, offering his hand once the young officer was inside.

Half an hour later, briefing over, Igor thanked him for his support and let the young resident out of the suite and closed the door but not before giving him a purchasing list.

“I will call Fama and let him know we’re good to go,” Igor said to his number two.

60

London

Replacing the handset, his encrypted call with Igor over. Thomas left his office and took the short walk across the floor of the Berkeley Square townhouse and entered Mikhail’s office where he found his old friend behind his desk his feet up, drinking a cup of coffee.

Immediately the bodyguard knew why he was there.

“It’s on, Igor advises they are good to go,” stated Thomas as he closed the door behind him.

“I will let the pilots know,” answered Mikhail as he began to pick up the phone.

Unlike their usual mode of transport, this time they would be using an old cargo Boeing 737 they had chartered especially for the trip and all of them would be traveling on false passports of Canada, courtesy of the Special Services of Russia.

Leaving Mikhail and returning to his own office, Thomas closed the door, picked up the phone and then dialed the number of his father.

After their meeting at Litchfield House Thomas had over the last week put into place with Saul all the necessary documents to make his father in the event of his death the protector of Victoria’s trusts and most importantly her Guardian.

“Father I will be leaving tonight,” he said as his father answered.

“Good hunting,” was his Father’s short but sweet response.

“Thank you,” answered Thomas in return. Their relationship may always be complicated, but blood was blood.

He put down the phone as Mikhail entered the room to let him know they were good to go.

Thomas said, “I need to go home first before we go to Gatwick.”

Twenty minutes later they reached the house. He first found Tania who was sitting in the lounge.

The attractive woman had taken Nara’s death understandably very badly, and as he entered the woman quickly got to her feet out of respect to his position as he was the titular head of their family. He walked up to her and stopped her doing so.

“Sit,” he ordered as he gestured with his hands then followed suit at her side as she did as she was told. He took hold of hands then looked into her eyes.

“I shall be leaving tonight to avenge our beloved. If I do not return, you’re to stay with Victoria until she says otherwise,” he ordered in Turkmen.

“Yes, Thomas,” answered the woman her body and hands shaking.

“If its God’s will that it is my destiny for him to take me and join Nara, then my father will take care of you,” he continued using language she would understand.

Again the woman nodded before looking up him.

“Ar Almak,” answered Tania, meaning “Take Revenge,” in Turkmen before she reached up and kissed him on both cheeks.

Leaving Tania in the lounge, Thomas went upstairs to find Victoria. This would be a much more challenging conversation for although she had just had her first session with the grievance counselor, she still hadn’t spoken.

Upon finding her alone in her room playing with her iPad she smiled at him as he walked into the room.

“Plum, I need to speak to you for a moment,” he asked gently as he reached her and got down on one knee, so he was level with her. Face to face.

Putting down the iPad and sensing something was wrong she turned towards him, still not saying anything but touching his face with her hand, and taking it in his own hand he said, “I need to go away for few days.” Horror surfaced in her eyes, quickly she grabbed him close to her, shaking her head violently as her way to plead for him not to.

“Plum, it will be okay Nana is here, and so is Mr. Pritchard,” he continued on as she refused to let go.

Looking into her eyes stroking her hair, trying to comfort her, he kissed his daughter’s head three times. Releasing her grip after a few moments, he got back up off his knee, turned and walked away towards the door.

“D-a-d-d-y! Please don’t go!” she cried over sobs delivering her first words for weeks in the process.

Stopped in his tracks by her voice Thomas turned back around just as she flung herself into his waist.

“Please D-a-d-d-y!” Victoria desperately pleaded again so much, so he almost caved into her.

“Victoria,” he said using his finger gently lifting her face up him, before continuing, “I have to do something for Mummy!” He was struggling to keep his emotions in check.

“WHAT?” she demanded, tears in her eyes.

“A debt of Honor,” he whispered.

“I don’t understand Daddy?” she asked while holding on to him for dear life.

“You will one day, Plum.”

“But for now I have do this for your Mother,” he said seriously not wanting to answer her. “I need you to look after Grandma for me,” he requested so to change the subject giving his now speaking daughter a responsibility to focus her mind and still processing the fact she was talking again fully.

“Will you do that for me?” he asked as he looked down at her.

Looking up him the little girl, sensing the pain in her father’s eyes, suddenly grew up.

“You will come back? Won’t you Daddy?” she asked

“If Allah wills it, Victoria,” Thomas replied not wanting to lie to his daughter and treating her as an adult. “Will you let me go?” he asked finally.

“Yes, Daddy,” she answered firmly thinking that was what her mother would say if she were here sensing the trip was dangerous despite her father not saying so by his response.

When her mother was alive, she often told her that her father fought bad men who wanted to hurt them as an answer when she first asked why they had bodyguards. This must be one of those times.

“Thank you,” the former solider answered with a stiff upper lip making every effort not to cry over the fact that Victoria was talking again and trying to show strength for the task he now had to do while experiencing for the first time since his first operation in Northern Ireland all those years ago that being: genuine fear.

Not fear for himself but fear for the little girl in front of him if he didn’t come back.

“Mama will keep you safe!” replied his half Turkmen-English daughter with her mother’s eyes staring back at him as she leant up to kiss his cheek and hug him firmly. Holding her for a few moments longer himself for now it was his turn let her go reluctantly. Releasing her, he turned and left his daughter, his eyes changing in the process as he did so.

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.

Epilogue

The death of the infamous warlord in Mauritania made news across the world. Much was made off the fact that his beheaded body was found but not his head. Speculation was rife amongst the bloggers of the world. Quickly followed up by several media sources that he had been taken out by Russian Special Forces in retaliation to the events that took place in Adwalland.

The media tried in vain through a full frontal assault of James Weston to get a comment from the famous Oligarch on the death before disappointingly giving up when told by the PR Man that he would not be making any comment.

Standing over the grave of her lost love in the small village crying, was Rebecca, for earlier in the morning a special delivery had arrived at her parents’ house in St. John’s Wood.

“Rebecca I have a delivery for you that came by courier,” her Mother had informed her down the phone.

Immediately the alert intelligence officer had told her not to open it.

“Does it have a sender, Mummy?” Rebecca had asked quickly before she got ready to make a call to the Service to advise a suspect package had just been delivered to her parents’ home.

“It says it’s from Sir Thomas Litchfield, darling,” her mother had answered slightly confused. “I didn’t know you knew him,” she had then said in reference to the fact the man had been all over the news.

A now much relieved Rebecca told her not to worry, and said she would be around to collect it later after making up a story that it was related a trade delegation trip she was setting up.

“Oh I see!” her mother had said. “Why did he send it here?”

“His assistant must have got the wrong address,” Rebecca had said guiltily because she was lying to her mother. Maybe it was time to tell them the truth.

She sat in her car emotionally drained after having finally told her parents the truth as to what job she did, yet feeling much better because her parents had told her how proud they were of her and had forgiven her for lying to them all these years. She had opened the package to find a dark polished walnut box, very similar to a cigar box.

As she opened it, her hand had went to her mouth in shock, for sitting on the crushed green velvet was a black human ear with a watermarked business card bearing the Litchfield Crest. A phrase was written in black ink

“Got shtroft, der mentsh iz zikh noikem,” followed by the letters TL after it.

“Thank you Thomas,” she had said out loud.

The wind blowing across the graveyard brought her back to the present.

She took the smooth grey round pebble in her hand and placed it on top of his grave. She kissed her finger once then touched his name and said the prayer of the dead silently to herself.

As she began to walk away she spotted a fox watching her by the Garden of Remembrance and on seeing the creature she knew instantly what do with the ear.

Reaching the edge of the garden, although the fox was no longer in sight, but knowing the creature would be watching, she threw the ear into the garden.

Rebecca turned, wiped a tear from her eye, and walked away from the graveyard.

Acknowledgements

The Devil’s Handshake is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents portrayed in the book are the product of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, corporations, events surrounding the decisions and conversations of the Presidents, Prime Ministers, Secretaries of States, and United Nations officials is entirely coincidental.

My deepest apologies to the Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the management of the Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts in Dubai for using the Burj Al Arab as the base of operations for the character of Robin Ashley to conduct his clandestine activities on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency, but I’m afraid operational security required it.

My apologies must also go to Mahesh Tourani, one of Dubai’s more colorful residents for using him and one of his famous parties as the setting for the CIA recruitment of Ashley. Again operational security required it, but I am reliably informed, he still hosts the best parties in Dubai!

The prologue makes reference to an incident where a Regimental Sergeant Major of Special Air Service (SAS) asked his troopers behind enemy lines to hold a meeting to discuss the new furniture to be bought for the Hereford barracks. Eagled-eyed military historians will recognize this story from Peter Ratcliffe’s insightful and excellent book the Eye of the Storm - Twenty-Five Years in Action with the SAS. As one of the more unconventional commanders in the field, vastly experienced, and a true shadow warrior, I hope he does not mind me referring the tale in the introduction to Sir Thomas Litchfield’s character.

The conversation between Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat is of course fiction but is derived from an actual interview Saddam Hussein gave to The Gulf News shortly before his execution in 2005. The article provides a chilling insight into the mind of a tyrant and is certainly worth a read, as it helped me develop the character of Wasir Osman Hassan. Having once had the unfortunate opportunity to see Saddam Hussein up close and personal and to observe his character during my time in the Arabian Gulf, I have tried to make him as amoral as possible.

I leave it to the readers to make up their own minds whether I have succeeded or not.

The country of Adwalland as portrayed in the book does not exist. At this time, it remains a self-proclaimed state that is made up of Clans all based on the sixteenth century sultanate in the westernmost region of Somalia. The characters that make up the leaders of the government agencies, departments, and intelligence services are also fictitious.

The book also makes reference to the “Energy Security Doctrine.” This again is purely fictitious, for as far as I am aware no such publically available policy document exists and thereby is purely a construction of my imagination. That said, students of American Presidential history no doubt recognize that elements of the book’s policy as coming from the centerpiece of United States foreign policy from the early 1980s that until the end of the Cold War in 1991 was known as the ‘Reagan Doctrine.’

The offices of 18 Old Queen Street do exist but I assure the reader that the occupants of the building are not members of MI6.

The village of Upper Barpham, the home of Farrow Hall was once a Norman village that was unfortunately finished off in the fourteenth century by the Black Death. Today all that remains are the ruins of a substantial church. I chose this long past village in West Sussex as the home of Farrow Hall because in future books, it will play an important part in the future telling of the stories of the Litchfield family saga.

St Ageranus School is also a product of my imagination because I did not think it was appropriate to use an actual school for the massacre of children.

I named the school after a brave monk who died 303AD defending the sacred precincts of a monastery from a Norman army.

The equipment and tactics mentioned in the book do exist. I have consulted many articles, books and websites to ensure that the techniques and equipment used are authentic. If I have missed anything, I apologize and hope it has not ruined the story for the reader.

Finally, this novel couldn’t have been written without the help of my family and friends who have continued to believe in me, despite my numerous mistakes over the years. My many personal friends from Russia and the Middle East who are drawn from a collection of successful businessmen, officials and security officers, some colorful others not so but all equally full of interesting stories of their lives.

As to the substance of my story only time will tell whether fiction becomes fact.

Michael Reagan

Bermuda 2014

About Michael Reagan

Michael Reagan is a nom de plume. Initially working as an analyst specializing in Corporate Solutions & Planning for a private bank, he was there right at the start of the crazy years of Yeltsin-led Russia. Gaining first hand insight into how the Oligarchs did business in the early days of a Russia struggling to embrace capitalism.

Some of Michael’s experiences have provided in part, the background to his Litchfield character, the chief protagonist of the book.

By the end of the 1990s, employed in a rather peculiar role, within a private office of a royal family in the Middle East he found himself gaining insight not just into the workings of the region’s royal families and their various governments, but also seeing just how Natural Resources have and will continue to effect the “doing of business” between the governments of the world and the multifarious characters involved.

Negotiating everything from hunting rights, the paying of gambling debts of young sheikhs, to oil and gas deals, he refers to it as a life that was never dull but certainly not for the fainthearted and one that often found him questioning his “Devil’s Bargain.”

Michael doesn’t maintain a website or a twitter page, but you can find him on Facebook if you would like to drop him a line.

The Devil’s Handshake is his first novel on the adventures of the Litchfield family.

Copyright

Copyright 2014 Michael Reagan

All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Published by Brightquart Rights Limited at Amazon.

ISBN: 978-0-992-70140-6

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to a e-retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Content

Michael Reagan
THE DEVIL’S HANDSHAKE

Prologue

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Epilogue

Acknowledgements

About Michael Reagan

Copyright