“That’s sounds great Corporal, but none of my men or myself have had the time to familiarise ourselves with its operation.”
“With your permission sir; I would like to volunteer to come with you and operate the PCDL.”
Max looked at him for a moment before replying, although this was a military operation and Max could order the Corporal to join them, he was aware that all the men in his units were very highly trained, and that the Corporal could be a hindrance, however the new piece
of equipment would certainly give them the edge, improving the success of the operation and minimising casualties.
Max spoke, “Corporal how old are you?”
“Thirty one sir.”
“Married with any children.”
“Yes sir and two children.”
“What active service have you seen Corporal?”
“Four tours in Northern Ireland and the Falklands war sir.”
“Okay Corporal consider yourself on board, the mission brief will be at fifteen hundred hours.”
“Thank you sir, I’ll ensure we have up to date Intel for the briefing.”
Verdugo Hacienda
Bucaramanga Colombia
Lat = 7 degrees, 8.3 minutes North
Long = 73 degrees, 6.1 minutes West
Wednesday 4th January 1989
Ten twenty-one hour’s local time.
Five hours behind GMT
Ramón had returned to the hacienda half an hour ago and was awaiting Toledo Verdugo, to update him on the intelligence he had procured from one of his informants within the government.
Toledo Verdugo strode into the room smoking a large expensive cigar, and walked onto the large open veranda, where Ramón joined him.
The night had brought heavy rains and along with the rising temperature, the lawn areas were giving off a lot of condensation, creating a low-level mist.
Toledo turned to Ramón, “what news do you have Ramón?”
“My informant has advised me of the following sir. There appears to be very little known about any British operation about to take place here. However the British
have one of their aircraft carriers anchored in Lago de Maracaibo; it arrived four days ago. The purpose appears to be to carry out amphibious manoeuvres; our President attended a banquet on board last evening; my informant was also present, he stated nothing appeared out of the ordinary.”
Toledo took a long inhalation of his cigar, whilst looking out across his lawns, “what do you think Ramón, could the British launch a rescue from their warship?”
“They certainly have the resources and capabilities to do so senior.”
“Would they not need our President to sanction such an act Ramón?”
“Ideally they should senior; it would be the correct protocol’s, to prevent any political fallout.”
“And your informant has heard nothing, other than what he has told you?”
“Si senior.”
Toledo was a smart man; his empire had not sustained this long by luck alone, he had many people in his pockets, that either were on his payroll or owed him favours.
He turned to face Ramón, “could it be possible that the President is the only one privy to any information about a rescue attempt?”
Ramón thought about the question, like his boss he was well aware of the Presidents tough stance towards the thriving illegal drugs business in his country.
Before becoming elected; President Lucena had been a lawyer and had brought many successful prosecutions against organised drug cartels.
Ramón replied, “Yes senior that is a possibility.”
Toledo walked over to a nearby table and extinguished his cigar, “the Vice president; José Pablo Valera, would he be privileged to this information?”
“We can ask him senior; the house he owns and his children’s education has been funded by you senior; he owes us big time.”
“Ramón I believe it is time for Vice President Valera to earn our gratitude, get him on the phone now.”
“Si Senior.”
Ramón went into the nearby room and dialled the personal direct number for the Vice President; the phone rang several times before it was answered by a brusque voice, “yes what is it.”
“Senior Vice President; I have a call from Senior Verdugo
for you,” replied Ramón.
Hearing the name Verdugo quickly altered the Vice presidents demeanour, “thank you put him on will you.”
Toledo Verdugo had joined Ramón in the room, Ramón
handed the phone to him, “good morning José, how are you this morning?”
“Senior Verdugo, it is a pleasure to hear from you.”
“Are your children still enjoying their privileged education José?”
“Yes; and again I cannot thank you enough for your generosity senior Verdugo.”
“José; I need a big favour from you, and it must be done today.”
“Certainly senior Verdugo.”
“I have heard rumours that the British are going to launch an attack against me, can you verify this José?”
“Senior Verdugo; I have heard nothing of this, why would the British attempt anything like this?”
“That is not your problem José; I need to know if what I have heard is fact.”
“Senior Verdugo; if anything like this was indeed true, I would know about it, and would have reported it to you.”
“José; did you attend the banquet on board the British warship last night?”
“Si, I was one of many guests from the Venezuelan government.”
“Were you with the President?”
“Si; my wife and I sat on the same table and later accompanied him onto the deck for the firework show.”
“Did he ever leave your sight José?”
The Vice President went quiet while he thought; a few moments later he was interrupted.
“José, are you still there?”
“Si senior Verdugo; I am trying to recall.”
“Think man; think,” retorted Verdugo.
The Vice President replied, “Wait; during the fireworks display he was called away and was gone for about ten minutes.”
“Did you speak to him about his absence?”
“No senior Verdugo.”
“Stay on the line José; I need a few moments to think.”
Toledo Verdugo placed the phone on the table and beckoned Ramón to join him back on the veranda.
He quickly relayed the conversation he had just had with the Vice President to Ramón.”
“Any thoughts Ramón?”
“Senior, we have to presume the President may have been informed of a rescue attempt by the British, and has been asked to keep it to himself.”
“My thoughts as well Ramón.”
With that, Toledo Verdugo went back to the phone, “José are you still there?”
“Si senior Verdugo.”
“I believe the President knows something about this forth
coming event, and for reasons unknown is keeping everyone
including you in the dark.”
“That would be against all protocol’s senior Verdugo.”
“Never the less José, I believe the President is in possession of information that could harm me, and I need you to find out what it is, can you do this for me José?”
The Vice President thought for a moment, Si senior Verdugo; I know something about the President’s past that he would not want to come out, I could use this as leverage, and I’ll call you back later today senior Verdugo.”
“Excellent José, I’ll await your call.”
HMS Ark Royal
Lago de Maracaibo
Venezuela
Lat = 9 degrees, 48.1 minutes North
Long = 71 degrees, 31.5 minutes West
Wednesday 4th January 1989
Fifteen hundred hours
Five hours behind GMT
Schematics of Rio Negro Warehouses
The four teams of six OSC troops were sitting down on the floor in their civy clothing in a semi-circle, with a large whiteboard in front of them, which contained a diagram of the warehouses at Rio Negro.
Max walked in with Corporal Hardwick, Max addressed the men, “this is Corporal Hardwick one of the signals team assigned to us, he will be coming on the mission to provide life Intel via our satellite, look after him.”
“Now gather around the white board, so you can see it clearly.”
The men shuffled forward towards the whiteboard.
Max began; “firstly three teams will be hitting the
warehouses on this diagram, the team one lead by
Roy Smith will be going to the Hacienda.
Max had a snooker-que in his right hand and was using it to point to the detail on the diagram.
“Now as you can see from the diagram there are four interlinked buildings, I have numbered them one to four; with a road system that travels around from the west to the south and around to the east like a horseshoe, the main entrance is on the south eastern side. The western and southern sides have some dense trees; on the northern side here; there is a dirt track that extends for about a mile ending in a wooded area. The eastern side has a large open grass and scrublands area.
Max paused for a few moments before continuing, “Our Intel puts the Professor conceivably in this building here,” Max pointed to the second building from the right numbered three.
“However this is not one hundred percent.”
Max pointed to the dirt track on the northern side, “this dirt track leads about one mile away from the buildings; ending in a wooded area, we will be helicoptered in to this area the Insertion point and abseil down. The dirt track will be our main approach route, any questions so far?”
The men remained silent.
Max continued, “team two will take point and be led by Manny Gall (eagle seven), team three will be led by
Vas Dembo (eagle six), Team four will be led by Colin Bishop (eagle five) who will stay on the helicopter and be dropped off here one mile east of the FRV, they will then move to the main entrance on the east side securing the entrance road and our exit route to the FRV. Latest estimates of hostiles are around twenty, armed with light automatic machine guns; there does not appear to be any heavy weapons from the current Intel; however, we cannot discount this.
Max again paused before continuing.
“Team two will create a diversionary explosion on the north-eastern side at this point and then move back to the dirt track,” Max pointed to the area on the north eastern side near to buildings three and four.
“Teams two and three snipers, I want you respectively covering the north sides of the buildings, I will take two men into building two and grab the Professor. If we meet heavier resistance than anticipated we will fall back to the final rendezvous point here.”
Max pointed to the south-western point near to the roadway, “we will have air support from a pair of Sea Harrier FRS-1’s, if necessary I will call in the strike package. Mission parameters are the same as usual; speed, surprise and aggression, we will meet force with extreme force; remember it is important to maintain momentum.
Our ERV point will be here, Max pointed to the eastside
halfway up the northern dirt track.
“Team four will provide the sustained fire line from the main entrance, covering our withdrawal to the final rendezvous point; should we need to go to the ERV then team three will provide covering fire; any questions?”
Max paused and gave the teams time to digest the briefing, they were all highly experienced soldiers and
Max would value any feedback he received.
Manny Gall the experienced tracker had been taking notes and looking at the diagram on the whiteboard.
Manny stood all of five feet five inches in height he was the smallest of the OSC team, his complexion gave away his native heritage jet-black hair and very dark brown eyes; he was built like a whippet, lean and sinewy.
Manny’s skills as a tracker were infamous earning him a place on the original selection of members for training.
Manny was a Lakota Sioux, his great grandfather named white feather had fought at the Battle of Little Big Horn, Custer’s last stand.
Like his father before him at the age of 6 years, he had been sent back to the homelands in North Dakota from Manchester to learn the tribal skills.
Much emphasis had been placed on tracking techniques for predator and prey; these skills can be transposed to track humans some call it an art of pursuing.
Five years ago at the age of eighteen, he had returned
to his home in Manchester and had immediately joined the
Army.
Manny now spoke, “sir may I make a suggestion?”
“Certainly Manny go ahead,” replied Max.
“The sniper from team four would be beneficial if deployed at the FRV point, to cover our withdrawal sir.”
“Excellent suggestion, team fours sniper will deploy as Manny has suggested to the road entrance and then find a suitable firing point at the FRV point. Any further observations or recommendations.”
Max paused again; but no one replied.
“Okay once we reach the warehouses our time on target (TOT) area is twenty minutes, everyone take a ten minute break, before I go through the briefing for the team one’s assault on the Hacienda.”
Miraflores Presidential Palace
Urdaneta Avenue, Caracas
Venezuela.
Lat = 10 degrees, 30.5 minutes North
Long = 66 degrees, 54.9 minutes West
Wednesday 4th January 1989
Fifteen twenty hours
Five hours behind GMT
Miraflores Palace is the official workplace of the President of Venezuela and is located on Urdaneta Avenue in Caracas. Construction started in 1884 and was completed in 1897
After many modifications, the current palace presents fountains encompassed by corridors and halls, such as the Peruvian Sun Hall, decorated with gold donated by the government of Peru; the Joaquín Crespo Hall, with its four gigantic rock-crystal mirrors.
President Lucena was working from his large ornate desk when his phone rang; he answered the call from his secretary and replied, “Yes send him in Ángelita.”
A few moments’ later Vice president; José Pablo Valera
entered the President’s office.
The President stood up as the Vice President walked over to the table, both men shook hands.
The President spoke first, “have a seat; did you enjoy the banquet on the British ship last evening José?”
“Yes; it was indeed an honour for my wife and me to attend sir.”
“So how can I help you José?”
“Sir it is a most delicate matter.”
“Please continue,” replied the President.
“I have heard that the British are going to carry out some sort of mission in our country, sir.”
The President paused before replying, “That’s an interesting statement José, and may I ask how you came about this information?”
“Sir; I would rather not reveal my source, however the fact that a British war ship is in our country, leads me to think there may be some truth in this.”
“José; if this was indeed true, why would I have not made the appropriate people aware?”
“That’s what I initially could not fathom out sir; however your temporary departure from the festiv
ities last evening had me thinking sir, would you care to tell me why you were called away?”
“I am sorry José; at this moment in time I cannot, but I
will be informing everyone in the very near future, I hope you understand?”
The Vice President stood up, walked over to the nearby window, and gazed out across the beautiful lawns and flowerbeds, “sir I hoped I would not have to mention this; but remember the André Sinaloa trial?”
The President’s thoughts immediately went back to four years ago; at that time he was the country’s top prosecution lawyer.
The André Sinaloa trial had been his biggest coup against the drugs cartels. André Sinaloa had been a major player, his drugs empire huge.
The prosecution case had gathered a lot of evidence; against André Sinaloa however, the prosecution’s case had been hinged on one person’s testimony; a man named Marco López Covas.
Covas had been an integral part of the Sinaloa Cartel, giving his testimony on condition he received a full pardon for any crimes he had committed and a new identity.
André Sinaloa was found guilty on all counts and given a thirty-year jail sentence, along with all his assets being seized.
It was two months later that Lucena had learned that
Marco López Covas’s evidence had been flawed, he had in
fact been given access to evidence that had been obtained covertly and would not be allowed to be used in a court of law.
The former President along with the present minister of defence General Carlos Silva had known all along and had been explicit in ensuring Marco López Covas had been coached in giving this evidence.
As soon as Lucena had discovered this, he approached President Cipriano Bruzual with the evidence.
The President listened to Lucena’s account before making it clear to him that if he should go public with this, he would be putting himself and his family at risk.
The President ordered him to leave it be, for the sake of everyone.
Lucena was not concerned with the fact that André Sinaloa had been found guilty; the man was a notorious drugs trafficker and had become very wealthy, selling drugs at the cost of mainly innocent people.
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