Free The Armenia Caper by Hunter Blacke

Chapter 1
    Target Armenia
    Taylor came stumbling through the glass doors. Frustration clearly evident. His body language exploding. He was carrying a file that was abruptly thrown in my direction. Papers fell out of the folder racing to the floor. Leonard took a long moment before apologizing, but left me to pick up the mess of certainly now out of sequence documents.
     
    I sifted through the information and saw that the reference was the country of Armenia.  My name is Hunter Blacke. I handle special assignments. When others fail I begin my work.
     
    What this had to do with me was not certain yet, but, within minutes it was clear I was signing up for a new passport and headed to a country totally new to me.
     
    I did not read or speak the language, a difficult one at that, albeit Russian was an alternate choice as Armenia had been until recently a soviet satellite country. Armenia was cut loose as Russia imploded. The early 90’s brought mayhem to the Caucasus as countries began to fight for their old identities. Soviet Russia slinked into disgrace.
    All the old timer Armenians spoke Russian and Armenian. All the young people spoke Armenian, some Russian and almost fluent English. I could get by.
     
    During those long years under the soviet cloud, Armenia provided numerous factory operations primarily engaged in electronics and technology, including weaponry, watches, and one of the world’s clandestine diamond cutting centers. Most refer to Antwerp, Israel and South Africa but the Armenian’s are extraordinaire in their cutting skills. Israeli’s would own the pipeline with lots of cutting done in Yerevan the capital of Armenia. 
     
    Yerevan is one of the oldest structured cities in the world. The fortress Erebuni was founded by King Argishti of Urartu in 782 BC. The Urartu Kingdom was a powerful & highly developed civilization. Thus, according to the cuneiform inscription ‘passport’ (birth certificate) of Yerevan, the city is almost 3000 years old, likely more. The original Armenian name for the country was Hayk. Soon after it became Hayastan and again later Armenia. It still is Armenia.
    So what was this assignment about? Why was Taylor Williams, head of operations, so rattled?
     
    Actually he rarely rattled. Cleary his collection of fine scotch kept him mellow for the most part. Sometimes we had trouble keeping him awake in tactical meetings. 
    Most operatives never listened to him much. His outlook on operations was highly governed by his single malt scotch. 
    What was the connection? Diamonds. Lots of diamonds.

Chapter 2
Country Survival
 
    Armenia at this moment in history was struggling. Armenia has been a country of conquer and be conquered for centuries and now again with the recent Russian pull out they were fighting for their ancient identity. The fight now was primarily economic.
     
    With the Russians pulling out after their own collapse, they in turn sold back factories and industrial manufacturing to the locals. Many of course were friends of the Russian establishment. Many were ex KGB operatives. Some complete factories, albeit they were stripped, and land went for as little as $1.00 dollar US. Corruption was epidemic
     
    The country was on its knees and Yerevan the ancient capital city was dysfunctional. There were restrictions on electricity to the point many parts of the city did not have any for days at a time or not at all. Gas heating and water service was just as scarce. Living was difficult. Foreigners like Italians and French owned the Utilities and set the terms and conditions. Ugly high.
     
    The buildings throughout the city were primarily soviet era meaning 4 to maximum 5 floors high and crumbling. They were for the most part walk up as elevators were not in most of the structures, if any. The common areas with the heavy wooden doors at the entrances and the heavy wooden moldings on windows and staircases were all torn out and wood broken down for heating