Empire of the Ring

Youngho used a public phone in the café to call the Black Widows’ contact number. He heard the phone ring through the receiver for a while, then it started to ring from a corner of the café. He hung up immediately. He was stunned since he did not see the contact person inside.

He could not reach the contact person by calling when he was in Baku, and now the phone was working again. Youngho was still not sure if the phone was taken by police or other rebels. However, it was not understandable if this many policemen were hiding here to catch Youngho. Youngho decided to call again since he could manage to escape with the leather shoes in emergency.

He called again and the man in his forties sitting in the corner of the café stood up. He had recognized that Youngho was calling him. As Youngho was pretending that he was calling someone else, he approached Youngho.

“Mr. America?”

Youngho pretended that he did not know about anything.

“What? Are you talking to me?”

“I was hesitant because I didn’t know who you were. I am one of the Black Widows. Can we talk in quiet?”

Then all of the guys inside the café stood up to move with the guy in his forties. Since Youngho was still not sure if they were police or the Black Widows, he could not trust them. He leaned against a wall to protect himself and planned to escape jumping against the wall with the leather shoes, thinking he could reach to the entrance with a jump.

“Well, you might be misconstruing me with someone else. Can you explain why I need to come with you?”

Realizing that their actions might have seemed intimidating, the guy in his forties ordered the others to sit down. Looking at their faces, Youngho was relieved because they did not seem to be hostile toward Youngho.

After thinking for a while, Youngho followed them inside a secret room. The door to the room was hidden behind an alcohol shelf. They exchanged names with each other. They only identified themselves as a CIA agent and the Black Widows. The young members looked innocent, but their eyes were keen. They introduced themselves as rebels.

“Mister… are any of the leaders taken by police?”

They looked troubled at Youngho’s question. Looking at the face of the guy in his forties, Youngho’s worries seemed to be true.

“Yes. Five of our leaders were taken and we have no information about their fates now. We are not sure what to do since then.”

“So the owner of the phone must have been caught too. Can you tell me how you got hold of that phone?”

“Upon their arrest, he hid it under the couch, and I only found it yesterday. I charged it and kept it to myself. I knew that the CIA would contact us again.”

Youngho could guess that a member of the Black Widows betrayed the group and the leaders did not give out their secrets yet since this café, which was their contact point, was not exposed yet.

“You need to evacuate from the city as soon as possible,” Youngho said sternly.

“You mean right now? Do you think we’ll abandon our comrades?”

All of the members seemed to be offended by Youngho’s remark.

“They won’t sell you out. This café is the proof since you’re all safe even though it’s been three days since they got arrested. You should be thankful to them for enduring all the torture. However, the police will use drugs if torture doesn’t work. They will eventually slip out everything about you.”

“…”

“It’s not a matter of trusting your leaders. It’s better for the both sides to get rid of all the links in-between.”

“We can’t leave them.”

“It’s not leaving them. In fact, it would be helping them. You should quickly evacuate and come up with a better plan, so that they’ll be released faster. You know you can’t break them free now, don’t you?”

“…”

“I’ll be heading back now too, assuming that I’ve already been exposed. I’m telling you again: Evacuate from here now and abandon all of your hideouts. If you hesitate and wait for them in here, all of you will get caught.”

Youngho even put on his outerwear to get them going, but they were still indecisive. The guy in his forties made excuses.

“Our leadership has fallen now, so we are taking care of that matter, but I’m not in the position to decide for the group. We should go through a conference.”

Youngho was frustrated by his naive comment. They were not prepared for this kind of emergency.

“Don’t you see? You can only keep on going if you survive.”

“…”

“It’s only a matter of time. Someone has to be in the center as a leader. I don’t see why you want to ask all of the members’ minds to get permission now when the whole group is at stake. You don’t know when they’ll come and arrest you.”

“…”

“All of you in here know the situation the best, but will you still follow the whole group’s opinion when others have no idea what’s going on?”

“…”

They did not say anything. Youngho decided to quit helping them since they were helpless. They had no measure for how to react in this kind of situation. When they can’t decide what to do for themselves, the CIA could not help them out at the risk of being exposed.

“If you can’t decide now, we will dismiss our decision to help your group. It’s too much of a risk.”

Youngho was not even sure if any of the members in this café was a traitor, and when the police would arrive to arrest them. It would be stupid to deliver them the necessary materials at the border, knowing that they would be caught by the government.

Although it was an unofficial business, it would be problematic if Russia found out about this. The US and Russia had some ideas for who was helping what, but they did not accuse each other without any evidence. If it was exposed to Russia that the CIA had been helping Chechen rebels through Georgia, it would affect the international relations like the butterfly effect. Youngho needed to prevent that as much as he could.

Because the Black Widows were still hesitant, Youngho concluded the meeting, “I understand your position. As the CIA’s representative here, I’m announcing that the CIA’s business with you has officially ended under my authority. We can’t expect anything from you.”

The members looked at each other at Youngho’s strong statement.

“…”

“And personally, I’m disappointed by you. You’re ruining the bigger plan because of your thirst for revenge.”

Youngho was implying the recent suicide bombing terrorism at the central police office in Moscow since it caused the arrest of the Black Widows’ leaders.

***

Youngho quickly left the room because he thought he would not be able to get out of Chechen if he spent time convincing the Black Widows who were without their leaders. The group was zealous for revenge but was out of control. It would be the CIA’s loss to help them.

As he was walking fast with the power of the leather shoes to slip out of Chechnya quickly, he knew someone was following him. It was the man in his forties. He was panting.

“Mister, please wait!”

After a while, the two sat in a café near the inn where Youngho stayed. The guy introduced himself.

“I’m Basayev. I’m in charge of training the rebels. Please help us. Without our leadership, you and the CIA are our only hope.”

He seemed devastated. The group was in a panic without their leaders, and if the CIA quit helping them, there was no way to get the necessary items. The money in their hideout had been taken by the police, so he was out of funds at the moment. Although they had gold bars stored in the rebel headquarters hidden in the Caucasus Mountains, it was difficult for them to find a market to sell those to. Without any cash, they needed the CIA’s supply in order to get through the winter.

Youngho told him that the CIA could only help him if he called all of the members and told them to evacuate any footholds in Grozny immediately. They decided to leave the rebel headquarters and training courses in the Caucasus Mountians as they were since the location was a natural fortress.

Since it was only Basayev who followed Youngho, the other members still thought that the CIA was not helping them anymore. The confidentiality of the mission would be kept safe. Youngho told him that he would contact him with information of the delivery location and time soon.

Before parting ways, Basayev asked Youngho if he could exchange the gold bars into US dollars. Youngho screamed inside with joy. He wondered how many gold bars they had.

Basayev suggested 40,000 dollars for each gold bar and looked at Youngho’s face to read his mind. He must have called the price after calculating the commission charge that usually occurred when selling gold.

Since it was about two thirds of the actual price of gold, Youngho gladly accepted the price. They agreed to exchange thirty gold bars with 1.2 million dollars at the border when the supplies were delivered.

Youngho already checked that the gold bars owned by the Black Widows were manufactured in the time of the Russian Empire. There were no serial numbers or named country on the gold bars, which acted as the bearer bond. They were sold at higher prices than regular gold bars because they were untraceable and had the potential of appreciation.

The rebels had taken them from the Chechen Central Bank when Grozny was taken by Russia.

Since the traitor of the group was not caught yet, the group was still unstable. The end of this kind of group was common since they could not trust each other anymore. Youngho was more interested in the armed rebel forces settled in the Caucasus Mountains rather than the Black Widows that had been terrorizing against many and unspecified persons.

So, he suggested to the Chief of the European Chapter that they should focus more on the rebel forces in the Caucasus Mountains, and Michael agreed to divide the aid. Although the Black Widows were acting against Russia, the CIA could not encourage the terrorist group. They could have been deemed more trustworthy if they had not launched the terrorist attack in Moscow, but they ruined it with their uncontrollable reckless actions. Now was the time for the CIA to draw the line.