Echo Six: Black Ops 4 - Chechen Massacre (7 page)

The Chechen’s obsidian eyes bored into him, his breath almost asphyxiated him, and the North Korean officer felt irritated at the man's impertinence and lack of manners. To anger him, he deliberately picked up his knife and fork and ate several mouthfuls of food while the man watched, his expression dark and violent. Finally, Ho looked up.

"You're right, Mr. Abramov. An attack could happen at any time. In fact, I'm counting on it."

The Chechen looked taken aback, and Ho worked hard to keep his expression neutral, satisfied that his words had had the desired effect. Did the man think his security for this shipment was so lax he hadn't anticipated an attack? Of course the enemy would try and stop them. The whole world feared a nuclear-armed North Korea, and NATO would do anything to stop it happening. There'd been that NATO Special Forces unit which had penetrated his country, and they'd caused North Korea huge problems and left a trail of damage, death, and destruction in their wake, all for nothing. His country would become a nuclear power after this shipment he’d arranged reached Pyongyang. The Leader would have the weapons he needed to fight of the threat of the Western imperialists.

Yes, of course they’ll send another of their elite units to try to stop the shipment, but I have a surprise waiting for them, several surprises, in fact.

Ho’s philosophy was to always anticipate those things that could go wrong, and build layer up on layer of defenses to make sure it never happened. Apart from the brush with the NATO unit, it had always worked for him, and it would work now. He picked up his glass of wine and took a long drink. He was aware the Chechen was still watching him curiously, and this time he allowed a tight smile.

"Your Chechen fighters have a reputation for brutality, Mr. Abramov. Let me assure you, it is nothing compared to the skills of my men. When the Westerners come, and I am certain they will, we’ll show a demonstration of what we North Koreans can do."

"Do you have any idea where they may make the attempt, Colonel?"

"Our best guess is the city of Irkutsk. We have monitored the movements of the man in charge of their Special Forces, NATFOR, Admiral Brooks. We doubt he can get his people ready before we reach that point, and when they do come, we shall be ready for them. More than ready."

Abramov abruptly broke into peals of laughter, "Yes, that is good, my friend. I shall look forward to it."

He slapped Ho on the back. If he had seen the Colonel’s vicious glare stab into his back, he would have reached for his pistol.

* * *

Earlier, the Admiral had taken Talley to one side and spelled it out for him. If he refused the mission, he’d have to send in another unit, which would mean second best, and the chances of failure would be immeasurably higher. And failure meant the safety and security of the West would be held hostage by a madman. There was also the chance to settle accounts with Colonel Ho. If his plan to equip North Korea failed, he’d almost certainly face execution. Kim was not known to be a forgiving man.

He’d given his reluctant assent, subject to a final assessment of the mission brief, but he knew the reality was he’d have to go. If there was a chance of putting a spoke in the psychotic Colonel’s plans, he felt honor bound to take it.

Maybe they’ll hang the bastard from piano wire; the way Hitler did those men behind the
Stauffenberg assassination plot in 1944. Those poor bastards didn’t deserve it. They were heroes. Ho’s case is different.
Payback for those girls, and for the nightmares that won’t leave me.

They were crowded inside Brooks' office, all twenty men of Echo Six, as well as Major Barrington, Captain Falco, and the Admiral himself. Brooks outlined the operation to Talley's men and introduced them to Major Barrington. A few looked less than happy with having a Military cop along. Introductions to Alessandra Falco were unnecessary. She'd met them before and trained with them. Brooks finished describing the geography of the long railroad route. A branch line ran from Chechnya to Moscow. From there, the Trans-Siberian Express crossed several thousand miles of Russia and Siberia until it reached Vladivostok on the Pacific coast, then by way of a branch line to Pyongyang.

"This operation is time critical. The shipment is on the way."

"Where is it now?" Sergeant Welland asked.

"It's not so much a question of where it is now, but where it will be when you reach the intercept point. Irkutsk, that's four thousand klicks from Moscow. We plan to put you aboard a civilian cargo aircraft on a regular scheduled flight from Kabul to Moscow. Somewhere along the way, the captain will declare an in-flight emergency and lose height. When he's low enough to depressurize, you'll parachute into the country without anyone the wiser. We've gone over the technical problems with Boeing, and they say it won't be a problem, apart from a couple of small modifications to the safety interlocks to the cabin door, which are already underway."

Lieutenant Rovere caught his attention. "What about the opposition, Admiral? Assuming we manage to stop the train, what are we facing?"

Talley hadn’t told them, not yet. Brooks had kept security tight on the entire operation. Now the Admiral told them about the troops.

"So all we have to do is defeat two hundred tough North Korean soldiers?" Rovere responded; his voice tinged with irony.

"And there's the Chechen guards,” Brooks pointed out. “We estimate the man in charge, Borz Abramov, will be aboard with maybe a half-dozen guards."

The room was silent for a few moments as they contemplated the enormity of the operation. A thousand tons of rolling stock, traveling at high speed across the Siberian steppes, and guarded by a formidable force of troops. Talley broke the silence.

"It still can't be done. I've already made that clear, Admiral, not with such a small force. Twenty men is not enough."

"It has to be enough, and it will be done," he shot back.

"Twenty-two," Alessandra Falco muttered softly.

"Explain the rest of it, Captain," Brooks told her. "Tell them what we arranged. You won’t be entirely on your own."

Talley was the only one who knew. He thought back to their meeting in the canteen.

* * *

"Why did you treat me that way, Abe?"

He shook his head irritably. They’d been over this.

"Like I said, it wasn't you. When it happened, I just didn't want to be close to anybody. It was me who brought that bastard back from the North, and I even vouched for him."

"It wasn't your fault."

"No? I should have put a bullet through that bastard's head when I had the chance."

She gave him a faint smile, "Yes, you should have, but you weren't to know."

"It makes no difference. They're still dead."

"You shouldn't have turned away from me," she replied, her tone accusing. "When bad things happen is when you need people around you, the people you love, and the people who love you. How do you feel now?"

"Not much different. The same, I guess."

"In that case, why not finish the job? This is your chance to get justice for those girls and kill the bastard."

Her voice was different. Filled with passion, she was staring at him, daring him to give it a try.

Give her a try?

He stared back at her. "It’s still just a chance to get more people killed, and this time the people in my unit. My people. And it’s not a maybe. You can see that. We do this, and we’re going to be hit hard. We’ll lose men, good men. My men.”

She watched him for a few moments, and he felt like a moth caught in a flame. Despite what had happened, his feelings for her were still there.

"And supposing we could fix things up to even up the odds? Get someone on our side to help out."

"We?"

"I talked to some of the people I worked with in British intelligence. They have a man, Vladimir Borodin. He used to be KGB, with the rank of general. After the fall of communism, he set up his own organization in Moscow, and he's become very wealthy and very powerful."

"Mafiya."

Her lips tightened: "Yes, you're right. Mafiya, but he also hates the Chechens. I talked to Admiral Brooks about using him, and he gave the go-ahead. Borodin is prepared to lend a hand. He'll help us stop that train."

"What's in it for him?"

"He hates the Chechens, and for money, of course, a great deal of money, he'll supply men, weapons, and anything else we need. If anyone can stop that train, he can."

He could hardly believe his ears.

"You're suggesting we recruit a Russian organized crime family to help out?"

She shrugged and said nothing.

Joining forces with the Mafiya!

It wasn't without precedent. When the Allies went into Italy during the Second World War, they recruited Mafiya people to help them with the invasion. It was a strategy that had done little to help them, and they'd regretted opening the door to the Sicilian Mafia ever since.

But this is different, isn’t it?

* * *

His attention fixed back to the meeting. Captain Alessandra Falco was explaining what she’d told him, about how they would recruit the Mafiya for the operation.

"British Intelligence has fixed up the arrangements, and Borodin will supply fifty of his men to help stop the train."

Brooks took over, and he stared right at Talley.

"So it won't be just Echo Six, Commander. You'll have plenty of help, but understand you'll be operating inside the sovereign territory of Russia, which means no air support, no UAVs, nothing. You'll infil from a civilian 747 at low-level, just outside Irkutsk. We’ve arranged for you to meet up with Borodin's people. They'll stop the train and help take care of the guards. Your mission is to take possession of those warheads and destroy them."

"Destroy them on the spot? You know what that means, Admiral?"

"There's no other way. They have to be put beyond use, and inside enemy territory. The only way to do that is to destroy them. There’ll be radioactive fallout, but that's too bad."

There were a hundred questions to ask, but Guy asked the most important one.

"How do we get out?"

"Good question. We’ve picked up some friends in Mongolia since they gained their independence. Mongolia is two hundred klicks from Irkutsk. Once you get over the border, we'll have transport waiting for you to take you to the capital, Ulan Bator. We'll have an aircraft on the ground ready to bring you home."

The room went silent again. If Brooks reckoned the briefing was designed to put their minds at rest for the forthcoming operation, he was sorely wrong. There were no more questions asked, but more than a few unasked. He nodded.

"Good, I'll leave you with Major Barrington to give you the rest of the details."

Talley looked up sharply. "Admiral, are you saying he'll be leading the operation? You know that won't work."

"Strictly speaking,” he sighed, “the mission belongs to his people, the Military Police. The Investigation Division asked for our help when they found out what the software was intended for. When we knew what was at stake, I assigned Echo Six to the operation, especially in view of your unique knowledge of operating against the NKs."

"We don't need to go head-to-head on this, Talley," the MP Major asserted. "You'll be running your unit. The only difference is that I'll have overall command of the operation. Besides," he added, with a friendly smile, "I checked, and I have seniority. That must count for something in this man’s army."

The smile made him look something like a shark. At that moment, he realized there was no way he could trust the elegant military cop. The comment about seniority left him in no doubt.

Echo Six doesn’t work that way. Merit talks, rank walks.

"Admiral? You're not going along with this?"

Brooks' expression was cold. "What I am going along with is getting you people into Russia to stop that shipment reaching North Korea. Whatever it takes is all that counts. I suggest you two officers cooperate with each other and make it work. Your flight leaves Inchon at 2000 hours. That gives you time to get yourself prepared. It'll be a night drop, of course. Dismissed."

They saluted and left the office. Outside on the concrete, Rovere and Welland stopped him.