The three vans containing six operatives, including himself, pulled up to the entrance to the U.S. Embassy. Ostensibly, they’d been dispatched from the Euroclima operations center located on the other side of Baku. In reality, they’d exited the parking garage of a high-rise apartment building only a block away. The markings of the vans were not exactly like the Euroclima fleet, so Wagner didn’t want his operatives running the risk of being noticed by authentic service personnel of the company.
One of his top hires, an Azerbaijani native, Amir Azizov, who’d been working for Hamas within Iran, was the point man as the team cleared security. Unfortunately for him, he would also be one of the most important elements of subterfuge following the attack. After the operation concluded, Wagner planned to deliver a lethal injection of sarin into the man’s body and leave him for dead on the side of the road. When his body was discovered, all fingers of blame would point to Hamas and Iran. He’d decided to nix the initial plan of creating a celebratory video by Hamas loyalists. It would require more people to be involved in the mission. That meant more mouths outside Odessa to silence later.
The three vans pulled through the iron gates leading into the service entrances to the embassy. Hours earlier, Azizov had entered the embassy sporting a full beard, glasses, and a turban in order to secure a travel permit to the United States.
He’d intentionally feigned getting lost in the hallways while trying to find the nonimmigrant travel visa office. In just a few minutes, he’d located the storage room that contained the two air handlers for the building. He’d quickly disabled them both. Several minutes later, he was walking down the street to a hotel room, where he shaved, cut his hair, and changed into jeans and a tee shirt. Afterwards, he bore no resemblance to the man who’d entered the embassy.
With two armed guards looking on from their positions within bulletproof-glass guard shacks, the three repair vans emptied, and the phony servicemen quickly gathered their tools and repair parts. Azizov led the way with Wagner by his side. Wagner was clearly European, but that would not have been out of the ordinary, as Euroclima had offices throughout Eastern Europe.
“Why are there so many of you?” asked the head of the guard detail just inside the service entrance. His eyes moved from one man to the next, noting their uniforms and the unusual additional use of nitrile gloves. He began to question why they would wear them when Azizov responded, effectively distracting him. Wagner had informed his operatives to wear them because, unlike nonporous latex gloves, nitrile gloves were porous and too thick to leave fingerprints.
“Our dispatcher was told to be diligent about the repairs and minimize intrusion on the embassy workforce. They decided to provide three vans of personnel in order to make a swift repair.”
The guard shook his head as he studied the group. “Or maybe they plan on sending Washington a big, fat bill, eh?”
Azizov shrugged, and Wagner managed to stifle a laugh. America’s government was no different from most. It enjoyed wasting its citizens’ tax dollars.
Another guard approached. “Let’s get this taken care of. The people inside are sweaty and complaining to the facility manager.”
“Okay,” replied the head of the guard detail. “Line up single file. One at a time through the metal detector. Place your tools and equipment on the X-ray machine conveyer belt.”
“What about the ladders?” asked a third guard. Several of the men carried six-foot-tall aluminum stepladders to provide them access to the ceiling vents.
The head guard shook his head and shrugged. “I’ll take them around the scanner.”
He stood out of the way. As each man passed through, the guard took a ladder and handed it to him on the other side.
“What the hell is this thing for?” asked the guard manning the X-ray machine. “The sewer system is not malfunctioning.”
Shit. Wagner didn’t expect the guards to question their tools or equipment. He had to think fast. He came up with the most plausible explanation although it was totally bogus.
“These HVAC systems have a complicated manifold and air-intake system that gets clogged from time to time. Our instructions were to be prepared for any logical eventuality, so we brought a new valve.”
“More bullshit expenses,” groaned the head guard, who was impatiently holding a ladder. The line of men going through the screening process had stopped, and now food delivery drivers had stacked up behind the HVAC servicemen. “Just let them go so we can get this over with.”
The rest of Wagner’s team hustled through, and minutes later, they were heading for their designated areas to install the DATS devices filled with sarin. He, Azizov, and another operative who’d been recruited because of his plumbing skills found their way into the basement.
Once they were in the boiler room where the fire-suppression system was located, each man reached into their pants and pulled a small ziplock baggie from their briefs. Inside it was an all-plastic earpiece and a microphone that was the size of an LED wire. The nondescript communications device was designed to avoid detection by metal detectors and X-ray machines. It would allow Wagner to keep in contact with his team during the operation. After a communications check with his operatives, his group got to work on the dry-pipe valve.
Wagner checked his watch. The cyber squad had turned off the fire alarm and monitoring system thirty minutes ago. Three of the operatives had already reported installing their DATS devices.
In the utility closet, the two men assigned to changing out
