PRIMAL Vengeance (3) (14 page)

       "Wait." Jonjo pulled a plain necklace over his head and held it out to Mirza. It was a simple talisman, a length of hide cord with a bullet hanging from it. "Take this."

       "What is this for, Jonjo?"

       "You have it. This will protect you from Janjaweed evil."

       Mirza looked at the necklace, unsure what to say.

       Jonjo pressed the talisman into his hand. "You gave me the rifle. I give you this in return."

       Mirza accepted the gift and dropped it over his head. It hung around his neck, the bullet cold against his skin. "Thank you."

       Jonjo turned and waded back into the river. "Come. We do not want to keep the Doctor waiting!"

       Back on the other side, Mirza ordered Jonjo to help Garang maintain security. Bishop was already supervising their reorganization, ensuring the SFF reloaded and kept watch for any Janjaweed follow-up force. They had been fortunate; there had been no SFF casualties. Once they were satisfied with the security, Mirza and Bishop jogged up the track to where the two UN vehicles had stopped. Jess was there, tending to the wounded men.

       "What's the situation, Doc?" Bishop asked placing his AK on the bonnet of the UN Landcruiser and putting on a pair of rubber gloves.

       Jess was working furiously on one of the men, the contents of her medical kit strewn on a patch of grass. "We've got two dead in the rear vehicle. The driver's a little shook up but not badly wounded." She pulled a tourniquet over the shattered arm of one of the men and closed it with a twist of the handle. "There's two more in the back. One of them is shot up pretty bad."

       Bishop wrenched open the rear door and found one uniformed man sitting next to another who was slumped forward in his seat, blood pooling at his feet.

       "I can't stop the bleeding," said the soldier in a heavy European accent.

       "Mirza, give me a hand with this guy." Bishop eased the slumped body of the unconscious man out of the vehicle. Mirza grabbed his legs and they sat him on the ground.

       Bishop spoke in a monotone as he worked. "Gunshot wound, upper chest. Clean in, clean out. Gonna need a valve." Bishop sliced the man's shirt off with his knife as Mirza rummaged through Jess's medical kit.

       It took ten minutes to stabilize the survivors. The final tally was two dead, two badly wounded, and three with minor injuries.

       "What happened?" Bishop questioned the Dutch Major as Jess finished with the two wounded men.

       "We were part of a standard observations group, conducting assessments of the villages. We started with three Landcruisers and a light armored vehicle. This is all that is left,
ja
!" He spoke quickly, adrenaline still coursing through his veins.

       "Where did you hit the Janjaweed?"

       He gestured to the two shot-up four-wheel drives. "They shot at us on the outskirts of the village. The APC went up first: no survivors. They had too much firepower so we turned and ran."

       "Can you show me the village?" Bishop asked unfolding a map.

       "
Ja
, this one here," the UN officer pointed out a small village approximately twenty-five kilometers to the northeast.

       "How many men?"

       "At least a hundred. They had more of the jeeps, maybe ten. They also had technicals and some trucks."

       Jess interrupted the conversation, "Major, you need to get these people to medical aid as soon as possible."

       "Of course. Thank you so much for everything you have done. Without your help we would all be dead." The man took Jess's hand in both his hands. He turned and shook Mirza's and Bishop's hands in turn. "Tell, me, who do you work for? I will ensure the UN gives you a medal."

       "We don't work for medals," Bishop said. "But thanks anyway."

       "OK, OK, I understand. Thank you again." The UN Observer's men finished loading their wounded into their four-wheel drives.

       The PRIMAL operatives and Jess stood by the road as the two shot-up Landcruisers limped off down the track.

       "Poor bastards," said Bishop. "That fucking blue beret is getting more people killed." He turned, slung his AK, and strode back to the creek.

       "What were they doing out there with no weapons anyway?" Jess asked Mirza while packing up her medical kit.

       Mirza crouched down, helping her. "You don't want to get him started. Come on, let's get out of here."

       "Well, I'm impressed by Aden. He handled the wounded like a professional. If I didn't know better I'd think he was a trained paramedic or a doctor," said Jess as they followed Bishop back to the SFF.

       "He might be a trained killer but he could have been a doctor. Sometimes he cares a little too much," said Mirza.

       "A liability in your line of work?"

       "No, a necessity!"

       As the doctor and the former Indian Special Forces operative loaded their equipment into the back of the Wildcat Bishop sought out Garang. The SFF Commander was standing next to the Hilux watching the Chinese jeeps continue to burn.

       Bishop stood by his side. "Not a bad day's work. You did well today. You should be proud of your men."

       "Except Sagrib isn't here. That bastard is still alive."

       "True, but now we know where to find him."

       Garang's head snapped from the burning jeep to Bishop's face. The intensity burned in him like a fire. "Where?"

       Bishop showed him the map and pointed out the village with the point of his knife. "Here!"

Chapter 22

The Bunker, Lascar Island

       The watchkeeper stuck his head into the PRIMAL Director's office. "Boss, we've got Bishop on vidcon."

       "Be right in. Can you grab Chua as well." Vance rose out of his chair and headed into the Bunker.

       Despite being well after midnight, the operations center was bustling. PRIMAL had a number of missions running parallel to Bishop and Mirza's. Operatives were deployed in South East Asia and Europe on separate tasks, all of them requiring support.

       Vance pulled up a chair in front of the video teleconference camera and a few seconds later Chua joined him. The slightly-built Chinese American had his usual energy drink in hand. Vance gave him a nod.

       "OK, we're good to go," he said.

       The watchkeeper took the call off hold and Bishop's face appeared on one of the main LED screens bolted to the Bunker's concrete walls.

       "Evening, boss," said Bishop.

       "Bishop, how ya doing, buddy?" asked Vance.

       "All good. We'll have to keep this quick though; things are moving pretty fast at the moment," replied Bishop via his iPRIMAL.

       "Is this linked to the UN vehicles?" asked Chua. The operations team was monitoring every UGS that the SFF fighters had planted around the border region. They conducted first line analysis on the information before sending it to the field operatives.

       "Yep, we made our first contact today. Ambushed the Janjaweed chasing the UN vehicles. Twelve Janjaweed EKIA along with two vehicles destroyed. Nil SFF KIA although I estimate that over fifteen UN soldiers were killed," said Bishop.

       "Poor fuckers. At least you smacked up those Janjaweed bastards," said Vance.

       "Good job, Aden," added Chua. "I just got the official UN report. They lost thirteen. According to them they were ambushed by a Janjaweed force while conducting a humanitarian assistance mission. Interestingly they reported your presence. Quote: 'unknown mercenaries supporting local fighters provided invaluable assistance.'"

       "The SFF made a good account of themselves. A little shaky but overall far more capable than I anticipated. Which is why I've decided on the next course of action."

       "Go on," said Vance.

       "The UN were hit at an outlying village. We've IDed it as the current Janjaweed forward operating base. The element that followed them up was small but the initial force was estimated as at least a hundred fighters and fifteen to twenty vehicles."

       "More of the ChiCom jeeps?" asked Chua.

       "Yep, although they're down two as of today."

       "So what are you thinking, Bish? Raid and Fade?" asked Vance.

       "You know it. I want to hit 'em at dawn tomorrow. Smash as many of their vehicles as possible and bug out."

       "You've only got forty men," said Chua.

       "True, which is why we are planning on hitting them hard then withdrawing. Garang wants to assault the whole village and kill Sagrib. It's taken some convincing but he's agreed to just do the hit and run."

       "Mission approved!" said Vance. "But if it all turns to cactus I want you and Mirza out of there fast. Harsh as it seems we can always raise another unit of freedom fighters."

       "Roger."

       Chua jumped in. "Aden, if you've got time I want to give you a heads up on the latest intel on the China side."

       "Shoot."

       "It is probable that the head of PETROCON, Han Zhu has sent one of his agents in to Sudan to equip and advise the Janjaweed. His assessed location is the PETROCON refinery at Abyei."

       "That would explain the helo that smashed up Garang's boys."

       "We don't have an ID on him yet, but I think he's going to be either
MSS
or
PLA Second Department
, seconded to PETROCON. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the same guy you met on the 'Tian Hai'."

       "That fucker was definitely a pro, whoever he was. He had Second Department written all over him," said Bishop. "Thanks for the heads up."

       "That's about a wrap," said Vance. "If you need anything else just holler. Oh, and another thing, no crazy plans involving Dragonfly. That aircraft's worth a fortune and Tariq ain't gonna buy us a new one if you bang it up."

       "No dramas. Mitch has made it pretty clear he's only flying logistics support on this one. Chua, I'm sending you the coordinates now. Any chance you can whistle us up some new imagery?"

       "If there's anything recent you'll have it within the hour. If you can delay a few days I can see if we can schedule a pass with one of the Lascar flights."

       "Negative, mate, we're punching in at first light. I've had a look at the stuff on the system; it's a few months old but it shows the general layout. We've come up with a basic plan. Nothing complex, but new shots would help."

       "I'll get the team onto it now. Anything else?"

       "No, that's it for intel support. Look, I've got to run. Mirza's knocked up a layout of the village and I want to take the teams through rehearsals. You guys got anything else for me?"

       Vance and Chua shook their heads. The mission had advanced faster than they had anticipated. They would need to convene a planning meeting to make sure the overall mission had not changed.

       "Get some sleep, Bish. You look like shit!" Vance added as they finished up the call.

       "Cheers, boss. Love you too." He paused. "Hey, buddy, you're losing a bit of size. What's the problem? HQ got you pushing too many pencils?" asked Bishop in his best Schwarzenegger accent.

       Vance flexed his arm and a massive bicep strained against the fabric of his shirt. "How about you wrap up this mission and get back island side so I can warm up on curls with what you max bench."

       The PRIMAL operative laughed. "Will do. Bishop out!"

Chapter 23

M25 'Punisher'

SFF Village, Abyei District

While Mirza and Bishop were out chasing the Janjaweed, Mitch had returned in Dragonfly and been busy at the village. He had flown in solar panels and supplies as well as a water purification pump. A team of local workers had wired the main SFF hut with power and converted another hut into a basic medical clinic, complete with an operating table. They had also planted more ground sensors on the road to the village, hidden Dragonfly under camouflage netting and stockpiled ammunition and weapons in one of the huts.

       It was the new weapons that Bishop was most interested in as he prepared for the next operation. He needed something to give him an edge over the heavily armed Janjaweed.

       "
That looks pretty high tech," said Jess as she entered the hut.

       It was mid-afternoon and Bishop had spent the last hour sorting through Mitch's latest delivery.

       "Hey, Jess," he said absent-mindedly, still engrossed in one of the new weapons he was inspecting. It was an M25 grenade launcher, a highly sophisticated weapon that had only recently been introduced to frontline soldiers in Afghanistan. The launcher fired programmable 25mm grenades from a four round magazine. With its integrated laser rangefinder, it looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.