June 10th, 2010
The fifth episode in the series began with the news that Jack Cooper (a PC), the leader of the Minneapolis branch of the F.B.I. who foiled the attack by radical Somalis earlier in the year, was asked to head a taskforce that is to focus on tracking down some illicit missiles. Cooper was initially slated for a high ranking position in Washington D.C. but because of an event that occurred during the takedown of the Minneapolis cell (a reticent mother’s arm was grabbed and her baby fell to the floor and received serious damage) he was unable to be promoted inside of the bureaucratic agency. However, Jack Cooper, being a patriot, was entirely unconcerned with the “demotion” and immediately put together a hard charging team that was bent of confiscating the “missing” weapons.
The first member that Jack got to assist him was a D.E.A. agent by the name of Sarah Walker. (a new PC) She was sent by her superiors to help in the investigation of the missiles because one of her contacts in Colombia claims to have knowledge of the supposed transaction of the missiles to an up and coming Colombian Cartel run by the Lopez family. Jack hoped that Sarah’s D.E.A. contacts would be an invaluable source of information about South America and their drug-dealing epidemic; he would not be disappointed.
The next addition to the team was the indefatigable and recently promoted Lucy Castillo. (a PC) Lucy is now an assistant in the Counter-Intelligence Branch of the F.B.I. but is always happy to help a friend; especially if that friend is her former mentor. Her contacts and keen intellect would greatly benefit the taskforce.
With his small team in place Jack Cooper arrived early to work on his second day of work as team leader. Already laying on his desk was an unmarked manila envelope. Jack dumped the contents of the envelope onto his desktop. The first scrap of paper that Jack found was a hand-written note that stated “Sorry about your transfer. If you need any help, you know how to contact me. A friend.” Jack assumed that this note was from the Yemeni Mossad agent Yasbi Bin Haiven (a PC) who was instrumental in taking down the Somali terror cell in Minneapolis. (episodes 2 and 3)
Continuing through the envelope Jack found a transcript of a high level Israeli discussion that proved that Israel was behind the recent assassination of the AQAP contact in Somalia, Mogadishu (episode 4) that resulted in the death of Delta Force operator Lawrence McHenry and with the loss of the missing missiles. Lastly in the envelope there was photographic evidence that the AQAP contact that had been shot was in fact deceased.
Jack immediately called his superiors and told them that he would need the assistance of Yasabi and told them to get the Israeli’s to loan him to Jack for the duration of their search. Jack told his bosses that if the Israeli’s hesitated that they should remind them that there were responsible for the death of an American Delta operator.
Simultaneously, Sarah Walker contacted her ex-boyfriend Bryce Lakin who works for the D.I.A. Bryce told Sarah that the leader of the Lopez Cartel goes by the name Juan; however, it is believed that it is an alias. The man known as Juan Lopez is essentially an unknown with no record in any of the fourteen American intelligence agencies. Bryce also told Sarah that the Lopez Cartel is violent when provoked, but is much more intelligent and practical than the typical drug cartels.
With too few pieces of the puzzle to follow Lucy Castillo then contacted a criminal informant of hers. Her contact, Dawson Fargo, was a small time drug dealer that Lucy had flipped a few years back during an anti-drug interdiction operation.
Dawson informed Lucy that the word on the street was that the Lopez Cartel was getting ready to make a run to become the top drug-selling Colombian Cartel. Dawson also stated that he had heard rumors that the Lopez Cartel had the unofficial backing and financial support of high-ranking Venezuelan politicians; specifically the Interior Minister, and that the Venezuelans were going to try to use the Lopez Cartel to help destabilize its rival Colombia. Lastly, Dawson mentioned that there are rumors that the Deputy Interior Minister of Venezuela, Jorge Martinez, has knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing missiles and that he may want to defect.
Using the leads gleaned from their contacts, the group set off for Venezuela in an attempt to stop the possible sale of the missiles in question. The first stop was at the American embassy where the taskforce met with the C.I.A. station chief who cautioned the group about the American ambassadors disdain for non-diplomatic actions. Jack Cooper assured the station chief that the taskforce would only be in country a few days and just needed to borrow some equipment; the MP5s, Mossberg shotgun, and silenced Beretta’s they requested were purely defensive in nature.
Yasabi made contact with Deputy Interior Minister Martinez and setup a meeting with him under the guise of discussing possible off-shore oil drilling. The two arranged a lunch meeting for the next day and the group began making preparations for the operation ahead.
The next day Yasabi, posing as a North African representative of the French oil giant Total, took his “secretary” Sarah Walker to a steakhouse where they met with Deputy Interior Minister Martinez. The two exchanged pleasantries and as the interaction continued Yasabi hinted to Martinez that he was not exactly who he claimed to be. When Martinez finally began to understand that he was being solicited he quickly told Yasabi and Sarah that he felt ill and that they should meet again. Before Martinez showed them to the door he also mentioned that he loved to take walks after eating lunch at the park next to the Interior Ministries office building.
The next day Yasabi waited for Jorge Martinez in the park. When the two made eye contact Martinez made gestures that he was being followed. In response Yasabi simply entered a large bathroom in the park and waited for Martinez to enter. When Jorge entered the bathroom Yasabi closed and locked the door and propositioned Jorge. Yasabi told him that he was willing to offer Jorge two million dollars and citizenship to any Western nation that he wanted in exchange for the location of the missiles. (This offer was made without any authorization or approval) After Jorge overcame his suspicions he agreed to provide the information that Yasabi was seeking when his wife and two sons were out of Venezuela.
When Yasabi met back up with the rest of the taskforce he told them all that Jorge had said. It was there that the taskforce’s leader Jack Cooper came up with a plan: “capture” the family as if they were kidnappers / angry cartel members and whisk the entire family to the American embassy where they would hold them until Jorge Martinez told them everything that they wanted to know.
The team got a hold of Mrs. Martinez via a local payphone and instructed her to keep the family estates’ alarm system deactivated after 10:00 p.m. that night and to be ready to leave the country without alerting the government bodyguard that they were forced to live with.
The team drove around the Martinez family estate for hours awaiting the arrival of Jorge from work but he never came home. Numerous attempts to contact him via his work phone went unanswered. At 3:00 a.m. local time Jack Cooper made the decision to take the three other Martinez’s out of the home and they would worry about finding Jorge later.
Yasabi drove the stolen plumbing van up to the entrance of the guard shack while Jack Cooper hopped out of the passenger side with his Mossberg tactical shotgun at the ready. The elderly rent-a-cop in the ramshackle guardhouse immediately threw his hands in the air. The old man unlocked the door and received a shotgun-butt to his face for his trouble. The old man dropped to the ground with a severe concussion.
Jack quickly opened the wrought-iron gate to the mansion and Yasabi drove the van with the two female taskforce members to the backdoor of the house. Jack met up with the two women and they quickly went into the back of the house. They were greeted with the sleeping body of the government issued bodyguard fast asleep in a lounge chair. Without hesitation Jack fired three silenced rounds into the back of the guard’s head and the now corpse slumped even further down into the chair.
Moments later Mrs. Martinez came down the mansion’s stairs with his young sons in hand. Lucy ushered the three frightened Venezuelans into the back of the awaiting van and the team sped away back towards the American Embassy.
When the group was getting close to the embassy Jack called the C.I.A. station chief and told him that he was coming in and that he had brought “guests”. When they arrived the station chief threw a fit over what Jack and his crew had just done. Jack calmed the man down and told him that he was going to keep the Martinez’s around for less than a day and that they would be out of his hair soon. Perturbed but helpful, the station chief found a inconspicuous room for the scared Martinez’s to stay for the night and then retired back to bed.
The team was awakened at exactly 6:07 a.m. from small arms fire hitting the red granite exterior of the embassy. When the taskforce finally found the station chief he told them that there were thousands of angry locals outside the embassy gates and random members of the crowd were taking potshots at the building. The station chief’s phone call was interrupted by an incoherent and screaming ambassador who came into the room waving a (presumably loaded) handgun.
Jack cooper acted quickly and called his boss to secure transportation out of the country immediately. After bluffing that they were in possession of a contact who knew the location of the missiles the bureaucrat acquiesced and was able to divert a local C.I.A. operated helicopter to come to the embassy and extract both the team and the three Martinez family members. Unfortunately, the team’s troubles were only beginning…
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