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The Company
On February 8, we had Bonnie ("Xiang Wen," a.k.a. "Wu Xie Zhi"), Marc ("Anabel Windsor," a.k.a. "Abigail Wilson"), and Torsten ("Qoqa Ramazanov," a.k.a. "Zoya Petrovna Sidorov"). Martin ("Zhu Zhang," a.k.a. "Harold Lee") was fighting ninjas in 日本国, while Mike ("Vincenzo Calliente," of many aliases) still had his cold. Mike, when it runs for a month, see a doctor!
Time: November 1, 2009 (pre-dawn).
Place: Airborne over the sea, somewhere south of Athens.
Last Event: Obtaining a flying boat and setting out.
Around 05:00, Klas announces that the Russians' island should be just visible in the twilight, if the tracking beacons' GPS coordinates were reliable. The Agents in the passenger compartment stop what they're doing – mostly either preparing equipment or napping – to peer out through their ancient plane's tiny portholes. They spot a rocky islet in the distance. To avoid going in without any idea of the layout, Vinnie circles the objective so that his associates can take a good look . . . but to avoid being seen, he does so at some distance. The others size the place up through rifle scopes and binoculars.
The island is somewhat shoe-shaped. A tall "heel" at the west end terminates in cliffs overlooking the sea, while a slightly shorter "toe" at the east end tapers more gently down to sea level. At the north end of the valley between the two hills is a little cove sheltering a dock; the south end is a sandy beach. There's a massive mansion surrounded by gardens on the highest ground near the cliffs. Nearby is a helipad. Lesser structures dot the entire landmass. JB sketches a decent map of the place, showing the visible roads and buildings.
As Vinnie circles and the others observe, it becomes obvious that there's no beach suitable for a landing that isn't also in plain view of excellent observation posts on higher ground. The remaining option seems to be . . . the cliffs. Zhang believes that he could scale these and drop a line to the others, but he won't lie – it's very risky. However, it also looks like an extremely stealthy approach, as the overhanging cliffs will all but hide the group's arrival, and the crashing waves will cover any noise they make.
With that decided, Vinnie flies to the nearest public seaplane port, a 30-minute boat ride from the objective and on a more tourist-friendly island. Whatever voodoo Chaturvedi pulled with flight plans and callsigns pays off; the plane is expected and cleared to land. The landing, however, is a near-disaster . . . Vinnie underestimates his aircraft's weight and has trouble braking. Fortunately, Anabel is in touch with the controller, who warns them to pull out and try again. When the old bird is finally down, its strained flaps are badly in need of service.
It's almost 06:30 by the time the flying boat is moored. Anabel handles the necessary bribes and paperwork. Vinnie buys some good rope – ostensibly for mooring – knowing that Zhang's plan calls for a lot of it. Back at the plane, Qoqa supervises as the remaining Agents unload and inflate the Zodiac, and then fill it with the group's gear, which is packed in tacky tourist luggage rather than tactical drag-bags and gun cases.
Shortly thereafter, the Agents set out in the Zodiac, with Vinnie at the controls. Vinnie follows a long, sweeping course to the objective, taking extra time to ensure that the final approach is from the west, along a path hidden by the cliffs and the early morning shadows, rather than from the north, where the seaplane would have last been sighted. Zhang occupies himself preparing his ropes. The others keep an eye on the island through binoculars and telescopes, but there's no evidence that anybody there spotted the boat.
At about 07:45, Vinnie slows the engine to a crawl, maneuvers the Zodiac up to the cliffs under the helipad, and drops anchor. The rock wall looms over 50 meters tall. After a short wait to be positive that nobody is coming to check out the boat, Zhang strips down to light clothing; pulls on his climbing shoes, kneepads, and gloves; slings the prepared line; and starts making his way up. The others watch as he climbs, nothing but strength and skill between him and a messy death on the rocks. Eventually, he mantles up and out of sight.
The Agents in the boat are relieved when, at 08:30, Zhang drops a line to them. They affix it to the anchor line and draw it taut. Then they shoulder their loads, rope together, and carefully climb to the top. Lev leads the climb, while Wen brings up the rear. It's slow, careful going, but much faster than Zhang's trip up!
Soon, all 11 infiltrators are at the top of the cliffs, safely out of sight behind a helicopter garage and its fuel-storage tanks. Zhang picked a very good spot, all but hidden from the entire island, and only truly visible to someone visiting the rear of the heliport structure to check on the fuel tanks. The climbing line is lashed to solid steel structural members, which are anchored in concrete atop the island's rock.
Around 08:45, Vinnie quickly looks over the area for anything useful. He finds an old camouflage net – Russian military issue – neatly folded and hidden between two pipes. He suspects that it was probably used to hide a less-than-legal helicopter from the air at some point. While he has no specific use for it, Wen does: she and Klas will need to set up a sniper hide, and the net will come in very handy for that.
With Vinnie's find in hand, Klas and Wen climb the fuel pipes. Their goal is to get atop the storage tanks and then crawl across to the garage roof. After a shaky start wherein Wen whacks her head and needs bandaging from Qoqa, the two snipers sneak onto the roof dragging their newfound camouflage. Prone under the netting, they start unfolding bipods, attaching scopes, loading their weapons (a couple of U.S. Army M24 rifles), and so on.
Meanwhile, the others set up behind the tanks. Jili unpacks the cellular monitoring gear and tracking receiver, and digs out the long-range microphones (a directional mic and a laser mic) for rapid deployment. Anabel helps, and dons a second set of headphones to listen in on Russian phone chatter. Nearby, JB sets up the base radio and makes sure that all 11 tactical sets are coming through clearly. Ben and Qoqa take out their silenced pistols and move to either end of the makeshift "base camp," just in case.
By around 09:00, Klas and Wen are in position on the roof, and (from west to east) Ben, Anabel, Jili, JB, and Qoqa are set up behind the heliport. With that done, it's time for Hamid, Lev, Vinnie, and Zhang to go in.
To be continued . . .
Time: November 1, 2009 (pre-dawn).
Place: Airborne over the sea, somewhere south of Athens.
Last Event: Obtaining a flying boat and setting out.
Around 05:00, Klas announces that the Russians' island should be just visible in the twilight, if the tracking beacons' GPS coordinates were reliable. The Agents in the passenger compartment stop what they're doing – mostly either preparing equipment or napping – to peer out through their ancient plane's tiny portholes. They spot a rocky islet in the distance. To avoid going in without any idea of the layout, Vinnie circles the objective so that his associates can take a good look . . . but to avoid being seen, he does so at some distance. The others size the place up through rifle scopes and binoculars.
The island is somewhat shoe-shaped. A tall "heel" at the west end terminates in cliffs overlooking the sea, while a slightly shorter "toe" at the east end tapers more gently down to sea level. At the north end of the valley between the two hills is a little cove sheltering a dock; the south end is a sandy beach. There's a massive mansion surrounded by gardens on the highest ground near the cliffs. Nearby is a helipad. Lesser structures dot the entire landmass. JB sketches a decent map of the place, showing the visible roads and buildings.
As Vinnie circles and the others observe, it becomes obvious that there's no beach suitable for a landing that isn't also in plain view of excellent observation posts on higher ground. The remaining option seems to be . . . the cliffs. Zhang believes that he could scale these and drop a line to the others, but he won't lie – it's very risky. However, it also looks like an extremely stealthy approach, as the overhanging cliffs will all but hide the group's arrival, and the crashing waves will cover any noise they make.
With that decided, Vinnie flies to the nearest public seaplane port, a 30-minute boat ride from the objective and on a more tourist-friendly island. Whatever voodoo Chaturvedi pulled with flight plans and callsigns pays off; the plane is expected and cleared to land. The landing, however, is a near-disaster . . . Vinnie underestimates his aircraft's weight and has trouble braking. Fortunately, Anabel is in touch with the controller, who warns them to pull out and try again. When the old bird is finally down, its strained flaps are badly in need of service.
It's almost 06:30 by the time the flying boat is moored. Anabel handles the necessary bribes and paperwork. Vinnie buys some good rope – ostensibly for mooring – knowing that Zhang's plan calls for a lot of it. Back at the plane, Qoqa supervises as the remaining Agents unload and inflate the Zodiac, and then fill it with the group's gear, which is packed in tacky tourist luggage rather than tactical drag-bags and gun cases.
Shortly thereafter, the Agents set out in the Zodiac, with Vinnie at the controls. Vinnie follows a long, sweeping course to the objective, taking extra time to ensure that the final approach is from the west, along a path hidden by the cliffs and the early morning shadows, rather than from the north, where the seaplane would have last been sighted. Zhang occupies himself preparing his ropes. The others keep an eye on the island through binoculars and telescopes, but there's no evidence that anybody there spotted the boat.
At about 07:45, Vinnie slows the engine to a crawl, maneuvers the Zodiac up to the cliffs under the helipad, and drops anchor. The rock wall looms over 50 meters tall. After a short wait to be positive that nobody is coming to check out the boat, Zhang strips down to light clothing; pulls on his climbing shoes, kneepads, and gloves; slings the prepared line; and starts making his way up. The others watch as he climbs, nothing but strength and skill between him and a messy death on the rocks. Eventually, he mantles up and out of sight.
The Agents in the boat are relieved when, at 08:30, Zhang drops a line to them. They affix it to the anchor line and draw it taut. Then they shoulder their loads, rope together, and carefully climb to the top. Lev leads the climb, while Wen brings up the rear. It's slow, careful going, but much faster than Zhang's trip up!
Soon, all 11 infiltrators are at the top of the cliffs, safely out of sight behind a helicopter garage and its fuel-storage tanks. Zhang picked a very good spot, all but hidden from the entire island, and only truly visible to someone visiting the rear of the heliport structure to check on the fuel tanks. The climbing line is lashed to solid steel structural members, which are anchored in concrete atop the island's rock.
Around 08:45, Vinnie quickly looks over the area for anything useful. He finds an old camouflage net – Russian military issue – neatly folded and hidden between two pipes. He suspects that it was probably used to hide a less-than-legal helicopter from the air at some point. While he has no specific use for it, Wen does: she and Klas will need to set up a sniper hide, and the net will come in very handy for that.
With Vinnie's find in hand, Klas and Wen climb the fuel pipes. Their goal is to get atop the storage tanks and then crawl across to the garage roof. After a shaky start wherein Wen whacks her head and needs bandaging from Qoqa, the two snipers sneak onto the roof dragging their newfound camouflage. Prone under the netting, they start unfolding bipods, attaching scopes, loading their weapons (a couple of U.S. Army M24 rifles), and so on.
Meanwhile, the others set up behind the tanks. Jili unpacks the cellular monitoring gear and tracking receiver, and digs out the long-range microphones (a directional mic and a laser mic) for rapid deployment. Anabel helps, and dons a second set of headphones to listen in on Russian phone chatter. Nearby, JB sets up the base radio and makes sure that all 11 tactical sets are coming through clearly. Ben and Qoqa take out their silenced pistols and move to either end of the makeshift "base camp," just in case.
By around 09:00, Klas and Wen are in position on the roof, and (from west to east) Ben, Anabel, Jili, JB, and Qoqa are set up behind the heliport. With that done, it's time for Hamid, Lev, Vinnie, and Zhang to go in.
To be continued . . .