The Wolf of Los Angeles

Chapter 437 - 437: Escape

[Chapter 437: Escape]

On the side of the airport runway, Ethiopian rapid response forces patrolled around the clock without rest. According to Bosque's assessment, the attackers' best chance was to pass security as passengers and enter the airplane parking area. It didn't require complicated operations; just tossing a few coins into the engine could cause a catastrophic accident, possibly resulting in destruction and fatalities.

Bosque stood by the window on the second floor, looking outside. Among the team from Hurricane Company, there were also Black personnel.

Since yesterday, using connections at the United Nations, Bosque had reassigned two mixed-race Black agents to replace airport security covertly to monitor the passenger area. Another three were quietly watching from the second floor.

Nothing unusual was detected yesterday, but this morning signs appeared.

...

A few white passengers entered the waiting lounge. Two of them waited an unusually long time, catching Bosque's attention. After waiting for an extended period, they suddenly left the terminal.

Bosque pressed his portable radio and softly said, "Keep an eye on the one wearing the sun hat and the one wearing floral shirt."

"Copy that!" Andrei signaled his team, "Should we detain them?"

Bosque replied, "The situation is chaotic there -- detain them first."

...

In a lounge by the terminal, several men armed with automatic weapons rushed out. On the roadside, a bearded man drove an old Toyota pickup, resting one arm outside the window and holding a cigarette.

Two men got into a nearby van and started the engine. The bearded man quickly noticed his companion wearing a sun hat approaching and opening the back door to get in. The one in the floral shirt came from another direction and took the passenger seat.

All three were hired by Gurg in Sudan, having worked together many times.

Once the floral shirt guy was seated, the bearded man started the pickup saying, "The boss ordered us to meet at the arranged location."

Suddenly, the sun hat guy looked forward and instinctively reached for his gun.

The bearded man saw the van suddenly rammed into them. He pressed the accelerator and desperately steered, but the van crashed heavily into the side of the pickup's front. The old Toyota had seen many owners and accidents; its airbags did not deploy.

The three in the pickup were dazed and disoriented from the crash. The van's airbags deployed, protecting its driver.

The bearded man and floral shirt rubbed their heads, trying to regain consciousness. The sun hat's hat fell, revealing two bleeding cuts across his forehead, blood flowing into his eyes.

He saw several armed men approaching quickly. He desperately grabbed his pistol but his hands wouldn't obey.

Before he could raise the gun, the muzzle of a short-barrel assault rifle pressed against his head.

A Latino man said in English, "Don't move, put down your gun."

On the driver's side, another held a shotgun aiming at the driver and co-driver, "Don't resist, raise your hands!"

The cold gun barrel sobered the three dazed men. They hesitated but slowly raised their hands and placed them on their heads.

Someone came over, dragged them out of the vehicles, and bound their hands.

...

The commotion alerted the airport security and soldiers guarding the airport. When Andrei spoke to them, they turned away quickly, pretending not to notice.

The prisoners were pushed into the van; guns and phones were found and confiscated. The pickup was searched, and a satellite phone was discovered.

Within ten minutes, several vehicles arrived at Sahara Greening Company's warehouse area. Bosque and Andrei also rushed over.

The three captured men were doused with cold water and given stimulants to quickly wake them up. Brutal interrogations started immediately.

...

Northwest of Damakin, at a small roadside eatery selling sour flatbread, a tent shielded customers from the sun. A Toyota pickup was parked nearby.

Gurg and a muscle-bound man got out of the truck, ordered the flatbread, pulled out bottled water, and sat under the canopy to wait.

After nearly ten minutes with no sign of their hired men, Gurg bit into his flatbread and said to the muscle-bound man, "Make a call."

The muscle man took out the satellite phone and dialed.

...

Back at the Sahara Greening warehouse, right as the interrogation began, the satellite phone rang.

Andrei looked at Bosque, who glanced at the suspended prisoners saying, "Ignore it for now."

They expected to have the captured men take calls later after breaking their resistance.

...

No one answered the phone.

The muscle man put down the phone, "No one answered. Didn't you hear it while driving?"

Gurg was different. He put down a bill and immediately got up, walking quickly toward the vehicle. "We need to leave quickly."

The muscle man hurried after him, "Did something happen to them?"

"Very likely," Gurg urged, "Let's go now."

They got into the pickup and sped away toward the distance.

Gurg pulled out an AK, unfolded its stock, and vigilantly looked back. Seeing no car chasing, he relaxed a bit and said, "Head straight to the border; we're leaving Ethiopia."

The muscle man realized the situation was serious and accelerated, "They got caught? Hawke Osment has already taken a UN flight out."

"His security didn't leave," Gurg thought and added, "That bastard has money -- enough to bribe officials in Ethiopia. Without official cooperation, it's tough to catch our people."

Money was Hawke Osment's biggest advantage.

Gurg had operational funds but only dared to give them to tribal chiefs because those super dollars were North Korean made.

"Not official?" the muscle man asked.

"I know the officials in Damakin, Ethiopia. They're dumb, greedy, and unwilling to act without incentives," the leader explained.

He pondered, "We must prepare for the worst. Scrap all bases known by those three, and cut contact with anyone connected to them."

"Understood," the muscle man said.

Gurg continued, "When we return, we change our looks. No more Gurg or Muscle titles."

"That means most of what we did before will be pointless," said the muscle man.

"Better safe than sorry." Gurg, trained strictly in Moscow, was far more experienced than these amateurs he hired. "We'll lay low for a while."

...

Less than an hour and a half later, several Land Rover Defenders rushed out of Damakin city, and parked outside the roadside eatery.

Andrei was observing from a distance with binoculars, confirmed no one was leaving, and ordered, "Search for suspicious surroundings."

Fully armed personnel quickly got out from the vehicles.

Andrei talked with the shop owner and cook, quickly learned that the two men drove a pickup heading northwest over an hour ago -- clearly leaving Ethiopia.

No anomalies in the area allowed Andrei to pursue.

They could only hope for luck.

...

But luck was not on their side; the enemy likely sensed the incident, sped up to escape, and changed routes.

Andrei chased across the Sudan-Ethiopia border but found no trace.

...

Back at Sahara Greening warehouse, Bosque received Andrei's report, not too disappointed, and called his team to prioritize taking down General Amin in South Sudan or the Pakistani man.

Through brutal rounds of questioning, they extracted valuable information from the three captured men about Gurg, General Amin, and the Pakistani.

They didn't know Gurg's real identity, just that after arriving in Africa, he hired personnel who mostly operated in North Sudan but also supplied equipment to South Sudan, acting as weapons dealers.

Several tribal warlords, including Amin, were connected through these dealings.

Gurg used large sums of money to bribe the Pakistani man and General Amin to orchestrate the attack.

Why? Even the contract workers were unsure.

But all three suspected Gurg reported to some major force.

...

When Andrei returned to the warehouse, Bosque immediately held a team meeting to identify the location of the Pakistani peacekeeping camp and airport routes.

The three men gave one tip: when Gurg paid the final amount, he spoke by phone with the Pakistani who planned to fly back to Pakistan the day after tomorrow.

He boldly took the money because he was about to leave Africa.

Bosque spread out a map, said, "Sudan's infrastructure is poor. The closest airport to the Pakistani camp is in Talodi. When we scouted it, there was basically only one main road suitable for vehicles."

Although the savanna is riddled with paths, nobody willing to circle through fields due to speed and comfort.

Andrei said, "They'll have a convoy escort. Without inside info, it's hard to pinpoint which vehicle the target is in."

Bosque said firmly, "The Pakistani peacekeeping force camp is only a company-sized unit, no more than five vehicles. Our people in Costa Rica have chartered a plane -- if all goes well, it'll arrive tomorrow morning. A new batch of rocket launchers will arrive as well, perfect to take out that bastard."

"What about airport customs?" asked Salah, the Arab.

"We're using the Foundation's access routes," Andrei said. "Pierce already contacted people. Under the UN Environment Program, the shipments are marked as trees and seedlings for Africa Greening, exempt from inspection."

Salah said, "Even if he travels by tank, we'll take him down!"

Besides the usual African RPGs, this shipment included a batch of AT4 anti-tank rockets. The latter was rare in poor Africa, not as commonly used as RPGs. Too many copies made them hard to track later.

*****

https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.