The Company

[dr_kromm]

On September 5, we had Bonnie ("Xiang Wen," a.k.a. "Wu Xie Zhi" and "Dot"), Marc ("Anabel Windsor," a.k.a. "Abigail Wilson" and "Vicky"), Martin ("Zhang Zhu," a.k.a. "Harry"), Mike ("Vincenzo Calliente," of many aliases), and Torsten ("Qoqa Ramazanov," a.k.a. "Zoya Petrovna Sidorov").

 

Time: Friday, July 15, 2011 (late night).
Place: Cody, WY, U.S.A.
Last Event: Planning action against the dude ranch-turned-gangster hideout.

With useful intelligence on the ranch only just collated, and a key meeting between Georgi and Toru's organizations supposedly taking place in less than 24 hours, the Agents must act either hastily or not at all. Planning is further complicated by the fact that it's unclear what's going on. The mob soldier lurking on the ranch-house roof with a SAM – a gamble given the Americans authorities' concerns about terrorists attacking planes – suggests something truly important and worth taking risks for. The fact that Paul and Jili spotted no interesting arrivals at the airport means that the principals are already at the ranch, arriving at the last instant, or not coming at all. It could be that the SAM is to cover the approach of a small aircraft . . . or to shoot one down in an act of betrayal!

Of course, the main reason for being here is that the bosses might show up. The FSB wants Georgi, and the Agents can understand why, given the man's stock in trade. While the FSB is no more ethical than the CIA, and probably poses an equivalent threat to the Company, it is – like its American counterpart – in the business of keeping military armaments of the sort Georgi sells in the hands of relatively stable nation-states. As for Toru, the group wants his head on a plate for his betrayal. Given that he endangered his own daughter, Asuka, as well as Chaturvedi, with the result that the team saved the girl's life, there's a chance that removing the treacherous Toru and installing the grateful Asuka would strengthen the Company in Asia.

Then again, the ostensible purpose of the face-to-face meeting between the two mobs is to exchange one-time pads for encrypting future communications. While that hardly requires the bosses' personal presence, letting the handoff happen unmolested means that the FSB will lose track of Georgi and his interactions with Toru. And that wouldn't exactly make the world a safer place – especially given that the nuke the Agents intercepted in Mexico almost certainly made its way out of Grandfather's stash thanks to Georgi. Striking a blow against the illegal trade in SAMs and nuclear weapons offers good cause to raid the ranch.

Setting aside bosses, one-time pads, and other high-value targets, there's also the fact that the mobsters have parked considerable assets in one place. A successful strike that managed to injure or kill dozens of Georgi and Toru's men, capture or destroy their costly illegal hardware, and leave smoldering ruins for the FBI to find would seriously set back both criminal organizations. It might even deliver a fatal blow to their U.S. operations. Jili adds that capturing the gangsters' comms equipment would probably net useful intelligence – and Qoqa makes a similar point about live captives.

In the end, the Agents conclude that whether or not the bosses show up as all-too-conveniently advertised, there's a multitude of compelling reasons to hit the ranch. Given the lay of the land, the least-risky strategy looks to be a two-pronged sneak attack that comes in low and slow – ideally, stealthily enough that snipers can't detect and react to it. The first objective has to be the two dugouts between the highway and the ranch house. From there, it should be possible to shoot down the snipers and then steal up to the main building before the occupants are on full alert. Things will go wrong, demanding improvisation, but the closer the team can get before being discovered, the better.

After settling that, the Agents work out squads and equipment:

Squad 1

• Wen on point, to check for booby traps, a Remington M24 slung over her back and 50 rounds of ammo (and brass knuckles) in her pockets.
• Paul to cover Wen, armed with a Franchi SPAS 15 and carrying three magazines (and a knuckleduster of his own).
• Zhang for sentry removal, wielding two tonfas for beating heads, and slinging a pair of H&K MP5A3s with a half-dozen magazines, for when the shooting starts.
• Anabel to support Zhang, toting a combat knife for silent killing, a Glock 17 with six magazines, and one of the S&W 1076s for good measure.
• Jili to deal with electronic threats, packing a Glock 17 and six magazines.

Squad 2

• Vinnie on point, to check for booby traps, equipped with the other SPAS 15, three magazines, a trench knife, and a combat knife.
• Klas to cover Vinnie, slinging the second M24 and bringing 50 rounds of ammo stuffed in pockets.
• Lev for sentry removal, brandishing a combat knife for the purpose – and with two MP5A3s strapped on, and six magazines, for when stealth is lost.
• Qoqa as general backup, with a knife, a Glock 17 with six magazines, and the other S&W 1076.
• Hamid to deal with electronic threats, carrying a Glock 17 and six magazines.

Everybody understands that with a loadout consisting largely of light small arms, minimal ammo, and hand-to-hand weapons, they'll need to capture better firepower to use once surprise is lost. And sans body armor, engagements have to be ambushes, not pitched battles.

It's 01:00 on July 16 when the Agents set out, traveling together in the Winnebago in order to plan timing and signals. Vinnie takes the wheel and makes excellent time, driving the last few kilometers with the headlights out. The clock reads 03:00 when he pulls over behind some rocks, where he, Klas, Qoqa, and Wen camouflage everyone with dirt and bits of scrub. After that, Wen's squad moves out on foot while Vinnie drives his people to the property's opposite front corner – still running dark. Vinnie and Klas hastily camouflage the vehicle behind light concealment, while Qoqa efficiently "cleans" the interior, and then Vinnie's squad slinks toward the ranch as well.

The two squads move toward the fence, where they pause to check for booby traps and alarms. Finding none, they squeeze under the barrier at places where runoff has eroded the ground. After that, it's a long, slow crawl for most of an hour. By sheer luck, the gangsters' vehicle patrols never come all that close to either group. Inside the perimeter circled by the Jeep, though, both Wen and Vinnie encounter tripwires, which they painstakingly follow back to small landmines, each sporting six such wires. Vinnie leads his people around these, while Wen makes a hole in the coverage by disarming and taking one of the devices!

After successfully skirting a second mined area, both squads loop toward the dugouts they observed during daylight, coming at them from the side. Everybody moves at a low crawl, which brings them to within spitting distance by about 04:30. Just ahead, hushed voices are audible, speaking in Russian. Breaking off from their colleagues, Zhang and Anabel edge toward one bunker, while on the far side of the driveway, Lev and Vinnie approach the other. Both pairs creep up at a snail's pace, halting whenever there's a pause in the sentries' conversation.

On reaching the dugout entrances, the four scouts pause and wait. It sounds as if there are two men inside each bunker. The plan – agreed upon during the drive up – is to let the sentries check in by radio before taking them out, hopefully maximizing the time the team has to act. Before long, Anabel and Lev hear someone giving what's unmistakably an "all is well" report. With that, they signal their respective partners and slither forward.

Everything goes smoothly. Anabel and Zhang move into the bunker on their side, where they use knife and tonfa, respectively, to attack the two men inside. Across the way, Lev and Vinnie steal up with knives at the ready. All four attacks are quick and efficient, dealing disabling or lethal blows without a struggle or significant noise. An instant later, Lev and Zhang are signaling for their respective squads to move up.

The Agents pause briefly at the dugouts to see what armaments they can procure to increase their firepower. True to form, the Russians came loaded for bear. Klas, Lev, and Wen identify some serious support weapons: an M240 machine gun and a box of five AT4-CS anti-tank weapons in each position! It seems that Georgi has access to pilfered U.S. military hardware and isn't taking chances with letting hostile ground vehicles (or anything else) approach his hideout. Wen and Lev help themselves to the machine guns, and ask Anabel and Vinnie to carry AT4s for them.

Thus armed, the two squads resume their approach, linking up as planned about 100 meters from the front door. Stalking to just outside the circle of light cast by the porch lamps, the Agents see six men hanging around, chatting and smoking. The guards' appearance and speech betrays them as Japanese – Toru's men. While their night discipline is poor and distinctly nonmilitary, they're all toting eminently military H&K MP7A1 submachine guns.

After a whispered conference, the Agents agree that they're unlikely to get much closer without raising the alarm, so they might as well hit hard and inflict as much damage as possible before surprise is lost. Klas and Wen, both of whom are qualified on the AT4, prep the two launchers; Klas aims at the water tower where he saw snipers during the day, while Wen lines up the front door. Lev sets up one of the M240s and gets ready to support Wen. Everybody else prepares to charge.

The go signal comes from Wen, who waits for the men on the porch to bunch up near the door. This takes a couple of minutes, but as soon as it happens, Wen takes her shot. The front door is obliterated by the explosion. Two men go flying from the blast and land on the ground, unmoving, while the others are left staggering. More casualties are visible through the gaping hole torn in the building. Lev doesn't wait to count bodies – he simply opens up with the machine gun and finishes the job.

Nearby, Klas likewise unleashes hell. The snipers on the tower are on top of their game – as soon as Wen fires, they turn to react. Unfortunately for them, Klas already has them in his sights. An instant after the first explosion, the water tower is rocked by the blast of his AT4. The supports stay in place, but the wooden platform and thin metal tank are blown to bits, hurling two badly wounded gunmen through the air and dashing them to the ground. Klas isn't one to utter "Nobody could survive that!", but he's certain that nobody could survive that.

As Wen and Klas discard launchers and prepare rifles, and Lev provides machine gun cover, the other seven Agents move in . . .