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  Imperative Strike

  Zeev Segev

  Copyright © 2021 Zeev Segev

  All rights reserved; No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information retrieval system, without the permission, in writing, of the author.

  Translation: Ram Chopra

  Contact: [email protected]

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 1

  The decision to eliminate Ande, the brutal African tyrant, was made back in the 1980s when the flow of information coming to intelligence desks in the West from the small African country overwhelmed these agencies. Ande was a blood-thirsty, sadistic dictator who did whatever it took to oppress the citizens of his small country.

  The way he executed his predecessor was a clear indication of how he acted, ruled, and led Western intelligence agencies to monitor his actions. In January 1960, Ande and his men infiltrated the Palace of Osako, the previous leader of Ogada, the popular leader of the small, peaceful country. While Osako was sleeping peacefully in his bed, Ande decapitated him with his own two hands. Osako’s wife fled from the room covered in blood, trying to save her young son by hiding him in a closet. Determined not to leave any trace of Osako’s family, Ande chased down the helpless woman, stabbed her, and wiped her blood on the colorful curtains. The baby, wrapped like a small package in a blanket in his mother’s arms, slipped from her as she bled to death, and disappeared. Despite the thorough search throughout the palace and the courtyard, the baby’s body was never found.

  Ande took over the rule of the country by force and intimidation. The people surrounding him were those who never questioned him, lacked morals and conscience, and had no regard for human life. On the day that Ande killed Osako, his men stood around him and applauded. They took turns stabbing the beheaded bloody body, and after drinking wine that they found in the palace, threw the body out the window, carrying it around the city in a victory parade. Ande’s men replaced Osako’s flag with a new flag showing a skull with one eye at its center.

  Later on, each of the men who took part in conquering the palace received “liberation” badges that distinguished them from his other citizens. The new ruler’s orders were that those wearing the badge would acquire benefits and power.

  The information streaming to the West presented a clear picture. Ande did not take any risks. He didn’t waste time on questions and long, useless inquiries. Anyone that his many supporters − who were undercover everywhere − suspected of opposing him, received the same treatment: immediate execution. Even the slightest suspicion of disloyalty or speaking against the ruler led to the perpetrator disappearing from his home at night, only to be found beheaded the following day in the main square. According to rumors, the executions were carried out by Ande himself, who was said to have been heard bragging about his efficiency and clean work.

  Western intelligence agencies tried to get to him. In 1982, a local pilot tried to crash into Ande’s plane, but his personal pilot somehow managed to escape at the last second and the attacker crashed to the ground. Following this failed attempt, Ande tightened the security around him.

  Two years later, Western intelligence agents tried again, and again failed miserably. A group of opposition activists planned to storm the palace on the day marking the Osako’s assassination. On this day, Ande would celebrate with his men in the main hall and they would drink unlimited quantities of alcohol that led to loss of control. At first, things went exactly as planned. Three of the conspirators succeeded in infiltrating the celebration, despite the tight security. Suddenly Ande stopped the music and dancing and sent his men, in groups of twenty, to inspect the rooms of the palace. Five men were taken from each room, and without delay were dragged to the palace’s entrance where they were shot by the guards. After the smoke dispersed, all that remained was a pile of dead bodies in a heap. Among the bodies were those of the three assailants; to this day, no one knows how Ande uncovered the operation that had been planned for so long.

  Concerns in the West increased as Ande’s power grew and he set his eyes on the countries bordering him to the south. These countries were of great importance to the West, with thousands of European citizens living in them and managing the economy. After decades of poverty and corruption, the economic situation in the countries was improving, and the first signs of emerging democracies appeared. In return for their help, they enabled the West to operate from their territories with secret army bases of important strategic value. Ande was never satisfied, and it was just a matter of time when he would try to take over the neighboring countries.

  Chapter 2

  Gary Best took the last sip of his steaming hot coffee and reluctantly got up from his comfortable chair.

  “It seems,” he said softly to his secretary, not wanting to be overheard, “that another day is slipping away, without anything interesting happening.” Gary’s words marked the end of another uneventful day.

  Mary, Gary’s loyal secretary for the last five years, slowly began to collect the confidential material that was spread out over the large desk. Gary knew that Mary was extremely efficient, but at this moment she was being deliberately slow. A small smile appeared on his face. He knew that she was only trying to hide her desire to leave the dark office and be outside on the busy London street as soon as possible.

  “We’re done here,” Gary said, sighing heavily. He turned around to look for his umbrella – which was enough of an opening for Mary to slip out and disappear. “Tomorrow is a new day,” Gary reminded himself on his way out, when he heard the soft sound of the phone ringing behind him. He was used to surprises and sudden changes, and he automatically turned back, knowing that there was a good chance this unexpected phone call would keep him in the cold, dark office much longer. He had the urge to ignore the call and head outside, but the strict discipline he had been accustomed to all these years drew him back into the office. He answered hesitantly, and listened unwillingly.

  “This is Greg Grayson,” came the deep voice of the Service Director. “Operation Loma has begun.” Gary broke into a cold sweat hearing the special code name.

  The decision had been made. The weariness he had been feeling disappeared at once and he knew that things would now be taking on a very different pace. Gary pressed the phone to his ear, biting his upper lip until it hurt. He listened to the quick breathing of his commander. Greg, always calm and collected, was uncharacteristically impatient.

  “What stage of the plan are we at?” Gary asked a completely unnecessary question. He knew his question was irrelevant but decided to try to prolong the call as much as possible, hoping to receive more information about the Operation.

  “There’s no time to waste!” Greg cried out in a loud, authoritative tone. “Loma has begun. Questions and chatter are useless. From this moment on, we need to focus on what’s important
. I expect you to be in my office tomorrow at sunrise. Good-bye.”

  Before Gary could open his mouth to answer, the call ended and a loud, long beep filled his ears.

  “Operation Loma has begun,” Gary imitated his commander childishly. As he repeated these words, a smile covered his face. He had trouble getting out of his low chair − and not only because he was out of shape. He tried to push himself up but fell back onto the soft chair. This was the third time he received the announcement about Loma. His life had changed immediately, and he ended up spending a long time in Africa. A pleasant quiver swept through his body as he remembered the days when he was constantly excited and stressed, with danger awaiting him behind every door and at every corner.

  The Loma Code referred to the attempts to get rid of Ande, the African tyrant. The plan remained one of the missions of the British Secret Service, but the performance was never good enough. Ande was alamish has began”

  nicknamed “The Eel” due to the West’s repeated failure to catch him.

  His elusiveness led to the failure of previous missions and to repeated delays in the Loma Operation − until he received the new announcement. Gary made his way outside, slamming the heavy door shut, and walking down the stairs to the outside world. His heavy steps could be heard from afar. Once he was outside, the ice cold air hit him in the face, burning his already red, tired eyes. He joined the masses of people on the street and disappeared.

  Chapter 3

  The treetops danced to the rhythm of the silent wind, occasionally lashing out at the roof of the small cabin. The green leaves were covered with a thin layer of frost, and an occasional leaf snapped off the branch and slowly fell to the ground, and the twisting forest trails were coated with a thin layer of wet leaves. The elderly forest ranger’s footsteps were still visible from the entrance to the small cabin, but the wind lifted the leaves and the footsteps slowly disappeared.

  The light in the forest ranger’s cabin was off. He collapsed onto his soft bed and let out a sigh of relief; treading through the forest on the wet trail was exhausting. He walked through the windy trails every day, descending from his cabin on the hill and climbing up the hills around him over and over again. After several rounds, the ranger would return to his cabin, taking the same route every time, and then he would eat the meal he had prepared for himself. Once he regained his strength and his aching body had rested a little, the old man would continue his rounds until it got dark.

  The ranger’s job, as it was clearly spelled out to him, was to keep outsiders away from the hill and its surroundings. He carried out his task with devotion, never asking questions − something he had learned to do over the years.

  Besides the small cabin, there were no signs of life in the area. All around him, as far as he could see, was the thick forest that covered the hills.

  In contrast to the ranger’s serenity, the depths of the green hill were bustling with action. Over the last three years, strange things had been taking place inside the hill. In his old age, the ranger refrained from being curious about it or asking unnecessary questions. He continued to guard the hill as if nothing were happening and deliberately stayed away from the well-hidden entrance that unidentified figures used to disappear into the ground. The ranger occasionally heard the sound of someone asking for those arriving to identify themselves, followed by the sound of an electric door opening − and then silence. He heard this several times a day, but continued to stay behind the line he had drawn for himself. As always, he reached his bed exhausted and collapsed onto it.

  A loud noise awakened him from his sleep. He forced his eyes open, trying his best to lift his heavy eyelids and weakly sitting up in bed. Getting out of the warm bed in the cold cabin was extremely difficult. His teeth chattered as he sat at the edge of the bed for a few minutes, but he managed to drag himself over to the fireplace that was cold after the long night, so he took some of the firewood that was scattered around and threw it into the fireplace. The sounds of the wood hitting the cold ashes blended with the strange noises that continued from the hidden entrance. Lighting a fire, the ranger tried to warm his freezing hands, and after warming the rest of his body, he leaned towards the window above his bed and noticed a group of people beyond the snow who were talking excitedly as they stood outside the entrance. At the center of the group was a tall man with light hair who clearly was the highest-ranking figure there, and the others awaited his decision. After a discussion that the ranger couldn’t hear came the sound of the secret door opening again and the group disappearing inside the hill. It was silent again in the cabin; the only sound was that of the wood burning in the fireplace. Snowflakes continued to fall and pile up on the roof of the cabin and between the trees. The ranger began his preparations for going back outside to complete his daily rounds.

  A short time later, the silence in the forest was disrupted once again by strange sounds coming from the foot of the hill. The ranger’s sensitive ear identified the sound of a heavy vehicle struggling up the hill. From his window, he watched a vehicle with a trailer that was towing a huge, covered box very carefully. The vehicle slowly made its way up the narrow, winding lane that led to the electric gate. The driver carefully brought the vehicle with its trailer facing the entrance that was out of the ranger’s sight. The moment the engine was turned off, he heard the sound of the electric door opening again. The old man remained at his window, curious to see this irregular activity taking place right in front of him. Two men in blue overalls emerged from underground and began to unload the cargo from the vehicle. As they continued, the light-haired man reappeared, patiently waiting for the cargo to be unloaded and ready to be transferred to its designated location. With short, clear commands, he told the workers where to put it. The ranger eyed the strange object from where he was, following it until it disappeared into the ground. As soon as the metal door closed, the hill was again silent.

  The ranger reluctantly stepped away from the window and the exciting sights, leaving the cabin that by then had become warm, out into the cold. He trod heavily on the slippery leaves, heading down to the trail at the bottom of the hill. Passing along the tracks made by the heavy vehicle on the wet trail, between the trees, he refrained from turning back to look at the mysterious entrance.

  As the ranger continued on his rounds, the activity underground continued. The cargo that was brought in was led through the long, narrow corridor towards the Blue Hall – the large, round underground hall so named because of the blue light that came in from the corners during daylight. The mysterious object was pushed by the two men in overalls, while the light-haired man continued to give them terse, clear directions. At the end of the corridor was an armed guard in front of a locked gate. The light-haired man exchanged a few words with the guard; then he spoke into his radio and a few seconds later the gate opened and blue light burst into the corridor.

  “One final effort and we’re done,” he encouraged the perspiring workers. With their last drop of strength, they managed to push it through the open gate. There was an atmosphere of mystery as the shadow of the large object hit the wet wall and the faces of the workers were illuminated with a blue light. The light-haired man squinted and followed the cargo into the hall and the gate closed behind them.

  Drops of cold water dripped from the hall’s high ceiling, landing on the heads of the sweating workers. The blue light that burst through holes that had been dug in the walls lit the drops like diamonds. Water dripped onto the thick plastic that covered the cargo, echoing loudly through the hall. The light-haired man directed the workers towards one of the walls, and they carefully rolled the cargo and positioned it a meter from the wall, which was covered with thick masses of complicated electric wires.

  “That’s all,” the light-haired man announced, and with a wave of his hand instructed the workers to leave the hall. The two men made their way towards the exit, dripping with both sweat and the refreshing cold water. The gat
e was opened and they disappeared beyond it. The light-haired man remained in the hall, alone with the strange, covered object. For several minutes he inspected it and the blue drops of water falling. He moved a wet curl of hair from his eyes, quickly approached the object, and began cutting the ropes that were wrapped around it. After completing this difficult task and pulling back the wet canvas, he uncovered a huge metal box that sat on four wheels. The box was painted dark red, and at its center was a metal door with a lock. On its sides and behind it were thick electric wires, each one with a page of instructions in English attached to it.

  Patiently he connected the wires to the electric cables in the wall, following the diagram he’d laid out on the table and rechecking the instruction manual attached to the wires. After working for two hours, the light-haired man wiped sweat from his brow. He walked over to a small metal closet in a distant corner, pulling open the heavy doors with both arms. Inside were various activation buttons and a red lever in the center. Pulling the red lever, a soft humming sound came from the red box across the hall within seconds. The hum intensified and became a continuous muffled sound; a digital clock appeared above the red lever and the digits slowly began to move. “The charging is in process. This time we have to succeed,” the light-haired man mumbled to himself excitedly, with the dripping sound on the metal box in the background. He took one final look at the box, which seemed as though it were receiving power from the blue wall. Approaching the gate, he knocked gently on the small window at its center. The bored guard looked over at him through the window and the gate opened. The man walked out into the corridor with the blue light and the sound of the metal box accompanying him. After a short time, the gate closed and the corridor returned to its silent darkness.

  Back in his cabin, the elderly ranger finished his meal and went out for another routine patrol. Going down the hill was especially difficult, as he slipped on the wet leaves that were covered by a thin layer of snow. After walking or running down, he managed to reach an area with fewer trees. Out of breath, he continued on the trail, scanning the area and listening for any unusual sounds. Suddenly he heard the quick steps of someone approaching from behind. A tall, light-haired man appeared on the trail, and the ranger recognized him from the hidden entrance in the morning.