A Doomsday Agent by Rolf Osterberg

Author:Rolf Osterberg [Osterberg, Rolf]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Kiel, February

Jaap Steijlen is absolutely livid as he slams the phone down on the receiver. The Chief of Staff swore to him that he would do everything in his power again, to set up a rescue operation, to try and save captain Oosting and sergeant Buisman and to recover the bodies of the soldiers who had fallen. Steijlen is convinced that Oosting and Buisman are still alive. A week ago, he suggested that they send a photo-reconnaissance aircraft to the area, but even that met with political objections. It was argued that Sweden would have to approve such a mission, but nobody knew who was actually leading that country at this time. It is enough to drive a person crazy.

Now what? He summoned his operations officer yet again. The major had walked up and down the corridor to colonel Steijlen’s office many times in the past couple of weeks. The ambitious young officer, who had earned his keep in Yemen and Somalia on multiple occasions, enters his superior’s office within a minute.

‘You’re not going to believe this,’ Steijlen begins. ‘I have never seen so much political ineptitude in my life! The Chief of Staff is doing all he can, but the politicians continue to turn a blind eye. It’s making me sick. We have to do something! It won’t be the first time we take action without The Hague knowing. Remember our deployment to Niger?’

‘September last. We then joined up with U.S. Special Forces. It was an American journalist who just casually reported that there were Dutch troops involved in that mission. It raised questions in parliament. I still have that letter in which you state that the deployment of our SpecOps was a fairy tale story.’ He laughs cynically. ‘The minister was so gullible, he believed every word of it.’

‘Our minister,’ Steijlen says sarcastically. ‘I wouldn’t want to have that man in my backyard as a garden gnome with a fishing rod by the small pond. I bet he’d even manage to fuck that up! Jesus, I still can’t shake the image from my mind of Van Heukelom’s wife, when I had to tell her that her husband had died and that we would not be able to bring him home. Believe me, you don’t want to know. It was devastating!’

The major sighs, but remains silent. A steward enters with a can of coffee and some cups.

‘What are we going to do?’ Steijlen asks when the civilian staff member has exited the office again.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I can’t just sit back and allow this to happen. And I have no trouble putting my career on the line, if it means I can get our boys home.’

‘Do you mean you want to deploy a rescue mission?’

‘Rescue and recovery. We must get the bodies of these boys back to their families, so they can give them a proper burial. After that “our minister” may give me the sack, for all I care. I just hope some of the political parties will withdraw their support of him, when he is forced to explain his conduct in this whole matter.

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