#005 | From the Shadows
In the penthouse suite of the Lotus hotel, a man stood up against the window and surveyed the movement of Tokyo’s citizens, hundreds of feet below.
Adewale Aidevo, “The Nigerian Terror,” as he became known in the criminal underworld, had arrived in Japan twelve hours earlier. Instructions on his missions were provided via untraceable cell phones and a highly encrypted computer. An apex predator highly trained in hand-to-hand combat and tactical espionage, fluent in six languages, and an expert marksman with almost any weapon in the world, Aidevo was a master of his craft.
Aidevo grew up in a small Nigerian village. His father was away on business for much of his childhood, and his mother was surrogate leader of their village. When Adewale was 16, their village was raided in the middle of the night by the terror cell, Boko Haram. Dozens were killed, including both of Aidevo’s parents. With his dying breath, Adewale’s father told his son of a secret door in their house that lead to an underground bunker. In the bunker, Adewale found out who his father truly was; a black ops operative for an organization called SHDW.
SHDW was a clandestine unit of highly trained, highly skilled hitmen. Governments would contract SHDW, and they eliminated the worst of the worst; warlords, dictators, human traffickers, and did so without remorse. They were paid handsomely, but as a result, lived their lives entirely as ghosts; multiple identities, fabricated backstories, anything to ensure their true identities were never revealed. Officially they did not exist, and if asked, any government official, of any nation, would deny any knowledge of the unit.
After he discovered his father’s identity, SHDW contacted Adewale, and he was indoctrinated into the program. He would spend the next eight years training in secret locations all around the world. In the three years he had been field active, Aidevo had become one of the top operatives for the organization, and was by far the youngest. No SHDW operatives ever met in person, and the leadership of the organization was unknown to all. His only communication was through his handler, Elizabeth.
As darkness enveloped the sky, Aidevo set to work. According to intelligence he received, the heads of two crime families were meeting in Tokyo that evening, to finalize a weapons deal. The Mishkin family from Russia, was lead by Evgeni Mishkin, former KGB agent. The Yukoda family, lead by Zhanghou Yukoda, was the most powerful family in Tokyo. In exchange for what equated to $6 million USD, Mishkin was to receive chemical weapons from the Yukodas. Political revolutions in Russia had turned violent, and in an attempted coup, four heads of state were killed. President Sergei Petrenko, in an act of desperation, enacted militant law. Citizens were arrested without just cause and imprisoned in gulags, and rebel groups were gunned down in the street. This only fueled the fire towards Petrenko. The administration had secretly been working with the Mishkins to acquire the chemical weapons, and intended to use them against the rebels, a heinous war crime.
Aidevo was in Tokyo to disrupt the deal and eliminate both Mishkin and Yukoda. He threw a bag on his bed and unrolled it, to reveal all of his equipment. With access to the best firearms in the world, Aidveo customized his loadout for each mission. For this assignment, he had an internally suppressed sniper rifle, one assault rifle, his trusty silverballer pistols, and an array of gadgets, each with their own specific purpose. He cleaned and reassembled every weapon and got dressed. A carbon fiber, kevlar weave on his shirt and pants, Aidevo’s clothes were lightweight but sturdy, which ensured freedom of movement that did not compromise on protection.
He climbed to the roof and set up the bipod for his sniper rifle on the southeast corner of the building, and faced the Ronin hotel.
On the lower suite was were the exchange was to take place. The Yukoda family owned the Ronin, and set up a small army of a security on the rooftop and along the balcony adjacent to the suite. Aidevo needed to get into that suite, acquire the weapon, kill Mishkin and Yukoda, and get out alive.
He measured the wind, temperature, humidity, vertical drop, and a whole host of other factors that could compromise his shot, and took aim at the three snipers on the roof. He fingered the trigger of his Barret MRAD .308 sniper, and fired three shots in rapid succession, all of which found their mark and eliminated the sentries.
Aidevo put away his sniper and pulled out what looked like a harpoon gun and fired at the rooftop. The Lotus was the tallest hotel in Tokyo, with the Ronin located just across the street, but about 10 stories shorter. The harpoon stuck into a ventilation unit, and Aidevo clipped his harness onto the zip line. He kicked off from the roof of the Lotus and silently and smoothly glided through the air, assault rifle aimed at the guards stationed around the balcony. The landing was flawless, and Adewale detached from the harness and moved towards the rooftop exit.
The night that Adewale’s village was raided and his parents were killed, Adewale’s father, Umbuku, told him an ancient story of a brave warrior who, even though he was frightened, fought back against evil forces in the world, determined to protect those who could not protect themselves. It was Adewale’s favorite story, and Umbuku ended it the same way every time.
“For when there is darkness and you are afraid, know that you hold the power to protect those who need help the most. You are a sword of light, here to vanquish those who wish to do evil unto others.”
He said this to himself before he began every mission. Even with years of experience and dozens of missions completed, Adewale was still nervous every time he went into the field.
Despite Adewale’s profession, and knack for it, he often struggled morally if what he was doing was truly the right thing. His parents raised him to show compassion and love towards others, no matter how awful they may have been. Being an international assassin didn’t exactly fit that bill.
“Now is not the time,” he said aloud to himself, and pushed on across the roof.
“Distracted tonight, are we?” Elizabeth pinged in Adewale’s earpiece.
Adewale didn’t respond.
“This mission cannot be delayed, you need to be present.”
“I’m fine.”
He walked over to the edge of the building, and clipped his harness into the rope still secured to the ventilation unit. Adewale stood on the ledge, with his back facing away from the Ronin.
“Nearly a dozen men inside, all armed. Good luck,” Elizabeth said.
“Here we go,” and he kicked off the ledge. As he rappelled down and away from the building, he aimed his assault rifle at the window of the suite and fired a burst that shattered the glass. In a blur he pulled out two smoke grenades and lobbed them into the room, obscuring the view of those inside. Adewale landed and unclipped from the harness. Before he stood up, Aidevo squeezed off two shots and dropped the two men closest to him.
As chaos unfolded around him, the man from the small Nigerian village went into auto-pilot. His ability to sense where his enemies would be before they got there made him a lethal threat, and he dispatched half a dozen men in the blink of an eye. Adewale worked around the perimeter of the room. He had holstered his rifle and was now engaged in hand to hand combat with any man unlucky enough to be in his path.
The smoke cleared and all around Adewale lay men either dead or unconscious. He had not encountered Mishkin or Yukoda. That meant they had either escaped, or were never there in the first place.
The answer soon became apparent as he heard a helicopter land on the roof.
“Get to the roof now. Mishkin and Yukoda are being extracted. They must not be allowed to escape,” Elizabeth said, a sense of urgency in her voice.
Adewale burst through the hotel door and sprinted down the hall. He got to the stairwell and was slammed into the wall by a man who had 50 pounds on him. The man was much bigger, but Adewale was quicker and more cunning. The man pulled out a knife and lunged at Adewale, who easily disarmed the man. With knife in hand, he sliced clean across the man’s quads which crumpled him to the ground. Adewale took a step back and delivered a vicious kick to the man’s chest, which sent him through the plate glass window, to the ground 100 floors below.
He ran up the stairs and kicked open the rooftop door just in time to see the helicopter take off.
Adewale pulled out his rifle and switched to full auto. He peppered the side of the chopper with fire, which killed the gunner and struck the pilot in the arm.
When the magazine was spent, Adewale pulled out what looked like a metal stake and hurled it at the chopper. It pierced the side of the helicopter and erupted in a blinding flash of light. Alarms on the pilot’s dashboard went crazy, and the helicopter crashed onto the roof. They had been hit by a mini EMP.
Aidevo made his way through the smoke, slowly, as his eyes darted around, just like they did when his village was raided. This time, however, he was the one on the attack. He stepped up to the helicopter and saw Mishkin pinned under the rotor. Yukoda had a massive gash on the side of his head and was not moving. Adewale put two rounds in him, just to be sure.
He knelt down in front of Mishkin, who was struggling to breathe beneath the crushing weight of the rotor. Next to him lay the two suitcases, which were almost completely unscathed.
“You planned to kill your own people with these weapons,” he said, not taking his eyes off Mishkin.
Mishkin let out a quiet laugh and looked back at the Nigerian. “This uprising will be stopped once and for all. When it ends, it will be us standing victorious, not them.”
“Surely you can’t mean yourself,” and with that, Adewale plunged his knife into Mishkin, just below the Russian’s left clavicle. His subclavicular artery had been ruptured, and he would be dead within the minute. For that minute, Aidevo did not move. When Mishkin exhaled for the last time, Adewale picked up both suitcases and walked away from the wreck.
“I have the package,” he said into his mic.
“Very good,” Elizabeth replied. “We need you to bring them in.”
“In to…?” Adewale’s voice trailed off.
“SHDW headquarters, we need to brief you on your next mission. Standby for coordinates.”
Adewale had never met another operative, and now he was about to see the whole operation.
With that, he took off into the night.
