Empire of the Ring

Chapter 58: Burning Nagorno-Karabakh (3)

Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh had become an isolated place since all of the official routes had been closed. Because there was no way to connect even going through Georgia and Yerevan, Youngho decided to directly get in there from the Azerbaijan border.

His plan was to drive to Beylagan in the Southwest region and to climb through mountainous areas on foot. It was all possible because of the leather shoes. Stepanakert was only 40 kilometers away from the borderline. Even though they had to go through the rough mountainous areas, it would only take up to two hours for Youngho and Jongil to reach the city with the help of the leather shoes.

Youngho hurried and set off after telling Fatima and the farm family that he was going on a business trip to Southwest regions to find more markets for his stores. He and Jongil packed mountain climbing gears and emergency food supplies in an SUV car and drove four hours until they reached the borderland of Beylagan and Nagorno-Karabakh’s plateau area.

Leaving the car in a Beylagan district’s public parking lot, they began their journey dressed as backpackers. They had only brought a pistol and a flip knife hidden inside the leather shoes in case of inspections. Park Jongil who has not been on a mission in a long time looked excited as a child going on a picnic.

When they did not see any more people around, they started to run. Since they had trained on the mountain when they were in the militia, they could find ways easily. The security guards had moved near the Armenian border, so it was quiet except they spotted a few animals in the mountain.

When they arrived Stepanakert going across the mountainous areas that was 1,000 meters high above sea level, they could not walk on the street freely being Asians. Not wanting to draw attention, they hid and called Margos the former head of the militia. The reception was bad due to the city’s geographical features but they were able to finally reach him after a few tries.

Margos answered in a weak voice but he became excited to hear Youngho’s voice after a long time. They planned to visit Margos’ place in the evening. After hanging up, Youngho tried calling ‘Hulk’ the former bodyguard of Margos, but nobody answered. Hulk may have been transferred to the official Armenian army, or there was a possibility of something that went amiss for him.

It became dark soon in the winter day. They found Margos’ place easily since they used to visit him often before. When they knocked on the door, Margos who became even thinner like a stick came out supporting himself with a cane. He must have undergone such stress, that he even lost some of his hair. In order to take away the militants, Armenia had decided to discard him, who had been serving for his country as the head of the militia. Youngho felt bad but he was not in the place to judge the government.

“Mr. Lee, it’s been long. You’ve done a lot for our people but now Nagorno-Karabakh had turned to this isolated state.”

Margos sighed after greeting the two.

“Mr. Margos, you don’t look well. Let’s sit and talk.”

After catching up with each other, Margos opened his mouth.

“So, you must be on to something having come to this dangerous place.”

Margos looked them in doubt.

“I’m here to look for an agent, Philip. He had been missing in action after reporting to come here.”

“I guessed that too. It’s an official secret here. I inquired here and there about his whereabouts and it looks like he’s been captured, it’s going to be difficult to save him. The militants who were not transferred to the army went in to the mountain to launch a guerilla war, it’s very likely that Philip is taken by them. The militants think that the US had betrayed us. I don’t even know if he’d alive by now.”

Youngho also sighed after hearing this. It was a mystery why Philip had even come here since he was not a field agent. He was only an information agent. Although he had been trained to defend himself and to use weapons, his skills were still not enough to come to a risky place alone.

“We can go and try to negotiate with them. We know all of them because we trained them as instructors. They won’t harm us.”

Although Youngho said he would negotiate with them, it was unlikely that they would comply to his request and give away Philip easily. The only way to save Philip was to fight them to win him over.

“If Philip was killed, the US will never support Nagorno-Karabakh again. We should at least try to stop them.”

At Youngho’s words, Margos found a little hope for the state. He added,

“Do you remember the training valley in the Northwest area? Philip must be there. I wish he’d be fine but the militants are just inflamed right now.”

“Mr. Margos. Please forget about our visit tonight.”

Margos nodded.

“Mr. Lee, I hope for little damages on both sides.”

Youngho promised he would try his best to keep it low. Although the enemies now were the militants whom they had trained sweating together. He only wished for him to take Philip without any casualties on both sides. Leaving the house, Youngho gave Margos $5,000 which was in his pocket at the time because Margos looked like he did not have any money to take care of himself and buy medicine. Margos did not take it but when Youngho insisted, he received the money with tears in his eyes.

They wanted to go to a regular inn, but because they did not want to draw attention Youngho and Jongil spent the night camping outside in a tent. Due to the war, they were the only Asians visiting in the area, being seen by people was too risky for them.

The next day, they searched the Northwest mountain area as Margos told them. They could find the militia base in the late afternoon. There were only two guards outside. Since the Azerbaijani army had retreated from the area, their guard was not too strict. They checked if there were alarms and mines around the base and planned to sneak in the base at night. They first plan was to sneak out Philip in secret in the dark.

The sun had set and Youngho and Jongil began their mission. Relying on a flashlight, they walked toward the base for five minutes. Suddenly Jongil, who was holding the light, turned the light off and put on the night vision goggles.

“Youngho, we need to wrap around the shoes. They make loud sounds on the snow.”

Youngho smirked seeing that Jongil had gotten nervous, which was a rare thing for him. He must have been nervous since they needed to take Philip out without letting the militants know.

“What? You think wrapping will get rid of the sounds? Just go! There’s no one guarding at night.”

“Dude, is this funny to you? I see you smiling. I am serious!”

The base’s location was safely hidden from outsiders and it was also a windy day. Youngho thought that the militants would not be alarmed by now. As he expected, there were no guards. If he wanted to have a conversation, he would not decide to come at night. Heand Jongil agreed to knock guards cold if they meet anyone on the way. Using the leather shoes, they moved fast like the wind and got closer to the base.

Youngho guessed that Philip would be locked in the storage building where there was no light coming out, since the militants would not give a nice room to a captive. When he put his ear on the outside of the storage building, he could hear someone moaning and moving. While Youngho was looking out for guards, Jongil unlocked the lock on the outside using his flip knife. When the door was open, they quietly went inside being cautious.

There was a man crouching on a pile of hay. He was surprised when two robust guys came in with chilly wind. It was Philip.

Youngho turned on his lighter, so that Philip could see who they were.

“Philip, this is Lee Youngho.”

“Lee? How’d you get here?”

Philip broke down in tears holding Youngho’s hands. Youngho could feel Philip’s heart since he went through a very a similar situation less than two years ago.

“Shhh, can move your body?”

Philip asked for water after pulling himself together.

“I think I can walk. Can I have some water first?”

Philip drank water in a rush as if the militia had not been giving him water for a while. He looked nurtured a little bit after drinking.

Youngho had brought shoes and clothes for him since he knew that the captives’ shoes and clothes were taken away in order to prevent them from running away. After Philip was ready, they left the valley. They left the door same as before.

When they reached a safe place away from the base, Youngho gave emergency food supplies for Philip to eat. He was not tortured physically badly but his body was weak from not eating. He was half unconscious now, so they needed to carry him on their backs. It would not have been possible without the power of the leather shoes.

Youngho walked speedily with Jongil each taking turn to carry Philip. Even though it was a cold day of 10 degrees in Fahrenheit, they were sweating from moving. If one carried Philip, the other took the other’s backpack and carried two backpacks. They walked on and on all night long and they could reach the city of Beylagan in the morning. They could not tarry in there, so they drove to Baku right away.

When they got to Jongil’s apartment in Baku, Youngho reported the rescue of Philip and requested a passport for him to the European chapter.

Michael flew from Frankfurt to meet Youngho and Philip in Baku. At Europe Hotel in downtown, he reunited with Philip in excitement and thanked Youngho repeatedly. All he had ordered was to gather information of the state’s situations but Youngho went in there and rescued Philip without leaving any evidence. It was an outstanding achievement.

From this incident, Youngho’s team of the CIA’s Baku branch’s status rose above other branches in Europe. Philip also spoke highly of Youngho and Jongil for saving his life. Listening to the story that Youngho and Jongil took turn and carried Philip whose strength was undermined, other agents were proud of comradeship. Youngho also heard that the director of the US CIA headquarters requested to talk to him on the phone to reward his labor. However, he doubted that the director might be calling him to give him more dangerous missions.