There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.
Sun Tzu
"Alex and Commander Karim's forces have destroyed General Barkov's Forward Operations Base, temporarily limiting Russian air capability in Urzikstan. We need to more fast," Price told the teams at the briefing before their mission. Leilah sat to the side with Freya at her feet as he continued, "Lt. Karim, Sgt. Garrick, thanks to your intel, we've tracked the Al-Qatala cell responsible for the Piccadilly attack to a townhouse in North London. Three SAS teams will get inside and connect the dots. If the Wolf is in possession of the stolen Russian gas in Urzikstan, we need to find him…"
"Be advised: There may be non combatants on target," Fury spoke up as Captain Price's unofficial second in command, petting her dog next to her. "Check your shots."
October 27, 2019
Camden Town, UK
As night fell and they arrived on the scene in their vehicles, Leilah got out of the car along with Garrick and Price. Freya also jumped down from her spot next to her handler, eager to get to work in her black bulletproof vest. Dressed in an all-black ensemble: sleeveless turtleneck, cargo pants, combat boots, beanie, and bulletproof vest; Fury was ready to get this over with. If there was one thing she hated more than the Russians, it was terrorists giving her country a bad name.
Fiddling with her NVGs, she heard Price tell the teams as he came to stand next to her, "Targets are up, boys. Let's kick this off."
Following behind him with Freya at her side, Leilah felt Garrick behind her as they stopped at a locked gate. Pulling out bolt cutters, the sergeant waited for Price's signal before cutting them and opening the door. Waiting for the Captain and Lieutenant to go first with the others, he followed behind at the rear.
Together with Price, they meet up with Alpha team at a gateway into the courtyard of an apartment building. Once everyone was there, a member of Alpha reached over the gate and unlocked it, before pushing it open.
"Bravo 6, moving on the rear garden," Price said over the comms. Once the gate opened, they pushed inside coming to the rear of the house.
"Bravo 6, this is Alpha 2," another SAS commed. "About to enter the west alley."
"Copy," the Captain responded. Once they made it to the house, Kyle set up his ladder to get up to the open window while Price and Karim prepared to enter the door below. "Bravo 6, moving interior."
Making it inside, they quietly walk to the ground floor to meet up with Garrick as a female walks inside the kitchen to make a kettle of tea. Grabbing her quickly, Fury covered her mouth and harshly whispered, "Hadiun!" Quiet!
Quickly taking her to the floor, she zip-tied her hands together before stuffing a gag into her mouth to keep her quiet. Keeping an ear out, she listened to the conversation Al-Qatala was having.
"Won't that encourage them to align? We'll be fighting everyone," One of the males said concerning their plan to attack Russia.
"We're working with an Ultranationalist group," a female responded back to his concerns. "They'll handle operations in the East after the attacks."
"Trust the Wolf," another male assured the first.
Walking into the hallway, she watched intently as the group conversed in the front room of the house, trying to get as much information as possible. She held her hand up for them to wait, not wanting to spook them before she heard everything. Seeing her signal, Price followed her lead and stopped the rest of the team from following after her.
"You know I do," the first male sighed. "But this operation failed, so why are we doing this?"
"It did not fail. Your dead brothers made sure of that," the female pointed out.
"We were supposed to have double the body count. It's all over the flippin' tele-!" The first male complained.
"That's the point!" The other male said. "This is the United Kingdom. Do you think anyone walks around worried that they're gonna get blown up? Well, now they do. Al-Qatala is a household fucking name. We need to coordinate with the other groups. Paris, Moscow, Munich…"
"And the Yanks?" The female asked.
"Soon," the second male said smugly.
Knowing they were done talking, she signaled her team to move forward. Coming to the doorway, she hugged the wall as she waited for the go-ahead from Price. Feeling the heat from his body behind her, he looked into the room as well to see the group of Al-Qatala.
"Take the front room," he ordered her. Raising her M13 with Operator Reflex Sight, 1mW Laser, Tempus Mini, and Suppressor, she waited for his word. "Drop 'em." Shooting the first two quickly, they didn't have time to grab their weapons before she wasted them. When the female went to pick up an AK-47, Freya leaped after her, taking her to the ground as she bit down hard on the arm grabbing the gun, making her scream in pain.
Coming up next to her dog, she shot the woman in the head. "Secure," she relayed over comms as the team made it to the staircase leading to the upper floor. Patting her dog on the head, she said, "Fatat jayidatun." Good girl.
"Alpha 3, entering through the front door," the leader of the third team said. The front door opened to let them inside and they heard the other terrorists panicking upstairs.
"Mark? Mark, what's going on?" A male asked from upstairs.
"They're here!" Another one said in fear.
"What do we do?!" The first male asked as he panicked.
"Get your gun and go to the bedroom!" The second male ordered.
Getting behind Garrick to take the rear, Leilah brought her NVGs down to cover her eyes, putting everything in a dark green glow as they headed upstairs into the dark.
"Bravo 6, moving to the first floor," Price relayed over comms as they slowly moved up and checked their corners.
"What are you doing?!" A female asked.
"Shut up! Do as I say!" The second male yelled at the woman.
"Where do you need me?!" A third male asked.
"Hide in the bathroom! Get the shotgun!" The man told him.
"Let me go!" The female demanded.
"They're coming!" The second male warned.
"Don't do this! Please – don't do this!" The woman begged.
The team reached the top of the stairs and split up to handle different rooms. Following the leader of Alpha 3, Fury heard the cocking of a gun behind the door they were in front of. Thinking quickly as the soldier opened the door, she kicked him away before he got shot by a shotgun, saving his life.
"Bastards!" The first male yelled out from the room as he went to load his gun again.
Not giving him the time, she leaned around into the doorway and shot him down. Reaching down a hand for Alpha 3-1, he grabbed it as she pulled him up.
"Thanks, Bravo-2," he told her as he checked to make sure he was down. "X-ray down."
"Target behind the door," Price told Garrick as they stopped outside of the door by the stairs. Leilah came up behind them with Freya on her heels.
"Derrick?! You get 'em?! You fuckers are gonna die here! Just like your mates at Piccadilly!" The second male snarled from behind the door.
Angry at that remark, Garrick bashed the door open and Fury released the dog to tackle the assailant and his 'hostage.' Biting down on the male's arm, Freya held on as he screamed in pain. While the dog focused on him, the female went to grab an AK-47 to kill her. Before she raised the rifle, Kyle shot once at the female and then down at the male.
"Firya, 'utliq sarahika," Karim ordered her dog. Freya, release.
"Two X-rays down," Garrick reported.
"Make sure this floor is secure," Price warned them as he waited for them by the stairs.
"You go right, I'll go left," Fury ordered as there were two closed doors in the room.
Nodding his head, they split to go search. Her door revealed the hallway with other members of Alpha. Kyle's, however, revealed someone inside as he heard them talking. They weren't very good at being sneaky, that's for sure.
"C'mon, I'm ready for ya...c'mon…" The third male muttered as he cocked his shotgun. As Garrick bashed the door open, the other man yelled, "Sod off!" Firing his gun, he hilariously misses as shoots through the wall to get him.
"We good?" She whispered over at the sergeant. At his nod, she announced over comms, "First floor secure."
"On me," Price ordered. As soon as the team was ready, he started going up the stairs, "Bravo 6, moving to the second floor."
They carefully walk up the stairs again, as they look around for any hostiles. One of the SAS members checked out the door to the left while Price, Karim with Freya, Kyle, and the other Alpha members went down the hallway. When Alpha 3-2 goes right past the door, he steps on a loose board.
"Outside the door!" Another Al-Qatala male yelled before shooting through the door as the soldier's back was turned, hitting him directly. Alpha 3-3 dragged his comrade out of the crossfire to safety.
"Get a flashbang in there!" Price ordered Garrick while Leilah went to check on 3-2's injuries. "3-1, get up here now!"
"Roger! Moving!" Alpha 3-1 responded.
Kyle through a flashbang through the hole in the door, catching the shooter and his partner by surprise. Quickly firing a shot at them, he took them down before another male with a pistol burst into the room. Quickly dealing with him, he checked the room for any more enemies and found none.
"Secure this floor," Price ordered him.
Going to the door to the room the third shooter came out of, he carefully looked around to see it was empty, "Floor secure."
"Rally at the stairs," the Captain ordered.
Leaving the room, he saw Fury helping Alpha 3-3 apply medical care to 3-2. She was packing the bigger wounds and wrapping them, and placed a tourniquet on one of his arms to help stop the bleeding from a nicked artery. "Keep pressure on his wounds. If you notice them start to bleed through, pack it some more," she ordered the man. "He's stable enough for now. Just watch him."
"Hang in there, mate. I got you," 3-3 assured his teammate.
"Firya, abqi," she ordered her dog, wanting her to watch over the injured soldier. She pointed in their direction, "Yahmi." Freya, stay. Guard.
Freya obediently goes over to the two soldiers, standing guard to look for any possible threats. Leilah goes behind 3-1, in front of Garrick and was ready to go to the next floor. Price glanced back to see everyone, his eyes on the bloody uniform of Karim before facing forward.
"Bravo 6, taking the third floor," he commed.
Walking up the steps, they hear a woman yell, "They will kill you!"
"I swore an oath!" A man yelled back. "I will not betray the Wolf!"
"Then let me help!" She begged. "I don't want to be here if you're gone…"
"Come on, just let me go!" He told her. "They're here! Let me go!"
Making it to the door by the stairs, Fury was on one side, while Price was on the other. Garrick and Alpha 3-1 went to check the other rooms for hostiles. He gave her a soft look as he said, "Check your shots."
Stepping back, she kicked the door surprising the woman inside as she ran to the crib in the room and begged, "No, no... please! No, no... no, please... please, please, wait! No... don't shoot... my baby... please!"
"Hands up! Now!" Leilah ordered. Noticing an unopened door to the right in the room, she waited for 3-1 to come inside to secure her before going to the door. It didn't take long for him to arrive and she watched as he restrained her, "Secure 'em. Shut that kid up."
She prepared to breach into the adjacent room. A man peeked out from behind the corner and ducked back behind, but she saw him. As Karim approached the bed, the man attempted to hide under the bed to shoot at her but was quickly shot before he could do so. This caused the woman in the other room to despair at her partner's death.
"Floor is secured," Fury relayed.
"Last floor. Take point, Sergeant," Price ordered Garrick.
Following behind Kyle and John, the three of them leave the room to head to the attic. Going up the stairs, Price and Karim waited as he tested the door, only to find it locked from the other side.
"Locked," Kyle pointed out.
"I've got it," Price told him as he grabbed his crowbar and pried it open. "Try and take 'em alive."
The sergeant pushed inside, entered the room, and encountered a lone woman frantically searching a file cabinet. Price and Fury came up behind him as he yelled, "Down! Get down, get down!"
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot, please!" The woman inside begged as she backed up with her hands up. "They were going to kill me! They locked me in here!"
"Don't move! Stop!" Garrick yelled once again as she kept moving.
"Drop her," Price ordered as soon as she turned to grab something off the desk.
Before either man could fire a shot, Leilah lifted her rifle and fired, hitting her in the shoulder. The woman fell to the ground, alive but in pain as she put pressure on where she was hit.
"I said stop!" Kyle ordered, but the woman wouldn't listen and Fury fired again, hitting her in the head.
"Clear!" Price called out over comms. "All teams, townhouse secure. Commence SSE."
"Copy, boss," Alpha 3-1 answered.
As the lights turned on, the three of them took their NVGs off as Kyle reached the desk the woman was going for. "Fuckin' hell…" He turned with a detonator in his hand, "She was going for a bloody detonator."
Coming up next to him with a laptop, Price said, "Good job Fury dropped her, then."
The female SAS was going through file cabinets, especially the one the woman was at to see what was so vital for her to search for. She paused when she saw a familiar group mentioned in correspondence, the Ultranationalists. They were working together.
"We made the right call, sir?" Kyle asked.
"Bet your arse…" Price told him. He showed him the intel on the laptop, "We got a location on The Wolf."
"John, you're going to want to see this," Leilah called over.
Walking over to her, he asked, "What'd you find?"
"A lot of correspondence between Al-Qatala and the Russian Ultranationalists… Specifically, Zakhaev and Makarov. They're working together."
"What?" He asked sharply. Looking at the documents, he said in disbelief, "This doesn't make sense."
"Maybe Laswell can make sense of it," she told him. "I know Makarov is in prison, but if they are getting weapons from Zakhaev we'll need to be more cautious."
"Agreed," he answered her while still looking through the papers. "Gather everything you can. See if the other computers have any more info on their dealings."
"Got it, Cap," she nodded her head before going to the other computers in the room. Placing a hacking device in their USB ports, she downloaded as many files as she could find on the Ultranationalists. She was not going to let those men have the upper hand again, not this time.
"The attic of the Al-Qatala townhouse was a gold mine. It looks like we found the Wolf," Laswell was debriefing Price, Garrick, and Karim as she decided to tell them what the next step was. "Communications from the laptop were tracked to Ramaza Hospital in Urzikstan, where the Al-Qatala leader is believed to be holed-up."
"I assume you've contacted Farah about this?" Leilah inquired.
Nodding her head, the CIA agent continued, "Farah's forces will track terror activity at the hospital while a Marine ground force can be mobilized to advance on the complex. Echo 3-1 will capture the Wolf for interrogation about the stolen Russian gas."
"We have another problem, Kate," Price told her.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Ultranationalists are involved," Fury told her, to her shock. "I found communications between Al-Qatala and Zakhaev and Makarov. They may be supplying them with weapons for the conflict. Even behind bars that bastard is still a problem. We should have killed him when we had the chance."
"Why would they support a terrorist organization that hates Russia?"
"What better way to distract the world from their true purpose? Put the obvious target out for everyone to see," the female SAS told her. "Urzikstan has the world's focus, not just with Al-Qatala but with Barkov's invasion. I have no doubt they are the ones to help push this into motion."
"I'll keep an eye out for any chatter," Laswell promised the woman. She knew how important it was to her to stop them, "If I find anything, I'll let you know. For now, focus on Al-Qatala and the Wolf."