by Andy McNab
Table of Contents
The Andy McNab dossier
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Prologue
PART ONE Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
PART TWO Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
PART THREE Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
PART FOUR Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Epilogue
Andy McNab 'Iraq' Audio series
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THE
ANDY McNAB
DOSSIER
CONFIDENTIAL
www.andymcnab.co.uk
ANDY McNAB
In 1984 he was 'badged' as a member of 22 SAS Regiment.
Over the course of the next nine years he was at the centre of covert operations on five continents.
During the first Gulf War he commanded Bravo Two Zero, a patrol that, in the words of his commanding officer, 'will remain in regimental history for ever'.
Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career.
McNab was the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS in February 1993.
He is now the author of ten bestselling thrillers.
BRAVO TWO ZERO
In January 1991, eight members of the SAS regiment, under the command of Sergeant Andy McNab, embarked upon a top secret mission in Iraq to infiltrate them deep behind enemy lines. Their call sign: 'Bravo Two Zero'. Within days, their location was compromised. In the firefight that followed four men were captured. Three died. Only one escaped. For the survivors the worst was to come when they were tortured with a savagery for which not even their intensive SAS training had prepared them.
'One of the most extraordinary examples of human courage and survival in modern warfare'
The Times
'The best account of the SAS in action'
Sunday Times
IMMEDIATE ACTION
The no–holds–barred account of an extraordinary life, from the day McNab as a baby was found in a carrier bag on the steps of Guy's Hospital to the day he went to fight in the Gulf War. As a delinquent youth he kicked against society. As a young soldier he waged war against the IRA in the streets and fields of South Armagh.
'A richly detailed picture of life in the SAS'
Sunday Telegraph
'The real thing...The strength of Immediate Action lies in its detail'
The Times
Nick Stone, ex–SAS trooper,
now gun–for–hire working on
deniable ops for the British
government, is the perfect man
for the dirtiest of jobs, doing
whatever it takes by whatever
means necessary...
REMOTE CONTROL
Dateline: Washington DC, USA
Stone is drawn into the bloody killing of an ex–SAS officer and his family and soon finds himself on the run with the one survivor who can identify the killer – a nine-year-old girl.
'Proceeds with a testosterone surge'
Daily Telegraph
CRISIS FOUR
Dateline: North Carolina, USA
In the backwoods of the American South, Stone has to keep alive the beautiful young woman who holds the key to unlock a chilling conspiracy that will threaten world peace.
'When it comes to thrills, he's Forsyth class'
Mail on Sunday
FIREWALL
Dateline: Finland
The kidnapping of a Russian Mafia warlord takes Stone into the heart of the global espionage world and into conflict with some of the most dangerous killers around.
'Other thriller writers do their research, but McNab has actually been there'
Sunday Times
LAST LIGHT
Dateline: Panama
Stone finds himself at the centre of a lethal conspiracy involving ruthless Columbian mercenaries, the US government and Chinese big business. It's an uncomfortable place to be . . .
'A heart thumping read'
Mail on Sunday
LIBERATION DAY
Dateline: Cannes, France
Behind its glamorous exterior, the city's seething underworld is the battleground for a very dirty drugs war and Stone must reach deep within himself to fight it on their terms.
'McNab's great asset is that the heart of his fiction is non–fiction'
Sunday Times
DARK WINTER
Dateline: Malaysia
A straightforward action on behalf of the War on Terror turns into a race to escape his past for Stone if he is to save himself and those closest to him.
'Addictive . . . Packed with wild action and revealing tradecraft'
Daily Telegraph
DEEP BLACK
Dateline: Bosnia
All too late Stone realizes that he is being used as bait to lure into the open a man whom the darker forces of the West will stop at nothing to destroy.
'One of the UK's top thriller writers'
Daily Express
AGGRESSOR
Dateline: Georgia, former Soviet Union
&
nbsp; A longstanding debt of friendship to an SAS comrade takes Stone on a journey where he will have to risk everything to repay what he owes, even his life . . .
'A terrific novelist'
Mail on Sunday
RECOIL
Dateline: The Congo, Africa
What starts out as a personal quest for a missing woman quickly becomes a headlong rush from his own past for Stone.
'Stunning . . . A first class action thriller'
The Sun
CROSSFIRE
Andy McNab
This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
ISBN 9781407039466
Version 1.0
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TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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CROSSFIRE
A CORGI BOOK
ISBN: 9781407039466
Version 1.0
First published in Great Britain
in 2007 by Bantam Press
a division of Transworld Publishers
Corgi edition published 2008
Copyright © Andy McNab 2007
Andy McNab has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.
This electronic book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to the men of 2 Rifles and 2 Lancs, for their bravery and endurance. I was privileged to spend time in Iraq with both of these battalions, and without doubt they are some of the most professional soldiers our country has ever seen.
2nd Battalion the Rifles
Rifleman Daniel Lee Coffey, aged twenty-one, from Exeter, died as a result of injuries sustained in Basra City on 27 February 2007.
Rifleman Aaron Lincoln, aged eighteen, from Durham, died as a result of injuries sustained in Basra City on 2 April 2007.
Rifleman Paul Donnachie, aged eighteen, from Reading, was killed in a small-arms fire attack in Basra City on 29 April 2007.
2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment
Kingsman Jamie Lee Hancock, aged nineteen, from Wigan, died as a result of injuries sustained during small-arms fire against a coalition forces base in Basra on 6 November 2006.
Sergeant Graham Hesketh, aged thirty-five, from Liverpool, was killed during a patrol in Basra City on 28 December 2006.
Kingsman Alexander William Green, aged twenty-one, from Warrington, died as a result of injuries sustained in Basra City on 13 January 2007.
Second Lieutenant Jonathan Bracho-Cooke, aged twenty-four, from Hove, died as a result of injuries sustained by an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on 5 February 2007.
Kingsman Danny John Wilson, aged twenty-eight, from Workington, died as a result of injuries sustained in Basra City on 1 April 2007.
Kingsman Adam James Smith, aged nineteen, from the Isle of Man, died as a result of injuries sustained by an IED attack on 5 April 2007.
Second Lieutenant Joanna Yorke Dyer, aged twenty-four, from Yeovil, died as a result of injuries sustained by an IED attack on 5 April 2007.
Kingsman Alan Joseph Jones, aged twenty, from Liverpool, was killed when his Warrior armoured fighting vehicle came under small-arms fire on 23 April 2007.
Prologue
60 miles west of Jalalabad, Afghanistan
17 June 1986
Last light
I didn't know the name of the village, though we'd been through there many times. It was just a collection of mud huts on a plateau, three-quarters of the way down a mountain, in a snow-capped range halfway between Kabul and the Khyber Pass.
We had to be out again by first light, when the Hinds would be back to hand out the early-morning news. If they spotted us, the gunships would annihilate the place, and anyone inside. That was how they did things.
We were in-country because the Ivans were in-country, and the West didn't want them to be. It wasn't the invasion they objected to. It was Soviet troops massed so close to the oil-rich Gulf. The sheiks were flapping, so the bad boys had to be persuaded to fuck off back to the land of vodka.
The mujahideen – soldiers of Allah – had only put up weak resistance to start with. Fragmented, and armed with no more than rifles and pistols, all they had going for them was their lifelong knowledge of the terrain and an unshakeable faith in their God.
That was when dickheads like me were told to get the maps out and see where the fuck Afghanistan was, then get our arses over from Hereford and help. We came, we saw, we dropped bridges, attacked police stations, built IEDs, and blew up armoured convoys. I wasn't wild about living in a cave, but other than that, I'd been having the time of my life.
'See that?'
'What, Nick?'
'Over there, in the alleyway. Looks like a body.'
'It will just be a girl,' Ahmad grunted. He wore the kind of expression you use when someone's just pointed out the shit on your shoe. 'We go on, Nick. We need food.'
My new best mujahideen mate cut away and gestured to the others to sort themselves out before the long tab back to our holes in the rock above the snowline.
The girl's body was lying between two mud-walled shacks. At least somebody had had the decency to drape the charred remains of her clothes over what was left of her. Going by the scorchmarks on the ground, it looked like she'd set herself on fire in plain view. When the flames died down, the villagers had probably just dragged her here out of the way and got on with their lives.
I nearly hadn't come over. I'd seen it all too many times before. But this one was different – even in the fading light, I thought I'd seen movement. And, besides, the girl with the cheeky grin lived in one of these huts. I always looked out for her when we came this way. The landscape might be cold, harsh and unforgiving, but somhow her smile always made me think that what we were doing was worthwhile.
The people who scratched a living in these mountains didn't have enough even to feed themselves, but that didn't stop them sharing it with us. I'd never spoken to the girl with the cheeky grin. It would have been taboo. But she'd run up a couple of times and handed me a sliver of watermelon or a cup of water. She couldn't have been more than fourteen.
Not so long ago, the cheeky grin had disappeared, as if someone had thrown a switch. 'Yes,' Ahmad had said. 'Now she have husband.' Apparently he was nearly three times her age and from another band of muj. Ahmad seemed to think her husband was having trouble teaching her respect.
She'd looked a little more desperate each time I saw her after that. The last couple of times, I'd noticed the bruises.
