Special Ops: Femme Fatale

I adjusted my sniperscope as I scanned the perimeter, I had a watcher beside me who was trying so hard to impress the captain, and damn! the watcher was such a questionnaire. I mean his job as a watcher is calculate wind velocity and direction with respect to distance of a target, But he kept asking questions like "Boss did you serve in Iraq, or in Afghanistan? What's your body count? Do you count the people you bring down? Have you been shot? Have you.... Do you have a Wife, or a girl...?" He went on.

"Hey fella you talk faster than a bullet, and one's gonna get through that mouth of yours and out the back of your throat if you do not do your job of watching with your mouth shut" I spoke to him as calmly as possible.

"Sorry Boss"

"Now get me a target"

"Hey TJ, easy with the lad" The captain said over the comm

"Hehehe, TJ don got himself a talker, he a undercover talker in the guise of a watcher" Trevor said

"Hey Trevor, you see that bullet scar on your left cheek? I could give you a similar one on the right, right here, right now"

I teased, as I fixed the crosshair of the sniperscope on Trevor who was in an adjoining building few meters away.

"Hey man, don't be playing like that, y'all Nigerians play too much man, chill with that thing" Trevor answered

"Hey Boss, hey Boss! I see I see two bogeys approaching few clicks away from the east, and they don't look like friendlies" My watcher announced.

"Okay boys, the time's here, focus, TJ, what do you see?" The voice of the captain came on in my ears.

"Two Wranglers, a driver, an occupant, and a gunner in each of the vehicles Cap'n" I answered.

"Alright, boys let's wrap this up as quickly and as quietly as possible, and get the hell outta here, TJ take down the gunner on the second vehicle first" The captain instructed

"Aye Cap'n" I replied, I took a deep breath and waited for the right moment, taking a shot at a moving target had always been my favorite, because it was one of the most difficult shots to take, and I love difficult -click- the back gunner was down - click- the second gunner dropped.

"Hey Cap'n, gunners down! I've still got a clear shot of the drivers few meters before they get out of sight" I spoke over the comm

"Damn! Do it TJ!" The Captain commanded Two clicks and the drivers were down, leaving the vehicles crashing into obstacles.

"Done Cap'n, the occupants are yours for the taking" I spoke over the comm

"Good job TJ, alright boys let's go check our package" The Captain called out

"Hey TJ, drinks on me when we get back" Trevor said. 

Well, that was how our operation went that day, we secured our package, got to the rendezvous point. Amidst the cheers on the chopper as we headed home, I thought about one of the questions my watcher had asked earlier, if I had a Wife or a girlfriend. It felt crazy that I was risking my life for a whole country & couldn't go back home to a woman I

could call my own, and that sucked! But that was what I signed up for, a life where I could die anytime without any care in the world, well, that was much better than committing suicide after finding your Wife and three children murdered in cold blood, yeah!

"Hey TJ, you ain't never gonn' take us to Nigeria? I don heard a lotta about that country, and damn I could pass for a Nigerian, so what ya say mate?" Trevor asked.

"Trevor, Trevor, we know big things like bullets and bombs can't kill you, but the Nigerian mosquito will" I said

I looked at everyone on the team, each men with one tale of woe to tell, we had come to become brothers, not of blood, but through bond, well, except the new watcher assigned to me. I looked at him, dude had not said a word since, fella was still scared maybe, damn! I didn't even know his name

"hey" I said, as I nudged him a bit

"Boss" He replied, not sure whether to look me in the eyes, or the terrifying eyes of the others or just stare at the floor.

"Hey man, drop the boss already, that's the boss" I said as I pointed at the Captain.

"Okay Bo... The name?"

"It's Tunji, but I don't want you murdering the pronunciation of the name, so let's just stick with TJ like the rest, what's yours?" I asked "Wilkins Sir" He replied.

"Alright Wilkins, I know you're new and we look terrifying & all, we are equal, so you may need to drop the Sir" I told him.

"Okay Bo.. Sir.. Sorry TJ" Wilkins replied.

"Oh when I said we were equal, that didn't include the Cap'n. Just respect everyone, don't talk too much, ask one question at a time, and you'll get along just fine"

"Hey Cap'n, I need me a watcher too" Trevor said.

More chatter from the 6 of us, as the chopper took us home We were not promised tomorrow, we had no idea what tomorrow had for us, for us it was about living for the day & staying alive long enough to see tomorrow. On this Special Ops team, a tomorrow was always full of surprises

And tomorrow did come with surprises, because no sooner had we landed at the airstrip than the Cap'n called us together.

"Guys, I'm sorry I have to do this, but we've got a new mission. Looks like Trevor got his wish" The captain said, I looked up

"What wish?" We asked in unison

"Well, gentlemen, even if you're light years away from being gentlemen, we are going to Nigeria" The captain said as he looked at me.

"Hey Cap'n, with all due respec', don't be playing with my emotions" Trevor said.

"have I ever? Anyway guys, this mission is not like the others" The Captain said.

"Hol' up Hol' up Cap'n! what do you mean not like the others?" Trevor asked.

"Well, we are to blend in, infiltrate, and inconspicuously get intel that'll lead us to the rescue of an important American" The Captain explained

"Oh wow!" I exclaimed.

"Alright, you guys need to rest, debrief at 0900hours tomorrow at the safe-house downtown, stay sharp" The Captain said, as he walked away. 

Everything about this new mission seemed weird, but hey! better to die in active service than allow depression lead one to suicide.

I thought about so many things, I was not sure whether to get excited about the mission or not, I had lost my parents to insurgency in the Northern part of Nigeria when I was 16 and schooling here in the US, good thing they had set up a trust fund for me to see me through till I was 30 and ready to take over the family business, I went back to Nigeria to retrieve important documents, put someone in charge of the company, then came back to the State. I never went back to Nigeria, rather I had some percentage of the profits used for purchasing items sent to IDP camps. Rather than go back to Nigeria, I joined the US Marines right after I left the University, and well you can guess what inspired my decision.

I have seen everything there is to war, and as long as humans are territorial, domineering, retributive, and vengeful, there will never be an end to war, and the innocents will always be the worst hit, they call it “collateral damage”, I call it “multilateral carnage”, but no one cares what I call it, the fact still remains, there will always be war, there will always be a fight, a kill or be killed situation, that’s just the way human evolution has become.

At 0900 hours, we were gathered at the safe house.

“Guys, this is not the usual get in, smoke out, get the package and head home, no, there are some twists to it. We are to rescue an important personality, whose death could trigger unrest in some parts of the world” The Captain said

“Captain, we’ve successfully seen a thousand and one rescue missions, why’s this any different?” Otis asked

“Well, according to intel, the package is held captive here” The Captain pointed at a spot on the map. I took a closer look, looked up at the Captain.

“This? here, Captain?” I asked, pointing at the spot.

“Yeah TJ, familiar location?” The Captain asked. I looked closely, hell! Yeah it was a bloody familiar location.

“Affirm, that facility right there is my inheritance from my late parents”

“Say What! TJ you sly, you got a whole ass inheritance in Nigeria, and ya ain’t let us know? ya know we’re brothers right, so we gotta get a share out of the inheritance Bro, what ya say?” Trevor

“From our intel, there are bunkers under the facility, and a terrorist command center is right under that facility, these are the SpySat images to prove that, and from the thermal images here you can see the variation in thermal color indicating a sub-terrain. Take a look at these thermal images here taken at different times, notice the position of this person here, here, and here” The Captain explained

“Hmmm, that looks like our package right, see here he’s alone and seated, here, those pointy things look like he’s surrounded by guards, perhaps at an interrogation, and here he’s laying down” Chan pointed out.

“There’s a whole lotta activity, up here, too many civilians, TJ, what’s the facility used for?” Otis asked

“it’s a paint manufacturing company” I answered.

“Oh! Bombs!” Trevor said.

“What’s the plan Captain?” Chan asked

“If we want to get the package out alive, then we have to get to him as discreetly as possible” The Captain said.

“And how we gonn’ pull that off?” Trevor asked

“Sirs, I-I think I-I may have an idea” Wilkins said. Surprised we all looked at him.

“Well, out with it Wilkins” The Captain said, as he stepped aside for Wilkins to join us at the table.

“Err, if TJ owns the company, then he’s the key to letting us into the company without trouble, he just needs to be the CEO of the company, errm, Captain how many days did the terrorists give for the ransom?” Wilkins asked

“6 days starting tomorrow, why?”

“If TJ takes charge, he can have series of meetings in two days where restructuring and partnerships can be discussed, a memo can be passed stating that everyone take a day off as investors will be on hand to take a tour of the facility” Wilkins continued.

“And we are the investors, right” Chan added beaming with smiles

“I knew the lad was a thinker too” Trevor said. I liked the plan too, but there were grey areas, like we had no idea how many terrorists we were dealing with, we had no idea what we were really dealing with, or who we were up against, and more importantly I had no idea there were bunkers beneath the facility.

“It’s a great plan, good one Wilkins. Captain, any idea what and who we are up against?” I asked

“Yeah, they are a terrorist group formed from a sect, their purpose is unknown, they have access to the best weapons, funding comes from top politicians and government officials in the country” The Captain replied.

“Wait a minute, if they have funding, why kidnap an American citizen? What’s the ransom?” Otis asked

“They want a supply of our best military grade hardware, and we are well aware of the fact that they will kill the hostage, hardware or not” The Captain added.

“Cap’n, who is this hostage? and why is he so important anyway?” Trevor asked

“I can’t tell you, it’s confidential, gather round guys, let’s look at this map again” The Captain gestured, then scribbled on a piece of paper, and passed the paper around, it read -the walls have ears, the man that did the broadcast yesterday is not the President, that’s just a double with a mask, makeup, and excellent acting skills, the real president is the hostage. Hold your questions for later-.

I didn’t see how it was possible to abduct a whole US President? With all the trained security details? It just didn’t make any sense, no matter how hard I tried to make sense out of it, l mean, who dares think about abducting the President of the United States? Who dare goes ahead with the plan? Oh well, my Nigerian brothers just pulled the feat off, and the US government was using every resource it had to ensure not a word of the abduction leaked to the public, we were like the last resort, and we couldn’t afford to fail. Damn!

“We go with Wilkins plan, that’s the best we can come up with at this time. TJ call your man in charge of the company and inform him you’re coming in tonight, Trevor you’re TJ’s P.A.” The Captain said.

“Hell Yeah Cap’n, I love that role, TJ I’m on ya payroll now man, you ain’t gonn’ do me durty” Trevor

“Chan, Otis and I will be the investors, Wilkins, you’ll be our eye in the sky, and this map indicates this area here is hilly and covered by bushes, perfect cover for you as our sniper too” The Captain added

“Damn! The lad’s a pro too, hey Cap’n, when do I get me a watcher too? I need me one like Willy here” Trevor said.

“Errr, i-it’s Wilkins, Sir” Wilkins corrected Trevor

“They sound the same Bro” Trevor said

“We have no idea if these people have infiltrated our system or not, so we will be going by civilian transportation. TJ and Trevor you go together, we will be on the same flight but separate seats, do not blow your cover” The Captain instructed.

“Our weapons? What happens when we get to the destination? Logistics?” I asked

“A military aircraft is en-route Nigeria with our weapons, equipment, vehicles and personnel for backup; however they are in Nigeria in the guise of having discussions with the Nigerian Air Force on strategies to carry out effective reconnaissance and air strikes against insurgents. The vehicles will have the diplomatic plates, and will be driven to the hotel by the Nigerian Air Force Personnel. Once at the hotel, the NAF Personnel will hand the vehicles over, and we will drive ourselves to the safe house.” The Captain explained.

“Hey Cap’n, do I get a car too?” Trevor asked

“No Trevor, remember you’re with TJ, as his P.A. TJ make that call now”

“I’m on it Cap” I replied

“Damn! Y’all be driving them fancy cars with all them cool stuff” Trevor

“Trevor, quit whining like the big baby you are” Chan added

“Cap’n, you gonn’ watch this Asian mannequin disrespect me huh? Imma bitch-slap him from here back to Asia, and Jackie Chan gonn’  thank me for that”

“Trevor! Focus! We have a big issue to deal with, and we barely have a plan. This is a dire situation, do you know how catastrophic it would be for the US if word got out that its lovely…you know the story. The government wants this to be as quiet as possible, we need everyone to stay focused, we cannot afford mistakes. Brothers, we can do this!” The Captain charged.

I spoke to my man in Nigeria, and he sounded so excited when he learned I was coming home, perhaps he wasn’t in the know of what was going on in the bunkers below the company I told him to oversee. I told him not to mention my arrival to a soul, I didn’t even tell him about Trevor.

”Cap, it is done, when do we leave?” I asked

“Tonight” The Captain answered.

“I er I have a question Sir” Wilkins.

“Go ahead Wilkins”

“TJ, you own the company, do you have the blueprints?” Wilkins asked. Smart man, I had not even given it a thought, of course the blueprints were among the documents I had brought with me, and I made sure to take a copy wherever I went.

“Oh yes, hold on guys” I said as I went to retrieve the documents from the car. I had never really studied the blueprints, I still wondered why the facility had a bunker, what were my parents thinking? How did the terrorists know there was a bunker? Why had they chosen the paint factory as their base for operations? Several questions coursed through my mind, and I felt helpless because I didn’t have the answers.

We studied the blueprints, and discovered there was an underground tunnel from the bunker to what seemed like a private airstrip. The plans had to be adjusted.

“Okay, I think this makes it tougher, but better, here’s the deal: TJ and Trevor, you continue with the previous plan. Wilkins, you remain our eyes in the sky, we need aerial reconnaissance, Chan you’ll be the second sniper with Wilkins. Otis and I will have a repeat of Istanbul at the private airstrip” The Captain said.

“Yeah, Istanbul! Damn, that shi’ was crazy and mad fun, remember when I blew up them terrorists with that aircraft. So Y’all be having all the fun, ‘nd I’ll be stuck with TJ?” Trevor asked

“You want to take my place?” Chan asked

“And face them killer mosquitoes” I added

“I think I’ll just stick to having sweet fun with TJ, as his P.A.” Trevor said

“Damn man, that sounds so gay” Otis said.

“Alright guys, we leave at 2200 hours” The captain.

That night, on the flight, Trevor began his usual chatter; I just plugged my ears and drifted off to sleep. I was going home to deal with the perpetrators of evil that killed my parents.

We got into Nigeria, and everything was going as planned, Trevor and I got picked up at the airport, and we were taken to my family house. Thomas, the man I put in charge of the company, was driving, I looked at him and wondered if he had any idea what was going on, if he did, he wasn’t showing any signs. Perhaps, some friendly conversation would do.

“My man!” I cheered

“Hey TJ, after all these years, do you even remember my name? you look so different man, you’ve been working out real good” he said

“My man, what’s your name again?” I asked, pretending to be serious, when in actual fact, I had really forgotten his name.

“It’s Pab-“ He was saying

“Pablo, I was kidding about forgetting your name, I mean how will I forget your name?”

“Boss, I’m still here” Trevor said as he cleared his throat.

“Oh Pablo, meet my personal assistant, Trevor”

“Welcome Trevor, welcome to Nigeria” A joyous Pablo said, as he looked at Trevor in the rearview mirror.

“Pablo, how are the mosquitoes here? Trevor asked

“They kill” Pablo responded

“Damn!” Trevor said, as he slouched in the seat

“You’ll be fine Trevor, you will”

Pablo and I discussed more about the company, I explained that during my stay in the States, I had spoken to some foreign investors who were coming to check the facility out. During the course of discussion, he said he had hired one of the best marketers in the company, and how since she joined the company, profits had tripled.

“hey Pab, can you describe this lady, is she hot?” Trevor asked

“Oh very hot in all ramifications Sir” Pablo answered as he looked at Trevor through the rearview mirror and smiled.

“Trevor, please will you focus on being my personal assistant?” I said

“yes boss”

“Thank You”

From Pablo’s account, the Nigerian government had not taken security threats seriously, hence, a religious sect had developed like cancer and grown bigger till it became something very difficult to handle. It was so bad that the sect was not even afraid of the Nigerian military, and attacked them in their bases. Over time, the sect had become deadly, and dreadful, as they always went on killing sprees, killing men, women, and children gruesomely. Furthermore, there was so much corruption in the whole system, and that corruption had crept into the military, otherwise, how would you explain service chiefs getting allocations for military hardware, and diverting the funds for personal use, while sending soldiers out to fight against terrorists with superior fire power? These terrorists were getting standard issue military-grade weapons and vehicles, and the government in many years, had not been able to detect the movement of the weapons and vehicle. It was clear that there were a lot of things the government was not saying, perhaps the sect was political after all, but what government would allow terrorists kill its own innocent people?

As Pablo drove, I thought about the real reason why we were there, and wondered what surprises were lurking in hidden corners, waiting to pounce on us, and probably devour us. For some unknown reason, I felt a little skeptical about this mission, we had rescued big shots before, but not a President, definitely not an American president. If the President died during the operation, we would be held accountable for his death, and our secret unit would get disbanded, furthermore, if news got out that the president had died after being taken hostage, that could make the U.S. vulnerable to attacks, but trust the U.S. even if the President died as a hostage, the media would be paid to report that he died after a brief illness. I wondered at the possibility of abducting a U.S. President by an underdeveloped country, how did they successfully pull it off? There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but no one close to give me answers. A buzz from my phone jolted me back to reality, it was a text from the Captain:

“Intel reaching me says there was a special team assigned to the President, but their whereabouts are unknown” Okay, whatever happened to them though? More questions for me to ask. Everything went as planned, our gear was at the safehouse, and we went to work without wasting time. The thermal images for the airstrip came, and it showed there were not many hostiles at the airstrip. That night we gathered at the safehouse to strategize.

“Is there no way we can have live feeds on our wrist computers and glasses maybe?” I asked

“it is very possible, give me five minutes” Wilkins said, as he whipped out a military-grade laptop.

“Oh shoot me! Willy is a tech guy too?” Trevor said

In no time, we could get live infrared images of the bunker, the tunnel, and the airstrip, on our wearable computers. Next thing was study the patterns and know how best to get in and out, no doubts there would be casualties.

“Can we hack into their communications system?” I asked

“Let’s just blow up cell towers and masts” Trevor said

“No we cannot blow our cover with that, their communication system does not need to be hacked, our communications jammer will do the job” Chan said

“And power?” Trevor asked

“Well, the country’s power system is offline, so there’s nothing to hack into, we may need to locate the transformer, and pull out a fuse or two” I added.

“And what if they run on renewable energy and generators?” Wilkins asked.

“We move in with the power” The Captain said.

We went through the plan again, and when we were sure we understood our roles, Trevor and I drove back home, while the rest drove back to their hotel.

“Hey TJ” Trevor called

“Yeah bro” I answered

“You think we gonn’ be successful?” Trevor asked

“Oh well, let’s hope for the best, but expect the worst… scared?” I asked

“Scared? Nah, there ain’t nothing like fear here man, it’s what’s gonn’ happen if the President dies in captivity that bothers me” Trevor added

“Hey Trevor, we’ve been through tough times together, get your head in the game, and make sure the President does not die”

“So how much you gonn’ pay me for being your personal assistant?” Trevor asked with a smile.

“Get out of here man” I said, as we laughed.

The next day, Trevor and I resumed duties at the company. Pablo did the introductions and took us round the facility, and then handed us over to the marketer, he mentioned earlier

“Hello, my name is Zainab, welcome back I have heard so much about you” She said with a charming smile. Pablo had not done justice to her description, she was prettier than I had imagined, and she had this air of being in charge.

“Pleased to meet you, Zainab” Trevor said with a smile while offering her his hand.

“I hear you’re the best marketer in the country, and you have tripled our profits, good job!” I said, trying my best to sound like a professional.

“oh no, I’m not the best, oh well I hope to be some day, but I’m not, at least not yet” She said with that beautiful smile again.

“Still I must commend your efforts. Anyway, err, some investors are coming in soon, say 3 days from now, your marketing skills will be needed” I said. I wasn’t sure if I had seen what I thought I saw, for some seconds, it looked like there was a look of surprise on her face.

“Oh, great, that’ll be lovely” She said. Again I noticed the enthusiasm was not there like before.

“My personal assistant and I were taking a tour of the facility, and our tour guide, Mr. Pablo isn’t here, would you be kind enough to show us around?” I asked

“Oh sure, but I need to make a quick call to one of our clients, please give me a minute” She said as she turned and left hurriedly.

“That one, she’s big trouble” Trevor said

“yeah… indeed she is” I said, not knowing if we were both talking about the same trouble.

“Do you thi…” Trevor stopped talking when Zainab showed up

“Okay gentlemen, shall we?” Zainab said, as she joined us.

We took a tour round the facility, I was taking in every detail, so was Trevor, and after we had gone through every part of the facility, Zainab turned to leave us.

“And the bunker?” I asked.

“I-I didn’t know-know you would be-be interested in seeing that-that” Zainab said. I noticed the stutter, and knew something was definitely up.