by Ross Sidor
The Coast Guard Command, a small but well-trained branch of the National Armada of Colombia, the official name for the Colombian navy, was notified and launched from their nearby Buenaventura station.
The container ship barely cleared the bay before two Bell UH-1H Hueys caught up with her. One helicopter hovered low over La Orca’s aft, while the pilot of the second was forced to make another pass before finding a suitable drop zone at the stern of the ship’s crowded deck. The pilots matched the ship’s ten knot speed.
Each helicopter carried a squad of ten men, each wearing dark blue t-shirts, utility pants, Kevlar helmets, and ballistic vests. They were armed with M16 rifles, door-breaching shotguns, and smoke grenades.
Two ropes dropped from either side of each Huey’s open cabin, and the coast guard troops expertly zip-lined onto the ship’s deck. The helicopters immediately broke off and kept their machine guns trained on the ship.
A marine AH-60L Arpia gunship hovered two hundred feet overhead, carrying sharpshooters providing sniper cover. There was good reason to believe that the Viper was onboard, armed with SA-24, making this raid something more than routine visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS), so the Colombians took no chances.
The first squad swiftly and expertly swept the ship, fanning across the deck and proceeding to the crew cabins and compartments below. The second squad simultaneously scaled the superstructure, seized the bridge and ordered the captain to turn the ship around and return to port.
The helicopters stayed on the ship as the captain steered her back to the harbor, and the newly arrived Colombian coast guard cutters escorted her in. DEA agents and Colombian police and customs officers awaited the ship’s return.
Meanwhile, the coast guard troops rounded up the crewmembers and directed them above deck and commanded them onto their knees with their hands behind their heads. They also did a head count, to make sure everyone was accounted for.
None of the crew was armed, and none verbally or physically challenged the boarders. Most of the crew was innocent merchantmen trying to make a living, either genuinely or willfully ignorant of any contraband aboard the ship, and they reacted to the boarding with surprise, terror, and confusion.
The subsequent search of La Orca yielded no missiles and no sign of the Viper, but over a ton of cocaine was discovered in specially designed, hidden smuggler’s compartments.
After the crew’s names were run through the Bunker’s databases for matches, two were identified as known La Empresa members and arrested.
When questioned, none of the crew reported ever seeing Arianna Moreno, but one of the Empresa men acknowledged having been in contact with Sean Nolan. He also revealed to his interrogators one other interesting piece of information that explained La Empresa’s sophisticated ambush of the DEA and National Police forces in Buenaventura that day.
In statements made to the media later that day by American and Colombian officials, the DEA operation in Buenaventura and the seizure of La Orca were publicized as counter-narcotics interdictions, and no mention was made of the Viper, Sean Nolan, missiles, or terrorism.
___
Immediately upon arrival at the Coast Guard Command’s Buenaventura station, an unconscious Sean Nolan was placed on a gurney and transferred to the military treatment facility’s infirmary, where he was treated alongside the DEA agents who risked life and limb to bring him out.
US Navy hospital corpsmen performed emergency surgery to reconnect or close Nolan’s damaged blood vessels, and remove the bullet fragments. Nolan spent the remainder of the day in an isolated room in the intensive care unit, under armed guard by Colombian marines. He was pumped full of morphine, connected to IVs, and given a blood transfusion. By night, his condition was stabilized, but he would still require additional surgeries to repair the scapula, and, with his spheroidal joint shattered, he’d probably never regain full use of his arm.
Nolan spent a day heavily sedated and disorientated, and Daniel had so far acquiesced to the doctors’ insistence that Nolan wasn’t yet well enough to be questioned. Daniel had no concern for Nolan’s well being, but he was pragmatic enough to understand that there was no point in interrogating him when he was doped out of his mind and mostly incoherent during his brief periods of consciousness.
But Nolan was awake now and had grown increasingly responsive over the morning hours, starting to ask questions and make demands of medical staff. He was still fatigued and confused, his judgment clouded, defenses lowered, and Daniel had ordered that they cut off the administration of morphine late the previous night. He wanted Nolan in painful discomfort, both to soften him up and, if necessary, to use as a bargaining chip
“I want to talk to him,” Avery said, growing impatient. He’d barely slept, and had spent much of the previous day recovering from the post combat high and adrenaline hangover, while faces of the dead continued to revisit him. He was determined to move forward now, deciding that maybe putting Moreno down would help the ghosts rest a little easier.
“Perhaps it would be best if my people handle this,” Daniel said, assessing Avery’s appearance. He had the look of a man who had been through a lot and was on the verge of losing control.
And Avery sensed Daniel’s reluctance and the reason for it.
“Look, I only want to talk to him. Give me a few minutes alone with him. Then your guys can do their stuff.”
Avery didn’t plan on getting physical or rough with Nolan, who knew a thing or two about interrogations—PIRA had been brutally efficient at rooting out informants within their ranks. Nolan had also done time in Long Kesh, the Northern Ireland prison where paramilitaries were detained. Neither MI5 nor the Royal Ulster Constabulary had been able to break him, and they’d had the better part of three years to try.
Besides, having witnessed firsthand what it took to get Cesar Rivero to talk, Avery didn’t doubt that Nolan shared Rivero’s loyalty to the Viper. Breaking that loyalty was the key to getting Nolan to betray the Viper.
Daniel relented, and an hour later Avery was alone with Nolan in his room. There were no cameras watching, no hidden mikes recording, and no one-way glass for outside observers. Daniel had even instructed Nolan’s marine guards to take a break.
Nolan wore a white hospital gown that was practically falling off him, and his hands were tied to the bed frame on either side of him, giving him no space to lift or move his arms. His wounded shoulder was likewise immobilized by a harness. Within reach, he had only a remote with a button to call for a nurse. He appeared pale, weak, and sickly from the blood loss and dehydration. Intravenous tubes were stuffed into his veins, while other equipment to which he was hooked up constantly chirped and beeped.
Nolan’s glazy eyes stayed on Avery as the unfamiliar American entered the room and stopped at the foot of his bed.
Seeing Nolan up close now, Avery’s hands clenched into fists, and he wanted to completely let loose on the Irishman, but he reminded himself that there was a job to do.
“Is this where you offer to turn my morphine back on if I answer your questions?”
Nolan was aware that his mind became increasingly lucid, and the pain abruptly and rapidly more acute, over the past couple hours, and his earlier request for more morphine was ignored. The pain was now borderline intolerable. He fought to keep his voice steady and not show weakness in front of his interrogator.
“No,” Avery said. “It’s simple. You’re going to answer my questions because you’re the type to hold a grudge. You’re not going to protect someone who sold you out. You’d rather fuck them over right back.”
Nolan’s brow furrowed. His mind was still in a haze, and he couldn’t quite make sense of what the American said. He responded simply, “Fuck off. I’m not telling you shit.”
“Why are you protecting her, Sean?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You know goddamn well who I’m talking about. Look, it’s simple. If you’re not going to talk to me, then I have
no use for you, and you’re just a piece of shit who got nine American and Colombian cops killed for no good reason, and that’s going to make it real hard for me to restrain myself. Maybe when I’m tired of beating the shit out of you, I’ll let the Black Eagles have a go at you. They don’t take kindly to foreigners coming here and siding up with their enemies.” Avery paused. “Moreno. Why are you protecting her?”
“I doubt you’d understand.”
“I think you’re the one that doesn’t understand. What the fuck do you think happened back there in Buenaventura? Look at yourself. Those aren’t our bullets that fucked you up.”
Avery saw some clarity resonate in Nolan’s eyes now.
“Those Empresa fucks weren’t there to ambush DEA agents, you stupid fuck, and it wasn’t a coincidence they had a small army on hand. They came for you, and they nearly succeeded.”
“What the fuck are you on about?” Nolan asked.
“Think about it. You really think we’d send a SWAT team to execute your arrest warrant? We had intelligence that the Empresa was sending a hit team to take you out. Phone intercepts matching Moreno’s voice. She wanted to silence you before we got to you. All of this was just corroborated by those Empresa captured aboard La Orca yesterday morning. We went in to save your fucking life.”
“You’re full of shit.”
But the quiver in Nolan’s voice betrayed his lack of confidence.
“Now,” Avery continued, “the question I keep asking myself is why would she want to kill you? I think it’s because you did your part, you delivered the missiles, and then she had no further use for you. She already knows we’re on her trail, and she knew we’d catch up with you sooner or later. That makes you one serious security risk. You can deny it all you want, but you’re only lying to yourself.”
Avery paused, and the silence to fester for half a minute.
“Nothing to say? Those agents died this morning to save your fucking life. They could have just left you there or turned you over to La Empresa at any time and walked away. You might want to think about that.”
“It’s not true.”
“Are you that fucking pathetic, Sean? You know damned well how the Viper operates. She kills her help after they’ve served their purpose and become a liability. Her brother’s the only person she’s really loyal to, and he’s rotting in the ground. What, you thought you were different? Well, that’s what everybody likes to think, isn’t it. You don’t mean shit to her.”
Avery saw the glimmer of doubt in the man’s eyes, replacing the earlier defiance, and knew he was almost there.
“Even if that were true, I still don’t see why the fuck I should help you. I’m facing the inside of a Colombian jail the rest of my life either way. Even if the cunt did set me up, I’ll still gladly see her kill more of you fuckers.”
“Who said anything about a jail? You’re in ANIC’s custody. No one knows they have you. When they’re through with you, you’re simply going to disappear, but not until the Black Eagles have a go at you. But maybe you can convince the Colombians to extradite you to the British. Then maybe your buddies in Sinn Fein can cash in some political points and commute your sentence.”
Avery allowed Nolan a minute to reflect on this before continuing.
“Yeah, your options are shitty, but you can choose how much shit you get. If you don’t talk to me right here and now, I’m walking out, and ANIC will take over.”
Without another word, Avery stood up, turned, and started for the door.
Nolan’s voice weakly called out after him.
“What do you want from me?”
___
When Avery walked out of the holding cell thirty minutes later, Culler and Daniel were waiting silently in the corridor.
Daniel took deep drags off a cigarette like he couldn’t get enough.
Culler read Avery’s expression as he came near them.
“What do you have?”
“How are Layton’s men doing?” Avery asked, ignoring the question.
“They’re being treated here, except for Tyson. They stabilized him and flew him out to Palanquero. He’s in critical condition. Even if he pulls through, his days in FAST are over. By the way, Layton was asking about you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“He wants to talk to you.”
“What about?”
“To thank you, I’d imagine. There’d be a lot more dead agents if you and Aguilar hadn’t gone in.”
Avery was glad he was able to bring those guys out, but he didn’t plan to shoot the shit with Layton and exchange Christmas cards. His thoughts were with the dead agents and Colombian cops he failed to save, and that little boy in Medellin. When this was over and he left Colombia, Avery didn’t want any reminders of what happened here. He wanted to blot all of this from his mind, bury it behind new walls.
“So what did you get out of Nolan?” Culler asked Avery.
“Everything.”
Avery handed Culler a piece of paper with his handwritten notes.
“The Viper is headed to Mexico with the missiles. She has nine units. They left this morning from a small cartel airfield.”
“They?”
“Yeah, she’s travelling with two others; Benito Trujillo and Carlo Ibarra.”
“I know these men,” Daniel said. “Ibarra is a Basque terrorist. Madrid provided us with CNI’s complete dossier on him. Trujillo is a Peruvian mercenary. Both men are closely connected to FARC. Ibarra is known to have worked with the Viper in the past, but he’s been inactive for the past couple years and there has been no recent sighting of him. We surmised that he had retired.”
“Terrorism’s a business with a pretty a shitty retirement package. They can never fully give the life up,” Culler observed. Indeed, Abu Nidal had been inactive for over a decade, and it still hadn’t done him any good when his Iraqi hosts had decided that he was a liability and murdered him in the middle of the night.
“There’s someone else, too,” Avery said. “An unknown foreign player linked up with the Viper in Bogotá, before she hit Flight 224. But I don’t have a name, not even a description. Nolan only heard Moreno mention him once. Whoever this guy is, she doesn’t trust him. Nolan’s impression is that she didn’t bring him onboard by choice.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Culler said.
“I’m thinking it has to be one of Kashani’s men,” Avery said. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“And you think we can believe Nolan?”
“He was telling the truth. He had no reason to lie. Plus his mental defenses were down, and he doesn’t care about the Viper’s cause. He knows she sent La Empresa to kill him this morning, to silence him, so he’s holding a bit of a grudge.”
“Nice,” Culler said.
It wasn’t a total deception Avery had pulled on Nolan earlier. The Empresa prisoners from La Orca had in fact revealed that the Viper instructed their organization to keep a close watch on Nolan and eliminate him if it appeared he was to be arrested.
“But it’s still worth having Daniel’s people continue working on him,” Avery added.
“We will,” the Colombian said.
“What’s going to happen to Nolan?”
“When it is clear that we have no further use for him,” Daniel answered, “I will contact the British embassy. They are welcome to have him, if they want him.”
“Where in Mexico is the Viper headed?” Culler asked.
“Tijuana,” Avery said. “They’re paying the cartel for safe passage into the US. Nolan says they were supposed to leave Colombia early this morning. He claims he doesn’t know the exact destination, but once in Mexico, they can be in America within a couple hours.”
“FARC has close ties to the cartel in Tijuana,” said Daniel. “FARC sells them cocaine.”
Avery started to walk away.
“Where are you going?” Culler called after him.
“Mexico. At most, I figure we’re six, seven hours
behind the Viper. You guys coming?”
“Just hold up. You know I have to take this up with Rangel first.”
“No, Matt. We can’t waste any more time with that shit. We have to move now. What happens if the Viper reaches the States? Then the FBI has jurisdiction, and we’re out of the picture.”
“So what? Let the Bureau handle it.” Culler paused. “Afraid you won’t get the kill?”
“You think that’s what this is about, Matt?”
But Avery wondered if he was really that easy to read.
“Come on,” Culler said. “I know you. You see the Viper as a challenge, and you’re pissed off that she got the upper hand on you in Panama. You’ve gone through a lot of shit because of her. You want to be the one to put her down.”
“You know I’m right. A lot of people are going to die if we don’t stop her before she reaches the States. I don’t give a shit about Rangel. Let him complain and make threats. It’s not my problem.”
“No, but it’s my problem,” Culler said. He was once an ops officer himself, a veteran of the Afghan campaign, and he once held the same disdain for Seventh Floor oversight that Avery did. But it was different now. Culler answered to the director of the National Clandestine Service now, and he had a wife and children to support. “I’m responsible for you, and I already have Rangel and the Seventh Floor on my ass after Medellin, not to mention what happened in Panama.”
“Then don’t sign my paychecks for the next couple days. Tell them I’m off the job, and I’ll stay completely off the books. I’ll go along as an independent actor. We smoke the Viper, and Rangel can take credit, and you’ll even save Langley’s bean counters a couple grand.”
But Culler was still shaking his head. “You can’t go after her alone.”
“DEA is all over Mexico,” Avery replied. “Slayton will know someone there he can put me in contact with. After Buenaventura, I don’t think DEA will need convincing to go all out after Moreno.”
“Captain Aguilar and his men remain seconded to my agency,” Daniel told Avery, ignoring the angry look Culler shot his way for encouraging Avery. “They can accompany you to Mexico. It will not be a problem. My country works closely with the Mexican government on drugs, and provides advisers and liaisons to their security forces. We have a very good working relationship. We can cover you as an adviser or consultant.”