Chapter 4: New Rival's in an Old War
May 6th 2010 1300 Hours
The Russian-Georgian Border
It had been a rather quiet month that I spent bouncing around Europe with Koko and her crew. Since I was just getting acclimated I still needed to know how the team operated one at a time. So the majority of the time we spent at several designated HCLI training camps analyzing our skills and drilling in VIP protection, marksmanship, and the in's and out's of how we do transactions in weapons. Naturally I passed with flying colors, the Prague job not included. And I finally got my gear back, I would have to be a little more tactical to where we at now anyway. While a new spot, it was familiar territory, The Caucuses.
This area used to be the crucial oil fields for the Soviet Union. Seeing around I saw how empty this land was, the only thing that made it any value was its natural resources. Once the Soviet Union broke up and the newly independent countries of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia were formed. But territorial disputes caused much fighting between the groups that wanted to break away from Russia along the Georgian border, specifically Chechnya. During Stalin's time he deported almost 800,000 different ethnicities, over half of them Chechen to central Asia and Siberia because he thought they would help the Nazi's. A quarter of all those people who were deported died. During the 90's multiple border disputes continued as well as a ten year civil war in Chechnya that ended just last year. The year before that, the Russian's decided to flex their military muscles and gain a foothold near Georgia by granting the recognition of two tiny republics called Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Catch was that most of their influence and funding came from the Russian state. Very similar to the satellite nations they had in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, only much smaller. That being said, something was gonna flare back up again. Almost as if it was inevitable, I could tell by listening in on the radio as Koko was on her Sat-Phone talking to HCLI HQ.
"Is the signal being jammed?!"
…
"Don't say maybe! That doesn't cut it! Identify the problem now!"
Lutz was riding with her. "Look out world, little ladies pissed off again."
She groaned. "Ugh. Those idiots at HQ are useless, I'm so sick of this shit. We can't meet up with Valmet and Tojo if I can't reach them."
It was weird however, I was looking at my phone and I had five bars when we left Kutaisi when we were getting more fuel for the road trip and now I had nothing. I tucked it back into my personal kit, all too glad to have it back. While everyone else just had their weapons and carrying vests, I was more pragmatic. Everyone kept giving me weird looks when we're prepping to move out for the border like I was over prepared. I looked like I was ready for war and since I did have money I wanted to use the best gear. The brand new EXFIL ballistic helmet and ballistic sunglasses were much more versatile than the standard model Army Combat Helmet's and bulky goggles. I was able to place my earpiece there without shifting my helmet. My plate carrier had room for all my ammo and tech along with my field knife on my left pectoral and a modified pouch I had to sling an short M870 shotgun across my back. With two .45's at my hips and an HK 416 carbine which was way more durable than the M4 I borrowed from R. Tricked out with a hybrid sight and a M320 grenade launcher, I was naturally prepared for anything. Lutz said it was gonna weigh me down but people often forget on how much of an athlete I can be. Only thing that didn't make me glad though was I had to ride on top of one of the rigs as a guard with no safety harness. Wiley had been given the same task as he was in the front truck and me in the rear. And if we rolled, our day was gonna suck more than anyone else's.
"There's something else that's bothering me." Koko's voice came on the radio again. "Who the hell are these guys?"
I looked up front and saw what appeared to be an old BRDM-2. Wasn't moving fast and didn't seem hostile, yet.
"That's one of the border patrols vic's." Lehm came on the net next. "How we gonna play this out?"
"Keep going." She said. "If they wanna put an armored car against a-"
BOOM!
The convoy screeched to a halt as I grabbed anything to avoid flying off the truck. Classic IED ambush, after we stopped I was immediately scanning around if anyone was watching us. Best spot was the hillside to our left, only spot anyone could hide considering we were driving along a ridge to our right that lead straight into a valley.
Suddenly Lutz came on the net. "The hell are you doing!? Get back here!" I glanced over the front of the convoy.
Christ! After all the gun fights she's been through she'd have the decent sense to stay in the car!
It was instinct for a soldier to want and go and help his friends after they were hit with an IED but that's how stupid men died. More often than not there were always secondary's or a squad waiting to ambush the convoy. In Iraq, a route clearance unit would use their sweeping vehicles known as Husky's to clear the area around the hit vic and once they gave the all clear. The retrieval crew would get the wounded out.
But Koko was running to the valley, she noticed that there was smoke coming from it. Then I heard her shout,
"What the hell is THIS!?"
Lehm got out to her in a slow walk, hopefully making sure he didn't step on anything nasty, smoking along the way. Man was a chain smoker through and through. I wondered when cancer was gonna hit him.
"Looks like they're fighting over that oil pipe line. We just landed ourselves in the middle of a war and that's not all."
He handed Koko his binoculars and a look of frustration came over her.
"Cell towers, microwave dishes, relay towers, all destroyed by who ever got there first." Lehm continued.
I could already see where this was going, someone doesn't want this little war going public or they'd drag the international community in on this.
"Shit like this goes down, both sides wanna control information. Which means covert war equals total blackout, which also means no phone's either."
Koko looked at him slowly. "You sure know a lot about this type of thing Lehm."
"I guess."
No shit he knows a lot about this kind of stuff. Covert war is what Special Forces do best. You sneak in, do as much damage to or acquire the key targets, and then exfiltrate before anyone knows you were there. Unless it's part of the objective, you don't rack up a huge number in property damage or bodies.
As she then went into one of her rants, I suddenly I heard Russian from the wrecked armored car. Turns out they survived.
"Da, my vse v poryadkre. Ya dumayu, chto eto dilera mayor ozhidayet."
(Yeah we're ok. I these are the dealer's the Major is expecting.)
Looks like he's got friends and they're on their way.
Learning five different languages wasn't easy. But if you kept to the basic stuff and observed what was around you, you became more fluent. I shouted to everyone.
"Hey guys! We got inbounds looks like they work for whoever your buyer is Koko!"
Her wild flailing of her arms stopped as she heard multiple footsteps coming from behind them. She then spoke Russian.
"Vse v poryakde mal'chikov. My ne vrag."
(It's alright boys. We're not the enemy.)
"That doesn't make us friends though." She finished in English.
1325 Hours
Svaneti, Russian-Georgian Border Town, The Buyers Camp
The buyer had gone by the name of Major Pollak but he didn't dress like a military man like the rest of his men. My guess is that they were a PMC, cause unless this was a behind closed hangar deal the Georgia government wouldn't buy anti-air missiles from an arms dealer in the middle of a battle. He also spoke English quite well so I could at least hear in on the deal whether or not it went bad. After the mess with Kloshkin, I wasn't gonna take any chances. At least the whole crew was here and not just the two of us.
"Nice to finally meet you in person Miss Hekmatyar, I must say you look a lot younger in person."
"Nice to meet you Major Pollak."
"I do apologize for my men, they are a bit on edge. But I'm glad to see all the missiles I ordered came through."
"Of course, now if you would just sign-"
"Now now let's not rush this through. Sit down, have a soda, I know you have a few questions you want to ask me."
She wanted to leave as quick as everyone else but she decided to humor him.
"So tell me, when did the shit hit the fan?"
"Eight hours ago." He answered.
"I thought Lieutenant Colonel Grant was going to take this shipment."
Grant? Called it. These guys were definitely hired by someone but I don't care about this fight. I want this deal over and done.
"Well things change and not everyone has the stomach for every type of operation. So for now let's just forget about him for now."
At least whoever this Grant character was he must have thought better, this Pollak guy on the other hand seems to want to make a big investment so he can make a big profit.
Blood for money. Then again I'm in no position to lecture him. That's what a mercenary does.
"Ha ha ha! I thought that was you Koko, long time no see!"
I turned to the posh English accent and saw a woman with auburn hair, brown eyes and aviator sunglasses in her hair as well as a big and obvious preference for knives. Standing next to her was tan skin, dark haired man with two large burn scars on the left side of his face. Both dressed in military fatigues and plate carriers.
"Mildo, and Lou's with you as well." She said sarcastically.
I put two and two together, rivals from another company. She went to Koko, placed her hands on her shoulders and looked around like a curious child.
"Where's Valmet?"
"She's not with us on this run but if you two are here then that means…ah there you Mr. Currie. The President of England's CCAT" Once again, two and two.
"It's nice to see you again Koko, what a coincidence."
Liar.
"Coincidence, my ass."
After Currie, Pollak, and Koko sat back down to continue business, Mildo came over to me with an eyebrow raised, I did stand out. I then stared down as she looked up to me.
"Help you dear?"
She snickered. "Who's the walking tank? And is that a ponytail?! It's adorable!"
She burst out laughing but I kinda had that one coming. I enjoyed having my long hair but I did have to find some way to keep it out of my eyes during a fire fight.
The conversation at the table continued.
"What does Currie have for you Major?" Koko asked.
"Stinger missiles."
"New warhead's with upgraded launchers. They'll swat enemy gunships out of the sky just like during the Soviet-Afghan war." Currie finished for him.
In the 80's the one thing the Mujahedeen Freedom Fighters truly feared other than the Soviet Spetznaz were Hind Gunships. But that quickly changed when we started sending state of the art Stingers to the rebels. The Hind had a nasty heat signature that made it an easy target. Koko obviously did not care, she looked like she had enough.
"Well now that our deal's been done we'll be on our way." But Pollak stopped her.
"Wait there's something else I need, a new radar dish. My was destroyed and I need a replacement ASAP!"
He may have sounded like he was pleading but I think we all knew he was demanding.
Currie looked down. "That's out of my hands."
Koko looked back "That's not something I carry with me."
Currie then formed a devious smile. "But surely someone at your company can procure something like that on short notice."
He paused and then looked to her. "Your father, Floyd Hekmatyar is a naval giant. And it's no secret that most of Europe and Africa's main sales in naval weaponry and equipment is personally overseen by you Koko. You can't expect us to believe you can procure a simple radar dish."
She was burning a hole through Curries skull. He was playing her for something but it looks like she didn't take the bait as she started spinning around like a ballerina. Like Wiley told me last month, she was serious.
"Nope! Not happening! Too bad! So sad!"
Then it hit the fan as I expected.
"You're not leaving! I need that radar dish!"
His men drew their guns at us and we did the same, classic Mexican standoff.
Lutz was the one that broke the silence insulting them in German.
"You have your answer now you arschlochs better back off!"
"Lutz! Calm down." She then approached Pollak.
"Let's not go full scale Tarantino Major Pollak, I'll admit I underestimated you. You're making a complete information blackout out here and I'll bet your infantry have been given orders to kill anyone who tries to flee out of this valley to prevent this little war be made public."
As usual her intuition was spot on. "You want to keep the pipe line all to yourself."
"You make it sound so ruthless when you put it that way." He said almost embarrassed. "But you're right about one thing, a soldier does earn his pay by killing people and my men are very well paid."
Currie was looking on with a smirk like he had won. Pollak then began to walk away from the table.
"And as the leader of these men it's also my responsibility to get them the necessary resources they need to get the job done." He then put on the same beret as the rest of his men had. "Now please go get me my radar dish, and you will be well compensated for the purchase. You have my word."
As I saw him walk off into his command tent I then felt a squeeze on my cheek. Mildo was pinching it.
"That was a close one love but the storm has passed."
"If this is your way of hitting on me it's a little weird. I suggest a new approach."
She laughed again. "You really are adorable! What's your name?"
"Damien."
As Currie stood up and began to walk off he mentioned to Koko. "Rather prickly individual, dangerous as well."
"He's nothing, why don't you three run along home." Unintimidated as usual.
As we walked back to the trucks Lehm asked. "What's the deal?"
"We follow through." She said with words but spoke through her hands with one of the signals I learned last month.
We're running for it. Pretend we agreed.
"We need to catch up with Valmet and Tojo. It's only a guess but I'd say Pollak is about of cash. He's only gonna pay if his side wins." After we were back on the road she shouted through the radio.
"I am not a bank! I will never accept credit!"
1830 Hours
Kalak Valley, Just over the Russian Border
The fighting was not just at the pipeline but in the surrounding valleys next to the border. There was some pretty steep elevation in a few areas but what really made the terrain difficult to move around in was the dense forests that covered most of the valley. Infantry could only do so much if they didn't have mobile support. This however didn't bother Valmet, she knew how to fight as part of a mechanized battalion and saw the poor example of it outside. She leaned back on a bed in a dilapidated house and sighed.
"I really don't like this. Koko said for us to meet the rest of the team at that pass and that was hours ago."
It was just after sun down and automatic gun fire and mortar were going off all through the valley. Tojo looked out the broken window through his binoculars.
"The hell were we supposed to do. It's not our fault those guys decided to make a fire fight in the middle of our rendezvous."
He continued to look with the beautiful sunset composed of bright purples, oranges, and pinks. The sky above was clear and the stars then began to come out.
"Sun's going down and they're still at it, that's dedication."
Valmet scoffed. "Dedication? More like stupidity, they're rank amateurs all of them."
"Someone's in a mood. Tell you what, we rest here and check on the pass in the morning. Deal?"
"Fine with me." She said as she relaxed a little more in the old bed.
"And at least this old house still has power. We can still charge our cells and spare batteries."
"Yeah it ain't so bad. Kinda nice sleeping under the stars."
She looked up to the night sky, since the old house no longer had a roof from a mortar strike.
1900 Hours
Pollak's Camp, Koko's Convoy
At least Pollak knew we couldn't just pull a radar dish out of our ass, he would have to give us time to get one. I just hoped Koko knew what she was doing. But given the amount of time we had we had more than enough to give Pollak the slip. He did manage to give us a chance to get away from the majority of his troops by smashing all the comm satellites. So all we really had to do was just get to an area that had a working one. But we'd have to figure that out tomorrow. I then took off my helmet and laid down on the truck container roof, I had slept on worse surfaces. As I looked up at the stars I heard climbing on the side, Koko poked her head up.
"Little early to try and sleep Damien."
"Meh. Normally when it gets dark a lot of shit stops. Plus it's nice out tonight, won't even need a blanket."
She then hopped up on the container and sat down next to my head.
"Well my shit is just starting so no sleeping yet." She then flicked my forehead.
"Alright alright." I then sat up. "You at least figure out a plan to on how we gonna get out of here?"
"Give me a few hours and I'm unstoppable. But we can't do anything till tomorrow morning so for now we play the waiting game."
I then checked my 416. "Well as long as you don't decide to run out of a car whenever some shit blows up again we're cool."
She then grabbed me like I was something rather cuddly again. I then looked at her and wondered what in the hell was her problem.
"Excuse me I am not a little puppy."