The Devil's Handshake (42 page)

“
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.