Blogger’s Note: Today, you will hear from Shaghal, the antagonist in Operation Impact who has a bit of a link to one of the previous antagonists of the Last Chance series.

You probably wonder why I have an interest in a country that seems a bit backwater to some. I would dare say the Philippines are not backwater, not when it comes to the interests of Iran. Our Islamist brothers have a great interest in seizing power and are positioning themselves to do so quite well with a little help from Quds of Iran. And once they do, Iran can extend its reach.

That’s where I come in. You see, I serve as an assassin for the Quds Force of Iran. We function much like a cross between your CIA and Special Operations. We’re military and have ranks similar to other military wings, but we also are an irregular army, one who thinks outside the box, as you Americans so proudly state.

I would also like to think that all our men our loyal. I was wrong. Colonel Makmoud Hidari is a case study of this. I’ve known of him for quite some time. When he joined us in 1998, he rose through the ranks quickly. He has a gift of perception that is staggering, and together with his brother Jibril, they became the best of tactical planners. He shot to fame when he successfully captured a US Special Forces team in 2004 and turned the team’s commander into a mole who eventually joined the FBI.

Then he turned a female Secret Service agent in the United States into a mole. Pity he put her down in 2012. He also gained favor with the leadership for successfully maintaining a Hezbollah cell in Venezuela from 2007 to 2012. I envied him, as did many others in Quds.

It was like everything he and his brother did resulted in a hundred percent success. We called him General Soleimani’s golden boy. My envy turned to jealousy.

Then a man, an American named Victor Chavez, brought him low. Hidari had the idea to capture the Shadow Box team, a team his mole had formed and that Chavez led. His attempt to capture them failed, and Tehran recalled him.

The golden boy wasn’t so golden after all.

But his failure didn’t keep him down because Hidari attained the rank of colonel after work he did when Iran joined forces with its enemies to beat back ISIS in 2016.

Then he launched into a mission that we all called audacious. An arms runner—an American, no less—hired Quds to help remove a woman who could bring this man down.

Hidari had an even better idea. He knew of a link between the woman and one of the Shadow Box members. Why not use this situation to bring them to Kurdistan, then capture the team? They would then be brought to Iran and either broken or executed.

I had to admit the plan was brilliant, and of course, the brothers Hidari planned it to perfection. And it worked. Worked well beyond anyone’s imagination.

Yet then something happened. I still don’t understand it. Before they could return to Iran with their captives, they joined forces with the very people they’d taken to defeat the Turk, who was like ISIS 2.0.

Hidari let them go after that. Betrayed his country. Not only that, betrayed his brother Jibril and the men he’d worked with. He became persona non grata within Quds. His rank? Gone. Given to Jibril. His wife? Jibril married her and saved her from certain execution as retribution.

Then came a new assignment for me. You see, as I mentioned, I’m an assassin by training and trade. I have over thirty kills under my belt. Now they wanted Hidari dead.

That presented a challenge because he disappeared in Iraq. The general tasked me with finding him and putting a bullet in his head. I put out feelers to our agents across the world. Anywhere he went, I would know. Even after you American murdered General Soleimani, my assignment continued.

I finally got a hit in Panama. The Quds agents in Panama City had him under surveillance. I took a team of three additional men with me. We would find him, and I would have the pleasure of killing him myself.

Yet when we arrived, there was no sign of him, no sign at all. We were three days into our search when the order came down. Return to Tehran.

And that’s when I received new orders. Head to Manila. The Islamists had need of our services.

My entry would be covert. I would be on a flight that would be shipping arms into a remote area of the Philippines. From there a pirate named Patalim would take me to Manila under the cover of darkness. And then I would help the Islamists put their puppet into the presidency. They will not see me until it’s too late.