Chapter Text
Mother of Conspiracies
Rating: T
NOTE:
All characters/events are under the copyright of their respective holders/distributors. All other characters are under my jurisdiction.
Summary:
Stopping a false flag op in Britain planned by a rogue government official was the starting point of a major worldwide operation that would lead to an international conspiracy. AU of most of series/franchises, starts in the middle of the The Veteran (2011) movie.
"True heroism lies in the sacrifices made behind the scenes, away from the limelight"
Two teenagers of East Asian origin were loitering along a stretch of road somewhere in Walworth with nothing but townhouses and parked vehicles next to the sidewalk in the early afternoon. Both wore jeans and rubber shoes, although they only differ in their shirt/jackets. The black-haired teen with glasses wore a simple plain white shirt with a black windbreaker on, hood worn over his head. The brown-haired teen had a gray pullover hoodie that had the words I LOVE LONDON on it.
["Hey Nine."] The brown-haired teen said in Japanese when he leaned next to a 1997 Solid White Proton Mpi sedan parked next to the sidewalk.
["What is it, Twelve?"] The black-haired teen replied in the same language as he peered through a small black monocular to check the street for anything or anyone suspicious.
["Our friend reported in with the bugs that we planted at Home Secretary Gerry Langdon's office, home and car. Turns out we got some juicy information on him and his links to the Rising Peace Academy."]
["Any specifics?"]
["Turns out that Secretary Langdon's one of the many foreign backers of the Rising Peace Academy. Not sure on the extent, but he's one of the few guys in the UK who helped the RPA work with Savant specialists back in the day."]
["Looks like we hit the jackpot then."]
["There's even more."]
Nine turned his head to face Twelve, who had a wicked grin on his face.
["Turns out that he's got the services of an ex-Para in the British Army on surveillance to ensure false flag attacks go through. He did say that he's the key to make Langdon's faction go down the toilet."]
["Well..."] Nine spotted someone who just appeared on the road after he crossed through the chain link fence. ["Hey. Do you have a photo of the guy?"]
["Yeah."] Twelve got a colored photo of a man in his early 30s from his wallet. ["Here's a head shot of him."]
Nine took a quick look at the man's face. Caucasian man with brown hair in a crew cut with a green shirt. ["That's our man. Robert Miller."]
He gave the photo back to Twelve and scoped the bearded man who was seen just standing near the sidewalk just a few meters from him. What the hell is he doing?
Nine looked at the monocular again and studied the man's face. Remove the beard and all and that's Miller. But what's he gotten himself to?
["We better move..."] Twelve pointed to the speeding blue 2014 Volkswagen Transporter T5 panel van, approaching the standing man.
["No doubt that's Miller. Run for it."] Nine told Twelve when he made a running start first before Twelve would follow. It was only a miracle that they stood a few meters from the spot where the van appeared, so it was a short run.
The duo ran towards the van as two men jumped out after the sliding door was opened to grab the bearded man from the back. They wore different types of jacket, but appear to have jeans and black tactical boots.
Twelve was the first to make a move, taking out a Strider SMF NSN folding knife from the pocket of his jeans. Ensuring a tight and firm grip on the folding knife's frame with his right hand, the 4" blade popped out after he quickly used his thumb to depress the thumb stud.
"Shit! We got company!" One of the suspicious men who tried to accost the bearded man from the back brought his right hand into his black jacket and grab the pistol from the shoulder holster.
"Eiyah!" Twelve stabbed the short red-haired man in the neck, followed by several stabs to the chest.
"Gurh..." The armed man wasn't able to put up a fight since he received a serious stab wound at the neck. He began to choke on his own blood.
Nine reached for the other man, who had a brown bomber jacket and messy brown hair. The teen used his left hand went for the knife sheath strapped on the rear of his pants, which was concealed by the windbreaker worn over it.
"Fuc..." The brown-haired man had barely taken his pistol from his IWB holster when Nine drew out his Extrema Ratio Glauca B1 folding knife, the blade already extended. In one quick motion, he went for the man's throat as well.
The move quick short work of the man as clutched his slashed throat, being shocked that someone like Nine could easily get the drop on him.
The bearded man went for the dropped pistol, which was a SIG Sauer P226R, and took aim at the van's driver. He fired three shots through the front passenger door window, killing him after he got shot in the left temple, making him slump to his right thanks to the seat belt he wore. The other two shots simply went for his body.
"Bloody hell..." The bearded man sighed and checked the P226R's magazine and saw that he's fired three shots. He then saw Nine and Twelve check the bodies of the dead men for anything of value. They only got identification and money taken from the wallets of the dead men, confirming them to be officially working under the Joint Intelligence Service. The most significant person IDed by the duo is Chris Turner, who was formerly based from MI-5, according to the bio data the duo covertly obtained.
["You're good, Twelve?"] Nine grabbed the dead man's handkerchief and used it to clean the blood off from his folding knife before he handed it to Twelve.
Twelve nodded when he got the handkerchief.
"All right you two!" The bearded man slowly raised his pistol at the two. "Just who are you and what the bloody hell is going on? How are you related to these guys?"
"Easy, Robert Miller." Nine calmly replied after his knife was placed back in the sheath. He raised his hands up to prove that he's not a hostile.
Twelve kept his grip on his folding knife when Nine glanced at him from over his left shoulder and shook his head, warning him not to do anything stupid.
"How do you know my name?" Robert was more suspicious of Nine knowing his name, still having the pistol trained on his head.
"I'm not here to hurt you." Nine explained his position while keeping his hands up. "In fact, my friends and I are here to help you out of your current predicament."
"Friends?" Robert raised an eyebrow.
"Let's just say that we have a mutual interest to gain by going after Home Secretary Langdon's faction, which you partially took care of by going after the big fish himself when we're suppose to go after him."
"You mean there's a bigger conspiracy than his faction trying to use false flags operations based on the attacks in mainland Europe by ISIL?" Robert questioned Nine, but this time with his sidearm lowered since he realized that Nine and Twelve aren't hostile.
"Yes. It seems that they want to make 2017 go down in history with a bang for November. Come with me. We'll fill in the rest of the details." Twelve checked the van interior and secured another P226R from Turner's shoulder holster and an Apple Iphone 7 smartphone.
"Besides, we got friends out there who's taking care of someone you know."
Another blue 2014 Volkswagen Transporter T5 panel van was seen parked somewhere inside an abandoned warehouse somewhere in Rodmill Lane around Brixton Hill. Three men were inside, all armed with P226R pistols holstered in shoulder/IWB holsters and wore various clothes and footwear.
"Any word from Turner guys?" One of the armed men standing watch near the warehouse's metal gates looked outside for anything suspicious. He wore a bomber jacket, brown pants and sneakers. He had shot brown hair.
"None at all. Said that he'd call once he's able to get Miller into custody." The second man replied, who had a worn brown leather jacket, green cargo pants and black combat boots. His blond hair was in a buzz cut.
"Wonder what's taking him so long? It's not like that one ex-para can take on a crew..."
The two suddenly heard a loud noise coming from outside.
Like someone threw something hard at the gates.
"Who the hell is doing that?"
"I dunno. Better have that checked."
The brown-haired man was the first person to immediately draw out his sidearm and peeked from the corner of the glass window to check and see if anyone was throwing something.
This earned the man a shot to the forehead. The sound of a bullet piercing the window made the second man rattled as he ducked for cover behind a stack of crates. The window was completely smashed up when a mix of smoke and stun grenades were hurled inside.
"Oy! What's going on?!"
Before the van's driver could get out, the grenades detonated after they were hurled inside. The warehouse was engulfed by bright flashing lights and gray smoke. This distraction allowed a couple of persons to climb through the broken window.
The intruders were dressed in Gun Metal Grey Rothco Special Ops Tactical Soft Shell jackets, Foliage Green Emerson Gen 2 Tactical pants, black tac gloves, pistol leg holsters and boots. Their faces were concealed with black facemasks to cover their mouths and noses. Only one of them wore a black Ford Police Interceptors baseball cap.
The person wearing the ballcap has a Black ANA M2 Plate Carrier vest worn over his chest while the other one in the facemask wore a Black Flyye Industries LT6094 plate carrier vest, outfitted with the appropriate pouches for magazines, grenades, radios, utilities, drop pouches and smartphones.
They only differed in the small arms that they had, slung on their right shoulders. Brass catchers were installed to ensure no used ammo brass is left behind.
The person in the ballcap was armed with a Desert Design & Development D3-45SD pistol-type carbine in a black finish, outfitted with quad-rails, a Magpul MOE buttstock and a vertical foregrip with attached taclight with an EOTech Holographic Hybrid Gen. III holographic sight is attached on the upper receiver.
The other person was armed with a LWRC International IC-A5 assault rifle with a 10" barrel in a black finish. It's outfitted with an Aimpoint CompM4S red dot scope and a vertical foregrip with attached taclight.
"We got company!" The second man tried to aim and fire, but the smoke and the light messed up his vision (in the sense that he can't see well) that his shots didn't hit anyone, except the wall near the gate. He stumbled away from the crates in an effort to get a better shot.
"What a waste of ammo..." The cap-wearing person sighed before he wasted the blinded man by firing the D3-45SD carbine at him at three round burst mode. "Mukuro, go check on the van! The VIP may be there."
"Understood, Dagger." Mukuro Ikusaba moved in towards the van, her IC-A5 assault rifle shouldered while on the move. An ordinary person couldn't tell that she was a woman because the plate carrier covered her chest and her hair was cut very short that she can mistaken for a guy.
The driver came out when the noise subsided, his P226R aimed at Mukuro's masked face. She noted that he had a gray hoodie pull through jacket, jeans and hiking shoes.
"Drop it!" Mukuro shouldered the IC-A5 assault rifle and aimed it at the hooded man, the CompM4S red dot scope focused on his unprotected chest. "Drop it now!"
"Piss off, you wench...!" The man decided that he didn't have anything to lose by shooting her instead off complying.
"You snooze..." Mukuro fired her weapon at the armed man in semi-auto mode before he can completely pull the trigger. He went down, his back slamming against the van's sliding door before his corpse crumpled onto the ground. "you loose."
"Secure the van! I'll keep watch!" Dagger began to search the bodies for anything of value.
"Got it!" Mukuro made sure the sling of her weapon was secured before she opened the panel van's sliding door. Inside was a woman who was tied up, her arms behind her back, with plasticuffs. Her head was also covered with a black hood. Otherwise, she was dressed in a white shirt with a blue windbreaker, jeans and brown loafers.
Is this her? Mukuro went for a pouch in her vest, taking a colored photo of a slightly brown-skinned woman with long black hair, most likely taken from a surveillance photo somewhere in London. Only one way to find out.
Mukuro got inside the van and gently moved the tied up woman so that she can see her wrists. The masked woman kept the photo back in her pouch and drew out a Glock 81 Survival Knife with a black handle from the sheath strapped on her pants. "If you can hear me, I need you to hold still. I'll be cutting the restraints."
The Glock-made knife had the blade's sharp saw teeth cut through the plasticuffs. Mukuro took them off before she gripped the hood and removed it from her head.
"How is she?" Dagger checked the IDs of the dead men and secured them alongside whatever cash they have before their pistols were dismantled by removing the slides and magazines. Damn. These guys are from the newly founded JIS.
"Shaken, but she's okay!" Mukoro replied as she spoke to the woman. "Are you Alayna Wallace?"
The black-haired woman nodded.
"Okay. My partner and I are here to get you out of here. Can you stand?" Mukuro extended her right hand to her.
"I think so. They kept me seated for a day now after I tried to leave London." Alayna slowly tried to stand up, her legs almost giving out due to being forced to sit down by squatting before she was brought to Rodmill Lane.
"Don't rush it. Just take it slowly." Mukuro helped the woman get out of the van, taking to consideration that she was almost physically and mentally drained.
"Hey. I was able to get everything we needed." Dagger had just finished collecting the JIS IDs when he approached Mukuro. "Looks like these guys are from the JIS. No mistake, according to their IDs."
"But what's their endgame?" Mukuro questioned her partner after she finished guiding Alayna out of the van.
"They..." Alayna tried to explain the situation. "They wish to take advantage of the terror incidents perpetrated by the Islamic State in Europe to create chaos in the UK and in Ireland in order to justify more counter-terrorism funding as the first step and make them the scapegoat."
"They? Is this part of some kind of master plan?"
"I heard Secretary Langdon talk to someone over the phone a few days ago..." Alayna was a bit worried when she explained. "Something about a major operation going on here in the UK and in Japan, from what I remember."
"Damn..." Dagger muttered. "Just like the intel we got after we arrived in Britain."
"Yeah. We'll need to move." Mukuro escorted Alayna out of the warehouse while Dagger led the way.
"By the way," Dagger turned his head over his right shoulder to face Mukuro. "nice shooting back there."
"It was nothing."
Robert, Nine and Twelve were inside a 2015 Universal Silver Nissan X-Trail SUV heading towards an unknown destination somewhere in London, currently driving on Lambeth Road. Nine was the one in charge of driving with Twelve in the front passenger seat. Robert opted to sit at the back, behind Twelve.
For the past hour or so, the two Japanese teens explained to Robert why they were in Japan and the story behind their presence in the UK.
"So let me get this straight..." Robert sighed after he leaned on his seat. "You two are Japanese orphans who were taken in by a NGO known as the Rising Peace Academy."
"Yeah, that's right." Twelve replied in agreement.
"And you guys were experimented on with other orphans taken in by this NGO in an attempt to recreate savant syndrome as part of this... Athena Plan to revive Japanese nationalism after its defeat in World War II?"
"Yep... And also, Nine thinks it's a good idea to recruit you and help us take them down. Even with the big fires that wrecked this so-called Settlement during your escape."
The ex-para sighed when he heard the rest of the details from the brown-haired teen. "Sounds a bit ludicrous if you ask me though. That's like saying the British National Party has a plan using the members of its youth wing Resistance to make Britain great again by getting rid of the non-white populace."
"We'll take you to the one person who you wouldn't want to talk to after this fiasco." Nine calmly told Robert what they'll do next.
"You mean the Home Secretary himself?" Robert was a bit shocked at Nine's plans.
"You object to it?" Nine made a right turn at the circle and went for Lambeth Bridge.
"Not at all." Robert shook his head. "After all, it's about time I go and pay him a visit."
Twelve got his 2015 Samsung Galaxy J5 smartphone out and made a call. "Yo, it's me. Got the VIP already. You got her out? Okay... that should be cool. Are you guys around Lambeth Bridge? We're about to take on the next target. Okay, that's cool. I'll see you guys soon."
The X-Trail was seen heading towards Horseferry Road, making a left on Regency Street and going straight until a right turn was made at Esterbrooke Street with a left turn at Chapter Street.
Their destination was the Barratt London - Chapter Street apartment building.
"We should head to the basement parking of the apartment. If we're in time, the other guys should be able to get the drop on Langdon."
Twelve was given one the P226Rs seized from the slain JIS agents by Nine before they left Walworth by Nine. He pulled the slide slightly to check if it was still loaded.
Nine parked the X-Trail at the building's basement parking. They went for the second basement parking floor, where Langdon's 2015 Alpine White BMW 5 530d M Sport sedan was said to be located. The SUV was parked right next to a 2016 Firenze Red Metallic Range Rover Evoque SE SUV. When Robert and the two teens got out, they noted that Alayna was inside the Evoque, who almost fired her pistol until she saw Robert.
"Jesus..." Robert nearly freaked out that he almost drew out the P226 tucked inside the pants' waistband.
Nine waved to Dagger, who waved back and motioned them to come to his position.
"Let's go." Nine whispered to Robert. "Looks like we got him."
The trio made a run for it to see Dagger and Mukuro, who have Langdon at gunpoint. They could hear him trying to defuse the tensions between him and the other two.
"Are the weapons really necessary?" Langdon sighed after he pushed the nose bridge of his glasses up.
"Shut it, old man." Dagger glared at the man with his carbine leveled at his chest. "We're the ones asking the questions. Not you."
"Hello, Gerry." Robert glared at the Home Secretary as he walked fast towards him, raising the P226R at him with his right hand. The right index finger was placed on the trigger guard.
Gerry sighed again, scratching the back of his head in frustration. "What do you want?"
"I want to know why you put me up to this shit." Robert calmly replied, but the others nearby knew that the army vet was about to come close to pulling the pistol's trigger at any time.
Nine and Twelve raised their P226Rs at Gerry also with their hands.
Gerry didn't reply to his question, but instead gave off a calm, motive rant in a gentlemanly manner. "The organizing principle of any society, is for war. The basic authority of a modern state of rich people... resides in it's war powers. Today it's oil, tomorrow, water. It's what we like to call, the God business: Guns, Oil and Drugs."
"Damn yo..." Dagger muttered. "Looks like intelligence didn't leave any good notes on him being over his head."
Nine simply glared at him while he held his glasses at the left temple. "Basically the same principle like the Patriots, but reminds me a bit of the Templars."
Gerry nodded. "We have the same vision as those two groups, but I have a different motive for being involved."
"Really?" Mukuro raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"
"Our goals for sustainability is in a hurdle. That's why we implement demand destruction. We continue to make money, as the world burns. But for this to work, the people have to remain ignorant of the problem, until it's too late. That's why we have triggers in place: A population in a permanent state of fear, does not ask questions. Our desire for war, becomes its' desire. A willing sacrifice. You see? Fear is just a vacation, fear is control, fear... is money."
"So you're saying you use terror attacks committed by various groups to justify more funding to law enforcement and intelligence agencies?"
"All part of the plan... But it's more than just that." Gerry said with a confident tone in his tone.
"Who are you working for?!" Robert shouted, putting the pistol's barrel at his chest.
The glasses-wearing man didn't falter from Robert's threats.
"Someone with a plan to usher in a new age."
To everyone's surprise, Gerry grabbed Robert's hands and forcefully pushed his right index finger to pull the pistol's trigger.
"Shit!" Robert tried to wrestle the pistol from Gerry's hand, but it was futile as the deed was already done with the rogue official being shot in the chest.
"You're not going out that easy!" Dagger secured the sling of his carbine before he went to crouch next to the wounded man, who collapsed onto the ground next to his sedan. He moved to his black pants and took a white handkerchief from the man's pocket, using it to apply pressure to the gunshot wound.
Nine and Twelve kept their pistols, tucking them in on the waistband of their pants.
Gerry chuckled as he coughed blood. "Since I'm a nice guy, I'll give you a hint to start with..."
"Are you talking about Tyrone? Tyrone Jones? Guy mentions that he's in bed with you and the JIS."
"Looks like you didn't waste time figuring that out..." Gerry replied with pain in his voice despite Dagger's attempt to slow down the bleeding.
Twelve and Mukuro crouched down, the former checked the man's pulse and Mukuro went to see if he was still talking.
"Seems like the gunshot wound's slowly killing him." Mukuro told Dagger.
"Looks like it. Dammit, we could've taken him in alive."
The ex-Fenrir mercenary saw Gerry's lips move. She could hear him, albeit a bit faint, whisper his last words.
"Long...live...Spectre."
"Spectre?" Mukuro said out loud when she heard the group's name.
"Spectre? As in the international criminal slash terrorist group?" Robert asked her, confused after he quickly secured his pistol.
"Yep." Dagger nodded.
"Interesting..." Nine said after he heard the name. "Considering the age of terror and surveillance on the populace after 9/11, this happens to be very curious if they're involved."
"We don't know if they're involved with the RPA in some capacity." Twelve spoke to Nine after he heard his thoughts.
"Found something." Mukuro examined Gerry's hands and found a ring on his left middle finger. She removed the object and examined it closely.
"What is it?" Dagger asked her.
"Here." Mukuro showed the ring to him. "There's a drawing of some sea animal in there."
"A sea animal?" Dagger raised an eyebrow until he was able to get a closer look at the item. "What the? An octopus..."
"This proves that he's in league with them." Robert said after Dagger showed him the Spectre ring.
"You heard about them?" Mukuro asked him.
Robert nodded. "Rumors and stuff when ISAF forces back in Afghanistan got intelligence that Spectre and other known criminal and terrorist groups had investments in the opium fields."
"All right. We'll need to regroup for now. In the meantime, taking down Jones is the next step in our search for any possible conspirators working in conjunction with the RPA."
"Hopefully it can add more info to the ones we found aside from intel on links between Spectre and the RPA through the Dark Web."
Dagger and Mukuro directed Robert to regroup with Nine and Twelve. The former told Mukuro to take the Evoque back to their hideout while he would pilfer Gerry's keyfob and use it to gain access to his sedan. Before he got in, he gave the ring to Mukuro for safekeeping.
He was the last to leave the parking lot, leaving the man's corpse behind with the wallet taken to give the police the impression that he was killed by an armed robber looking for a quick score.
Somewhere inside the corridors of Heygate Estate's Ashenden apartment block in South London, adjacent to Waltworth Road, a Black British man was seen walking back and forth. The 32-year old man with a black hoodie, white cap, worn jeans and blue/gray sneakers was on the phone talking to someone about the situation at the housing estate.
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?!" The man yelled on the person speaking on the other line.
"Just calm down, Mr. Jones. I'm sure that my associates can square things away..."
"Square things away? I just tried to reach out to a contact from the Home Office and I was told that the Secretary himself was assassinated in his own apartment building! How do you explain that?!"
"Rest assured that your concerns are being taken care of as we speak..."
"I doubt that these meetings your bosses are having will take care of the problem."
"We have someone on the way to help you out. Just sit tight for now."
Tyrone abruptly ended the call between him and the other person, angry and frustrated that their conversation seemed like it wasn't going anywhere, except with the assurances that they'll send someone to help him out.
"Can this bastard actually help me out?" Tyrone murmured after he kept his phone.
"Hey boss!"
Another Black African man, who was in his early 20s with a gray hoodie jacket, sneakers and faded jeans, showed up at the same corridor Tyrone is in.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"We got a call. Said that someone just arrived and they happen to be looking for you."
Tyrone sighed. This must be the help they're talking about.
"All right. Let them know I'm coming."
"Got it, boss."
Robert was now in his own apartment, cleaning up parts of a Colt M4A1 carbine he acquired from a local gunrunner he did surveillance on weeks ago with the backing of the JIS. The P226R was placed on the table alongside the M4A1, being covered by some newspapers so that it wouldn't be dirty. The pistol would be checked and cleaned up next.
The man was surprised to hear from the others that they wish to stay in his apartment, at least to rest and regroup for the meantime before they head to Heygate Estate and take on their next target.
Not that he didn't object of course. After all, he had a bone to pick with the drug dealer over his indirect connection with Langdon, especially that he nearly got killed in a potential false flag op and blame it on Islamist sympathizers.
"So I'm assuming you lot want to join up with me on the raid on the housing estate?" Robert asked the group after he had just finished reassembling the M4A1.
"Yeah." Nine replied, who just nodded his head. "You lived in the estate before you joined up with the British Army as a paratrooper. We could use someone who's got experience in the area."
Robert was using a WD-40 lubricant spray can to clean up the slide and the springs. "Yeah. I'm only agreeing to come with you guys so that I can settle a score. Not to mention put down a potential threat towards Alayna."
"Let's start." Mukuro walked back inside the apartment, wearing her softshell jacket and tac pants without her combat gear and her facemask on. "I got the plans for Heygate Estate."
One could assume that Mukuro was in her 20s due to looking younger, but she was in fact in her late 20s.
"Nice." Dagger spoke to her. He was leaning on the wall, left shoulder and arm bracing it. His ballcap was worn in such a way that it would conceal most of his face. He didn't want to show his real face to Robert in case he either wouldn't agree on the raid on the estate alongside the rest of the group, be compromised by being arrested by law enforcement or get caught by Tyrone's gang.
"Shame that we can't get to our mutual friend in LA." Mukuro told Dagger as she unrolled the estate map on another table. "Said that he's busy helping some people there for some scores due to a bad call someone made a few months ago."
"But did you give him the stuff, just in case?" Dagger asked her.
"Yeah. Told me that he'd go over it in case he got some time."
"Well I hate to be in that guy's shoes." Dagger shook his head before he looked at the plans. "So what are our options?"
"Way I see it from taking a brief glance," Mukuro pointed to the roof and the various entrances and foot paths to the housing estate. "we got ourselves a few options."
"What are those options?" Twelve asked her when he took a look at the map.
"It looks like we can start from here and here." Nine pointed to the small roads that go near and around the estate and the foot paths from the streets. "We can take advantages of a pincer attack by storming the estate from the rear and side, as well as the entrances via pedestrian-only paths. Thing is we need to be mobile, quick and strike together in unison to catch Tyrone's goons by surprise."
Robert overheard the planning as he was about to assemble the P226R with the slide only missing when he looked at the map before he gave his advice. "Word of advice, guys. There's gonna be homeless people there, not to mention women and children who might be employed by Tyrone as either lookouts, couriers or extra guns in case things go bad."
"Guess this means we go non-lethal then." Dagger said, making the suggestion. "Let's stock up on tasers or stun grenades."
"Uh guys..." Twelve raised his left hand up. "Hope you're not forgetting about Ms. Wallace. I mean, if we're all going to raid the estate, who's going to keep an eye on her?"
"That happens to be a very good question, Twelve." Nine replied to his friend's concern.
Robert felt that everyone was looking at him ever since they saved him about being kidnapped by rogue JIS agents.
"One of my buddies got recruited to help the JIS with some stuff ever since he got an honorable discharge from the paras like me."
"Is he still under their leash?" Dagger raised the question.
"Yeah." Robert nodded. "Most likely. He tried to warn me that Langdon's faction in the JIS will try to hunt me down as part of their cleanup if their false flag op would go ahead."
"Then it seems that we'll need to take care of that loose end first." Twelve had a smirk on his face.
"Do we do it now?" Mukuro faced Dagger.
"Might as well. If anything, I doubt we'll hear anything from our pal in LA for a few hours." Dagger stretched his arms before he added. "Robert, you know where you buddy lives right now?"
"Not that I'm aware of, but there's a place where we always go to before and after we left the army..."
After Robert agreed to let the group go along with the raid on the estate, he offered a suggestion to draw out Danny Turner, his buddy in the paras and current stooge to the JIS by sending a SMS message that the two of them need to meet again at a Korean restaurant called the CheeMC somewhere in Walworth.
The group would be divided into two teams. One of them would be on surveillance duties to make sure Robert and Danny are safe. The other would try to locate any potential JIS-manned vehicles and take them out before the meeting could be compromised.
The X-Trail, used by Nine and Twelve, has the honor of scoping out the restaurant and keeping an eye on the two men in case the JIS has some surprises in store. They would scope the place out with binoculars.
The Evoque, used by Mukuro and Dagger, is tasked with locating any JIS vehicles that would potentially bring Danny to the meeting place and capture Robert if and when there's a chance. If and when possible, they're also in charge of neutralizing the threat. They're wearing the same clothes during the rescue mission to save Alayna, but without their faces covered up. The two of them didn't bring anything except for suppressed pistols placed in their shoulder holsters, concealed by their jackets. They also wore radio earpieces on their ears.
Dagger still wore his cap, but a bystander who walked by him saw that he was in mid 20s, East Asian facial features with short black hair in a crewcut haircut.
"Alpha 1." Dagger was on the radio, speaking via mike clipped on her jacket. She adjusted her earpiece on her right ear. "How's the rendezvous point over?"
"Just spotted the vehicle that dropped out Danny." Nine replied to Dagger's inquiry. "It's a gray Toyota RAV4. Looks about a 2014-15 model maybe."
"Got a plate?"
"Yeah. It's LU14 KBG. And they just turned to one of the side streets nearby."
Dagger turned to the side to see Mukuro point out the RAV4 turning right pass them. "Okay. We found the vehicle. So we're taking a closer look. Don't do anything until I say so. Got it?"
"Yeah, gotcha."
Dagger motioned to Mukuro to head to the side street as they got out of the parked SUV.
"Do we jump on them?" Mukuro asked Dagger on a plan of action.
"No." Dagger replied. "Let's keep an eye on the vehicle. If we're right, the agents inside should try to bail out and charge towards CheeMC."
"Understood."
The two of them walked by the RAV4 when they saw that it was going to be parked next to the sidewalk since there was open space. They later ducked into an alley in order to remain hidden and conduct surveillance from there by pretending to be hanging around there.
Robert took his seat in one of the empty chairs since he saw Danny take the table nearest to the entrance so that he can keep an eye outside.
"Glad to see that you took my message seriously, Danny." Robert took his seat in front of Danny.
"I don't need to remind you that the JIS in monitoring this. Whatever you say to me can make them freak out and bag you."
"And I came prepared for that." Robert raised an eyebrow when he heard Danny's warning.
"Are..." Danny leaned forward and whispered to him. "Are you packing?"
Robert didn't say anything to answer Danny's question.
"Oh god." Danny sighed, placing his hands on his temples to show off his frustration. "You really are packing a weapon with you now."
"I need you your assistance for one last time, Danny..."
"I heard about what happened to Alayna from them, Robert. But I can't. They got their eyes and ears on me..."
"Don't worry, I got some help on that..."
Dagger and Mukuro spotted four Caucasian men with either blond or brown hair wearing various windbreakers, pants and shoes. They were all armed with Glock 17s drawn out from their shoulder holsters.
"Let's go." One of the armed JIS agents said to the others. "We bag Robert and we take Danny back to the nearest safehouse. That clear?"
The other three JIS agents nodded as they walked towards the restaurant.
Dagger unholstered his Armscor 1911A2-45 FS PS pistol equipped with a Ramlite Magnetic Laser Sight attached underneath the barrel from the shoulder holster.
For Mukuro, she unholstered a Glock 21 from her shoulder holster, equipped with a railed SureFire X400 Ultra LED WeaponLight.
Both pistols were also equipped with mounted suppressors due to nature of the operation.
"Hold it!" Dagger shouted after he and Mukuro raised their pistols and aimed them at the group.
"Shit! We're made!" The JIS agents had just raised their pistols when Dagger opened fire with his suppressed sidearm at the first two agents, two shots at their chests.
Mukuro found her own targets and opened fire at them, two shots at their chests.
The event made a lot of people flee the scene, some taking cover behind parked cars or other places where bullets won't easily hit them.
"Guys! Get in there now! We've been made, but we neutralized the threats. I repeat, we neutralized the threats. Get the package out of there."
"Got it."
Dagger and Mukuro holstered their sidearms after the latter managed to collect the .45 ACP shell casings and placed them inside a plastic bag that happened to fly to her foot due to the slight gust of wind. Dagger gestured to Nine and Twelve to take Robert and Danny out of the area via X-Trial after he saw them take the ex-paratroopers out of the restaurant safely.
"We need to leave now." Mukuro picked up the plastic bag and dumped it inside the Evoque after she and Dagger got back inside, being the last to leave before the police could get to Walworth.
Tyrone walked towards a section of Deacon Way that led to the west side of the Ashenden apartment block, being watched by four of his boys armed with Russian-made AKS-47 assault rifles slung on their shoulders.
"Where's that damn motherfucker?" Tyrone groaned when he saw that no one was around to see him.
"Over there!" One of the AKS-47-armed men pointed to an incoming vehicle.
However, Tyrone not one, but two vehicles down the road coming towards his direction.
"Keep your cool, boys. But stay alert."
Tyrone noted that the vehicles coming over were a couple of 2016 Loire Blue Land Rover Range Rover SVR SUVs with British license plates. They parked on the side, the engines still running as a precaution.
Six armed men, a mix of Caucasian and African, emerged out the SUVs with dress suits and shoes. They appeared to be in good shape, giving off the appearance that they must have served in either the police or with the military. They also appear to be unarmed.
Later on, two men exited the first SVR. One was of African descent with a trimmed goatee in his early 30s with the other man was of Caucasian descent with some white hair strands on his blond hair with a neatly shaved chin. The former wore a gray dress suit, the latter wore a purple polo dress shirt, brown pants and loafers with shades worn to cover his eyes.
"Monsieur Jones, it's a pleasure to meet you." The African man introduced himself by shaking hands with him. "I'm Monsieur Moreau, an associate of Home Secretary Langdon on behalf of Spectre."
"Pleasure." Tyrone shook hands and returned the greeting.
"The man next to me is Colonel Jeremy Prentiss, formerly of the US Army and current head of the private security company Black Arrow."
The shades-wearing man stepped forward to shake hands with Tyrone.
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Jones." Prentiss greeted Tyrone.
"Likewise, mate. Likewise."
"My apologies if there was any problem between you and my associate on the phone." Moreau explained to Tyrone about the call he received. "My superior is not pleased that his man at the Home Office was taken out before his plan was to be carried out. And it appears that whoever made him die will go after you for answers."
"And I suppose this is where this Yankee comes in, eh?" Tyrone pointed to Prentiss with his right index finger.
"I was told that this is such a short notice by Mr. Moreau, but my men can assist in training your..." Prentiss stared at the armed men standing near Tyrone's back. "boys so that they can effectively shoot at whoever happens to be coming after you. At least my men should be able to train them so that they can shoot better and stop acting like gangbangers."
Tyrone nodded, liking Prentiss' suggestion. Considering that he heard about BA and how they helped client states train their law enforcement/military forces handle coups and peacekeeping operations, there wasn't any reasons to turn him down.
"How long will the training start?" Tyrone asked the contractor.
"As long as you're willing to start," Prentiss said before he added. "My allies in Spectre will see to the fees."
The sun was now starting to set.
The group, Robert included, escorted Alayna to Heathrow Airport via Heathrow Express rail line after receiving assistance to help her get off British soil due to the threat of Langdon's faction, which was confirmed to be aligned with Spectre.
After some time to deliberate where to send her, Danny suggested to bring her to Singapore. When asked why, he mentioned that one of his buddies from the Paras is living in the country as a Strategic Studies Analyst with a think tank company and knows people from the Singaporean law enforcement and intelligence community to help her keep a low profile.
They agreed after Danny made contact with his friend and only after he agreed to help him out did the group consent to do it.
For now, it should give them time to weed out Tyrone's gang and pick up clues on whether Spectre and the RPA are linked in some way.
"Take care of her, Danny." Robert shook hands with Danny.
"Yeah, I will." Danny returned the handshake. "Sorry about what happened back there with the JIS. Should've gotten tougher balls like when were back in the Paras."
"Just... take care of her, Danny." Robert sighed before he patted his left shoulder. "I heard that Singapore's a nice place to unwind from the shit that's happening in London. Also includes the food."
Danny smiled at him. "Yeah. I'll keep that in mind."
Alayna thanked Robert and the others for saving her life by shaking their hands. "Thank you for what you guys did. I'll never forget it."
"Think nothing of it." Mukuro nodded in reply.
"Yeah. You didn't deserve to die." Dagger added, crossing his arms. "You got your whole life ahead of you."
"Take care of yourself." Nine said. "We'll make sure no one's going to harm you from the other side of the globe."
"Yep." Twelve grinned. "What Nine said, Ms. Wallace."
"We better go..." Danny said his goodbyes to the others. "The flight out of Heathrow should be starting by three hours. We can't afford to be late."
With that, Danny and Alayna got their luggage and walked towards the nearest elevator in order to go to the airport's departure terminal.
"Now what?" Twelve asked the others while they waited for the next available HE train.
Dagger felt his Iphone 6S smartphone vibrate, so he removed it from the belt clip and saw that it received an incoming SMS message coming from an unknown phone number, its area/country code indicating that it at least came from America.
"We regroup for now." Dagger said to the others while he looked at the smartphone. "Looks like we may have something."
Inside the deserted Crossways Church, located between New Kent Road and Deacon Way, plainclothes BA contractors were on hand to mentor Tyrone's men in properly firing their weapons, using the estate to their advantage by deploying anyone with good shooting skills to conduct suppressive fire. The contractors coached them on small arms drills by shooting at mock targets. All of them wore ear muffs to protect their ears from being deaf.
Prentiss was outside, speaking to Tyrone since they couldn't hold a decent conversation with the gunfire going around.
"Seems that your boys are learning, despite a few who happen to be hard in the head." Prentiss sighed after he told Tyrone the good news.
"When you hone your tactics with rival gangs and the filth all the time, you don't get time to practice except to fire to keep their heads down."
"Well we have enough time to get your boys to correct their methods."
"All right. Hopefully it'll be worth it."
Inside an undisclosed apartment somewhere near Heygate Estate, the group gathered around a coffee table that had the map of the estate shown. They were busy brainstorming ways to storm the area and locate Tyrone within the premises.
The map showed that as of early 2016, some of the apartment blocks located south of Heygate Street were almost done being demolished, with the rest being temporarily halted due to the presence of Tyrone's gang using it as a base of operation for drug smuggling/peddling, not to mention that there were a few hardcore squatters who are being sheltered by him. The estate was suppose to be demolished by 2015, but only stopped halfway due to some gang wars that took place, most of them involving Tyrone's gang as they used the abandoned estate as a part of their turf.
Dagger's Iphone 6S was placed on the coffee table on top of the estate map with the speaker turned on since a phone call was being made.
"Go ahead Lester, you're on speakerphone." Dagger spoke to Lester after he turned the smartphone's speaker on.
"Thanks." The person mentioned before he coughed to clear his throat. "Ah... Good evening everyone. For those who don't me, my name is Lester Crest and that's all you need to know."
"Okay, Lester. Let's get down to business." Dagger checked the time from his Kentex JGSDF wristwatch. "Hope I didn't interrupt you or anything back in LA."
"Nah, it's fine. Just had to take care of something for someone who I haven't seen in a while." Lester brushed off his concerns. "Anyway, I had some time to look at the Heygate Estate map you just e-mailed me an hour ago."
"How is it? Is it bad?"
Lester was silent on the line before he replied. "Let's see... Judging by what you got for me, it's still a nightmare even if the place has been halfway done being demolished."
"What do you mean by that, Mr. Crest?" Mukuro asked Lester when she heard his slight apprehension.
"Just call me Lester, I insist." Lester addressed Mukuro when he chuckled for a bit before he explained why he seemed apprehensive. "Even with Tyrone Jones' operation being centered throughout Deacon Way, it's still a nightmare in the sense he could place his men on the pedestrian footbridge if some of you are storming the place from the ground. Not to mention that his crew should be more familiar with the area more than the police. I expect traps or ambushes to be used in slowing your progress down as you search and clear the place. It's still troublesome that surveillance is needed to see which apartment block takes top priority."
Dagger began to scribble on the estate map on the significant areas with Lester pointing them out from an earlier discussion.
"But the good news is that if Tyrone wants to get away via vehicle, there's one path out via Deacon Way, so you guys can start with a roadblock and riddle his car should he show up."
The path between Deacon Way and Heygate Street was drawn in a circle to indicate its location. The words POTENTIAL AMBUSH was written next to it.
"As to what Dagger had discussed with me in the e-mail before I called, he pointed out to me that the abandoned estate has some footpaths leading to and from it. I would suggest sending someone from that route. Can be very handy for a distraction to sneak in someone to take out the guards. Not to mention using it to get to the nearest footbridge to provide cover."
New Kent Road and Rodney Place were circled and the words FOOTPATHS were written next to them so that the group would know that they can be accessed by pedestrians.
"If the intel we're going to get on Tyrone is correct," Dagger pointed to the center of Deacon Way. "His gang'll have full control of this area. This means we need to go in fast and hard. If you guys got cars, then you need to get a blocking force at the intersections leading to the place."
The intersecting roads (Walworth Road/Heygate Street, New Kent Road/Rodney Place and Heygate Street/Rodney Road) were marked with a X mark.
"I've made arrangements to have the estate under surveillance. They'll get back to me in an hour to see if they located the target and provide any more info about the estate." Lester can be heard taking a drink. "Hey Dagger, is there still a police presence there?"
"Not since 2015 when some of the gang wars started there. I was told by Robert here that he saw a kid harassing him with a gun there, so I'm thinking we may encounter kids or teens being used as gunmen for an ambush just in case shit goes down. Last I passed by, the chain link fences and gates are still there, so we may need to break in by picking the locks or bolt cutters. Anyway, let us know."
"I see, I see... I'll inform my guys. I almost forget, I assume you'll be packing LTL for this little gig?"
LTL or less-than-lethal. Just what Dagger needed in a situation like this. "We will. Don't want the death of a kid to be in my conscience, even if he or she is packing heat."
"I'm sure you can handle it. Oh... Give me a sec... I'll check if there's anything else was found."
"I assume this Lester Crest knows about me?" Robert asked Dagger.
"Oh yeah. Asked me on what's your relationship with the estate and I just told him you used to live there. If there's any info that he can get, he'll do it."
"Maybe we should get more manpower on this." Twelve spoke to Dagger. "If I remember about what you told me and Nine about Lester, he can outsource anything you need, like some hired mercs."
"That's true." Dagger stretched his arms. "But in this case, he used to be with someone who did scores in the western part of the United States back in the day. So he's got experience in getting freelance criminals. I'm not too sure on his experience in the mercenary world though..."
Robert stared at the group and wondered if they can really pull this off. Can we get in there, bag Tyrone and get outta there with our lives still intact? I think we'll need a lot more people to cover the ground.
"You got your laptop?" Lester came back on the phone. "I'll speak with all of you via camera."
"On it." Dagger motioned to Mukuro to get the Dell 15 5000 Inspiron laptop from the nearest side table. Mukuro got it and booted it up and waited before it was fully loaded. She then got the Skype program working.
"Here." Mukuro looked at the mobile number on Dagger's smartphone. She looked for it on the contact list and used the touchpad to click on the same number. A few seconds later, she move the laptop to make it face everyone as Lester's face was on the screen.
"All right. I see that everyone is here and accounted for." Lester looked at everyone from his house in LA, his eyes lingering on Robert. "And this is the ex-British paratrooper you told me about?"
"Yeah. Came in on such short notice, but we're joining in 'cause we got a mutual enemy."
"I guess that's a good thing. I got a new intel update that mentioned some people going there for the past day or so."
"What's this new intel you got?"
Lester showed a printout of the faces of Moreau and Prentiss on the screen.
"I know the other guy. Colonel Jeremy Prentiss, ex-Special Forces officer with 1st Special Forces Group. He's the leader of Black Arrow." Mukuro explained to the others who Prentiss is.
"Black Arrow huh?" Dagger said when he heard the name. "From the rumors we heard in the underworld, he's linked up with some group known as Megiddo and the company was purchased months ago by CEO Lucius Galliard."
"I remember hearing news that one of their facilities... A Price Airfield was heavily damaged. BA didn't say what happened to it." Nine added his thoughts to the debriefing regarding the PMC.
"Hmmm... Black Arrow helping out a local drug dealer with links to a rogue British government official with ties to Spectre. Damn, reminds me of what's going on here."
The glasses-wearing man was quiet for a minute, processing the idea that he was helping Mukuro, Dagger and the other take on a drug gang that's apparently being assisted by an American PMC with supposed ties to a criminal group, which is allied with an international terrorist group.
"Do we know the other guy?" Nine asked Lester, his hands placed at the back of his head.
Lester shook his head. "No clue. I'm running on the assumption that he's got ties to Spectre just like Home Secretary Langdon."
"Can you do facial rec on him, Lester?" Mukuro asked him.
"I'll give it a shot. No dice if nothing comes to that."
"Looks like this op is going to run into major trouble." Robert sighed when he heard the information from the others. "Is there any chance that we can get more backup on this one?"
"Already got some names." Lester was quick to give a reply. He was seen typing up something on his PC desktop. "Dagger, it should be sent to your Iphone in a bit via e-mail."
"Gotcha, Lester." Dagger gave a thumbs up.
"Some of the names you'll see from the list are freelancers I've met during some heists in the city."
"Are you sure it's okay to do so? I mean... I last heard from you, your buddies are in lot of heat with the FBI, CIA and Merryweather Security with a three-way shootout in the Kortz Center."
"No worries. Some of the guys I mentioned did some stints with us, so they're okay. Only thing is that when I told them about your situation... let's just say that they're getting way too excited to take on another conspiracy."
"Just what we need... adrenaline junkies."
"I'll keep in touch. I hope it's enough to make a decision."
"Thanks, Lester. We'll keep in touch."
The Skype call ended and Mukuro closed the laptop.
"Okay guys. For the meantime, let's all get some rest. We'll need it."
As everyone went to the nearest room to get some sleep, Dagger got his Iphone and checked the e-mail that came a while from the information broker.
As promised, I compiled a list of names for your little incoming operation in the UK. I can vouch for some of them since they've done some work with me in the past. They got some experience, but are still a bit new to the game. So watch out. I'll indicate with an asterisk mark on who happens to be a bit new in the roster. Let me know who you want to recruit and your method of entry. I'll send the details by tonight LA time.
- Lester
Chapter 1 END