Forward into battle
HUH!
See his banners go.
The two boats slipped through the current, surging with each stroke of the paddles, the children bowed over as though weighed down by the AK-47s on their backs and chained like slaves by the hammering beat of the clubs.
“Child soldiers,” said Holliday. Children torn from their families and forced to watch and perform atrocities, and then enlisted in an unholy army and turned from children into savage, monstrous killers. He’d seen them in Somalia and in ones and twos in Afghanistan, where they were usually more orphan than soldier, but never in numbers like this, uniformed and well armed. “Who are they?”
“Lord’s Resistance Army,” answered Eddie. “Out of Uganda originally, led by a
“What are they doing here?” Holliday asked.
“Who knows,” replied Eddie. “They fight for anyone now if the price is right. I do know one thing, though,
“Choice?”
“There is no turning back now, Senor Holliday. If we are to live we must go on.”
17
The living room of the flat was white and very modern. A white leather couch, several matching club chairs and a glass-and-steel coffee table sat in front of the white brick hearth of the fireplace. Above the fireplace was a large triptych of Francis Bacon paintings commemorating the death of Bacon’s lover, George Dyer. Bacon’s stark representation of a man writhing and twisting on a beach had been purchased at Sotheby’s for sixty-seven million dollars.
Although he’d owned the painting through the Bambridge Trust for the past three years, Sir James Matheson had never seen it before. He decided that he rather liked it, probably because it so blatantly illustrated violent, passionate emotions that the billionaire industrialist was reasonably sure he didn’t have. Being his father’s son and spending thirteen years in the English public school system had taken care of that.
With Matheson were Konrad Lanz, Major Allen Faulkener and the guest of honor, Francois Nagoupande, fully outfitted in the uniform of a general in the Royal Army. The left side of his chest was weighed down with as many service ribbons and medals as Faulkener could find, including the French Croix de Guerre, the India General Service Medal, the Naval Fleet Reserve Medal, the Victoria Cross, the George Cross, the Order of St. Michael and St. George, the Distinguished Service Medal, the South African Pro Patria Medal, and a very handsome Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Roman Eagle of which Benito Mussolini had been a proud member until his death in 1945. Nagoupande, who now insisted on being introduced as Brigadier General Francois Nagoupande, didn’t have the slightest idea what any of the decorations meant and he didn’t care. As long as he had more medals than Kolingba he was happy.
During his time in London, Faulkener had seen to it that a numbered account was established for him at the Gesner Kantonalbank in Aarau, Switzerland, with a million-dollar deposit as a retainer for Nagoupande’s services as a consultant. Nagoupande was provided with several bodyguards and a satellite television to keep him occupied during the day, as well as several attentive young women to keep the despot-to-be happy during the evening hours. Except for his fitting at Gieves amp; Hawkes, he had not left the confines of the safe house rented in Belgravia. Food was brought in by the bodyguards from various pubs and restaurants in the area.
Faulkener carefully went through the basic plan of action outlined by Lanz in a typed forty-four-page report.
“At twenty-four hundred hours on the day of the incursion,” Faulkener began, “half the four-hundred-man force will land at the Fourandao airport using a Vickers Vanguard aircraft leased from Lebanese Air Transport out of Mopti Airport in northern Mali, which is the assembly point for the entire force. Two of the companies at the airport will be referred to as Vanguard One and Vanguard Two, one hundred men to each company.
“Vanguard One will be responsible for seizing the Fourandao airport and any operational equipment they find on-site, including two Kamov Ka-50 Werewolf attack helicopters known to be based there. Vanguard Two will be responsible for destroying the microwave repeaters at the airport as well as the satellite uplink. Except for the low-signal shortwave signal from the presidential compound in the city, this will effectively cut off Kukuanaland from the rest of the world, including Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.
“With this accomplished, two twenty-man platoons, one from Vanguard One and the other from Vanguard Two, will remain behind to secure the airport and a possible line of retreat, although it is unlikely that this will be necessary. These two platoons will be code-named Van A and Van B. Following this, the remaining men of Vanguard One and Vanguard Two will enter Fourandao from the north following Avenue Forno da Cal, as shown on the map, a copy of which will be provided to each man.
“The objectives of Vanguard One and Vanguard Two are the Plaza de Revolution de Generale Kolingba, the offices of the Kukuanaland Ministry of the Interior (located above the Bank of Central African States on the north side of the square) and the walled blocks of flats directly behind the Trianon Palace Hotel. These flats likely house the bureaucratic cream of the Kukuanaland crop and are well guarded. The guards are to be killed on sight, but the occupants of the buildings are to be kept in their flats. Any attempt by any one of the occupants to escape should be stopped with all necessary force.
“One hour before the arrival of Vanguard One and Vanguard Two at the Fourandao airport, the rest of the force will arrive on the Kotto River seven miles downstream from the Fourandao pier at the southern end of the town. They will arrive on the Kotto River in two refitted Short Shetland WWII transport amphibians carrying one hundred men each. They will have the code names River One and River Two and will also assemble in Mopti, three miles north of the town on the Niger River.
“From their landing sites, marked with GPS coordinates on their orders, River One and River Two will travel upstream to the city in ten-man Zodiac Minuteman inflatables, which will be referred to as Zodiac A through V for the purposes of radio transmission. Zodiac A and Zodiac B to remain with the two aircraft on the river. Zodiac A and Zodiac B will contain the pilots, copilots and flight engineers for both planes.
“On arriving at the Fourandao pier, squads Zodiac C through Zodiac V will reassemble into their requisite companies, radio confirmation of their arrival to Vanguard One and Vanguard Two, and having done so will travel north on Rue de Liberdad to the Plaza de Revolution de Generale Kolingba and seize and hold the southern side of the plaza and the surrounding streets.
“Since the beginning of the incursion takes place well beyond the eighteen-hundred-hour curfew in Fourandao it can be assumed that anyone you meet will be part of the enemy forces and the incursion force will act in accordance with this fact. Anyone assumed to be a civilian during the period of the incursion is to be treated in the same manner.
“On consolidating the incursion force and with the synchronizing of the four company commanders’ watches the main attack on the presidential compound will begin, commencing with a mortar attack from zero minutes to zero fifteen minutes. At the same time LAWs rockets will be fired at the corner guard towers of the presidential compound walls and there will be a concerted attempt to use LAWs rockets to destroy the shortwave antenna tower on top of the compound’s main building.
“Concurrently sharpshooter teams from all four companies will fire on any members of General Kolingba’s compound forces trying to escape from the compound. It is known that there are a number of armored personnel carriers within the compound. Any of these not destroyed in the initial mortar attack must not be allowed to leave the compound and any attempt at this is to be stopped with as much force as necessary, including the use of RPGs, LAWs rockets and the distribution of M-21 antitank mines at the intersection of all streets leading away from the compound.
