Read Patriots and Profits: The Prelude to For One's Own Cause Page 2
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Pyongyang, North Korea: Two weeks later
Standing by a street vendor near Kim Square in Pyongyang, Ridgely gazed up at the Sri Lankan embassy. Even though North Korea was one of its allies, the place still looked like a fortress. Drone guns dotted the rooftop and a concrete wall surrounded the compound. Getting inside was not going to be easy.
For the past three weeks, he had thought of nothing else except that building and its high-profile occupant. At least the intelligence was good. Scott had bribed one of the security administrators to provide blueprints and access codes. Without those, the mission would be impossible. Recruiting a team was the easy part. Ridgely had supplied a list of his best officers and troops, and Scott contacted them with offers. The response was overwhelming. Thirty men had agreed to sign on.
“Keith.” a voice from behind him said.
Startled, Ridgely turned around to see a man in street clothes and sunglasses. It was Rutledge, obviously doing his best to look inconspicuous. “Shit, Gavin. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“Sorry, didn’t realize you wanted your space.”
“Don’t worry about it. What do you got?”
“I think we’re good for a dusk assault.” Rutledge said. “Our contact told me that there’s a changing of the guard at 1900.”
“Okay, we’ll make our move then. Contact Dade and Sheppard and tell them to meet us by the river landing to finalize the plans.”
“Affirmative, I’ll see you there.” answered Rutledge, walking away.
Thinking over what could go wrong, Ridgely continued staring at the embassy. His strategy was sound, slip in and assassinate the prime minister. Other than the technical aspects of cutting their power and disabling sensors, it really was that simple.
Much of the ease was due to Scott, who had provided them with excellent recon and superior equipment. Some of the stuff was so state-of-the-art that it had never even been field tested. Apparently, Energex had a weapons division to go along with its anti-matter and quadracine production.
One of the tools they’d be using was a personal cloaking device. While the gadget didn’t make soldiers invisible, it did hide their heat signatures and could create false blips when needed, making it absolutely perfect for night raids. Another innovation the company provided was some kind of phosphorescent bullet. Ridgely didn’t quite understand how it worked. All he knew was that once fired, the bullet would burn until it completely disappeared. As a result, investigators wouldn’t be able to determine what weapons were used, leaving them with one less method of determining who attacked the embassy.
Standing by the landing a couple of hours later, Ridgely awaited his team members. They were to arrive separately to avert suspicion. Once together, the meeting would be quick, just check to make sure everything was in position and then go. Cpl. Sheppard was the first to arrive with Sgt. Dade and Lt. Rutledge arriving a few minutes later. Few words were exchanged. The four men confirmed that all was ready, and they quickly departed.
Most of the mission’s success hinged on Ridgely. He and two others would penetrate the embassy while the other three squads made a perimeter and disabled all power and communications. The fewer people that went in, the better. Too many troops were likely to cause confusion and maybe even friendly fire.
By 1900, everyone was where they were supposed to be with Ridgely walking toward the embassy’s main gate wearing street clothes. At first, the Sri Lankan guards took little notice until the gun emerged. They were dead before they could react.
Signaling to his two comrades, Ridgely stormed the embassy’s gatehouse and took what security systems he could offline. He then shed his pants and jacket to reveal a black body suit. Aside from his cloaking device, communicator, and silenced pistol, he carried nothing else. Once the other two joined him, they waited for Rutledge’s confirmation that the power and communications were offline.
Those were the longest thirty seconds of the mission, causing his mind to get off track. What the fuck was he doing here? Hadn’t he been clear with Scott? He wasn’t an assassin. Somehow that man had convinced him that being an adviser wasn’t enough, that he had to take the lead and do this himself. Why he let that happen was beyond him. It didn’t really matter at this point anyway.
Two faint green lights appeared in a window from across the street. That was the signal, one for deactivation of the power and one for communications. The rest of the mission went exactly as planned. Entering the embassy compound and breeching Rajapaksa’s chambers was a cinch. The look on the despot’s face before he received a double tap in the head was priceless, nothing but complete and utter shock. Between storming the gatehouse and when Ridgely’s squad made their escape, only two minutes had elapsed.
With the assassination complete, Scott arranged for the troops to be smuggled into Russia and then flown back to Montana. Once there, Ridgely hoped for a quick debriefing before being able to part ways with Energex. However, that wasn’t what Scott had in mind.