Chapter 49: Take the Gloves off

Location: Windhoek, Namibia

Unit: Global Operations Unit

Date: 26th April 2025

As the city buzzed with activity below, a helicopter disguised as a news vehicle soared overhead. In the pilot's seat, a Namibian aviator shared the cockpit with a mysterious foreign pilot, who concealed their identity behind a black ski mask and a technologically advanced helmet. Glancing at the urban landscape below, the masked pilot spoke into the microphone, "I have visual contact."

Tucked away in the rear compartment, a sniper lay hidden beneath a black cover, her Hecate II rifle partially protruding from the small open window. Carefully scanning the street, she pressed her radio briefly before releasing it, signalling confirmation with a silent, 'Roger.'

This method of communication was known as static code, a clever way to encrypt their messages and keep Zeller's presence concealed. One click is 'Roger', two is 'Negative', and repeated spamming is 'Danger'. Aligning her sights with a white vehicle, the sniper turned to the PUURS next to her, swapping her cable for one connected to an uncrackable radio. "White truck, rooftop cross. Designate for strike, over," she transmitted.

A voice responded, "Target designated, out."

Maintaining her focus, Zeller observed the truck as it veered onto Echo-Kilo, heading toward the designated area. She relayed the information, unflinching. "It's now entering Echo-Kilo and approaching your position, 2-1."

Mabasa tightly gripped his R4 Assault Rifle, peering out the window as the truck zoomed past him. "Visual contact confirmed, break," he acknowledged.

Noticing the driver's abrupt turn, Mabasa nodded and shared the update. "The truck has entered the market car park. 1-1, be prepared to intercept, over."

Emerging from the market, Mclaw and Baker carried an assortment of food and beverages. They both spotted the truck, and Mclaw nodded in acknowledgement while continuing on his path. Baker, however, slowed down. Nonchalantly strolling in front of the truck, Mclaw suddenly halted as it screeched to a stop.

Mclaw slammed the hood of the car in feigned anger before walking away. His hoodie concealed his face, its unassuming appearance helping him blend in as the driver parked in a spot without questioning him. Baker caught up with him.

Mclaw glanced at Baker and said, "Take that dead possum off your face already." He opened the trunk and handed him a razor, saying, "We're going in."

Baker sighed, replying, "So long, old friend."

Using the razor, Baker swiftly shaved off his beard, revealing a clean-shaven face. He replaced his boonie hat with a cap and nodded as Mclaw changed his hoodie, uncovering a discreet single-shot firearm locked to his forearm. Removing it, he retrieved two Glock 43 pistols from the car and handed one to Baker, saying, "Let's go."

Baker put on a pair of glasses and responded, "Yes, sir."

Both of them concealed the pistols in their waistbands as they reentered the store. Taking separate aisles, they walked cautiously, initially noticing nothing until Mclaw reached the end.

There was a door.

He nodded at Baker, who glanced back at him. Approaching the door, they heard footsteps on the other side. Mclaw swung the door open, revealing a man who wasn't a store employee or manager. Mclaw swiftly punched him in the face, rendering him unconscious.

Baker closed the door behind them and spoke into his wristwatch, which was connected to the concealed communication device in the car. "Door is unlocked, out," he relayed.

Both of them drew their small pistols. Baker began to search the unconscious enemy, feeling something metallic under his jacket. Opening it, he revealed a Beretta 93R and remarked, "Now, this is more like it."

He concealed his tiny pistol, holding the Raffica. The two operators walked down the corridor next to one another. Noticing a staircase they stopped and waited.

Then a familiar voice spoke, "I expect the raid to be carried out tomorrow morn, if it isn't I'll have your head... mate." The figure talking put an extreme amount of emphasis on mate, the word sounded threatening in itself.

Mclaw's eyes widened as he whispered, "2-1 I need an identification on this voice."

Mabasa listened to the recording, "He's alive..." he shook his head in shock at the Australian officer's voice, "It's General Black."

Mclaw nodded, "I thought so." Suddenly the screen clicked, turning off. They both noticed the light level go down, nodding.

Mclaw and Baker descended the staircase. Coming to a doorway he noticed Baker tap him on the shoulder. Quickly swinging through he grabbed one of the soldiers standing up, putting his pistol to the man's temple, Baker pointed his pistol at the several Operators sitting at computers, "So you're all Oceanic Empire?"

The NZA operators turned their heads freezing at the sight of the two men.

The one Mclaw held in his hands nodded, "Correct."

Mclaw looked around analysing the room, "Which one of you is the leader?"

The one in Mclaw's arms spoke again, "Me."

Mclaw grinned, "Good." He turned his pistol on two of the NZA operators gunning them down, "Now you know I'm serious, tell me exactly where the clan is or I'll make what happened to those two look like a fucking mercy."

None of them spoke, immediately they all attempted to pull their pistols. Mclaw turned his pistol as the two enemies pushed the pistols right next to their brains. He fired once, the first one was disarmed as the second one pulled the trigger, suddenly his brains were thrown across the room as the red mush scattered over several screens.

Baker ran forward jumping on the NZA operator. With one blow he knocked the enemy out. Dragging the enemy to the wall he patted him down, "He's alive, good shooting, sir."

Mabasa appeared from around the corner, "Sir, I heard gunshots."

Mclaw nodded, "We had an attempted and a successful suicide."

Mabasa let out a sigh. "Again?" he exclaimed, pausing for a moment. "Doesn't that make about 200 now?"

Turner descended the stairs behind him. "It's 198," he corrected.

Mabasa glanced back at him. "Were you guarding the stairs?"

Turner nodded. "Command is getting impatient. They want this operation wrapped up, and the Namibians want us out of this civilian centre."

Mclaw sighed. "Fine, tell them we'll be done in 10."

Turner hurriedly ran back up the stairs and disappeared behind the door for a few seconds. "You have a live one up here as well!" he called out.

Mclaw responded, "I know. Now go and do your damn job!"

He turned to Mabasa. "To avoid any unnecessary comments, pass me the kit and go grab the unconscious guy upstairs."

Mclaw concealed his pistol and handed Mabasa the case, still holding the enemy leader captive. They both turned around as Mclaw entered another room. Mclaw seated the man in a chair and delivered a punch to his face before the steel door shut behind him.

Mabasa stepped into the closed shop and nodded at Mounts and Turner. "Both of you, move downstairs. We don't want to attract any unnecessary attention."

The two operatives followed Mabasa down the stairs, while Baker remained seated with his automatic pistol aimed at the captured operators.

Mounts and Turner tightly gripped their suppressed Mac-10s as they kept a watchful eye on the enemy spies.

Mabasa approached one of the computers and inserted his USB drive. The computer immediately unlocked, and he exclaimed, "Bingo." He saw several files marked as TOP SECRET and started reviewing them one by one. "Holy shit, they're way ahead of us."

Mounts stood beside him and whistled. "No wonder command has been noticing increased NZA SF activity across Africa..."

Mabasa selected all the files and began copying them to his drive. "Command, this is 2-1. We may have hit the jackpot. Sending details, over." Plugging the USB drive into his wristwatch, he transmitted the data.

A response came back, "This is Command. We've received the information, over."

Mabasa nodded in acknowledgement. "Anything of use, over?"

Command responded, "Roger. Quite a bit we already knew, but it does fill in several gaps, over."

Mabasa sighed, looking at Mounts. "Great, they're being all secretive again. We'll have to approach the loyalists politely." He turned to the radio. "Roger, out."

Mounts chuckled. "Yeah, good luck with that. Don't they hate you?"

Baker interjected while still keeping an eye on the prisoners. "Yeah, shouldn't have punched one of their officers."

Mabasa shrugged. "How was I supposed to know that some random guy was an informant and not an NZA?"

Suddenly, a muffled scream emanated from behind the door, followed by several more screams. Then, a gunshot rang out, abruptly ending the commotion.

The door swung open, and Mclaw nodded. "I have it." He tossed the blood-stained glove into a box filled with peculiar tools and devices, closing the lid to reveal a smudge of blood.

As Baker surveyed the area, his gaze fell upon the blood-splattered wall next to a chair. There was a figure seated in the chair, their face brutally carved by what appeared to be peg-tooth blades. The marks on the skull indicated that the blade hadn't been moved back and forth but rather struck against the enemy's face, leaving its teeth imprints deeply embedded in the bone.

In the centre of the carnage, there was a bullet hole, revealing the brain matter-splatter back wall. Baker's attention shifted to the left arm, only to find it missing, replaced by a pool of oozing blood. Examining the wound, he realised it wasn't a clean cut, but rather a gruesome tear.

Mclaw moved to close the door but noticed that it was stuck. All of them noticed an arm wedged between the frame and the door. The arm appeared to be bent backwards, with several fingers snapped at unnatural angles and their nails coated in blood.

Mclaw kicked the arm out of the way and forcefully closed the door. He turned to the team. "What are you standing there for? Call for extraction. Also, get these two interrogated. I want every bit of information extracted from their brains. Then send them for AV testing."

Mabasa nodded and led the way, taking the two prisoners out of the room, followed closely by the other operators. Just as Mclaw reached the staircase, he noticed a sudden shift in the lighting of the room. His gaze turned towards the screen, where he saw General Black's wide-eyed stare.

Mclaw froze, "Shit."

General Black composed himself and greeted Mclaw with a mocking tone. "Hello, Captain Mclaw. Having a good raid, are we?" Without waiting for a response, he continued, "Honestly, it took you long enough. I thought you would never find us, and we could just slip right under your nose..."

Mclaw reached for his earpiece. "Code Orange, Code Orange. Call in the hawks now!"

Baker ran outside, brandishing a flare gun. Firing it, suddenly, several black hawks appeared on the horizon, making their way into the city. Zeller's civilian helicopter landed nearby, and she quickly disembarked as multiple vehicles emerged from hidden alleyways and halted in front of the helicopters.

The rest of the GOU team swiftly boarded the helicopters, joining the US Army Rangers team that was already present.

Mclaw rushed to the door, still hearing General Black's voice. "Aww, don't you want to talk some more?"

Mclaw halted, his anger evident. "About what?"

The General paused for effect. "Well, we could start with Richa--"

Mclaw spun around on his heels, shouting, "Don't you dare say his na--"

Black grinned, interrupting Mclaw. "He survived," he revealed, pausing briefly as he looked off-camera. "I'm talking about Antarctica. The ship protected him... well, mostly. And he told us so much. He lasted longer than Soman, though... Delta Priority was an interesting topic. He's what we call Devil-1, right?"

Mclaw approached the screen, seething with fury. "You bastard. If you touch him, I will make you wish you were never born."

Black leaned closer to the camera, a sinister smirk on his face. "Lucky for you, China is a big place, and 1st Para seems to be completely off the grid. I hear they have a new officer. He sounds exceptional, a true menace. I bet we could turn him into humanity's worst nightmare."

Mclaw snarled at the enemy General. "Once we find out what we need to know, I'm coming for you, Black." He grabbed a rifle from the rack on the side of the room, chambering it. With a flick to full-auto mode, he fired from the hip, obliterating every computer in the room. The connection was severed.

Discarding the rifle, Mclaw pulled a grenade from his hip and tossed it down the hallway as he ascended the staircase. The explosion sent flames roaring through the doors and decimated the remnants of the enemy. "Send a coded message to 1st Para. 'They are being targeted by the NZA. Retreat,'" he commanded through a secure radio channel.

Exiting the shop, Mclaw sprinted towards the still-spinning helicopter blades, climbing aboard next to Mabasa. "Get us airborne!" he shouted to the pilot. "We've got a battle to win!"