CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

 

 

 

Payne, Jones, Jarkko, and Kaiser left the plane and walked across the private hangar to a giant whiteboard where a few of Kaiser’s top men had gathered. Kaiser had prepped a lot of briefing rooms in his day, so he had everything that they needed, including a giant map of Suomenlinna and enough food to satisfy everyone’s appetite, including Payne’s.

In Finnish, Suomen means “Finland” and linna means “castle”, but there was never an actual castle on this island complex. Built as a bastion fortress by the Swedes in 1748, Suomenlinna had expanded over the decades. In the early years, it had been tasked with defending Helsinki, but after the Finnish Civil War in 1918, the purpose of the military base had started to evolve.

First, a prison camp was built on one of the islands. Then in 1973, the complex was turned over to a civilian administration known as the Governing Body of Suomenlinna, and the presence of the military was drastically scaled back. Although a minimum-security penal colony still remains, Suomenlinna is one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of Finland. Several museums exist on the islands, as well as the last surviving Finnish submarine, Vesikko.

During his advance research, Payne had learned that Finland was banned from operating submarines after World War II because of the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty. As one of five subs to serve the Finnish Navy, the Vesikko had been kept in storage—while the others were sold and scrapped—until she could be turned into a museum ship. He hoped to tour the small vessel once this confrontation was over, but for the time being, he managed to stay on task.

As usual, Jones was the one in charge of tactics, a rarity in most military units since that duty normally fell to the lead officer. But Payne had never played by the rules. He had always believed it was the team leader’s job to maximize the strengths of his squad, and he had recognized Jones’s ability quite early on and had never regretted it. Despite his boyish energy and teenage sense of humor, Jones was a gray-bearded wizard when it came to strategy.

In this field alone, he was the oracle.

Able to see things before they even happened.

Jones introduced himself to Kaiser’s men, who sat on folding chairs in front of the whiteboard. Jarkko and Kaiser grabbed seats in the front row, but Payne remained standing in the back of the room. He would keep an eye on things from there while Jones ran the briefing.

In order to get the room’s attention, Jones amped up his personality to a whole new level. Over the years, he had found that was the quickest way to take charge of alpha males who were getting ready to put their lives on the line for a common cause.

“First things first,” Jones said to the group. “Tell me about the local cops. As a black man carrying a gun, that’s always number one on my list.”

Jarkko laughed. “Don’t worry, my friend. Jarkko has taken care of everything. The Finnish Navy sometimes conducts war games around the islands. The local police are expecting drills this evening, so they will not be alarmed by gunfire.”

“Excellent!” Jones said with a grin. “Then let’s get to it.”

Jones pointed to the map and did his best to pronounce the names. “Suomenlinna is made up of six islands. Starting in the northwest and moving toward the southeast, there is Särkää, Länsi-Mustasaari, Pikku-Mustasaari, Iso-Mustasaari, Susisaari, and Kustaanmiekka.”

He glanced at Jarkko. “How’d I do?”

Jarkko grinned. “You fucked up every one.”

Jones nodded and admitted defeat. “Just like I knew I would. And I don’t like to fuck up, so we’re changing things right now. From this point forward, these are the new names of the islands: Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, and One.”

To emphasize his point, he picked up a black magic marker and wrote the matching numeral on top of each island, following the same order he had announced to the group. “So no more of these Hakuna-Matata, Kumbaya, Pikachu-sounding names. When my team kills, we kill in English. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” the group said in unison.

Jones pointed to Island 6 in the northwest corner of the map. It was the only island that wasn’t connected to the other five. “What’s special about this island? As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing! So let’s ignore it completely, like women do with Jarkko.”

Jarkko grinned. “It’s true. They do—until they see Jarkko’s yacht! Then they can’t wait to play with Little Jarkko. Sometimes he gets excited and spits up on them!”

The group laughed, while Jones put a black “X” over Island 6.

“Moving on,” Jones growled to get the room to settle down. He was in his element, completely in control of the team. He had done hundreds of briefings like this and had forgotten how much he enjoyed it. “Islands Five and Four. They sit to the northwest and are connected by small bridges. I highly doubt that Volkov and his men are going to land way over there. If they do, they’ll have to hike a few klicks through the civilian part of Suomenlinna before they get anywhere near us, so I’m gonna cross them out of existence as well.”

With one giant “X”, he eliminated Island 5 and Island 4.

Jones put the cap back on the marker and then used it to tap on Island 3. It was the large island to the northeast. “According to Jarkko, the public ferry comes to the main quay on the north side of this island. Service will stop long before our scheduled meeting, so we fully expect all of the tourists and most of the employees to be gone before Volkov arrives. However, there’s always a chance that Volkov tries to slip some of his men onto the island for advance reconnaissance. With that in mind, we need patrols—”

He pointed to specific locations on the map. “Here, here, and here.”

Kaiser nodded from the front row. “I’ll see to it.”

“Good,” Jones said as he glanced at Kaiser. “Is the comm gear working?”

“My patrols are using it as we speak, so we’re good to go.”

“How well do you know these men?”

“I handpicked them myself.”

“Glad to hear it,” Jones said as he turned back toward the map and drew a circle in the center of Island 3. “Who’s your best long-distance shooter?”

A man in the second row raised his hand. “That would be me.”

Jones glanced back at him. “What’s your name?”

“Archer.”

“Like the cartoon?”

Archer shook his head. “Like a bowman.”

Jones nodded. “Good answer, because the cartoon Archer is a drunk douchebag. Are you either of those things?”

“No, sir.”

“How’s your eyesight?”

“Pretty fucking good.”

“Prove it. What did I circle on the map?”

Archer didn’t even need to look. “The church.”

Jones smiled. “Which means you’re a sober bowman who did his homework. Nice to meet you, Archer. I’m glad you’re on my team. Why did I circle the church?”

“It was built on top of a hill. From up there, you can see everything.”

“Just like God Himself!” Jones said in the voice of a preacher. “And he who hath the high ground always winneth the war! So that’s where I want you with a sniper rifle: in the second-floor window, facing southeast. Make sure you bring a guard or two in case Volkov goes for the church. I don’t want you worried about your six. I want you focused on your twelve. Understood?”

Archer nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Jones glanced back at the map. He pointed to Island 2. “This is where things get tricky. There’s a single bridge connecting Island Three and Island Two. In wartime, I would blow the fucking thing to bits to prevent a rear assault. But Jarkko claims we can’t do that here. I highly doubt that Volkov is going to land on Three and hike it across the bridge, but the guy is a fucking lunatic, so who knows what the hell he’s thinking? With that in mind, we need to position a heavy gun on the north edge of Two, right next to the bridge. If anyone tries to cross from Three, we need to light their asses up. Kaiser, do you have someone who can handle that?”

Kaiser nodded. “Consider it done.”

“Good,” Jones said as he shifted his focus back to the map. “As you’ve probably guessed by now, our goal is to funnel all of the action to the south. It’s away from the prison and the civilian population in the upper islands—although we’ve been assured that those numbers will be kept to a minimum. Jarkko has talked to local personnel and warned them of the coming storm. In fact, he paid them good money to make sure that they had somewhere else to be during this skirmish. I hope to hell they remember, because Island Two and Island One will get hit.”

With his magic marker, Jones drew a giant circle around the bottom two islands. Although they had different names, they were actually connected in the middle by a narrow land bridge. On each side of the grassy isthmus, there was a shallow inlet where boats could dock, and overlooking each inlet was a well-worn path that ran between Islands 2 and 1.

Jones tapped on the two inlets with his marker. “If I had to guess, I’d say Volkov is currently hiding on one of the islands to the east. When it’s time, he’ll send men here or here. But not men he likes. Certainly not friends or relatives—unless he has a cousin that he really hates. Why? Because we’ll control the high ground above the inlets, and we’ll slaughter anyone who tries to dock. And yet, I get the sense that he’ll try to push through in order to draw our attention. I figure, if Volkov is coming to the party, he’ll be more than willing to sacrifice some pawns before his arrival. I also get the sense that he’ll search for the path of least resistance when he gets here, which is exactly what we want.”

“Sir?” Archer said, confused by the comment.

Jones grinned. “We’re going to open the front door and let him march right in.”