Chapter 49

“The idiot Musta lost our star brigade. They lost 57 men at Guradi. There are currently 303 men left at headquarters. Ten surveillance teams are out in the northwest and Cortaro. There are currently 203 men here.”

“Huh!”

Upon hearing this report, Ahmud sighed heavily.

Borkou and Kanem were too big. Having to split the troops here and there was causing them to have very few left as backups. He wanted to rip apart the frog punks, but without knowing their movements, it was hard to plan a tactic accordingly. He wasn’t confident enough to go against them with just 150 men.

All of them were snipers.

He was battling against ten of them, but he was the one ending up with a nosebleed. With their immensely accurate shooting, he had even lost his aide. Ahmud stroked the left side of his face without realizing it.

It was the area where the blood from his aide’s head had splattered. He got chills down his back. They had no information on how many of these skilled men they had. It made it difficult to command an attack.

“Muhammad, bring in all the guards.”

“Your excellency, if we bring in all the guards that are surveying their movements, the boss will not be happy.”

Muhammad opposed him.

“You call them if I tell you to call them. I was chased like a dog by those frog punks.”

Ahmud’s anger exploded. He threw the cigar he had in his mouth. This guy or another…he didn’t like any of them.

The cigar happened to land on the same spot as his cut forehead, but Muhammad didn’t move from his stance. Ahmud was a hotheaded superior. There were aides that got killed for talking back to him.

“Yes, sir.”

Muhammad hurriedly ran out of the barracks. He heard him kicking the desk from behind him.

“Damn, why is he taking out his anger at me after getting stomped on by the frogs? What the hell did I do?” Muhammad muttered as he readied to call in the troops.

Ahmud couldn’t calm his anger and smoked cigarette after cigarette.

How many of them are there?

Why are they not searching for Makumbo and instead loitering around Bodele?

He racked his brain about it, but all it did was make his headache worse.

From his assumptions, he predicted that the frog special forces had at least 30 men and at most 100. If he called in all the surveillance teams, he could gather 300 men. Only then could he be sure to have the advantage in numbers.

Faiz’s surveillance team had 100 men with over 5 years of experience. Their main task was to survey other armies.

Habib’s surveillance team would track movements of any army they were in leagues with. The 11 members of Frolinat only kept them as an alliance because of necessity. They belonged to a different group and class entirely. Like Havrena Makumbo, they could never be sure when they would get betrayed by them. That was the extent of Frolinat’s alliance with them. If he was to remove the Faiz surveillance army, then as his aide had said, he would get sorely reprimanded by Habib.

“If I can catch those punks, I would sell my soul.”

Ahmud clenched his teeth.

The scratch to his pride made even his fear of the boss disappear.

He wouldn’t be able to sleep until he could chop them to pieces and throw them into the desert. When he closed his eyes, he was haunted by the image of his ripped apart men and bullet holes in their heads.

When about ten cigarette butts were in the cigarette tray, the messenger arrived.

“What? Oh ho!”

It was a messenger that the boss, Commissioner Habib, had sent. Upon receiving the message, Ahmud was snapped back to his senses. There were two very important pieces of information inside it.

It said that the punks were heading toward Ekiya oasis and that they were awaiting a supply replenishment. It would be at 2400 hours, 10 km northwest of Tanga.

He didn’t know how the boss was gathering information about the French army, and he didn’t want to know. They say that curiosity killed the cat. If the boss was not going to tell, then it was better to pretend not to know.

His task was to retrieve the supplies. Of course, he first had to obliterate those meddlesome punks. If he wasn’t able to eat what the boss was spoon-feeding him, then he deserved to be purged.

From inside Ahmud’s head, a map unfolded.

Ten km north of Tanga are 5 oasis villages in the area of Toko Doum. It was only 25 km away from the location of their brigade in Koro Mojanga.

Ahmud was in a good mood. He was pumped up with adrenaline. He wasn’t sure why the special forces which were supposed to be chasing Makumbo were deep in Bodele. The Bodele badlands were his front yard. One mistake was enough.

“Your excellency!”

Without even knocking, the aide burst in suddenly.

“A report has come in from our intel team. Three vehicles are moving toward the Amju region.”

Ahmud jumped up in surprise.

“What? Toward Amju?”

“That is correct.”

“They aren’t all moving, are they?”

“That’ correct. A portion of them were left behind.”

“Ha hahaha! Is that so.”

Ahmud smiled widely.

Their intel was never wrong. The punks had arranged a supply drop with a few of their men, and the rest of them had started to move onwards. The pickups that were heading toward Amju were the ones to make contact with their headquarters.

“Get ready to go to Toko Doum.”

“What should we do with the surveillance team we called back?”

“Are their brains mere accessories? Send Faiz the message. Tell them to not come to headquarters but instead chase the punks heading to Amju. Their destination is the base camp for the special forces,” Ahmud yelled out abruptly.

Because his previous aide’s head had been blown off in Guradi, he had to deal with this idiot. He didn’t know how to move upon making his own judgment.

The surveillance team that Faiz commanded was the best of the best. They will rid the special force base camp with Faiz’s troops. After stealing the supplies, he was planning to attack them from the rear. There was no need to oppose Habib’s commands, so it was killing two birds with one stone.

There was an hour left before they arrived to the location.

All available vehicles were sourced to them from headquarters. Cars and bikes, even camels. All 147 Frolinat soldiers passed through the barricade and popped out.

The Ahmud troops ran as fast as they could through the darkness.

“Commander, we see a light.”

The aide that was surveying the area reported to Ahmud.

Ahmud was also able to see a streak of light through the darkness. If there were no obstacles, he was able to see 10km out in the dark.

“The stupid white pigs!” he exclaimed in delight. They were unaware how far sounds and light traveled through the desolate desert nights. It made them easy targets for their guns. He scoffed at how pathetic the frogs were for not being even remotely careful.

Ahmud, however, had forgotten his defeat in the early evening against ten men previously. Prideful men tend to only see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, and remember what they want to remember. Ahmud did not surpass this generalization.

“Keep going forward.”

The location of the mirror operation was 4km from Toko Doum in a place with no obstacles. The mercenaries were undercover, 300m to the right. The snipers were waiting with bated breath in the best possible location to use their shooting skills.

Black Mamba had his eyes closed in the sudden darkness he created.

It was time to become one with nature. 100 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters…as if a rock had been thrown in a peaceful lake, the ripples kept growing.

He had told Captain that his limit was 100m, but in actuality, it was 300 meters. He could see 100m with his eyes, but he could sense movement up to 500m.

All living things give off orthodox wavelengths. Black Mamba used something similar to active echolocation used by submarines. By sensing the change in energy from the living things, he was able to figure out its shape and movement.

-Captain, from 4km straight ahead, the enemy is approaching.

-What? 4km ahead?

Captain looked out through his night-vision goggles. There was nothing but ink-like darkness in front of him. Black Mamba’s senses had never been wrong before. If Black Mamba says they are there, then they must be.

“Damn, as expected, the pipe is leaking profusely.”

Our mirror tactic worked perfectly. A sigh naturally escaped him.

-Can you tell me the direction and number?

-It is the 2 o’clock direction, I can hear the sound of the engines and camels. The number is difficult to decipher.

“Hm! Dirty punks. I will make sure to kill you.”

Captain clenched his teeth. It’s the 5th row. The contents of their communication were handed straight into the enemy’s hands. He had truly hoped that his worry had been an over-exaggeration, but the reality was bleak.

It would be hard to catch the mole as they had to suspect the communication officer all the way to the commanding officer. Captain did not suspect DGSE’s back door operation. He turned on his headset.

-Everyone get ready to attack

-Yes sir

-Morris, have you finished setting up the land mines?

-Yes sir, 10 sets of Claymore set and ready. The mines are lined up three meters apart with a total of 60 sets placed into position.

They dug up all the Claymores they had in their supply, but it was still not enough.

Claymores are orientated mines. Because they are placed in different orientations, if 30% are able to be exploded, it is assumed to be a success.

-The enemy is heading our way from 4km away. Ready the grenade launcher and machine guns.

They had resisted using explosives at Uldi Harmarl, but their tail had already been caught now. There was no reason to reserve their firepower.

Six mercenaries waited for the enemy with bated breath.

The Ahmud army was approaching with great speed. Within less than an hour, they had traveled 20 km. This speed was only possible because of their familiarity with the land.

At Toko Doum, Muhammad halted the leading troops.

“Commander, we hear noises.”

“It’s the frogs.”

Ahmud jumped off the truck and put his ear to the ground.

“I’m sure of it. They are 4km straight ahead.”

Ahmud had rolled around the desert for 20 years. Even without night vision goggles, he could see a point of light and figure out the distance through small sounds.

“Everyone off. We have further news.”

Ahamud carefully reaccessed the situation.

He was suddenly reminded of his recent defeat. The French special forces were limited in size, but they showed phenomenal battle skills. His army only had individual rifles, firearms, and grenades. They had RPG and mine throwers, but they didn’t have a lot in supply. He sorely missed the Soviet grenade launcher he had lost to them previously.

Luckily, their main forces were out toward Ekiya oasis.

Their limited supplies could be overcome by their sheer number of men. Plus, it was night. The snipers were limited by darkness. Using the cover of darkness, they could get as close as possible, then obliterate them once and for all.

With five troops, Frolinat’s 3rd brigade stealthily approached the barracks like a rattlesnake.

‘Are they crazy?’

Captain gasped in exasperation.

Within the magnified sight through the night vision goggles, the green silhouettes seemed to go on forever into the distance.

His worst fear had become a reality.

The oncoming number of guerrilla troops surpassed that of a company unit. Captain, who had assumed that at most it would be a platoon, gasped in exclamation.

With exact information at both of their disposals, Ahmud and Captain had both misjudged the situation.

Ahmud predicted that France’s special forces were at Ekiya. He was sure that they would not have enough men to overpower them, especially in a night battle.

Captain had assumed that the rebel forces would send their main troops to Ekiya, and a portion would come to steal the supplies. Both their mistaken assumptions had been the cause for a rain of blood to shower upon Toko Doum.

The problem was the sea of green that filled the entire lens of his night-vision goggles. Seeing the huge numbers of the enemy soldiers put Captain in a grim position.

With Mark dead, Chartres injured, and Belman, Miguel, and Mike in Ekiya as a diversion, only half of the 11 was available to battle.

The only members available for battle were Burimer and Black Mamba as snipers, Morris with explosives, Jang Shin with heavy weapons, and Emil with the machine gun. There as only five of them. Not having Miguel’s rifle with them was detrimental. They will not be able to coordinate taking turns shooting.

With him included, the six of them would have to go against the black sea of enemies charging toward them. The only thing he could put trust in was Black Mamba and the tightly planted land mines.

It was too late to back out. If they started to chase them, their location would be compromised, and they were at high risk to lose everything.

‘Are they telling us that they are okay with exposing their 5th line?’

He wanted to smash his own head in. He had overthought the situation and put his team in a dangerous position.

Truthfully, Captain’s sly tactics were not bad. The problem was Habib’s pride and Ahmud’s vengeance. The desert men were more concerned about enacting their revenge than the consequences of their actions.

‘Should we risk being followed and quietly retreat?’

‘If we lead them to the minefield and use all our firepower, wouldn’t we able to take them on? We have Black Mamba on our side.’